Is "survival football" attractive?

[Ian]

I remember going to watch Bolton v Fulham for 2 consecutive seasons because a friend had corporate at Bolton. It was so bad that I had my excuse ready for the third invite. Now I was probably guilty of remembering the days of Bolton with John McGinlay and Owen Coyle upfront when I accepted - beating Arsenal et al if I remember correctly but believe me this was awful football.

[keng38]

As a Burnley fan, tipped for relegation at the start of this season, smallest squad size, sold our best asset to QPR just before our first game, no money.
We have it all to lose with 8 games left and 10 points clear of third place.
We aspire to become part of the elite, like we did a few years ago.
The buzz around the area stayed long after we dropped back down, and the town itself did benefit too.
The club had no intention of trying to stay up and took the money and ran.
This time may be different if we go up.
Bloody good effort and worthy of sporting achievement of the year award!

[Ian]

Totally agree - manager of the season already - (followed by Keith Hill at Rochdale) - will be glued to the radio at 12.15pm - hoping they win (3-0 would put them top but 1-0 will do)

But it was my future son-in-law who is a big Burnley fan who made me think to write this post as he was the one who said "if we go up it will be a bit of fun and we might stay up but if we come down again - hey ho - off we go - to try and go up again"

I was quite surprised to say the least that his expectations were realistic - not something you see very often! But you can't ignore the fact that he has been a happy chappy virtually every week this season (only 3 losses - best record in the 4 divisions there) but that euphoria will likely be replaced by a siege mentality next year with only a few wins and more importantly a different style (after the first few games) to stay up.

I do remember Blackpool sticking to their principals and they must have had some fun but few do.

[Scunner]

The tragedy of all this is the fact that the manager who narrowly missed out on promotion and stays in the Championship for 2 seasons has a good chance of keeping his job. The manager who excels and gains promotion one season, only to fall straight out next, will probably pay with his job.

[Andrew H]

As a palace season ticket holder for more than 30 years do I prefer struggling in premiership? Too right I do Chelsea today is so much better than the prospect of Yeovil  away next year.  look out for us on "Survival Sunday "  in May We will survive [just!]

[Ian]

As a palace season ticket holder for more than 30 years do I prefer struggling in premiership? Too right I do Chelsea today is so much better than the prospect of Yeovil  away next year.  look out for us on "Survival Sunday "  in May We will survive [just!]

Lol - I think you might just survive because you have a manager who knows how to do it and I hope he has learned that you need to play better football - if the manager wants to keep his job.

West Brom / Swansea / Norwich have all played some decent football at times so I hope they all stay up :-)

[SteveJ]

would that be the ex-manager of "stuggling" Stoke City by any chance?   

[Ian]

Yes - he knows how to survive but would you pay to watch it week in - week out?

I would not pay for a season ticket at a team managed by Mark Hughes / Big Sam or Tony Pullis - but all three will likely keep you up - that is the point.

There is a case for it in your first season or two (West Ham must be in the Premiership to go to their new stadium so it is a calculated risk) but eventually you want to watch your team play football.

Southampton are one place above Stoke - now if you asked any football neutral where would you like to spend your season - watching Southampton or watching Stoke - say no more............ 

[SteveJ]

Ian - to be honest I'm not sure what your point is any longer. You started this thread by asking us if "survival football" was attractive, and your last post intimates that that the higher up the table the more 'attractive' the style of play must be.

So, let me see if I've got this right?  - Stoke (and therefore all the teams below them)  play "unattractive survival football" and Southhampton (and therefore all the teams above them) do not. Well, if nothing else, we've discovered where the cut off point is.

I know you said "say no more" but given an unobligated chance to watch Southampton or Stoke every week I'd say that I'd be more entertained at Stoke. I would go further and suggest that given a free choice most PL players would prefer to play away at Southampton than away at Stoke.   

I'm a ManU fan and I'd rather see them win 1-0 by scoring in the 90th minute of an dour battle than see them lose 6-5 in an end to end thriller. No-one give a sh*t if their team won the title by grinding out a load of 1-0 wins, they just celebrate that they won the title. As we say up t'North "ut victor spolia"   

[Ian]

Southampton or Stoke today - let me think about that?

Oh and the question was:

So do Sunderland, Hull, Palace, West Brom, Norwich, Cardiff, Stoke, West Ham supporters enjoy being in the Prem???

And I suspect Andrew H does today :-)