Seriously, I think Sky has been very hands on, and influential, over the Premier League’s decisions over the last decade.
Sky stole football from the league, greasing many hands so they could create the Premier League. They then proceeded to build their whole sports package around the red three, plus Everton and Spurs (the original big 5).
When Chelsea broke the power base through unprecedented financial investment, Sky were the first to drive the narrative to discredit any Chelsea success. Until they realised that it wasn’t affecting the 3 red teams that much, they were happy to let Everton and Spurs slip back as the subscriptions kept increasing, and Sky was becoming more accessible around the world.
2008 the laughing stock of English football, a once giant of the game, a bankrupt club in the making Manchester City FC, would shock the football world with the takeover by Sheikh Mansour and the signing of Robinho.
From that moment in 2008, City faced discrimination, lies, and collusion involving some of the most powerful people/organisations in football, and media, driven through greed and fear, they set their plans to stop another Chelsea type project.