[Albion] Is it still fun?

[Bozza]

the gaps between games are too long (which allows disappointment to fester) and it's frustrating.

This is my main gripe with the Premier League.

I love the narrative of a Championship season. The eight extra games really help with that, obviously, but also the spread of games on different days of the week,

Over our last couple of Championship seasons it did feel as though on most days, even if we weren't playing, there would be at least one fixture we'd have a real interest in.

 

[dwayne]

This is my main gripe with the Premier League.

I love the narrative of a Championship season. The eight extra games really help with that, obviously, but also the spread of games on different days of the week,

Over our last couple of Championship seasons it did feel as though on most days, even if we weren't playing, there would be at least one fixture we'd have a real interest in.

This season the gaps seem worse than ever.

If Leicester win tonight then we have 3 weeks without a game soon. Can only hope and pray we are not in the bottom 3 by the time we face Man U.

 

[attila]

I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved in getting to the PL, the pinnacle of the game, and as an Albion fan I want us to win every game, so of course I don't want us to go down.
However, if we do go down I shall relish the fact that we will have a realistic HOPE of winning every game, which is what being a football fan is all about IMO, that we will be in a league which is supremely unpredictable, that there will be eight more games, and that the dream of finishing 10th will be replaced by the dream of finishing top.
So win-win for me.

 

[MattBackHome]

It's not as much fun as the Championship, but this has absolutely nothing to do with winning/losing in my eyes.

Fewer games, quieter visiting support (as a rule, ALL Premier league support is terrible), the tiresome conversations at work with Arsenal/Tottenham/Liverpool fans, the ****ing stupid kick off times; the fact that when you're in the Premier League you get a 'thing' that people say about you and that's all they say ("They try and play nice football but haven't got the players for it")

 

[One Love]

These last three seasons has made me fall out of love for football.

A: The standard of referees, they are so far out of their depth it's ridiculous. Best league on the world? How many of our refs get invited to a World Cup?

B: The widespread cheating by players, mainly because of A

I think these issues have been highlighted for me because I think we're disliked by the officials and we nearly always get reffed out of the game.

I think Potter is too honest and so we're massively disadvantaged when everyone else is cheating.

 

[A1X]

I don't think the two are comparable. We were fortunate during our years in the Championship that more often than not we were mixing it at the top end (promotion, a few play-offs) and only really flirted with relegation the once (thanks Sami) so it's not necessarily the quintessential Championship experience, and can lead to some rose-tinted viewing. I suspect if you asked a Leeds fan this question they'd much prefer to be in the PL right now.

Being in the PL is harder work, and leads to a lot more frustrating, but by contrast the highs then become amazing. Apart from actual promotion, nothing for me ever felt as good as turning over Man Utd to secure survival in our first season, or the wins over Palace in the last couple of seasons, or when we beat WBA for our first win. It meant so much more somehow.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I'm a Huddersfield fan. Unsurprisingly, like a lot of others, I didn't find last season too enjoyable. There was a lot of gallows humour, we didn't take ourselves too seriously, the odd win was fun but ultimately it dragged. But we were all sort of OK with it because we thought we'd go down and be competitive and enjoy winning some games again.

That hasn't happened as we thought. I don't have the energy to try and explain why but essentially over the past year and a half or so the club has been pretty badly managed at the top. However, even though we're at the wrong end, being competitive in every game and winning more has crept the enthusiasm back up. That and seeing young players excel instead of watching mercenaries care about nothing but their pockets.

So I was wondering - as a club who have survived the drop twice and have a good chance of doing so again - do you still find it fun? Is being a prem club scrapping for the odd point enjoyable?

It's easy to say when we got relegated that we weren't too bothered, but I don't think many were truthfully. I think we'd had more than our fair share of batterings. I also missed derbies really. But would you guys be that bothered if you did get relegated? Would you actually enjoy the championship more now, especially given you've had the prem experience?

I'll tell you one thing. It would be a hell of a lot more fun right now, if our manager would stop playing, a lazy, slow, and hopelessly out-of-form Aaron ****ing Mooy. Any chance you could take him back?

 

[Perfidious Albion]

In the Prem, one's sights are set lower. A provincial club like us wants to establish ourselves, get respectable league placing and maybe one day qualify for Europe. Oh, and perhaps a decent cup run...as we had last year..
Downstairs in tne Champ we were never happy unless we were on course to win it or at least get promoted. It is no good striving for promotion then moaning because you don't win as often. When we beat Spurs and Arsenal it felt as if we were truly great.
So, you have less joys of winning but the satisfaction of being here , in the strongest league in the world... we are all proud of that

 

[Taybha]

The Premier League and the rest of football known to mankind are now two completely different things , for me , VAR has completely ruined football and we've probably benefited from it the most , it's a absolute joke that isn't very funny so to be perfectly honest , no , i'm not all that bothered if we get relegated at all , though we won't because we're about to go on a 10 match unbeaten run , i just hope Tomer and Florin want to come back .

 

[Bold Seagull]

This is my main gripe with the Premier League.

I love the narrative of a Championship season. The eight extra games really help with that, obviously, but also the spread of games on different days of the week,

Over our last couple of Championship seasons it did feel as though on most days, even if we weren't playing, there would be at least one fixture we'd have a real interest in.

It's just so one sided the PL. Everything is structured for the top sides. They're the only ones that are playing 50 games per season. All this winter break rubbish, basically so they can compete in the League Cup and go for everything.

My plan I think would strengthen the FA Cup, and make the League Cup more exciting.

I would say that if you qualify for Europe (proper - i.e. beyond European qualifying games), you are out of the League Cup.

