The State of Midlands football

[TightEnd]

Next season Aston Villa will be the only team in the Premiership between Reading and Manchester


In the Championship and below will be the following teams, all well supported, mostly in excellent new stadia and all with rich heritages


WBA
Birmingham
Wolves
Stoke
Leicester
Forest
Derby
Notts Co
Coventry

All are, to one degree and another, underperforming.

Even Villa themselves, hamstrung by Deadly Doug, are a shadow of the contenders they were 15-20 years ago

What can we put this down to? Certainly several clubs have been badly run...Forest for example . Also there have been a lot of bad managers. Most clubs now are financially stable but by the same token are unable to compete with the real big spenders


Yet there exists in the Midlands region huge catchment areas for football


Is this just a temporary thing? What theories would you suggest I look at to explain this state of affairs?

[NoflopsHomer]

Oi!!!!

Stafford Rangers just made it up to the conference... 

[Sheriff Fatman]

The one notable thing about that list is that at least 6 of them have demonstrated a "we're a big club with a God-given right to be in the Premiership" attitude (prevalent in both management and supporters) during my travels around the grounds in recent years.

Very few things have given me as much pleasure in recent years as seeing them all get a dose of 'reality'.  I love the fact that clubs such as Wigan and Reading are doing so well.  It helps maintain the glimmer of hope amongst all of us who support 'small' clubs.

The 2 exceptions for me in that list are Leicester and Notts County.  Coventry were a borderline case as they at least had a record of 30-odd consecutive years in the top flight to back up their argument at the time.

Sheriff

[ifm]

I think you'll find Birmingham are top of that list.

I think the real problem is investment.
Most of the teams simply don't have the money (V** included), others (Blues) are obsessed with good financial management.
This is not a bad thing in itself but the truth is you need to go into the red to compete at a decent level in football, or have a billionaire investor willing to throw money away knowing there is little chance of return.
Blues have the Gold brothers and Sullivan, their combined fortune is imense but they are very shy with the chequebook and the club as a whole are loathe to pay high wages and insist on clauses in contracts allowing for wage reductions etc. in the event of failure.
You just don't get the better players that way, or managers.


EDIT: Wigan ARE a big club.

[Nem]

Birmingham spent money, it's just that their signings either didn't perform or they were injured for long periods.

[jezza777]

I agree with IFM . Follow thw money and you have your answer.

[ifm]

Birmingham spent money, it's just that their signings either didn't perform or they were injured for long periods.

WHAT?

WHEN?

[The Baron]

Blues are a bad example as you guys have spent money. As have Villa actually.

Look at Everton. Shoe string budget - champions league place last year. Money means a lot in the very long run but in the short run good mangement is so much more important.

[Nem]

Compare Brum's spending with :

Fulham, Boro, Sunderland, Wigan, West Ham, Man City, Charlton and maybe even Everton and I'm pretty sure that Brum have spent as much as any of them clubs in the past 3-4 seasons.

[Nem]

EDIT: Wigan ARE a big club.

[bobby1]

The one notable thing about that list is that at least 6 of them have demonstrated a "we're a big club with a God-given right to be in the Premiership" attitude (prevalent in both management and supporters) during my travels around the grounds in recent years.

Very few things have given me as much pleasure in recent years as seeing them all get a dose of 'reality'.  I love the fact that clubs such as Wigan and Reading are doing so well.  It helps maintain the glimmer of hope amongst all of us who support 'small' clubs.

The 2 exceptions for me in that list are Leicester and Notts County.  Coventry were a borderline case as they at least had a record of 30-odd consecutive years in the top flight to back up their argument at the time.

Sheriff

ahem......Sheff Utd Sheriff!!....finally back in the Premier league and the main reason is one you highlighted in your post. Ten years ago our new board refused to spend big amounts on transfer fees, in fact we sold the crown jewels for about 2 seasons running. This led to frustration and hatred amongst the fans but what we didnt realise then was the board saw the signs around football before many other clubs did. We were battening down the hatches and running our club in a business like way at least 3 years before a lot of clubs began to get into trouble.

We sold two players in that time that highlighted the way football was going Lee Morris to Derby for 3million, he had played about 30 games for us and later Curtis Woodhouse to Birmingham for 1 million. You might have caught Woodhouse playing for Grimsby in the play offs but he is about to retire from football to take up boxing.

The money being spent on fees and wages back then was stupid and after years of good management we are reaping the rewards.....in my opinion this covers what Tighty asked and you aluded to, small to medium clubs trying to grow into Premiership stalwarts by spending big and talking the talk without having the nous to run things on a professional basis. The only one that does is Deadly Doug and all he gets is stick....Villa fans should have a look around them at their rivals and realise it would be the easiest thing in the world for him to run the risk of going down the Coventry, Leicester and Derby route to ruin.

[redsimon]

The one notable thing about that list is that at least 6 of them have demonstrated a "we're a big club with a God-given right to be in the Premiership" attitude (prevalent in both management and supporters) during my travels around the grounds in recent years.

Whilst some teams fans still think its 1984 and the Miners Strike is still on...

[Sheriff Fatman]

The one notable thing about that list is that at least 6 of them have demonstrated a "we're a big club with a God-given right to be in the Premiership" attitude (prevalent in both management and supporters) during my travels around the grounds in recent years.

Whilst some teams fans still think its 1984 and the Miners Strike is still on...

Looks like we touched a nerve there if that's the best response you can come up with!