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Excellent summation of how things stand Paul. You are right..surely this is the closest, most topsy-turvy season ever seen - throughout all divisions. So called top sides are being beaten or held by those at the bottom and no supporter should feel their team is beyond redemption or achieving something.

It does make for a happier xmas but as you say we've now reached the crucial period and 2011 will be seeing a lot more 'squeaky bums time' and 'hope's a dangerous thing..Hope can drive a man insane' ;)

Enjoy your Xmas!

Sorry Paul, but that photo is of Andy Bond (a Colchester United player)!

The match appears to be Colchester (blue/white) v Huddersfield (red/black), not Brighton v Huddersfield.

All three play in blue & white stripes at home so it's an easy mistake!

Hi Fletch, I was a little dissapointed that my team did not get a mention, although I realise you will get that as you can't get all 72 in!

Oldham are sitting in 7th place, and have been around the top all season. Paul Dickov's first ever season as manager, and many people laughed about his appointment as the cheap option, and I think I am right in saying all Latics fans are very happy.

We are 4 points off 2nd, with 3 games in hand on Wednesday. Although there is only 3 points separating us from 14th!

Playing an attractive brand of attacking football on a shoestring budget, after finishing last season 2 points off relegation. I feel we are worth a mention!

Merry Christmas

Your blogs are always an enjoyable read, Paul. It's good to get an insight on the rest of the 71 clubs in the FL, and this is a good summary of how things stand at the moment. League One does sound very exciting, as do the Championship and of course League Two. Being a Torquay fan, this season has been decent for us so far. We picked up where we left off at the end of last season, not conceding in 998 minutes of League football, before Port Vale put one past us in August. However, we've topped the table, and we've been in the top 8 all season, which, considering we aren't exactly one of the biggest sides in the league, and we are working on a small budget, is an incredible feat. I hope we can keep it up.

Anyway, yeah, Merry Christmas Paul and keep up the good work! (Maybe give TUFC a mention soon aswell!)

hi fletch
loved the overview. as a birmingham city supporter i find it increasingly difficult to get excited about the premier. i loved the days of the ever exciting championship not knowing what results would be. whenever i get the sunday papers always the lower divisions i look to

Paul

" ....like a motorist on a Scottish motorway " or better
" ....like a passenger at an English airport !"

Sorry Paul, very remiss of me, very good article (as always). I was just excited at see a pic of my team (Col U), even if incorrectly labelled.

Should have gone to Specsavers?!

Another good blog Paul, I think the bbc's coverage of the football league is proving to be excellent.

The football league is always very exciting, none more so than this season. Yes, we all know that the Premiership is the most watched and supported league in the world but to many outsiders, they do not realise exactly what exists beneath the Premiership (the Premiership is not the ba all and end all!).

Of course, the skill levels are lower, mistakes are higher and the household names are not seen as they are in the Premiership, but to many, the football league is just as exciting, if not more so than the Premiership. In fact, mistakes do not necessarily lessen the enjoyment as a spectacle; to the contrary, it means you can never take your eyes of a match as anything can happen at any point.

Traditionally, it has always been assumed that the 'lower' teams in English football play a 'kick and rush' style. Well, this is simply not the case these days (well, Mr Boothroyd's teams apart, perhaps!). Look at teams such as Swansea, Doncaster, Blackpool, Bournemouth, but to name just a few examples. All teams that have got to their current positions playing the game the right way and with hard work to build up the teams -not through millions of pounds given to them by a sugar daddy!

For me, the Championship is the nearest thing there is to the old Division from the late 80's, where anybody could finish in the top 5 (teams such as QPR, Southamption, Ipswich, Norwich, West Ham, Forest all achieved this in the 80's). Sadly, without a massive injection of cash (and we are talking well in excess of £100m required here) this is simply completely out of reach of any of these sort of teams for the forseeable future.

That doesn't mean to say that I don't want my team to reach the Premiership, however, but there IS life beneath the Premiership (if not, scandalously, the money, but that's a whole separate blog).

I think this year shows that the worries of the last few years about two tier divisions has not come to pass. When stupid amounts of money started rolling into English football, all the talk was of the rich clubs pulling away from the rest of the teams. Granted this has happen to some degree in the Premiership, but not throughout the rest of the divisions. It was said that teams reglated from the Preimership would have a a greater advantage over rest because of the parachute payments. The competitiveness of the championships over the last few seasons is showing this not to be true.
I think what this has shown is that a good manager is what teams need rather than vast sums money. I sure most Chelsea fans would rather have Mourinho than Abramovich at the club.

