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Two cheers for the Premier League

An all English Champions League final. That will silence knockers of the Premier League, for 24 hours anyway. There are always plenty of believers in the tall poppy syndrome ready to say that La Liga, Serie A or the Bundesliga are better.

First, congratulations to Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur for incredible comebacks. Anfield will always be one of my favourite football stadiums and I enjoyed going there when Charlton were in the Premier League. The owners of the club have invested money in the stadium, the manager and players, but in a prudent rather than reckless fashion.

Tottenham Hotspur have come through a potentially difficult season with flying colours. No money was spent on the team in the summer and they have had a difficult stadium transition, albeit one that has ended with an iconic stadium. I was privileged at the beginning of the season to attend a reception opened by the Mayor of Haringey and meet some of the Spurs fans doing important work in the local community.

Of course, the knockers will be back. They will say that the Premier League uses too many foreign players, rather than encouraging English talent. They will complain about foreign owners, although for me the distinction is between good owners and bad owners, not English and foreign ones.

They will complain about the money washing around in the Premier League without focusing in the consequences of globalisation or the use of soft power by states like Qatar (although there have been rumours this week that they may reduce their backing for Paris Saint Germain).

I was once accused of a Panglossian attitude towards the Premier League, but I do have some criticisms which is why I say two cheers rather than three. The dominance of the top six, even stronger this year, undermines the competition. OK, Wolves may break in next year, just as Leicester did, but it's a case of the exception proves the rule. I have an even greater concern about the distorting effect that in my view (and that of experts like Kieran Maguire) over generous parachute payments have on the Championship.

I am also not happy about plans to turn the Champions League into an effective cartel, although apparently these are running into some opposition.

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