Comments on: An American League in England?

By: Adrian

Adrian — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:45:08 +0000

The Championship is unpredictable and exciting, but this isn’t always for good reasons. The quality can be very poor, and increasingly we’re seeing good clubs with a lot of financial difficulties in this league. I’ve seen a lot of games this season as Southampton supporter, while we’ve been at the wrong end of the table. We’ve easily beaten a few teams and been thrashed ourselves too often, but I haven’t seen one team to be afraid of. The great thing about the league is the hope in every fixture. There is no “well we won’t get anything from the next game”, because you can never tell. We very comfortable beat Bristol City when they were top of the league. We beat Hull 4-0, then lost to them 5-0 in the opposing fixture. It is a crazy league, but it’s still not one relegated clubs can afford to stay in.

By: TheScout

TheScout — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:20:26 +0000

Interesting article. I do like the Championship and wish I would get to see more than just highlights. It would be nice if FSC would pick that up instead of their current programming. I also had hoped that both Nottingham Forest and Leeds would make it back up to the Championship but it looks like those two will be in the playoffs and only one, if lucky, will make it.

A couple of small points. Clubs relegated from the Premier League are given those big parachute payments which gives them a bit of an unfair advantage in the transfer market. However, that does not always translate into an immediate return to the Premier League as Sheffield United and Charlton are finding out.

MLB is a bad example of a sport with a salary cap. They don’t have an actual cap on spending, just a tax for spending over a certain amount. So, teams like the Red Sox and Yankees continue to spend because they can easily pay the tax.

By: Justfootball

Justfootball — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:53:15 +0000

I agree with other posters that Spain is very much more a Big 2 than a Big four or five. You say Atletico but by and large they have done nothing major in the league for years while clubs like Deportivo and Real Sociedad have excelled (even Celta Vigo made the Champions League and look at them now). In England I would also suggest that while the Big 4 is becoming more and more established, 10 years ago it was the likes of Leeds and Newcastle regularly involved at the top. Even this year its no foregone conclusion that Liverpool will finish 4th. But I agree, the unpredictability of the Championship does add to its appeal, even if it is of inferior quality to the Premiership.

By: Kent

Kent — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:48:21 +0000

Not true. Because the sooner that happens, the sooner leagues across Europe turn to shit. I don’t like that few clubs drive the revenue and drive the leagues, but they do. I’d like it even less if all the money makers (i.e. the ones responsible for the financial success of their respective leagues) just left to play their own league.

Is it romantic and fun to follow the Championship? Sure, and it’s even exciting with the parity issue and the fighting at the top to move up and the bottom to stay in. But, let’s remember that the Championship is also driven by clubs trying for that television money in the Premiership (and the gate receipts from having Premiership sides come to their home grounds). The Championship may be “pure” in the eyes of many, but it’s also not as good. A European SuperLeague would NOT make things better for soccer in any country; it’d only make things better for the clubs allowed entry. By the way, how’s a club allowed entry? ‘Cause you watch, some SuperLeague comes into existence and some billionaire will buy Wolves, throw money Chelsea money at them and file lawsuits to enter the closed circle.

By: tiger dave

tiger dave — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:11:47 +0000

A great article and better than most of the tosh that papers over here publish.
My team Hull City survived relegation the game before the last game last year and we are now sitting pretty in third place with a game in hand and are the form team in the league.
The amount of exposure over here is the same you get over there as we have the same championship games on TV.
Ii don’t think the quality is that far off the bottom of the premiership though as it showed with a championship team getting to the fa cup final.
The sooner the ‘Big Four’ go and join a European football league the better.