I would argue that the Spanish league is as competitive as the English league and there is a strong group of teams just below the big two. Atlético Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Villareal, Malaga, Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao are tough matches for Real Madrid and Barcelona and have all appeared in the Champions League or won the Europa League in recent years. Athletic Bilbao outclassed Man Utd a few years ago. The Spanish league is much more competitive than people think.
@PragueAddick just Google Deloitte football and you can find a report released in January for last season. Combined revenue of €6.2bn is up 14% on the year before. And yes PSG have the largest "commercial" revenue.
It gives a split of revenue types but don't expect it to dish any dirt!
They anticipate as many as five clubs might exceed revenues of 500m soon - different world!
Every FAPL club (including Palace - ouch!) is in the Euro top 40. Perhaps that's a headline the Trust might use when espousing sustainability and dynamic growth for CAFC ? If you can't beat them join them!
PS 15 years ago Italy had five of the top 10 clubs but then they abandoned their collective TV deal and I dont think they charge so much to get in.
The problem is is that the top UK teams play in arguably the toughest/most competitive division out of the major European leagues. All the teams not vying for top 4 are essentially in a relegation scrap from day one and the stakes are much higher than any other country. If you go down there's a good chance you won't be going back up for a long time, as we, a club that until our relegation would have easily been referred to as a Premier League mainstay, can attest to. Any other Champions League club will expect to walk away from the other non CL clubs in their division with 6 points and walk their domestic cups, which simply doesn't happen here. Arsenal's prima donnas have to go to hellholes like Burnley or Stoke either end of the week, have 7 shades of shreddies kicked out of them by overpaid thugs and then expect to beat the likes of Real Madrid in between?
You are seriously underestimating the quality of the Bundesliga there. Sure there is now a huge gap between Bayern and the rest, but look at Dortmund's league position and they got as far as all the English clubs. Maybe the problem is less the "overpaid thugs" at Burnley, and more the "prima donnas" at Arsenal?
The point about Dortmund kind of backs me up. The year Chelsea won it they had capitulated the fight for Top 4 by late season. Dortmund got that far at the expense of domestic success.
I also get the impression that getting relegated from the top division in Germany, Spain, Italy, France etc. does not have as brutal a penalty as it does in England, hence the 14 or so teams that won't realistically finish top 4 are going to fight for every point to ensure survival. The likes of Bayern Munich, Barca, Real Madrid etc seem to get a much easier ride in their leagues.
No English team left in Europe now, after Everton's pasting. Nightmare for the broadcasters.
Poor showing all round in the end. The frustrating thing for me is that I accept the modern game is (rightly or wrongly) awash with cash. I just think if professionals in England are on that much money then we surely should've had a few teams into the last 8 of each tournament. Each individual club has gone out in it's own circumstances I know, but we're in danger of falling behind again like we did when we were out of Europe in the late 80s coz of Heisel.
I genuinely don't think I'm being mellow dramatic either. Man Utd are a mess. Arsenal are perennial failures, City need an overhaul and Chelsea were too clever for their own good. Chelsea have got the players and manager to turn it round, but after that, I see nothing to write home about.
Europa is even worse because we end up with teams like Spurs who are desperate to get in the CL, have been in that tournament so long, it's obvious they're not up for it. And because the way places are awarded and who wins what in England every year, someone like Aston Villa will prob be in next year as losing FA cup finalists to Arsenal.
The problem is is that the top UK teams play in arguably the toughest/most competitive division out of the major European leagues. All the teams not vying for top 4 are essentially in a relegation scrap from day one and the stakes are much higher than any other country. If you go down there's a good chance you won't be going back up for a long time, as we, a club that until our relegation would have easily been referred to as a Premier League mainstay, can attest to. Any other Champions League club will expect to walk away from the other non CL clubs in their division with 6 points and walk their domestic cups, which simply doesn't happen here. Arsenal's prima donnas have to go to hellholes like Burnley or Stoke either end of the week, have 7 shades of shreddies kicked out of them by overpaid thugs and then expect to beat the likes of Real Madrid in between?
You are seriously underestimating the quality of the Bundesliga there. Sure there is now a huge gap between Bayern and the rest, but look at Dortmund's league position and they got as far as all the English clubs. Maybe the problem is less the "overpaid thugs" at Burnley, and more the "prima donnas" at Arsenal?
