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Comfort if we go down?


Shroppie

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Next season, I am going to wake up on a Saturday morning, have a cup of coffee, some toast, do what I have to do and tootle along to SMS to watch Saints. My life will not really change at all over what division Saints are in. Football is not a matter of life and death, nor is it more serious than that.

 

So then it is a question of entertainment. We had 7 good years, and the last 2 have been pretty devoid of entertainment. And that's the problem. Once accepting relegation, you could compare what is likely to be served up (more goals, more wins etc) against the dire **** we have been served for the past 2 years. But the Koeman seasons, they were fun. We could and did beat the big boys, so that compared to the Championship is not really comparable.

 

Which leads to the question about the Premier League. Finishing 8th, 7th, 6th was fantastic. Leicester winning it was incredible. But things seem to have moved on. Yes everyone has more money, but the big 6 are consolidating their places at the top. I suspect that the top 6 this season, will be the same next season, the season after that, and after that etc etc etc. Burnley have done superbly well and really good luck to them. A shame that they couldn't do top 6. So what really is the point of being in a competition that you cannot realistically win or even finish top 4? Is it better to make up the numbers in mid-lower table mediocrity of the PL, or be in with a chance of winning the Championship? And of course, getting promoted from Championship can lead you straight back into the struggles of the PL.

 

Oh we are told how wonderful the PL is, that it is the most open top league around. And sure, unlike Spain/Italy where you have 2 sometimes 3 teams, Germany/France with its 1 sometimes 2 teams that battle it out, there are 6 big players that might be able to win the competition. But all I see with the top echelons of football is a competition on who can spend the most. We are not innocent from that either.

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Very good article, it does help view relegation in a slightly different light, the only thing I would say is that under Koeman we were managing to win games and rub some big teams up the wrong way whilst in the main being entertained. The problem is that when you have a team capable of that its not long before the squad is ravaged by the big teams blagging all your best players and then you are back to square one.

 

Yes football does provide enertainment but at the end of the day it is a sport hence it is competitive and the sole aim is to win, so even in the championship we will still be competing to get back into the Premiership.

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He has a good point, especially as any success in the PL is almost exclusively based on how much money you spend and it all becomes a bit tiresome.

 

it also means 99% of the time there is a glass ceiling however well you do (the 1% being Leicester's fluke win), we've hit it pretty much and I have a hard time seeing a club like ours surpassing it unless there is a serious financial metldown in the top 6.

 

So dropping a division gives us hope of winning more games, dominating games and maybe winning a trophy.

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Haven't seen this elsewhere. Apologies if already posted. Agree with a lot of it, but it glosses over the financial implications.

 

http://www.football365.com/news/stop-fretting-about-relegation-instead-embrace-it

 

cracking article, and agree with it wholeheartedly

 

It is nonsense, it is far better for the club and fans to return to its path of the previous four seasons. Finishing 8th in the Premier League is far more enjoyable than 1st in the Championship. Of course winning a league is nice, but you aren't playing some of the top teams in the world with a squad packed with internationals at Saints.

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The fact of the matter is winning is entertaining I stand by the idea that any league is fun and entertaining as long as your team is doing well in it. Winning promotion from league 1 is going to more fun than scraping 17th in the PL despite what the media would like people to think.

 

Obviously you want your team to be doing well in the top league if possible. I agree with the premise of the article though that not being in the PL can somehow make following you team less fun is bollix.

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Don't be blinded by the awful cautious tactics of the previous two managers; I think had w e gone for it a lot more often we would have seen a few more wins and a few more defeats maybe but a lot less draws and definitely a lot more entertainment and enjoyment

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So dropping a division gives us hope of winning more games, dominating games and maybe winning a trophy.

 

But is a lesser achievement, with a weaker Saints team against weaker opponents. It isn't much of an achievement.

 

We've shown as recently as 2016 it is possible for us to win 18, draw 9 and only lose 11 out of 38 PL games.

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He has a good point, especially as any success in the PL is almost exclusively based on how much money you spend and it all becomes a bit tiresome.

 

it also means 99% of the time there is a glass ceiling however well you do (the 1% being Leicester's fluke win), we've hit it pretty much and I have a hard time seeing a club like ours surpassing it unless there is a serious financial metldown in the top 6.

 

So dropping a division gives us hope of winning more games, dominating games and maybe winning a trophy.

 

And because there is so much money coming into the league, and there's no restriction on how much big clubs can spend (since FFP doesn't seem to affect them), if they do have a bit of a blip as they did in the Leicester season, they just come back with a vengeance, spend even more money and make sure to downtread the pretenders harder than ever before.

 

In my opinion, legitimate things to miss in the PL are the overall quality of football and players, and also to be sad that all our progress and building over the last few years will suddenly be written off and we'll be starting again.

 

"What happens next?" in terms of ownership and our financial position is obviously a concern, because we know next to nothing about Mr Gao, and the only bits we do know hardly inspire confidence!

 

"Winning more games" is a dangerous comfort. It's certainly possible but not necessarily true. We could end up languishing around midtable like Ipswich, flirting with relegation like Forest, or just doing an all-out Sunderland.

