The Premier League IS the only place to be.

[GrayBlade]

Over the past few seasons I convinced myself that it was great to be in League One where honest teams and players gave their all, and when we were promoted to ‘La Liga 2’ I wondered how there could possibly be a better division in the world. Right now I’m reading how some Pigs don’t want to get promoted to the PL because the Championship is so much better. Sorry guys that’s utter bollox.

The Premier League is head and shoulders above anything in British professional football. It’s so much better than the EFL it’s embarrassing, the standard or players, the quality of the football the excitement, frankly I was kidding myself. It’s superb in the main, the EFL is just a pale imitation of sub standard clubs playing in half empty grounds with their noses pressed against the glass wishing they could join us. I’ve watched a few Championship games in the past few weeks and they seem slow and predictable compared to watching the Red and White Wizards in the PREMIER League and in fairness nearly most of the other games have been better as well. Villa v Newcastle tonight was a great game. When was the last time we saw 2 games in 24 hours in the Championship like we’ve just witnessed in the past 2 nights?

So let’s just enjoy it guys. These are special times to be a Blade. I sympathise with the Pigs (no really) but as Clarke Gable said, ‘Frankly I don’t give a damn’. Up yours you smelly, cheating Piggy bastards!

 

[knowsnowt]

I work most weekends. Easier to find streams for PL games. So yeah. Agree.

 

[HD8 Blades]

It's like that millionaire that lives near you that you don't like but now you're living in his house, driving his cars and having his model girlfriend riding you every night.

 

[3-GBlade]

It's like that millionaire that lives near you that you don't like but now you're living in his house, driving his cars and having his model girlfriend riding you every night.

Except in our case the formerly noisy neighbours were dirty chav tramps who played rap music all day long, modded shitty old cars in what was left of the back garden and shagged any, or every, old trollope they found on the currently seeking sex section of s6life.com.

Now we live in a better world, where to quite some surprise, we rather fit in in the new place

 

[DifferentClass]

Except in our case the formerly noisy neighbours were dirty chav tramps who shagged any, or every, old trollope they found on the currently seeking sex section of ancestry.com.

Fixed it for you.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Our highlights on YouTube was the #4 video on trending yesterday.

1 million views in 24 hours.

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

The difference is..in the PL every minute seems to be special.

 

[tomtheblade]

The stakes are just much higher. Every goal, every point is more valuable. Yes, it's almost impossible to win the damn thing but on the flip side you're competing against some of the best players in the world.

It's true that getting trounced every week would be no fun, but if you're holding your own then.. well it's a delight.

 

[SwissBlade]

There were a lot of really good games in the Championship when we were there, but the way some teams were playing was so negative.

I think for us Blades fans there is a big novelty, mainly because of the opponents we're playing. For so long we've not played against these so called top sides

However, there's a huge amount of hype which surrounds the Premier League. Yes we're selling out pretty much every game, but we've also attracted back our own fans that need a map to find Bramall lane, which is nice for them. Away fans are also packing out our away end but they're not adding to the atmosphere too much as they don't really sing (although Man U seemed to be singing throughout)

The EFL needs to get a much bigger share of footballs money but also the media side of things. The EFL simply doesn't have the hype, something i've been amazed with this season.

I think if we push on for top 4, have a run in the Champions League (just so i can have an excuse to travel) and then have a couple more seasons in the Prem, i'd be fine with going back to the Championship.

I've actually watched fewer non Blades games on TV this season than in the past few years where i was watching lots of Championship games.

 

[Ainsley Harriott]

It does help that we're competing. You wouldn't have said this if we were the whipping boys.

But having watched some championship football this season, the gulf is vast. Even at Bournemouth away you could see it. The pressing off the ball was quicker, the movement was quicker and as soon as Bournemouth won the ball back they were very quick to get back into shape to start again. I've noticed every team doing it. The championship isn't a patch on it. With the team we have got now we'd be comfortable at the top (and I understand we wouldn't have spent anywhere near what we have, nor would we have been able to sign the players we have).

As for that lot saying "I'd rather be in the championship" - they wouldn't. That's why they took 80,000 to Wembley. That's why they bang on about how everyone wants them back up there. The only reason they are saying it is because we're there. It's human nature to want to be the best. Compete with the best. Would you rather have Man United and Liverpool on your patch, or Luton and Barnsley?

I was of the opinion that the Premier league wasn't "all that", but it is. You've got to be there to know that.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

Call me weird but I do miss playing Mittwoch, Leeds and Forest. There's a visceral hatred that runs much deeper than simply football with those rivalries.