The point about Dortmund kind of backs me up. The year Chelsea won it they had capitulated the fight for Top 4 by late season. Dortmund got that far at the expense of domestic success.
I also get the impression that getting relegated from the top division in Germany, Spain, Italy, France etc. has as brutal a penalty as it does in England, hence the 14 or so teams that won't realistically finish top 4 are going to fight for every point to ensure survival. The likes of Bayern Munich, Barca, Real Madrid etc seem to get a much easier ride in their leagues.
Did you listen to the Bottom line just now, on which Katrien was one of the guests? The president of Cologne was one of the other guests. For the first time he revealed the structure of the Bundesliga TV deal. 20% goes to the Bundesliga 2 clubs. Not in parachute payments, but to the whole division. And within Bundesliga 1 the merit payments exist but based on performance over five years, not just the previous season.
The simple fact is that in Germany the frequent actual or near miss cases of administration for clubs that are relegated from the FAPL, do not happen there. That's not to say that German clubs are always profitable or well run, however some of the worst cases of mis -management and debt happened to clubs in the top tier. Dortmund was a prime example some ten years ago, and Cologne more recently.
The problem is is that the top UK teams play in arguably the toughest/most competitive division out of the major European leagues. All the teams not vying for top 4 are essentially in a relegation scrap from day one and the stakes are much higher than any other country. If you go down there's a good chance you won't be going back up for a long time, as we, a club that until our relegation would have easily been referred to as a Premier League mainstay, can attest to. Any other Champions League club will expect to walk away from the other non CL clubs in their division with 6 points and walk their domestic cups, which simply doesn't happen here. Arsenal's prima donnas have to go to hellholes like Burnley or Stoke either end of the week, have 7 shades of shreddies kicked out of them by overpaid thugs and then expect to beat the likes of Real Madrid in between?
You are seriously underestimating the quality of the Bundesliga there. Sure there is now a huge gap between Bayern and the rest, but look at Dortmund's league position and they got as far as all the English clubs. Maybe the problem is less the "overpaid thugs" at Burnley, and more the "prima donnas" at Arsenal?
The point about Dortmund kind of backs me up. The year Chelsea won it they had capitulated the fight for Top 4 by late season. Dortmund got that far at the expense of domestic success.
I also get the impression that getting relegated from the top division in Germany, Spain, Italy, France etc. has as brutal a penalty as it does in England, hence the 14 or so teams that won't realistically finish top 4 are going to fight for every point to ensure survival. The likes of Bayern Munich, Barca, Real Madrid etc seem to get a much easier ride in their leagues.
Did you listen to the Bottom line just now, on which Katrien was one of the guests? The president of Cologne was one of the other guests. For the first time he revealed the structure of the Bundesliga TV deal. 20% goes to the Bundesliga 2 clubs. Not in parachute payments, but to the whole division. And within Bundesliga 1 the merit payments exist but based on performance over five years, not just the previous season.
The simple fact is that in Germany the frequent actual or near miss cases of administration for clubs that are relegated from the FAPL, do not happen there. That's not to say that German clubs are always profitable or well run, however some of the worst cases of mis -management and debt happened to clubs in the top tier. Dortmund was a prime example some ten years ago, and Cologne more recently.
That makes sense. Also I made a glaring error in my post, I meant to say the other leagues don't have as brutal a penalty for getting relegated and judging by your post that seems to align with my assumptions.
Man City will play 51 matches this season, Barcelona at least 58.
I'd say out of those 58 games, 35-40 will be competitive. Almost all of Man Citys will be. The shit teams in La Liga roll over much easier than Burnley or Qpr.
There is no denying that the quality of player at Barca is a lot better but the English game has clear effects on players at this stage of the season.
There was a good point made on the Guardian Football podcast, which is the talent is spread much wider in the Premier League compared to the La Liga; Bundersliga and Ligue 1, where it's confined to 1 or 2 clubs in those leagues
Man City will play 51 matches this season, Barcelona at least 58.
I'd say out of those 58 games, 35-40 will be competitive. Almost all of Man Citys will be. The shit teams in La Liga roll over much easier than Burnley or Qpr.
There is no denying that the quality of player at Barca is a lot better but the English game has clear effects on players at this stage of the season.
The Premier League needs a winter break.
