Just looking at the Prem table after Man City's 7-0 thrashing of Leeds last night. The goal differences of those top 3 Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea are phenominal at +31, +33 and +27. Other than them, only West Ham (+9) and and Man Utd (+2) have a positive GD. The other 15 clubs are all negative or zero, and Leicester only managed zero because they thumped Newcastle 4-0 on the weekend. In contrast in the Championship, only Fulham have competed with them GD wise at +33 but from more games, and through the division there's a far more even split of positive/negative GD's at 10/11 with 3 clubs at zero. What does this tell us? F*ck knows.................... .............except that perhaps confirming waht we already know. Success in the Prem is a foregone conclusion before the season starts. The only thing to be decided is the order in which the top 3 finish. In the Championship, most teams have a chance to break into the big time before they get spat out again. Look at Leeds last night and Norwich who were virtually all conquering last season. Do we really want to go there (again)?
Not fussed to be honest. It's only about the money these days. Would be happy to be very competitive in the Championship (even that's a struggle right now) and have some more cup final opportunities to be honest. Then, with some luck the wealthy, selfish "big" clubs will eventually buy their way into their closed shop European Super League and eventually a World League and we can reset the world game with salary budget caps and restrictions on young player "farming" and a much better spread of the money (and do away with prize money so it does just become about winning trophies and not just avoiding relegation). Maybe I should have started this post with "Dear Santa"?
Watching City like it was under Dave Jones would do it for me. Breathtaking one minute, maddening the other but it was great entertainment.
I enjoy the occasional excursion into the top flight but not at the expense of the club. In general though, I agree with Brizzle and as a huge fan of Dave Jones, I agree with ninian.
Don't get me wrong. Seeing City in the top division brings a certain sense of pride... Striving to play at the highest level is ultimately what it's meant to be about after all. However, the football league does appear to be a much more level playing field in general (though even that's changing thanks to Parachute Payments) and hence is far more competitive where the majority of teams can genuinely believe they are in with a shot at success. Those days are long gone as far as the Premier League is concerned. Additionally the Premier League is also full of fans that could be deemed as "plastics" or glory supporters that will turn their back on a club in times of trouble (I won't say "their" club as half the time they are only interested when it suits and will go support someone else when things go wrong). I fully appreciate there are many ways to support your club (I certainly couldn't consider myself a regular attendee at games any more) but you still stick with it in your own way.... You don't just fall away and stop caring because your team is in the 2nd, 3rd or whatever tier and don't have global coverage any more....
