Stop fretting about relegation. Instead, embrace it…

[Dave]

Thought I'd share this as I agree with it in general but also because it raises questions about the purpose of a football club if only to survive for another season aboard the gravy train.

 

Be interesting to see who disagrees...

 

http://www.football365.com/news/stop-fretting-about-relegation-instead-embrace-it

Stop fretting about relegation. Instead, embrace it…

Date published: Monday 7th May 2018 9:39

 

 

This time last year, my club Middlesbrough were relegated after a season of almost unbearable tedium. As I said at the time, it was blessed relief.

 

This season has been infinitely more enjoyable. Last year we won five games, this year we’ve won 22. Last season we scored 27 goals, this season we’ve rattled the net 67 times. By any measure whatsoever this campaign, despite being a division lower, has been much more fun than the previous one in the Premier League. And this is why getting relegated is a bogus threat and absolutely nothing at all to be bothered about, if it should happen to your Premier League club. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try to win, or give in, but if you’re not good enough to stay up, don’t over stress it.

 

To all the Premier League marketeers, let me tell you something: Beating Millwall or Brentford or Bolton this year was far more enjoyable than losing to Manchester City or Liverpool or Arsenal last year, so don’t try and tell us how great it is to go to all these big clubs. It isn’t. It’s joyless. Ask any Boro fan who went to all the away games last season who saw one win, seven draws, 11 defeats and 32 goals conceded.

 

No fan likes to watch their side be constantly beaten by sides with infinitely more resources. And yet we’re told time and again by people in the game – especially ex-players and journalists – that it is some sort of innately brilliant honour to play in the top flight. Yes, some clubs like Burnley can have an exceptionally good season and fair play to them for that, but even if you do, is it more enjoyable for being in the top flight per se? I maintain winning and playing good football is just enjoyable, no matter what league the team is in.

 

“It’s no fun being out of the Premier League” said journalist Steve Bates, on Sunday Supplement this week when wittering on about how fans are daft for wanting fun at the football and were prepared to risk Premier League status to get it. That is simply untrue. It is a lie. It is wrong. It can be fun being out of the the Premier League and I’m tired of being told by these people with such certainty that it isn’t. It’s insulting. It’s narrow-minded.

 

Why do people like Bates think 10,000 people turned up to watch Lincoln City on Saturday to see them play Yeovil for a play-off place? They’re not doing so out of some sado masochistic tendency. No, they’re loving the football and the results. No fun? You’re really not paying attention if you think what Lincoln fans are doing is not having fun and that somehow fans of West Ham United are, just because they’re in the top flight. But that’s what he’s saying. Top flight: Fun. Out of top flight: No fun. It is unsustainable barfo-nonsense but it is commonly spouted.

 

Glenn Hoddle said on Saturday night that Stoke fans, in wanting Mark Hughes out, should’ve realised that “you’re not in the entertaining world”. This is a contradiction. The Premier League can’t simultaneously be the greatest league and thus the one that you must stay in, but be full of sides that don’t play entertaining football in order not to get relegated. Those two things are not compatible.

 

The fear all these people try to induce about relegation is utterly misplaced. Yes, some clubs go down and find it difficult to come back, but so what? That’s not the threat it is regularly portrayed as, because being in the top flight isn’t the be all and end all. It isn’t value for money and it isn’t some sort of holy grail to genuflect in front of.

 

No-one has a deathless, existential “what’s the point of doing this?” crisis in lower leagues, the way sides that constantly end up 17th to 7th in the Premier League do when merely surviving is the first and only soul-destroying objective.

 

The only real thing to worry about is if those running the club are financially irresponsible and threaten the club’s very existence. Some do. And why? Because they swallow the ‘best league in the world’ propaganda whole, they splurge too much cash trying to stay in the Premier League (like Sunderland paying Jack Rodwell £70k a week), hypnotised by its supposed glamour and the big money (which price inflation merely evaporates, anyway).