Average points per game for the bottom three in each of the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga
ESP Levante 0.93 DEU Paderborn 0.92 DEU Freiburg 0.88 ENG Burnley 0.86 ESP Granada 0.81 DEU Stuttgart 0.8 ENG Queens Park Rangers 0.76 ENG Leicester 0.68 ESP Cordoba 0.67
Looks to me like the European relegation candidates scrap at least as hard for points as those in the Premier League.
@PragueAddick So each club in Bundesliga 2 receives €7m. How does that compare with payments to clubs in the Championship?
Do you know it's that figure? I certainly didn't. I'd be interested if you have a source which shows the details.
We know that the basic deal for Charlton is £3m, Katrien confirmed that on the programme. However several championship clubs get as much as five times as much, in parachute payments. But in the Bundesliga, the relative gap between The second and top tier in terms of TV money will be much smaller, that much is clear. And for me, that's a good thing and key to the good health of the German game.
Man City will play 51 matches this season, Barcelona at least 58.
I'd say out of those 58 games, 35-40 will be competitive. Almost all of Man Citys will be. The shit teams in La Liga roll over much easier than Burnley or Qpr.
There is no denying that the quality of player at Barca is a lot better but the English game has clear effects on players at this stage of the season.
The Premier League needs a winter break.
Can't agree with that at all Gary, sorry mate. For several reasons A) As IA points out above, there's no evidence for that in points gained, With a break there are still the same amount of games, they have to be fitted in somewhere - in world cup/European championship seasons that would mean starting about August the first, C) Spain doesn't have a break either, doesn't seem a problem for them D) following a January break, if it snows for three weeks in February (the pitches might be okay, but if the approaches to the stadiums are dangerous matches still get called off) then there's a real problem fitting in fixtures - again especially in WC/EC years E) As also pointed out elsewhere, the biggest clubs would all bugger off and play lucrative friendlies anyway ( Dutch and German clubs come here to the Algarve and play friendlies in January ). And the one thing that must never be allowed to happen is a Christmas break - ultimately football is an entertainment industry, and they should be entertaining us when we are off work - i.e. Christmas and New Year.
And Spain does have 2 weeks off over Christmas and New year.
In that time, some British teams can play 4/5 times.
The weather point is a bit over the top as well ( I thought it was me that over reacts?). How many Premier League games in the last few years have been called off due to weather or safety reasons? I can only think of Sunderland when it was windy.
Also I don't see a problem in clubs going overseas in that time, if the players are being rested better than they would in a busy Xmas schedule. The reason it back fired on city is because they did it right after a league game and before an FA Cup tie.
I agree it comes down to money tho and the TV companies have got the premier league by the nuts.
I genuinely do think that not having a winter break harms the English clubs in Europe. Quite a lot of these players have had little time off since summer 2014. The problem being that Sky won't let the FA or PL introduce one given how popular the games around Christmas are for most viewers.
as soon as we introduce one, all the top teams will be off playing friendlies anyway, so no point!, winter break or not, they'll still have to play the same number of games
Man City will play 51 matches this season, Barcelona at least 58.
I'd say out of those 58 games, 35-40 will be competitive. Almost all of Man Citys will be. The shit teams in La Liga roll over much easier than Burnley or Qpr.
There is no denying that the quality of player at Barca is a lot better but the English game has clear effects on players at this stage of the season.
The Premier League needs a winter break.
Average points per game for the bottom three in each of the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga
ESP Levante 0.93 DEU Paderborn 0.92 DEU Freiburg 0.88 ENG Burnley 0.86 ESP Granada 0.81 DEU Stuttgart 0.8 ENG Queens Park Rangers 0.76 ENG Leicester 0.68 ESP Cordoba 0.67
Looks to me like the European relegation candidates scrap at least as hard for points as those in the Premier League.
This isn't really a good measure of how hard the fight is to stay in the division. If every game was a draw, every team would average 1 pt per game. There's also the interesting anomaly that if each team wins exactly half of their games and loses the other half, each team would average 1.5 points? Either way this is extremely unlikely due to how talent is distributed across the teams in the division, so in any given league it is extremely likely that the bottom 3 will be averaging between 0.9 and 0.6 pts per game.
A better measure would be how many points those clubs aiming for UCL qualification have dropped against the bottom half of their own division, I guess versus potential points?
