13th Blackburn 20th Bolton 21st Wolves what does this say with regards to the quality of the PL and the quality of the championship? i thought that we were meant to be edged out by those teams that would bounce straight back up? well two of them are in a relegation dogfight but we are well clear with a 10 point gap. discuss.....
I think they have all suffered from some financial complacency and poor management resulting in their poor performance this season. The same goes for Blackpool from the previous season. None of them factored in relegation and probably had too many older players on Prem wages on their books for which they couldn't achieve a reasonable sale value so the parachute payment coming in after the drop ended up funding these players' wages rather than investing in new blood to get them back up. The one exception here is Rhodes at Blackburn who was a terrific buy. The one thing the Venkys have done right. He will probably move on to a Prem club this summer at £12m+ if he keeps up his scoring record as he won't want to stay in the Championship.
tbh the standard in the prem has dropped bigtime.......lets be honest about it.........................im not shocked with players on easy street and getting money chucked at em left right and centre. i`d say this league is maybe the third best in europe,but only due 2 money invested rather than the standards of british clubs
worth mentioning that all have sacked their managers..... all the teams have been run poorly, and you have to say years of mediocrity beckons for them unless they can turn a corner........ whilst the bluebirds are going full steam ahead to the PL....... all 3 promoted teams from the championship this season have a good chance of staying up this year too, the gaps getting closer it must be said
I'm with Aber on this one, prem has dropped bigtime. Arsenal 6th Liverpool 7th have been dire for a big part of the season. Even Spurs in 4th have not been as their best.
As I've said before, I think the strength of the premier league is a fallacy. There is a mini league of the top six, a fairly safe mid table six and a relegation league of eight. That is the way it has been in recent seasons. When you go up you only have to win 11 games out of 38, throw in a few draws and you are safe.
cheers dave ............and 2 top it off i`d say this is fergie`s worst set of players in his whole time at man utd(bar van persie)........but yet they have the most points ever at this stage game for game>>>>>>shocking stuff. could you imagine the invinsible arsenal team playing in todays era>>>>>>they would have been handed the trophy for christmas morning.
yep i agree hampshire tiz a split league.......and a pity we`ll never get a chance 2 win the top flight title .
If and When we get promoted, i can see massive investment coming in from the Far East, especially with TV rights and sponsorship, there is an absolute desire to follow any team that plays in red out that way, thats why Manure and Liverpool make annual trips to that area of the world. Therefore we could easily become one of the richest clubs in the PL and with that brings success aka Man City et al. It will be an interesting summer which could see all debts wiped out and a few very unexpected signature signings taking place. The caveat in all of this is that the owners will want their initial outlay back (I would) and whether or not major sponsorship and TV rights go through the books is another matter, because as we know an unsuccessful business is often kept trading for tax reasons. As i say 'The balls are in the air'.
I allowed myself a little chuckle and wry smile on reading that. I am not saying Cardiff will not survive next season (on the assumption they do go and - and should now) but you will see at first hand that finding 11 wins is not as straight forward as some might think. I will concede though than on paper it appears there is little difference in the top 3 or 4 from the Championship to that of the bottom half of the PL but there is a difference, again you will see it at first hand next season
Any team that can't win 11 out of 38 doesn't deserve to stay up and if that applies to us then so be it.
A team can get away with 10 or even 9 (possibly 8) wins along with a good few draws so I could not agree that if a team can't win 11 they don't deserve to stay up. As I suggested, you may well see for yourself next season. 11 wins (along with inevitable draws) will normally see a team comfortably in mid-table
No, he's not going to get the last word Hampshire. Here's my take on it - well Swampy did say "discuss....." Clubs coming down from the Prem have to adapt to the Championship style of play. It's no different from those that go up to the Prem having to cope with a change in standard - and yes it is generally higher up there no matter what some would like to think. The bottom 6 are a bit iffy to say the least, but Norwich and Fulham just above them play some lovely stuff that would see off most current Championship sides comfortably. West Ham had a culture shock when they dropped and it took them a while under Allardyce to get their act together - but they did it. Blackburn, Bolton and Wolves still haven't woken up yet and it doesn't look like they will. They were unprepared for a decent Championship standard of play coupled with the determination of the better teams already there to get out of it. Blackburn's owners have proved to be a joke, but the half decent players they retained have probably ensured their safety this year if nothing else. Bolton are a surprise to me. They have far better players than their table position indicates and Freedman has not proven to be the Messiah just yet. Wolves were the worst team I have seen at the CCS this season - they were appalling. If it wasn't for the three poor sides currently occupying the botton three spots (two of whom have already beaten us ), Bolton and Wolves could have both dropped straight through the trap door again. Whoever goes up will need to re-evaluate their squad to stay up - and however much it's frowned upon, that means spending money.
