What's to look forward to in the Championship?

[Guest LucaAltieri]

I won't miss the Premiership with its plastic stadiums, soulless atmospheres, overpriced tickets, restricting kick-off times, poor to average football, negative and samey-samey tactics and its utter dull and monotonous egos and issues. Having resigned myself to relegation a long time ago, I am actually looking forward to the Championship. What is painful is the wait in between, seeing my club being represented by a bunch of overpaid, wretched and utter contemptible c***s of the highest order on the pitch and in the board room and sadly sometimes on the stands while the opposition roll us over with ease. It isn't a case of what to look forward to in the Championship but what to miss in the Premier League and honestly my only interest in this god forsaken league is only tied to my club being in it, otherwise I'd give it a wide birth. Bring on the Championship and proper football, with proper fans, stadiums and good away days. I'm a football fan, get me out of here. Please. I know this will get me stick but I'm not arsed whether we stay up or go down as of this moment in time. I'm here for my club and the football and what league that happens to be in, what package, is irrelevant to my needs as a fan. Obviously the club itself needs Premier League football, as does our finances and our sponsors etc. but do I as a Toon fan and a football lover really need the Premier League? Do I f*** and I resent the likes of Sky, the media and fellow fans being so adamant that I do. If anything the Premier League needs Newcastle United and me more. Get some backbone people, once down there you'll probably feel more alive as a Toon and football fan than you have done all season. I can't f***ing wait to be honest. I've been to 4 away games this season, already I've pencilled in at least double that next season, me and a number of lads.

 

Aye, lets all pretend we don't want to play in the top division anyway... the real football is in the lower leagues.

 

The club needs to play in the top division but its not something that I as a fan need to satisfy me. What satisfies me with regards to my football and my club is watching honest, hard working players who don't necessarily need any outstanding ability representing my club with pride and commitment come whatever. As far as football itself goes I am rapidly losing interest in the game from a top-flight perspective. I went to Spurs a few weeks back, a ground I hadn't been to in a few years so I was initially really looking forward to it, but nothing had really changed. I didn't enjoy the experience of forking out all that money for a ticket in a soulless ground against opposition who although beat us, in a football context, were equally shit and knowing of their place in British football. It was only a brilliant 3 days in the Capital outside of the match that saved the trip for me, seeing my sister for the first time in months the highlight.

 

Everything about the top-flight is monotonous and soulless and the actual football is increasingly average. Ironically I find it a bit like our nation's capital which I visit regularly now due to work and wor sis and the bairn living there. At first I couldn't stand the place but visiting regularly you get to put up with it and sometimes even enjoy it. But would I live there? Would I fuck. In short its not what its cracked up to be and the more you get to spend in the place the more you itch for a return home. The championship is not home to a club of Newcastle's statue but is the closest I'll ever get to home as a football fan in terms of experiences.

 

Your Anfields mean nowt to me today. Ridiculous prices. Poor football. Inevitable defeat. Dumbed down home fans.

 

That is the mantra at nearly every ground these days, including St. James' Park.

 

Maybe its just me, but I'm sick of the Premier League and everything that it stands for. I'm under no illusions regarding the Championship. I'm not one that thinks we'd piss it or that the football will be quality affair but in terms of getting down there, getting around the grounds, watching teams like Doncaster Rovers at St. James' Park and meeting a new breed or rather an old breed of fans fills me with genuine excitement to the extent that I'm looking forward to next season.

 

Of course I don't want Newcastle to go down and hope we do stay up, but only because I know what impact that will have on the club, the city and most of all my fellow fans. It will be a devastating experience and a tragic event in our club's history but I'll be damned if I'll be marked by it or allow it to put me off in any context, something the Premier league does with every passing game and every passing campaign or visit to your Spurs or a visit to SJP from a Liverpool. And that's regardless of what kind of form we are in or where we are in the league.

 

I've been feeling this way as long ago as the season we finished 5th. I was appalled at the sense of loss missing out on 4th seemed to hit us and equally appalled by the way the media made 4th out to be the be all and end all. I remember starting a thread on the old Howaythetoon board with the title "fuck 4th", well fuck relegation too. I'll be there next season AND SO WILL NEWCASTLE UNITED and SO WILL YOU!

 

Ironically chasing that bracket of the top-flight has lead to where we are today...

 

You make a good case against the Premiership, I don't doubt that... I'm just curious as to why you think any of it will be any different in the Championship. You seem to have grand notions about 2nd tier football. Maybe it's a nostalgia thing. I'm not old enough to be able to romanticise about the lower leagues. Personally I can't see why it would be anything other than a disaster for the club and fans.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

No more listening to the arsehole commentators (cheerleaders for the opposition, especially the top 4, would be a better description of them) Sky and Setanta have for Premiership matches.