Either way this is a good discussion over the relative merits of how the different leagues are managed. There are probably several contributing factors to the English clubs' current malaise, but I do think the current structure of the EPL/FL and the financial chasm between them does mean the top EPL clubs cannot take any game for granted as it means the bottom sides (ie the other 14 teams) are desperate to stay up at any cost. Makes for great matches domestically but my opinion is that those clubs competing abroad suffer. The Europa League's carrot of a CL spot doesn't appear to have stopped Tottenham or Liverpool from diverting resources from home to compete seriously abroad.
I genuinely do think that not having a winter break harms the English clubs in Europe. Quite a lot of these players have had little time off since summer 2014. The problem being that Sky won't let the FA or PL introduce one given how popular the games around Christmas are for most viewers.
as soon as we introduce one, all the top teams will be off playing friendlies anyway, so no point!, winter break or not, they'll still have to play the same number of games
The difference is though mate is one or two friendlies in a week while in sunny Malaga is a lot different to playing say Saturday/Tuesday/Friday/Monday over Xmas.
It's a break from competitive football not football all together.
Thing is people say that English talent shouldnt automatically be given a chance and that they should only get in ahead of foreign players if they're better than them but the trouble is those foreign players include the likes of Kleberson and Eric Djemba-Djemba; Bosko Balaban and Ali Daei, the list is endless where crap foreign players are being given more opportunities in the English game than our own unproven kids.
Of course Joe Gomez has proven that he's been a potential talent for years but Bob Peeters and Guy Luzon could easily have taken the cowards route and could have though... 17-years old as a Defender, too soon to be thrown in, I'll go for 25-year old who has played over 100-appearances at club level on the continent, instead they didnt and Joe Gomez has proven that he should be in the First-Team and that 25-year old could easily have been an expensive flop whereas we've filled a position in our squad for nothing.
Overall one way to help the English game is to limit the loan market, teams are currently dictated too, stating that only a certain number can be brought into a club whilst there seems to be no rules that state how many players a club can loan out (i.e. Chelsea the perfect example), maybe if you limit the number that can go outwards, clubs like Chelsea wont be so eager to snap up players and then discard them for nothing a few months later
I find it depressing that people steal music from the internet and pass it around free to each other, but pay actual money to subscribe to Sky Television for football. I know it is 'wrong' to watch pirate streams of football on the computer, but I know I feel more at ease doing that than not paying for music. Especially when you have pictures of Liam Ridgewell wiping his arse with a £50 note. The average single persons old age pension for the last decade has been £92 per week. I have never subscribed to Sky Television and never will, I will either go to the pub, or search for a pirate stream if I want to watch these brilliantly talented arseholes play football. I have also discovered how enjoyable it has been to go to non league football this season. £4 to get in, easy to get in, a laugh as well, reasonable football, nice atmosphere, these factors compensate for missing out on seeing better players and not lining Liam Ridgewell's underpants. If we go up I would use the money to battern down the infrastructure at Charlton, pay off the debts, get the structure right, keep the prices low, and take the relegation hit. I would not throw money away on players, but use the parachute money to stabalise the club.
Can we have warnings before sending an unsuspecting person to the Mirror's website as not only is it the worst paper in the country, their website is horrible on work PCs.
Thing is people say that English talent shouldnt automatically be given a chance and that they should only get in ahead of foreign players if they're better than them but the trouble is those foreign players include the likes of Kleberson and Eric Djemba-Djemba; Bosko Balaban and Ali Daei, the list is endless where crap foreign players are being given more opportunities in the English game than our own unproven kids.
Of course Joe Gomez has proven that he's been a potential talent for years but Bob Peeters and Guy Luzon could easily have taken the cowards route and could have though... 17-years old as a Defender, too soon to be thrown in, I'll go for 25-year old who has played over 100-appearances at club level on the continent, instead they didnt and Joe Gomez has proven that he should be in the First-Team and that 25-year old could easily have been an expensive flop whereas we've filled a position in our squad for nothing.
Overall one way to help the English game is to limit the loan market, teams are currently dictated too, stating that only a certain number can be brought into a club whilst there seems to be no rules that state how many players a club can loan out (i.e. Chelsea the perfect example), maybe if you limit the number that can go outwards, clubs like Chelsea wont be so eager to snap up players and then discard them for nothing a few months later
Agree with you on the number of players a club should be allowed to own and loan out. What is going on at Chelsea is disgusting.
