Death Of The Premier League

[Sir Sarcy]

Although i have never really taken a huge interest in the Premier League other than watching MOTD on a Saturday or Sunday night and maybe the occassional Sunday afternoon fixture after playing the beautiful game myself the events of this week have left me feeling some what numb.

It seems to me that the current climate of English football now looks like this.

The premiership is now an elitist rich mans paradise where the worlds talent are bought and sold to and from clubs owned by people who treat the team as a project to flitter away the time between looking at their bank balance.

About half of this league are now owned in this way with the top 6 clubs taking it to extremes whilst the rest of the league flitter around at the bottom like loaches picking up the morsels of talent and money left behind.

This leaves the Championship with an abundence of british talent making it probably one of the most interesting and competitive leagues in the world where anyone can beat anyone else and very little is set in stone but inevitably whoever makes out of the mire is destined to return.

Inturn Leagues 1 and 2 are now filled with the sort of players and, to a lesser extent, teams that would have been gracing the Championship no more than 5-10years ago and so have excellent fan bases and more offen than not play attractive football. The influx of foreign talent and training methods have also meant that any professional is now well above even the best amateur.

The knock on effect of this is that any new or smaller team coming into the football league from the now semi-professional Blue Square Premier have a job on their hands to move on up from that level. Even relegated teams have a fight on their hands to stop themselves becoming just one of a number.

This means that football as a whole is now stuck in a bizarre time warp where without major investment or going bankrupt very little will change and surly that is the point of the football leagues and supporting a team in the first place. One season your up the next season your down, we beat them but you beat us etc.

I realise that there will be many different views on this but i thought people would probably care what i had to say as this is the nature of the internet and the effect society has had on my ego.

Thanks for reading if you got this far and i hope your not too depressed.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I think the 3 teams that came up will go straight back down to the Championship, and as each year goes by the relegation struggle will not be any 3 from the 6 or 7 we're used to but any 3 from 3 or 4.

As an example, Wigan who have been in the Prem for a few years now just thumped Hull 5-0 at their place. Sunderland and Fulham look to have bought well, while Southgate has done a good job at Boro. The only unpredictable thing about the Prem is whether Chelsea or Man Utd will win the thing.

The signings of Berbatov and Keane, and the courting of Barry, show that plces 5th - 20th is merely a feeder league to the Top 4. Sure, Man City and their billions might shake things up a bit, albeit probably not this season.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Managers will be sacked ever more frequently by rich owners who are used to their every whim being catered for, and consequently have no patience.

I still think Hughes will do well to last the year out at City now, as I'm convinced he'll only have to lose a game or two for the new owners to start coveting someone more glamorous or expensive.

The Premier League is going to end up eating itself.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

The Premier League is nothing more than a daily soap opera, with exciting cliff hangers like, "Will Man Utd purchase Berbatov from plucky Tottenham?" and "Will Keegan resign". It's not even about the football on the pitch really. All the scandal this week has been about the owners of city, transfers from one club to another and managers leaving. I can't think of a headline story about a game itself. It's RUBBISH.

League 1 & the Championship are much more exciting, but the goals of clubs outside the Premiership is to get into the Soap Opera where football is irrelevant. So what's the point?

Football is losing it's appeal to me to be honest. Too much of it on TV - and I'm not talking about the games... too much "headline news" that is nothing to do with on-the-pitch stuff

On the BBC News website this morning, Keegan resigning was the THIRD top story. The flattening of Haiti, the potential coup in Thailand & 8.3% rise in food prices weren't deemed as important.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

"Inturn Leagues 1 and 2 are now filled with the sort of players and, to a lesser extent, teams that would have been gracing the Championship no more than 5-10years ago and so have excellent fan base"

Very interesting read. Not sure about the excellent fan bases point though. Withdean had the third biggest crowd last weekend with less than 7,000 supporters.

I would guess that live football on TV and the overarching coverage of the Prem in the media mean that local clubs are picking up fewer fans than they would have, while the Prem clubs hoover up young fans but fail to secure the same kind of lifelong engagement with football that used to occur when a lad would support his local club along with the majority of his mates.

This could be a timebomb for football, when all these "fans" - who are in fact just having the Prem spoon-fed to them from a distance rather than attending games locally week in, week out - start to lose interest.

 

[The French Mistress]

AT last..................a sensible thread, well done all, agree entirely with points made and well put.

 

[strings]

This could be a timebomb for football, when all these "fans" - who are in fact just having the Prem spoon-fed to them from a distance rather than attending games locally week in, week out - start to lose interest.

I sort of agree with this point.

When I was younger, I was a Man Utd fan. Having never been to Manchester, it was nevertheless spoonfed to me via the tellybox from a very young age, coupled with other kids at school insisting that you had to support a premiership team.

My Dad tried his best and took me to the Goldstone whenever he could, but I supported United.

But then, as the real Hans Kraay correctly suggested, I got bored. I simply lost interest in premier league football (aged about 14). That is when I became a Brighton fan, and I have been ever since. I think that the point I am trying to make, is that kids will support them Premier league teams, but clubs like the albion need to be there to 'catch' them when they grow bored of it.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

The premiership is now pointless. If you support Arsenal you make as well support Inter Milan. I do not agree about the standard of football in league 1 however as it is without exception absolute shite.

 

[Blackadder]

A Spurs fan made an interesting point on Talk Sport the other day.

With Man City about to be the latest team to spend their way to success, The Spurs fan couldn't see the point of carrying on with the Prem League - it had become so boring and predictable. He said that teams like Spurs, Villa and Newcastle have no chance of being promoted to the TOP 4 and no chance of being relegated (not sure about Newcastle at the moment) but he had a point. These are big clubs that can only look forward to the odd cup run.