 

Do you think we'd become Sky and Setanta's favoured team in the Championship or do you think we'd still be the 'baddie' who they wanted to see beaten every week?

[chicago_shearer]

The activation of relegation release clauses on some of the jokers at the club and getting rid of some of the players we would otherwise struggle to get rid of.  Seeing some of these promising young players in the first team (assuming we can retain them).  That is about it.

 

The Championship is a less lucrative version of the Premiership, not a magic time portal back to a romanticized version of the 1970s.  I hope relegation is a nice, temporary nostalgic trip to quaint, lower league sides, we earn 100+ points and bounce back in 12 months.  But the financial structure of the club is based on that Sky money, those plastic grounds, expensive tickets and dirty foreigners.  And this is the worst possible environment for a business to lose half its revenue.  There really isn't a realistic bright side.  I would also imagine that the novelty of playing the likes of Doncaster wears off fairly quickly and that the football is just as if not more atrocious than playing Hull or Stoke. 

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I won't miss the Premiership with its plastic stadiums, soulless atmospheres, overpriced tickets, restricting kick-off times, poor to average football, negative and samey-samey tactics and its utter dull and monotonous egos and issues. Having resigned myself to relegation a long time ago, I am actually looking forward to the Championship. What is painful is the wait in between, seeing my club being represented by a bunch of overpaid, wretched and utter contemptible c***s of the highest order on the pitch and in the board room and sadly sometimes on the stands while the opposition roll us over with ease. It isn't a case of what to look forward to in the Championship but what to miss in the Premier League and honestly my only interest in this god forsaken league is only tied to my club being in it, otherwise I'd give it a wide birth. Bring on the Championship and proper football, with proper fans, stadiums and good away days. I'm a football fan, get me out of here. Please. I know this will get me stick but I'm not arsed whether we stay up or go down as of this moment in time. I'm here for my club and the football and what league that happens to be in, what package, is irrelevant to my needs as a fan. Obviously the club itself needs Premier League football, as does our finances and our sponsors etc. but do I as a Toon fan and a football lover really need the Premier League? Do I f*** and I resent the likes of Sky, the media and fellow fans being so adamant that I do. If anything the Premier League needs Newcastle United and me more. Get some backbone people, once down there you'll probably feel more alive as a Toon and football fan than you have done all season. I can't f***ing wait to be honest. I've been to 4 away games this season, already I've pencilled in at least double that next season, me and a number of lads.

 

Wonder if Leeds, Norwich, Southampton and Charlton fans felt the same when they left the Prem?

 

Obviously we're much bigger than them and it shouldn't happen to us, but careful what you wish for.

 

I can't speak for others but you can hate the position your club is in but still enjoy the football and experiences. Obviously if you're going down another league and in administration it can't be anything but devastating and I only hope we can have a good season in the Championship and not a bad one. Then I might feel different. As things stand however I'm contemplating next season with a certain degree of excitement and hope. I'm scanning that table and looking at the likes of Plymouth as potential great days away.

[colinmk]

I am actually really looking forward to getting rid of most of this squad too. I have never witnessed such a disgraceful bunch who really give nothing, have no team spirit whatsoever and absolutely no bollocks between them. No wonder Given wanted out, even the good ones will struggle in such a poisonous atmosphere and at least relegation finally forces our hand in getting rid of most of these. That's the real positive for me and if we stay up I hope it still happens.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I won't miss the Premiership with its plastic stadiums, soulless atmospheres, overpriced tickets, restricting kick-off times, poor to average football, negative and samey-samey tactics and its utter dull and monotonous egos and issues. Having resigned myself to relegation a long time ago, I am actually looking forward to the Championship. What is painful is the wait in between, seeing my club being represented by a bunch of overpaid, wretched and utter contemptible c***s of the highest order on the pitch and in the board room and sadly sometimes on the stands while the opposition roll us over with ease. It isn't a case of what to look forward to in the Championship but what to miss in the Premier League and honestly my only interest in this god forsaken league is only tied to my club being in it, otherwise I'd give it a wide birth. Bring on the Championship and proper football, with proper fans, stadiums and good away days. I'm a football fan, get me out of here. Please. I know this will get me stick but I'm not arsed whether we stay up or go down as of this moment in time. I'm here for my club and the football and what league that happens to be in, what package, is irrelevant to my needs as a fan. Obviously the club itself needs Premier League football, as does our finances and our sponsors etc. but do I as a Toon fan and a football lover really need the Premier League? Do I f*** and I resent the likes of Sky, the media and fellow fans being so adamant that I do. If anything the Premier League needs Newcastle United and me more. Get some backbone people, once down there you'll probably feel more alive as a Toon and football fan than you have done all season. I can't f***ing wait to be honest. I've been to 4 away games this season, already I've pencilled in at least double that next season, me and a number of lads.