However, on the foreign players point. It has been shown the percentage of foreigners playing in the PL has no impact on the performance of the England team. As many people can argue this as they like but you just have to look at our performance in tournaments and the win percentage since the start of the PL. Arguably our most talented England side came around 9 years after the start of the PL. The number of foreign players isn't the problem, it's the ability of our own English players that is and for that you have to look at the setup of youth football.
The quality of English players is rather shocking though. If work permit restrictions were more relaxed, you'd see far more non-English players below the Premier League.
@PragueAddick So each club in Bundesliga 2 receives €7m. How does that compare with payments to clubs in the Championship?
Do you know it's that figure? I certainly didn't. I'd be interested if you have a source which shows the details.
We know that the basic deal for Charlton is £3m, Katrien confirmed that on the programme. However several championship clubs get as much as five times as much, in parachute payments. But in the Bundesliga, the relative gap between The second and top tier in terms of TV money will be much smaller, that much is clear. And for me, that's a good thing and key to the good health of the German game.
The 4 year deal starting 2013/14 was for 2.5 billion euros. Therefore I just divided the figure by 4 (years) then by 5 (20%) then finally by 18 (clubs in Bundesliga 2) = 7 million euros.
Thing is people say that English talent shouldnt automatically be given a chance and that they should only get in ahead of foreign players if they're better than them but the trouble is those foreign players include the likes of Kleberson and Eric Djemba-Djemba; Bosko Balaban and Ali Daei, the list is endless where crap foreign players are being given more opportunities in the English game than our own unproven kids.
Of course Joe Gomez has proven that he's been a potential talent for years but Bob Peeters and Guy Luzon could easily have taken the cowards route and could have though... 17-years old as a Defender, too soon to be thrown in, I'll go for 25-year old who has played over 100-appearances at club level on the continent, instead they didnt and Joe Gomez has proven that he should be in the First-Team and that 25-year old could easily have been an expensive flop whereas we've filled a position in our squad for nothing.
Overall one way to help the English game is to limit the loan market, teams are currently dictated too, stating that only a certain number can be brought into a club whilst there seems to be no rules that state how many players a club can loan out (i.e. Chelsea the perfect example), maybe if you limit the number that can go outwards, clubs like Chelsea wont be so eager to snap up players and then discard them for nothing a few months later
Agree with you on the number of players a club should be allowed to own and loan out. What is going on at Chelsea is disgusting.
However, on the foreign players point. It has been shown the percentage of foreigners playing in the PL has no impact on the performance of the England team. As many people can argue this as they like but you just have to look at our performance in tournaments and the win percentage since the start of the PL. Arguably our most talented England side came around 9 years after the start of the PL. The number of foreign players isn't the problem, it's the ability of our own English players that is and for that you have to look at the setup of youth football.
God no definitely agree in one vein that the percentage of foreigners have no impact on the performance of the England Team... What I dont like is when people say that our kids arent good enough to be given a shot at the first teams when you've got the foreign players that I mentioned taking away their chances when they're even more shite
Thing is people say that English talent shouldnt automatically be given a chance and that they should only get in ahead of foreign players if they're better than them but the trouble is those foreign players include the likes of Kleberson and Eric Djemba-Djemba; Bosko Balaban and Ali Daei, the list is endless where crap foreign players are being given more opportunities in the English game than our own unproven kids.
Of course Joe Gomez has proven that he's been a potential talent for years but Bob Peeters and Guy Luzon could easily have taken the cowards route and could have though... 17-years old as a Defender, too soon to be thrown in, I'll go for 25-year old who has played over 100-appearances at club level on the continent, instead they didnt and Joe Gomez has proven that he should be in the First-Team and that 25-year old could easily have been an expensive flop whereas we've filled a position in our squad for nothing.
Overall one way to help the English game is to limit the loan market, teams are currently dictated too, stating that only a certain number can be brought into a club whilst there seems to be no rules that state how many players a club can loan out (i.e. Chelsea the perfect example), maybe if you limit the number that can go outwards, clubs like Chelsea wont be so eager to snap up players and then discard them for nothing a few months later
Agree with you on the number of players a club should be allowed to own and loan out. What is going on at Chelsea is disgusting.
