Tim Sherwood Compares Different Premier League Era's, and the Result is Shocking

Tim Sherwood: "Today's Premier League Is No Better Than The 90s!"

Football can be a decidedly subjective topic - as fans, our beliefs, predictions and loyalties stem from the eras we grew up in, the teams we have supported from a young age, and the players we admired at the time, creating a vast array of opinions that no-one can claim can be absolutely 100% incorrect.

The same can be said for former Premier League winner Aston Villa and Tottenham coach Tim Sherwood, who discussed a range of topics with BetWright Betting UK in an interview last week.

Asked what he thought of the quality of today’s Premier League compared to the same division back when he was a player, Sherwood held a surprising answer in store.

“There is no comparison between now and back then - the quality of the 90s players was far superior to what it is now, pound for pound. You look at your Thierry Henrys and Dennis Bergkamps; I mean, jeez, you aren’t getting better than that.”

"I'm not sure he [Ten Hag] has improved anyone at that football club" 😳

Tim Sherwood has his say on Manchester United's current situation 🔴 pic.twitter.com/9lLuUwyYX2

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 16, 2023

He certainly has a point; the 90s and 00s certainly produced a strong lineage of Premier League icons whose achievements still echo into the present day. But still, it’s a brave call to say that players in 2026 have not built on the foundations laid by the class of the 90s. Certainly there is more footballing knowledge in the present day than there was back then.

But, from an alternative point of view, perhaps this is exactly why the threshold for being called “world class” is so much higher now - back in the days when tactical breakthroughs were coming every other day, player after player after player had the opportunity to break the glass ceiling. With the slightly more relaxed approach to tactical discipline, these players were able to make themselves icons simply by playing their own game. Sherwood’s list speaks for itself.

“Your Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink’s, Alan Shearer’s, Chris Sutton’s, Gianfranco Zola, world-class player’s, and your Eric Cantona’s, Teddy Sheringham’s - I mean, it was full of superstars, and even the academy boys like at Man United would be great examples, like Scholes is coming through, Gerrard is coming through at Liverpool. You know, these are generational players.”

It wasn’t just pre-existing names who were making world-renowned names for themselves during this period - youth talent, such as the likes of Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard, were able to get an early foothold in the professional game, both thanks to their obvious talent and due to the lack of stigma around playing young prospects at the time.

“The upbringing was different,” says Sherwood. “They’re tougher boys; they are coming out; they’re ready to play - I mean, you can just keep rolling them off the tongue. I couldn’t roll off many superstars around now. We call players now world-class, but I think we use that term too lightly. They’re not world class compared to back in the day.”

Thierry Henry x Dennis Bergkamp - Arsenal's Greatest Duo pic.twitter.com/2AKE2tSE0I

— Souster98 (@Souster98_YT) November 30, 2025

Sherwood had one other interesting point to make, which underlines this whole discussion: “Obviously, the game is different, but it’s not any better now; it’s just completely different. I played for Watford, Norwich, Blackburn and then Tottenham, and we never went into any game trying not to lose it. Some sides now say, ‘Oh, we just won’t get beat.’ Back then, it was toe to toe, have a go, just see what happens.”

This just highlights the fact that today’s ‘great teams’ are more dominant than they were back in the 90s. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but one thing it will do is make for less interesting football. If Man City play Brentford, you just know Brentford’s primary goal won’t be to score - it will be not to concede.