Is the Premiership getting boring? And some suggestions to help

No1newts

No1newts

No1newts

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Same old teams finishing in the top 4 every year and its very unlikely that another team will break this monoply, yesterdays cup final highlighted the gulf in class between the 5th best team in the premiership and one of the top 4.

Also there is now a growing majority of teams who no longer have any real desire to win anything, there one goal is to stay in the premiership to satisfy the shareholders. You have the likes of Wigan, Bolton, Sunderland and over the coming seasons I can see Fulham, West Ham, Stoke and maybe even a few others slipping into this role. Wigan were the perfect example this season, they hit the 40 points mark and BAM effort and commitment out the window as they coasted their way toward another season of survival next year.

Then we also have the fact that the premiership is so valuable and teams are so scared to risk slipping out the premiership that the football is becoming boring, though this is really only for the teams mentioned above. Long ball, 10 men behind the ball defensive football with the intent to snatch results whilst at the same time not wishing to risk conceding themselves.

All these points above lead me to believe that sooner rather than later there will come about a 2 tier premiership with the top 4 pocking up the champions league money every year and competing in their own little league whilst the rest of the clubs desperately scramble for the magic 40 mark before relaxing, safe in the knowledge that the owners pick up their big wedge of cash to appease the shareholders for another year.

Of course this is just my opinion, but long gone are the days of Newcastle getting promoted and challenging the establishment, hell even Ipswich once went for it and gave it a go. Can anyone honestly imagine Wolves coming up this year and challenging for a top 6 spot?

So lets say you agree with what I have mentioned above, have spoken with a few friends on the issue and I am a keen listener to TalkSport and occasionaly Five Live so here are some possible suggestions to make things a little more interesting.

-Top of the League Playoff - 1st place and 2nd are guaranteed Champions League football. 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th have a playoff system against each other to decide the last 2 champions league spots. Offers teams a chance to brake into the mega money whilst at the same time stopping the likes of Arsenal being content with finishing 4th every year and their being no real pressure on Wenger for doing this.

- Europa League Playoff - The two teams who fail to qualify automatically qualify. The other two spots are played for by 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th. Again giving the teams a chance to make money in the European tournaments and also, hopefully, motivating teams who get into rge 8th-12th places in the league to keep going until the last day.

- Relegation playoff - After the last two I am sure you can work this out, bottom two go down, the 4 teams above this have a playoff for the last relegation spot.


These are all just ideas I have heard/come up with and you would imagine this would certainly make things more competitive, its going to give all positions in the league something to compete for until the last day of the season except 11-14th.

The one problem with these ideas? The premier league is a meritocracy, always has been always will. Why should someone who finishes 3rd lose their champions league position to someone who finishes 6th? There is no good reason apart from it will makes things more interesting and make teams try a lot harder, if Arsenal had the risk of not getting in the Champions league for finishing 4th they would try a damn sight harder to finish second to get the guaranteed spot.

As I said the premier league is a meritocracy and that may make these sort of changes hard to implement, all I can say is that if the changes were made eventually teams would get used to it and then a playoff system would become the norm.

Anyhoo if anyone has any other opinions or some views on what I have said please share.

Ta
 
Id definitely go for a play off style game to get the last champions league spot between 4th/5th to break up the monopoly of the top4.

You can argue though that even 4th shouldn't be in the champions league, but then it would get too far a gap
 
I do agree it's getting boring, I just don't see how it will ever balance out unless strict rules are in place to make all the teams more even, which would probably ruin the sport
 
A relegation playoff would be funny, the bottom 2 go down and the next 4 teams would have to play a mini league with each other to find out who is the worst of the 4,

So that would make the league go on a bit longer, unless you crammed the games into a 2week period...
 
The only interesting games seem to be between the absolute top-dogs these days. More money either needs to be directed to the mid-level and lower premiership teams so they can begin to step-up, or the whole English system will need to merge with the Scottish so as the top Scottish teams can help challenge for the title.

We do not see the likes of Chelsea vs. Rangers or Liverpool vs. Celtic nearly enough, and it's not as if geography is a problem here - we're all on the same island.
 
Nix said:
The only interesting games seem to be between the absolute top-dogs these days. More money either needs to be directed to the mid-level and lower premiership teams so they can begin to step-up,
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but then the gap between the championship gets bigger and the newly promoted teams are crap, filling the premier with shoddy teams all over again...
 
da_mic_1530 said:
but then the gap between the championship gets bigger and the newly promoted teams are crap, filling the premier with shoddy teams all over again...
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The premiership teams need more money. Finanacially compare the likes of the top 4 to anyone mid-table, and that is your answer to why there is such a difference in play.

Clubs need to begin to develop their own schools and academies much more efficiently so as to bring up their own talent and make a profit from the transfer windows. At the moment, mid-level teams are lucky to scrape £2m together to bid for an has-been, whilst Barcelona for example are offering £40m for a 21 year-old Fabregas at Arsenal. The gulf between what clubs can afford and what the top players want is ridiculous.

If lower clubs had more effective infrastructure in place, it would not only probably help their geographical support (people may actually personally know people who play for a peticular team for example), but it will also mean talent can be developed rather than relying on foreign players.

Our clubs are too dependant on buying players from outside the country these days. We need to develop our own talent for our own clubs if our own league isn't to stagnate. Buying abroad is all well and good, but it's becoming the rule rather than the exception or addition.
 
Bonus points for attacking play! Simple!

It's mainly middle table that will sit back and defend with others teams in the area, they cant afford to loose to teams like that but can against the big 4.

Playoffs would be brilliant, even a play off to be crowned PL champions would be awesome because then the hype over the last game of the season would be huge.
 
Nix said:
The premiership teams need more money. Finanacially compare the likes of the top 4 to anyone mid-table, and that is your answer to why there is such a difference in play.

Clubs need to begin to develop their own schools and academies much more efficiently so as to bring up their own talent and make a profit from the transfer windows. At the moment, mid-level teams are lucky to scrape £2m together to bid for an has-been, whilst Barcelona for example are offering £40m for a 21 year-old Fabregas at Arsenal. The gulf between what clubs can afford and what the top players want is ridiculous.

If lower clubs had more effective infrastructure in place, it would not only probably help their geographical support (people may actually personally know people who play for a peticular team for example), but it will also mean talent can be developed rather than relying on foreign players.

Our clubs are too dependant on buying players from outside the country these days. We need to develop our own talent for our own clubs if our own league isn't to stagnate. Buying abroad is all well and good, but it's becoming the rule rather than the exception or addition.
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But they are doing this to survive, teams dont want to lose, they just want to get their points and stay up and they see it as a risk letting someone young and untried being key to the team staying up.

For me personally I would bring through the young lads and rely on them because they know how important each game is and how much it means to the fans. Which I would personally rate as more important, see Newcastle as the perfect example of getting this alllllll wrong.
 
for me salary caps or picking from a draft like american football/nhl would be the most obvious ones to make it more interesting
 
Want to make the league interesting ?

Go back to Champions Leauge.

Top two = Champions League = knock out competition.

Relegate more teams.
Sort the FA Cup out.
Sort the other european cup out, and Carling cup.
Stop clubs being taken over by rich owners.
Bring in a rule where clubs have to field English players.
 
boring, wasnt this years final league position run in one of the most entertaining of late, both at the top and the bottom?

didnt it used to be the case that there was a big "1" who would run away with the title with a smaller club as a potential contender, i.e blackburn, nercastle, leeds or whomever?

now thyeres 4 teams consistently pushing/challenging for the title itself with increased competitio on themselves from the higher middle echeleons such as Everton, Villa etc?
 
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