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The Premiership: A top 4 league
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I saw an article that sparked a little thought today. Check this out. In it, Pompey manager Harry Redknapp, after playing both Chelsea and Manchester United to begin his season says that the two clubs will be in the top spots of the Premier League table again this year.
He then is quoted in that Guardian article as saying “Arsenal and Liverpool have the players to push United and Chelsea hard but those two are just too strong at the moment, they have too many options.”
Now I know Man United, the Blues, the Gunners and Liverpool usually occupy the top four spots (although Liverpool, by rule, never sits at the top) of the table. But I wanted to look up exactly how often that happens. There has to be some variance. Four out of the last five seasons have seen those four teams in the Top 4, and in the one season that didn’t happen, it was because Liverpool was in fifth place and not fourth.
And not since the 2002-03 season has a team other than those four made the Top 3 (Newcastle).
The advent of the “mega-club” happened many years ago (mainly when the Premier League broke away from the rest of the Football League and screwed over all the smaller clubs by taking all the money), and obviously we will not be going back to the simpler era before that. These clubs, and not just English clubs, are becoming brand names all throughout the world.
But it’s still sad that a respected manager like Redknapp could say something like that after the season’s first two games, when optimism is presumably still at its highest point. Because that’s the reality – clubs outside of those Top 4 might get lucky and advance far in the FA Cup, the Carling Cup, the UEFA Cup or what have you. Or maybe someone can sneak into fourth place (and there’s always the Champions League if you’re Liverpool). But over the course of an entire 38-game season, the money separates itself out.
Now the Premier League is incredibly entertaining soccer, and with some exception, upsets are usually possible, even against the bigger clubs. But the money situation is such that the smaller teams have little chance of Premier League success and advancement. With how much money is in the game, will we ever see real parity again over a full season barring a salary cap of some type? And does it lessen the enjoyment at all that you could pencil in the Top 4 before the season starts and most likely hit it square on?
Perhaps it doesn’t, because even though you know who those Top 4 are, the games are all entertaining and almost none of them are gimmees. And the quality of play is so high at the top thanks to all the wonderful talent the money brings in, which is fun to watch and results in great Champions League matchups later on in the season.
I just got done with Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby (I know, I know, how could I not have read it). Will we ever see something like what he wrote about with such passion – a Premier League title celebration for the ages after 18 years of disappointment? Maybe if Liverpool finally breaks through, but how about after that?
What about for you, does the lack of variety at the top of the table each season annoy you? Do you wish there was a little more parity that would allow for more unexpected developments each season? How about if you support someone outside of the Top 4, is it depressing?
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