Everton look like they are going to be all aboard the train heading to relegation station this season.....
The Oldham owner being interviewed at half time in their game v Dorking 😂😂🤣🤣😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/aaASBRJoUc— shane watson (@ftnine) August 13, 2022
Oh, I've no doubt it was just a shuffling around ... It's just that the p/r folks will count a closed league doing this as "dying" Sounds very American LOL
I watched only a part of it. What I did watch I wasn't all too impressed with. It was the standard "current system ain't inclusive in terms of types of ownership" rhetoric (amongst other usual talking points brought up by pro-rel advocates). Plus, no offense to 11 Yanks, and as much as I love his match/roster analysis and his enthusiasm for US soccer, in my eyes his pro-rel opinions leave much to be desired. I'd appreciate if he invited someone who is neutral on the matter because I'd consider him a #prorelactivist. I doubt Kessel would fair well if any poster from this thread who's far more patient than me that's been playing devil's advocate for pro-rel for years challenged him. Many of the topics that were talked about have been discussed in this thread - and what was talked about in the vid was standard fair of mediocrity that's as deep as a kiddie pool.
I think the big difference is that a folded US league generally sees all the clubs within it folded too. I quick hunt around couldn't provide any info on why the league ceased, but it's probably not about funding. The Crawley & Intermidiate League CEO would not have been travelling around the country by Learjet (which is a shame, as it would have been really handy for Gatwick Airport). There have always been dodgy shenanigans, particularly at lower levels, where you have businesses with very low turnover and value owner land worth far more the the business itself. Dagenham & Redbridge were formed by a series of dubious mergers, with the money raised from selling each spare ground not obviously accounted for. Some things make little sense. Worcester City used to have a pretty decent ground in the city, but got evicted. To an outsider, having them share at Worcester Warriors rugby club migth have been a decent option, but the rugby club owner didn't want them. The rugby club owner has since taken over a tiny Worcester club and moved them in the the rugby club's ground, and Worcester City are now playing where the tiny Worcester Raiders FC used to play.
I thought this was interesting and relevant. Former NASCAR driver suggested that NASCAR succeeded because it was structured unlike other American sports. So of course the new management decided to implement ideas from other sports. https://youtube.com/shorts/YEdNrgMav3Y?feature=share
They weren't evicted per se, but sold their ground only to find the money they received wasn't enough for a planned new stadium. They then wasted time with plans for a smaller stadium that never got planning approval. Interestingly, Worcester City and Worcester Raiders now play at the same level of the pyramid (but in different leagues).
Play offs are rounds of matches to GIVE clubs that were basically ranked too low for a spot in a meaningful next stage, the chance to take the spot of those who already qualified in normal competitions. Round 16 matches are matches amongst those who genuinly made it that far by beating those who did qualify. It's not a second chance round.
Interesting............ However the difference itself between the Premier League and the old first division is minimal, In fact it's exactly the same format! So what has really made the difference.............it's money! And what has made the money? TV! The fact that pitches are better has everything to do with technology and very little to do with the Premier League (the lower League clubs all have pristine pitches). It's not just the Premier League that's gotten richer and more popular either, even lower leagues are getting more money and larger crowds, another thing that's really helped but I feel doesn't get mentioned enough is the fact that the hooliganism (which was a MASSIVE problem when I was a kid) has been almost eradicated, making families feel safe to attend games.
play offs are american concept of seds wild card and what ever. champions league world cup is tournament not "league" that american sports use.
The biggest difference was marketing. That was a combo of Sky and Rick Parry. The Football League was run by fat chairmen and burocrats. The Premier League was run by Parry and half a dozen ambitious owners. It definitely helped that the foundation of the Premier League coincided with the implementation of the Taylor Report and the fanzine movement, which helped real fans take their clubs back. One other thing to add was the expansion of the European and UEFA Cups, which meant that teams outside the top 2 or 3 qualified for Europe. Plus at a stretch you could add the fall of the Berlin Wall which meant the top Eastern European teams were no longer able to compete. In short there was a perfect storm which the Premier League was the best at taking advantage of. The success of the 1996 Euros, with minimal incidents, also helped (except for the destruction of BMWs and Mercedes after the semi-final).
Q&A in The Athletic this week with Wrexham's owners and why they bought into a club in a pro/rel league: https://theathletic.com/3516239/2022/08/17/reynolds-mcelhenney-wrexham-documentary/
This book regarding the Premier League rebranding/separation is all the rave in the college football chats. I thought it really good. The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports
The extra money was massive, yet the very fact that the top division felt the need to break away has its roots in the tiny tv deals of the 1980s, where chopping off the rest of the football league, and having to share less cash, was an attractive option. The biggest irony was that it was pushed by ITV, who couldn't have have imagined they'd lose a bid to Sky TV, which was struggling for viewers at the time. It was basically a huge gamble by Sky, which could have bankrupted the company, which would have been a disaster for the premier league. I think the fanzine culture was very much winding down by then, but it had definitely helped change attitudes in grounds. CCTV, allowing the police to identify and ban troublemakers helped hugely too, as did (believe it or not, better policing). Typically around 6 clubs from England used to qualify from Europe each year in the 80s, but most were in the UEFA Cup, which was still a respected competition then. Very few international club matches were broadcast live. Part of that was the cost of broadcasting in a world with far fewer satellites, but football also didn't generate the viewing figures to make it worthwhile, beyond finals. The obvious downside to it all is that in a climate where viewing figures are everything, absolutely every single change to how the game is run seemed to be taken to aid those clubs who get the best viewing figures.
They're only playoffs if they're from the United States region of North America. Otherwise they're just sparkling knockout matches.
Eh, being a complete entity unto itself and separate from the Football League is a pretty big difference that I'd say is significantly more than "minimal" ... less clubs as well. Though, it was the move towards operating clubs as commercial businesses that began in the 80s that really sets the tonal differentiation between the PL and the old 1st division. Check out THE ASSOCIATION GAME: A HISTORY OF BRITISH FOOTBALL ... great read and really lets you in on just how far back things started working towards what became the Premier League and even the "Super League" idea. Yes, it's as far back as the 80s (which is why we laugh at folks that think this idea is going away). Hell, Tottenham was floated on the stock exchange in the EARLY 80s ! Scholar, Edwards, and Dein taking over was a huge shift as they were BUSINESS FIRST and foremost in their thinking about and acting with football clubs. But I mean yeah, totally minimal difference ...