Right up until a few minutes from the end, the Premiership could have gone either way. And I confess, after the first half I was interested. Mainly as it seems ManUre had bought their ref so I wanted Chelsea to win on merit. Ah well.
At the other end I happen to know a Reading supporter (well, someone who goes out with one anyway) so I threw my lot in with them. Which didn’t help once Fulham got their goal, despite a 4-0 win.
Personally, I didn’t care too much about our result. If we did win, I wanted to be sure that Villa didn’t. Silly reason – I’ve always enjoyed my visits to Everton more than to Villa (the ******** even confiscated my camera one time), so I’d rather see Everton get the UEFA spot. Which they did. From what little I’ve read post-match, we were lucky not to walk off with a scoreline similar to that suffered by Man City at the Boro.
I bet all 25 home fans who bothered turning up (a bumper crowd these days) at the Riverside had a good time as Man City attempted to ensure their passage into the UEFA Cup through the Fair Play League. I assume their tactic was to achieve this by failing to put in a single challenge – something the 8-1 scoreline says they must have succeeded in. However, a handful of yellows and even a straight red (the only one in the Premiership today) might not have done them any favours. On the other hand, maybe the players were protesting about the upcoming everyone-knows-it’s-going-to-happen sacking of Eriksson by dodgy chairman Thaksin Shinawatra.
So, at the end of the day and the end of the season, no real surprises. The three teams to go down were all heavily tipped to do so all those months ago. And what odds would you have been given in August on the top four finishing in the order they did? Evens if you were lucky. I’d say the one “shocker” – and no offence intended in this – is Everton keeping up a good level of play and taking the UEFA Cup spot.
Well, I’ll save you reading all this by stating first off that “yes, it bloody is”. Kevin Keegan‘s been raked over the coals for his comment on this “most boring, but great” league. Thing is, he’s spot on the money.
Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, says that’s nonsense as it’s the most-watched league in the world. But that doesn’t make it exciting. Eastenders is the most-watched soap on TV and it’s a load of **** as well. The reason it’s the most watched is for the teams at the top end. It’s not the league that’s watched worldwide, it’s ManUre, Arsenal, Chelski and Liverpool… the continual top 4.
His argument that “the numbers tell you it is the most exciting” falls down when you break those numbers down into what teams are being watched and why. ManUre fans don’t watch because they find it exciting – they watch because they know they’ve got a good chance of winning. And, this season, people will have watched them because they’ve played excellent football. Give more teams a chance of getting into the top end of the table and the League would be more exciting. Presently, it’s most exciting to ManUre, Chelski and Arsenal fans. End of.
Honestly, outside of actual fans of the teams, who “worldwide” is going to watch Fulham v Man City? Or care where they end up? ManUre, for whatever reason, have a massive worldwide following. People watch their games and – despite never having been to Manchester (fair enough as the team aren’t from the city either) – genuinely care whether they win the title or not. And, in all fairness, each season they have a chance to do so. So it’s exciting for them.
But is it genuinely exciting for roughly 12 of the remaining 16 teams? Sure, two or three will maybe push for that fourth spot. A couple will battle for the 5th place UEFA spot. Someone like Derby will be humiliated all season. There’ll be the occasional local derby to raise blood pressure. But overall is the entire league more exciting that, say, the Dutch one?
Some figures for you. In the last five seasons the same four teams have finished in the top four every year bar one (Everton replacing Liverpool). In the Dutch Eredivisie, six different teams have occupied their top four. The top two seem concrete, but those spots underneath are hard fought for and generally a lot closer than the English equivalents.
The Bundesliga, now in it’s fifth season, has had seven different top-4 teams and three different champions. Spain’s La Liga has had nine teams up there. France’s Ligue 1 has had twelve. In most cases, there does seem to be a runaway team or pair of teams that everyone plays catch-up with though not always the same one each season. The Russian Premier League top four finishers number seven in the last five years.
A huge part of the problem is money. Teams which finish top get a huge pile of cash (especially in the EPL). They can buy better players, get into European competition and attract more better players. Which means they win more. And can buy even more of the better players.
To break into this loop, you need luck. A huge bankroll from a Russian oil billionaire worked for Chelski, though – worryingly for them – it looks like he’s getting bored. Liverpool’s American takeover seems to have done them more harm than good. Man City have been bought by an idiot who’s sacking the best manager they’ve had in years because his ego is more important than the club. Arsenal have their place on merit alone, as do ManUre. Both built good squads, kept managers on long-term and had this all in place around the time the Premiership kicked into gear.
