gbnine
13-03-2008, 16:02
The race for the Championship is warming up and there are as many as 12 clubs who have a realistic chance of gaining promotion. Taking the step up to the Premier League however has often brought instant relegation for newly promoted teams, and the pressure is now on the Championship clubs to immediately adapt to the Premiership.
There's also the harsh reality that clubs who are promoted and then relegated, find it hard to win promotion the next time round and with the possibility of plunging back to the Championship so big, these concerns are now involving more teams than ever before.
Let's take out the top ten clubs in the Premiership. I wont pretend to know who the top ten are but if we take The Big Four and then another six clubs who usually battle it out for the European places, predicting who will be relegated from the remaining ten clubs becomes a difficult task.
Now let's take away the bottom six clubs in the Championship. The 18 clubs that are left, together with the bottom 10 teams from the Premiership leaves us with 28 teams that would make up an attractive league on their own, and quite a competitive one too. Certainly more competitive than the current Premier League.
The bottom ten teams from the Premiership would be given a good game by most of the teams from the Championship, as witnessed in quite a few FA Cup shocks that have taken place this season.
For the clubs chasing promotion from the Championship there's the realization that the recently promoted clubs have had a chance of survival because the lower teams in the Premiership have admitted defeat with regards to challenging for Europe.
The impression is that the Premiership is slowly becoming inundated with weaker teams and the Championship teams realize that making the leap into the top flight needs to be sooner rather than later if they are to settle.
As long as teams can fulfill their dreams of promotion and can rival the clubs around them in terms of squad size and ability, they have every chance of surviving. There are some big, big clubs fading away in the lower leagues, clubs like Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United, Leeds, Wolves and Nottingham Forest.
The Championship cannot give us the silky skills of Ronaldo and Fabregas or the class of Berbatov and Torres, but for sheer entertainment it is without equal.
The Championship is about real football. Blood, sweat and tears football. Take away the top ten Premiership clubs and any one of the next 28 teams could win the title.
There's also the harsh reality that clubs who are promoted and then relegated, find it hard to win promotion the next time round and with the possibility of plunging back to the Championship so big, these concerns are now involving more teams than ever before.
Let's take out the top ten clubs in the Premiership. I wont pretend to know who the top ten are but if we take The Big Four and then another six clubs who usually battle it out for the European places, predicting who will be relegated from the remaining ten clubs becomes a difficult task.
Now let's take away the bottom six clubs in the Championship. The 18 clubs that are left, together with the bottom 10 teams from the Premiership leaves us with 28 teams that would make up an attractive league on their own, and quite a competitive one too. Certainly more competitive than the current Premier League.
The bottom ten teams from the Premiership would be given a good game by most of the teams from the Championship, as witnessed in quite a few FA Cup shocks that have taken place this season.
For the clubs chasing promotion from the Championship there's the realization that the recently promoted clubs have had a chance of survival because the lower teams in the Premiership have admitted defeat with regards to challenging for Europe.
The impression is that the Premiership is slowly becoming inundated with weaker teams and the Championship teams realize that making the leap into the top flight needs to be sooner rather than later if they are to settle.
As long as teams can fulfill their dreams of promotion and can rival the clubs around them in terms of squad size and ability, they have every chance of surviving. There are some big, big clubs fading away in the lower leagues, clubs like Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United, Leeds, Wolves and Nottingham Forest.
The Championship cannot give us the silky skills of Ronaldo and Fabregas or the class of Berbatov and Torres, but for sheer entertainment it is without equal.
The Championship is about real football. Blood, sweat and tears football. Take away the top ten Premiership clubs and any one of the next 28 teams could win the title.