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...and vice versa. What's wrong with his preference for the Championship - which mirrors mine? It's a more honest league in the sense that anyone can win each game played.
I understand people wanting to see and be associated with the 'best' but that attitude doesn't describe everyone. Some of us prefer things to be 'earnt'* rather than bought.
* I realise how ironic that sounds as we've spent money too - but if we win anything now it feels more 'right' to me as we haven't just spent our way to the title
The whole point of football in this country is to aspire to be better and play at the highest level, get into Europe, win cups etc etc. If you take that away, there really is no point of carrying on supporting a team. If a team stayed in the same division, playing the same teams all the time, with no chance of going up or down, then most people would lose interest quite quickly and stop going. I go to games to see City win and hopefully play well, especially against the 'top' teams and also to meet my friends who I have known for 30-40 years. I dont go to have banter with other teams fans.
I don't understand the point you are trying to make. No-one has suggested stopping promotion or relegation have they?
I think most people go with friends and it's an occasion regardless of the result, but IMO it makes attending that much more enjoyable if you're in with a chance of winning the games you play AND if you can feel a bond with the players on the pitch. Most of the overhyped players in the Prem may as well have come from another planet as far as I'm concerned as they have so little interest in their Clubs or fans.
We've been in the Championship virtually continuously for fifteen years and I can honestly say that, the awful 14/15 season apart, I never got bored with it - I wonder how many would be able to say something similar after we had spent fourteen out of the next fifteen season in the Premier League?
I remember the 94/95 season and the 97/98 season when we only won 9 games in each of those seasons in the 4th tier of the league finishing 22nd and 21st in the division - or 90th and 89th in the league. So we need to be careful what we wish for. This season we finished 2nd in the 2nd tier or 22nd in the league. That brings rewards, yes, I get it, playing in the prem gives us games against teams for whom the advantages are weighted heavily in their favour (I'll never forget the Rooney incident for which he should have been red carded, or the Gerrard incident where the ref got his cards out to give a 2nd yellow, realised who it was and put them away), but, it's all relative. Just because we're in a lower league, doesn't mean we'll win more games.
It's Cardiff City, and I'm sure we'll have some highs in the Prem, we'll probably have more lows, but, that's football. That's why we watch games week in week out, whether it be a cold Tuesday night in Grimsby or a Friday evening game at Old Trafford getting stuck in the M6 weekend traffic for hours.
I"ll miss the Championship like a hole in the head.
We have to aspire to improve each season. Otherwise we'll have to read thread after thread about attendance's.
But over that time we have been aspiring and trying to get into the Premier League every year and have come close on a number of occasions and actually made it twice. Thats why its generally been enjoyable/exciting. If we stay in the Prem for the same amount of time, we will be an established Premier League team and rather than trying just to stay there, we will be trying to win it and get into Europe. Why would that be boring ?.
Hidden in the background of this thread is the fundamental question of what and who we are as supporters. Having been brought up kicking a ball in the streets, jumpers for goalposts, pick the grit out of your knees when you fall over/wipe the blood off and carry on generation, progressing to checking the local park pitches for broken bottles/dog turds before KO, to travelling up and down the country sometimes watching us win, in the past more likely to lose, I can identify more with the "blood and guts" of the Championship (and the teams we play) than the overpaid and pampered PL. That's why Warnock is such a good fit for us. Never met him but looking at his interviews and, indeed, where the pre-seasons are, I'm sure he thinks along the same lines. If we were to stay in the PL for many seasons to come, our fan base would evolve and become more used to the very different world of the PL and move away, albeit subconsciously, from what many people enjoy now as being a City fan. Playing in Europe is a pipe dream, maybe for the next generation of supporters. Would I like to see us drop down to Division 2, of course not. Happier and more interested playing Championship football..... yes.... except the club would struggle financially. So, at least one season in the PL awaits. The quest for 40 points begins. First though..... Tavistock/Bodmin and Torquay away.
Is playing in Europe really that much of a pipe dream? Burnley are in it next season.
The past 10 years have seen; Fulham, Swansea, Leicester, Boro, Wigan and Stoke all play in Europe. So it's hardly outside the realms of possibility that one of the promoted sides get into europe in the next 3 years.
I bet if you asked Palace, Huddersfield, Newcastle, Southampton and Watford fans they won't have been bored with being in the top flight even now.
I love playing in the Championship and would have no issue with us being relegated but I think a few people seem to be full of clichés of the players one league above being pampered whilst the championship players aren't. Our players still make around at least 10k A WEEK ffs and split 10 million between them for getting promoted.
I agree that next season is going to be very difficult, as would the season after if we survived but the point I was making, in reply to your post particularly, was that if we stayed in the Premier League for a long length of time (say five years plus) then our outlook and goals would alter considerably, as we would then be an established Prem side and would have at least another £500m in the bank. Why couldnt we then compete in the top eight and try to get into Europe ?. Thats the whole point of supporting a club isnt it ?. To see them improve and compete at a higher level. Its almost as if some people want them to fail in the next couple of seasons and go back down. After all teams like Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea and Man City havent always been top level clubs have they - they started at lower levels and built up over many years. In my football memory, Man City were in the third tier and Man Utd in the second tier. Liverpool were in the second tier in the fifties/early sixties. I bet their fans aren't longing for a return to the Championship, so that they can 'enjoy' their football again !!.
I am realistic about our chances next year and thereafter but that doesnt stop me dreaming about success. Thats why I follow City.
Looks like the ‘cheaper ‘ ones at th back of 513 and 515 have sold out.
About 80 left in the main bowl and appx 600 ish in the Upper Ninian left.
Looking good !
Loads left at Brizzies and Elland road ,will all the plastics be giving up Sky subscriptions this year?
Doubt if we’d have £500 million in the bank, transfer fees & wages would see to that. Villa were in the top flight for years, they’d love to have £5 million in the bank at the moment. We’d need the generate income outside of the tv riches. That’s what sets the top 5/6 apart, the money seems to be rolling in to them left, right & centre & the tv money is a nice bonus.
You know when I said we were averaging a whopping 13 season tickets per day? Well get this, the past few days we have been averaging a staggering wait for it....31 season tickets a day!
31!!
...what has my life come to.
We will be the 10th best supported team in the Premiership next season averaging approx 32k, we were 13th last time despite being coming bottom. If we can establish ourselves in the Premier League, Tan would slowly increase the Stadium capacity to 60k and we would then be able to challenge the big 6. We are the Capital of Wales,and have the fourth biggest catchment area in the Premier League at present after London,Manchester and Liverpool who all have more than one team. We are a bigger city than Newcastle Leicester,Southampton etc so why can’t we get back into European competitions!
On this subject… http://www.viewfromtheninian.com/201...uropes-top-50/
We have nowhere near the population of what is generally known as greater Newcastle which is touching 1 million ...........Sunderland has a greater population that Newcastle but it's catchment area is tiny
In Newcastle you can get the underground from ten miles out in the suburbs to start James park in five minutes