The new Premier League season is quietly yet quickly creeping up on us. The fixtures are out, teams are reporting back for pre-season training & playing friendlies and the transfer market is starting to spring into life.
Most will be going into the new season with a decent idea of what is expected of them and what they should be striving for. The likes of Manchester’s City and United, Chelsea and a few others will be looking for Champions League qualification, or better yet, the title. Teams like Reading, Wigan, Southampton and similar will be trying simply to secure their status in the lucrative land that is the Premier League.
But then, there are the others. Too good to go down, not good enough to challenge at the right end of the table. Are the mid-table maestros of Everton, Stoke, Aston Villa etc just there to make up the numbers? Or should they have greater ambitions of their own?
For these teams to move forward they would require some serious financial investment and at least a small slice of luck, but it can be done. Tottenham were firmly stuck in the mid-table club bracket until fairly recently, but they have pushed on and have finished in the top five for the last three seasons.
Manchester City have done the same, some enormous investment has seen them break into the elite of English football and it’s now hard to imagine the top four without them. Newcastle United too were knocking on the door of champions league qualification last season before ultimately falling a little short.
So there is hope. But it’s not a foregone conclusion that spending a little money will yield the success that these teams and their fans crave. Leeds United and Portsmouth invested heavily in their squads in the hope that they could break in to the very top group of England’s very top tier. However, spending above their means to try and move the club forward held disastrous results. Leeds United have still not fully recovered, as another season in the Championship beckons. And Portsmouth are still free-falling.
Perhaps it’s this fear that contributes to the lack of progress of these mid-table clubs? They want to move forward, who doesn’t? But not at the risk of losing the stable position that they have established for themselves. They’re not willing to mortgage their future to improve their present and rightfully so. For, just as often as these clubs are looking up the table and thinking what might be, they should also be looking over their shoulder at the Premier League trap door.
In the second paragraph of this article I broke one of the golden rules of football. I said that these clubs were too good to go down. NOBODY is too good to go down. Over the last few seasons the Championship has been littered with clubs the size of West Ham and Newcastle.
Once upon a time Nottingham Forest were European Cup winners, but they haven’t graced the Premier League in 13 years. Even League One boasts a number of sides who have played in the Premier League. These are a harsh reminder for these mid-table sides, that things could be worse and that the spot which they currently occupy isn’t a bad one.
So what is it like being a supporter of one of these clubs? Taking Everton as an example, the money to move the club forward doesn’t seem to be coming and they already seem to have the best manager they can get. Is this as far as they can go?
They finished 4th in 2005, but while everyone else at that end of the table has progressed they have only been able to consolidate. On the surface this could seem like a torrid situation to find yourself in, watching your team without the excitement of a title challenge or relegation battle. But maybe it’s not as bad as it first seems.
Support a team like Man City and the stress levels may begin to soar. Knowing that any loss could scupper your chances of another Premier League title, whereas most wins will just be met with a feeling of relief, knowing that you’ve not slipped up in a game that you were expected to win.
On the other hand, for the mid-table’s finest, one loss isn’t really the end of the world. A little annoying, sure, but you and your team will survive. A win will still have the ability to lift you out of your seat in celebration. You weren’t expecting a win, but you’ve got one! Brilliant!
If you have a friend who is new to football and they happen to value their sanity then maybe you could recommend Everton, Stoke, Fulham or any other of the Premier League also-rans. They could always do a lot worse.