As much as I'm enjoying the ride in the PL, there's no such rivalries and no sense of waking up the day of a game with an aching pain in your belly thinking we REALLY can't lose to this lot today. As perverse as it sounds, invoking that kind of emotion is what it's all about...

That's why I'm hoping if we are to stay up, at least one of those teams joins us...

 

[grafikhaus]

I was of the opinion that the Premier league wasn't "all that", but it is. You've got to be there to know that.

I too bought into the Quest/Colin Murray hype that the Championship was the place to be. Now I realise it's shite in comparison to the PL. The standard of some of the play is slow and embarrassing.

Like SwissBlade , I wouldn't be devastated to end up back in the Champ (but not next season...) but it is Endcliffe Park standard compared to the PL. Play-offs mean that even shit like Wednesday can pretend they're in with a chance of 'the promised land' up until the last day of the season. Their inability to beat anybody outside the bottom six suggests otherwise...

 

[Ainsley Harriott]

Call me weird but I do miss playing Mittwoch, Leeds and Forest. There's a visceral hatred that runs much deeper than simply football with those rivalries.

As much as I'm enjoying the ride in the PL, there's no such rivalries and no sense of waking up the day of a game with an aching pain in your belly thinking we REALLY can't lose to this lot today. As perverse as it sounds, invoking that kind of emotion is what it's all about...

That's why I'm hoping if we are to stay up, at least one of those teams joins us...

Who actually WANTS to wake up with that feeling? I don't.

 

[awblade]

I do understand what you are saying but still don't like the premier league. I'm only here for sheffield united

 

[sufc323]

One down side is that I’ll probably receive my P45 soon due to the amount of time I spend at work trying to catch up with all the stuff in the media about us now as opposed to an article every month or so.

 

[1973Blade]

Of course I hope we stay in the Premier League. But we are like a child on Christmas morning, everything is so new and exciting. And of course we are doing so well. After a few years (hopefully!) in the Premiership things will start to feel a little stale. And the excessive hype will start to grate, a bit like an adult feels on Christmas evening after over indulging on the food and drink all day!

 

[mcbladeface]

Whilst I largely agree, you've got to factor in how well we're doing into the equation. Getting good results against top teams, seeing us play amazing football, consistently proving early doubters wrong and shocking arrogant plastic fans and lazy pundits alike are all big contributions to why its so much more enjoyable than watching us against charlton or something.

I doubt it'd quite have the same magic to it if we were in Norwich's position for instance. If we were getting done in every other week, scrapping to stay just above relegation and having arrogant plastic fans proved right would take the lustre off.

There are also things about the PL I just can't make myself enjoy. The media obsession with the 'top' teams grates. The coverage of manager drama (and player drama during transfer windows) gets on my tits as well. "Ooh hes off, where's he going?, ooh hes fallen out with Gonta Villa and they cant be in the same room together, lets discuss it at length. Ooh Wilder should go to a bigger club, theyd be so perfect together." Feels more like something out of geordie shore or something than sport coverage. Also pretty certain that should we stay up, all the positive coverage we have got will abruptly stop or at least change overnight. Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing.

But yeah, does feel good. Going back to the champ at this point would feel hugely deflating.

 

[Cheesebored]

99% of being in the PL is fantastic. The constant media coverage, the improved quality of grounds, the improved quality of opposing teams, etc. However I've got to say on a personal level I've got mixed feelings on our new found supporters. I sit in the south stand but when the kids can get I move to BLUT to sit together. On Sunday the mix of people sat around us was very strange. At times it felt like we'd sat in the middle of a families sunday lunch out. Men and women in their late 50s dressed like they're off to the theatre who struggled to clap when we scored. People who stare at you for singing GCB like you're an alien. I understand the lure of the premier league and the need to encourage and nurture new fans for the future but believe me, a large amount of these people care not one jot for SUFC, they're casually interested in football at the most. I know fans celebrate in different ways but I'd rather have 28000 blades in the ground than sit amongst uncaring football tourists. Bits of me miss the grabbing hold of someone 3 empty seats away and jumping around joyously at a last minute winner, knowing at least that they're a blade even if I dont know them. For all the improvements and riches the premier league brings, for me, the football tourist is something you can keep.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

I've heard from lots of Blades in the past about how they weren't bothered about going up to the Prem. I've read it on here, but I've heard it from mates in the pub too. I've always thought that is a cranky opinion to hold. If only for one reason - survival.