Surely it's "Merry Christmas" and "Happy" New Year?
/DRTA

Paul,

Why doesn't the FL generate more money from TV?

As I understand it, the Championship on its own is the fifth best attended league in Europe (after Germany, PL, La Liga and Serie A?), and has plenty of teams with global fan bases,(as does League One), so why so little money?
The football is better than, for example, the top french division, but I suspect Ligue Un gets more money from broadcasters.

12. At 2:27pm on 22 Dec 2010, backinwhite wrote:

Paul,

Why doesn't the FL generate more money from TV?

As I understand it, the Championship on its own is the fifth best attended league in Europe (after Germany, PL, La Liga and Serie A?), and has plenty of teams with global fan bases,(as does League One), so why so little money?
The football is better than, for example, the top french division, but I suspect Ligue Un gets more money from broadcasters.
---------------

Because attendances do not equate to viewing figures. A lot fo people will watch top premier league games without actually supporting either team in particular. Certainly never to the extent of attending games. The same is true of top level football in France.

That drops off immensely when you talk about the Championship. Viewing figures have proven that outside of the core support for the clubs involved there are very few people willling to tune into games at a lower level.

Paul what do you think about Big Sam's idea to play youth football in the summer?

Have a read of 'Umbrellas for goal post' for my opinion!

It's a reasonably good Christmas for us at Bury, riding high in the league. But we have a big problem with our home form, that is something that badly needs to be improved over the second half of the season. It's pretty much always been the problem at Bury because we only get small crowds (considering where we are geographically it's not surprising!) and the most vocal of our support is not brilliant - on away days the vocal supporters seem to be more in number!

I think the club needs to look at ways of getting other supporters in to see just how good Bury are under Alan Knill. Maybe a deal whereby season ticket holders at other clubs can come watch Bury half-price when their team is away (Bury prices are very high for League 2!).

Anyway, here's to a grand 2011 and hope we can avoid the late-season slump that's dogged up for the last 3 seasons!

I really enjoy watching FL - more so than PL these days. Teams are more evenly matched, anyone can beat anyone, more exciting and reminds me of the old days standing on terraces watching proper man's footie. Tight budgets mean that managers have to look for local or cheap talent, work with them and develop players - and get the best out of what they have. There are a lot of really good English players in FL, but so few have a chance to develop at PL level. The same goes for managers - some very talented young managers but no chance at PL club. David Moyes - what an example of a PL club taking a chance on a young up and coming manager and look what he has achieved! Shame Blackburn did not give Ince more time.

Congrats on a great Blog Paul.


Lastly, well done to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ to FL highlights programme. A very nice incentive to watch, just in case the footie is not so good, is to see the lovely Lizzie - class presenter.

#13

I take your point for domestic subscribers, but a lot of PL TV money comes from abroad. FSC in the States get much higher figures for their Championship games than Ligue Un. I still think the Football League undersells itself. It was a real disappointment that a global brand didn't take over from Coca Cola, as to be honest nPower can't be paying a premium for having their services marketed around the world when they don't even operate outside the UK, and the little bit of international business they do is under the RWE brand.

With the amount of full internationals playing in the Football League, fans from those countries are always iterested, and the local commentators/producers focus on them.

Anyway, here's to a snood free Football League!

The Championship has been close for quite a few years now, indeed I've long thought it much better than the more preidctable Premiership, though that has tightened up over the past two seasons. My club, Barnsley, had a pretty awful start to the season. A decent run of form has us seriously looking at the playoffs though we all know a dip in form could put us back in the mix.

#17 I understand your point about nPower not being a global brand like Coca-Cola, however the England cricket team were also sponsored by nPower, and the football team was sponsored by Nationwide. Put bluntly, domestic sales are probably worth more. Watching Barnsley vs Hull doesn't make me want to buy Coca-Cola, though I'm not sure why we'd switch to nPower either...

