[Football] Premier League v Championship?

gripper stebson · Jan 22, 2020

Now I WANT us to stay up obviously, but after three years battling to survive in the PL how are we all honestly feeling about a potential relegation?

I know it's a little petty but the thought of watching the Albion again with no VAR is genuinely making me smile a bit inside.

I also wonder how I'll feel about The Championship / football in general now that we have sampled life at the top table. My previous 35 years supporting us have always been about 'getting there'. Having 'got there' will it ever feel the same again?

Hmmm. So much to ponder on a boring Wednesday morning!

:albion2:

Bakero · Jan 22, 2020

I'd rather watch us in the top flight, VAR or no VAR. In fact, VAR doesn't come into the equation at all for me.

Paul Reids Sock · Jan 22, 2020

I do wonder if we have reached the peak of Albion supporting.

Like you say, it was all about getting there. Now we are there there isn't much more we can achieve. We will never be a City or Liverpool so I think the best we could hope for would be a rare Europa League appearance should we have a good season.

If we go down then we go down, it will happen one day anyway. I just hate to think how toxic this place will be if we get lower mid table in the Championship the year after...

Berty23 · Jan 22, 2020

Peak Albion was when we got promoted. I can’t see how it could improve. We could have another cup run I suppose but that promotion season won’t be beaten IMHO.

gripper stebson · Jan 22, 2020

Paul Reids Sock said:
I do wonder if we have reached the peak of Albion supporting.

Like you say, it was all about getting there. Now we are there there isn't much more we can achieve. We will never be a City or Liverpool so I think the best we could hope for would be a rare Europa League appearance should we have a good season.

If we go down then we go down, it will happen one day anyway. I just hate to think how toxic this place will be if we get lower mid table in the Championship the year after...

Agreed - someone wrote that we reached 'peak Albion' during those couple of hours in the concourses after the Wigan game and before Derby equalised against Huddersfield. For me that will never be beaten - an incredibly emotional culmination of years of struggle mixed with an incredible sense of relief.I hugged a lot of beer drenched strangers that afternoon!

Even a Europa League qualifier would fall some way short of that day.

Bold Seagull · Jan 22, 2020

Paul Reids Sock said:
If we go down then we go down, it will happen one day anyway. I just hate to think how toxic this place will be if we get lower mid table in the Championship the year after...

Well, exactly this. The assumption seems to be in these Championship v PL debates is that we're struggling in the PL so wouldn't be better to be competing at the top of the Championship?

Firstly, no guarantees we would be competing at the top. As we've experienced struggling in the Championship is no fun at all, we've not had as toxic an atmosphere for many a year as we did at home to Millwall under Hyppia.

Secondly, with the squad diminished to cut our cloth to the 2nd tier, you can really kiss goodbye to a tilt at any of the cups. Despite us being woeful last year, we got a semi final!

Even struggling in the top flight gives us the best chance of silverware for this club. Top flight for me, gutted if we went down.

Ernest · Jan 22, 2020

Championship means more altered kick off times , more midweek matches, still have international breaks and you can be sure prices won't drop if we go down so the JCL's will as quickly disappear as they appeared back in 16/17. The club will die back in the Championship, a half full AMEX watching the likes of Barnsley, Huddersfield and TINPOT and as we've now tasted the PL dream you can't sell that anymore

theboybilly · Jan 22, 2020

We'd still be there though [MENTION=1416]Ernest[/MENTION]

gripper stebson · Jan 22, 2020

I heard Frank Skinner talking about how much he is loving this season at WBA the other day as they strive to get back to a division they can't compete in, and that he won't enjoy. We are an odd lot us football fans.

SAC · Jan 22, 2020

A few pluses and a few minuses (other than the obvious financial one)
Watching the top of the Championship overall is more fun than watching lower half PL football.
Watching a rare win against one of the so called top teams is fantastic.
Watching mid and lower half Championship football can be awful.
Losing the Roger Nouveau fans would be nice.

BBassic · Jan 22, 2020

I can only echo sentiments on here.

The Premier League is where I want us to be. But I don't enjoy it. Apart from the odd game where we win against the odds or play brilliantly it's largely been a pretty sobering experience.

Watching it on TV, before experiencing it live, the gap between the top teams and everyone else was observable but not as painfully obvious as it is live. Watching Hazard / Salah / De Bruyne absolutely take the piss is awful. And I'm not one of those who can appreciate those players when they're running rings around us. I hate it.

But mostly it's the fact that, at best, we're going to be aiming for mid table most seasons with the reality being, unless recruitment pulls it f**king finger out, we're going to be sniffing around the relegation shit-pile most of the time.

That all said we know the Championship isn't a picnic. And poxy midweek games in December against f**king Burton are about as appealing as slipping a razor blade under my foreskin and dry humping a tree.

Blue Valkyrie · Jan 22, 2020

Used to hate the "have to win every week" pressure of being near the top of the Championship - knowing year after year of £20 million loss was unsustainable.

Let's not go back to that.

RossyG · Jan 22, 2020

Losing the glory-hunters would be good, especially if there are people on the waiting list who genuinely want to support the club.

But all those late kick off games are no good to me.

Obviously I’ll keep going. If we were in League Two I’d keep going.

Cheshire Cat · Jan 22, 2020

Small club syndrome

Uh_huh_him · Jan 22, 2020

Personally I prefer being competitive in the championship than struggling in the Premier League.I
wouldn't want to see Tony continually bankrolling us in the championship to remain competitive though.

So time spent in the Premier is essential to sort out the finances

Hamilton · Jan 22, 2020

FFS! Nobody has died!

Let's all get some perspective.

It is still 'peak Albion'. In fact 'peaks' have yet to come.

Do people really want to get relegated? I want to watch us play entertaining football against the best teams out there. I don't have any desire to go to Rochdale (although I wish them well).

And for VAR, we all need to grow up. We'd be just as pissed off if we lost because Kevin Friend had missed a blatant penalty as if VAR correctly disallowed a goal. "It's not football anymore" people moan. Well it pretty much looks like football to me.

With VAR, look at it this way, you get to celebrate twice! That's value for money surely.

Hamilton · Jan 22, 2020

RossyG said:
Losing the glory-hunters would be good, especially if there are people on the waiting list who genuinely want to support the club.

But all those late kick off games are no good to me.

Obviously I’ll keep going. If we were in League Two I’d keep going.

But there won't be a waiting list if we go down.

RossyG · Jan 22, 2020

Hamilton said:
But there won't be a waiting list if we go down.

Well, yes, hence the if.

I’d like to think some might seize the opportunity to get a season ticket, but it could well be that we go back to crowds of 25,000 or fewer with seats to spare.

blue-shifted · Jan 22, 2020

Hamilton said:
But there won't be a waiting list if we go down.

There's an argument that the stadium would be more full. Ie all the people who aren't that fussed and don't turn up that often cancel and the 8000 on the waiting list get their chance and are up for going to all the games.

But there's also an argument the other way. the increased proportion of evening games and a larger number of fixtures mean that it's harder to get up for more lower intensity games

father_and_son · Jan 22, 2020

SAC said:
A few pluses and a few minuses (other than the obvious financial one)

Are we actually making much more money now than we were as a championship side?
TB still seems to have to pump in 7-digit sums every year. Yes, income has rocketed but then so have transfer fees and wages.

A prudently managed PL side (that doesn't have massive international appeal) doesn't seem a better financial prospect than a prudent Championship side to me. The accounts are one thing (with amortization and asset values, etc) but only TB knows how much he is actually paying out of his own pocket. Doesn't look that different from my seat.

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[Football] Premier League v Championship?

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