 

Aye, lets all pretend we don't want to play in the top division anyway... the real football is in the lower leagues.

 

The club needs to play in the top division but its not something that I as a fan need to satisfy me. What satisfies me with regards to my football and my club is watching honest, hard working players who don't necessarily need any outstanding ability representing my club with pride and commitment come whatever. As far as football itself goes I am rapidly losing interest in the game from a top-flight perspective. I went to Spurs a few weeks back, a ground I hadn't been to in a few years so I was initially really looking forward to it, but nothing had really changed. I didn't enjoy the experience of forking out all that money for a ticket in a soulless ground against opposition who although beat us, in a football context, were equally s*** and knowing of their place in British football. It was only a brilliant 3 days in the Capital outside of the match that saved the trip for me, seeing my sister for the first time in months the highlight.

 

Everything about the top-flight is monotonous and soulless and the actual football is increasingly average. Ironically I find it a bit like our nation's capital which I visit regularly now due to work and wor sis and the bairn living there. At first I couldn't stand the place but visiting regularly you get to put up with it and sometimes even enjoy it. But would I live there? Would I f***. In short its not what its cracked up to be and the more you get to spend in the place the more you itch for a return home. The championship is not home to a club of Newcastle's statue but is the closest I'll ever get to home as a football fan in terms of experiences.

 

Your Anfields mean nowt to me today. Ridiculous prices. Poor football. Inevitable defeat. Dumbed down home fans.

 

That is the mantra at nearly every ground these days, including St. James' Park.

 

Maybe its just me, but I'm sick of the Premier League and everything that it stands for. I'm under no illusions regarding the Championship. I'm not one that thinks we'd piss it or that the football will be quality affair but in terms of getting down there, getting around the grounds, watching teams like Doncaster Rovers at St. James' Park and meeting a new breed or rather an old breed of fans fills me with genuine excitement to the extent that I'm looking forward to next season.

 

Of course I don't want Newcastle to go down and hope we do stay up, but only because I know what impact that will have on the club, the city and most of all my fellow fans. It will be a devastating experience and a tragic event in our club's history but I'll be damned if I'll be marked by it or allow it to put me off in any context, something the Premier league does with every passing game and every passing campaign or visit to your Spurs or a visit to SJP from a Liverpool. And that's regardless of what kind of form we are in or where we are in the league.

 

I've been feeling this way as long ago as the season we finished 5th. I was appalled at the sense of loss missing out on 4th seemed to hit us and equally appalled by the way the media made 4th out to be the be all and end all. I remember starting a thread on the old Howaythetoon board with the title "f*** 4th", well f*** relegation too. I'll be there next season AND SO WILL NEWCASTLE UNITED and SO WILL YOU!

 

Ironically chasing that bracket of the top-flight has lead to where we are today...

 

You make a good case against the Premiership, I don't doubt that... I'm just curious as to why you think any of it will be any different in the Championship. You seem to have grand notions about 2nd tier football. Maybe it's a nostalgia thing. I'm not old enough to be able to romanticise about the lower leagues. Personally I can't see why it would be anything other than a disaster for the club and fans.

 

It needn't be a disaster though. Whether we are in the Championship or the Premier League we'll be requiring the same things next season if we are to avert a disaster, namely a good manager, a good start and some good players. If that happens in the Championship the only disaster will be to our collective ego as a Premier League club. Me, I don't need that badge on the shirt arm to appease me or to define my club. Newcastle United is a fantastic club, the best in the world, one I'm eternally grateful I happen to support and I know we all share the same idea of our club regardless of what division. So we'll lose some money, some players. Big deal. I'd like to see the back of the vast majority of them anyway and no club has bought the Championship. Its a more level playing field and pretty much comes down to the players and football and with any luck we'll be fine. I'm far more confident of having a good season down there than having a good Premier League season as things stand.

 

I don't have any grande notions of Championship football either, I just see a league that to me represents a totally different world than the Premier league which I'm sick of and have been for a good while, everything about it. A world that is a more realistic and even one that for a fan like me who cares little for your Anfields, the pouting egos of Premier League "stars", endless stats, replays, hyperbole and coverage from your Skys and the whole Premier League package, will find truly liberating I know. A trip to Plymouth or Liverpool as a genuine football fan? I'll choose the former please. A shit season in the Premier League or a good one in the Championship? I'll have the latter please.

