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I still say the best "live" football games I've watched on my telly this season have been in the Championship;-
Swansea v Leeds and Villa v Brentford.
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We still have a very good chance of staying up, but if you are one of those ones thinking it would be the end of the world to go down this is a good article:
https://www.football365.com/news/sto...ead-embrace-itThis time last year, my club Middlesbrough were relegated after a season of almost unbearable tedium. As I said at the time, it was blessed relief.
This season has been infinitely more enjoyable. Last year we won five games, this year we’ve won 22. Last season we scored 27 goals, this season we’ve rattled the net 67 times. By any measure whatsoever this campaign, despite being a division lower, has been much more fun than the previous one in the Premier League. And this is why getting relegated is a bogus threat and absolutely nothing at all to be bothered about, if it should happen to your Premier League club. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try to win, or give in, but if you’re not good enough to stay up, don’t over stress it.
To all the Premier League marketeers, let me tell you something: Beating Millwall or Brentford or Bolton this year was far more enjoyable than losing to Manchester City or Liverpool or Arsenal last year, so don’t try and tell us how great it is to go to all these big clubs. It isn’t. It’s joyless. Ask any Boro fan who went to all the away games last season who saw one win, seven draws, 11 defeats and 32 goals conceded.
No fan likes to watch their side be constantly beaten by sides with infinitely more resources. And yet we’re told time and again by people in the game – especially ex-players and journalists – that it is some sort of innately brilliant honour to play in the top flight. Yes, some clubs like Burnley can have an exceptionally good season and fair play to them for that, but even if you do, is it more enjoyable for being in the top flight per se? I maintain winning and playing good football is just enjoyable, no matter what league the team is in.
“It’s no fun being out of the Premier League” said journalist Steve Bates, on Sunday Supplement this week when wittering on about how fans are daft for wanting fun at the football and were prepared to risk Premier League status to get it. That is simply untrue. It is a lie. It is wrong. It can be fun being out of the the Premier League and I’m tired of being told by these people with such certainty that it isn’t. It’s insulting. It’s narrow-minded.
Why do people like Bates think 10,000 people turned up to watch Lincoln City on Saturday to see them play Yeovil for a play-off place? They’re not doing so out of some sado masochistic tendency. No, they’re loving the football and the results. No fun? You’re really not paying attention if you think what Lincoln fans are doing is not having fun and that somehow fans of West Ham United are, just because they’re in the top flight. But that’s what he’s saying. Top flight: Fun. Out of top flight: No fun. It is unsustainable barfo-nonsense but it is commonly spouted.
Glenn Hoddle said on Saturday night that Stoke fans, in wanting Mark Hughes out, should’ve realised that “you’re not in the entertaining world”. This is a contradiction. The Premier League can’t simultaneously be the greatest league and thus the one that you must stay in, but be full of sides that don’t play entertaining football in order not to get relegated. Those two things are not compatible.
The fear all these people try to induce about relegation is utterly misplaced. Yes, some clubs go down and find it difficult to come back, but so what? That’s not the threat it is regularly portrayed as, because being in the top flight isn’t the be all and end all. It isn’t value for money and it isn’t some sort of holy grail to genuflect in front of.
No-one has a deathless, existential “what’s the point of doing this?” crisis in lower leagues, the way sides that constantly end up 17th to 7th in the Premier League do when merely surviving is the first and only soul-destroying objective.
The only real thing to worry about is if those running the club are financially irresponsible and threaten the club’s very existence. Some do. And why? Because they swallow the ‘best league in the world’ propaganda whole, they splurge too much cash trying to stay in the Premier League (like Sunderland paying Jack Rodwell £70k a week), hypnotised by its supposed glamour and the big money (which price inflation merely evaporates, anyway).
In other words, the threat of relegation is only a threat because of those who over-believe in the value of Premier League status in the first place. These are the same imprudent incontinent cash cretins who sack low paid, minimum wage staff when relegated, but keep on players who earn thousands without doing anything of note. This isn’t an argument in favour of being afraid of relegation, it is an argument for owners and directors to be sensible and stop sucking down all this Premier League propaganda.
The tears shed by some fans on getting relegated are fed by this attitude. Relegation isn’t defeat, it is better seen as adventure. Relegation offers new challenges. It offers new places to go to watch football. It offers the chance of winning a lot more games and having a lot more fun. The warnings that the club might fall apart and be hopeless for a decade is all scaremongering. Even if you do a Sunderland and do a double drop, the potential for better days to lie ahead is far more exciting than knowing it’ll just be endless fight to hang on to 17th in the top division. The likes of Hoddle and all the ‘be careful what you wish for’ brigade don’t seem to understand this for a moment. Non-Premier League football is not a barren wasteland to be scared of. There is the prospect of a dynamic future, not a stagnant one.
Football is all about light and shade, loud and quiet, up and down. It is what gives it interest and texture. Just hanging on “not in the entertaining world” year after year, with your whole purpose being merely to do it all again next year, fundamentally misunderstands the nature of football, the nature of sport and even of the nature life itself.
