Sorry, your club has no right to be in the Premier League
Today I want to talk about the Gentlemen’s club that each level of football in England pretends to be. Should any team not deemed worthy of admittance to their particular club have the temerity to be successful and gain promotion to join them, they will be met with criticism, hilarity and condescending pity wherever they go.
The Crystal Palace Chairman Simon Jordan recently made an outrageous comment that Watford last season and Derby currently, have embarrassed the Championship by being so poor in the Premier League. These clubs have had desperately disappointing seasons and have obviously been out of their depth, but that does not make them an embarrassment.
Both Derby and Watford before them were in the Premier League because they deserved to be. They had managed to finish in a play-off place over the long hard season and had then won the pressurized knock-out play-off tournament to earn the right to pit their wits against the big boys.
The fact that they have been found wanting is because the other teams are good and better than them, not because they are an embarrassment. Somebody has to finish bottom.
I don’t remember anyone saying that Leeds or Nottingham Forest or Coventry or Southampton were an embarrassment when they went down. I don’t suppose Bolton will be an embarrassment this season if they go down. Why is that? Well it’s because they are members of the club. They are Premiership clubs who apparently deserve to belong at the top of the game.
I well remember Watford’s climb through the leagues in the Seventies and Eighties. We reached the top tier for the first time in our history. In that first season in the old first division we were absolutely annihilated by the media and by other managers in the top league. We were dirty, rough and played ‘horrible’ football. We were a disgrace. Our ground was awful and our supporters even worse. Actually, we finished second in the league behind Liverpool and the forty-two games we played produced one hundred and thirty one goals.
The fact was that the top people in the game and the media simply didn’t want little unfashionable Watford at the top table. We upset them and disrupted them. We were quite simply gate-crashers and they didn’t like it.
Watford last season, Derby this season, Barnsley, Bradford and others before that have all been dismissed as laughable. They have become a joke with the ‘experts’ on television. The pundits moan when they are allocated one of their games to cover and spend the whole time telling everyone how bad the side are and what an ‘embarrassment’ they are.
It is wrong and unfair. The teams have all been there on merit and deserve respect for what they have achieved.
The reason I have been reminded to write this piece is the fact that my other team, Salisbury City, are going through a similar thing in the Blue Square Premier League. Two promotions in two years have taken Salisbury to the top level of non-league football, the highest position they have ever attained. Despite being most people’s pre-season favourites for relegation, City have performed remarkably well and currently sit comfortably in tenth place.
Despite their fine performances in the league you still get the impression that the big boys of the none league game are looking down their noses at Salisbury. They are upstarts and shouldn’t be playing at this level. The team are dirty and rough and they play ‘horrible’ football. They are a disgrace. Their ground is awful and their fans are even worse. Have I said that before?
The fact is that Salisbury have shown they are more than capable of playing at this level. The ground isn’t great, but only two years ago, they were playing in the Southern League. To get the ground up to the required standard was a remarkable achievement.
With average attendances of around 1600, the support is not too bad. It’s not too many years ago that a crowd of 500 was regarded as big. With having success and more fans comes some problems. The clubs infra-structure has to adapt quickly and that is a major test. It also means that matters like crowd segregation and policing come into play, something that rarely affected Salisbury prior to this season.
There is outrage that some young Salisbury fans sing disrespectful and crude songs, and occasionally get involved in scuffles with opposition fans. I’m not condoning either of these things, but this is the real world and it happens. If you put any group of 1600 people together in any walk of life in any country in the world, there will be two or three idiots who want to cause trouble.
Teams who ‘over achieve’ such as Watford in the Eighties and Derby and Salisbury this season have so many things to cope with. It is not just a matter of trying to win games, it is a matter of coming to terms with so many things that playing at a higher level entails.
It would be nice if the existing members of the Gentlemen’s club would welcome their newcomers with open arms, recognise that they deserve to be there, and congratulate them on their success.
Teams coming up from below have to do all they can to survive with the big boys. They generally do not have players with the necessary ability to take teams on at a test of skill, pace and ability, so working hard and trying to ruffle a few feathers is an obvious way to try to compete.
Well the bad news for the establishment in the top league and the top of the non-league is that Watford might be back in the big league next season and Salisbury City will be in the Blue Square Premier and might well be challenging to go up.
Although not particularly proud of the football Watford are playing this season, I am hugely proud to call myself a supporter of both clubs. Everyone else will have to learn to put up with us I’m afraid. If you don’t like it, tough.
We’ve got as much right to be members of these exclusive gentleman’s clubs as anybody else.
Graham Fisher writes at Views of a fan. Article originally written for Soccer News.
Topics: English Championship, English Premier League, Watford
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Too long, waaay to long mate.
I get the jist, nice angle there on your views.
