Dream Land or Meh?

[blade too long]

see , people are missing league one already as they realise the prems not that exciting
and for why
spending a full year hoping and praying to muster 40 points to stay in it
10 wins and 10 draws
not much just 20 days in a year when you enjoy it
whereas weve just seen 100 goals 100 points some great away days and thoroughly enjoyed a full 3 months since losing a game

whats not to like about that

and in the championship going for the big prize
at least to get in the play offs you get to 80 points

twice as many as you hope for in the prem
so twice as many wins and draws, much more happy days

its like paying 80 quid for a t shirt when one from asda at 8 quid looks just as good
people just like to brag about the fact it cost them 80
but its all bullshit

 

[Pinchy]

and all the original post was ASKING, would fans be happy with mid table mediocrity and quite clearly you would

In the Premiership? Any sane Blade would. Oh....yeah....

 

[TTMeysh]

I agree with comments of others that the EPL is frequently tedious - expensively tedious at that. Again, for me this comes down to the economics. There is such a massive penalty associated with relegation that from November onwards, two thirds of the teams are playing attritional football to avoid flirting with the drop zone. Then you also have the ludicrous situation of foreign owners picking up clubs and showering them with cash, only to then get bored and take up some other hobby.

I'd like the Blades to take a position in the game's governance structures that opposes all that and tries to restore some sanity. But in order for that to look like a principled position and not just the petulance of a bunch of marginal uncouth northerners, we have to negotiate from a position of strength on the pitch. That means we have to get there, and stay there, preferably building a team based around honest British-qualified players with an ethos that stands in contrast to that we see week in week out at present from various prima donnas and mercenaries in the EPL.

 

[YES Blade]

In the Premiership? Any sane Blade would. Oh....yeah....

The other thing is if we became a mid table Premier League team, we would be in a position to challenge for the FA and League Cups.

Who wouldn't want us to have serious chance of winning a major trophy?

 

[JordoBlade]

Sadly a large section of supporters these days feel that just being in the Prem is some sort of huge success. I'd rather see us win in a league and gain promotion than see my club year in year out just about survive with absolutely no success.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Sadly a large section of supporters these days feel that just being in the Prem is some sort of huge success. I'd rather see us win in a league and gain promotion than see my club year in year out just about survive with absolutely no success.

The trouble is 17th paying out £200M is seen as sucess.

Drop down one league and 17th means the sack.

 

[JordoBlade]

The trouble is 17th paying out £200M is seen as sucess.

Drop down one league and 17th means the sack.

Clubs aren't any more financially stable with those sorts of money because your overheads are ridiculous in the PL these days but that's just common knowledge. Personally I reckon that league can make you worse off if you don't get it right.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Clubs aren't any more financially stable with those sorts of money because your overheads are ridiculous in the PL these days but that's just common knowledge. Personally I reckon that league can make you worse off if you don't get it right.

I'm sure most clubs can run the Prem with budgets around £100/150M and feel very stable.

Trouble is the £100M+ goes on tossers who don't care.

Check out the Bolton and Brighton promotion tubes, neither came near The Blades celebrations, we have something special.

Wilder probabily has one of the most difficult jobs in football now, improving the squad AND keeping the attitude.

Not be many managers will be wanting to do that, most will go down the 'buy the best you can' route with all the other sheep.

 

[Living In a Fantasy World]

What we don't want is to get too comfortable then crash down the leagues like Coventry/ Portsmouth/ Wigan/ Charlton/ Wigan ect have, we need to keep the team competitive and always try to improve each season.

 

[blade too long]

Yoh havd to look no further than Arsenal to see how fans can never be satisfied with just chugging along. Wenger could win them their 3rd fa cup in 4 seasons but is that brilliant.no sack the useless twat

 

[Keen Blade]

