Lynam in hot-seat as Setanta kicks-off Premiership television coverage

‘COMPETITION’ was the buzzword bouncing off the polished wood floors and shiny chrome fittings of central London’s Century Club yesterday.

Setanta Sports chose a suitably lavish venue to unveil the team which will front their first season of Premiership television coverage — bought for a princely €924 million — and provide the first challenge to Sky’s domestic monopoly over the league’s live broadcast rights.

Michael O’Rourke, the company’s co-founder, spoke determinedly of tackling Sky — even gently mocking his rival’s new slogan, ‘All the football you’ll ever need’ — while Desmond Lynam, the veteran anchorman who was unveiled yesterday as an occasional Setanta presenter, believed it was high time Rupert Murdoch’s organisation was given a run for its money.

“Sky needs a competitor,” he announced. “They’ve had it their own way for a long time and it’s good for the Premiership that Setanta are getting involved.”

Lynam has a point. Setanta’s cash injection is part of a new €4bn, three-year rights package for a league which long ago cemented its position as the most lucrative domestic tournament in world football. The rewards have now assumed eye-watering proportions: next season’s champions will receive €74m, while even the bottom-placed club will find the blow of relegation softened by a €40m cheque.

“I don’t think the product needed reinvigorating but broadcast competition is always good,” Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, said.

“We are in a highly-regulated broadcasting environment, where we have given undertakings to the European Commission that we would have more than one broadcaster for our live rights and we are very pleased for Setanta.”

The irony is that just as the competition between Premiership broadcasters hots up, so the tournament itself stands accused of being less open than ever. The fact that only three different sides have won the title since 1995 is worrying enough for the league’s money men: of even greater concern should be seeing two of last season’s newly-promoted clubs — Watford and Sheffield United — sink without trace in their first season back among the elite, while two of the sides they replaced — Sunderland and Birmingham City, buoyed by €20m-worth of parachute payments — bounced straight back.

Scudamore rejects the notion that the top flight is now a closed shop, although Football League clubs will not be appeased by his reminder that the Premier League recently agreed to hand their poor relations €44m — just over €591,000 — per club — over the next three years.

“The fact is that we have been very successful in selling our tv rights,” Scudamore added, “and clubs invest that cash in playing talent which keeps the league the pre-eminent competition in the world. We don’t need to be anything other than proud of the condition of the Premier League.”

Yet even Setanta’s new team of pundits were not pretending that this season’s Premiership title would be contested between any sides other than Manchester United or Chelsea, last year’s top two.

Steve McManaman, the former Liverpool midfielder, suggested his old club would again pull up short, despite Rafael Benitez’s unprecedented spending spree this summer. He favours a revitalised Chelsea to regain their crown although, as he pointed out, a man with his history could hardly be expected to tip United.

“It’s true that there’s only two or maybe three teams that can win it but I don’t think it’s been damaged as a spectacle,” he added. “It’s still the biggest and best league in the world, and it certainly has the most money. You just have to look at how much the teams down towards the bottom end of the table, like Fulham, Wigan and West Ham, are spending to know that.

“But despite all that, it’s still hard to see anyone dislodging Chelsea and Manchester United. Liverpool finished 21 points behind United last season and it’s difficult to make up that kind of gap in one season. The top two have very strong squads, they’ve bought well and have excellent managers. It’s as simple as that.”

Setanta Sports is available to viewers via cable operators NTL and Chorus, to satellite customers on the Sky platform and with eircom broadband. To subscribe go to www.setanta.com or call 0818 203040