BKIslandersFan
F*** off
Taking that job was the worst mistake made by any manager in the history of football.Always hilarious seeing utter ****e like Sunderland sink without trace. Bet Chris Coleman's enjoying life right now.
Taking that job was the worst mistake made by any manager in the history of football.Always hilarious seeing utter ****e like Sunderland sink without trace. Bet Chris Coleman's enjoying life right now.
Is he a Newcastle fan?You’re enjoying this just a touch aren’t you?
I'm man enough to admit when I am wrong: the Mackems are a far bigger shit show than Newcastle has ever been. They are now a credible top flight outfit and if they weren't owned by Mike Ashley (a horrible human being just for selling the naming rights to St Jamses Park alone) I could see them fighting for European places in the upcoming years.In my lifetime, I have seen Newcastle United reach two FA Cup finals.
I have seen Newcastle United play in two Champions League campaigns.
And I have seen sunderland- who until 1958 had never even been relegated from the top flight- suffer two drops into the third tier.
I was going through the levels of English football to show my brother who doesn't really understand it and found something shocking. What in the bloody hell happened to Wigan Athletic? I know people want to make fun of Sunderland, but Wigan has had a brutal demise from top premier football.
I hope Fulham wins, the EPL is always way more interesting and fun when they're in the top flight. I would also love it if one or both of the Sheffield clubs ever found their way into the EPL.
I fully enjoyed that one SW.To be brutally frank, what happened to Wigan is that they've retreated to nearer their natural level.
I was aware they joined the Football League in the seventies, and in checking the precise date (1978, for anyone who cares to know) I discovered they didn't even finish top of their league the season before. Boston United, who finished five points clear of them, hadn't the required facilities for league football. Wigan did, and up they came.
I posted in the thread about Wenger's retirement how timing played a part in his success. Likewise Dave Whelan at Wigan- he arrived in 1995 when few lower league clubs possessed sugar daddies. His presence proved vital to ensuring Wigan's health around 2001-2001, when the lower leagues were hit by a cataclysm.
ITV (the UK's biggest free-to-air commercial broadcaster) had bid a nine-figure sum for TV rights to cover the Football League First Division (as the Championship was then called), as well as Divisions Two and Three. The deal was signed under an entity called ITV Digital.
Now let's play a guessing game. Did the clubs in those divisions:
A) Carefully plan for the future by variously improving their facilities, developing youth systems, paying off debts and generally stabilising their financial viability
or:
B) Pour every penny they had into inflated transfer fees and salaries for second rate players and therefore find themselves up the proverbial when ITV Digital collapsed?
If you haven't worked out the answer, I'll provide a clue: those who understood administration procedures thrived.
With every new TV deal, and every new sugar daddy's arrival on the scene, the advantage Wigan enjoyed through Whelan came closer to evaporating, and it became increasingly likely that one relegation would hamstring them. Coming from a small town- in which rugby league is the number one sport- they simply don't have the fanbase
to sustain even second tier football now that so many clubs capable of attracting 20-30,000 strong crowds also benefit from parachute payments and / or help from owners whose wealth exceeds Whelan's.
As an illustration: consider this table compiled for the excellent Swiss Ramble blog: The Swiss Ramble: Bournemouth - Welcome To The Pleasuredome
Compare Wigan's position in the Revenue and Revenue excluding Parachute payments respectively for a stark illustration of how strong their resources are.
Turning to Sheffield Wednesday, that's a club whose return to the EPL is longoverdue.
Sort of like Sunderlund and Wigan? Except and ironically that their cash prizes came with the wrong answer...My pleasure.
No cash prizes for your correct answer, alas.
I'm man enough to admit when I am wrong: the Mackems are a far bigger **** show than Newcastle has ever been. They are now a credible top flight outfit and if they weren't owned by Mike Ashley (a horrible human being just for selling the naming rights to St Jamses Park alone) I could see them fighting for European places in the upcoming years.
- they'd begun the EPL season with a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
I have seen Newcastle United play in two Champions League campaigns.
I still remember that hiding that Tino Asprilla gave us back in the day. The guy seemed to be able to hover in the air until the ball came for him to smash him a header. Quite an amazing performance that I wonder if it's lost to today's generation.