Congratulations to Luton going to Wembley

[essayer]

As a Watford fan obviously it kills me, but good luck to them, can’t complain about smaller clubs succeeding and making it up to the Premier League (if they do!)

Maybe they’ll ground share with MK Dons, doesn’t seem to make sense spending £10m upgrading a stadium if they’re building a new one

We’ll lend them the Harry Potter coaches

[Inky81]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

V8covin said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Nope. Nothing against Luton per se, but it's good for the PL to be made up of big teams with decent stadiums. Like Sunderland or Middlesborough. If Luton go up, it'll be on merit, so that's that. But I don't think it's great for the image of the PL, especially abroad, to have games screened from Luton or Bournemouth's ground. They just aren't PL grounds.

I couldn't disagree more.
What next, the 20 teams with the most social media likes get to be in the premier League?
This is European super League territory,results on the pitch should be the only thing that determines where you are in the football pyramid

Results are the only thing that determine your place. But it doesn't enhance the reputation of the PL when we're trying to sell it abroad as the world's no1 league to have live games from Kenilworth Rd and the Vitality. It would be far better for the PL if every team in it had a half decent ground.

Sorry, but who benefits by selling English football abroad? Is it the fans? Or, is it corporate entities, foreign states or bad actors looking to make a quick buck or wash some money? Football belongs to the fans, and only the fans. Meritocracy exists within the football pyramid for good reason. If teams work within their budget and achieve success without a sugar daddy then they deserve it. Luton and Cov have been through the ringer, been down and out, and have come back fighting. EPL would be lucky to have either, though moreso Luton, Obvs.

[Dracoro]

What other leagues have pretty much all clubs (bar 2/3 in the league) having sizeable and/or decent stadiums?

It wasn’t long ago that many top flight stadiums were crap (big or small).

It could be argued that Old Trafford is a tired/worn out stadium, limited seat/leg space, small concourses, limited facilities etc., esp if you compare to many other stadiums in the league. It may have a high capacity but that doesn’t a good stadium make.

Doesn’t therefore “enhance” the “reputation” of the league apparently to have stadiums such at OT, Goodson, etc…

[Peter911]

craigjm said:

Coventry fan here. Hopefully we win tonight and see you in the final

Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. They will be all coming out of rhe woodwork now.

[GT03ROB]

Inky81 said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

V8covin said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Nope. Nothing against Luton per se, but it's good for the PL to be made up of big teams with decent stadiums. Like Sunderland or Middlesborough. If Luton go up, it'll be on merit, so that's that. But I don't think it's great for the image of the PL, especially abroad, to have games screened from Luton or Bournemouth's ground. They just aren't PL grounds.

I couldn't disagree more.
What next, the 20 teams with the most social media likes get to be in the premier League?
This is European super League territory,results on the pitch should be the only thing that determines where you are in the football pyramid

Results are the only thing that determine your place. But it doesn't enhance the reputation of the PL when we're trying to sell it abroad as the world's no1 league to have live games from Kenilworth Rd and the Vitality. It would be far better for the PL if every team in it had a half decent ground.

Sorry, but who benefits by selling English football abroad? Is it the fans? Or, is it corporate entities, foreign states or bad actors looking to make a quick buck or wash some money? Football belongs to the fans, and only the fans. Meritocracy exists within the football pyramid for good reason. If teams work within their budget and achieve success without a sugar daddy then they deserve it. Luton and Cov have been through the ringer, been down and out, and have come back fighting. EPL would be lucky to have either, though moreso Luton, Obvs.

What sells the PL is the competitive nature of the games & to some extent the unpredictability. The fact that somebody in a lesser stadium has the potential to give the big boys a bloody nose is what counts. Everyone loves it when Liverpool go to Bournemouth & get beat (well liverpool fans don't I know).

Noone can say the likes of Brentford & Bournemouth have not made their contribution to the PL.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Inky81 said:

Sorry, but who benefits by selling English football abroad? Is it the fans?

Yes. The huge amounts of TV money that flows into the PL has paid for stadium upgrades, new stadiums, and some of the world's best players coming to England to play. Glasgow Rangers are arguably a bigger club that City, so why aren't they signing Haaland, Silva et al and thrashing Real Madrid 4-0?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

GT03ROB said:

What sells the PL is the competitive nature of the games & to some extent the unpredictability. The fact that somebody in a lesser stadium has the potential to give the big boys a bloody nose is what counts. Everyone loves it when Liverpool go to Bournemouth & get beat (well liverpool fans don't I know).

Noone can say the likes of Brentford & Bournemouth have not made their contribution to the PL.

Brentford have got a perfectly decent stadium. So have many less glamourous clubs. Bournemouth and Luton have not.

It wasn't long ago that clubs were missing out on promotion from the conference to League 2 because their non league ground didn't meet League 2 minimum requirements. Seems odd that League 2 has minimum standard levels, but the PL doesn't. Or if it does, they aren't set high enough.

[Dracoro]

'What are the "minimum standards" that, for example, Bournemouth's stadium does not meet?

It can't be about "size" as would be even worse forte "PL image" to have a half empty stadium, not all clubs can fill 30/40/50k every game.

