• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

EPL 2019/20

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Alan King, Barry Dyson
We tend to knock the EPL for many good reasons, but there have been some things to admire and even cheer.

Liverpool have thoroughly deserved their title for their exciting and relentless brand of football. The title celebrations were dangerously over the top, but the football was refreshing.

Full marks for Chelsea for taking a big risk with Frank Lampard - and to him for delivering a Champions League place in his first season in the job (and only second season in management), despite transfer restrictions leading to him having to play a lot of youngsters.

Many said Manchester United were too quick to appoint OGS, but he has repaid their faith bigtime this season and is arguably their best manager since Ferguson.

Another manager new to his job, Brendan Rogers, almost got Leicester back into the Champions League.

Sean Dyche has had another excellent season at Burnley and Chris Wilder's first in the EPL with Sheffield United has been superb.

Steve Bruce has silenced the naysayers at Newcastle. Let's hope for better new owners but not a new manager.

On the negative side, Watford got their just desserts. Their habit of sacking managers finally caught up with them. Nigel Pearson's dismissal two games from the end of the season with safety in sight deserved what it got.
 
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No interest in it whatsoever I am afraid, and the lack of support they gave to lower division clubs during the pandemic was appalling.

There is more than enough money in football for the season to have been completed in all four divisions, rather than Rovers being subjected to a summary demotion.
 

ONIGP

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I watched most of the free games on Pick / Amazon / BBC and was generally underwhelmed. I think I'll be keeping my EPL engagement to Fantasy Premier League, Sky Super 6 and whatever daft ideas the lads in the office come up with. Yes, there are the best players and managers, over-achievers, under-achievers, controversy etc etc but it's no substitute for the real thing. If my football diet was purely televised EPL I'd lose interest very quickly (I have done!) and find something else to fill the void.
 
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aldo
I would rather paint my house than watch that overpaid crap. just watching someone who earns more in one day than I get in a year to just kick a cow's ars around a field
 
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aldo
one day the PL will go tits up then we will all be having a giggle at em . also interesting to see that the Spanish Big 2 Are having to sell players as there saying there is no cash due to COVID. it will change the face of the world and the football one to
 

Charlton1975

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I would rather paint my house than watch that overpaid crap. just watching someone who earns more in one day than I get in a year to just kick a cow's ars around a field
I dont understand what players earnings have to do with this. If someone offered to pay you 10 x your salary would you turn it down?

People need to realise that the Premier League is not the EFL, and it is down to the EFL to market the brand and negotiate better revenue deals which can then be filtered down the pyramid.

The Premier League is a global brand which has been marketed amazingly well, resulting in huge amounts of TV revenue, which then dictate how much clubs can then buy players for and pay them high wages. If that revenue is removed, then of course the model fails, however I cannot see that happening anytime soon as the global brand is so strong, especially in the far and middle east.
 
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I think the suggestion is that the EPL model is damaging to the whole of football because it causes massive wage inflation, but the clubs outside the EPL only receive a tiny proportion of the TV income. Hence, they have higher wages to pay but don't receive substantially more income than they did previously.

The gulf in wealth between the EPL and the lower divisions has also resulted in a lack of solidarity with the wider football community, and increased self interest at the top level.
 

Charlton1975

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I think the suggestion is that the EPL model is damaging to the whole of football because it causes massive wage inflation, but the clubs outside the EPL only receive a tiny proportion of the TV income. Hence, they have higher wages to pay but don't receive substantially more income than they did previously.

The gulf in wealth between the EPL and the lower divisions has also resulted in a lack of solidarity with the wider football community, and increased self interest at the top level.

EFL clubs know how much revenue they will receive from TV etc. It is their choice to spend beyond their sustainably means on players and wages, and we all know what happens there!

Look at the rest of Europe, clubs outside of the top division survive because they are run sustainably and within their means. For some reason clubs in England seem to think that spending more money that they receive inst an issue, and that is what needs to change. And this isnt due to inflated wages in the EPL, as players dont tend to drop down the leagues as much anymore, and if they do, then they should expect to be paid a wage which is relative to the league and club that they join.

With respect to the lack of solidarity in football, the recent events have shown that again this has nothing to do with the EPL, and that ALL clubs throughout the pyramid act in their own self interest.
 
