Is The Championship’s Unpredictability a Downfall for The Premier League?

[Smiley Culture]

The Championship is famed for its unpredictable nature and how anyone can, on their day, beat anybody, but after Norwich’s promotion last night, I was wondering if the unpredictable nature of the league, that can see most sides promoted, has a detrimental effect on the Premier League. 

Decided to look back on five seasons and see what happened to each team;

Leicester City - have stayed in the Premier League. 

Burnley - Finished 19th, got promoted again and have been in the Premier League since, with a 16th and 7th finish. 

QPR - Relegated after one season, not to be seen of since. Not even close to a return in fact.

Bournemouth - Have hung around but are seemingly happy to stay up year in, year out and nothing more. 

Watford - A bit better than Bournemouth but not much to write home about, barring this year. 

Norwich City - Yo-yo club. Went straight back down and are now on their way back. 

Boro - Straight back down and were awful. 

Hull - Big deal they even got up, relegated and are punching above their weight now under rubbish owners. 

Newcastle United - Still here but let’s be honest, they’re not offering much due to the circumstances they find themselves in due to the owner. 

Brighton & Hove Albion - They’re rubbish, aren’t they? Can’t score, don’t win many, just a bit boring. 

Huddersfield Town - Going down, offered very little despite scraping survival last year. 

Wolves - Load of money behind them, staying around for a while. 

Cardiff - Probably going down but it was a hell of an achievement that they got to the Premier League. 

Fulham - Awful, just awful. 

Thoughts?

[Walker]

I feel that it’s a case of marginality. Many teams in the Championship are too good for the Championship but find themselves to be too bad for the Premier League. The difference in resources between Norwich and Sheffield United compared to a fairly established EPL team like Brighton is phenomenal. No matter how hard they push, they’re very unlikely to survive for more than two seconds unless they find a sudden source of income. Money doesn’t buy you what it used to, and in that sense the clubs from the Championship also hit a wall. The Championship may well take a lot of grit to come out of - look at Stoke and Swansea - but the point of the matter is that the teams there stand no chance against the emerging big guns of English football.

I wouldn’t call the Championship a step down entirely. In terms of players and resources it definitely is. But in terms of competitiveness and unpredictability, I’d say it’s one of the better leagues out there.

[RandoEFC+]

I don't really get the argument. There's a certain standard of club whose natural level is lower Premier League to upper Championship. If that group of teams was a bit smaller making it more predictable who would come up, you'd just have the same standard of clubs having the same lack of impact as they are now, just less of them.

If anything it's better for the league to see different teams like Huddersfield and Brighton spend a couple of seasons in the top flight rather than the same predictable carousel of Norwich, West Brom, Fulham, Newcastle, Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Cardiff bouncing up and down.

[Dan+]

How on earth do we only get 'stayed in the league' we literally won the fucker

[Harry]

Staying in the Premier league is a big goal that spurs on most clubs but arguably you don't get the extra money in time to invest towards success in the following season.