The dreaded Premier league next season

[Sheffsteel]

I don't disagree regarding the budgets etc, but it'll need to be massively spread across a large number of players. It'll be a success if we can just stabilise imo

Agree....having a god budget is a massive positive but there will also be massive player upheaval.
It's like we're starting a team from scratch....I'm confident we'll accrue a selection of good players....probably good enough to be promoted
but as we know success is all based on having "a team".

In the early days Wilder will be experimenting with tactics/ formations trying to find a formula that works.
Think next season will be more about stabilising the club, building some foundations to make a serious promotion push the season after.

 

[SGBlade]

I’d love to have a sustained spell in the top division. I think if we finished, say, between 8th and 17th every season for 5 years, with the occasional run to latter stages of the cups and flirtation with the euro places, built a Cat A academy and brought through a few quality youngsters, signed the odd foreign playmaker who became a fan favourite and beat a couple of the big boys under the lights at Bramall Lane on a Tuesday night each year, then I’d be chuffed and wouldnt hanker for relegation for one second.

BUT I can’t deny there is something soulless about the Prem compared to the other three divisions. And it’s not just because we’re shit. Even whilst we’re in the Prem I tend to watch championship games, listen to league podcasts etc. My mates who support tranmere, millwall, Watford and Wednesday are all waaaay more interesting, passionate and knowledgeable about football than the ones who support Arsenal and Man U. It’s not because those guys are dickheads, they just live in a social media premiership echo chamber.

I loved 19/20 but I can’t say I loved it more than 18/19. Even the triple assault season that ended in nothing gave me more moments to cherish than 19/20.

I’m not unambitious and I don’t see any inherent reason why we can’t do a Brighton, palace or brentford. But if you asked me if I’m, on average, a happier supporter being in the top 6 of the champ or the bottom 6 of the Prem, then it’s no contest.

 

[Bell4]

Think Ann Widdecombe. Her gratitude would be off the scale.

It was

 

[Bell4]

Yep, I’m the good looking ripped bloke with the big cock

Yup

I can back him up

 

[VonBrysonsExpress]

There is so much I agree with in this thread, some comments less so. personal view is I hate the premier league, for all reasons already cited. What I really hate, and this may apply to other leagues but is especially notable with the premier, is how much of a soap opera football has become.

It's a fucking industry, so much media about every aspect of football. Granted cause can be applied to sky & talk sport having to fill empty air time, it's just I don't care for any of it. I admittedly spend too much time on here but utd are my club so I care, the rest of it not.

The premier is now an industry feeding so many sucker fish it can't be allowed to fail. It's no longer about football.

 

[TopBoy]

Kind of agree but the facts show that we're in the minority due to incredible viewing figures for the PL all around the world.
The PL is by far and away the most watched league of any sport in the world and the popularity seems to be growing (that is why people say best).

Tim Vickery (the journalist based in Rio -Brazil) was on Talksport last year saying that English people probably don't realise how big the Premier League is in Brazil. He said you see far more kids in the street wearing Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool shirts than any Brazilian club shirts.
He even said that when I really big PL match is on...then the streets are quiet and there's little traffic on the streets because so many are watching the match at home or in the bars. He said it's sad really because Brazilian domestic football is slowly dying and he wonders where it will end.

In the US the MLS is growing but it's a common complaint by the MLS that the PL is far more popular with fan groups meeting up in every US city.

You mention that what defines a league are teams of similar quality....agree but that's why the PL is so popular.

In every other league, each club can negotiate it's own TV deal so the gap is finances is huge meaning small clubs have no chance,
Across Europe it's the same 2 or 3 clubs that win the league every year....the others are so far behind that the big clubs can play their reserves.

Whereas in the England it's a collective TV deal, so every club is guaranteed at least 120 million per season.
The PL is famous because usually every match is tough...even the crap teams are given 110 million to spend making it much more of a spectacle.
Also there's always a much larger pool of clubs battling it out for a Champions league place.

You even have small clubs like Brighton, Brentford and Bournmouth building teams with high quality international players, this could never happen in any other league. Brighton are currently playing in Europe and are good enough to compete against the best the Europa Cup has to offer.

Interesting post that. I find myself watching more and more non-Premier League stuff now, even dipping into non-league and enjoy it so much more. Maybe it's an age thing but the modern game isn't the same game that I grew up playing or watching.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Kind of agree but the facts show that we're in the minority due to incredible viewing figures for the PL all around the world.
The PL is by far and away the most watched league of any sport in the world and the popularity seems to be growing (that is why people say best).

Tim Vickery (the journalist based in Rio -Brazil) was on Talksport last year saying that English people probably don't realise how big the Premier League is in Brazil. He said you see far more kids in the street wearing Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool shirts than any Brazilian club shirts.
He even said that when I really big PL match is on...then the streets are quiet and there's little traffic on the streets because so many are watching the match at home or in the bars. He said it's sad really because Brazilian domestic football is slowly dying and he wonders where it will end.

In the US the MLS is growing but it's a common complaint by the MLS that the PL is far more popular with fan groups meeting up in every US city.

You mention that what defines a league are teams of similar quality....agree but that's why the PL is so popular.

In every other league, each club can negotiate it's own TV deal so the gap is finances is huge meaning small clubs have no chance,
Across Europe it's the same 2 or 3 clubs that win the league every year....the others are so far behind that the big clubs can play their reserves.

Whereas in the England it's a collective TV deal, so every club is guaranteed at least 120 million per season.
The PL is famous because usually every match is tough...even the crap teams are given 110 million to spend making it much more of a spectacle.
Also there's always a much larger pool of clubs battling it out for a Champions league place.

