Should there be a level playing field?

[The Lone Gunman]

2012/13 - Chelsea 8 Aston Villa 0
2013/14 - Man City 7 Norwich 0
2014/15 - Southampton 8 Sunderland 0
2016/17 - Hull 1 Spurs 7
2019/20 - Southampton 0 Leicester 9
2020/21 - Man Utd 9 Southampton 0
2021/22 - Chelsea 7 Norwich 0
2022/23 - Liverpool 9 Bournemouth 0

Looks like the Super League is going to be a crowded affair.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Wigan beat Hull 8-0 in July 2020. I sincerely hope they are being considered for a place in the proposed Super League.

Fraserburgh won 9-0 at Strathspey Thistle last weekend in the Highland League. Can I nominate them for the Super League?

[dml1954]

That's the question you asked wasn't it ?

We have got no chance of ever being a top 6 big club , the best we can hope for is a second rate Premier league ......if that's what you are arguing for

The big clubs are only interested in money and status so yes , I hope they piss off and join big clubs from Germany, Spain etc

It's a logical process as far as I am concerned

Yes but even second rate Premier League teams have to play the ‘big clubs’. Isn't that what it is all about ? Whats the point otherwise. Might as well scrap the whole league system. How would the so called ‘second rate’ Premier teams ever improve if they didn't play better teams. Theres nothing logical about your point at all. It is just the politics of envy.

[The Lone Gunman]

Fraserburgh won 9-0 at Strathspey Thistle last weekend in the Highland League. Can I nominate them for the Super League?

As Bournemouth were on the end of spanking yesterday, I'd also like to nominate them. They won 8-0 at Birmingham City in 2014. Should be good enough.

[The Lone Gunman]

Yes but even second rate Premier League teams have to play the ‘big clubs’. Isn't that what it is all about ? Whats the point otherwise. Might as well scrap the whole league system. How would the so called ‘second rate’ Premier teams ever improve if they didn't play better teams. Theres nothing logical about your point at all. It is just the politics of envy.

I agree with dml1954 entirely.

This is a very special moment for me.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Big wins aside, the PL itself is becoming more and more detached financially from the Championship. Nottingham Forest go up via the play offs and spend £120 million and still rising. They know that in 2022/3 if the get relegated it's odds on they'll return at 1st attempt if they keep the same squad. We're getting to the stage where there are 22 PL clubs and one 'floater' via the play offs..

[The Lone Gunman]

We're getting to the stage where there are 22 PL clubs and one 'floater' via the play offs..

We're not.

[dml1954]

I've said the plastics should have a super duper league for years now. Let them play one another 4 times per season and let the rest of us get on with it

Get on with what ? Aspire to achieve nothing and just accept mediocrity ? Great.

[dml1954]

Big wins aside, the PL itself is becoming more and more detached financially from the Championship. Nottingham Forest go up via the play offs and spend £120 million and still rising. They know that in 2022/3 if the get relegated it's odds on they'll return at 1st attempt if they keep the same squad. We're getting to the stage where there are 22 PL clubs and one 'floater' via the play offs..

You are missing the whole point. If Forest can do this, so can any other team in the league, including us. What are clubs like Brentford doing in there. How the hell did Burnley, Bournemouth, Swansea and others stay there so long. Its called aspiration and ambition. Without that the whole league system is dead.

[splott parker]

Man City, Leeds, Leicester etc third division sides not so long ago.

[Citizen's Nephew]

I agree with dml1954 entirely.

This is a very special moment for me.

Me too!

I hated the clubs and idea of a SL when they were going that way. So did most (if not all) of their supporters (I'm talking ST holders and the like here). I remember the discussions on here at the time.

I'm still p*ssed off at them not being 'punished' and that we didn't get the shake up the FA promised (no surprise) but life's too short to hate on other clubs and anyway, what would be the point of it all if they split off? The same thing will happen with the next set up, and so on and so on.

