Should there be a level playing field?

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

Not much meat on your average spider. he must have eaten a lot of them for one meal alone

Not much meat on him

He's only 5 foot tall

[Citizen's Nephew]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

If the plastic feckers, fecked off, it would give other teams an incentive to win the Premier league, and not just be cannon fodder. Like we were in our two extremely disappointing seasons in the Prem. If you took away Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Man Utd, Liverpool and Sports Washing Utd, you'd have Brighton top with Leeds 2nd and Brentford 3rd! Surely that is better than the same old, same old winning things. Before you mention it, yeah I know Sports Washing Utd haven't won anything of note since the Fairs cup in 1969 but they soon will with all the money being pumped into the club.

I hear you. I hear Sludge. Life's unfair. Seriously, I'm p*ssed with how unfair life is. However, we'd have to give up all sport. football and the game as we know it if we're to fight this stuff once and for all. I don't have that fight in me anymore. Even a few years ago I had more energy for this stuff and like Sludge would have been happy to see the whole thing come crashing down.

I watch non league footy. I go up to Cardiff Met and follow the the Cymru Premier. I go to women's football. I never watch MOTD. I never listen to pundits, ever. I don't go on Twitter. I'll find any football anywhere to go and watch rather than support the FIFA WC in Qatar. I read When Saturday Comes, The Mauve and Yellow Army and stuff on here with the occasional WOL article. That's it these days. The occasional article in The Guardian but I can't stand their football writers. That's as much as I can do otherwise I'm stuck inside, rocking and dribbling in a corner of a darkened room.

A very wise Blue Genie from Taunton once told me that if I ignore all this other stuff I'll be fine. It was in response to me stating I have a Love/Hate relationship with football. It's been a lot easier for me personally, since I took that advice.

[John Buchanan]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

I hear you. I hear Sludge. Life's unfair. Seriously, I'm p*ssed with how unfair life is. However, we'd have to give up all sport. football and the game as we know it if we're to fight this stuff once and for all. I don't have that fight in me anymore. Even a few years ago I had more energy for this stuff and like Sludge would have been happy to see the whole thing come crashing down.

I watch non league footy. I go up to Cardiff Met and follow the the Cymru Premier. I go to women's football. I never watch MOTD. I never listen to pundits, ever. I don't go on Twitter. I'll find any football anywhere to go and watch rather than support the FIFA WC in Qatar. I read When Saturday Comes, The Mauve and Yellow Army and stuff on here with the occasional WOL article. That's it these days. The occasional article in The Guardian but I can't stand their football writers. That's as much as I can do otherwise I'm stuck inside, rocking and dribbling in a corner of a darkened room.

A very wise Blue Genie from Taunton once told me that if I ignore all this other stuff I'll be fine. It was in response to me stating I have a Love/Hate relationship with football. It's been a lot easier for me personally, since I took that advice.

That is one hell of a powerful post.

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

So you are back to going down the City then? Thought you were spending your Saturday's playing with spiders?

I am and I have been for a number of years. How about you? Do you go down the City? Sounds like you might spend your time playing with yourself.

[NYCBlue]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

I agree with dml1954 entirely.

This is a very special moment for me.

It's weird right? It's happened to me.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

Football mirrors society in that the extent to which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer has grown in the past thirty years (particularly in the Uk). That said, using the Championship as an example, there have been just four examples of matches with a winning margin of three goals or more with the campaign now just about a month old - that figure would always be far higher during the times when it’s claimed there was a more level playing field.

To a degree, the Championship is still a division where you can do well on a small budget - Leicester apart that’s no longer true in the Premier League and hasn’t been since its inception. The biggest clubs are now so powerful that any attempt to “clip their wings” by the authorities would probably fail, so I don’t see the current position changing unless there’s another attempt to form a Super League which succeeds.

[insider]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

But the fact is there never has been a level playing field. The bigger clubs have always had significant and obvious advantages over the smaller clubs. It’s not a new development.

The question has always been whether or not they can use those advantages to build the best teams. Some do, some don’t. Same as it ever was.

