The Premier League and the new consumption of football

King, A

Abstract

This thesis is a historical and critical examination of the development of the
Premier League and the new consumption of football, which attempts to link these
developments with wider post-Fordist transformations. The thesis argues that the
transformation of labour relations in football set the Football League on a course of
organic political economic development which privileged the big city clubs. During the
1980s, these clubs became conscious of this divide and, in a complex series of
negotiations, effected a breakaway from the League to form the Premier League. It is
argued that the latter organisation was the institutional framework in which the new
consumption of football was possible.
The particular form of that new consumption of football was determined by
certain discursive interventions from 1985, which prescribed a particular course of
reform for football. The thesis argues that these discourses were intimately related to
wider post-Fordist developments and were privileged both because of those (post-
Fordist) developments and the organic transformation of football itself.
The thesis goes on to suggest that the conjunctural discourses of reform were
implemented by a fraction of the capitalist class, the new business class and Part N,
involves an extensive examination of this class fraction's participation in the game and
the fans' resistance and compliance to this project. By examining both the long-term,
organic developments and the more immediate conjunctural moments of the 1980s, the
thesis attempts to provide a holistic account of recent developments in football, which
it is hoped will throw light on Britain's post-Fordist transformation.

Citation

King, A. The Premier League and the new consumption of football. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 16, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 16, 2011
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1995