My Eyebrows Almost Touch My Chin!
With debt in the 60M range, and sitting just a couple of spots above the drop zone SF Bolton want to take their ball and go home, or at least go someplace safe.
Staring at perhaps a Leeds Utd. type situation if they were to get relegated, Bolton chairman Phil Gartside thinks it would be a nifty idea to just create himself a second Premier League whence he couldn’t get relegated. Genius? No.
Gartside floated the idea last year, but it was roundly ignored because he was favoring a ‘closed shop’ with no relegation or promotion. This time around he’s more flexible. But that doesn’t make the idea any less idiotic.
According to Gartside: “The gap between Premier League revenues and those of the Championship continues to widen and I believe a fear factor is beginning to emerge amongst Premier League clubs outside the top few.”
So creating a second tier of the Premier League addresses this how? Now you’ve just inserted another stratum at which there will still be a massive drop off in revenue. And if you isolate the top teams, they’ll figure out a way to keep even more of the money they are bringing in for the ‘lesser’ teams.
Additionally, Gartside wants to bring in Rangers and Celtic to this EPL II. Sure those clubs have great history and rabid fan bases, but their quality is trending to MLS-levels. How that helps create a league people want to watch isn’t exactly clear.
On the plus side, SFB can probably bank on support from Hull City. That club is more f**ked than even Bolton.
Every time we note his nefarious plan, he seems to reinforce his desire to make it happen. I cannot stand Gartside.
The title of this post is misleading. I thought maybe Bolton was coming out in favor of gay marriage. That’s about the one thing Stupid F**king Bolton would do that I’d support.
Sort of why I’m impressed with Burnley. All the pre-season critics said they didn’t do enough to modify the squad into a EPL team (read: spend money), but I’m thinking they figured all they had to do was be better than the 4-5 EPL teams that are barely above Colaship quality to being with.
So put together an economical squad that can defend Turf Moor, and maybe nick a point or two on the road and you get to stay in the top flight.
yeah, PR, but if they keep their place for next season, can Burnley avoid doing a Fool Brown and splashing way too much nouveau money at a ton of ehhh strikers?
I’d love to see Burnley jam econo and still stay up, but part of me thinks they might feel the second season of TV money burn a hole in their pockets.
And to Phil Gartside- maybe all those years of Ivan Campo being the centerpiece of the team were a bad idea. You think?
If they are smart they will stick to the same model (just be better than the 3rd worst team) for a couplathree years and build up a little slush fund. Then they can maybe make a few pricier acquisitions.
Difference between Burnley and Hull is simple: Hull wanted to be glamorous, but couldn’t be on their scale. To them, glamour meant throwing money at washed-up former “stars” that people had heard of. I mean, really, Daniel Cousin? Vennegoor of Hesselink? Trying to keep up with the Joneses, but on a a laughably inferior scale. Then, the bubble burst. Burnley has no such pretense. Simply stick with what they have, bc even next season, they only need to outspend and outmatch the 3 teams entering the fray.
As I said, JT, a bunch of ehhh strikers.
Best thing they could have done was keep Turner, bring in Jozy and Ghilas, and maybe go hard after Cattermole or another similarly scrappy center mid (especially with Jimmy Bullard’s Glass Knee in the squad). Hell, Phillip of Orange could have had NRC for cheap at the end of the window if he really wanted.
Shouldn’t Stoke be included in this conversation? And, to a lesser extent, Sunderland?
Both have spent, but they have spent wisely and always paid for what they could afford. The result has been two scrappy teams that are always a threat to get points from the Top 6 (I’m being kind to Liverpool) and play tough at home. It’s a good business model, and a better competitive model.
Think the difference between 12th and 16th last season was like 3 points. So Stoke could have easily been much closer to relegation if anyone could have figured out how to defend Rory Delap sooner.
As for Sunderland, all credit goes to Steve Bruce and Darren Bent (but that’s this season). The latter has flourished under the former. Yes, I do have a firm grasp of the obvious.
ef, Sunderland benefitted greatly from Roy Keane asking “am I the right man for the Hoovering today?” Because otherwise, it would be an all-Northeast fight for promotion in the Colaship, and the Prem would still have Tony Mowbray to kick around.