Paul (18)
What would Lincoln City like for Christmas?
How about a game of football?!! We haven't played since November 27th. Our FA cup replay with Hereford has been postponed 3 times!
Weekends have become so boring!!
Happy Xmas one and all

I think this is an excellent article as are many of the comments. As a supporter for over 50 years , Ive frankly had enough of the predictable Premiership and actually hope my club go down this year to bring some real excitement back into the league programme and for my team to actually have a real chance of winning something. What is the point of being in a competition year in ,year out that it is not even possible to win anymore. Well done all Championship Clubs for making your league the exciting sporting spectacle it has become

I take issue with Swansea being described as one of the most entertaining sides in the Football League. I will grudgingly conceed that BR is doing a great job. Nonetheless, they're doing what his teams always do: controlling possession, defending quite well, creating few chances, and scoring some wonderfully worked goals when they very occasionally venture into the last third.

If you're looking for highlights they're probably the perfect choice. But if you actually want to watch 90 minutes, I'd put Swansea well down the list of entertaining teams.

As a neutral I'd much rather watch a game involving a team that creates lots of chances. A team where every outfield player is expected to put the miles in, including the striker(s). A hard working midfield with one or two box-to box players, one or two capable of absolute magic, and one or two who can really tackle. A set of defenders who are willing to get forward and wildly unpredictable in defence.

As someone who is unashamedly biased, I firmly believe that team is Watford, but my bias is backed up by the stats. 71 goals scored in 21 league games involving Watford, including two televised games widely recognised as being magnificent. 47 goals in 22 games involving Swansea, including an extremely dull albeit hard fought televised win over their rivals.

Anyway, at the top of my Christmas wish list is for Ashley Young to go to Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City or Chelsea for over £20m. With our resulting windfall there should be less pressure for us to sell in January, giving us a realistic chance of sqeaking into the playoffs and/or going on a cup run.

THERE IS NO MONEY UNDER THE PREMIER LEAGUE

@forestrock

QPR have loadsa money!!

And plenty of clubs have come up and established themselves in the Premier League. Look at WBA, they are run the right way and are competing.

While I found this article very good, I hace to query what you have written about Leeds. Why are they the story of the championship i have to ask? My team Norwich are only 2 points behind them, we have been up in the playoffs for most of the season. Personally I think QPR are the story of the championship so far. Ok they have lost their last two but to go unbeaten for almost half the season is a pretty bloody good achievement and I honestly cant remember a team being unbeaten in the championship until Mid December in rescent years

I love to read about the football league, I find the Premiership so boring and predictable and this is a real breath of fresh air. Saying that though, I'd love to see Bradford back there again!

I do love the Championship, and this season has been very exciting (probably because we're not involved in a relegation scrap for once!)

My team Norwich have lost at home to Hull and Portsmouth in games we've dominated, and to Palace who we're there for the taken in the first half. Positive results in these games would have seen us in second place.
Because of this, it makes every goal more meaningful and makes us fans celebrate that little bit more when we do get a vital goal (like Holts in the 87th min on Saturday!)

Im hoping for a collapse from QPR and hope they lose out in the playoffs!!

Promotion- Cardiff, Swansea
Playoffs- QPR, Leeds, Norwich, Forest
Relegation- Scunthorpe, Palace, Preston (would like Middlesbrough but think they will have too much and pull away into mid-table)

Good luck to all!

I'm someone who has never really taken much interest in any league other than the Premiership but during the last couple of years I've really started to enjoy the lower English leagues.

If only the Premiership was more like the Championship it would be great, literally anyone can win it each year but it isn't just that it's the fact that nearly every game is exciting and anyone can really beat anyone.

For me though, I can see Cardiff, Swansea and QPR getting promoted this year. It'll certainly make for interesting viewing if we have the Welsh derby on MOTD.

www.sportrambles.wordpress.com

Phil - I'm hoping we can last the distance this time...we signed the young boy Mozika, and he's been brilliant in the midfield since he came in. It's hard to replace a player of Stephen Dawson's quality but Mozika has been excellent. I really do hope we've got enough squad (or Knill can get the loans in next month) to not fade away in the run-in. This year should be Bury's for the taking!

Oops, Paul not Phil...keep thinking I'm on Phil's blog *chuckle*

' No supporter should feel that HIS team are doomed '. Really, are there no female fans ? Or are they not to be mentioned !

Alot of them will come on ere n talk abahrt ow great their club is n that they'll go up blah blah blah, but I wanted to talk abahrt Yeovil n avin seen theirn play dahn our gaff they don't deserve to go dahn n there aint that much difference between top n bottom n the quality of the football. It'd be a great loss if Yeovil were to go dahn but I reckon theirn will stay up.