Do we want Premier League football as fans?

[Jeff]

So your way of interpreting stats is right, but mine is wrong? bit hypocritical

The stats show two different things. That the top Spanish teams are better, but there's more strength in depth in England.

 

[David Gwilliam]

In the early 1970s Mohammed Ali's training camp was short of a sparring partner. They brought in a young and not especially talented young heavyweight to fill the gap just for a day. He ended up with a cut and Bundini Brown suggested he get it fixed. " "Oh no" said the lad "I want people to ask where I got it."
The point is that in sport you want to go against the best.

Better to go to Man U and Liverpool and go to the limit and lose than beat Peterborough and Scunthorpe. For me the best years as a fan have been the Bloomfield and O'Neill years and yet we never came close to winning the league.
Sport is about testing yourself or at least your team.

If we are promoted we will see great players at The Walkers. It was part of my football education to see Matthews, Finney and Edwards as a boy (we all wish we had seen more of Duncan Edwards). In the 1970s youngsters saw Charlton, Best, Keegan and Moore at Filbert Street. Since 2000 youngsters in the crowd have been deprived of seeing the best players.

Then there are our own players. Next month is a Leicester Legends evening at The Curve with Tony Cottee, Matt Elliot and Muzzy Issett. What makes them legends is their performances in the top division not the second. Present day youngsters have beene deprived of legends to look back on - I enjoy watching Lloyd Dyer play but he is no substitute for Keith Weller.

There is a tendency to expect that promotion will be followed by relegation. This is understandable. You need a certain amount of money to compete in the Prem as Micky Adams found. However, the club is likely to be financially far better off than it was when Adams took us up. If Bolton, Blackburn, Fulham and Stoke can survive in the Prem surely Leicester can do the same. It will need a good manager. With all due repect to Micky Adams and rather less respect to Peter Taylor I think Sven is a better manager than either.

 

[Jeff]

Matt Elliot and Muzzy Issett.

Who?

 

[LoopisDeLupis]

Surprisingly I'm with Beights on this one- I'd much rather spend more time in the championship playing really good football like Swansea (yes, i know) than be in the prem fighting for our lives in every game like Wolves. That being said, I started supporting mid-relegation season, so maybe I'm just too used to instant success as a leicester fan (discounting Pisslo Sousa.)

 

[gregs_y2k]

So your way of interpreting stats is right, but mine is wrong? bit hypocritical

I never said that. I was referring to English teams' overall performance in Europe as an indicator as to the quality of the Premier League.

 

[gregs_y2k]

The stats show two different things. That the top Spanish teams are better, but there's more strength in depth in England.

Agree Jeff

 

[RHYDAL]

I'll take Premier League football all day. Even just for one season.
I hate losing and suspect we'd be on the end of some hidings. But all the wins getting there, and a few notable bloody noses dished out, especially if we could hang on for a second go would be the bollocks.

 

[glyn]

I'll take Premier League football all day. Even just for one season.
I hate losing and suspect we'd be on the end of some hidings. But all the wins getting there, and a few notable bloody noses dished out, especially if we could hang on for a second go would be the bollocks.

That's what we thought would happen in 1996. And look what happened, 4 years of top 10 finishes, 3 League Cup finals, 2 wins and European campaigns. I'd take that over Championship football, even if does end in disaster at some point.

 

[spionfox]

That's what we thought would happen in 1996. And look what happened, 4 years of top 10 finishes

9th, 10th, 10th, 8th.

Glory years indeed.

 

[Micky]

How can you beat the feeling of winning at Anfield or Old Trafford. How can you beat the feeling on a saturday evening when you are waiting to watch City on MOTD beat a top team. For me these feelings far outweigh anything that can be experienced in the Championship. I would love to be in the Premier, testing ourselves against the best.

 

[beaumontfox]

And of course we want to be in the premier league. heres a few reasons in no particular order


7) Peter Beagrie would never commentate on us again

That is the best reason ever for getting promoted.

 

[Steven]

Who?

Quite.

 

[Mawsley]

Almost every game on Sky is unbelievably ****ing boring. The concept that the Premiership is some super gloryhole where players spunk brilliant passes and goals all over the place is an utter crock of shit.

You can take your foreign owners, polyester shirts with their bollocks designs, overpriced pies, five hundred pound season tickets, all-seater soulless modern stadiums, over-hyped TV shows, bland TV commentators, passionless players and idiotic stewarding and shove it.

I'm waiting for it all to go tits so that I can have my club and my sport back.

 

[Kingy_85]

And yet you can't give an argument why you think it is silly? Interesting.

I typed and re-typed out my reasons about five times before giving up. I just cant accept that anyone anywhere would want to stay in this disgusting league.

Fair enough if you cant afford a season ticket or a trip to Anfield away, but honestly what are we even bothering for if promotion is a burdon?

 

[bocadillo]

I'm waiting for it all to go tits so that I can have my club and my sport back.

I'm with Beights and his blog posting. And I'm with you on this.

Being a football supporter isn't about needing to follow a successful club, a club in the Premier League. If it was, only 4 or 5 clubs would have any great number of fans. It's about supporting *your* team and there's no shame in not being one of the top five, nor even of not being in the Premier League.

Just sit back and relax - enjoy the atmosphere of the game - and each match as it comes.

 

[H T B]

Just out of interest: - In Peter Taylor's first season, after 8 games we were top of the Premier division. I know of people that had the page from the Sports Mercury framed and on their office wall. Still there today.
Anyone else still got the cutout?

 

[olip6]

i think it would have been better for us all if we got relegated this year.
i don't EVER want to be in danger of reaching the Premier League.


FFS.

 

[Matt_B]

i think it would have been better for us all if we got relegated this year.
i don't EVER want to be in danger of reaching the Premier League.


FFS.

Blimey, that's even more controversial than my view. I can't understand why you'd think that way?

 

[pork pie fox]

Just out of interest: - In Peter Taylor's first season, after 8 games we were top of the Premier division. I know of people that had the page from the Sports Mercury framed and on their office wall. Still there today.
Anyone else still got the cutout?

I remember the day well. Driving back from Sunderland to hear that Arsenal beating Man U had put us top of the league. Top weekend away.

 

[bocadillo]

I remember the day well. Driving back from Sunderland to hear that Arsenal beating Man U had put us top of the league. Top weekend away.

Not literally, of course. Unless you did something very wrong.