Is this the most depressing season in English football?

[king canary 7,678]

Hyperbole obviously but...

The 'big six' have morphed into the 'big three' with City, Liverpool and Chelsea winning the league and dominating the cups. Chelsea and City have both spent £100m on an individual player who hasn't actually done much but will likely just be able to shrug it off. The remaining three of the 'big six' are generally a bit **** but still good enough to likely fill 4th down to 6th. The closest we've come to a shock was when it looked like West Ham might sneak the top 4 but that seems to have fallen away.

Further down the league two of the newly promoted teams are likely going straight back down and likely to be replaced with two teams still riding the parachute payment train. Everton being in the thick of the relegation fight has probably been the most unexpected event in the league.

I know it isn't news to anyone but football at the top level just seems totally ****ed at this point.

[CrankyCanary 32]

21 minutes ago, king canary said:

Hyperbole obviously but...

The 'big six' have morphed into the 'big three' with City, Liverpool and Chelsea winning the league and dominating the cups. Chelsea and City have both spent £100m on an individual player who hasn't actually done much but will likely just be able to shrug it off. The remaining three of the 'big six' are generally a bit **** but still good enough to likely fill 4th down to 6th. The closest we've come to a shock was when it looked like West Ham might sneak the top 4 but that seems to have fallen away.

Further down the league two of the newly promoted teams are likely going straight back down and likely to be replaced with two teams still riding the parachute payment train. Everton being in the thick of the relegation fight has probably been the most unexpected event in the league.

I know it isn't news to anyone but football at the top level just seems totally ****ed at this point.

It's been totally ****** for a long time. With the superleague I see an eventual scenario and structure similar to the Pro 14 (now United Rugby Championship) in Rugby Union.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,800]

At least Ipswich are consigned to another season in division 3

4 consecutive seasons in the lower leagues now makes them part of furniture

 

[Norfolk Dan 308]

11 minutes ago, GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary said:

At least Ipswich are consigned to another season in division 3

4 consecutive seasons in the lower leagues now makes them part of furniture

 

I think you get a new star for 4 seasons in the same league! 

[Mason 47 1,403]

It may be general Norwich-related disillusionment but I can't disagree.

Though it is the differences between teams that make football what it is, we've gotten to a point where a select few are nigh unstoppable, completely removed from the realms we play in. Man City especially could probably field 2 teams and both finish in the top 3.

I think something like the Super League is inevitable eventually, as the few at the top require an even bigger slice of the pie to continue inflating wages up into the 5, 6, 700k p/w reaches. I could see the rest reforming into a North/ South split league system, maybe integrating Scotland. Football is now a global market and that market does not care about QPR v Reading.

[Newtopia 519]

5 hours ago, king canary said:

Hyperbole obviously but...

The 'big six' have morphed into the 'big three' with City, Liverpool and Chelsea winning the league and dominating the cups. Chelsea and City have both spent £100m on an individual player who hasn't actually done much but will likely just be able to shrug it off. The remaining three of the 'big six' are generally a bit **** but still good enough to likely fill 4th down to 6th. The closest we've come to a shock was when it looked like West Ham might sneak the top 4 but that seems to have fallen away.

Further down the league two of the newly promoted teams are likely going straight back down and likely to be replaced with two teams still riding the parachute payment train. Everton being in the thick of the relegation fight has probably been the most unexpected event in the league.

I know it isn't news to anyone but football at the top level just seems totally ****ed at this point.

Totally agree, the days where England had the most competitive league system are truly  behind us.   
 

I went over the US recently and watched some Basketball, a really enjoyable experience, the draft picks mean that the best players are spread across all the teams, in a way which improves the weakest, and even the weakest sides had won a quarter of their games in the season.  You come back to England and it is so depressing watching the same sides win everything, and it is has got to a stage where it is a major shock if a top six side draws away from home to a mid table side.  Then the gap in quality and financial resources between the premiership sides and the rest of the leagues is huge. 
 

To make things worse our sport is separating itself from the fans, a ‘season’ ticket for the NBA channel is $89 for the season, and a fan can watch every game on TV, that is much more accessible for everyone.  Rant over, just think it is a shame that the money has changed the sport.

[king canary 7,678]

Would also add that the Newcastle blood money injection in January has taken them to comfortable safety, another crappy bullet point for this season.

[shaunieboy77 73]

So boring and slow to watch. The constant ' to me to you' passing from one defender to another and back to the keeper who eventually lumps it forward anyway .

