I've been pondering this the past few days, since watching the live FA Cup match between Charlton Athletic and Halifax on Sunday, watching NPower League football highlights, and any live Sunday matches that have been broadcast. The football I have seen, has been at times breathtaking. Furious end to end battles, epic high scoring matches, controversial moments. And the quality of some of the finishing is clearly Premiership type quality-just pure class:
[video=youtube;8ztkQ0bCICc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ztkQ0bCICc[/video]
But it's not just the finishing I enjoy. It's the passion and commitment and workrate that the players put in for the clubs. The amount of times I've seen a Premiership match, and spotted a player who can't be arsed to put the effort in for his team-mates, whilst being paid an absolute fortune......I just want to give them a clip round the ear. I'm starting to find I enjoy watching Championship and lower league football more than I do with some Premiership games. And it's rare I've seen a form of "simulation" too in the lower leagues. No doubt I may have missed some so I may stand to be corrected, but I've seen a few matches and haven't seen any of it. Proper hard tackling yes. But majority of the time, there's hardly any rolling around play acting. They get up, dust down and carry on. Normally to dish back what they recieved.
Teams being overawed by the prospect of top flight football, is disappearing rapidly. Norwich, QPR and Swansea being prime examples. And of course Blackpool when they reached the dizzy heights of Premiership football. Lots of people, me included, expected the aforementioned teams to be slaughtered by the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City et al. But to be mid-table imo is fantastic, because teams are no longer overawed. They bring the fighting spirit with them, and cause all sorts of problems. And the rise of Swansea is even more remarkable, bearing in mind that Swansea were on the verge of financial extinction and bottom of League Two just eight years ago. They were saved by their fans to rise into the Premier League, and now host the likes of Manchester United. Last weekend they were applauded off the pitch at Anfield by Liverpool's own fans, impressed by the way Swansea had gained a 0-0 draw while out-passing their more elite opponents. Which speaks absolute volumes. And who can forget the sterling efforts of Burnley when they burst onto the scene?
And of course, it also helps when players from the Premiership drop down a division or two, bringing with them in some cases Premiership experience. Or if they join recently promoted teams. Players such as John Ruddy, James Vaughan, who know the Premiership, and can pass on that experience, even if they are young. And of course, managers with Premiership experience help too-they've been there and done it all.
Of course though, there is the downside. Money. This being highlighted with Plymouth Argyle nearly ceasing to exist as a club. The number of clubs becoming financially insecure and sinking is on the rise. The money being handed down the leagues is clearly not enough, with the vast amount of it being withheld in the Premiership. Sometimes though, it is clearly the fault of a clubs board. For example Leeds United, clearly spending well outside their means whilst at the most successful era of their history. And this is further highlighted, by Michel Platini revealing that football is suffering a loss of 1.64 billion euros per year, due to excessive spending. Parachute payments can help a relegated team in the short term, but usually if they don't bounce straight back up, that's when the problems can begin. And the club could potentially drop down another division, as they don't have the funds to purchase players. On top of that, they may also lose their best players to top flight clubs, resulting in immediate bouncing back that much harder. And that doesn't include the best players on hefty wages, resulting in even higher losses.
Which makes me wonder. The Championship is the 4th most watched league in Europe. With 9.6million paying fans last season, more watched the Championship than Serie A (9.2m) — though of course, with a 24-team division, there'll be more games played than Italy’s 20-team top flight. But still, those figures cannot be ignored.
Domestically there are more remarkable comparisons: in season 2009-10, more than 17m people went to Football League matches across the three divisions. In season 1985-86 that figure was 7.5m. In 1995-96 it was 11m. The way things stand, this could be the 8th consecutive season, where over 16 million fans, will go through the NPower League turnstiles. Which begs the question-why don't foreign investors take an even harder look at the Championship? Attendances are continuously high (Sheff Utd finished outside the playoff places but still drew in 25,000+ fans), due in part to more realistic ticket prices, cheaper extras such as programmes etc.
The problem of being a fan in the Premier League are more obvious: TV scheduling, prices, predictability. In the Championship anyone can beat anyone, there’s always a team that can surprise. The Premiership is starting to lose it's appeal to me somewhat-due to the lack of competitiveness. The number of teams battling relegation each season seems to be increasing yearly-and my club is not exempt from this. Whereas in the Championship and downward-anyone can beat anybody (as demonstrated by the cup shock exits), regardless of club history, size...it's just so incredibly competitive and enjoyable.
And I can see the NPower League becoming more attractive in the near future, as prices continue to price out fans in the Premiership, and they could potentially start going to local clubs or just another club in the Championship, League One etc. And if that was the case, they wouldn't be disappointed, as there's fantastic atmospheres, great football and great competitiveness. Granted the clubs they'd desert would suffer, but that wouldn't be the fans fault. It would be down to stupid amounts of money being spent on wages transferred to ticket prices at bigger clubs, lack of atmosphere at games (you just have to look at the number of empty seats during some games to see how bad it can be), scheduling etc etc etc. Foreign investors should take a serious look at the lower leagues, as in my opinion, they'd gain more than they'd lose, and could potentially ensure some form of stability throughout the divisions. Training facilities would improve, youth facilities would improve, so they could nurture and develop their own players to an even higher standard than they do now, and make a sizeable profit, if they chose to sell them. And stadiums would be revamped aswell making them much more attractive, and further improving the atmosphere.
