Stuff the Prem.

[atypical_boro]

I think we've been in the top half 13 times in 120 years!

I’d say we competed for a place in the top ten in the majority of that 11 year spell in the PL from 98-09. We finished in it twice, and in most of the other seasons we spent a bit of time in it and fell away to around 11th-14th.

Pretty sure you knew what I meant but I’ve just grown to live with your pedantry about most of what I post.

 

[FabioPorkpie]

Robson era aside, I prefer the promotion season to the actual premiership season. I’m actually fairly ok with being a yo yo club, with the odd decent cup run. Best seasons I’ve experienced as a fan have always been the promotion ones. Just because I don’t like the premier league, doesn’t mean I can’t fully enjoy a season trying to get there. The journey is better than the prize when it comes to the premier league, for me. The thrill of the chase is often better than the catch. The foreplay better than the sex etc

Football is about more than just the quality on display. If it wasn’t, there would be no fans for league 1 and 2 sides. As it is, I’d follow Boro with as much interest if we were in league 1 or 2 as I do in the top 2 leagues. It’s more than just about the quality on display, really. Besides, given that it’s all relative, lower league sides can still play some lovely entertaining football.

 

[Laughing]

The prem is a dire league where a huge proportion of the players are operating a strategy not to loose. It's bloody awful. Leeds early doors were a breath of fresh air. The other mid to lower placed teams are crap to watch and stiffle the better teams because the gulf in abilities is so large.

It's an awful advert for the game and has been for years.

 

[Humpty]

The Championship is ****. The standard of football is poor and you don't often see good quality games. That's not the case in the Premier League. VAR is awful, I'll give you that but I'm taking the Premier League every day of the week over the Championship.

 

[Nosmo-King]

We need the Prem, our only hope of making a dent in our considerable debt. Look at the Championship- the 3 relegated clubs in the top 6 with 2 in the top 2. Hardly a level playing field.

 

[TeaCider]

The Championship is more interesting, but it goes without saying that the games in the Premier League are much better quality.

As it should be too, given it's the top flight.

 

[Jedi boro]

As boro fans we more than others love the thrill of the chase, be that fighting for promotion or even Europe or avoiding the drop that is what football is to us as it’s what we have generally done these last few decades.

rarely have we had seasons of mid table obscurity where it’s all over bar the shouting in March. It just doesn’t really feel right for me we are not a settling side never have been.

 

[changingman]

Find myself watching less and less EPL matches these days. Will generally watch the "big" games (Liverpool v City, Utd v City) etc but I do think we're suffering from over saturation currently with every match live on TV.

I've started watching much more European football recently, standard of play is (generally) better than EPL which is dominated by pace/power these days versus skill and there's some excellent endings to some seasons coming up. France looks nicely balanced at the top, as does Spain. I'm also hoping Bayern completely balls it up but looking unlikely.

The only football I religiously follow these days (other than Boro) is the Champions League.

 

[allied_assault]

The gulf is huge , I have just watched Brighton v Everton and was bored stiff , and so was the sky pundit .
The top 12 are miles in front , Leeds , Villa , Everton , Wolves trying to get in , and the odd one may , with Leicester and WHU doing well by buying well .
I would take a promotion though , it gives you a lift , and provides the financial security for a few years.
Leeds have proved you can go up and stay up with good acquisitions .

So did Sheff Utd

 

[Andythetouch]

We are a championship club now I'm afraid, but the Championship is a great league with some massive clubs in it.

The best we can hope for now is the odd season in the prem, but we simply don't have the finances to be competitive in the premier league anymore.

The Premier league is now only for the super rich clubs, even bottoms half teams are paying up to £100k a week for players. I could see Gibson maybe pushing the boat out for the odd player on that salary but to be competitive you need a core players of that caliber who would demand that kind of salary.

Our record signing is £15m that doesn't even get you better quality players in the championship anymore, so could we really afford to spend £20 to £30 million on a player and pay him over £100k a week, i can't see it.

 

[Erimus74]

We need the Prem, our only hope of making a dent in our considerable debt. Look at the Championship- the 3 relegated clubs in the top 6 with 2 in the top 2. Hardly a level playing field.

I agree Nosmo-king, the only reason I'd like to see us in the PL is financial, as you say we can operate a bit more freely with money in the bank

 

[Cuthbert]

It's like saying you wouldn't want to go out with a supermodel because she takes too long to get ready.