I've posted before on here about the massive gulf between the Prem and the Championship and how it's getting wider all the time. I honestly think that we are facing a situation where the same few clubs will go up and down each season between the Prem and the Championship. Because those that do go down will have so much more money than the others in the Championship, that the others will struggle to compete and the gulf will just widen further. And as for further down the leagues, I think in the next 20 years most of those clubs will be nothing more than semi-professional/amateur league clubs. And at the very top...I can see the top 6 clubs in the Prem breaking away and forming their own European super league.

Not all those things might happen, but they are all possibilities and unless there is a significant change in the way that money flows down through the leagues then I can see some of these happening. Regardless, any club that wants to secure the future, financially, has to be competing at the top level for as long as it possibly can. That should be crystal clear to anyone with even the slightest bit of common sense.

Football is a business whether we like it or not. And the first rule of any business is "survival".

Thank God we are back in the Prem! I think Ainsley has a point though, I doubt we'd be celebrating it so much if we were getting tonked every week. But we aren't - and that's quite amazing as well considering where our players have come from and what they've cost. We should cherish Wilder while he's here and give him the necessary backing to ensure we stay in the Prem for many more years to come.

 

[SwissBlade]

I do understand what you are saying but still don't like the premier league. I'm only here for sheffield united

Same for me, i wouldn't ordinarily choose to watch another Premier League game unless it involved ourselves or we had a vested interest ( another team around us, promoted with us or was the next team we play).

I've watched some of the games like Liverpool v Man City and Man City v Chelsea, but felt pretty disappointed after the hype.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

99% of being in the PL is fantastic. The constant media coverage, the improved quality of grounds, the improved quality of opposing teams, etc. However I've got to say on a personal level I've got mixed feelings on our new found supporters. I sit in the south stand but when the kids can get I move to BLUT to sit together. On Sunday the mix of people sat around us was very strange. At times it felt like we'd sat in the middle of a families sunday lunch out. Men and women in their late 50s dressed like they're off to the theatre who struggled to clap when we scored. People who stare at you for singing GCB like you're an alien. I understand the lure of the premier league and the need to encourage and nurture new fans for the future but believe me, a large amount of these people care not one jot for SUFC, they're casually interested in football at the most. I know fans celebrate in different ways but I'd rather have 28000 blades in the ground than sit amongst uncaring football tourists. Bits of me miss the grabbing hold of someone 3 empty seats away and jumping around joyously at a last minute winner, knowing at least that they're a blade even if I dont know them. For all the improvements and riches the premier league brings, for me, the football tourist is something you can keep.

I know exactly what you mean, but I'm afraid the future of football is about attracting football tourists, especially online ones. They are more important than the ones who pay to come through the turnstiles. That's hard to take for any of us supporters who faithfully go week in, week out, to watch the team live and have supported them for decades through thick and thin. But, it's the way of the world and we can't change that.

I know exactly what you mean about grabbing hold of the nearest person to hug them when we score as well! To be honest, it's not something I initiate. I'm not a very "touchy-feely" sort of person (except with my wife and her sister and the young lady who lives opposite at number 21). I have no strong urge to hug the nearest hairy-arsed neaderthal when we score. But, this is more of a thing at away games I find. I was in the crowd at Chelsea this season and when Robinson scored that goal just after half-time I had new friends instantly. A little bloke with a bald head and round specs who had stood next to me all game and not even said "hello" was giving me a bear hug! I wondered what the fuck he was doing at first as his little bald head was bobbling around my waistline And then a couple of teenagers that were stood behind me, suddenly launched themselves on top of me, in an outward show of emotion - it was like I had just scored the goal myself! When folks do this to me, I usually reciprocate to some degree and show some joy and celebration in unison with my fellow Blade. But I'd never be the one to initiate it and I find it a bit OTT to be honest!

Having said that, I was sat amongst the home fans a few seasons ago when we played Chesterfield at the ProAct. Chesterfield scored and this voluptuous brunette next to me, with rather splendid chest muscles, wrapped her arms around me and jiggled up and down. Bloody hell! She obviously thought I was a Chesterfield fan - and she's saying to me - "we deserve that!" And I'm thinking to myself, "Absolute rubbish, but if I'm going to get a hug like that every time they score I hope get half a dozen".

