Fever Pitch: The Rise of the Premier League
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- Episode
- Episode Two
- Broadcast Info
- 2021 (57 mins)
- Description
- With back-to-back titles in the first two seasons of the Premier League, Alex Ferguson has his eyes set on building a legacy at the seemingly invincible Manchester United. Thirty miles away at unfashionable Blackburn Rovers, multi-millionaire owner Jack Walker still has other ideas. Having finished 4th and then 2nd to United, he and his manager Kenny Dalglish are determined to go one better. With a personal fortune of £360 million, he has the money and the appetite to spend his way to success. After buying Alan Shearer for a British transfer record, he goes one better and smashes it again by signing Chris Sutton for £5m. But the rapid injection of money into the game - players’ salaries are hitting £10,000 a week - is starting to create a ‘them and us’ divide with the fans. The David and Goliath title race between Blackburn and United is too close to call until one cold January night half-way through the season, when Eric Cantona launches himself into the terraces of Selhurst Park and kung-fu kicks a Crystal Palace supporter who’s verbally abused him. It’s reported Cantona has been provoked by a racist slur, but his actions cause national outrage, and the threat of a prison term looms for the mercurial Frenchman. Despite the repackaging of football and the fanfare of the new Premier League, the sinister underbelly of racism remains.
- Genre
- Business Studies; Culture; Media; Sport
How to cite this record
The Open University, "Fever Pitch: The Rise of the Premier League". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/240264 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)