[Dracoro]

Note there are loads of upgraded all stadiums need to play in PL, things like electronic advertising boardings around pitch, VAR camera points etc...

[V8covin]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Yes. The huge amounts of TV money that flows into the PL has paid for stadium upgrades, new stadiums, and some of the world's best players coming to England to play. Glasgow Rangers are arguably a bigger club that City, so why aren't they signing Haaland, Silva et al and thrashing Real Madrid 4-0?

Because the Arabs bought Man C not Rangers.....or any other club that isn't Man C.
English football has sold it's soul for foreign money

[GT03ROB]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Yes. The huge amounts of TV money that flows into the PL has paid for stadium upgrades, new stadiums, and some of the world's best players coming to England to play. Glasgow Rangers are arguably a bigger club that City, so why aren't they signing Haaland, Silva et al and thrashing Real Madrid 4-0?

Because they play in a tin pot non-competitive league. which nobody but Celtic or Rangers have won for 40 years! The world isn't interested because it's a 2 horse race every year. The typical gap from winners to 3rd IE the rest other than celtic or rangers is 30-40 points.

The Englissh Premier League retains a semblence of competitiveness, Albeit ManC need to some serious competition for the title.

[craigjm]

GT03ROB said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Yes. The huge amounts of TV money that flows into the PL has paid for stadium upgrades, new stadiums, and some of the world's best players coming to England to play. Glasgow Rangers are arguably a bigger club that City, so why aren't they signing Haaland, Silva et al and thrashing Real Madrid 4-0?

Because they play in a tin pot non-competitive league. which nobody but Celtic or Rangers have won for 40 years! The world isn't interested because it's a 2 horse race every year. The typical gap from winners to 3rd IE the rest other than celtic or rangers is 30-40 points.

The Englissh Premier League retains a semblence of competitiveness, Albeit ManC need to some serious competition for the title.

I’ve always thought that and wondered why they don’t merge the English and Scottish leagues so rangers and Celtic could be (possibly) in the premier league

[V8covin]

craigjm said:

I’ve always thought that and wondered why they don’t merge the English and Scottish leagues so rangers and Celtic could be (possibly) in the premier league

Scottish football would cease to exist as a professional game without Celtic and Rangers.
The English game doesn't need Celtic and Rangers.

[smn159]

V8covin said:

craigjm said:

I’ve always thought that and wondered why they don’t merge the English and Scottish leagues so rangers and Celtic could be (possibly) in the premier league

Scottish football would cease to exist as a professional game without Celtic and Rangers.
The English game doesn't need Celtic and Rangers.

I doubt that many police forces would be keen on the idea either

[alfa phil]

essayer said:

As a Watford fan obviously it kills me, but good luck to them, can’t complain about smaller clubs succeeding and making it up to the Premier League (if they do!)

Maybe they’ll ground share with MK Dons, doesn’t seem to make sense spending £10m upgrading a stadium if they’re building a new one

We’ll lend them the Harry Potter coaches

Good idea MKDons stadium knocks spots off some premiership grounds.
10miles between them, think the only fixture the dons will do well on is Wrexham

[PorscheMont]

I have 4 VIP Club Wembley tickets for the Championship Play Off Final Luton v Coventry if anybody is interested.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

GT03ROB said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Yes. The huge amounts of TV money that flows into the PL has paid for stadium upgrades, new stadiums, and some of the world's best players coming to England to play. Glasgow Rangers are arguably a bigger club that City, so why aren't they signing Haaland, Silva et al and thrashing Real Madrid 4-0?

Because they play in a tin pot non-competitive league. which nobody but Celtic or Rangers have won for 40 years! The world isn't interested because it's a 2 horse race every year. The typical gap from winners to 3rd IE the rest other than celtic or rangers is 30-40 points.

The Englissh Premier League retains a semblence of competitiveness, Albeit ManC need to some serious competition for the title.

The Bundesliga is dominated by Bayern, with occasional opposition from Dortmund. Seems to have faired better than the Scottish league.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

V8covin said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Yes. The huge amounts of TV money that flows into the PL has paid for stadium upgrades, new stadiums, and some of the world's best players coming to England to play. Glasgow Rangers are arguably a bigger club that City, so why aren't they signing Haaland, Silva et al and thrashing Real Madrid 4-0?

Because the Arabs bought Man C not Rangers.....or any other club that isn't Man C.
English football has sold it's soul for foreign money

Oh, is that why. And I suppose it was just an accident that they bought a club in the PL, as opposed to the Scottish league. And Man City weren't even a top 4 club when the Arabs bought them. Perhaps they tried to buy Kilmarnock, or Dundee Utd first, but couldn't get the deal done.

[Pete-mojsh]

PorscheMont said:

I have 4 VIP Club Wembley tickets for the Championship Play Off Final Luton v Coventry if anybody is interested.

Dare I ask how much? I need two tickets but it looks like the whole allocation will be sold out tomorrow and my tier of booking doesn't open until Monday.

[Portofino]

Watched the Sunderland game (My 2nd Team) & Luton deserved it fair & square. A great season for Sunderland all things considered, just need to push on next year.

Hope Luton do it, would love to see them in the Prem. Imagine the looks on the premier league stars turning up at ‘The Keny’!