Premier League 2019/20: What we learned from unprecedented season

With players impacting social change, VAR controversy and Covid-19 – it’s been a season like no other

The strangest of Premier League seasons is finally over.

Liverpool are champions at last, while Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, despite Leicester’s incredible start to the campaign, will join them in next season’s Champions League.

Norwich City, Watford and Bournemouth were relegated, while Aston Villa pulled off a great escape.

But while there was drama to an extent, it will forever be known for controversy surrounding VAR, players impacting social change off the pitch and, of course, the immense impact of Covid-19.

Here is what our writers learned from the season.

Liverpool eased to the Premier League title (POOL/AFP via Getty) (AFP via Getty)

Miguel Delaney: Football finds a way. It won’t seem like it now, as an element of normality returns, but there were times in March and April when it genuinely seemed impossible that football would be played again before a vaccine. That is testament to the work done by the Premier League and European football, as well as a reflection of the financial forces behind the game, that provoke other issues. The ease with which Liverpool won the title, and another low points threshold for relegation, points to the immense financial disparity that is a consequence of that and conditions the game more than anything else.

Melissa Reddy: Football, bloody hell. Remember those months without it? Not the one, mate. Beyond being an escape and a passion, it became apparent just how much the game means to so many – it is their livelihoods. We often only think about the headliners: managers and players – but the coronavirus-enforced suspension of football trained our thoughts with a wider lens: scouts, matchday casual staff, the medical teams. It made us think about the sustainability of clubs and leagues… I learnt more about the mechanisms of the game when no balls were being kicked and while there badly needs to be a reset, I cannot see it happening. Still – remember those months without football? Not the one, mate.

Vithushan Ehantharajah: Football plays too great a part in our lives and nothing made that more apparent than when it was suddenly taken away from us. Don’t do that again, yeah?

Alex Pattle: The importance of football – It’s been said that football is the most important of the unimportant things in life. The Premier League’s return amid the coronavirus crisis was criticised from some quarters – understandably so – but was thankfully carried out as safely as possible. Once back, top-flight English football – and other leagues around the world – provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing pandemic.

Lawrence Ostlere: It is obvious enough, but football really is nothing without fans, and hearing players’ voices echoing in soulless empty stadiums has only served to underline the point.

Players showed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement (EPA)

Jack Rathborn: Money talks. There was a moment when it certainly looked impossible for the Premier League to be concluded due to the coronavirus pandemic. But here we are, one game remaining, and football has impressively found a way to almost seamlessly carry out daily games and a welcome distraction as the world seemingly falls apart around us.

Tom Kershaw: That no matter how great the financial disparity, shocks such as Sheffield United’s rise or Arsenal and Tottenham’s implosions will always occur. Off it, that whether walking into a crisis of its own making or leading sport’s return from one, football never truly stops.

Karl Matchett: Just when you think a team, or person, has reached the heights, there’s always another step to take. That works in both directions: the heights of consistency, of excellence, of stupidity, of abysmal form, of being overrated, the lot. But as above, it also seems that football found a place in life this year, an important role for the players to make themselves heard and make a real difference in more ways than just on the pitch. Oh, and that everybody hates the first-half cooling break.

Mark Critchley: That I’m ready for it to end.