The chance for goals, the chance for wins And ultimately success, Made many think that Championship Life might be for the best, But up to now I have to say I´m enjoying it less, In the Championship contra the Premier League Not only because our good start Has left us for a while, Or because just for the moment We´re not top of the pile, But games down here just don´t contain The same panache and style, In the Championship contra the Premier League And I´m in the mÃnority Perhaps thinking this way, But Premier games, gave us the chance To surprise on the day, A little fish we might have been But here we are big prey, In the Championship contra the Premier League Up there I always was content To finish seventeenth, And a bonus it would have been To leave more underneath, But this year if we´re not top six Some will get out the wreath, In the Championship contra the Premier League It´s not the prestige or the cash Why I feel as I do, But competing against the best Was the key in my view, It kept us on our toes and brought The best out of our crew, The Premier League contra the Championship And every point seemed massive there Even one helped our need, And should we win occasionally Then three seemed huge indeed, And when it happened, well the joy Was special, we agreed, The Premier League contra the Championship So despite all the odds against And games we knew we´d lose, The years we had up there still shine As the best, as I muse, And hopefully our name again Will be part of their news, The Premier League contra the Championship. OTBC
You make a good argument for being in the PL RBF and I can't fault your logic. I'm quite enjoying being in the Championship, but we DO need to get back to winning ways and finding a way to unlock packed defences sooner rather than later!!! As you quite rightly say, a finish outside the play-offs would be considered a failure by most, including me!!!
I must say RBF, while we were winning, it did paper over the cracks of being a big fish in a disappointingly small pond, but I agree that in the big pond it was always exciting to see the big teams with their talented players, and to pull off a shock result was the icing on the cake!
Afternoon Gents - I just remember some saying, and not only on this board, how our relegation could just be a blessing in disguise. I didn´t actually agree at the time, although I was almost convinced, especially after the first 5 or 6 games. And although I agree, it was good to get a winning feeling back around the place, I´d still rather have 10 years of struggle in the PL than 1 year in the Championship. Up there we always had nothing to lose and everything to gain, here, being one of the bigger fish, we have everything to lose, and I just happen to prefer it the other way around. Let us be the underdog rather than the favourite any time. Naturally if we can get promoted, then the year won´t be completely wasted, but I wonder just how many of the current squad will again be able to cut it in the PL, if we do make it. And even if we are successful, it all suggests a summer of upheaval, and at the end of it, we may not be any better equipped for survival than we were three or four years ago. So I can´t really see the appeal of the Championship.
Perhaps it was our performances the past two years but in general I found the PL duller than the Championship. I agree it's where we want (and financially need) to be targeting but I do like the Championship set up. More games, regular weekend and Tues nights. What bugged me about the PL was our objective to simply survive. I don't think it's healthy for a competitive team to exist just looking to "hang in there". At least in the Championship we've got a real objective!
Similar debate going on over on the Guardian where Ipswich's 10K team is profiled. The comments from Wolves, Derby and Bolton fans certainly mirror some of my feelings, and although I loved being able to see more games over here on the box when we were in the PL, we were a tadpole amongst frogs. One poster suggested that as soon as a European Super League was created for the big boys only, the better for the rest of us...
HMMMM - I wonder if that would be a good idea. I'm sure if it did happen in a few years time, Sky would then concentrate on that and therere wouldn't be so much money floating about and players would have to take a drop in their exorbitant wage demands.
That, I would certainly agree with in principle, and it would definitely make the PL more competitive for the rest, but take the top teams, and some of the top players out of the PL and what you´re left with is not a lot better than the Championship anyway............. ........and JR´s probably right, all the tv interest would go that way too.
I can understand that Hairy, but I think for the first several years that´s what you have to do. What Southampton have done since they went back up, is still the exception rather than the rule imo. Naturally, getting thumped every other week can be very depressing for some, but that has a lot to do with what your own personal expectations are. Speaking for myself, I only ever really saw us as a bottom 7 or 8 Premier League side, now whether that´s being unduly under ambitious, or sanely realistic, is not for me to say, but that was just how it was.
I think for me the basic question is would you rather be a bigger fish in a smaller pond and I think I probably would most of the time. That said, you need to play in the bigger pool one in a while for a change of air. I know what I mean but not sure that I have said it, hope you can sift through the rubbish.
Perfectly clear THURNBY - other way around for me, I´d rather be a smaller fish in the larger pool most of the time. - but have to say that last night was one of the more enjoyable evenings, where we finally managed to turn our dominance ( though not ball possession) into goals and a win.
I've been mulling this over and I would tend to agree with you Thurnby. Whist it's great to see the 'megastars' of the PL grace the Carrow Road turf, I quite like the idea of going into games knowing we have a good chance of winning, as opposed to wondering how many we'll lose by. I respect your view as well RBF - this is a forum after all!!!!
I'm hoping that we can go up with a squad intact and a few quality additions, rather than bringing in 10 or so players and waiting for them to 'gel'. There's no time for that in the PL!
That would be the hope Rick but as we found out with Ricky and others last season, the additions do not always perform to their monetary tag and the gelling can take too long.
It should always be preferable to keep continuity in personnel (and tactics?) for promoted teams - I don't think Norwich would be a position to do either if we are good enough to get promoted. There are weak links throughout the team that I would be concerned about in the top flight. I would firstly question whether any of our defence are good enough. Every single one has crosses against them in my eyes, including our best, Turner, whose distribution isn't good (decisive) enough. Our midfield would need propping up, particularly in the centre, where Tettey, Johnson, Hoolahan, O'Neil etc all have struggled to sufficiently impose themselves in the past. We also need a proper left winger! Up front Hooper remains uncertain, Jerome passes muster, but clearly we would need a goal threat that only RVW provides IF he can remember where he left his shooting boots... Added to that the huge unknown quality of Adams and his tactical proficiency, which I question in a number of games this season in his persistence with 442... Much as I'd love to see us get promoted, the rational part if me almost prefers the idea of bolstering the personnel, getting rid of things like 'The Hoolahan Problem' as well as giving Adams some much needed time in the NCFC Managers area.
