The Premier League is ridiculously competitive! If you're not qualifying for Europe, you're practically in a relegation battle.
I disagree entirely. If you're not one of the big 4 or 6 [however you want to measure it] you're basically match fodder for the richest ones, with no hope of achieving anything other than Premiership survival. That's no way to set up a league. By comparison, the Championship, League One and Two are beacons of competition.
Stoke, Birmingham and Fulham are all playing in Europe this year, so I bet they'd disagree that there's no hope of achieving anything. And what is it that every team hopes to achieve when playing in League 1 or the Championship? GETTING CLOSER TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE. Beacons of competition? We all knew from the off that Saints were too good not to get promoted last season, and that QPR would buy their way to winning the Championship. The only reason that League 2 is competitive is that the clubs are all equally penniless. The Premier League is the holy grail. Yes, I'll admit there's a lack of competition in the race for the title and Champions League places, but the other 16-odd teams are there for a lot more than to just act as fodder for the big guns.
The one line you've written [and I've emboldened] undermines all that you've said otherwise. I acceptt there is competition of sorts, but the fact that a realistic title challenge is impossible for any club other than perhaps 4 or less, is the reason why the hype is brighter than the reality. As I said, when the Premiership becomes as competitive as the lower leagues, then it'll truly be fantastic. Of course, this is my opinion. You have yours.
It really doesn't, because my point was that there are things to be aiming for other than the Champions League and Premier League title. I can even flip that on you and say you've just undermined your own point, because if you think that the only thing worth aiming for is the Premier League title and Champions League places, then there is no competition in the lower leagues because there is zero chance of achieving those aims. All you can hope for is promotion so you can get that little bit closer. In the lower divisions, the only thing anyone wants is promotion. Even winning the league is relatively unimportant. A top 7 or 8 finish in the Premier League means you've achieved something by qualifying for Europe, and on top of that, there's the fact that a Premier League team has a much better chance of winning the FA Cup or Carling Cup, presumably due to having a better squad. Yes, I wish there was more competition for the title, but that doesn't at all detract from my point. And like I said before, there really isn't that much competition for promotion in this division anyway. I can already with some confidence write out the following teams at this early stage in the season: Palace, Peterborough, Reading, Barnsley, Watford, Portsmouth, Doncaster, Forest, Coventry, Millwall, Bristol City.
Hmm, we're not really finding a consensus are we..? Yes, it's easier to write off the clubs you've highlighted after 10 games. But could you do the same at the start of the season..? I doubt it. In the Premiership you can write off at least 14, or more teams ambitions to the title before a single ball is struck, and that's the difference. Shall I list them..? Bolton Blackburn Wigan WBA Sunderland Wolves Everton Fulham QPR Swansea Norwich Stoke Aston Villa Newcastle and amazingly, after 10 games, a new one has been added - Arsenal. Those clubs with the slimmest of slim chances are: Liverpool Spurs Which leaves Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea as the only ones who YOU KNOW are going to be competing for top honours. Now, apart from the suicidal part Arsenal have played this season, I could have listed all those teams, and their chances any time in the close season, and know I'd be right. That's barely better than the Scottish Premiership, and it doesn't speak of great competition. Again, my opinion only, and it's my evidence suggesting that actually, the Premiership is rather boring. Of course, we'll shake them up when we get there, but that's another story.
I am optimistic that it'll even out in the future with new rules about clubs having to spend within their own means, give a certain amount of squad numbers to academy-raised players, etc. I think all this foreign investment from eastern tycoons is just a phase. That or eventually every club will be super rich.
Well, I'll hope for that too. The sooner it arrives, the sooner we can have a break from predicting the outcome of the Premiership before it actually starts. Frankly, I'm fed up to the back teeth hearing about ManU and the Significant Others. I am so uninterested in that stuff, you wouldn't believe.
I'm not bothered by United because they more or less have done things the right way, but whenever I see Chelsea or Man City win anything it does make me hate football a little. Same now goes for QPR and Leicester.
Hmm, well what is the wrong way..? I assume you mean buying expensive players in to get onto the top tier as quickly as possible. My answer to that is why wait..? ManU did it the right way, so to speak, simply because they were able to. The positioned themselves pretty expertly prior to the opening of the Premiership, which they helped vote in, and they were a pretty damn rich club even back when being rich was not a patch on what it is today. The timing was right for them. The Premier League started and they got their sums just right to maximise its potential. They also benefited from another golden generation of academy players. Of course, I'm talking of the Scholes, Beckham, Giggs, Neville, Butt, etc... crowd. Previous to them they'd bought the players they needed just like everybody else, and only because they couldn't sustain the outlay, they hadn't won any title for some 26 years, when Best, Charlton, Law, etc... were at their height. But don't be deceived - when ManU have needed to they've spent very, very big indeed. So let's not run away with the idea that somehow the way they have done things is legitimate and every body else is buying, or has bought, their success. Personally, I see the titles that Liverpool won in the pre-Premiership days as more legitimate, if we can put that label on their achievements. But they bought players too, whilst surrounding a core of academy youngsters. What they didn't do was spend big at all. They got players in who were capable and made them superb. Add in Brian Clough's Derby and Nott'm Forest teams, and that's where the real achievements lie. And are Saints doing things more or less the right way..? What happens when they get to the Premiership..? Do you think they won't spend money..? It's Wednesday. Just forever to wait until the next game then. Keep the conversation going.
Well I'm taking advantage and going to watch The Cobblers as living in Northampton I am a 20 minute drive from the ground. Two reasons for this: 1. Help support the local side and my boy's teams goalie supports them 2. All this top of the league, champagne football is getting me a bit "dizzy" and I think my body needs a fix of watching dire, head slapping football.
I believe that the wrong way is having money injected into the club and spending vast amounts of money that you haven't earned. United aren't perfect in that respect, and they have accumulated massive debt, but at least their success isn't built on cash injections from some tycoon who treats the club as his hobby. Manchester United is an enormous business which makes a fortune off merchandise and ticket sales, so when they spend big, they are spending what they have earned. I also have to give them credit for the way they have wiped out most of their debt over the last couple of years, and begun to look to their academy again. I believe that eventually new laws will prevent these clubs spending what they haven't earned and therefore these tycoons won't be able to buy success anymore. Then we may see a return to the days of those legitimate successes you mentioned, where money didn't play as big a part. As for Saints, it seems we will be well prepared for this new era, because we are debt-free, spending within our own means and have an excellent academy. We will have to spend money, but it'll be money we've earned and there's nothing wrong with that.