You even have small clubs like Brighton, Brentford and Bournmouth building teams with high quality international players, this could never happen in any other league. Brighton are currently playing in Europe and are good enough to compete against the best the Europa Cup has to offer.

The clubs you listed have had billions invested in them. "Small" means absolutely nothing anymore

Also, Hoffenheim, Union Berlin, Girona, Brest etc etc. Small clubs competing high up over the years in other leagues

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Hi Stegosaurus here

Saying you prefer the Championship than the Premier League is like saying you'd rather be banging the fat, greasy slapper from the Dog & Duck than the hot, young receptionist at work.

Watch players like Ruben Dias, Rodri and Declan Rice each week or Danny Ward, George Honeyman and Mustapha Bundu

Tricky one ...

I wouldn't say rather but sometimes you just have to settle.

 

[Tezza1889]

I wouldn't say rather but sometimes you just have to settle.

He means watch sheffield united get hammered every game by Ruben Diaz, Rodriguez, and declan rice..something pigosaurus hasnt had to endure for a long time..

 

[jt64]

The pros of the Championship are obvious: you get more games, you might win some of them, and you only need a quick glance over to the linesman before you can celebrate a goal.

I'm sorry you suffer from Goal Celebration Permission Syndrome. Fortunately, there is a simple cure - just celebrate anyway

 

[Guesty]

Celebrating and then it being chalked off is fucking shit, no sense pretending otherwise.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Celebrating and then it being chalked off is fucking shit, no sense pretending otherwise.

Anything that makes the experience of watching a game in person worse can go and fuck itself

Fuck VAR

 

[Bell4]

I wouldn't say rather but sometimes you just have to settle.

NO WAY

I would rather go without


(for an hour or so)

 

[blade67]

Think I’d honestly be happier if we spent a while in the Championship, re-building a new identity based around young homegrown players (Brooks, Arblaster etc), playing decent football with a strong connection with the fans, before stepping foot in the PL again.

It won’t happen but it seems far more appealing than where we’re currently at as a club!

The problem with this plan is that you can't slowly build in the Championship like that, because players get poached.

The Brentford "business plan" could work , where you accept that you'll be selling talent for 4/5 years but gradually strengthen.

The problem for us is that model requires imaginative, engaged owners.

 

[JackSUFC]

The problem with this plan is that you can't slowly build in the Championship like that, because players get poached.

The Brentford "business plan" could work , where you accept that you'll be selling talent for 4/5 years but gradually strengthen.

The problem for us is that model requires imaginative, engaged owners.

You’re right but the thought of it is nice.

We don’t have the footballing infrastructure at the club to even begin to copy the model that has been successful for Brentford and Brighton.

 

[Frank the tank]

Don't know why anyone is worried about getting promoted again. We're not likely to be in the conversation at all when you think about the amount of bodies we need to bring in on peanuts

Don't know why anyone would make such a blasé statement without reading the thread and knowing its full of people saying exactly the same thing

 

[Loco Blade]

All blades like most fans should be concerned that they will still have a professional football club to watch in the next 10-15 years . Not really bothered what league we are in as long as we win more than we lose and the football is attractive.

 

[Proper Blade]

A lot saying how it's impossible to compete in the PL without a rich benefactor, but we showed it's possible to get up and stay up with basically no owner investment. We're probably the last team to do that. I just think when we needed to take a risk and push the boat out, we didn't do it. Instead of signing our top targets Antonee Robinson and Matty Cash, we got Max Lowe and Jayden Bogle.

Our recruitment gets plenty of criticism on here and it's fair enough, but between 2016 and 2019 it was basically perfect. There was only so long they could keep pulling rabbits out of the hat with no investment from the owner and no willingness to take any kind of risk. You don't need a billionaire owner to know when it's the right time to take a risk and speculate to accumulate. When we got relegated, we were spending about 50% of our revenue on wages - the lowest ratio in the league by a country mile. At some point you have to take a risk. We never do.

 

[bladesmanluke]

Don't know why anyone would make such a blasé statement without reading the thread and knowing its full of people saying exactly the same thing

Does folk posting their opinions on a messageboard and some of them being quite similar come as a shock to you Frank?

 

[sheff_blade90]

i think the sky / BT money has ruined the game with 5.1 billion, because as been said playing field is as wide as ive known. back in 2007 they were good champions league teams but it was competitive. but now with 200 grand a week is just the norm. in 2006 20m got you michael carrick, now with all respect it gets you 2nd tier players, from bristol city, coventry & blackburn rovers. its why i feel sorry for the team in the championship 7 of 9 that are so excited for promotion are going to get a real shock

whereas the european super league might have been a blessing in disguise, the gloryhunting foreign fans are happy & for the vast majority of clubs promotion might actually mean something. its interesting that Premier league is heading towards the same issue that F1 had few years ago. where big 3 teams where so far ahead of rest, it was almost the top 6 were in formula 1 & rest were in Formula 1.5, because top 3 were spending 400m a season whereas the rest where 120-180m. they brought in budget cap. to bring back a level playing field which wouldve worked but for the genius of adrian newey

 

[Frank the tank]

Does folk posting their opinions on a messageboard and some of them being quite similar come as a shock to you Frank?

I mean again
Read the thread
Read the guys post
Read my reply in context
And what's this latest trend with using the word folk ?

 

[bladesmanluke]

I mean again
Read the thread
Read the guys post
Read my reply in context
And what's this latest trend with using the word folk ?

Mate, you're running the most boring account on here. Constantly just looking to get into any petty squabble you can. The pettier the better in fact. I'll just pop you on ignore now as you're not worth any more of my time