Breaking into that top four is incredibly hard. It’s as much theirs to lose as anyone else’s to gain. Look at other sports where they have wage caps, spending limits and drafts. The Australian Football League has had 3 different “ladder-toppers” and 4 different Grand Final winners in five seasons. The NFL – four different winners out of eight different finalists in five years. I admit that both of these leagues work differently to a “pure” league like the Premiership but just look at the spread of teams who do well at the end of the season. Realistically, nobody could predict what four teams would be in the semi-finals for the Superbowl at the start of the season.
Short of the top teams going bankrupt or the manager having a shitter, there’s no way in for the other teams. Who cares about your league position if you know, realistically by game 10, that you’re going to finish somewhere between 7th and 15th? Each game may be exciting on its own merits, but the League sure as hell isn’t.
The thing is, what can be done? It’s too late to put wage capping in place. European law won’t allow us to restrict players to national or regional birth only so bang goes the “pride” aspect. The rich clubs are already stupidly rich, the poor clubs are already struggling. So many have faced financial problems for various reasons (low crowds, trying to buy success, fans being priced out) that the game’s dying in the upper leagues.
I don’t have a solution that would ever be accepted by the top clubs – including Newcastle. Frankly, if I didn’t follow a team that was in the Premiership, I’d not give a damn about the League. The Championship (old Second Division) was much more interesting this year.
With the 2-0 loss that’s just come in against Bolton, it pleasures me to say that Sunderland will now finish the season where they belong – below Newcastle. Not far enough below, warranted, and in the wrong division next season but down below us all the same.
******* mackem scum. At least it’s another 6 points next season.
I’m in the process of downloading Match of the Day from a torrent site (well, if the BBC won’t let me watch something I’ve paid for via their online system, I’ve got to resort to something). I’ve just noticed the running order and – like back in the old days – the Newcastle United game’s tagged on at the end.
Now, I don’t know if we were any good or not, but I do know that we managed to come from 2-0 down to get a draw. So all the excitement may have come in the first half, but at least there was some. By all accounts the Wigan – Reading draw was incredibly dull with only one shot anywhere near goal in the 90 minutes. Yet it’s two games ahead of ours in the coverage.
There were some good games yesterday, so how come the boring 0-0 draw has a higher billing? Or is it the old anti-Newcastle thing again? Or is it just perceived on my part as I’m biased?
A lovely ridiculous story in the news this morning as some muppet in the government announces that a "Police Pledge" is to be set up. Essentially, this is to force police to do such important things, such as answer the telephone quickly, treat victims nicely and solve more crimes.
So, it’s another set of targets like they already have. Like the NHS already has. And teachers. Which are pointless, ludicrous and involve silly amounts of paperwork to monitor which prevents them actually getting out there and doing their job. I read a lot of police blogs, and also a handful of ambulance / ERT / emergency call centre ones. Across the board, every person blogging and all their same-career commenters are pissed off completely with all of these targets.
Simply, targets don’t help. They just don’t fit with what the job is actually about because the person or people setting them has absolutely no front line experience of the job in question and is only interested in making existing figures look good for their purposes.
What they want to do is appear good to voters by being able to say that their new figures prove everything’s getting better. If you want to know the state of law enforcement, don’t ask a politician. Ask a policeman. Wondering what the waiting time is for an ambulance? For ****’s sake don’t think you’ll get a straight answer from the NHS Trust – ask an ERT or a paramedic. Want to know the best way to give your child an education? How’s about listening to teachers rather than some fuckwit in an office in Whitehall who hasn’t been inside a school since he left at 16?
I’m sure comments will arise on the relevant blogs shortly, so here are some links. All worth a read:
And to think that I did once consider joining the police force. And also fancied a career as a paramedic or similar. And I’m still passing thought about teaching. All three do appeal. But not in the UK. Not any more.
And footie. We won yesterday, which is good. Away from home which is better. Against Spurs which makes me even happier given the verbal diarrhoea expunged by The Proud Cockerel before the match. Thanks for the insults, arsehole. They only make you seem so much more of a loser after the 1-4 towelling we gave your abysmal squad. And let’s face it – if we’re **** what does that make a team who lose to us?
I also got an email on Saturday from a mackem *spit* fan who will remain anonymous. Essentially pointing out that Sunderland had risen above Newcastle and that therefore I owed said persona drink as I’d said this wouldn’t happen. My response:
And a Sunderland fan tries to bend the rules… as I’d expect. After all you’re run by a manager who’s idea of levelling the playing field is to break the opposition’s legs.
Checking the table as of our 1-4 away win at Spurs (you may remember away wins, though I know you don’t get them very often) which means we’ve *now played the same number of games*, we’re two points above you.
I spared her the reminder that Sunderland could still end the season holding the record for the least number of points per game in Premiership history, dependant on whether now-relegated Derby pull their socks up. After all, the mackems are the only team with two positions in the Worst Teams In Premiership History table.