 

[HVR]

Totally agree. When we were in League One, I watched a Championship game (Watford v someone) it looked fast, skillful, with top players, I genuinely feared for us if we got promoted.
Waiting for KO on Sunday, I saw some of the match (Boro v Hull) it looked sluggish, slow and as a tier below totally irrelevant.
Not trying to be arrogant, or thinking we're an established top team, but so quickly do you move on.
Like buying a new phone, not really seeing the difference, but on occasion you might need to fish the old one out of the draw, and you think "wow, how shit and slow and bad was this phone compared to this new one I have!"

 

[CarlMcBlade]

I must admit since 1992 I’ve hated loathed a despised the Premier league. Even when we’ve been in it before, I never really thought we belonged there.
But now I can empathise with those Prem fans who don’t give the EFL and the clubs in it a moments thought. We’ve only been here for nearly 4 months and I already couldn’t give a monkeys toss about the Championship. So you can sort of understand the disdain established Prem clubs and their fans had towards us, If you take away our solitary season 06/07. We’ve been out of the Prem for 24 years.
But now we’re here..... It’s the only place to be.

 

[JackSUFC]

I’ve watched a few Championship games in the past few weeks and they seem slow and predictable compared to watching the Red and White Wizards in the PREMIER League

I loved the Championship. It’s a great division in some aspects. However I watched Charlton v Preston (two teams towards the top end) for about 20 mins on Sky the other week and the standard was awful compared to our games this season. Let’s hope we don’t have to play in that league again for a long time.

 

[mario kempes]

I have to say that at 1st I was apprehensive of being in the PL, this wasnt helped by the media reaction to us eben before a ball had been kicked. Main thought was have a season take the cash, then get back down to championship. This didnt change as the 1st few games we witnessed the cynical side of teams diving at the slightest touch, no contact football. Then over the last few weeks, this has changed, the way we have continued to play, with aggression, the passion, the style of play we have eveloved and learning. We have learned how to be aggresive without punishment, think that referees are also learning how we play as cant help thinking that the coming together of Mousett and Jones for the 1st goal would have been given as fould earlier in the season. The mainstream media are now taking notice, Garth Crooks doent count, and giving us the plaudits that we are bossing games, with our style of play. The improvements being made by the club off field too is fantaatic, and being abroad in the pacifc ocean for period during the season thinking how am i going to catch up on whats happening, wasnt an issue as switched on local spots chanell and it was wall to wall premier league football. It is the place to be and i am now a Premier league convert and not even watched Quest all season!!

 

[Mumbo]

I’m loving it.
The standard of football,the atmosphere the media coverage all brilliant.
I welcome the new fans or ‘tourists‘ as someone called them because them and their kids are tomorrow’s die hard’s.
Back in the early 80’s 13,000 was a good crowd at the lane so does that mean the extra 17000 we get now are not proper fans?
If we continue on our upward trajectory our fan base will increase we will attract kids that would otherwise be blue and white we will need
that new kop with increased capacity.It’s all good.

 

[I should coco]

Whilst the whole PL lighting / corporate identity / brand is right shit show, we have never remotely had anything like this level of global awareness. I know we all get pissed off with being called 'Sheffield' rather than United, but on the bright side it is great exposure for the city too.

One good thing about the Prem, is that Wendy aren't in it.

It hurts them, it really does, despite their protestations about how they'd rather be in La Liga (or even the new breakaway league that the uber-deluded believe will be formed, following a points deduction and all the other 'big' clubs follow the S6 massive to leave the EFL).

 

[TJB.]

The whole world appears to be falling in love with us. That is something I truly never expected.

 

[fuerstenberger]

When I was back in the UK I went to watch Crewe. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Don't know why, perhaps it's the naked, real, gritty essence of what football was, not what it is perhaps now, higher up. I am enjoying our time in the PL. I didn't think I would. It's nice hearing ex German internationals calling our football excellent, interesting and a breath of fresh air. Makes me proud. However, I have said in the past It was our holiday in League One that reignited my love of football. I am perhaps alone in the fact I enjoyed our time there, I did feel for the poor buggers who had to go to Flangeworth Town on a cold Tues night though. Having said all that, I wouldn't want to go back there, mainly because of the financial implications.

PS In my first ever post on here I was very critical of Chris Porter. I was perhaps a bit harsh, he looked ok for Crewe, actually better than ok. Sorry Chris.

 

[TTMeysh]

There's plenty about the Premiership to despise, but the only way to change it is from a position of strength at the top table.

It is also wonderful that we currently are in that position without having had to compromise our principles, still recognisably a British club rooted in the community, in a proper ground, and with a leadership team on and off the pitch who 'get it'.