[Football] 'Top flight needs Villa vibrancy' Stan Collymore.

[Thunder Bolt]

Didn’t Arsenal win the 1971 title and Derby in 1972?

And Man U came second in each of the years mentioned above.
But they did win it 3 times in a row in the 90s and 00s.

Duff website. The Huddersfield triple had a link to a website naming 5 other clubs.

Yes, you are right. Burnley have twice EARNED promotion in recent years unlike some clubs - Bournemouth, QPR, Leicester and now Wolves - who have had promotion "BOUGHT" for them by rich owners/sugar daddies. Villa, Leeds, Forest and Derby have all tried to "buy" promotion in recent years but so far have failed dismally.

I suppose the same could be said about us, having the stadium and team bankrolled by rich Uncle Tony, but we did keep within FFP.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Yes, you are right. Burnley have twice EARNED promotion in recent years unlike some clubs - Bournemouth, QPR, Leicester and now Wolves - who have had promotion "BOUGHT" for them by rich owners/sugar daddies. Villa, Leeds, Forest and Derby have all tried to "buy" promotion in recent years but so far have failed dismally.

The purchase of Andre Gray the second time around did you no harm.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

Charlton is classed as Kent.

Not since 1855.

 

[Wardy's twin]

This - a stadium that all football fans should visit at least once.

I assume this is taking the p*ss. I went there last year and was in the top section of fans it was not a pleasant area , no beer, cramped and toilets not fully functioning.

 

[atfc village]

Burnley a side who 20 Years after surviving the Football League trapdoor on the last dayof the season made the premier League,i'm all for stories like that .Though don't like the place .

 

[Greg Bobkin]

" The Premier League as a brand needs Aston Villa and other big clubs like Leeds, Nottingham Forest, and Derby.
We are being overloaded with smaller clubs that have sneaked into the Premier League, are cheap to buy, and have low expectations.
They get to the top flight and then roll over and have their bellies tickled by the big sides.
Big clubs come with big expectations even when they are not doing well so I would love to see Villa back.
But, given the way Fulham under Slavisa Jokanovic have been playing this season, I wouldn't be surprised if they took the last remaining ticket to the Premier League".






He doesn't really get it, does he?

Forest, relegated from the PL, 1999
Derby, relegated from the PL, 2008
Dirty Leeds, relegated from the PL, 2004.

All more deserving of a PL place than us, Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Southampton, Palace, and Burnley.

I get that football clubs are now a business, but fundamentally, the success of a club is purely down to how the team is performing on the pitch. All this BS about 'brand' and 'big clubs' needing to be there is just utter rubbish. Brighton, Bournemouth, Burnley, Huddersfield etc are all in the Premier League on merit. So what if some of the clubs in the Midlands or Yorkshire have won titles and been there before? They are clearly don't have good enough players/are not run well enough at this moment in time to be there.

I seriously don't get the God-given right some fans of these 'giants' think they have to be in the Premier League. Why? Leeds have been a mess for years. Derby have once again flattered to deceive. Villa were pony for years before they finally went down and failed to get up automatically for two seasons – despite being favourites to. Forest – as far as I can remember – haven't been anywhere near getting promoted from the Championship. Stop living on past glories or remembering the 'good old days', Stan. They're over – for now, at least.

'They get to the top flight and then roll over and have their bellies tickled by the big sides.' I've gotta be honest, Stan, I didn't see much of that going on with the 'little clubs' this year. There were LOADS of 'shock' results throughout the season. I also love the fact that in the pre-season, Sky and other PL outlets LOVED telling the stories of the smaller clubs getting to the big time (including the Albion), but all of a sudden, when they don't go back down to their 'rightful' place, they all take umbrage!

 

[Mannakin]

Brighton have managed to stay in the PL this year with mostly the same team that got them promoted from the Championship.

I don't think that muppet understands how competitive the Championship is and how good a team you have to be to get in the PL.

Come on the Cottagers!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Not since 1855.

BBCSouthEast report on their matches.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

BBCSouthEast report on their matches.