At least promotion and relgation is possible for the rest of us in the lower leagues!

 

[withdeanwombat]

Can it be long until the lower leagues are re-regionalised,giving loads of local derbies and fewer teams relegated/promoted from each region?

The Premiership is a distant country to which few will travel,and even then more in hope than expectation.

Do YOU want to go there without your multi billionaire guide?

 

[Badger]

The Premier League was great when it first started, it was a competitive league on fairly even playing field. I agree with all the points made here, it is now a complete waste of time.

The question is how long can this go on for before the bubble bursts? If more clubs get bought out by multi-billionaires then they aren't all going to win trophies and sooner or later the investors will get fed up and pull out.

 

[The Mole]

I agree that the Premier League is dull. It does make it slightly interesting when a new team joins the elite - but only for about ten minutes. (Especially in this case as a friend of mine plays for City)

But these megarich owners will not be happy with anything less than top four (and realistically top two). So what happens when the Abramoviches and Sheikhs cannot buy success all the time - they will probably throw the clubs away like a discarded toy and move onto another hobby.

 

[Notters]

I agree that the Premier League is dull. It does make it slightly interesting when a new team joins the elite - but only for about ten minutes. (Especially in this case as a friend of mine plays for City)

But these megarich owners will not be happy with anything less than top four (and realistically top two). So what happens when the Abramoviches and Sheikhs cannot buy success all the time - they will probably throw the clubs away like a discarded toy and move onto another hobby.

To be honest, I think thats the best we can hope for! In the mean time, what are we supposed to aim for?! It's got me thinking... so many people were RAVING about teams like Hull, Stoke and Bristol City potentially being in the premiership, but in the 70s and 80s that's just what happened... Teams came and went. WHy oh why can't it be like that now?

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Part of the enduring enjoyment of football seems to be the sense of place and belonging it gives to the fans and also of a shared memory - of experiencing highs and lows.

If a team gets a massive cash injection so it can buy it's way to the top then a lot of that is lost I would imagine.

Following a team that is owned and funded - and entirely at the whim of a billionaire - seems to be potentially a pretty empty experience in the long run. I'm sure I'd have been as excited as my Man City chum if we got the kind of backing they have just got - but I wonder what it will do for them in the long run?

 

[Pavilionaire]

I can't think of too many other sports where there is such a lack of competition at the top, domestically.

About 40% of the Guinness Premiership Rugby sides have a shout of winning the rugby and two-thirds of the teams in crickets elite STILL harbour genuine title ambitions in September.

All of the main US sports are very open, ditto Aussie sports.

The problem is that Champions League money has ruined most of the European Leagues as an open competitive spectacle, but then what is the answer?

 

[Fourteenth Eye]

Unfortunately the top teams in the premier league are no longer football clubs but corporations. It has all become about money and as has already been stated , the promised land of the champions league

 

[rusty redeyes]

The premiership is on borrowed time. How long will Sky continue to pump money into it? Look at how many pubs no longer show Sky, and is at any wonder at the prices they charge? There is no guarantee that the new breed of owner will stick around, will Roman fight fire with fire against Middle Eastlands or will he decide enough is enough? If he does, would anyone else take on Chelsea or will they become like Leeds? If interest rates rise, that potentially puts Man U in trouble, Liverpool are already struggling with the Yanks pulling the plug on the new ground. Established clubs like Everton are crying out for billionaire investors, not that always helps, West Ham being an example of how wrong it can go.

The clubs that have fallen out of the premier league in the last few seasons have invariably struck financial hardship, Norwich, Coventry, Southampton, Ipswich, Leicester, so you have to ask the question, is it worth the hassle trying to get there?

 

[Easy 10]

The problem is that Champions League money has ruined most of the European Leagues as an open competitive spectacle, but then what is the answer?

Have an NFL-style "draft" for newly eligable players. The higher you finish in the Premiership, the further down the line you are before you can make your pick of the talent on offer.

 

[Spiros]

I don't see how anybody can call the Premiership dull. Countless threads discussing it such as this one illustrates that. In terms of football, nobody can deny the quality of football is fantastic - The finest that has graced the planet since the birth of the sport.

The drama both on and on off the field is something extraordinary. Keegan resigning, former scandalous thai prime ministers buying and selling, etc etc. You couldn't make it up!

However, I think the only people who suffer are fans of Premiership teams themselves. That sounds ridiculous but their successes are superficial and they all know that - How good must it feel knowing youve only won the Premiership because you've spend millions (billions?) more than your rivals.

In terms of genuine, competitive entertainment the Championship is the place to be - and hopefully we'll be there next season!

I say the Premiership IS dull. Outside of 2/3 sides no-one esle has a prayer of winning the title - 10 years ago we used to regularly take the piss out of Scottish football because there were only 2 teams in it - look where we are now.

I originally got Sky to watch Premiership football - now the only reason I keep it is for the cricket and tennis and the occasional long shot of watching the Albion. I'm fed up with the fact that every so-called 'top quality' match I see is a festival of overpaid prima-donnas diving around and then swearing at the ref when they don't get their way. I'm now even thinking about chucking it in.

The more money that gets thrown at the very top few clubs, the less relevant they seem to become

 

[countrygull]

I know where you're coming from but I have to say the whole thing is absolutely brilliant: some brilliant football on the pitch with all the foreign players and just fantastic drama off it - managers going, money everywhere, intrigue, plotting, buying, selling, sulking strikers - it is great entertainment, no longer limited to just 90 minutes of a Saturday afternoon.