John Nicholson
I still say the best "live" football games I've watched on my telly this season have been in the Championship;-
Swansea v Leeds and Villa v Brentford.
This time last year, my club Middlesbrough were relegated after a season of almost unbearable tedium. As I said at the time, it was blessed relief.Originally Posted by Croesy Blue
This season has been infinitely more enjoyable. Last year we won five games, this year we’ve won 22. Last season we scored 27 goals, this season we’ve rattled the net 67 times. By any measure whatsoever this campaign, despite being a division lower, has been much more fun than the previous one in the Premier League. And this is why getting relegated is a bogus threat and absolutely nothing at all to be bothered about, if it should happen to your Premier League club. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try to win, or give in, but if you’re not good enough to stay up, don’t over stress it.
To all the Premier League marketeers, let me tell you something: Beating Millwall or Brentford or Bolton this year was far more enjoyable than losing to Manchester City or Liverpool or Arsenal last year, so don’t try and tell us how great it is to go to all these big clubs. It isn’t. It’s joyless. Ask any Boro fan who went to all the away games last season who saw one win, seven draws, 11 defeats and 32 goals conceded.
No fan likes to watch their side be constantly beaten by sides with infinitely more resources. And yet we’re told time and again by people in the game – especially ex-players and journalists – that it is some sort of innately brilliant honour to play in the top flight. Yes, some clubs like Burnley can have an exceptionally good season and fair play to them for that, but even if you do, is it more enjoyable for being in the top flight per se? I maintain winning and playing good football is just enjoyable, no matter what league the team is in.
“It’s no fun being out of the Premier League” said journalist Steve Bates, on Sunday Supplement this week when wittering on about how fans are daft for wanting fun at the football and were prepared to risk Premier League status to get it. That is simply untrue. It is a lie. It is wrong. It can be fun being out of the the Premier League and I’m tired of being told by these people with such certainty that it isn’t. It’s insulting. It’s narrow-minded.
Why do people like Bates think 10,000 people turned up to watch Lincoln City on Saturday to see them play Yeovil for a play-off place? They’re not doing so out of some sado masochistic tendency. No, they’re loving the football and the results. No fun? You’re really not paying attention if you think what Lincoln fans are doing is not having fun and that somehow fans of West Ham United are, just because they’re in the top flight. But that’s what he’s saying. Top flight: Fun. Out of top flight: No fun. It is unsustainable barfo-nonsense but it is commonly spouted.
Glenn Hoddle said on Saturday night that Stoke fans, in wanting Mark Hughes out, should’ve realised that “you’re not in the entertaining world”. This is a contradiction. The Premier League can’t simultaneously be the greatest league and thus the one that you must stay in, but be full of sides that don’t play entertaining football in order not to get relegated. Those two things are not compatible.
The fear all these people try to induce about relegation is utterly misplaced. Yes, some clubs go down and find it difficult to come back, but so what? That’s not the threat it is regularly portrayed as, because being in the top flight isn’t the be all and end all. It isn’t value for money and it isn’t some sort of holy grail to genuflect in front of.
No-one has a deathless, existential “what’s the point of doing this?” crisis in lower leagues, the way sides that constantly end up 17th to 7th in the Premier League do when merely surviving is the first and only soul-destroying objective.
The only real thing to worry about is if those running the club are financially irresponsible and threaten the club’s very existence. Some do. And why? Because they swallow the ‘best league in the world’ propaganda whole, they splurge too much cash trying to stay in the Premier League (like Sunderland paying Jack Rodwell £70k a week), hypnotised by its supposed glamour and the big money (which price inflation merely evaporates, anyway).
In other words, the threat of relegation is only a threat because of those who over-believe in the value of Premier League status in the first place. These are the same imprudent incontinent cash cretins who sack low paid, minimum wage staff when relegated, but keep on players who earn thousands without doing anything of note. This isn’t an argument in favour of being afraid of relegation, it is an argument for owners and directors to be sensible and stop sucking down all this Premier League propaganda.
The tears shed by some fans on getting relegated are fed by this attitude. Relegation isn’t defeat, it is better seen as adventure. Relegation offers new challenges. It offers new places to go to watch football. It offers the chance of winning a lot more games and having a lot more fun. The warnings that the club might fall apart and be hopeless for a decade is all scaremongering. Even if you do a Sunderland and do a double drop, the potential for better days to lie ahead is far more exciting than knowing it’ll just be endless fight to hang on to 17th in the top division. The likes of Hoddle and all the ‘be careful what you wish for’ brigade don’t seem to understand this for a moment. Non-Premier League football is not a barren wasteland to be scared of. There is the prospect of a dynamic future, not a stagnant one.
Football is all about light and shade, loud and quiet, up and down. It is what gives it interest and texture. Just hanging on “not in the entertaining world” year after year, with your whole purpose being merely to do it all again next year, fundamentally misunderstands the nature of football, the nature of sport and even of the nature life itself.