One little truism that I heard at a conference in my twenties (I'm now sixty) underlies all this.
LIFE IS A JOURNEY , NOT A DESTINATION.
When I was young , I was encouraged to do well at school so as to get a good job.
This is , one the one hand , commendable parental guidance , especially for boys with the potential to go off the rails into delinquency.
On the other hand , it leads to a false personal philosophy of "if I work hard to pass X exams , I'll be OK , I'll have "got there" and everything will be fine & dandy - having reached my destination , life will be a cruise".
As you mature , you realise this is bunkum.
No matter what degree you've got , jobs are hard , promotions bring increased responsibility and then all the unexpected non-career stuff starts to happen , marriage , kids , mortgages , bereavement , illnesses etc etc and the better philosophy is "try to enjoy the journey , there are no destinations (apart from the final one)".
This doesn't mean that you can't have some destinations in mind - in fact you need them in mind , to have some focus & fulfillment in life. But you have to realise that 99% of people never actually "arrive" in the sense that they get there and put their feet up.
Same with the Blades. I was there in 71 & 90 & 06. It was great to have been on those journeys and momentarily "arrive". But for one reason or another , the place that was your destination either changes , or you get forced backwards for a while etc etc , and like the spider in Robert the Bruce's cave , you start spinning another web.
So my two pennerth is : don't waste too much time on destinations or what might happen when you get there , leave that to the men in suits , concentrate on and enjoy today.
For all the heartache , being a Blade has been one of the biggest blessings of my life , and sharing a few pints with my lifelong Blade friends is wonderful , especially this season.
In the 48 years since 1969 , we've had 16 in which there's been real excitement , even if it ended in the disappointment of a Wembley defeat (or similar). One year out of every three. What a journey !

 

[blade too long]

The truest thing I ever heard was unless you never suffer great grief you never really enjoy great joy.
All the suffering of the previous 5 seasons really hieghtened the joy of this season.
Its given us back our belief and we can put to bed that oh we will blow it mind set as we know we can do it

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I agree, but for £150million into the club even I would be a hypocrite and love it

But today Spurs got 7, Man City and Chelsea 5, Liverpool 3, your £150M+ doesn't go far and nearly ALL those players spanked today couldn't give a fuck.

 

[Muttley]

If we did reach the Prem. my biggest fear would be can I afford a season ticket......

My ONLY concern.

 

[snootyfenooty]

If we did reach the Prem. my biggest fear would be can I afford a season ticket......

Following on from above, a very good point. Who fancies spending 6 or 7 hundred quid on a season ticket? We can then join the massive and look like idiots bragging about how much we're being skinned to watch a football match.

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

Very interesting thread, which shows how much time we have on our hands in the close season. My take on this, for what it is worth, is that we worry about the Premier League if and when we get there. After what we have put up with in most of the recent seasons, enjoy where we have got to this season, and look forward to the football next season. This is one situation where the mantra of 'one game at a time' makes sense: I detest most of what the Premier League stands for, but I would love us to get there. Don't worry too much about the long term; as an economist once said when asked what would happen in the long run, 'In the long run, we all die.'

 

[SwissBlade]

But today Spurs got 7, Man City and Chelsea 5, Liverpool 3, your £150M+ doesn't go far and nearly ALL those players spanked today couldn't give a fuck.

But hopefully we're never at a stage where we're chucking 50 or 100m on a single player either.

Really hope that the Premier League implodes

 

[SW12 to S12 to S18]

I agree, but for £150million into the club even I would be a hypocrite and love it

It's fine getting the £150 million but what happens to it? It disappears on overseas players wages who dive and cheat and then bugger off as soon as the going gets tough or another "bigger" club comes in for them.
I suppose on the other hand that what's the point in having all that money unless you spend it on better players.
I would hope that if we did get into the premiership we would concentrate on winning the cups, I want to see us win something serious before I croak.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

One little truism that I heard at a conference in my twenties (I'm now sixty) underlies all this.
LIFE IS A JOURNEY , NOT A DESTINATION.
When I was young , I was encouraged to do well at school so as to get a good job.
This is , one the one hand , commendable parental guidance , especially for boys with the potential to go off the rails into delinquency.
On the other hand , it leads to a false personal philosophy of "if I work hard to pass X exams , I'll be OK , I'll have "got there" and everything will be fine & dandy - having reached my destination , life will be a cruise".
As you mature , you realise this is bunkum.
No matter what degree you've got , jobs are hard , promotions bring increased responsibility and then all the unexpected non-career stuff starts to happen , marriage , kids , mortgages , bereavement , illnesses etc etc and the better philosophy is "try to enjoy the journey , there are no destinations (apart from the final one)".
This doesn't mean that you can't have some destinations in mind - in fact you need them in mind , to have some focus & fulfillment in life. But you have to realise that 99% of people never actually "arrive" in the sense that they get there and put their feet up.
Same with the Blades. I was there in 71 & 90 & 06. It was great to have been on those journeys and momentarily "arrive". But for one reason or another , the place that was your destination either changes , or you get forced backwards for a while etc etc , and like the spider in Robert the Bruce's cave , you start spinning another web.
So my two pennerth is : don't waste too much time on destinations or what might happen when you get there , leave that to the men in suits , concentrate on and enjoy today.
For all the heartache , being a Blade has been one of the biggest blessings of my life , and sharing a few pints with my lifelong Blade friends is wonderful , especially this season.
In the 48 years since 1969 , we've had 16 in which there's been real excitement , even if it ended in the disappointment of a Wembley defeat (or similar). One year out of every three. What a journey !