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Wage inflation is inevitable due to market pressures if the clubs in the top division are spending vast amounts. It is not as simple as clubs paying 'what they would prefer'.

If an EPL club is relegated to the Championship it takes its vast salaries and its parachute payments with it, causing inflation in the lower division. Clubs that want to compete with players of a similar quality, have to compete with those wages. And so on down the leagues.

The lack of solidarity between the EPL and the rest of football is evident from EPP, under 21 teams in the Football League Trophy, the abolition of replays in cup competitions and a number of other measures, none of which happened in a century of a united Football League.

It is also evident in the general commodification of the EPL, with local supporters priced out of matches and clubs becoming international brands with little genuine connection with their local communities. In marked contrast to the majority of League One and Two clubs.
 
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EFL clubs know how much revenue they will receive from TV etc. It is their choice to spend beyond their sustainably means on players and wages, and we all know what happens there!

Look at the rest of Europe, clubs outside of the top division survive because they are run sustainably and within their means. For some reason clubs in England seem to think that spending more money that they receive inst an issue, and that is what needs to change. And this isnt due to inflated wages in the EPL, as players dont tend to drop down the leagues as much anymore, and if they do, then they should expect to be paid a wage which is relative to the league and club that they join.

With respect to the lack of solidarity in football, the recent events have shown that again this has nothing to do with the EPL, and that ALL clubs throughout the pyramid act in their own self interest.
The comparison with the rest of Europe makes my point for me. Because there is not such a vast gulf between the top division and the rest, clubs can live more sustainably.

And I am unsure how the EFL could ever market Leagues One and Two on an international stage like the EPL.
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
The EPL season ends today with the Championship play-off - Fulham v Brentford. Strange that only a few years ago, when I saw Rovers play at Griffin Park, I was asked to dip my hand in my pocket to keep the home club in existence. Since then, via fan ownership followed by a takeover by a rich businessman, some good management on and off the field has seen a steady rise up the pyramid. I wouldn't bet against them tonight.

It seems strange to me that the sky seems to be the limit for almost any London club. When I first supported Rovers (and I know that was a long time ago), the likes of Brentford, QPR, Crystal Palace and Millwall were old Third or Fourth Division sides, as were other south-east clubs like Brighton, Bournemouth and Watford. Teams from the North and Midlands rarely rise from the lower levels. I guess that's another consequence of the North-South divide and the unwillingness of really wealthy businessmen to put money into unfashionable sides, the exception being Dave Whelan's Wigan Athletic.

While I realise our club is in the safest hands at the moment, I do rather envy Brentford's fans with their successful team and new ground.
 
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I think Brentford's rise through the divisions is more of a genuine fairy story than Bournemouth's. Although they did have significant investment from Matthew Benham in League One, they have raised a lot of money recently through shrewd dealings in the transfer market.

They have the best front three outside the Premier League and I think they are favourites to go up.
 

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I watched them in the last leg and they play good football with some good players. I think they’ll win tonight.
 
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I'm slightly less envious of Brentford's fans now. Their team has reached the play-offs nine times but never got through. Makes even our record seem brilliant. ;)
 
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I'm slightly less envious of Brentford's fans now. Their team has reached the play-offs nine times but never got through. Makes even our record seem brilliant. ;)
The second time they have lost in the Championship play offs. Echoes of Rovers in the nineties.
 

Ian

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Awful game to watch. Think nerves got the better of them.
 

Gray

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Interesting debate, but no mention of how the EPL has impacted the national team. While the national team has done reasonably well recently I think this is despite the EPL rather than because of it. The national team has largely underperformed IMO since the advent of the EPL and there has been a steady shift in favour of club over country. There have been too many instances of top players being 'injured' ahead of friendlies and minor qualification matches only for them to miraculously recover the following week when the EPL returned. The top players expected to walk into the team when the tournaments started and then we were all left to wonder why they underperformed playing in a team largely full of strangers.

The influx of foreign players to the EPL has had a debatable impact on the national team. On the one hand I think some players have benefited from playing against better opposition with differing styles and this may have benefits at the international level, however I wonder about the unfulfilled talent of homegrown players who happily warm the bench and play minor roles while on substantial salaries when they should be playing regularly and putting themselves in the shop window for national selection.

Playing for your country was once considered the pinnacle of anyone's career, I fear many would now swap this for a good EPL season and a champions league spot.
 
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