In the early 1990s, English First Division clubs believed that a radical restructuring of football was needed if they and the game in general were to develop and flourish.
So on 17 July 1991, they signed the Founder Members Agreement, establishing the basic principles for the setting up of the Premier League.
The League would have commercial independence from the Football League and The FA, leaving it free to organise its own broadcast and sponsorship agreement.
On 20 February 1992, the 22 First Division clubs resigned from the Football League en masse and three months later, on 27 May, the Premier League was established as a limited company.
The first television deal was struck with pay-TV broadcaster BSkyB, a radical move at the time, but Sky has been ever-present and has played a key role in developing the League to its present levels.
The inaugural Premier League campaign started on Saturday 15 August, 1992, with 22 clubs.
The 22 inaugural members of the new Premier League were Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Wimbledon.
Of these, six clubs have been ever-present in the Premier League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
When the Premier League was formed, there was always the intention to reduce the number of clubs to 20 to promote development and excellence at club and international level. This was achieved at the end of the 1994/95 season when four clubs were relegated and just two promoted.