^^^This, 100%.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

That John Terry Show at the weekend made it all the more appealing, don't you think?

 

[Maidenhead]

Yoh havd to look no further than Arsenal to see how fans can never be satisfied with just chugging along. Wenger could win them their 3rd fa cup in 4 seasons but is that brilliant.no sack the useless twat

I was going to make a similar point.

Yesterday Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions league for the first time in 20yrs and some twat had a banner saying 12 years of failure, Wenger out, and they could still win the bloody F.A Cup again this season.

The problem is that most fans are never satisfied.

The more they get, the more they want, and their support of their football team is way out of all proportion in the bigger scheme of things.

I'm happy to watch United playing in whatever division they happen to be qualified for because I don't rely on a group of overpaid prima donnas kicking a bag of wind about in order to give me self satisfaction and happiness.

I get that from the things that I make and do for myself, and when things go well it is a much better feeling than the reflected glory from the efforts of others where my only contribution has been to pay to watch them and support them.

Because I have high levels of personal satisfaction I never feel the need to boo the team, and I never let my football highs get too high or my lows get too low.

Football should be an escape from real life for enjoyment purposes but far too many football fans lack any sense of perspective and obviously lack any sense of personal purpose or pride.

Wow sorry guys and girls, that turned into a bit of a lecture.

It's sad but such is life.

UTB

 

[Sharrow Snuff Mill]

If we did reach the Prem. my biggest fear would be can I afford a season ticket......

Truth is, all premier league clubs could, if they wanted to look after the fans and the long term health of the game, give free admittance. Gate money pales into insignificance alongside Sky money. Greed knows no bounds. I hope United try to do their bit to stop the theft of the game from the working man.

 

[DifferentClass]

The Championship right now is what the Premier League should be. Good, traditional English clubs and the ones with a MASSIVE attitude getting rightfully shafted by "smaller" teams.

The PL is full of elitist twats who are in it for the money and it doesn't look like that's gonna change soon. Two promotions in a row would be reyt nice but I'd be appeh with us staying in the Championship until the likes of Citeh, Manure, Spurs etc. join a European Super League.

 

[Barmyblade]

I can see both sides to this. In terms of "living for the moment" I am much happier on a Saturday evening if we have won than lost, regardless of the opposition - especially if we are playing with heart and feel an association with the players.

The first time in the Premiership, under Bassett, I loved it. There were lots of new stadiums to go to, our usual strengths of teamwork and desire were sufficient for us to compete - and because it was the first time, there was a novelty to it all.

The second time, under Warnock, I generally didnt enjoy it all. Spending £200 for a ticket/train to London to be sneered at, and be three down by half time - with no hope or expectation - was no fun at all. Watching Stevie G "win" three penalties still annoys me now. Referees being so biased it made my blood boil. West Ham's appalling conduct, coupled with the FA's blatant favouritism, was a disgrace.

I fear that if we make it back to the Premiership it will be more like the Warnock era - however if there is anyone who can emulate the crazy days of Bassett - let's hope its our Chrissy!

 

[lingsbord]

I used to have this feeling about Coventry, back in the day. Yes they won the FA Cup in their one true highlight of recent eons, but for about 30 years they hovered around the middle of the top flight and I thought "Christ I'd hate to be a fan of a club like that" and then the wheels came off and they end up in L2. I feel the same about Ipswich in the Championship - perennial also-rans. For what? West Brom - Boing Boing and all that - fair play they always seemed to have something to worry about or celebrate, but now they're becoming the new Coventry!

If we get up to the Premier League any time soon I hope we invest heavily and have right a go at upsetting a few people. Just make sure that players' contracts include a 50% wage drop if we get relegated so they're all fucked off before the parachute money runs out