April 18th, 2008 @ 10:10Excellent article Graham. How long does it take to become a “Premiership Club”, i wonder. Are Wigan and Reading now “Premiership clubs”? Bolton are considered in that bracket now, but when and how did that happen? I clearly remember beating Bolton at Wembley in in the playoff final with that Nicky Wright overhead kick but we’ve never been a “Premiership club”.
April 18th, 2008 @ 10:16I agree, but you have to admit that Dervy were utterly dismal this season. I’m not saying they are an embarassment, because they worked hard to reach the Premier League, but even their chairman said they had been promoted too early. That must say something. And you said Derby overachieved this season- you call losing 80% of your games and conceding 3 per game and getting relegated in last spot with 5 or so games left overachieving? Mark your words.
April 18th, 2008 @ 10:42Sorry, I meant Derby not Dervy.
April 18th, 2008 @ 10:46Fair point GT, I probably meant last season!
April 18th, 2008 @ 11:40Derby have been dire this season and, as has been pointed out elsewhere many a time, arrived in the Premier League too early. I think more than anything else it shows the widening gap between those already in the Premiership and the hopefuls from the Championship.
But yes, any club that gets promotion to the top flight has earned its place in the Premiership. Even Plymouth Argyle.
I’ve been really impressed with Salisbury this season. They’re a very well-organised side who play a direct game, but know how to move the ball around. If Exeter don’t get promoted then I’m hoping I can make the Salisbury trip next season. Next season will be key for them – how many times have we seen a club get a promotion, punch above their expected weight, only to struggle the season after.
A lot of the ex-league club supporters do look down their nose at the smaller teams, although I’ve not found anybody who has been too critical of Salisbury. Histon are a slightly different matter – not for their style of play – but their long-term sustainability at this level. What the Stutes have achieved on the pitch has defied expectations. Off the pitch, I think they may struggle to become mainstays in the non-league top flight.
April 18th, 2008 @ 11:52Derby have been poor, poorer than we were last year – remember our heaviest defeat was 4 – 0 at Old Trafford. Derby have lost 6 – 0 three or four times this season. So i have to disagree with you Gary – you’re subscribing to the “Premiership clubs” union yourself when you say how it shows the widening gap between Premiership “mainstays” and Championship. I don’t think Derby would have finished above mid-table in Champ. this season judging by how they’ve played and, as a Watford fan, I’d fancy our chances against most of the bottom half of the Prem. (certainly Middlesb’gh down). The gap you talk of is not between the Champ. and the Prem. It’s halfway up the Prem. – West Ham are on the benchmark.
April 18th, 2008 @ 16:53watford came up and gave alot of the so called elite prem league clubs a run for their money. the elite Everton needed a stupid referee and a blind linesman idiotic decision to award them a last minute penalty when the ball clearly hit the head of a Watford defender instead of the hand which gave THE bLUES ALL 3 POINTS.Watford then played old fashioned football and caused alot of the ELITES to sweat buckets before the final whistle was blown. the Elites have million and millions to built their team but Watford won promotion in their own rights came into the premiership and did what they did and gave all they can. some had luck like Sunderland and Ipswich and some didnt like Watford and Derby. but luck or no luck they played by the rules over the course of a long hard 46 game championship season and earned their rights to be among the top. Bradford beat ARSENAL and CHELSEA AND LIVERPOOL and i still remember a clown shaving his head bald cuz he betted on his crowning glory that Bradford would go down the vey first season and they didnt, bARNSLEY made the legendary schmicheal look like a fool and dumbed Man Utd out of the FA CUP. Chelsea was trashed by Sunderland 4-1 during the very first season on the top flight. even man utd could only manage a draw with them with their multi millions squad. whatever position these minnows finish end of the season, 3 cheers to them for coming and hitting everyone with their best shot….hip hip hooray
April 18th, 2008 @ 18:31It’s a good article as always, Graham, and you make some good points but it’s a little bit conspiracy theory/paranoia don’t you think? Perhaps people didn’t like Watford in the Eighties because you were rough and long-ball? Those are valid reasons to dislike a team, in my opinion.
I think Simon Jordan had a point, even if he didn’t know it. Clubs like Derby and Watford have gained promotion validly on the back of longball football at the expense of footballing teams like West Brom, but most Premiership teams will pick a direct team apart easily, so they just get relegated again. Reading came up on the back of good football and did excellently in the Premiership. So even though these teams deserve to be where they are, people have good reasons for not wanting them there. Derby have hardly improved the Premier League, have they?
And while we’re talking about embarrasments, surely Sunderland of two years ago qualify. Can’t believe noone’s mentioned them.
April 19th, 2008 @ 02:43Good article
However, I’m a little concerned that anyone could take anything that comes out of Simon Jordan’s mouth seriously.
April 20th, 2008 @ 13:34