The English top flight is changing, kids.
Having long been regarded as the greatest football league on planet Earth, the group of very important men that are in charge of it have decided that there’s no need to stick a sponsor in its name any more. As a result, from this season on the Barclays Premier League is now known simply as ‘The Premier League’.
There’s been other tweaks, too. As well as having a fancy new logo, we also told you a few weeks back about how they’ve changed the appearance of the Man of the Match award trophy so that it now looks like the lovechild of a bottle of aftershave and a yellow lego brick.
So, do the changes stop there? Not at all.
It’s also been revealed that the process of choosing the Premier League’s player and manager of the month has also been adjusted.
Previously the awards were decided by a panel made up of former players and managers, but it’s now been revealed that football fans will be given the chance to vote, too.
A combination of votes from the old panel and the public vote – which will be run on the Premier League’s official Twitter account – will now be used to determine which players and managers are given the monthly awards.
Hang on a minute… an online poll will be used? That can only mean one thing… Lots and lots of jokes about Arsenal fans.
https://twitter.com/PGregson1992/status/771673335080087552
https://twitter.com/TheJimmyMethod/status/771708456277598212
Arsenal players will always win the player of the month award provided they are nominated as long as twitter polls are involved.
— Donna Paulsen (@KojoSadat) September 2, 2016
https://twitter.com/fabamos90/status/771664170118844418
Player of the month is now a public poll? It's like they want Arsenal to win it all…
— Nana Prempeh (@Scochy_) September 2, 2016
Give it to arsenal fans when it comes to online polls …no chill https://t.co/9IYrr7928r
— YEMMYCOCO✨ (@Yemmie_) September 2, 2016
Early congratulations to any Arsenal player for winning the PL player of the month award consecutively!😏🎊🎉 https://t.co/VlNqkcLL2g
— ⒿⒸ (@Official_JC95) September 2, 2016
Something tells us the Manager of the Month award might not be quite so clear-cut.
The public just can’t be trusted with public votes, as any of us who voted for Ronnie O’Brien as Time Magazine’s Man of the Century back in the late 90s can testify.
Wooly interviews the great Brian Cody and a bumper preview of the All-Ireland Hurling Final in the latest GAA Hour.