Now some will argue it will devalue the competition, but so what? By qualifying for Europe, those clubs have secured at least 6 extra games to their season. They don't need the league cup. For the rest of the PL, so 8th and below, they have a real chance for silverware, and getting some good games under your belt. 'But we only play weakened sides anyway!' I hear you cry. We play weakened sides because the likelihood of winning it is remote. You set the competition up that it is winnable to the rest of the PL and Championship for that matter, you've got a relevant decent little competition on your hands.

The FA Cup then becomes the premium domestic cup competition – not something where the 5th round is shoved into midweek. Scrap the winter break, and bring back proper FA Cup weekends.

Need some radical thinking in the game. In 15 years the League Cup has been won twice by sides outside the top 6 clubs. City have won 5 of the last 7. It's boring, irrelevant to them really, just mental preparation for them for contesting bigger finals.

Let's stop giving the big clubs 50+ games a season and all they earn from it - then them demanding inconvenient winter breaks, and have a cup competition that could become a real battle between Championship and Premier League. I get that the smaller league sides won't get a big tie at Old Trafford or such, but so what. It will be far easier for them to cause upsets and progress.

 

[Whitechapel]

I’ve been to more Worthing games than Brighton games this season.

Football with your mates is still fun. Brighton games aren’t

 

[gripper stebson]

I know it's a tiny thing, but if we did go down the thought of actually celebrating goals when they go in and not checking to see if the ref sticks his finger in his f**king ear will be brilliant.

 

[Beanstalk]

[MENTION=38384]Impact[/MENTION] I wouldn't swap the PL for the Championship for anything.

Despite living through the most successful period of Albion history, I think there is something intrinsically fun about supporting a club that is consistently the underdog. When we succeed (ultimately avoiding relegation) it is sensational and beating United to secure safety in our first season is probably the happiest I've been watching Brighton.

Though the table doesn't tell the full tale, the Premier League (on a game to game basis) is ridiculously competitive. Take Watford ending Liverpool's run for example or us beating Spurs and Arsenal yet losing to Villa. The Championship was a slog and apart from the season we finished third (for the sheer surprise of it) was incredibly frustrating and you just felt it could all go wrong.

Even my Villa supporting mate has gone from "The Championship is 100x more fun" to "God, I hope we never go back down" in the space of 6 months.

As long as we stay competitive and don't start getting tonked every week I'm a PL remainer.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

the fact that when you're in the Premier League you get a 'thing' that people say about you and that's all they say ("They try and play nice football but haven't got the players for it")

THIS...!!!

I can’t stand it. MOTD pundits are the worst. Analysing a game where we’ve just had 24 shots at goal (our highest ever number in a PL game) - including 3 gilt-edged opportunities a few yards from goal - they tell us that “Brighton’s ponderous approach play produces possession stats but doesn’t have any end result in terms of chances created” ...

 

[Stato]

I like the Championship. The football is always competitive and it doesn't feel like the cards are as stacked in favour of the elite. However, all the time we're in the Premier League, we never have to be in the play offs. If I have to put up with a constant struggle against relegation in return for not being involved in that psychological nightmare, it's a price I'm willing to pay.

 

[Stato]

THIS...!!!

I can’t stand it. MOTD pundits are the worst. Analysing a game where we’ve just had 24 shots at goal (our highest ever number in a PL game) - including 3 gilt-edged opportunities a few yards from goal - they tell us that “Brighton’s ponderous approach play produces possession stats but doesn’t have any end result in terms of chances created” ...

Their comments after the Palace game were such obvious after timing that it made you wonder what the point of them was. A more apt analysis would have been based on our inability to put away the chances that we made and our inability to stop a fairly simple long ball attack. Palace did defend well, but if they had defended as well as Shearer & Jenas suggested they did, we wouldn't have had the chances that Maupay and March missed. Had those, or the Dunk chance that Maupay blocked gone in, their analysis would have been all about Hodgson's negative tactics and how it is a limited strategy in today's Premier League. Pundits' comments seem entirely based on cherry picking match incidents to prove a narrative that has been decided upon after the result becomes apparent. They are absolutely stealing a living.

 

[southstandandy]

The wins are so rare but then when they do come along, more enjoyable. I'm still living off the win vs Spurs from the beginning of October!

 

[Wellesley]

It is tough at the moment but we need to stay in the Premier League, consolidate, establish ourselves and get stronger before breaking into the top 4 and World domination. The Championship was great as we were winning far more than we lost. If we went to the Championship and started struggling, I'm sure people would be pining for our Premier days. Only one place I really want to be.

 

[Simster]

I'll tell you one thing. It would be a hell of a lot more fun right now, if our manager would stop playing, a lazy, slow, and hopelessly out-of-form Aaron ****ing Mooy. Any chance you could take him back?

Mooy epitomises our season. He was quite decent until around 2 months ago, at which point he has turned into the ponderous slow coach I thought we were getting in the first place. He needs to be dropped right now, for sure.

As for the question being asked, I quite like the fact I can talk Premier league with most armchair types, but the gaps between interesting games really are a bind, so on balance, I don't really mind that much if we go down. A further drop to league one though - well that fills me with dread.

 

[brakespear]

Personally, and I know it’s not a popular opinion, I love the Championship. I’m at the point now, that I’m not really enjoying our football, I know it’s better than last season but, I’m finding it so frustrating that it’s ruining it a bit for me.
In the Championship, everyone can get a result against everyone else, and that makes it so much better. If we do go down, and I’m not confident we won’t ,I can’t really get that upset about it. It’s not even the not winning, it’s knowing the week before that we’re not going to win, I can’t say I’ve been confident of us getting any wins except Norwich at the Amex, and I think they’ll beat us at their place.
I’m usually a glass not just half full, but overflowing type of person, but, this season I’ve been really despondent.

on top of this (and I agree with the above) it's having something to play for in a season apart from 17th place, for me anyway.