[canarydan23 4,060]

If I lived somewhere that I could walk to a Wroxham or team like that, I genuinely think I'd have turned my back on professional football. It's an absolute joke of a sport. If it can even be called a sport nowadays.

[Capt. Pants 4,278]

All the leagues are far too big with a relatively small number of teams actually having anything to play for.

UEFA  are having far to much influence in the number of games to be played and it will get worse if the Champions League is extended.

I would like to see a European Super League as that will dilute anything UEFA has and will subsequently impact the top European leagues making them more competitive.

Smaller leagues, more teams promoted and relegated, play offs for relegation would spice it up.

[Disco Dales Jockstrap 1,898]

12 hours ago, king canary said:

Hyperbole obviously but...

The 'big six' have morphed into the 'big three' with City, Liverpool and Chelsea winning the league and dominating the cups. Chelsea and City have both spent £100m on an individual player who hasn't actually done much but will likely just be able to shrug it off. The remaining three of the 'big six' are generally a bit **** but still good enough to likely fill 4th down to 6th. The closest we've come to a shock was when it looked like West Ham might sneak the top 4 but that seems to have fallen away.

Further down the league two of the newly promoted teams are likely going straight back down and likely to be replaced with two teams still riding the parachute payment train. Everton being in the thick of the relegation fight has probably been the most unexpected event in the league.

I know it isn't news to anyone but football at the top level just seems totally ****ed at this point.

I hear your pain King Canary.

But hasn't it pretty much always been as such? In the late 90s, it was Man Utd/Arsenal at the top, then Man Utd/Chelsea, then Man Utd/Chelsea/Man City and now Man City/Liverpool. I have no doubt in 5-10 years it will be Newcastle/Man City. There's normally been two stand out teams that dominate the league for a period before someone with even more cash usurps one of them. The amount of money in the league has increased massively but more of it's gone to those top six so further entrenching their position. Money talks! The top four is the top four for a reason:

Other than Leicester in 2016, you have to go back to 2005 before you find a team not in the 'big six' who have made it into the Champion's league. The top of the league has been a closed shop for a long time.

As for relegation, again, it's been pretty common for a while for 1 or 2 of the newly relegated team to go straight back down - especially if one of them is called Norwich... 😢 

Is is boring and quite predictable? Yes. Is it going to get any better? No.

I'm hoping the Crouch report will mix things up a bit but I'm still not convinced even that will make much of a dent. UEFA are a waste of time as the big clubs dominate the agenda and UEFA don't want to p1ss them off as they'll f*ck off and make a Super League if they don't get an ever bigger piece of the pie. The new 70% wages/revenue cap will just further ingrain the top teams positions and hit the 'middley' teams the hardest - hence why the top teams have agreed to it.

I was actually in favour of the Super League as I wanted the top six to s0d off so the rest of the league would become competitive again. I don't really care what they do when they go - they can have all the money in the universe but once they are out of the league structure they can stay out forever. At some point they would come crawling back; I'd tell them to go do one. No doubt money would talk again. Sigh.

OTBC

 

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,861]

20 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

All the leagues are far too big with a relatively small number of teams actually having anything to play for.

UEFA  are having far to much influence in the number of games to be played and it will get worse if the Champions League is extended.

I would like to see a European Super League as that will dilute anything UEFA has and will subsequently impact the top European leagues making them more competitive.

Smaller leagues, more teams promoted and relegated, play offs for relegation would spice it up.

We are likely to see smaller leagues in the coming years anyway, mainly stemming from the expanded Champions League from 2024.

The Bundesliga has been 18 teams since the 60s, next season is the final season of 20 teams in France before it drops to 18 and there are discussions in Italy about doing the same. It'll probably be a matter of time before the Premier League and La Liga consider it.

[CrankyCanary 32]

13 hours ago, king canary said:

Hyperbole obviously but...

The 'big six' have morphed into the 'big three' with City, Liverpool and Chelsea winning the league and dominating the cups. Chelsea and City have both spent £100m on an individual player who hasn't actually done much but will likely just be able to shrug it off. The remaining three of the 'big six' are generally a bit **** but still good enough to likely fill 4th down to 6th. The closest we've come to a shock was when it looked like West Ham might sneak the top 4 but that seems to have fallen away.

Further down the league two of the newly promoted teams are likely going straight back down and likely to be replaced with two teams still riding the parachute payment train. Everton being in the thick of the relegation fight has probably been the most unexpected event in the league.

