Sefton owl Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Personally, in the top half of the league, there has been very little (as is evident from the league table) to separate the teams between the play offs and mid table. I think in recent years we have seen outright favourites and runaway leaders, but not this year. I think the difference between most teams is having that little bit of extra quality up top makes all the difference. In terms of the bottom half of the league, I think we have some absolute dross this season, probably more so than in recent years. Is the league strengthening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orlando_Trustful Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Personally, in the top half of the league, there has been very little (as is evident from the league table) to separate the teams between the play offs and mid table. I think in recent years we have seen outright favourites and runaway leaders, but not this year. I think the difference between most teams is having that little bit of extra quality up top makes all the difference. In terms of the bottom half of the league, I think we have some absolute dross this season, probably more so than in recent years. Is the league strengthening? I'm not so sure it is stronger as a whole. As you say, Boro aside, the top teams are up there due to the attacking options that they have and goals throughout the team. The bottom few teams have been much less competitive than they have been in the recent seasons since we came up and you could have pretty much predicted who would go down with some certainty a good while ago. Too many of the teams in the middle, ourselves included, seem to prefer not to lose as a priorty rather than playing to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMX Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Parachute payments. If parachute payments are received for the four seasons after a team is relegated from the Prem. Potentially, how many teams could be receiving payments in the Championship next year? My guess is 8 or 9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Snooty Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 seem to prefer not to lose as a priorty rather than playing to win. ​I think that is evident right through football these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest _Ibbo_ Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Fulham who in the summer spent £10 Million on one player are just outside the relegation spots. Which is almost our entire 1st team wage budget for the season. Its a HELL of a tough league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gurujuan Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 I'd say, quality wise, it gets better every year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PopePiusX Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 (edited) It's tough in terms of there being a number of teams of roughly the same standard, but there have been higher highs for the top teams over the years, and not too many lower lows. It's incredibly competitive but not particularly good. Edited April 16, 2015 by PopePiusX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetsheri Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Fulham who in the summer spent £10 Million on one player are just outside the relegation spots. Which is almost our entire 1st team wage budget for the season. Its a HELL of a tough league. Very good point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Snooty Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 (edited) Said it before but the quality of players in the Premier League now is in the stratosphere and as such I think the quality of the Championship is played down somewhat as a result. I think that particular gulf makes it seem poorer domestically because there are some genuine World Class players in our Top flight in England. Fact it though that the 2nd tear is probably as tough as it has ever been. As someone mentioned earlier, that a team in the relegation places had a £10m International on their books says a lot about how tough the League we're in is to compete in. Edited April 16, 2015 by Lord Snooty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areNOTwhatTHEYseem Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 It's an incredibly tough league. Look at a club like Derby, for instance: they finished 3rd last season and were hugely unlucky to lose the playoff final; they strengthened over the summer; they have young players developing and improving as they gain experience; they have an ex-England manager as their coach etc... yet they're going to finish on fewer points than last season and could potentially miss out on the playoffs altogether. I worry that some of our fans underestimate just how hard it's going to be to get out of this league. Just because we've been taken over, doesn't mean we're automatically going to be one of the best teams. Clubs like Derby, Middlesbrough, Watford, Blackburn, Forest etc... have been building squads with a view to the playoffs as a minimum for years seasons now, spending the kind of money we could only dream of. Then you have the likes of Fulham, Cardiff and Wolves with their parachute payments, adding another layer of teams who have the resources to challenge towards the top end. Being taken over hopefully means that we're now in a position to compete for the better players in the division, but to think that we'll suddenly turn into the Galácticos of the Championship is extremely naive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RP_Owl Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Probably our second best season since getting relegated from the Premiership fifteen years ago. I remember one season where we finished four points short of the play-offs, that's our best season in recent history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreshOwl Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Poor, the fact we're top half suggests that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanharper Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Parachute payments. If parachute payments are received for the four seasons after a team is relegated from the Prem. Potentially, how many teams could be receiving payments in the Championship next year? My guess is 8 or 9. They didn't do Wigan or Blackpool much good. Or Fulham / Blackburn in recent years after treating them like a bonus transfer kitty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain30 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 The standard is not poor it's just very even although the top seven this season are a definite notch above the rest. Such a tough league to get out of with several clubs proving money alone is not enough to guarantee promotion. The Premiership is a whole different challange though for whoever get promoted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torryowl Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 as the prem sign more & more foreign players there better youngsters drop into the championship on loan which raises the standard .... loanee´s have made a huge difference for some of the clubs pushing for promotion bamford,ince,bent(not so young), pritchard ,god knows how many at watford have all played a huge part in the success of there clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest _Ibbo_ Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Forest spent at least £10 Million this season as well. £8 Million for that striker from posh. £2 Million on Antonio etc. Yet are just on the same about of points as us. Either Grey is working small miracles and is doing FAR FAR better than most people give him credit for (god awful home form aside) And our fans should give the club more credit than they currently are doing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now