However, on the foreign players point. It has been shown the percentage of foreigners playing in the PL has no impact on the performance of the England team. As many people can argue this as they like but you just have to look at our performance in tournaments and the win percentage since the start of the PL. Arguably our most talented England side came around 9 years after the start of the PL. The number of foreign players isn't the problem, it's the ability of our own English players that is and for that you have to look at the setup of youth football.
God no definitely agree in one vein that the percentage of foreigners have no impact on the performance of the England Team... What I dont like is when people say that our kids arent good enough to be given a shot at the first teams when you've got the foreign players that I mentioned taking away their chances when they're even more shite
True but I think you're focusing on some quite extreme cases. It also ignores the PL English hanger ons, the likes of SWP who are clearly not there to improve themselves or the club they play for but just want to stay there for that paycheck. In general though foreign players represent better value for money to clubs, there is such a high premium attached to English players partly born out of discussions such as this.
Thing is people say that English talent shouldnt automatically be given a chance and that they should only get in ahead of foreign players if they're better than them but the trouble is those foreign players include the likes of Kleberson and Eric Djemba-Djemba; Bosko Balaban and Ali Daei, the list is endless where crap foreign players are being given more opportunities in the English game than our own unproven kids.
Of course Joe Gomez has proven that he's been a potential talent for years but Bob Peeters and Guy Luzon could easily have taken the cowards route and could have though... 17-years old as a Defender, too soon to be thrown in, I'll go for 25-year old who has played over 100-appearances at club level on the continent, instead they didnt and Joe Gomez has proven that he should be in the First-Team and that 25-year old could easily have been an expensive flop whereas we've filled a position in our squad for nothing.
Overall one way to help the English game is to limit the loan market, teams are currently dictated too, stating that only a certain number can be brought into a club whilst there seems to be no rules that state how many players a club can loan out (i.e. Chelsea the perfect example), maybe if you limit the number that can go outwards, clubs like Chelsea wont be so eager to snap up players and then discard them for nothing a few months later
Agree with you on the number of players a club should be allowed to own and loan out. What is going on at Chelsea is disgusting.
However, on the foreign players point. It has been shown the percentage of foreigners playing in the PL has no impact on the performance of the England team. As many people can argue this as they like but you just have to look at our performance in tournaments and the win percentage since the start of the PL. Arguably our most talented England side came around 9 years after the start of the PL. The number of foreign players isn't the problem, it's the ability of our own English players that is and for that you have to look at the setup of youth football.
God no definitely agree in one vein that the percentage of foreigners have no impact on the performance of the England Team... What I dont like is when people say that our kids arent good enough to be given a shot at the first teams when you've got the foreign players that I mentioned taking away their chances when they're even more shite
True but I think you're focusing on some quite extreme cases. It also ignores the PL English hanger ons, the likes of SWP who are clearly not there to improve themselves or the club they play for but just want to stay there for that paycheck. In general though foreign players represent better value for money to clubs, there is such a high premium attached to English players partly born out of discussions such as this.
Yup you are very much correct as it does swing both ways and certainly doesnt help when you've got the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips just interested in collecting their wages each week when that money could be better spend on the Queens Park Rangers Academy
Comments
It gives a split of revenue types but don't expect it to dish any dirt!
They anticipate as many as five clubs might exceed revenues of 500m soon - different world!
Every FAPL club (including Palace - ouch!) is in the Euro top 40. Perhaps that's a headline the Trust might use when espousing sustainability and dynamic growth for CAFC ? If you can't beat them join them!
PS 15 years ago Italy had five of the top 10 clubs but then they abandoned their collective TV deal and I dont think they charge so much to get in.
I also get the impression that getting relegated from the top division in Germany, Spain, Italy, France etc. does not have as brutal a penalty as it does in England, hence the 14 or so teams that won't realistically finish top 4 are going to fight for every point to ensure survival. The likes of Bayern Munich, Barca, Real Madrid etc seem to get a much easier ride in their leagues.
I genuinely don't think I'm being mellow dramatic either. Man Utd are a mess. Arsenal are perennial failures, City need an overhaul and Chelsea were too clever for their own good. Chelsea have got the players and manager to turn it round, but after that, I see nothing to write home about.
Europa is even worse because we end up with teams like Spurs who are desperate to get in the CL, have been in that tournament so long, it's obvious they're not up for it. And because the way places are awarded and who wins what in England every year, someone like Aston Villa will prob be in next year as losing FA cup finalists to Arsenal.
