To be honest, if Freeview had the championship on its sports channel one day in the future, i would seriously contemplate giving up sky (except for the phoenix).
Why?
-greater competition in terms of those in the race for the title of the battle to beat the drop.
- players that the fans can identify with and dont earn crazy money
- less of a gap between the have and have nots
- only focus is on the big 4....boring. (it used to be described as a tragedy United hadnt won the title for 20 years - now its a 'tragedy' if they draw at home to Bolton!!
I fail to see the premiership as a true sporting contest. These days it has what ruined Formula 1. The rich elite throwing money about that they dont even have, stockpiling players and creating a procession. And the Readings, the Hulls, the Stokes, Watfords, West Broms and the Derbys are made to feel like they are lucky to even pick up a few crumbs from the big boys when they are there.
Having followed the Newcastle situation it was easy to blame the board and Ashley, however after reading his statement (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/7615655.stm) i can fully see how crazy and out of control the clubs are financially. One has to also wonder where Sunderland gets all its money from.....
No club is self financing and now relies on benefactors. I am even embarressed when Readings fans blame Madejski for not spending enough. However he has taken a lower league club with a crap ground, given them a new stadium, made them self sufficient in terms of reveneue and also tasted top flight football for the first time in their history.
If these benefactors - Abramovich, the Man City ones etc all pulled out then these clubs will be left on their own to pay 100k a week wages. To be honest if they turn the great game into that charade then I wouldnt shed a tear when this all blows up in their faces.... a la Leeds
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Cracking weekend in the Championship... well, except Norwich won.
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Id love it if freeview played championship.
Why give up sky? Can you not have both?
Allegedly
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To be honest, if Freeview had the championship on its sports channel one day in the future, i would seriously contemplate giving up sky (except for the phoenix).
Why?
-greater competition in terms of those in the race for the title of the battle to beat the drop.
- players that the fans can identify with and dont earn crazy money
- less of a gap between the have and have nots
- only focus is on the big 4....boring. (it used to be described as a tragedy United hadnt won the title for 20 years - now its a 'tragedy' if they draw at home to Bolton!!
I fail to see the premiership as a true sporting contest. These days it has what ruined Formula 1. The rich elite throwing money about that they dont even have, stockpiling players and creating a procession. And the Readings, the Hulls, the Stokes, Watfords, West Broms and the Derbys are made to feel like they are lucky to even pick up a few crumbs from the big boys when they are there.
Having followed the Newcastle situation it was easy to blame the board and Ashley, however after reading his statement (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/7615655.stm) i can fully see how crazy and out of control the clubs are financially. One has to also wonder where Sunderland gets all its money from.....
No club is self financing and now relies on benefactors. I am even embarressed when Readings fans blame Madejski for not spending enough. However he has taken a lower league club with a crap ground, given them a new stadium, made them self sufficient in terms of reveneue and also tasted top flight football for the first time in their history.
If these benefactors - Abramovich, the Man City ones etc all pulled out then these clubs will be left on their own to pay 100k a week wages. To be honest if they turn the great game into that charade then I wouldnt shed a tear when this all blows up in their faces.... a la Leeds
Yeah but... I used to stand in the clock end in the early mid 80's and watch Arsenal grind a draw with Coventry or lose a hame game to Derby. Liverpool were dominating and I thought that the title was a long way away. There were many teams in a better position than Arsenal in those days. Some smart thinking and clever business has seen the Club grow and adapt in this new environment. The game has gone crazy, that's for sure. I doubt if it's over yet ,as well.
But I stand proud of what my Club has achieved.
And I enjoy watching premiership matches every weekend.
Would you still exert a similar stance if your mob had stayed up?
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I have to agree that the Championship is more interesting & exciting in the way that a handful of teams could win the league or go up through those play off spots, same for the relegation 3 at the bottom, the league is just so open to anything!
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Cant really argue with a lot of your points there. Championship is certainly awesome when it comes to an all round competitive league.
Interestingly, i actually read today that in terms of revenue, the championship is the 6th biggest league in Europe! There's food for thought...
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Have been watching 'match of the 80's (season by season reviews) on You Tube and the all round openess is alarming as even though I remember those days it is such a contrast from today. Have even seen opinions on the net from experts that in todays game Brian Clough would never have built top teams at non fashionable clubs, Ferguson would never have been given 5 years to get it right.
I also find it alarming how teams like Fulham buy up to 14 players a season to change the team to try and stay up. Is that football?
My view wouldnt have changed even if we stayed up, got sick of the commentators, radio people etc seeming indigant that a club like Reading was among the elite. Also I recall that we only had 5 games on TV for the whole of last season - and those were mainly ones against the big 4
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