 

In other words, the threat of relegation is only a threat because of those who over-believe in the value of Premier League status in the first place. These are the same imprudent incontinent cash cretins who sack low paid, minimum wage staff when relegated, but keep on players who earn thousands without doing anything of note. This isn’t an argument in favour of being afraid of relegation, it is an argument for owners and directors to be sensible and stop sucking down all this Premier League propaganda.

 

The tears shed by some fans on getting relegated are fed by this attitude. Relegation isn’t defeat, it is better seen as adventure. Relegation offers new challenges. It offers new places to go to watch football. It offers the chance of winning a lot more games and having a lot more fun. The warnings that the club might fall apart and be hopeless for a decade is all scaremongering. Even if you do a Sunderland and do a double drop, the potential for better days to lie ahead is far more exciting than knowing it’ll just be endless fight to hang on to 17th in the top division. The likes of Hoddle and all the ‘be careful what you wish for’ brigade don’t seem to understand this for a moment. Non-Premier League football is not a barren wasteland to be scared of. There is the prospect of a dynamic future, not a stagnant one.

 

Football is all about light and shade, loud and quiet, up and down. It is what gives it interest and texture. Just hanging on “not in the entertaining world” year after year, with your whole purpose being merely to do it all again next year, fundamentally misunderstands the nature of football, the nature of sport and even of the nature life itself.

 

John Nicholson

 

Go.

[Sima]

I massively agree with the sentiment like, the two championship campaigns in the last ten years are only really beaten (if they actually are) by the 2011-12 season.  There's no glory in getting steam-rollered by an 'elite' club without a sniff, the majority of supporters would rather beat Preston 3-0 at home than lose 0-4 to Man City at home.

 

The flip side of that is our neighbours though who weren't so lucky as to get promising play-off or promotion chasing campaigns.

[Mistle17]

Good read, but a couple of contradictions:

 

- I would not want to be the mackems (ever, ever, ever....but especially now), or a club like Coventry City; I don't think they've had much fun over the years.

 

- Burnley are going to be playing in Europe next season and have built/retained a strong identity under the fantastic management of Dyche.

 

This comes down to management, not so much the Premier League. I fucking hate the Premier League and all this pussy-football, mickey mouse fairytale bollocks it spins out thanks to their bitch, Sky Sports. However. If you are managed terribly it is no fun at all in football. I can't imagine Sheffield Wednesday fans got a tingle in their knob ends losing to Burton Albion at home this season, just to top off years and years of Champo/L1 football thanks to mismanagement and shit football. However, I don't think being a Stoke City fan or Swansea City fan has been particularly fun either, just making up the numbers and doing what they have to in order to survive/get paid to pay out ridiculous money.

Ultimately, if your club is run well you will have a lot more chance of enjoying your football (look at Millwall, look at Burnley/Spurs, look at Accrington Stanley). The problem is that a lot of owners are happy to run a club in the Premier League to simply be a part of the payday. That is the problem.

 

At the end of the day, the matchday experience in the Premiership is absolutely shite. The matchday experience in the Football League, as a whole, is far better. For me, as long as NUFC are in the top division we have a chance to become what we should be; a club that plays in Europe every season and competes strongly for cups. You cannot tell me that in the Sir Bobby years they weren't enjoyable- purely because we had ambition. Equally, there were some unbelievable Championship season memories- and that goes back to the blokes point about football being football. If you love your club a goal gives the same feeling to you no matter what league you're in.

 

Anyway, let's see what Leicester City fans think

[SEMTEX]

Tone of the article is canny, and it's a point worth making, but for me, the joy in upsetting a team that is expected to dick on you is greater than that of beating brentford/bolton/millwall week-in week-out. I guess that joy can be had by Burton etc when they come to SJP and get a win, but to his point, they probably think the Champo is miz given how often they get beaten. No matter what the division, there is no fun in languishing in the lower parts of the table for years with no hopes of anything other than survival. Tho it's fair to say the PL has the greatest disparity on the languish-to-compete front.

 

He doesn't mention actual quality of football also. Personally I find it far more enjoyable watching players of a higher quality. Whether it's PL vs Champo, League Two vs Conference. Got fed up of Champo-ball realllly quickly.