The simple fact is that in Germany the frequent actual or near miss cases of administration for clubs that are relegated from the FAPL, do not happen there. That's not to say that German clubs are always profitable or well run, however some of the worst cases of mis -management and debt happened to clubs in the top tier. Dortmund was a prime example some ten years ago, and Cologne more recently.
There is no denying that the quality of player at Barca is a lot better but the English game has clear effects on players at this stage of the season.
The Premier League needs a winter break.
ESP Levante 0.93
DEU Paderborn 0.92
DEU Freiburg 0.88
ENG Burnley 0.86
ESP Granada 0.81
DEU Stuttgart 0.8
ENG Queens Park Rangers 0.76
ENG Leicester 0.68
ESP Cordoba 0.67
Looks to me like the European relegation candidates scrap at least as hard for points as those in the Premier League.
As it's all about qualifying for it I'm surprised Liverpool and Spurs didn't take it more seriously
We know that the basic deal for Charlton is £3m, Katrien confirmed that on the programme. However several championship clubs get as much as five times as much, in parachute payments. But in the Bundesliga, the relative gap between The second and top tier in terms of TV money will be much smaller, that much is clear. And for me, that's a good thing and key to the good health of the German game.
I believe Burnley have taken 40% of their points against the top 7 teams.
In that time, some British teams can play 4/5 times.
The weather point is a bit over the top as well ( I thought it was me that over reacts?). How many Premier League games in the last few years have been called off due to weather or safety reasons? I can only think of Sunderland when it was windy.
Also I don't see a problem in clubs going overseas in that time, if the players are being rested better than they would in a busy Xmas schedule. The reason it back fired on city is because they did it right after a league game and before an FA Cup tie.
I agree it comes down to money tho and the TV companies have got the premier league by the nuts.
A better measure would be how many points those clubs aiming for UCL qualification have dropped against the bottom half of their own division, I guess versus potential points?
Either way this is a good discussion over the relative merits of how the different leagues are managed. There are probably several contributing factors to the English clubs' current malaise, but I do think the current structure of the EPL/FL and the financial chasm between them does mean the top EPL clubs cannot take any game for granted as it means the bottom sides (ie the other 14 teams) are desperate to stay up at any cost. Makes for great matches domestically but my opinion is that those clubs competing abroad suffer. The Europa League's carrot of a CL spot doesn't appear to have stopped Tottenham or Liverpool from diverting resources from home to compete seriously abroad.
It's a break from competitive football not football all together.
Of course Joe Gomez has proven that he's been a potential talent for years but Bob Peeters and Guy Luzon could easily have taken the cowards route and could have though... 17-years old as a Defender, too soon to be thrown in, I'll go for 25-year old who has played over 100-appearances at club level on the continent, instead they didnt and Joe Gomez has proven that he should be in the First-Team and that 25-year old could easily have been an expensive flop whereas we've filled a position in our squad for nothing.
Overall one way to help the English game is to limit the loan market, teams are currently dictated too, stating that only a certain number can be brought into a club whilst there seems to be no rules that state how many players a club can loan out (i.e. Chelsea the perfect example), maybe if you limit the number that can go outwards, clubs like Chelsea wont be so eager to snap up players and then discard them for nothing a few months later
Best league in the world, haha.
Especially when you have pictures of Liam Ridgewell wiping his arse with a £50 note. The average single persons old age pension for the last decade has been £92 per week.
I have never subscribed to Sky Television and never will, I will either go to the pub, or search for a pirate stream if I want to watch these brilliantly talented arseholes play football.
I have also discovered how enjoyable it has been to go to non league football this season. £4 to get in, easy to get in, a laugh as well, reasonable football, nice atmosphere, these factors compensate for missing out on seeing better players and not lining Liam Ridgewell's underpants.
If we go up I would use the money to battern down the infrastructure at Charlton, pay off the debts, get the structure right, keep the prices low, and take the relegation hit. I would not throw money away on players, but use the parachute money to stabalise the club.
However, on the foreign players point. It has been shown the percentage of foreigners playing in the PL has no impact on the performance of the England team. As many people can argue this as they like but you just have to look at our performance in tournaments and the win percentage since the start of the PL. Arguably our most talented England side came around 9 years after the start of the PL. The number of foreign players isn't the problem, it's the ability of our own English players that is and for that you have to look at the setup of youth football.