So? Doesn't mean Charlton's in Kent, because it isn't

 

[Thunder Bolt]

So? Doesn't mean Charlton's in Kent, because it isn't

Geographically it is, but politically it isn't.

In the same way there is no such thing as East & West Sussex.

 

[Weststander]

It amazes me Gillingham isn't better supported being the only professional Kent club.

True. The Medway Towns add up to a large conurbation.

I’ve always assumed that there’s a quite lot of support for Charlton and Millwall out that way.

 

[Weststander]

Your choice of clubs is curious but anyway, you may have been half correct a few years ago but that time has been and gone.

Leeds overstretched, Villa overstretched etc etc, they were unable to balance ambition whilst remaining grounded.

As TB said recently in Burnley, there is no competing with the current top 6 globally, its over. Any new contender trying to do a Man City (Wolves for example, their fans are in for a shock) will face hurdles that never used to exist. Someone may break into the top 6 consistently, it could happen, but it would be over a very long period and require a current member to implode. Certainly a longer period than it took for Man City with a bottomless pit of cash and zero hurdles along the way and even that still took a few years.

In today's climate it would be utterly moronic for any owner/chairman, no matter what club it is, to aim any higher than we do, survival first and build slowly.

Good post.

I’ve read several times that even Everton and Spurs fail to make real inroads into markets such as Asia and North America. So IMO the Albion would be wasting effort trying to make themselves a commercial force outside of the UK. Just do everything in their power to stay at the PL table and keep minting £100m of additional income per annum.

 

[portlock seagull]

“Yeah, anyway Stan, your views on actual PL teams rather than the wanna-bees...?”

 

[portlock seagull]

The best Villa fans can expect and hope for is winning unofficial ‘cup finals’ like they did to prevent us going up as champs. I say that was a cup final not out of disrespect but simply because that’s how their fans genuinely celebrated (as they finished on a high...in 12th place...in the 2nd tier...sorry, did someone say Big Club?)

Villa are THE domestic mirror of the National team ie their signature may be on the dusty ancient articles of association parchment hidden in the vaults of Minus Tirith for Gandalf to discover one day; but footballs moved on so far since then that Villa’s glories are now the stuff of ‘legend’ (...an unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical)

 

[Eeyore]

The thing is that his ultimate point isn't wrong. Aston Villa, Leeds and Forest in particular are clubs which should be playing in the Premier League based on history and relative size of the club. But he's missing the main point - Premier League status is earnt, not gifted. Mentioning Derby is ridiculous, they're not in the same bracket as Villa, Leeds and Forest and would contribute almost nothing at all. I agree with him that small clubs like Palace and Burnley are hardly enhancing the Premier League as a brand but they're not there by accident. They earnt their place, and they've earnt their stay.

These days I would certainly put us at least on a par with Forest. The top flight doesn't miss them.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

It amazes me Gillingham isn't better supported being the only professional Kent club.

Don't most people out that way support West Ham?

 

[lawros left foot]

BBCSouthEast report on their matches.

To be fair, TB, the BBC reckon that Oxford is in the same region as Worthing, so, I you rely too much on their geographical knowledge.

 

[Pavilionaire]

It is testament to the Premier League that far from being a cartel of 23 teams there have been 49 different sides feature in it.

That is key to the level of interest in it, because it shows it is not a closed shop, getting into the Prem is achievable but also that there are 29 sides that have been in it and are currently out of it.

The thought of a Collymore-style Prem of the Big 6 + Everton, Newcastle, West Ham, Sunderland, Villa, Derby, Forest, Wolves, Southampton, Leicester, Leeds with 6 others yoyoing annually is actually quite depressing.

 

[Wozza]

Geographically it is, but politically it isn't.

In the same way there is no such thing as East & West Sussex.

Do you consider Chelsea to be a Surrey club? That would be wrong too.

 

[Invicta]

True. The Medway Towns add up to a large conurbation.

I’ve always assumed that there’s a quite lot of support for Charlton and Millwall out that way.

Medway is an independent Republic of Kent. Need a passport to enter