 

But what I do like about the Championship is that, although there are still 'big' and 'small' clubs, like Leeds/Villa vs Burton/Brentford, it still feels like everyone is kind of in the same boat. Everyone has a chance. And all the fans are somewhat alike. You don't choose to be a fan of Hull City or Reading because you want bragging rights or because you like the fact they've just signed a world famous player. And if you do get a 'tourist' at the game, chances are they actually understand football the way we do as Saints fans, and they probably have a more interesting story to tell than those guys in the office who supported Liverpool "even when they weren't very good".

 

And finally, the thing I would miss least about the Premier League will be being an afterthought in conversation, an also-ran, a club who are there to make up the numbers, and whose existence is either an inconvenience or a patsy to the top 6 and the media circus that surrounds them. United, Liverpool and City are the worst. Non stop drivel taking the headlines and screen time when there could be some actual football stories worth writing about. On the way back from Wigan we couldn't even find a radio station reviewing the game because they were too busy discussing something Antonio Conte or Jose Mourinho said in a press conference last week. It just summed it up. The Premier League has gone so far down the 'entertainment' road that it has forgotten that first and foremost it is meant to be a sport.

 

Despite my clear dislike for the Premier League though, I will only be using these last two paragraphs as a consolation if we go down, rather than a reason to be excited. The overarching feeling will be one of dismay, mainly caused by our failure to sack Pellegrino earlier and avoid this mess. But also because as soon as you get into the lower divisions the aim becomes... to get promotion back to the awful place you've just been so happy to be released from! And if you do manage to get promotion, you're then facing a real battle trying to stay up in your first season or two. It's very rare for a team to bounce back and be stronger for it, unless you've half-planned for it as Burnley did.

Edited by mrfahaji
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Next season, I am going to wake up on a Saturday morning, have a cup of coffee, some toast, do what I have to do and tootle along to SMS to watch Saints. My life will not really change at all over what division Saints are in. Football is not a matter of life and death, nor is it more serious than that.

 

So then it is a question of entertainment. We had 7 good years, and the last 2 have been pretty devoid of entertainment. And that's the problem. Once accepting relegation, you could compare what is likely to be served up (more goals, more wins etc) against the dire **** we have been served for the past 2 years. But the Koeman seasons, they were fun. We could and did beat the big boys, so that compared to the Championship is not really comparable.

 

Which leads to the question about the Premier League. Finishing 8th, 7th, 6th was fantastic. Leicester winning it was incredible. But things seem to have moved on. Yes everyone has more money, but the big 6 are consolidating their places at the top. I suspect that the top 6 this season, will be the same next season, the season after that, and after that etc etc etc. Burnley have done superbly well and really good luck to them. A shame that they couldn't do top 6. So what really is the point of being in a competition that you cannot realistically win or even finish top 4? Is it better to make up the numbers in mid-lower table mediocrity of the PL, or be in with a chance of winning the Championship? And of course, getting promoted from Championship can lead you straight back into the struggles of the PL.

 

Oh we are told how wonderful the PL is, that it is the most open top league around. And sure, unlike Spain/Italy where you have 2 sometimes 3 teams, Germany/France with its 1 sometimes 2 teams that battle it out, there are 6 big players that might be able to win the competition. But all I see with the top echelons of football is a competition on who can spend the most. We are not innocent from that either.

 

This is exactly where I am. Great post. Of course I'll be ****ed off when we get relegated, but I've said it many time before on here, come the start of next season 11 blokes in red and white shirts will run out at SMS and the crowd will sing and cheer again. I'll be in that crowd, it's just part of life's journey really.

 

Cue the 'typical lack of ambition' and 'we were nearly in the European places' posts, but for me we are where we are in the football pyramid - that's life.

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It is nonsense, it is far better for the club and fans to return to its path of the previous four seasons. Finishing 8th in the Premier League is far more enjoyable than 1st in the Championship. Of course winning a league is nice, but you aren't playing some of the top teams in the world with a squad packed with internationals at Saints.

 

What utter bollux. Of course winning the Championship is far more enjoyable that being 8th in the PL!! You'll see more home wins and more goals for a start. Also we'll win an actual trophy which would last far longer in the mind than finishing as 2nd least worse Big 6 cannon fodder.

 

What has the fact that we have a squad 'packed with internationals' got to do with anything? Does that make them inherently more entertaining to watch?

 

Boufal is an international and he's been the biggest waste of money this side of Guido Carrillo!

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While I hope we don't go down I would like to see us win more games, a lot more.

 

While I hope we don't go down I would like to see the back of a good few individuals both on and off the pitch. Maybe only relegation can bring this.

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It is nonsense, it is far better for the club and fans to return to its path of the previous four seasons. Finishing 8th in the Premier League is far more enjoyable than 1st in the Championship. Of course winning a league is nice, but you aren't playing some of the top teams in the world with a squad packed with internationals at Saints.

 

:mcinnes:

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:mcinnes:

 

He is right though.

 

The critical flaw to the article and why it is nonsense is that it assumes you will do well once you are in the championship. Hull and Sunderland have won 18 games out of 92 between them. I am sure if it was one of their fans writing an article it wouldn't look anything like this one. If you have a good board who make sound decisions you are likely to do well. If you have dodgy ones who keep making mistakes and don't learn from them you will struggle no matter what league you play in. As we have no clue what our owner is about and know our board are idiots we are more likely to do a Sunderland than a Boro imo.

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