A Thread on Serie A Disrespect

Almost every time I open twitter, instagram, or YouTube, I see Serie A slander (mostly from PL fans). I have always found it ironic that the most ignorant people love to criticize Serie A the most, and the older British generation has a lot more respect than the younger gen

I will explain this RECENT performance discrepancy for those who do not understand it. Here we see an expenditure comparison of the Premier League and Serie A clubs from Calciopoli to the 2018 World Cup. The combination of FFP, foreign takeovers, the global financial crisis,

And calciopoli, created this gap. Before this period, AC Milan and Juventus were Champions League finalists or semi-finalists almost every year, and even Inter, Lazio, and Roma were competitive. The Italian clubs and the Italian league were unmatched in the 1980s and 1990s.

Squads were filled with World Cup Winners, Ballon d’Or winners, the best youngsters (outside of Madrid and Barcelona), and the best managers. Sacchi, Lippi, and Capello were the equivalent to Guardiola, Klopp, and Flick (except they were arguable bigger and more revolutionary)

After the 1992 founding of the Premier League (which had a similar start to the Super League that all English fans were against), TV money and exposure to North American and other untouched markets began. Here is a comparison of TV money between leagues. 19th place > 1st

Here is an expenditure comparison over 3 time periods.
Time Period 1: Start of European Comp to PL founding
Time Period 2: PL founding to Calciopoli
Time Period 3: Calciopoli to 2018 WC

As you can see, the Italian teams were always the strongest and the richest before TV deals

Now we can compare income and revenue in 2021. Juventus are 9 time champions and 2 time UCL finalists within the last decade, but they have less value and revenue than PL clubs with ZERO trophies in a DECADE. Bayern and PSG have domestic monopolies and no real comp.

In regard to arguments about on the pitch performance, you always hear that Serie A is boring, there is no depth in the league, and it is uncompetitive. Even with financial obstacles (especially for smaller teams), we have seen the talents like De Paul develop at smaller clubs

When people say Serie A is boring, I suggest they watch Sassuolo or Hellas Verona. Not only do they have great youngsters and managers, but they play modern and attacking football (much better than teams like Burnley for example). High press, playing out of the back, scoring.

These clubs are an example of success with no money. Look at Atalanta who make less money than EFL Championships; UCL quarters, defeat Liverpool at Anfield, score the second most in Europe. They do this without any money, simply because they are well managed and scout well.

If the Premier League is so competitive, why is the title race over by December or January most of the time? Just compare the depth; Serie A has 7 HUGE clubs and many other strong clubs as mentioned before. Leicester City (who lost to Slavia Prague) and Spurs (Zagreb)

Compare 14th. Florentine boast some of the best youngsters in the WORLD, one of the greatest players of the century, yet they sit in 14th. Burnley have glorified nobodies, and they sit in 14th. The talent isn’t even comparable between the two teams, but allegedly PL depth>SerieA

Also never forget the players built in Italy that are now thriving in the Premier League. It is convenient when Liverpool fans forget that 2 of their 3 most crucial players came from Roma. United’s two best players came from Serie A.

The list of players goes on FOREVER

Lastly, they best managers in the Premier League era have been disproportionately Italian. If the style is so boring and ineffective, how did Conte win the league with a team that finished outside of Europe the year before? How did Ranieri do the impossible with Leicester?

VERDICT: Have a little respect for Serie A. The constant slander is uninformed and ignorant. Wind the clock back 30 years and the roles would be reversed, except I don’t think PL fans had to be harassed on the internet every day... (sorry if there are typos)