Life in the Championship vs life in the Premier League.

Posted on July 1st, 2010 | 54 Comments |

One of THE memorable scenes from last season.
One of THE memorable scenes from last season.
Earlier on I found my mind wandering, as it often does, but this time the smutty thoughts were firmly on the backburner as I found myself thinking about the fortunes of my team, both past and present.

Newcastle United are back in the big time. But for for me, departing the Championship has left me with a tinge of sadness, and a tinge of fear as I ponder what is to come next season.

This is not a rubbishing of my teams chances in the Premier League next season, in fact I believe we have it in us to stop up without massive investment. Rose-tinted? Perhaps, but it is what I believe we can do in what I believe is a very much over-hyped Premier League. The point that I am trying to look at here is the change in mindset between life in the Championship and life in the Premier League, and which mindset is better from a fans perspective.

I am chuffed to bits that we are not far off kicking off a new Premier League season, with us in it this time. I think every fan wants to see their team competing against the best, they want to see the Manchester United’s and the Chelsea’s coming to their home ground.

But with each game against the elite of English football comes a certain air of unexpectance, a notion that perhaps we would be lucky to get anything out of the game before it has even kicked off, which when you look at the strength of the teams at the top of the league then it is perhaps unsurprising that fans feel like that.

Games like that are pretty much ‘write-off’ games, not just for us, but for a fairly high percentage of the rest of the teams in the Premier League also. In fact you only have to look at Wolves at Manchester United last season to get where I am coming from. That is not to say that teams won’t try in these games, of course they will, but it is more a case of teams expecting to lose, but anything else is a bonus kind of thing.

I think the majority of us understand that free flowing attacking football will not be on the agenda for us next season, and that the main focus will be to get as many points we can and to ensure we survive first and foremost. That is all well and good, and I will be over the moon if we do survive given the crap we are being put through at the minute, but it isn’t very exciting is it?

This is where life in the Championship kicks in. Granted, some of our football was awful last season, although it did improve after Christmas in fairness, but there was always a feeling going into every game that we could win it, and we did for the majority of the time.

Nothing beats the feeling of following a winning team, and that sticks in any league and at any level. That is what the Championship gave us, that feel-good factor. Sure, trips to Scunthorpe and Doncaster may not be as exotic as trips to London, but it didn’t matter as we had that feel-good factor that comes with following a winning team.

I guess my long point made short is, what is better for you as a fan? Do you prefer to see our team pitting their wits against the elite in the Premier League whilst knowing full well that we aren’t going to get results as frequently as we did last season? Or do you prefer life in the Championship, with the knowledge that we would be favourites for most games and stood a good chance of getting a result in every game we turn up for?

The ultimate answer would be a mixture of both. I would love to go into the Premier League with the knowledge that we stood a good chance of getting results as frequently as we did in the Championship. Let’s face it though, that IS wishful thinking!

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:

Posted on by toonsy in category: General miscellany and NUFC 'Blog and Poll and Promotion and Thoughts and reflections and Toonsy , with tags: ,
Comment on this post

54 Responses

  1. Last year we had the game without the glamour. It was a good reminder of what football is all about and of course winning is a great way to spend a season. I think we have a better team than we did last year and the year before. Carroll, Nolan, Barton, Collo, Enrique and roughtledge are all finding their spots in the team and on the pitch and playing together as a unit. If we can keep this going next season despite the losses well in good stead.

  2. Premiership, we are back and I bloody love it. This club is my club……..

  3. AYe,1&2 ditto……I loved it just loved it in the championship but the Prem is the only place to be.
    We had to go up first time as if we hadn’t at least half the current team would have left imo then we would have been losing in the championship :-(
    Was our football really so bad as some have made out in the past,like you said Toonsy before Xmas it wasn’t the best but we were playing it safe whilst finding our feet.But we finished easliy top of the league,werent we also top scorers and concede the least(?) how bad could it have been? I enjoyed,the football,craic with real fans from other clubs who like us support their team for love not glory and the away days.I can’t wait for next season tho,bring it on.

  4. Alreet boys? Not been on for a while.

    Just seen Bolton have signed Robbie Blake! For goodness sake we should be able to cream people like that this season shouldnt we?

  6. The morale and great dressing room will soon turn into chaos once we take a few heavy defeats….easy to smile when the going is good.
    I see few points being picked up,few goals scored and plenty conceded and CH sacked by xmas.

    Just wish Big Mick would see the bigger picture and invest in the squad…bored of harping on about it to be honest and bored of reading newsnow everyday and being so underwhelmed I fall asleep reading it zzzzzzzzzz wake me when it’s showtime.

  8. Learn to share MO…although I can’t see there being much Morale left after we have been bitch slapped by some premiership heavy weights :lol:

  9. I think getting momentum is the biggest thing if we get off to a good start and IMO Man Utd and Everton away are write offs but other than that i could see us doing pretty well for the first couple of months certainly at home.

    If you look at Birmingham last season they never had a squad anything like good enough to finish 9th but they got on a run of decent results and when their confidence was high took points from and won matches nobody would have backed them in at the start of the season.

    If we can win our home games against either sides who will be scrapping at the bottom or sides who are shite away from home and pinch the odd point off the big boys, Then i think we will stay up easily.

  10. SJT – I would hazard a guess that plenty of people are tired and bored of reading the same old drivel from you day after day.

    You used to contribute to the blog with some decent comments but lately you’ve turned into a characature of your former self, like ed speed or troy stavers, and I know what you’re gonna say – the fat man drove me to it. :rolls:

    Grow a set and man up will ya ffs!

