retired_jessicadon

A problem? It's not their fault that teams like Newcastle and Spurs can pish away similar amounts of money and get little out of it due to being run by simpletons.

It's a competition. Blaming the better sides for being a better a little barking.

retired_Pantora

and cut down on the premiership TV deals, no way for finishing bottom of the premiership you should get so much money while lower division clubs get feck all

DebSchiff

You don't deny that it's boring though?

retired_nini59

if you find it boring then go watch a team not in the premier league, oh wait.

A club's responsibility is to win things for its fans (yeah right ), not to make entertainment for fans of other teams. Who gives a fcuk if you think it's boring that someone else's team always wins?

retired_kpr

A problem? It's not their fault that teams like Newcastle and Spurs can pish away similar amounts of money and get little out of it due to being run by simpletons.

It's a competition. Blaming the better sides for being a better a little barking. </BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, those clubs have managed themselves really well in the last decade or so but it feels now that there's not really any way in for another team. It's most likely that the top four will be ahead of everyone else by some distance this season, and next season, and for the foreseeable future. And that's really boring. What's happened in the past and who's managed themselves well/badly is a bit irrelevant, now it looks it's too late for someone to break into it.

People saying that isn't the case and about Blackburn and Portsmouth are showing signs of getting close are just wrong, the chances of either of them getting into the champions league in the next couple of years is very small.

retired_littlegoldielocks

it's not boring for the top 4, is it there responsibility to entertain the rest of the league?

retired_nini59

apparently Derby fans would be happier if Middlesbrough finished 4th rather than Liverpool, then finishing bottom won't be as bad you see?

retired_kris10nicole

I think dismissing the money element oversimplifies the argument to a similar degree that making money the be all and end all does, tbh.

While you're quite correct that there are clubs you can point to like Newcastle that have been perfect templates for how not to run a club, you can also look at teams like Blackburn and Everton, who have done exactly the right things in getting young, hungry and talented managers in, given them time to do the job, and still don't look like breaking into the top 4 for any more than a one off season. You then look at a club like Man City, who have been the closest to that top 4 goal so far this season on the basis of spending a fortune over the summer, with probably more to come in.

It's also no coincidence that the teams with money to spend have the pick of managers when they need to replace the current man, as has been shown with Mourinho, Rafa, and even City again with Sven.

There's also the case that the ability to have a higher number of really top players in your squad is a bigger insurance policy against the poor years of a manager, both in not slipping so far and being able to challenge again quickly. I doubt another club would have been challenging for honours again so quickly after the way Houllier slipped in his final couple of seasons, and i'd say the same for United during the Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Roy Carroll etc period.

retired_nini59

A problem? It's not their fault that teams like Newcastle and Spurs can pish away similar amounts of money and get little out of it due to being run by simpletons.

It's a competition. Blaming the better sides for being a better a little barking. </BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, those clubs have managed themselves really well in the last decade or so but it feels now that there's not really any way in for another team. It's most likely that the top four will be ahead of everyone else by some distance this season, and next season, and for the foreseeable future. And that's really boring. What's happened in the past and who's managed themselves well/badly is a bit irrelevant, now it looks it's too late for someone to break into it.

</BLOCKQUOTE>

how is it irrelevant? success and continued success is an incentive for hard work, progress, long term planning, if you could finish top one year then bottom the next there'd be a lot less teams striving to finish in the top 4 because the incentives aren't worth it.

That's how life works, if you work harder today then life is easier tomorrow, if you went to work and knew that no matter how hard you worked today it wouldn't benefit you in the future then you wouldn't bother working hard. However if you had the opportunity to do tomorrow's work today and thus have a day off tomorrow then you'd probably do it.

Or maybe you think the fat slob who sits in the corner scratching his arse and picking his nose should start from the same position as you the next day despite having done less work the day before?

I'd love to see how you'd react if at the end of every year all your promotions/pay rises were taken off you and you had to start back from the beginning, equal with all the new employees, as well as the weaker ones, and the lazier ones.

retired_kpr

OTF seems to consist mostly of top four fans so in general it's the opposite to the opinion that it's not that fun everyone else having no chance at all of getting near the top.

benkeat: it's not really the top four's responsibility but it should be the responsibility of someone, a governing body for instance, to try to avoid football in England going a bit stale for all clubs bar four.