 

That's about all I've got on this one. I agree with him that everyone is condescending AF with regards to "oh you've got to play ACCCCRINGTON STANLEYYYYYY" etc, but for the most part, the fun is in the challenge. Winning games and getting out of the Champo is part of the fun.

[Dave]

I massively agree with the sentiment like, the two championship campaigns in the last ten years are only really beaten (if they actually are) by the 2011-12 season.  There's no glory in getting steam-rollered by an 'elite' club without a sniff, the majority of supporters would rather beat Preston 3-0 at home than lose 0-4 to Man City at home.

 

The flip side of that is our neighbours though who weren't so lucky as to get promising play-off or promotion chasing campaigns.

 

I was going to make that exact point.

 

Fair enough for the likes of Huddersfield Town who are literally punching miles above their weight and if they stay up this time it should rightly be celebrated. But fucking Newcastle United? Piss off.

[Anderson]

Middlesbrough were in the PL last season?

 

Shows how much attention I paid to it whilst we were away. Guess we never played them so they've must've been.

 

[JCONA]

The only counter point I would make, and it's only my personal opinion... But I enjoyed beating Man U this season wayyyyy more than any victory in the Championship, and there were some really good ones too.

 

This isn't because of our history against them, tbh it doesn't even come into my thinking any more. But more because they are a much bigger club that have spent vastly more money than us, they were expected to win, and us winning was a huge step to staying up.

[Superior Acuña]

Two Champ seasons were two of my favourites since the Bobby days too. And I bet we've had loads more fun going down and up a couple of times than say, Everton have had over the last 10 years - or Villa had for ages (with the possible exception of this season).

 

Fighting relegation is fun, and coming up is fun. Competing at the top of the PL is obviously fun. Midtable is fun briefly when you're punching above your weight (e.g. this season and 2010/11). But sticking around midtable, with little fear of relegation or hope of Europe is as grim and pointless as it gets for me. 

[Conjo]

The Championship is like a light hearted sit-com, but even though you are laughing at some of the cringy jokes, you know there is better quality shows on even though they might not make you laugh.

 

I was going for something here but lost my train of thought. Fuck off. I guess the author has a point, but at the same time I can't agree fully with him.

[Tiresias]

The Premier League brand is one hell of an insecure one. It is constantly peddled as the best, as the be all and end all and the most important thing. This is clear nonsense but in order to sell the league the quality and the competitiveness has to be over emphasized constantly. Bob Mortimer was going on in an interview a bit about how he couldn't care less about who finishes where in the league and what not, it is all the funny odd ephemera around the game, and going to the ground and buying dodgy pies etc that matters.

 

The other thing is that the league isn't that competitive, the Leicester thing was the best thing that could have happened to it because it contradicts all this, but the last two seasons it's basically been a done deal since Christmas, and the majority of the last 20 years basically it's one of a small handful of clubs who can win it. The mad money it costs now means even fewer chances for teams to catch up.

 

However throughout most the league the result has been a growth in conservative, negative dull football, anything to keep clubs in leagues to keep owners able to milk the cash cow. Managers aren't given a chance now because its so much cheaper to sack them than change a squad around and noone cares about a long term vision when theres so much money now. The money in the league absolutely desperately needs to reduce. It is a nonsense, players wages and prices are being inflated by regimes happy to pump money well over any economic sense in order to launder their own reputations. The big fees brings in players who apparently improve the league so the tv money goes up so more money flows. Except it's clearly diminishing returns, we're never going to have a situation where every club has world class talent, in fact talent is hoarded and wasted. I wonder if one sugar daddy run club will implode to get anyone to see any sense.

 

Anyway the premier league needs everyone to believe it is the be all and end all in order to justify the ridiculous prices, the obnoxious advertising, the hollowing out of the spirit of the game and the obscene wages. It will end in tears. Having said all that i want Newcastle to be in the premier league because as all fans will do I want our club to be fighting the big names and being as successful as possible. However I would support us in whatever league. My support is more likely to wane due to mad bad and horrible ownership which fans should realise is a much bigger threat that relegation. That sucks your soul for decades.

