Think i get it. You have to want to challenge yourself against the best otherwise whats the point? Tbh i think the championship is ****. Lots of poor teams playing negative football- oh wait that was us!! We all think Rosenior is fantastic but how will we know unless he is marking Suarez, Rooney or Balotelli week in week out.
The things I dislike abbout the EPL.. 1) The endless media hype and picking though the entrails 2) Certain money grabbing players and Agents 3) The Cost of it all and the ridiculous expectations stacked aginst the reality of the big money clubs 4) The fact that when you switch on any football programme on BBC/Sky it's the top 6 teams they want to talk about and no-one else. 5) The fan culture......armschair fans who attach themselves to the latest prospect and talk about "us" as if they are part of the team on the pitch. 6) I could go on forever....
Not sure the Wigan/ Bolton models would be good to follow. Watching them must have been dire over the last 10 years. Soulless stadiums, best hope is top 20 finish. Where is the enjoyment in that? Recall talking to some Bolton fans when we played them away, they were weren't gonna renew the following season as it had become that boring. Worried me then that they were the clubs we were aspiring to. I think WBA fans have probably had the best deal over the last decade. To me the 'journey' was far better than 'the destination' last time and no reason to believe it would be any different the next
I find it impossible to disagree with your points. The answer is get rid of Sky though, i realise its tough for exiles. Until we get up there again no one knows how it will pan out at City. The vultures will be swooping in.
case in point: Stoke 2-1 Spurs.. ESPN "commentators" instead of congratulating the Stoke team whinge endlessly about the 6 penalties Spurs should have had, red cards not been red cards.. OK some of it is true but it seems to me the Sky, ESPN networks just want to have the now BIG 6 winning all season to keep it exciting for TV audiences.. and screw the little clubs.. Being an armchair 'fan' means you HAVE TO "support" one of the big 6.. or you won't see "your team" play.. it's ridiculous.. guy on the phone last week "Which team in England do you support?" me "Hull City, we're in the second division" brief pause.. "yes but which BIG 4 team do you prefer?" me "none of them, I only support Hull City" brief silence, as the cogs went round.. some people, especially the French who get live matches on CANAL+ have no concept of english football other than the BIG 4 as Canal + call them.. probably confuses them now they have to call it a BIG 6.. when they discuss matches here, the commentators know little about the opposition teams and seem bemused or mildly annoyed if they lose or draw.. it might damage he ratings.. bless.
Well if we do get back up there I hope I see more games this time round. I waited 40 years to see us in the top flight and because of my job taking me round the Country and most times on a weekend, I only saw 3 Prem games in the 2 seasons we were up. Obviouslysaw one or two on Sky but it's never the same as being there. Trouble is, i'm still in the same job so it wouldn't be any different!! As for wanting to be up there again, hell yes!! We all want to reach as high as we can go in any profession otherwise what's the point? I want to see my club up there with the best, I want to feel the pride I did before. I was proud as punch when I was walking through Belfast Airport with my City shirt on when we was up there before and an Irish accent behind me said ''up the Tigers''. When I looked round there was an Irishman with a big smile on his face walking towards me and he congratulated me on my team getting promoted and said we'd waited long enough. It was a good feeling.
Also look at the clubs in the last few years that have been chewed up and spat out by the prem and ended up in financial ruin after it in the third division.Leicester, Norwich, Leeds, Southampton and probably Portsmouth this year if they aint carefull erm Crystal Palace and probably a few others too. Hell we dodged a bullet as well if it was'nt for some clever work by both Pearsons we could easily have been a division lower right now. Oh yeah and Birmingham are on the brink of bankruptcy too. Like I say we have to go for it and I'd be happy as a lark if we won this division but if we were rock bottom all next season cos we did'nt jeopodise our financial future on a big fling then I doubt the Barmby would make it past christmas as manager and that would be a damned shame. Oh yeah and tickets for the emirates are expected to be over a hundred quid a pop next season how do you like them apples!
Sickening isn't it. I must admit I laughed when John Motson was on radio 5 discussing the Champions League results. He said something like; "Well with the two Manchester clubs out we now only have the two English clubs ..." Fraudian slip or what?
On the debate whether it is better to stay in the Championship or go up to the EPL, I can understand the argument that to stay in the second tier you see a more competitive games. However the posters that say they wouldn't mind being a yoyo team, I feel this should be the way to build a good team over say 4 or 5 season, and if managed correctly should be able to do it without getting into debt, and using the extra revenue generated by being in the EPL. With parachute payments, and what should be left over from any season in the EPL, should be enough to get together a reasonably good squad.
I can see why the journey is better than the destination. However if you didn't have the end destination you wouldn't be on a journey..... That kind of makes sense to me. I can't deny i love just seeing my team win, but its knowing that we are aiming to win promotion and get up the table that makes it more special to win.
If fans dont want to get promoted then what do they do in March/April time when their team are on the verge of the play-offs/promotion? Stop supporting the team and hope that promotion doesn't occur so you can start again next season?
Top Post and i agree ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this,. this is what phil brown should have done last time. anyway, IF we get back to the PL in may 2012 then we now have the right people in charge of the club from top to bottom. i would set a wage limit of £20k a week but with PL survival bonus in all deals and also relegation clauses of a drop in wages of 40% accross the board. The PL survival bonus can be Paid Out from the following seasons tv monies. as for player recruitement. look for hungry players with a point to prove. keep well clear of journey men who just want easy money. keep this squad together as much as possible and add to it as we go along. similar to what stoke and wolves have done in quality. with £80m + not on offer from the TV rights alone IF that is not enough then i dont know what is. The rest of the clubs income....sponsorship - ticket sales etc etc etc should go towards the day to day running of the club and transfer kittty. £80million a season should be more than enough to pay for a squad good enough to keep you in the PL. end of. simples.
indeed they do. but its who you spend it on that matters most. the 3 that come down are normally the 3 with the worst squad or the ones who dont spend it at all. (ie. burnley came down with us with millions un-spent.)
Not wishing to jinx owt, and I aren't saying the club I support will achieve this , but it would be great if they did, Too young in 1966, IN the past I marked the occasion on the pitch at Fellows Park in 1985 and in the stands at the KCOM in 2005. But if a club from this region were to succeed in finish in a position to go up a division, etiquette obliges, nay, demands an appropriate recognition from the fanbase, the club and the local council. Some clubs are not very enthusiastic about celebrations while come councils have an agenda which appears to exclude the world's most popular sport. Be in no doubt, the local nay-sayers would attempt to impose a curfew and insist on bedtime at 9 with no Ovaltine. And yet I feel sure that they would not succeed No self-respecting fan base.would let such a happy event pass unmarked, whatever team they follow.
I must have one of those faces (LEAVE IT Rovertiger!) as most City fans were on the pitch at Fellows Park, but a copper in front of me point blank refused to let me go on it, and threatened to nick me if I tried to do so!