Before the Premier league there weren't many billionaire foreign owners yes you had rich clubs but the level of wealth nowadays is off the charts.
It is impossible to compete for 95% of clubs.
The best example I can give from 40 years ago is Nottingham Forests rise from the old 3rd division to winning the 1st division then twice winning the European Cup.
That could never happen now and that's because of money.
Being aspirational these days is Nottingham Forest spending 120 million to just survive in the Premier league and its a massive gamble that could put the club to the wall.

[Mr Soul '68]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

I am and I have been for a number of years. How about you? Do you go down the City? Sounds like you might spend your time playing with yourself.

Nah, I spend way too much time in the Butchers Arms. you still drink there?

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

The best example I can give from 40 years ago is Nottingham Forests rise from the old 3rd division to winning the 1st division then twice winning the European Cup. That could never happen now and that's because of money.

Nottingham Forest didn't rise from the old Third Division to win the First Division. From 1957/58 to 1971/72 they were in the First Division (they finished runners-up to Manchester United in 1966/67). They spent five seasons in the Second Division before promotion in 1976/77.

When Forest won the First Division title, they were the seventh best-supported side in the top flight. By comparison, when Leicester won the Premier League title in 2015/16, they were the twelfth best-supported side in the top flight.

I agree it's highly unlikely a club could emulate Forest's achievements in Europe in this day and age, but that has as much to do with the Champions League format as anything else.

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

Nah, I spend way too much time in the Butchers Arms. you still drink there?

I was there on Saturday for a while, but not so often these days.

[Hilts]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

Let me make it clear for you

I don't like my ex girlfriend
I don't like too much hot weather
I don't like jazz music

But I absolutely hate the Premier league

It's not envy

Football the people's game has been turned into a circus 🎪

And if the big 4 or 5 pissed off I would be very happy

There is no logic to having these players on such huge money , it goes against my principles . But not yours . Because you are a tory .

And The Premier League is a tory boys dream

I would love to see it all collapse and see how the market you lot love so much deal with the mushroom cloud ☁️

Newcastle id say with the Saudi money are about to join that big 4 or 5.

[insider]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

I agree it's highly unlikely a club could emulate Forest's achievements in Europe in this day and age, but that has as much to do with the Champions League format as anything else.

The champions league is just more money on top of the millions that is slushing around in the Premier league.
I'm glad you agree.

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

The champions league is just more money on top of the millions that is slushing around in the Premier league. I'm glad you agree.

I'm not a fan of the Champions League at all, or any other European cup competition for that matter. I believe all cups (European and domestic) should be straight knock-out competitions, and I believe the numbers of teams competing in the European competitions should be greatly reduced.

In my opinion, what has happened to the cup competitions (domestic and European) in recent times is a great shame. Like most fans, I used to love cup matches. Now they are often a farce, but all clubs are responsible for bringing about that situation, including Cardiff City.

[Trigger]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

No, level playing field without the bigger clubs sounds quite boring.

It wouldn't be level for long either, the bigger, better supported clubs would dominate sucking up whatever paltry amount of money would be on offer. Many clubs would go out of business with less income.

Bournemouth also won 8 nil away at Birmingham in 2014, these results happen everywhere in every league from time to time. They also beat some of the "super league" clubs during their 4 or 5 years in the PL.

[dml1954]

Re: Should there be a level playing field?

If the plastic feckers, fecked off, it would give other teams an incentive to win the Premier league, and not just be cannon fodder. Like we were in our two extremely disappointing seasons in the Prem. If you took away Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Man Utd, Liverpool and Sports Washing Utd, you'd have Brighton top with Leeds 2nd and Brentford 3rd! Surely that is better than the same old, same old winning things. Before you mention it, yeah I know Sports Washing Utd haven't won anything of note since the Fairs cup in 1969 but they soon will with all the money being pumped into the club.

The seven ‘big clubs’ you mention are seven of the clubs with the biggest history and achievements in football over the last 70-80 years and you just want to eradicate them because you don't like them and think they have too much money. If it wasn't for them the league format wouldn't exist and we wouldn't be going down to the City stadium hoping to see our team succeed and get in the top flight again.