  11. the simple fact is we got played off the park by alot of teams last season,just the teams couldnt put away there chances….i have been saying all along if there is minimal investment its going to be a nightmare season with more heart ache at the end of it.LET THE CHAOS CONTINUE

  12. hadaway and sh!te man, hitman.

    you could probably count on one hand the number of games where we got played off the park.

    the simple FACT id we scored more goals, conceded fewer goals and won more games than any other team by a distance. That doesn’t happen by dumb luck.

    aye there were plenty of scrapping, ugly performances where we dug in and got a result, but so what!? sometimes you have to learn to win ugly before you can win pretty – walk before run and all that sh!te.

    give the team and the manager a break will ya’s. dee me fcuking swede sometimes you lot.

  13. TC,you aint got a clue m8..
    Where going to struggle big time next season,but if your happy with that thats your choice,just like its mine not to be.

  14. Having seen the world cup guys, i dunno if premiership footy is good for us or not . in the CCL we won games we had good team spirit , and we looked skillful, kept possession for long periods, and the fans loved it at the top.
    as a bottom six team will we endure such a faith and spirit as the CCL . I think it will be tough , and not as entirely enjoyable as the last season, it will be interesting to see how long CH will last if we are firmly at the bottom….

  15. sorry hitman – but you haven’t got a clue if you think we got played off the park by a lot of teams last season.

    all i can think is you must have had your view obscured by someones bedsheet.

    and for the record – i fully expect us to struggle next season, and yes i’d be much happier if we were challenging for title, but we’re not and it’s not our god given right as geordies to be there either. i do expect us to survive tho – and i’ll be ower the moon with that.

  17. who says about winning the title,you have to look at the teams in the prem and were we can pick up points i just carnt see us picking up many TC.

  18. That West Ham bids a strange one,it says they might just buy him for a year then move him on to Chelsea!!
    I hope they get him,he’s crap and Chelsea don’t want him :lol:

  22. divnt like the collar,divnt like the rubber type northern rock emblem and the crest looks iron on tho hard to tell.Is the back ganna be mainly white again(prob) so not too impressed.If the badges were better quality It wouldnt have been too bad even with that collar… :-( :roll:

  24. trouble with a lot of embroidered badges is they rub your nips.

    granted that might not be a problem if all you’re gonna do is wear it to the match, but if you’re actually gonna play footy in it it can be a pain in the, er… nips.

  25. ohh and im not one to moan, but that strip is pretty awful like, especially the keepers.
    Lopsided, hate the neck line and overall, just a bit boring :(

  26. this new kit should be named “THE DAVID DICKENSON KIT”cheap as chips.it’s absolutley didgusting,for a kick off the badge is a joke,the northern rock sponsor looks like stevie wonder stuck it on ffs.

  28. Tc…maybe some like having their nips rubbed :-)
    or they could have put the badge in the centre.

  32. I usually buy the tops regardless but seriously doubt I’ll be buying this one…………..unless me move abroad goes ahead then I prob will(daft I know)……………..could Petrocelli defend it tho Trojan ;-)

  35. That future England team is right in some of the cases but so far off on others, I will bet my mortage that Daniel Sturridge will be playing for Stoke or Wigan by 2014.

    He is a grade 1 cnut, I was unlucky enough to go to school with him and not only is he a total rim jaw but he literally thinks he is Pele reincarnated, For him read David Bentley.

    As for Frazer Campbell who is possibly the most overrated striker playing in the premier league (Apart from sturridge) how can he be included instead of Carroll, Agbonlahor and Delfonso from Villa.

    Milner is far better than Walcott and no Ashley Young…

  36. the new home kit looks like its been made by a blue peter competition winner….. gemma, aged 4….. using a old cereal box some toilet roll holders and some sticky back plastic

  37. The kit ain’t bad. Its just the shitty Northern Rock logo that stuffs it up everytime. We need to get a new sponsor!
    Bring back Broon Ale!

  38. richietoon,not even tony petrocelli could defend it lol,oblong,ah he’s one a young thai kid made earlier.

  40. oblong,that documentary about ashley earlier in the year,said he was using factories in thailand,as well as other asian countries as well.funnily or worryingly which ever way you want to look at it,some people have commented on the size of kevin nolan in the kit pictures.
    it does look like he’s piled even more beef on,god help us.

  41. So now the kit isn’t good enough, the players aren’t good enough, the manager isn’t good enough, the coaches aren’t good enough, the scout isn’t good enough and the owner certainly isn’t good enough.

    As for us fans though – best in the world!

    Yeah right!

    :roll:

  42. It’s a football kit thats all.It isn’t really that important to get worked up over in the scheme of things

  44. just have to hope he works the beer gut off when pre season training starts. he’s never exactly slim like!

  45. I believe I’ve only said I don’t like the kit(mainly the badge if it isnt embroidered)…I didnt realise that nobody is allowed to express an opinion on any subject unless its to say I love everything!!

  46. wasn’t talking about you in particular, richie – just that once again, as a whole, people have gone way over the top.

  47. I know mate….If the badges were better I don’t think it would be too bad even with the collar……….however new strips always take a while to get used to whoever makes them……….as long as the lads play well in them who cares.If you like it buy it if not dont.

  50. its the sticky on crest that puts me off like,i really dont mind the collarit makes the kit look cheap.

  51. so long as we never go back to the barcode stripes they can’t really go wrong imo.

    i’ll admit the collar does look a bit odd, but that’s probably only because its a lot different to anything we’ve seen before.

    always loved the blue star and broon ale sponsors but whaddya gonna dee.

    shorts look good.

    overall 6.5/10

  52. Toon Chicken

    “i fully expect us to struggle next season”?

    only 6.5 for the new kit?

    Stop being so feckn’ negative. Makes me sick having read sh*te like this every day ;)

  53. I think some people said that about the Granda collar one when that first came out but how many now say that was their favourite ;-) ………… not that this one compares imo