as i say, the same argument may have taken place on another forum or in a different year, but certainly when i was involved it was during the pre-season of our first premier league campaign. in reality it doesn't matter when it was, his remarks were disrespectful and extremely naive. i remember saying when we were in league one that the top 7 or 8 teams were all of a far higher standard than usual and that they were all capable of finishing near the top of the championship. that remark was laughed out of town by championship fans at the time but the following season all three promoted sides challenged for promotion and finished in the top 8 whilst the year after two of the three reached the top 7. league one is as strong as it has ever been in terms of quality because the numerous imports at the top of the game mean a number of players who would normally play at a higher level have had to find a club lower down. of course the standard overall is not brilliant - its the third tier, but what grated me enormously was his assumption that there was no talent in that league, 'full of monkey's' apparently. well lets have a look at this lot:
carl jenkinson, alex oxlade-chamberlain, matt lowton, ashley westwood, nick powell, russell martin, bradley johnson, robert snodgrass, elliott bennett, anthony pilkington, wes hoolahan, grant holt, adam lallana, rickie lambert, billy jones, gareth mcauley
just off the top of my head, running through the premier league, i can think of these players who have all had decent seasons at premier league level but were plucked from league one (or have been promoted from there) in very recent seasons. yes there's some dross in league one - there is in the premier league too - but it was always the term 'monkeys' which i found utterly pathetic.
edit. ignore mcauley. don't think he played in league one as the binners bought him.