I know it isn't news to anyone but football at the top level just seems totally ****ed at this point.

Could be worse. We could be hypothetical premier league Luton next season. That team if they went up I could easily see beating Darbylona's points total. 

[king canary 7,678]

15 minutes ago, Disco Dales Jockstrap said:

I hear your pain King Canary.

But hasn't it pretty much always been as such? In the late 90s, it was Man Utd/Arsenal at the top, then Man Utd/Chelsea, then Man Utd/Chelsea/Man City and now Man City/Liverpool. I have no doubt in 5-10 years it will be Newcastle/Man City. There's normally been two stand out teams that dominate the league for a period before someone with even more cash usurps one of them. The amount of money in the league has increased massively but more of it's gone to those top six so further entrenching their position. Money talks! The top four is the top four for a reason:

Other than Leicester in 2016, you have to go back to 2005 before you find a team not in the 'big six' who have made it into the Champion's league. The top of the league has been a closed shop for a long time.

As for relegation, again, it's been pretty common for a while for 1 or 2 of the newly relegated team to go straight back down - especially if one of them is called Norwich... 😢 

Is is boring and quite predictable? Yes. Is it going to get any better? No.

I'm hoping the Crouch report will mix things up a bit but I'm still not convinced even that will make much of a dent. UEFA are a waste of time as the big clubs dominate the agenda and UEFA don't want to p1ss them off as they'll f*ck off and make a Super League if they don't get an ever bigger piece of the pie. The new 70% wages/revenue cap will just further ingrain the top teams positions and hit the 'middley' teams the hardest - hence why the top teams have agreed to it.

I was actually in favour of the Super League as I wanted the top six to s0d off so the rest of the league would become competitive again. I don't really care what they do when they go - they can have all the money in the universe but once they are out of the league structure they can stay out forever. At some point they would come crawling back; I'd tell them to go do one. No doubt money would talk again. Sigh.

OTBC

 

Yes that is probably true but it does feel more pronounced this year. I think it's the cup finals that have really bought it home- over the last few years we've at least had teams like Leicester, Palace, Hull and Watford in the FA Cup final. This season the top 3 teams have dominated all competitions, often while playing reserves which really sucks. I don't know how anyone outside of their own fan bases can get excited for Liverpool v Chelsea for the 4th time this season in the Cup final.

[hogesar 9,751]

16 minutes ago, king canary said:

Yes that is probably true but it does feel more pronounced this year. I think it's the cup finals that have really bought it home- over the last few years we've at least had teams like Leicester, Palace, Hull and Watford in the FA Cup final. This season the top 3 teams have dominated all competitions, often while playing reserves which really sucks. I don't know how anyone outside of their own fan bases can get excited for Liverpool v Chelsea for the 4th time this season in the Cup final.

I agree its the cups that have made it feel that much worse. Making 7 or 8 changes and still making cup finals because as you say, they have 100m player who doesn't even start in the big games for them.

[king canary 7,678]

Just now, hogesar said:

I agree its the cups that have made it feel that much worse. Making 7 or 8 changes and still making cup finals because as you say, they have 100m player who doesn't even start in the big games for them.

It is kind of crazy that Grealish has had less minutes this season that Foden, Silva, Rodri etc and it barely gets mentioned despite him costing £100m.

[Disco Dales Jockstrap 1,898]

23 minutes ago, king canary said:

Yes that is probably true but it does feel more pronounced this year. I think it's the cup finals that have really bought it home- over the last few years we've at least had teams like Leicester, Palace, Hull and Watford in the FA Cup final. This season the top 3 teams have dominated all competitions, often while playing reserves which really sucks. I don't know how anyone outside of their own fan bases can get excited for Liverpool v Chelsea for the 4th time this season in the Cup final.

The fact the 'quadruple' (FFS!) seems to get mentioned more and more often every year is testament to this.

OTBC

[Worthy Nigelton 1,066]

The game has been slowly rotting for years but this year seems different and maybe it has finally gone over the edge and this is the start of a reset. The Super League, Mendy, Zouma, Newcastle, the continued monopoly of the elite clubs, it just feels like such a pointless game nowadays and more and more people are starting to question if it's worth it and if they even enjoy it.

The Super League would have been the best thing to happen to the domestic game for the fans. Let those clubs go off and do what they want and let the rest of us actually enjoy the game again.

[KiwiScot 1,461]

Bi-annual world cups have still not gone away and this season doesn't have a world cup for reasons as it was bought then told it was to be during next season.