I'd truly be done with the football if these clubs left. I remember thinking that they should b*gger off and then changed my mind when I thought it through.

I'm no fan of the PL and the money people but at the end of the day, it's still always just 22 players and a ball on a park.

I used to get worked up about this stuff but now I just enjoy the football.

[Citizen's Nephew]

You are missing the whole point. If Forest can do this, so can any other team in the league, including us. What are clubs like Brentford doing in there. How the hell did Burnley, Bournemouth, Swansea and others stay there so long. Its called aspiration and ambition. Without that the whole league system is dead.

Exactly. I'm loving Forest being there this season. I love seeing Brentford against the big clubs. Brighton are there. Wolves and us went up the same year. I'm glad they're still there. Leeds. Fulham. There's no feeling as good as promotion up the divisions and ultimately to the PL imo. I bet the new Wrexham owners even dream about it.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

You are missing the whole point. If Forest can do this, so can any other team in the league, including us. What are clubs like Brentford doing in there. How the hell did Burnley, Bournemouth, Swansea and others stay there so long. Its called aspiration and ambition. Without that the whole league system is dead.

It's getting harder - ie, you need to spend more and more when you go up. The PL is getting richer and richer. It's also beginning to dwarf the Spanish and Italian leagues - even the Budesliga in terms of what they are prepared to pay in transfer fees and wages. It's marketing and endorsement potential is outstripping everyone else. The paradox is PL clubs are mostly hundreds of millions in debt. The "well-managed" Brighton are £350million in debt ! But they have rich benefactors and the debt isn't usually on the clubs, but providing the cash rolls in, you spend mega sums on wages and/or fees, you can keep your membership. Each year the gap gets bigger.

[The Lone Gunman]

Each year the gap gets bigger.

How do you explain Brentford’s situation?

[KingOfSiamIAm]

As to should the big boys piss off and form a super league yes , the sooner the better

I am not sure that the supporters of those clubs that attend on a regular basis (i.e. season ticket holders, etc) would appreciate playing in a super league, as they have already expressed when the idea was leaked out before.

I don’t think its right that we should lump the ordinary fans of clubs in with this sort of nonsense. Invariably it it the ‘foreign’ owners of these clubs that run roughshod over the history that has taken decades for clubs to build up domestically. Or owners of certain clubs that keep on ignoring any idea of sustainability when running up massive debts in order to maintain the idea that they are deserving of something special in the European elite. Again, ignoring the fact that if it wasn’t for the ‘lesser clubs’, they would not be at the pinnacle.

These type of owners only see the massive World tv rights on offer, where armchair fans are prepared to pay per view as if it is a pre-season game played in the far east, and just ignore the fact that playing ‘lesser clubs’ is part of the history that made the clubs what they are, just so the owners can line their own pockets.

I would be willing to bet that once the tv audience get bored of seeing the same teams repeatedly playing each other, with no excitement or thrill of promotion/relegation, and the tv money dries up, the owners will want to come back, with some BS excuse such as that the ‘lesser teams deserve to play us’.

My point is… were we happy when we went to Red? I don’t think so, yet fans of other clubs were quick to point out that it was us fans that ‘sold out’, not the owners.

[Mr Soul '68]

Get on with what ? Aspire to achieve nothing and just accept mediocrity ? Great.

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.

[Mr Soul '68]

The rest of us do get on with it.

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

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

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

He was low on cash so he ate them

[Mr Soul '68]

He was low on cash so he ate them

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

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Yes but even second rate Premier League teams have to play the ‘big clubs’. Isn't that what it is all about ? Whats the point otherwise. Might as well scrap the whole league system. How would the so called ‘second rate’ Premier teams ever improve if they didn't play better teams. Theres nothing logical about your point at all. It is just the politics of envy.

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 ☁️

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

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]

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]

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]

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]

I agree with dml1954 entirely.

This is a very special moment for me.

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