The Premier League

[Guest MaloneFM]

Let's return to last may.

Windass shoots, hits the post, Bradders lumps it over the half way line then passes out with the effort due to his boot to the head. It gets picked up by magic daps who skins the Hull left back and buries his hat trick.

And up we go.

Right now the Premier League (the so called greatest league in the world) is a stink pit. Liverpool have a new stadium on hold and the American owners are rowing like kids. Newcastle and West Ham have both had managers walk away because of interference from the board. The Arse are still whacking up season ticket prices to pay for the ground. The Glazers have put Manchester United in the red for the first time in years.

Manchester City are now the latest branch of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family. And have signed Robinho who probably hasn't got a clue where Eastlands is and thinks Sparky Hughes is an over affectionate fan the way he keeps wanting to stand next to him to have pictures taken.

Then there's us.

So the way it would probably pan out, should it have happened, we get more than one crushing defeat before Christmas, get knocked out of the fa cup by a smaller side, bearing where we are it would instantly become a giantkilling, those that bought season tickets to watch Manchester United at the Gate begin booing performances against West Brom and Blackburn not having a clue, having not been there for years.

Kids and sometimes adults with Liverpool shirts on and Bristolian accents sit with home supporters as they don't want to go to Anfield, talk of the mighty reds and cheer as the fourth one goes in. And you are sitting next to them.

Then Gary Johnson decides he's had enough. Steve Lansdown gets a decent offer from abroad and he's off. Players are bought and put on stupid wages to try to keep us up.

Going by the recent experience of Derby and the way Joke and Hull and even West Brom have been sniggered at and written off I can't see it being any different here.

Leeds were there for years and last week they scraped a draw against the gas. Would you still want to suffer all this right now?

If you would vote yes and try to convince me.

[havanatopia]

I voted yes, and in my view obviously.

why, you ask?.. because regardless of all the valid points you make about it being a stinking cess pool of dodgy foreign money it is 'all' we have. We do not have the choice of going up to the good ole' First Division where we had a fighting chance of ending in the top half and some; we have one Premier League, warts and all.

One has to push for the best in everything one does and the 'best' is the top flight of English football.

Perhaps City would be one of those teams that stays in English hands and adds to the voice of reason that says enough is enough we must have some controls before this free market orgy explodes. Only by being there, by being in it can we affect change for the better. You have to have faith that our team will be a force for good in the top flight as I believe the likes of Hull are; it still proves the smaller clubs can make it to the top flight.

Change must and will come in the fullness of time and, in my view, forcefully for the better out of necessity; the powers that be will one day realise that if they are not doing so, slowly, already.

[Guest MaloneFM]

If when the Premier League began we made it into the brave new world then I would agree totally.

But the only change of hands outside of three teams that have won it has been Blackburn. Everyone else are make weights. Arsenal and Liverpool are now slipping into that category along with Everton and Tottenham.

Their supporters are constantly whining about the lack of domestic success. The money being thrown at players and managers to stay on the treadmill to go nowhere is increasing every year. And 110% of all profits are going that way.

But presently the weak are punished, Bournemouth Luton and Rotherham, and the strong applauded. Noticed the way the likes of Rooney and Giggs agree with refereeing decisions and the passion shown by Gerrard and Lampard when they play for England.

Then compare it with the British Olympic Team who beat the world in their sport.

It's the emporers new clothes.

[One Team In Keynsham]

There is nothing good about the way the Prem is run, nor the fact that more and more, money talks, but it has always got to be a YES to be in it: in a league pyramid structure you should always be aiming to getting to the next higher level. Otherwise, what is the point in competing?

If you don't want to be in the Prem, consider this: We are in the final game of the season, needing 3 points to go up, and are 1-0 up with a minute to go. What do you want us to do? Hoof it back to our net and hope Basso shows the same fancy footwork as Welch at the Hawthorns?

[parkender78]

BCFC is my club boy and man ,at least i can afford a season ticket for the ccc at the moment.I resent the foreign journeymen that have infested the top fleight clubs at the moment, and would hate to see a city 11 full of them.How would we feel if louis was dropped to make way for an over paid african that we had never heard of ? I voted no because BCFC means something to us as supporters ,our fan base is from the west country, not from the boardrooms of london, or the middle east. It is at the heart of BS3 unique to the west country.

On a purely football front we would do a derby,no matter who was in the side or in charge,just cast your minds back to the middlesboro game or man citys reserve squad last season, played well but we still lost.I just cant see us being strong enough against the established teams in the prem and over the season would struggle.At least in the ccc we will do better than most bigger teams in this league,giving us the entertainment that we pay for. Give me a top 10 finish and an exciting cup run and i will be happy with OUR teams efforts.

[Ryan 7]

Yes, that is the ultimate dream for a club like this, and the premier league is where we want to be, yes there would be some days were we get battered by some sides who are splashing money out for fun, but we will have to learn from that, and follow the model of Wigan etc, and then if after the first few years of battling survival, we would then push on, and see our team doing well in the premier league and keep pushing on, like a Middlesborough, (I think Gareth Southgate has done a tremendous job there). And the grounds we would be visiting week in week out is just a dream.

[Guest MaloneFM]

But QPR who have got wardrobes full of cash are now charging £40 for home games. So they can 'gear up' for promotion.

Isn't there a recession on? Or is that next week?