blues fan in peace, no Wumming please!! I reckon there are 3 separate leagues in the premiership... (teams in alphabetical order in their respective mini league ) Arsenal Chelsea Liverpool Man U Man City Spurs. The top 6. The money clubs...you can now pretty much bet safely that these 6 will be the top 6 barring injuries and poor form. =============================================================== Aston Villa Everton just slightly ahead of the rest, but still scrapping it out in this mid table mini league, always too good to go down, maybe win a cup or get to a final, maybe get a place in europe, but not enough financial clout to chase the big boys... followed by Birmingham City Blackburn Bolton Fulham Newcastle Utd Sunderland West Ham West Brom the teams that struggle to get a good result every week, bad luck or injuries or financial woes can send them down, but with a good chance of coming straight back up. =============================================================== then the also rans. you have to be pretty good to get up to the premier league, but staying up is a different matter... good performances will keep them up, but the drop is always perilously close... Blackpool Stoke Wigan Wolves =============================================================== of course, you then have your teams fighting to get up from the lower leagues, the likes of Barnsley Burnley Derby Forest Leeds Leicester Norwich Portsmouth Reading Sheff U Sheff W Southampton... They might well come up, even stay up for a season, but can they break it into the next 'section' up? So how hard is it to move from one to the other? What does it take, apart from money? how do you feel about where I have placed your team? Agree, disagree? how would the league tables look if there were 3 leagues like this? (for example Blues have gotten points from most of the top 6 teams, but struggled against their counterparts...)
i think your been a bit hard on stoke. they've been in the top flight for the past 3-4 years and have never looked like going down. so to link them as no hopers is a bit harsh. the clubs with money will always be near the top and with man city sheiks coming in and spurs now looking like a team the top 4 is now a top 6. everton are a funny club. no money but usually finish in the top 8 down to a good manager who gets the most out of a limited squad. blackburn, bolton and fulham would finish anywhere from 6th to 16th in the last five years,bolton have pushed on with owen coyle but the other two are still unpridictable. usually where you finish is where you deserve to finish.
How West Ham and West Brom are not in that bottom group i do not know. As a Wolves fan we have under performed some games this season and thrown away silly points also which is why we are where we are, I still have every hope that we can make it out the bottom 3 before the end of the season and any team from Fulham(11th) down are still pretty much in that bottom group as far as i am concerned. Worst case i would bring West Ham and West Brom into the bottom group and kick Stoke back into the group above. The relegated 3 will most likely be 3 of either Wolves, West Ham, West Brom, Blackpool or Wigan.
Birmingham 2-3 Bolton Bolton 7th placed. You have grouped them lower than aston villa and everton. Bolton 2-0 Everton Bolton 3-2 Aston Villa. Don't show yourself up EDIT - You talk about Aston Villa and Everton maybe winning a cup and maybe getting into Europe. Bolton - Stoke. FA Cup semi final. We win that, maybe win the cup and we get into Europe anyway
For me it's: United Chelsea City Arsenal: The current big four in terms of results. ------- Spurs: In the transitional period to the above, not quite there. ------- Liverpool Sunderland Stoke: Clubs looking to push on/get back to where they were. ------- Everton: Should be higher, very inconsistant. Villa -------- The rest scrapping for their lives.
I agree with the notion that the OP has been harsh on Stoke. They have shown that they can play against the big teams. Perhaps tier 2? Also, Blackburn currently in tier 2 as well? A swap for Stoke?
The bottom is so tight that every week opinions change. Paddy Power has it in this order betting wise: 2/5 Wigan 6/5 Blackpool 13/8 Birmingham 13/8 West Brom 13/8 West Ham 15/8 Wolves 2/1 Blackburn 7/1 Villa 14/1 Newcastle 14/1 Fulham 22/1 Stoke 66/1 Sunderland
if the odds are that good on villa, they may be worth a cheeky few quid if they continue the way they are...
I'd have to disagree with the OP. I think this season there are actually only 2 mini-leagues emerging. The bottom of the Premier League table is brilliant, I think pretty much anyone up to about 9th place is still well and truly in the relegation battle (as no one below 9th is more than 6 points clear) which means things change around every week. Then you have the top 6, which only leaves Bolton and Everton as the only teams with nothing to play for, and since there are 8 games to go, I suppose either of them could still go in to the upper league or the lower one.
Are you serious? Barnsley - In the bottom half and fighting relegation every year since they were promoted in 2006 Derby - In the bottom half for almost all of this season and the fans want the manager sacked. Sheff U - One of the favourites to go down to League One and the fans want the manager sacked after 3 months Sheff W - Fighting relegation to the FOURTH DIVISION Southampton - In the 3rd Division
dont see how everton and villa should be ahead of the rest there as average as us all there are 2 distinct mini leagues and thats just the top 6 and then the rest villa are not a team pushing for europe at all, sunderland and liverpool fair enough are up there but theres always a chance of being pulled into a scrap, also harsh sticking stoke in that category but its a matter of opinions
for me its THE BIG 4 ( man utd man city arsenal chelsea) TEAMS WHICH FINISH HIGH EVERY SEASON ( spurs liverpool everton aston villa fulham newcastle
Well as a Rovers fan I am disappointed with the last season and how it has affected my club.We have always struggled to fight above our weight since we got in the Premiership on the back of our then benefactor spending big money like 3 million on Shearer and 5 million on Sutton.The situation is that we spend too much on salaries compared to our turnover which is not enough as we only charge 300 for a season ticket and average around 25000 fans per game.The fact is it takes time to build up a quality squad and relies on the managers acumen in the transfer market.We had excellent aquistions made by Mark Hughes who I still believe was our best ever manager players like Samba and Santa Cruz cost us next to nothing,D Bentley was another who we sold for big money he was aquired for very little money.Sam was ok but his style of football is solely designed on the skill level of his players so he is adaptable and will keep you in the Premiership but expect falling gates due to the crap football on display.The fact is you need a manager who is a cross between these two managers to be successful but the standard is difficult to maintain due to the big predator clubs who use money rather than guile or managerial coaching to stay at the top.I believe all the good managers are at small clubs Man U Chelsea and City buy their success as Man U have just done by taking our young star defender away from us.We have a unknown guy in charge the Indian owners picked our second coach from our staff when they bought the club so as noone has heard of him so we had a mini players revolt a fans revolt but noone cared at the club as the owners live at the other side of the world.I feel we may go down as QPR have a good manager and money but Swansea and Norwich will probably go down as all the so cal;led crap squads are definately better than the squads that have come up.