 

Having said all that if we stay up there will be tears of joy from yours truly because as a football club I know what it means to us. To me as a football fan though, its a mere status, a pin badge, one well worn.

[Guest Phil K]

Winning!

Not with the tossers who wear a black and white shirt at the minute.

[madras]

has anyone actually read HRT's  posts yet ?

 

 

I was tempted but life is too short

[Dave]

I quite like them (in this thread) tbf.

[madras]

I quite like them (in this thread) tbf.

i'll save them for

 

 

 

 

 

 

some other time.

[binnsy]

Blackpool away will be class!!  Along with that there's some cracking away trips,  hope Leeds get promoted, always good at Elland Road, we normally always win!!

[Yorkie]

I can understand the alleged 'advantages' of going down, but this assumption that we're going to be good is really pretty dangerous. Do you trust the cretins in charge to make the right decisions, re - which manager to appoint, re - how to deal with the squad exodus, re - how to deal with the income/match attendance decrease?

 

I bloody don't. If we go down i can see us scrapping it out in mid-table in the Championship. It's not a shite league like.

[Kaizero]

Tore Andre Flo scoring a hat-trick against us away at Stadium:MK sending us down to League 1.

[Dave]

I can understand the alleged 'advantages' of going down, but this assumption that we're going to be good is really pretty dangerous. Do you trust the cretins in charge to make the right decisions, re - which manager to appoint, re - how to deal with the squad exodus, re - how to deal with the income/match attendance decrease?

 

I bloody don't. If we go down i can see us scrapping it out in mid-table in the Championship. It's not a shite league like.

 

Not sure anyone's assuming it to be fair. They're hoping it to be the case.

[madras]

Tore Andre Flo scoring a hat-trick against us away at Stadium:MK sending us down to League 1.

wow . check thise odds

[Yorkie]

I can understand the alleged 'advantages' of going down, but this assumption that we're going to be good is really pretty dangerous. Do you trust the cretins in charge to make the right decisions, re - which manager to appoint, re - how to deal with the squad exodus, re - how to deal with the income/match attendance decrease?

 

I bloody don't. If we go down i can see us scrapping it out in mid-table in the Championship. It's not a shite league like.

 

Not sure anyone's assuming it to be fair. They're hoping it to be the case.

 

 

 

Winning!

 

and scoring!!

 

[tgarve]

BLACKPOOL

[Dave]

I can understand the alleged 'advantages' of going down, but this assumption that we're going to be good is really pretty dangerous. Do you trust the cretins in charge to make the right decisions, re - which manager to appoint, re - how to deal with the squad exodus, re - how to deal with the income/match attendance decrease?

 

I bloody don't. If we go down i can see us scrapping it out in mid-table in the Championship. It's not a shite league like.

 

Not sure anyone's assuming it to be fair. They're hoping it to be the case.

 

 

 

Winning!

 

and scoring!!

 

 

 

I think even we'd manage to score a goal and win a game every now and then.

[Segun Oluwaniyi]

IT would be interesting for the team to be the alphadog for once.

[ElDiablo]

Shearer building a young hungry squad and losing the useless past it (so the majority) players in the squad.

[Guest]

Let's get things into perspective. Birmingham have just been promoted with Phillips, Carr & Carsley in their side and doing well, so you never know.

[Wullie]

There's plenty to look forward to but far more to worry about unfortunately. We're very ill-prepared for relegation in the same way that Leeds were.

[madras]

There's plenty to look forward to but far more to worry about unfortunately. We're very ill-prepared for relegation in the same way that Leeds were.

very true

[Disco]

Blackpool away will be class!!   Along with that there's some cracking away trips,  hope Leeds get promoted, always good at Elland Road, we normally always win!!

 

I hope to fuck Leeds don't go up. Living and working here i've never known a bigger bunch of cunts as their fans.

 

Blackpool is a fucking horrible place n all. All the scum from Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow in one place during the summer months...wicked

[binnsy]

Blackpool away will be class!!   Along with that there's some cracking away trips,  hope Leeds get promoted, always good at Elland Road, we normally always win!!

 

I hope to f*** Leeds don't go up. Living and working here i've never known a bigger bunch of c***s as their fans.

 

Blackpool is a f***ing horrible place n all. All the scum from Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow in one place during the summer months...wicked

 

i know there fans are cunts but i'd prefer games and trips to Leeds or teams like Sheff Wed and Forest than play Wigan, Bolton and Fulham