The British are Coming! Premier League clubs have eyes on the US prize at vital time

A host of Premier League clubs are conducting their pre-season tours in the USA

Chelsea’s Noni Madueke and Ben Chilwell after the clash with Wrexham in Santa Clara (GETTY IMAGES)

Back in 1775 it was industrialist Paul Revere who rode horseback on his midnight ride to tell nearby minutemen of the approach of the British troops before the battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.

“The British are coming” is a phrase that has lasted for centuries, one tied to the first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War. What was delivered was an American victory, one that saw support for the anti-British militia surge.

That was 249 years ago, and it’s fair to say that relations have improved somewhat in that time. From adversaries to ‘Transatlantic cousins’, and a succession of presidents and prime ministers extolling the virtues of the ‘special relationship’.

Now, in 2024, the British are arriving en masse to engage in a different kind of war in the US, the one for hearts and minds when it comes to the English Premier League and the wares it has to sell.

Back in 1994 the US held its first World Cup. It remains the most well attended World Cup finals in history, and while Major League Soccer was spawned from it two years later, ‘soccer’ failed to catch fire in the way that had been hoped, with the sheer amount of major league professional sport on offer to Americans proving tough. Wrangling an audience was a challenging affair for some time, even with the likes of David Beckham and Thierry Henry heading stateside in major markets as part of a bid to grow the game.

The past few years has seen the tide turn, however.