John Nichols
So he's basically saying winning is more enjoyable than losing.
Sorry but dont agree with most of the articles sentiments at all. If we all fully agreed with what he is saying then what would be the point of going to watch in the first place ?. The reason that there were 10000 Lincoln fans, at the match he referred to, is because their fans all aspire for the team to play at a higher level. If Middlesborough were banned from ever getting promotion into the Premier League again, then their attendances would drop like a stone. I get the impression that the article was written last year as well, lets see how their fans feel once they have been in the Championship for a few seasons - the novelty would soon wear off. No one is saying that there arent good games or excitement in the Championship but playing football isnt just about winning games, its about wanting to improve and put yourself up against better teams and players. The whole pyramid system is based upon aspiration and progression. Take that away and the game would be dead.
A very good article.
I have to disagree with you - to a point.
We've all (well, a lot of us) said in the past that the Championship is a more enjoyable league than the Prem, and that the Prem is in effect, 2 leagues - the top 6 sand the rest.
We also said on gaining promotion this time that the journey was likely to be better than the destination.
OK, we get to see the top clubs, and some world -class players, but do we really want to get hammered like we did in 2014?
If, as many say is a certainty, we get relegated, we'll have another crack (providing Tan doesn't lose interest).
The most important point in the article, especially for the likes of us, was when he mentioned irresponsible owners.
Either you haven’t read or haven’t understood it. His point is while you do want your club to improve and to do as well as they can getting relegated isn’t the end of the world and unless you can break the top 6 being in the premier league isn’t as exciting as it’s cracked up to be.
Nope, not just that, try reading the whole thing.So he's basically saying winning is more enjoyable than losing.
Good OP.
Football can be enjoyable and exciting at any level.
There is a group of people who travel the country watching lower league Football. They do it different reasons but some because they are disillusioned with the modern game.
They watch people and teams they've no affinity with and who they've never seen play.
Not for me personally but there is a certain charm about watching a "proper" blood and thunder game, 11v11 with no hidden agendas nor "heard it all before" rhetoric from third parties.
Sorry, reading it once was enough, I'm not going to read it a second time. He enjoys the feeling of winning against being thumped week after week.
Okay so you've read it, but you've cherry picked the part(s) you actually took in and processed.
It's a good article.
Don't we all? Going down isn't the end of the world, and it certainly won't be for us as we won't have any debts or troubles like we had in 2014. Burnley finished 7th last season and scored 36 goals; realistically that's the best we're ever going to get. We're never going to break into the top 6, we're never going to challenge for Europe baring a freak season when all our best players get picked off the season after. Enjoy it while it lasts but we're going to go down at some point and it is far from a disaster.
The Premier League isn't the be all and end all, we're a big club in terms of the Championship, and if we went down I'm sure we'd come back up eventually. I'll almost certainly enjoy last season a hell of a lot more than this one though.
I met an ex-West Brom fan recently. He gave up West Brom because he was so sick of the Premier League and now is actively supporting Worcester City in the English Midland League. He understands what sport is all about.
Contrast that with the plastic Liverpool and Manc supporters so common in Cardiff. They look down their noses at their local club CCFC because it's not 'a big club': that's Premier League thinking for you.
Yup.
One way of looking it it is that our beautiful game has been hijacked and the hijackers have hired experts to brainwash people into their way of thinking.
The greedy league.
What made me laugh, is Cardiff and Fulham have just come from the championship, we know what it’s about. I know football fans are glass half empty, or Cardiff fans glass completely empty, we are still in August F.F.S look at palace last season
We've been in the top tier twice in the last 55 years and were in the 2nd tier 14 of the last 15 (before this year). As much as I don't like the Premier League as a concept, it'd just be nice to have something different for a few years.
The whole article seems to me to be based on being moderately successful in the Championship. Football is likely to be more miserable whether you're struggling in the Premier League or League 2.
I like the Premier League, I'd like us to stay in it as long as possible. What the article is trying to say is, relegation isn't the end of the world as many pundits would like you to believe.
I've seen us play at all 4 levels of the English League (as I'm sure most on here have), and to be honest, the most un-enjoyable season was the last time we were in the top flight. Even the year we were trying to avoid relegation to the Conference (or whatever it was called then/ now) was far more enjoyable than the 1 season in the prem.
I also remember early 90s looked like we were going non league, we lost to 92 in the league Torquay, we were then 91st, loved Those days, knew every away fan, Zero expectations
Most exciting 6 minutes of football I’ve seen this season was in the much maligned Caraboa (Or whatever it’s called) Cup, the finale to Forest/Newcastle was football at its frantic finest.
People who moan, moan. People who are quietly happy, don't say anything. Think most City fans are fairly happy with how this season has gone so far.
Who’s fretting?
Seems a little contradicting. We should like the Championship because of winning more games but we shouldn't want to win more games in the Premier League?
Where does it say that?
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