[Monty13 2,252]

12 hours ago, Mason 47 said:

It may be general Norwich-related disillusionment but I can't disagree.

Though it is the differences between teams that make football what it is, we've gotten to a point where a select few are nigh unstoppable, completely removed from the realms we play in. Man City especially could probably field 2 teams and both finish in the top 3.

I think something like the Super League is inevitable eventually, as the few at the top require an even bigger slice of the pie to continue inflating wages up into the 5, 6, 700k p/w reaches. I could see the rest reforming into a North/ South split league system, maybe integrating Scotland. Football is now a global market and that market does not care about QPR v Reading.

I think most supporters in most countries would be up for the super league idea if it meant those teams left domestic leagues. Problem is virtually no one with any power wants that. 

[Newtopia 519]

I genuinely think a super league (franchise system) would be good with grass root and traditional leagues below that, as Monty says if you are one of the currently successful clubs, why would you vote for that.  

Chelsea have around 30% more fans at their home games than we do, yet their income / revenue if many multiples higher, around 5 times, although I did not find a clear figure.

[dylanisabaddog 4,989]

5 hours ago, canarydan23 said:

If I lived somewhere that I could walk to a Wroxham or team like that, I genuinely think I'd have turned my back on professional football. It's an absolute joke of a sport. If it can even be called a sport nowadays.

I'm about to walk to the Mulbarton ground to watch their last home game of the season. I've got so hooked that I'll be driving to Thetford on Saturday for the last game of the league season. I've had a Covid break from Carrow Road but I'm back in August for my 53rd season. I'm already doubting my decision. I would strongly recommend anyone to take the opportunity to watch Thurlow Nunn football in Norfolk, or Dereham in the league above. It really is very good. If you want to see what it's like come to see the Norfolk Senior Cup final at Carrow Road between Dereham and Mulbarton on 23 May. 

All the things that @king canaryhas said resonate with me but the one thing that really turned my stomach was the sight of Geordies celebrating a murderous regime buying their football club. That was the day that professional football in this country finally died for me. 

Edited April 18, 2022 by dylanisabaddog

[Newtopia 519]

25 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

 

All the things that @king canaryhas said resonate with me but the one thing that really turned my stomach was the sight of Geordies celebrating a murderous regime buying their football club. That was the day that professional football in this country finally died for me. 

Sadly I think a lot of our supporters would have welcomed them in as well.

[Newtopia 519]

26 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

 

All the things that @king canaryhas said resonate with me but the one thing that really turned my stomach was the sight of Geordies celebrating a murderous regime buying their football club. That was the day that professional football in this country finally died for me. 

Sadly I think a lot of our supporters would have welcomed them in as well.

[Capt. Pants 4,278]

2 minutes ago, Newtopia said:

Sadly I think a lot of our supporters would have welcomed them in as well.

As would most supporters from other clubs.

Hypocrisy reigns I'm afraid.

The same NCFC supporters who were against it would have happily taken dirty Saudi money off Newcastle for Cantwell.

[C.I.D 308]

3 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

As would most supporters from other clubs.

Hypocrisy reigns I'm afraid.

The same NCFC supporters who were against it would have happily taken dirty Saudi money off Newcastle for Cantwell.

Hmmm........he could well be only worth Monopoly ere long 😔

[Capt. Pants 4,278]

2 minutes ago, C.I.D said:

Hmmm........he could well be only worth Monopoly ere long 😔

Yeah sadly you're right, but at the time of the January transfer window some very optimistic transfer values were being talked about.

Now we're probably talking about a nominal fee to a Championship club, unless there's a lot of 'forgive and forget' from club, player and supporters.

[Newtopia 519]

1 hour ago, Capt. Pants said:

Yeah sadly you're right, but at the time of the January transfer window some very optimistic transfer values were being talked about.

Now we're probably talking about a nominal fee to a Championship club, unless there's a lot of 'forgive and forget' from club, player and supporters.

If Todd came back in the right mindset I suspect we would all accept him, but he would need to sign a new and realistic contract.  Whether those things can come together is the tricky bit.

[First Wazzock 904]

The last biggest shock was Leicester winning the title - it wont happen again.

[Worthy Nigelton 1,066]

34 minutes ago, First Wazzock said:

The last biggest shock was Leicester winning the title - it wont happen again.

This will be the last shock in English football ever.

Newcastle as champions in 27/28 won't be a shock.