Premiership vs Championship - Telegraph Article - City Mentioned

[Boston Red]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/02/05/time-admit-championship-far-enjoyable-premier-league/

It would be pointless to suggest that the Championship is a better league than the Premier League, although there is certainly an argument to be made that it is more enjoyable, more exciting and more exhilarating for those involved than its spoilt, richer cousin.

As much as we try to pretend otherwise, the Premier League has big problem, a league split into three groups, who no longer compete on anything like a level playing field. It has lost much of its intrigue and with that, a true sense of drama.

Regardless of how you try and dress it up, everybody knew who the top six sides were going to be on the first day of the season, all that was left to decide was which order were they going to finish.

Granted, that is better than most of the major leagues in Europe and the staunchest defenders of the Premier League’s honour will scream there are three clubs still involved in the title race, in February, in the hope of silencing this argument, but that is only one part of it.

Geographically, we have an issue too. Of the top six, three are in London and three are in the North West. Fine for the armchair fan, not so good for those parts of the country where strong local tribalism remains.

 

However, the major flaw in the Premier League, is that two-thirds of those involved are defined by the fear of relegation. That fear seeps into everything, every result, every reaction and every performance.

It is the risk of financial disaster that motivates all decisions and choices, whether it is recruitment or fielding a weakened team in one of the two domestic cup competitions.

It takes a toll on everyone associated with those clubs, managers, owners and supporters. It is deflating and depressing. The supposedly lucky ones, who this season are made of up Leicester City, West Ham and Everton, pull clear of the drop zone relatively early, but are then stuck in a mid-table no man’s land, trapped in the barbed wire of mediocrity. They have no desire to retreat to be blown apart on relegation land mines, but the huge, powerful machine guns of the big six prevent them from advancing. Tellingly, all three clubs were knocked out of the FA Cup by lower league opposition in either the third or fourth round. Their seasons are effectively over in terms of genuine excitement. Stable to the point of paralysis. That does not really constitute entertainment. As for the rest, they are still fretting about going down and will be for at least another two months. It is a perpetual relegation battle where clubs like Newcastle – the shock win over Manchester City last week acknowledged and accepted – play to protect their goal difference when they face the top six teams. Defensive, unambitious and unappealing to watch. Success is considered nothing more than avoiding catastrophe. How is that fun? The joy has been sucked out of proceedings for the majority. There are occasional flashes of brilliance, outbursts of excitement, but in the main it is a long hard slog and, with cup competitions devalued by the bean counters because they do not bring the same financial rewards, the prize on offer is simply a chance to do more of them same next year.Compare that to the Championship, where it is impossible to say with any confidence who will win promotion at the start of every season, who will be competing for the play-offs and who will go down. It is a league with a twist and turn in every round of fixtures, as anyone who likes an accumulator bet will know. Yet, most powerfully of all, it is a league fundamentally fuelled by a sense of possibility rather than fear. It is defined by the pursuit, rather than avoidance, of something. It breeds a positive mindset, it fuels hopes and dreams. Nobody would have predicted 18 months ago that Cardiff and Fulham would win promotion, just as very few people would have said that the league would be led by Norwich City at the start of February, with Leeds United and Sheffield United in hot pursuit.

Significantly, while financial muscle is still vitally important in the second tier – as seen by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle going up as champions in the previous two years – of the teams currently in the top six, only West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbrough are benefitting from Premier League parachute payments.

Bristol City, a club that has never played in the Premier League, are currently sixth, ahead of two clubs who have won the European Cup, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, as well as former Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers.

It is a division in which all four corners of England are represented, where big city clubs like Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday take on smaller towns like Middlesbrough and Preston, as well as unfashionable teams from the capital like Brentford.

Most intoxicatingly of all, the Championship is a league where everyone has a sporting chance. It is a league where a good manager can, at any stage, put together a good group of players, on a variety of budgets, and have a real go at winning promotion. Miss out one year and there is always the next.

And missing out is only ever a disaster if you are still relying on those parachute payments from a league that you will only ever be hoping to stay in rather than win.

As for the standard of football, anyone who watched Leeds United play Norwich last weekend, will know it is often far easier on the eye than the attack versus defence that sours so many top-flight games.

So, no, the Championship is not better than the Premier League, but it is probably a lot more fun to play in and watch.

[clunes]

Can’t disagree with any of that, although they missed out a key word, “competitive”. The team bottom of the league will beat the league leaders more regularly than the corresponding fixture in the Prem.

Whilst the Premier League is the ultimate aim, I wouldn’t be too disappointed with season after season of competitive Championship football. It’s a much more balanced league despite seemingly getting harder each season. 

[INCRED]

 Very good article and spot on in its analysis of the dynamics of both divisions. 

[McNasty Filth]

Was talking to my old man the other day about md-lower prem teams attitude towards the FA Cup. Even the top six to an extent... see Totttenham and Liverpool.

This mindset is completely at odds with their support base who see the cups as a reasonable chance of winning something. It is truly shocking how the custodians and managers of these clubs act towards knock-out football. Something should be done about it tbf, but what exactly I don't know....maybe the true fans of the club making it extremely clear they won't accept this type of attitude and come up with a plan.

[Boston Red]

28 minutes ago, jaydee=inspiration said:

Was talking to my old man the other day about md-lower prem teams attitude towards the FA Cup. Even the top six to an extent... see Totttenham and Liverpool.

This mindset is completely at odds with their support base who see the cups as a reasonable chance of winning something. 

Yes, very true. Basically the fans and the players still want to do well in the cups, but the managers and the owners have lost interest. But all the great teams have won leagues and cups at the same time - it is a nonsense that one harms the other. Managers believe the great lie, that if you deliberately lose one game you make it more likely that you will win another game. Not true, because as Steve Cotterill said, there are only two spirals in football, an upward spiral or a downward spiral. Look at Liverpool since Klopp effectively threw the FA Cup game at Wolves; poor in the league as well. Whereas BCFC, the players, the manager, and the fans, are buzzing because of the FA Cup. If anything it helps the league because it takes the pressure off it. Wenger's Arsenal always crumbled in the league about this time of year following cheap exits in the cups.

The only way to stop it is to stop there being a 100 million pound reward for just being in the top division, which displaces the cups as the ultimate goal. Don't know how they are going to get rid of that one though................................................

[GoonerRobin]

Funny thing happened the other day, I glanced at the Toon v Man City result and thought, 'oh, they've beaten City', completely forgetting for a split second they're the champions with a half billion pound plus squad. Man City still have a long way to go before they're anything but a blip in history fuelled by OPEC, in my eyes at least.

Also, not true to say cup exits derailed Arsenal in the league - that was mainly down to the fact that between 2008 - 14 Wenger assembled his squad mainly from airfix kits and balsa wood!