It’s the date that excites this SBOTOP football fan most of all even though not one ball is kicked!
For I am talking about fixture release day. The day in mid June when you find out who your beloved club will face at what stage of the next season and subsequently start plotting your trips, your events, even your life around them.
After a Premier League campaign which has underwhelmed me (as a Man Utd fan) more than any other in my adult lifetime, realistically I thought I may feel less enamoured by the equivalent this time around.
But no, here I am, with less than a week to go and – even though my glass is more half empty than half full right now – I still have one eye on next Wednesday and know that come 9am (UK time), I will stop everything to plan ahead.
With the 2024-25 campaign barely finished, many of you will have already surveyed the SBOTOP Premier League 2025 betting odds and there is already a degree of change in the air.
We know, for example, that five clubs (Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and, after a compelling last day, Chelsea and Newcastle will be competing in the Champions League, along with Europa League winners Spurs.
Aston Villa will be in the second tier of European competition with FA Cup winners Crystal Palace, while Nuno Espirito Santo will take Nottingham Forest onto continental soil for the first time in nearly three decades.
Then there’s the players expected to deliver Premier League 2025 highlights from August.
We know one of the breakout stars of last season, Dean Huijsen, won’t be back at Bournemouth, after being lured by Spanish giants Real Madrid, while one man who has been consistently the best performer in the English top flight over the past decade has also said farewell – Kevin de Bruyne bowing out at City and arriving to a hero’s welcome at newly crowned Italian champions Napoli.
De Bruyne notably helped City to win six Premier League titles, five League Cups and two FA Cups – plus their first Champions League title in 2023.
City have moved quickly to fill the creative gap left by De Bruyne, signing midfielders Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan and Rayan Cherki from Lyon.
They could face De Bruyne in the Champions League next season, with the Belgium international continuing his career at the top level.
Of course, this is just the start of the summer window and there will be plenty of incoming and outgoing which will set the pulse racing over the next few months.
It’s not just on the pitch where changes are inevitable.
Ange Postecoglou’s reward for leading Spurs to their first trophy in 17 years was the sack from unpopular owner Daniel Levy; a chairman who has been at the helm a quarter of a century and overseen a solitary two pieces of silverware.
His likely successor will be Thomas Frank who has overseen such a fine job at Brentford so that, inevitably, means another change in the dugout.
That move alone shows how difficult it is for small to medium sized clubs to resist the advances of their larger rivals as they try and keep hold of their prized assets.
The money shows no sign of drying up, even if the multi-million pound television contracts can surely not last forever.
According to Deloitte’s latest Annual Review of Football Finance, the Premier League generated a record-breaking £6.3 billion in revenue during the 2023/24 campaign.
Commercial income across the league surpassed £2 billion for the first time, while matchday revenue climbed beyond £900 million. These figures reinforce the Premier League’s financial dominance over its European rivals, with Spain’s La Liga, the next most lucrative league, bringing in €3.8 billion, nearly half of which was generated by giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.
However, despite the historic high,financial experts have warned that the English top flight is facing mounting pressures and this week’s announcement that Sky Sports recorded a 10 per cent decline across its 128-match schedule, while TNT Sports suffered a more alarming 17% drop on its 52 broadcasts, has made us sit up and take notice.
These aren’t marginal statistical variations but represent a fundamental shift in audience engagement with the world’s most-watched league, especially with illegal streaming services becoming ever prevalent.
While revenue soars, the league is grappling with significant off-pitch issues. Fan dissatisfaction has grown over rising ticket prices and the perception that local supporters are being priced out in favour of international tourists seeking one-off matchday experiences.
There is much to consider over the longer term. For now, though, excitement will only continue to rise amongst football fans for the Premier League is the biggest show in town.
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