Has the Championship been a success?

Mork · Post by **Mork** » Mon May 01, 2006 5:40 am

So we're what, 2 seasons in the re-branding of Division 1. Has anything been achieved? Does the quality of the football suit the top tier of football underneath the premiership?

I have to volunteer the opinion that no, it does not - if anything it's got worse. The season seems to have been the worst for some time, the quality has been almost non-existent, only Reading have looked remotely "skilled" with the ball in all the games I've seen. For the most part, the entire division is about how strong you are up front, and how poor your cobbled defensive line is, with most teams stringing a mixture of has-beens, will-be-one-day-with-any-luck and nobodies.

The Premiership is still sucking the lifeblood out of English football. Not only has it pretty much destroyed any signs of life underneath it, its cannibalising itself now, with most teams outside the top 5 or 6, looking pretty ropey and playing some pretty unattractive football just to ensure financial survival.

And what do the fans get for their trouble. Increasing ticket prices and more football sold to Sky so they can pay exorbitant subscription fees to see it on TV (despite the European Commissions telling them to open it up to competition, 50% of the packages have already gone to Sky, with the other 50% still open for bidding - expect 5/6 to go to Sky again, with someone like NTL winning the scraps - ie matches nobody wants to see).

I wonder what will have to happen to turn around our game - possibly it will require it to get a point where millions of people turn away and the suits in charge realise they've been walking a path that will alienate the fanbase for the last 10 years.

Riviera · Post by **Riviera** » Mon May 01, 2006 5:46 am

totally agree with that mork, the championship/division 1 has been getting worse season by season, we finished 3rd last year with one of our worst defensive units in years, most other teams have crap defences as well, all u need in this league is a couple of decent strikers and maybe 2 decent midfielders to create the chances for them

the real football goes on in leagues 1&2, simply because the players are playing to earn contracts to pay the mortgage and keep their familes

hallamblue · Post by **hallamblue** » Mon May 01, 2006 11:02 am

I think they should bring back the restriction of the numbers of overseas players that can be used - they invariably arrive in the Country with a vastly over-inflated price tag , which goes some way to fueling Premiership Clubs need for Sky moneies. The vast majority of these overseas players are not, IMHO "better" than their British counterparts. But their mere presence in our game stiffles the emergance of young home grown talent.

Premisership Clubs do little to re- invest in the English game - choosing instead to spend their sky Ã‚Â£millions on overseas players as a quick fix for success and finiancial reward.

The FA also, have shown on more than one occassion that they couldnt organise a pi$$ up in a brewery - and in short , have sold our game on the cheap to Sky TV. The FA, could if they had the forsight - insist that a higher % of money went into the game at lower levels and indeed grass root levels. But like many people professionally involved in this sport - the mandate is for a shortism approach - get rich quick philosphy - which is killing our game !

The only people to suffer - are US THE FANS as we continue to be ripped off by our own Clubs and the FA.

Rant over !

phily bon bon · Post by **phily bon bon** » Mon May 01, 2006 3:21 pm

Very good points and I agree fully with both hallam and mork entirely.The prem is all about 3/4 teams and good as bolton,spurs,newcastle once in a while are forget about anyone out of the top 4 ever winning the league again.I see it in a few years being so ridiculous that even for chelski winning the prem next season WONT be a success unless its coupled with at least another domestic cup AND the champions league.

the-mole · Post by **the-mole** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:09 am

Great points here guys - a few of us have touched on this in the past and it seems there is a genuine growing problem in the english game at the moment.

The millions wasted on the premiership realistically only represents a small percentage of the many clubs up and down the country. The premiership ensures that the rich get rich while the poor get poorer - and that is the way the premiership clubs want it. It ensures they dominate every club in the lower leagues and pick and choose the best talent because quite simply they can!!

Our own club went corporate when we won promotion, they lost all the fan and family attributes we used to have because all of a sudden we were a "big club" - how quick they changed their tune when relegation smacked sheepshanks in the face!!!

As Riv has pointed out - the real football being played - where you couldn't really pick out a dominant side - is in league 1 & 2. These teams really live on the breadlines with alot of players only on 1 year contracts. This is where it matters - where a lot the footballers here do not have the big ego's.

What has been refreshing in my opinion has been the emergence of FC United & AFC Wimbledon - 2 clubs run by the fans for the fans. These clubs have been set-up as a rival to the "corporate" traditional versions of the main clubs. I can honestly see a future rival league in this country where new clubs being set-up by the league can stick 2 fingers up at the FA and Premier league and create their own futures.

We all support our clubs because we feel we have to, because we always had. Just a shame our clubs didn't feel the same way about us supporters!

toby · Post by **toby** » Tue May 02, 2006 8:07 am

Sunday's match showed what a poor standard of football the average Championship sides provide nowadays.

For long periods of play neither side could get the ball under control or pass the ball to their own team and the number of passes/crosses that went straight out of play was incredible!

A lot of the players seem to completely lack the basic skills (control, short passing, etc) that ALL footballers require (eg. for Plymouth's equaliser how many players on both sides missed the ball? 4 or 5? They seemed more intent on kicking each other than clearing the ball/scoring the goal!).

Some of the football on show was embarrassing, although it did provide an awful lot of amusement for my Hearts supporting Scottish girlfriend (her verdict - "Your team is sh*te!").

Himple · Post by **Himple** » Tue May 02, 2006 10:47 am

Always had one saying about the Championship.

"Great to watch, a f**ker to be in"