COVID-19 AND ITS IMPACT ON FOOTBALL PREMIER LEAGUE:
It was a football event like no other in Europe before and it was accompanied by a transfer deadline far longer than everyone used to. The pandemic meant that the complexities of the industry shifted, but as the deadline passed, the scenario looked identical to that of past years.
WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS YEAR TRANSFER WINDOWS?
Normally, the European football season concludes in the first week of May, and only after August, teams are permitted to conclude their player movement arrangements. But the pandemic kept ground to a standstill in March, and the series ended somewhat longer than normal. The players who had their terms until 30 June, the formal end of the season in regular times, had them prolonged. The transfer time lasted from July 27th to October 5th.
Thanks to the current pandemic, the way football fans watch fixtures has changed significantly in 2020 but has the commodity itself changed? In this post, we will check out the gap in figures between the 2020/2021 Premier League and the 2019/2020 games, most of which were COVID-free.
What are we looking here at? More goals or more fouls? Players were robbed of the typical pre-season this year and may no longer count on the home advantage that will come so much from the 12th guy, the supporters.
GOAL SECURED THIS SEASON:
Pandemic or not the figures so far during the Premier League have not been the same for any recent season. We’ve seen 3.58 goals scored every game. Earlier in the season, this figure was 3.79. As a simple contrast, 2.72 goals per game were scored last season. I’m not whining, but more goals mean more fun games. What is noteworthy is that these extra goals are not being scored by what we would deem the “big six,” they are being shared out, creating a Premier League that feels completely open after all.
What does not come as a surprise to you, considering the vacant stadiums, would be that away teams are getting more happiness this year. What may impress you is just how much more happiness they have. Teams away last season scored 1.21 goals per game. This year, without the burden and provocation of home supporters, they averaged 1.94 goals per game. This is a major leap worth remembering, even at this point of the season. It was as strong as 2.03 previously.
HOW MANY AWAYS WINS WERE SEEN THIS SEASON?
So, away teams score more points, but are they winning more matches? Definitely after 48 matches played, the visiting teams had ended up with all 3 points 46% of the time. For reference, just 31 percent of the games ended up winning away in the season prior. As we’ve been reviewing this the amount has been dropping. It was at 50 percent after 38 matches played. A nonsensical state!
Crystal Palace, Leeds, Brighton, Aston Villa, Fulham, and West Ham all scored three or even more goals in the away game. This is after just 38 matches played. Unbelievable and they only played twice on the road. Last year, you’d have been fortunate enough to see Crystal Palace win more than once. In reality, more than 50 percent of the Premier League teams have indeed scored 3 or more on the road this year after only two games. It’s a year like no other.
WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE BUDGETS OF THE FOOTBALL CLUBS?
It most impacted those at the lower tiers of the football pyramid. Premier League club investment has been down to £1.2 billion, the weakest since2015, but is also well invested in other big European leagues such as Bundesliga, Serie A, and La Liga.
“Total player procurement spending is slightly smaller in the top five European leagues relative to the five-year average—from-7% in the Premier League to-46 percent in La Liga,” according to London-based investment firm Carteret Analytics, quoted by BBC. “It is safe to say that Covid-19 has triggered this major decline in the player transfer market in this season.”
Also, Real Madrid, which is never afraid of making a major splash in the transfer market, was silent throughout this period, the only time it had occurred in the summer window after 1980. Los Blancos experienced severe casualties as a result of the covid-19 and were also set up by the costly reconstruction of their Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. While the grapevine claims they’re holding their powder dry for a massive offer for Paris Saint-Kylian Germain’s Mbappe in the upcoming year it indicates that even the elite team clubs are not resistant to the financial effects of the pandemic.
The La Liga rivals of Valencia were in the same vessel. Club Owner Anil Murthy accused the shortage of arrivals of a €100 million loss of sales owing to the outbreak. Barcelona’s sales dropped last year by approximately €203 million.
According to football news, the series experienced a fall of over half a billion euros.