[Dave]

The posts about Sunderland and management are spot on like, but that's all come about from the same thing. Too much money on offer, too much money being risked to stay up (and only stay up), too much at stake and too much to reconcile when it finally caught up with them.

[Nobody]

First championship season was a bit of fun, but last year was fucking torture IMO.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think it’s only the first relegation for a while that’s really bad. When we went down with Duff et al I thought it was a disaster, then I quickly realised it doesn’t really matter what division your team are in. Not for a fan really.

 

I know a couple of Sunderland fans who would much rather be involved in a relegation battle than having loads of nothing games that don’t mean anything. Same reason fans of midtable clubs want a cup run so much, fans want games to mean something.

 

The PL isn’t everything, especially not if your place in it is fourth or fifth bottom.

[Superior Acuña]

I think it’s only the first relegation for a while that’s really bad. When we went down with Duff et al I thought it was a disaster, then I quickly realised it doesn’t really matter what division your team are in. Not for a fan really.

 

I know a couple of Sunderland fans who would much rather be involved in a relegation battle than having loads of nothing games that don’t mean anything. Same reason fans of midtable clubs want a cup run so much, fans want games to mean something.

 

The PL isn’t everything, especially not if your place in it is fourth or fifth bottom.

 

It felt proper shit getting relegated, but the passion of the fans (not the players!) in those final games was great. That boro win was amazing and I don't know if I've ever seen our fans as great as that day at Villa Park - and I've rarely felt as up for a match.

[Astroblack]

Would rather at least compete at the highest level than win in a lower one.

[Dave]

Would rather at least compete at the highest level than win in a lower one.

 

Define compete.

[James]

Since the formation of the Premier League you just don’t get the same non linear pattern of promotions, relegations and titles. It is no longer another club’s turn to be successful unless there is a benevolent billionaire behind it all.

 

Leicester winning the league was met with the assumption that the big clubs won’t allow for a repeat.

 

So in days gone past I think narrowly avoiding relegation despite the negative season would have been a cause for optimism that your club is still on the top table and with a few small changes and a stroke of luck have a good campaign the following year.

 

Nowadays that table has shrunk. 12-14 clubs are no longer on that top table any more. It just becomes another hard drag season after season.

 

Seriously the best thing that could happen is that Man Utd get relegated!

[Stifler]

It only applies if you can go down, re-build and come back up to be more competitive.

[Dave]

[Astroblack]

Would rather at least compete at the highest level than win in a lower one.

 

Define compete.

 

Exactly what we're doing TBH. We may not be in the upper tier of the league, but it's better than battling out in the Championship watching 2 minute highlights with one camera angle.

 

I've grown up with the Premier League and am pleased that we play in it. I get to see games every week on TV. Newcastle are a Premier League team.

[Dave]

Thought so.

[SEMTEX]

I agree with the sentiment of "Would rather at least compete at the highest level than win in a lower one."

 

I do not agree with his definition of competing. We are certainly not competing. Not by design anyway

[James]

Conversely when this elite group of English clubs got established, probably about the same time there were at least 6 clubs qualifying for Europe, we were in the elite group I mention.

 

As posted elsewhere even if we had so called bad seasons, in our PL period pre-Ashley we were either top 6, at Wembley, qualifying for Europe or made it into the second half of European competition. I think there were only one or two exceptions.

 

The real catastrophic relegation for us was when Keegan walked second time and it established that we had given up our own elite status within the league. Other relegations were inconsequential compared to that one.

[NJS]

To be honest when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s it wasn't that different - it was always leeds/arsenal/Liverpool at the top and a good season for us was a cup run.

 

It's alway been money or occasionally an outstanding manager/perfect storm that's rocked the boat.

 

However I don't remember it being as bad as only winning 10 or 12 games if you're lucky (though 42 games helped that).

 

I think what has changed though is the pervasive negative approach by too many teams.

 

[Dave]

That negative approach is because the stakes are too high. Tossers like Allardyce and Pulis being given job after job because all that matters is scraping out enough points to stay up, whatever the means.