[Football] Would you rather be consistently near bottom of the PL or near the top of Championship every season?

[B-right-on]

I suppose, to rephrase the question, would I prefer to repeatedly watch the CH team that lost in the play offs the first year, or watch the CH side that was utterly abysmal in the first two seasons of the Premier League?

For me, it’s an easy choice, and I’m going for that Championship side. Primarily because I’d have kept wanting to go every week. Whereas that Premier League side that we watched for 2 years was some of the worst football I’ve seen live and I think I’d have stopped my ST if we’d kept that up for much longer.

Pretty much this for me.

Going to the Amex week in, week out half expecting a battering and half hoping for a bore-draw to eek out a point in a league that you are just not able to compete in, nah.

I'd rather be competitive and at least have a genuine expectation and excitement for a win.

Pretty much like we are now, knowing that there's a decent chance we can do over any team that comes to little old #TeamsLikeBrighton.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Sadly, Southampton are only one win away from beating Derby's total, and surely even THEY will manage to turn somebody over before the season is out, probably around mid April against a team whose players are mentally on the beach.

Although Southampton are only one win away from beating the Derby total, it’s worth noting (and laughing at the fact) that after 28 games they actually have one less point and a worse goal difference than that Derby side had.

 

[Han Solo]

Although Southampton are only one win away from beating the Derby total, it’s worth noting (and laughing at the fact) that after 28 games they actually have one less point and a worse goal difference than that Derby side had.

Yup... and out of their remaining games I can only see them getting something from Wolves and Leicester. And even that seems somewhat unlikely.

 

[jakarta]

The answer is we are where we are :

1. Due to the excellence of the squad
2. Due to the excellence of the management team that backs them up.

1. May change
2. will not while Uncle Tony is in charge.

 

[Hovegull]

The answer is we are where we are :

1. Due to the excellence of the squad
2. Due to the excellence of the management team that backs them up.

1. May change
2. will not while Uncle Tony is in charge.

The question was based on the fact a pundit suggested football fans would rather see their team play well in a league, then do badly in the one above and whether, as a fan you agree, or not.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

A pundit was suggesting that most fans would prefer to be at the top end of the Championship in winning ways, rather than suffering defeat after defeat in the PL. Talking about Leicester, Burnley and Southampton etc and that it’s a relief to get relegated, if you can guarantee that you don’t then tumble down the next league.
As a fan which would you prefer?

Sounds like a Robbie Savage sort of question.
Neither.
Which eye would you like me to poke? Left or right?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Indeed. If we only look at the fun/joy aspect, being a top team in the Championship is simply better. If there's a decent way to measure happyness, I think supporters from any top 6 team in the Championship has had a lot more fun than eg Wolves fans.

Isn't that just demonstrating a small club mentality, and a lack of ambition?

Surely people would want the club to do the best it possibly could in terms of achievements, and playing in the top flight whilst competing against some of the biggest and best clubs in the world, even if it's a struggle season after season is more of an achievement than just winning more games at a lower level.

Choosing the Champion option just suggests that you lack ambition for the club, you are are more concerned with watching a team pick up 3 points regularly instead of a situation where the club is testing itself against the very best.

It would be like watching a boxers career and saying you'd rather have watched him fight against journeymen boxers which almost guaranteed a win ever time rather than against boxers where they went in as an underdog and were far more likely to lose, but there was much more on the line. It seems some would prefer to be able to say that they've seen them win a large number of easier, less meaningful fights, than watch them going up against the best and giving it a damn good go at winning, despite how tough it was and how difficult it was to get a result.

 

[Hotchilidog]

You've got to aim for the highest league position you can possibly get. Isn't that the point of a league system?

Being the 15th best team in the country is a much prouder boast than being the 25th. Luckily, we're currently even better than this.

This. Pushing the team to its limits is what you want to see.

 

[Hovegull]

This. Pushing the team to its limits is what you want to see.

And if your team is just playing poorly every season in the top flight, not pushing anything and holding out for a point every game?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

And if your team is just playing poorly every season in the top flight, not pushing anything and holding out for a point every game?

No club is like that. Palace and Everton have not achieved anything while staying up,
but that isn't for want of trying.
They don't simply piss about for 90 minutes.
And in both cases the clubs seem now to be on the up.

Arguably West Brom clung on for a point a few years ago, but they went down the shitter and have not returned,
so this may be a one or two season strategy at most, and it doesn't work in the longer term.

Norwich have yo-yoed but have never parked the bus week after week.

The set up that you have presented is a hypothetical set up that doesn't exist.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

And if your team is just playing poorly every season in the top flight, not pushing anything and holding out for a point every game?

Then every point's a party

 

[trueblue]

I'll worry about it if/when we're in the situation of consistently scrapping for survival. In the meantime, very happy playing in the Premier League, seeing some of the world's best players and having a dozen fixtures each year that in the past would have been the type of one-off Cup tie we'd be desperate to see (with the added bonus of actually winning a lot of those matches nowadays!).

 

[Han Solo]

Isn't that just demonstrating a small club mentality, and a lack of ambition?

Surely people would want the club to do the best it possibly could in terms of achievements, and playing in the top flight whilst competing against some of the biggest and best clubs in the world, even if it's a struggle season after season is more of an achievement than just winning more games at a lower level.

Choosing the Champion option just suggests that you lack ambition for the club, you are are more concerned with watching a team pick up 3 points regularly instead of a situation where the club is testing itself against the very best.

It would be like watching a boxers career and saying you'd rather have watched him fight against journeymen boxers which almost guaranteed a win ever time rather than against boxers where they went in as an underdog and were far more likely to lose, but there was much more on the line. It seems some would prefer to be able to say that they've seen them win a large number of easier, less meaningful fights, than watch them going up against the best and giving it a damn good go at winning, despite how tough it was and how difficult it was to get a result.

I said playing in the top of the Championship (winning 25-30 games per season) makes people happier than playing just above the bottom in the PL (8-9 wins per season).

A "lack of ambition" does not make people unhappy. It makes them satisfied with what they have. If we go into every season with the maximum ambition - we should win the league - we would not be particularly happy right now. But we are happy, thanks to our somewhat modest ambitions.

Same as everywhere. The twelve-year-old with the ambition to be Julia Roberts or her favorite influencer or whatever is no happier than the twelve-year-old girl who wants to be a twelve-year-old girl.