I reckon it's more like saying you'd rather go out with a Boro lass because she's more down to earth... whereas in reality most people wouldn't mind having a go at porking a supermodel !!

 

[Billy69_uk]

I really find it hard to get enthusiastic about the premier league.

The sooner the top 4 or 5 disappear off to play in some sort of Europe super league, the better as far as I am concerned. The financial imbalance in the game today is what will ultimately lead to its downfall. More and more clubs will go the the wall, and some of that will be entirely self inflicted in the all encompassing race for champions league money.

Let them slope off and take whatever money goes with them, and leave the rest of football working out where the sustainable level is.

 

[Chris_Boro]

Despite my dislike for the Premier League as an entity, I would still prefer Boro to be in it.

 

[Humpty]

Despite my dislike for the Premier League as an entity, I would still prefer Boro to be in it.

I think anyone that says otherwise is a liar.

 

[Dham]

Robson era aside, I prefer the promotion season to the actual premiership season. I’m actually fairly ok with being a yo yo club, with the odd decent cup run. Best seasons I’ve experienced as a fan have always been the promotion ones. Just because I don’t like the premier league, doesn’t mean I can’t fully enjoy a season trying to get there. The journey is better than the prize when it comes to the premier league, for me. The thrill of the chase is often better than the catch. The foreplay better than the sex etc

Football is about more than just the quality on display. If it wasn’t, there would be no fans for league 1 and 2 sides. As it is, I’d follow Boro with as much interest if we were in league 1 or 2 as I do in the top 2 leagues. It’s more than just about the quality on display, really. Besides, given that it’s all relative, lower league sides can still play some lovely entertaining football.

I think you've summed-up what I was trying to say much better than I did. I agree with all of this, even the bit about foreplay but that might be an age thing.

 

[dooderooni]

From the comments above it is apparent that we need to improve off the pitch to improve on it. We can't financially buy success any more and we've seen very poor returns on the investments we have made. We need to look at our talent spotting and talent development so that we can be competitive on the pitch and then hopefully raise funds by selling players for good money. If we can get into that sort of cycle and keep improving it then we might have a shot at promotion in a few years.

 

[tripleheader]

From the comments above it is apparent that we need to improve off the pitch to improve on it. We can't financially buy success any more and we've seen very poor returns on the investments we have made. We need to look at our talent spotting and talent development so that we can be competitive on the pitch and then hopefully raise funds by selling players for good money. If we can get into that sort of cycle and keep improving it then we might have a shot at promotion in a few years.

Exactly, and these means giving the youngsters we have a chance. Unless of course we don't have any with any sort of ability.... I remember when Tav Wing and Coulson were introduced in the cup games a few seasons back . They didn't look out of place at all, surely it time to expose a few.

 

[atypical_boro]

Despite my dislike for the Premier League as an entity, I would still prefer Boro to be in it.

I think that's fair but I genuinely can absolutely do without VAR in my life until it has been reworked into something that actually improves the game in an entertainment sense.

 

[jonny_greenings_sock]

I hate the Championship. Find it a proper chore to watch unless we’re gunning for top 2. The football is awful to watch, average players churning between clubs, very little to get excited about other than its unpredictability. I hate us playing in this league.

Premier League is the main event and you want to be part of that soap opera. I watch about three games a week as a neutral and never miss the highlights.

That the Premier League is predictable is such a myth. Liverpool are 6th after being the best team in Europe for the last two years. Manchester United fell out of the Champions League for a few seasons. Southampton, Spurs and Everton have been top this season and Sheff United nearly made Europe last season. Leicester obvious example but since the miracle win, they’ve gone from escaping relegation on the last day to consistently gatecrashing the top 4.

The power balance changes all the time - in short term cycles you can say yeah, City and Liverpool have been the best two teams for the last few years, but four years before that it was totally different, and four years before that it was totally different again. It’s a cycle. The big two of 20 years ago (United and Arsenal) became the big 3, then the big 4, then a different big 4, then a big 6, and now its a big 6 plus Leicester and West Ham.

There’s no other top league in Europe which is anywhere near as competitive across the board as the Premier League. I’ll tell you right now who’s going to win the league in Germany, France and Holland next year, and will give you the top 2 for Spain, Italy and Scotland. Just because there’s a couple of Burnleys and Newcastles who play turgid, safety-first football, it’s still the most exciting league there is - which is why it’s the richest and most watched worldwide.

I can’t wait for us to get back up there.