Stoke city defender Jonathan Woodgate has said that there has been a decline in the level of English football over the last couple of seasons. English clubs have always had it their way in the Champions League – the elite European competition – over the last couple of years. In fact, there have been three English clubs in the semifinals only a few seasons ago, but this time around, only Chelsea are flying the flag for England. This has been the case for the last couple of years, as the Spanish league has risen in prominence of late. This has led Jonathan Woodgate to believe that English football is on the decline, with the English Premier league clubs mainly responsible for it.
Jonathan Woodgate also argues that the current Premier league table is a perfect reflection of that because of the fact that there’s only four points separating them from Liverpool, who won the Champions League only seven years ago. There are now many teams that are capable of challenging the usual top four, which slowly seems to be disintegrating. Liverpool have not been in the top four for many seasons now, while Chelsea are also looking not to be capable of finishing this time around, Fernando Torres has had a torrid time.
“I don’t think the standard is as good as it has been. You can tell that because teams aren’t too far behind Liverpool, and that’s no disrespect to Liverpool. It hasn’t been a great league this season, but I don’t know why. Athletic Bilbao dominated Manchester United over two games, which has never been seen. Maybe the quality has just gone out of the league a bit, although Swansea have been unbelievable,” he told the Daily Star. The early exits of the Manchester clubs from the Champions League is also a major point for Jonathan Woodgate to believe that the Premier league is on the decline.