Exclusive: Premier League like a runaway train, says Bates

The 79-year-old, then in charge of Chelsea, was one of the 22 chairmen whose clubs broke away from the Football League to compete in the first season of the competition in 1992-93.

Now in its 20th campaign, the Premier League has grown into the most popular and lucrative domestic league in the world with the 20 clubs earning almost £2.5bn between them in 2009-10.

A significant part of that income comes from television with Sky committed to paying £1.7bn over three years with a similar amount flowing in for overseas rights over the same period.

Leeds United chairman Bates told the Yorkshire Post as we kick-off our four-day series on the future of English football: “Without the Premier League, English football would be in the second division of Europe.

“If you look back to before it was formed, all the best English players had to go abroad. Jimmy Greaves, Denis Law, John Charles all went to Europe, while more recently Paul Gascoigne had moved to Lazio.

“Now, the best players in the world come here – making the Premier League popular all around the world.”

Asked if he was surprised by the popularity that sees well over 100 countries broadcast live games from England’s top division every weekend, Bates replied: “It doesn’t surprise me, no.

“The simple truth is the Premier League is well marketed and well run thanks to people like Sir Dave Richards (chairman of the Premier League). It has been a huge success story that sometimes doesn’t get the credit it deserves.”

The increasing appeal of the Premier League is perhaps best illustrated with how income from television has soared since 1992-93, when Sky and the BBC struck a £304m five-year deal with the fledgling competition – a huge rise from the last agreement with the Football League, which for the four years from 1988 had brought in £44m for the 92 clubs.

Sponsorship has also risen considerably from the £12m naming rights paid by Carling for the four years from 1993 to the £82.25m paid for the period covering 2010-13 by Barclays.

Bates, who was in the camp of chairmen advocating the new Premier League sign up with Sky rather than ITV in the early Nineties, said: “Having a collective television deal has been vital to the Premier League becoming such a success. The good thing is that no club or clubs can break away from that agreement, it is set in stone.

“I remember Martin Edwards, when he was chairman of Manchester United, talking about his club going it alone in terms of a television deal.

“It was a few years after the League had been set up. I replied, ‘How much are you going to pay us?’ He asked what I meant, so I replied, ‘Well, I am turning up with my Chelsea team and if you think I am going to provide 50 per cent of the entertainment for nothing then you are mistaken’.

“It was the same when (former Arsenal managing director) David Dein came up with the European Super League.

“I just said, ‘We will soon stop that as when we put together our fixture lists, you’ll have games on the same day as your Super League. And when you don’t fulfil the fixtures, we’ll throw you out.

“A European Super League is flawed anyway, as fans of Manchester United want to beat City or Liverpool the most. It’s the same with Arsenal and Tottenham.”

As impressive, however, as the sums flowing into the coffers of top-flight clubs have been over the past 20 seasons, debt levels in the game have never been higher.

A couple of years ago, Lord Triesman, then the chairman of the Football Association, spoke of his fear about a “toxic” debt that, he claimed, had reached £3bn in the Premier League.

Bates, however, believes the top division is – any clubs tempted to mortgage their future income apart – in robust shape.

He said: “You have to be careful when talking about the debt. Triesman made a fool of himself the other year.

“I always liken it to a mortgage on a house. That is not a bad debt and many, many people have a mortgage. Arsenal owing £350m on their stadium is the same.

“What is wrong is when a club effectively mortgage everything up front? They discount everything. A club going into the Premier League is guaranteed £90m, £40m or so up front and £48m in parachute payments if they go straight down.

“The temptation is to discount this, get the money up front and spend it on player wages and transfer fees. It is a variation of what Ridsdale did at Leeds.”

As for the future of the Premier League, Bates believes it will continue to go from strength to strength.

He said: “The Premier League is a bit like a runaway train, in that it can go on and on and on. More and more people want to watch it on television. Plus, companies want to advertise because it gives them maximum exposure. It adds up to the future looking very healthy for the Premier League.”