Having watched so many pl games this season with pl teams parking their buses and still getting thumped eventually, a la last night, I've lost interest in seeing us in the pl as it now stands. What value have Norwich, wolves, Bolton, Blackburn, Birmingham, QPR gotten from their visits to the holy grail. Most are now to their necks in debt and may never recover. At best they had maybe a dozen enjoyable games in a season. It's not all it's crapped up to be in my opinion and is little better than a gravy train for their owners
It's an aspirational thing, Eire. We all want to go to Heaven, though it might no be what it's cracked up to be (Would Heaven suit any of us here - no booze, ***s, gambling, swearing, loose women?). Seriously though, our club will die if we don't make it there at some point. We are in terminal decline in terms of support - no kid wants to have the pish ripped out of him for wearing a Leeds shirt at school or play. We've all seen the invasion of 'other' shirts in Yorkshire, & it can only get worse. It will choke us. Chokes me already!
Agree with WJ I've enjoyed seeing us play at every level, its Leeds I follow and not the opposition. But to carry on a half decent legacy we need to be back in the prem and attracting the next generation of fans.
For a club the size of ours with our history, of course the PL is the holy grail. Its just that getting there is harder and staying there without serious investment is harder still
Don't really watch the Premier, when Leeds United get back up I will of course, but it'll always be Division 1 to me. Sky have ruined football. Afternoon all...
I enjoyed my league one days Bristol Rovers away Yeovil away Crewe all as enjoyable as European aways. watching Aston Villa play horrible football just to try and get a 0-0 against Man City isn't too appealing to me
At the moment we are playing 5th division football in real terms, simply because there is the top 4 in the prem that has always been there, and now has 2 other clubs squeezing in to make it a top 6. Clubs in the 2nd division are fighting for 6th to 10th places and the 3rd division is 10th to 20th all trying to escape relegation. Clubs staying in the prem will net between £85m and £120m per year from TV revenues and then whatever else they make from season tickets, match day tickets, hospitality, food and drink, sponsorship, advertising and kit sales. They can obviously charge more for all those things on the back of being a prem club. The 3 relegated sides all make £48m for being **** and this still makes them far stronger than other championship teams. So in the championship you have a core of top 6 clubs all trying for promotion and these clubs in the main have all had either parachute payments or investment to make them competitive. These clubs are the 4th division of football and we fall into the 5th division as we dont own the ground, dont own the training facilities and have loads of debt and no investment. This could of course change this summer but it will still only mean we move up to the 4th division and try and fight the likes of QPR and other teams who have parachute payments. Cardiff will keep the core of their prem squad and should bounce back. Fulham will also be too strong as the yank owner needs them in the prem so on paper QPR, Fulham and Cardiff will gain promotion next season whilst teams like Norwich, Bolton, Wigan, Brighton, Reading, Watford, Wolves, Blackburn try and upset things. Yes being in the prem means shed loads of cash, but this goes to the players and the clubs, and it costs us fans loads more for the pleasure of watching it.Yes we want to compete against the best, but unless a club has billions they cannot compete with the top 4 clubs. Newcastle fans hate their owner but they make a profit (Its a business remember) they sell their best and hardly replace but do just enough to keep them in the prem earning the big money. Their owner knows that spending £100m will still not get them into the top 4 so no point in spending. Villa are now in the same spot and I beilieve this unambitious model is the more profitable. You have to take your hat off to Burnley and Derby as they don't have rich owners and big invetments and hardly spent big money. What they have in common is great leadership from their managers. This proves that a good manager can inspire lesser players ..... So where is our inspirational manager when we needed him.
Docs assessment is pretty accurate. Maybe my point was misunderstood.Being in the pl and playing for a scoreless draw in every second game is pointless. Norwich finished season with four of those top six teams, and thankfully got virtually nothing from them. The pl bears no resemblance whatsoever to what it was when we were last there and could compete. Some would say we only managed that through gross overspending but the fact is we've only had a handful of memorable seasons in pl since wilko. As for the riches of the PL, as Doc points out, that goes into the squads anyway. If the parachute payments are so lucrative, why are Bolton, Birmingham, QPR etc up to their tonsils in debt?
It's the top level of English football. The League with immensely enticing financial benefits should you manage to stay in. A chance to go toe-to-toe with some of the best players in the World. High attendances, great atmospheres and amazing scenarios at both ends of the League. Why wouldn't you want to be there?
Of course we want to be in the Premier League, but not for the chance to try and scrape an upset against any of the billionaire clubs. Instead, the money that comes in will enable us to have a much better squad, which means we have the chance to go much further in the cup competitions. If you meet a CL team in the FA Cup final you then get the chance, as Hull have just shown, to play in the Europa League the next year. So, it isn't the Champions League and yes you won't EVER get into the top 4 without spending £200m+, but it's a lot better than watching the ****e served up while loitering in the Championship.
