I found this pretty amazing, and indicative of the level of competition in the premiership. Last year the bottom 3 squads were: 18. Ipswich (36 pts) 19. Derby (30 pts) 20. Leicester (28 pts) Sunderland and Bolton avoided the drop with 40 points. This year, Fulham and Villa's wins in the next to last game of the season assured their safety, with 45 points. Bottom 5, one game to play: 16. Leeds (41 points, 2 games left) 17. Bolton (41 points) 18. West Ham (41 points) 19. West Brom (25 points) 20. Sunderland (19 points) WOW. Not safe with 41 points. The bottom seems a lot stronger this season.
i don't think the 'bottom' is any stronger than it was last season. look at sunderland and west brom...they're miles off the pace. all that's happened is that EVERYONE'S beat them
Wow, I didn't remember Sunderland missing the drop by only one point. Why wasn't Reid sacked after last season? And why the hell did Reyna go to play for them instead of staying with Rangers and playing in Europe????
Mikel Arteta and Barry Ferguson. If he'd stayed they might have had some use for him as a right back Anyway Rangers were an embarresment to the scottish game in europe this season, out on away goals in the first round of the Uefa to viktoria zizkov of of the czech republic. Both Livingston and Aberdeen played better and deserved to go through more than rangers on the continent against better teams too. I dare say they will do better in the champions league next season.........possibly.........
Got it in one, its not as the boy suggests that the league is so strong and the competition so fierce that good teams are being forced down, its that the bottom 5 or 6 teams in the premiership have been piss poor this season, maybe even a few above them fall into the below average category as well.
You're watching the Scottish league, not the EPL. Take West Ham. Yeah, they've sucked in places. But their record is 10W, 11D, 16L. That's a positive result from more than half their games. If you said to the managers of the bottom ten sides in the premiership "You'll get a result in about 60 percent of the time," they would feel reasonably safe about staying up. Yes, having two bottom feeders like Sunderland and West Brom does distribute a lot of points around the table, but West Ham has half as many points as the leader, Man U. In 01/02, Sunderland's point total (40) was well under half of Arsenal's (87). There's a bigger bulge in the middle of the table. Newcastle will finish with roughly the same points as last year if they win next weekend and up a slot in the table (4th to 3rd). 10th place last year was Blackburn (47 points). Boro (1 match remaining) and Southampton (2 remaining) are 10th and 11th respectively with 49 points and will probably pick up more. The gap from Champion to relegated and champion to mid-table will shrink this year. I'd say that's the sign of a more competitive league.
Quite simple, because of Bob Murray being good mates with Reid, so he wanted to give him another chance. Also, there was a lot of criticism from the 'look what he did for you and this is how you repay him' brigade after he was sacked, so imagine what would have happened if he'd sbeen given the boot earlier. Finally, his contract cost a lot to pay off, so I guess the board wanted to make sure he couldn't make things any better before letting him go.
Actually saying as its hard to watch more SPL than premiership I think I know what Im watching. Its a positive result losing most of their games and drawing more than they have won? This is a team who have made some big signings in the last few seasons in terms of money and reputation. Maybe the gap between champion and mid table will lessen (and its still 31 points difference!) but the gap between top and bottom of the premiership is currently 61points, is that less than it was last season?
The spread, top to bottom, is roughly the same: (01/02) Arsenal 87 pts vs. Leicester's 28 pts -- 59 pt difference (02/03) Man U 80 pts vs. Sunderland's 19 pts -- 61 point difference (one game remaining for both) Leeds is now safe with 44 points after beating Arsenal. But they're only safe b/c of goal differential (-1). Bolton and West Ham could both conceivably win and Leeds could lose to Villa, leaving three sides at 44 (which would send West Ham down). Here are the final relegated point totals from the last relegated side (18th place side) since they went to a 20-team division: 00/01: Man City 34 pts 99/00: Wimbledon 33pts 98/99: Charlton 36 pts 97/98: Bolton 40 pts 96/97: Sunderland 40 pts 95/96: Man City 38 pts Which brings me back to my original point, that it's a lot tougher at the bottom.
I agree. Quality seems to be well-spread between the upper-half of the 1st division and the bottom half of the premiership. It makes for a great bottom battle though - more entertaining than the battle at the other end i'd offer. It's been a strange year - teams not traditionally linked with relegation (Leeds, West Ham) have been fighting for their lives. Who would have imagined those 2 so far down? It also shows how far Sunderland has sunk - the most unsuccessfull premiereship campaign ever! Even worse than the howler Watford had! I dont see Portsmouth staying up next year. Redknapp did a great job, but he'll probably leave when they go back to the 1st. Leicester will be following them back down as well. Sheffield should have the best chance at surviving a drop next year - having Warnock around should provide reporters with some very colorful quotes as well!