So taking everything into account, I'd say the Championship is more exciting than the Premiership to me. Yes you have world class players in the Premiership....but further down the divisions there's more excitement and competitiveness, and unpredictability. And that's what is drawing me away from the Premiership right now.
Opinions?
[video=youtube;8ztkQ0bCICc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ztkQ0bCICc[/video]
But it's not just the finishing I enjoy. It's the passion and commitment and workrate that the players put in for the clubs. The amount of times I've seen a Premiership match, and spotted a player who can't be arsed to put the effort in for his team-mates, whilst being paid an absolute fortune......I just want to give them a clip round the ear. I'm starting to find I enjoy watching Championship and lower league football more than I do with some Premiership games. And it's rare I've seen a form of "simulation" too in the lower leagues. No doubt I may have missed some so I may stand to be corrected, but I've seen a few matches and haven't seen any of it. Proper hard tackling yes. But majority of the time, there's hardly any rolling around play acting. They get up, dust down and carry on. Normally to dish back what they recieved.
Teams being overawed by the prospect of top flight football, is disappearing rapidly. Norwich, QPR and Swansea being prime examples. And of course Blackpool when they reached the dizzy heights of Premiership football. Lots of people, me included, expected the aforementioned teams to be slaughtered by the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City et al. But to be mid-table imo is fantastic, because teams are no longer overawed. They bring the fighting spirit with them, and cause all sorts of problems. And the rise of Swansea is even more remarkable, bearing in mind that Swansea were on the verge of financial extinction and bottom of League Two just eight years ago. They were saved by their fans to rise into the Premier League, and now host the likes of Manchester United. Last weekend they were applauded off the pitch at Anfield by Liverpool's own fans, impressed by the way Swansea had gained a 0-0 draw while out-passing their more elite opponents. Which speaks absolute volumes. And who can forget the sterling efforts of Burnley when they burst onto the scene?
And of course, it also helps when players from the Premiership drop down a division or two, bringing with them in some cases Premiership experience. Or if they join recently promoted teams. Players such as John Ruddy, James Vaughan, who know the Premiership, and can pass on that experience, even if they are young. And of course, managers with Premiership experience help too-they've been there and done it all.
Of course though, there is the downside. Money. This being highlighted with Plymouth Argyle nearly ceasing to exist as a club. The number of clubs becoming financially insecure and sinking is on the rise. The money being handed down the leagues is clearly not enough, with the vast amount of it being withheld in the Premiership. Sometimes though, it is clearly the fault of a clubs board. For example Leeds United, clearly spending well outside their means whilst at the most successful era of their history. And this is further highlighted, by Michel Platini revealing that football is suffering a loss of 1.64 billion euros per year, due to excessive spending. Parachute payments can help a relegated team in the short term, but usually if they don't bounce straight back up, that's when the problems can begin. And the club could potentially drop down another division, as they don't have the funds to purchase players. On top of that, they may also lose their best players to top flight clubs, resulting in immediate bouncing back that much harder. And that doesn't include the best players on hefty wages, resulting in even higher losses.
Which makes me wonder. The Championship is the 4th most watched league in Europe. With 9.6million paying fans last season, more watched the Championship than Serie A (9.2m) — though of course, with a 24-team division, there'll be more games played than Italy’s 20-team top flight. But still, those figures cannot be ignored.
Domestically there are more remarkable comparisons: in season 2009-10, more than 17m people went to Football League matches across the three divisions. In season 1985-86 that figure was 7.5m. In 1995-96 it was 11m. The way things stand, this could be the 8th consecutive season, where over 16 million fans, will go through the NPower League turnstiles. Which begs the question-why don't foreign investors take an even harder look at the Championship? Attendances are continuously high (Sheff Utd finished outside the playoff places but still drew in 25,000+ fans), due in part to more realistic ticket prices, cheaper extras such as programmes etc.
The problem of being a fan in the Premier League are more obvious: TV scheduling, prices, predictability. In the Championship anyone can beat anyone, there’s always a team that can surprise. The Premiership is starting to lose it's appeal to me somewhat-due to the lack of competitiveness. The number of teams battling relegation each season seems to be increasing yearly-and my club is not exempt from this. Whereas in the Championship and downward-anyone can beat anybody (as demonstrated by the cup shock exits), regardless of club history, size...it's just so incredibly competitive and enjoyable.
And I can see the NPower League becoming more attractive in the near future, as prices continue to price out fans in the Premiership, and they could potentially start going to local clubs or just another club in the Championship, League One etc. And if that was the case, they wouldn't be disappointed, as there's fantastic atmospheres, great football and great competitiveness. Granted the clubs they'd desert would suffer, but that wouldn't be the fans fault. It would be down to stupid amounts of money being spent on wages transferred to ticket prices at bigger clubs, lack of atmosphere at games (you just have to look at the number of empty seats during some games to see how bad it can be), scheduling etc etc etc. Foreign investors should take a serious look at the lower leagues, as in my opinion, they'd gain more than they'd lose, and could potentially ensure some form of stability throughout the divisions. Training facilities would improve, youth facilities would improve, so they could nurture and develop their own players to an even higher standard than they do now, and make a sizeable profit, if they chose to sell them. And stadiums would be revamped aswell making them much more attractive, and further improving the atmosphere.
So taking everything into account, I'd say the Championship is more exciting than the Premiership to me. Yes you have world class players in the Premiership....but further down the divisions there's more excitement and competitiveness, and unpredictability. And that's what is drawing me away from the Premiership right now.
Opinions?
Losing 5-0 at home to Blackpool then beating Leicester 1-0 away sums up the league tbh