I was chatting to a friend of a friend on Friday evening. He's a Leeds fan (which probably explains this) and we were just talking about the Championship.

He said he thinks teams like Norwich, Sheffield United, WBA, Leeds are equal to mid-table Premier League sides.
I said I felt quite the opposite, and that if Leeds had gone up they'd need to replace half their first eleven to stay up, and that the gap is pretty significant.

You tell him Frank!!!

Steve1956 wrote:You tell him Frank!!!

I tried to put it across diplomatically.

FactualFrank wrote:I tried to put it across diplomatically.

You should have just twattted him!

Steve1956 wrote:You should have just twattted him!

I couldn't - I was laughing too much!

They soon find out.

I seriously hope Derby beat Villa just for the six point guarantee.

Drop the ****

Surely the fact that the vast majority of promoted sides are either relegated, or not survive by a very small margin should make him realise he’s talking ********.

TheFamilyCat wrote:Surely the fact that the vast majority of promoted sides are either relegated, or not survive by a very small margin should make him realise he’s talking ********.

Even a promoted team that throws £100m+ at it has no guarantee of staying up.. ask Fulham

FactualFrank wrote:I was chatting to a friend of a friend on Friday evening. He's a Leeds fan (which probably explains this) and we were just talking about the Championship.

He said he thinks teams like Norwich, Sheffield United, WBA, Leeds are equal to mid-table Premier League sides.
I said I felt quite the opposite, and that if Leeds had gone up they'd need to replace half their first eleven to stay up, and that the gap is pretty significant.

How would he know,it's 700 games and counting since dirty Leeds last played in the Premier league..Tell him that Frank..

dougcollins wrote:They soon find out.

I seriously hope Derby beat Villa just for the six point guarantee.

Villa....please

FactualFrank wrote:I was chatting to a friend of a friend on Friday evening. He's a Leeds fan (which probably explains this) and we were just talking about the Championship.

He said he thinks teams like Norwich, Sheffield United, WBA, Leeds are equal to mid-table Premier League sides.
I said I felt quite the opposite, and that if Leeds had gone up they'd need to replace half their first eleven to stay up, and that the gap is pretty significant.

My m8 Kev (a Leeds Fan) said exactly the same 3 weeks ago Frank.....

We found out when we got promoted the first time under both Coyle and Dyche.

The difference is staggering, and the slightest mistake is picked off.

I suspect Norwich will be struggling from the off, ditto Sheff Utd and I just don't see anything different with Villa or Derby.

I go to university in Leeds and the amount of shite I hear them all talk about their beloved team is hilarious. What have Leeds actually achieved to be considered a big club? I've checked their trophy list and it's hardly different to ours. They just have a bigger ground that's literally it.

ClaretAndJew wrote:I go to university in Leeds and the amount of shite I hear them all talk about their beloved team is hilarious. What have Leeds actually achieved to be considered a big club? I've checked their trophy list and it's hardly different to ours. They just have a bigger ground that's literally it.

The Rhinos rugby league club is bigger than Dirty Leeds..

Just goes to show how good we are.

Leeds is a big place.

Can't think of anything else.

IanMcL wrote:Leeds is a big place.

Can't think of anything else.

3rd largest city in England, with a massive catchment area for one club.
Not much of a historical pedigree before the late 60s.
Similar to Chelsea before Bates' attempts to bankrupt them.

Your mate is just like all Leeds fans. They know nowt about football which is exactly why they support Leeds.

Frank I'm all for care in the community but don't talk to them about football in future.

bob-the-scutter wrote:3rd largest city in England, with a massive catchment area for one club.
Not much of a historical pedigree before the late 60s.
Similar to Chelsea before Bates' attempts to bankrupt them.

Bates bought a bankrupt Chelsea, for a pound and saved them, before selling up.

FactualFrank wrote:I was chatting to a friend of a friend on Friday evening. He's a Leeds fan (which probably explains this) and we were just talking about the Championship.

He said he thinks teams like Norwich, Sheffield United, WBA, Leeds are equal to mid-table Premier League sides.
I said I felt quite the opposite, and that if Leeds had gone up they'd need to replace half their first eleven to stay up, and that the gap is pretty significant.

Come on Frank it’s a well known fact Leeds are Champions League

bob-the-scutter wrote:3rd largest city in England, with a massive catchment area for one club.
Not much of a historical pedigree before the late 60s.
Similar to Chelsea before Bates' attempts to bankrupt them.

there not third, more like 9th,

top 3 by population are london, birmingham,liverpool
/

London
Birmingham
Liverpool
Nottingham
Sheffield
Bristol
Glasgow
Leicester
Edinburgh
Leeds
Cardiff
Manchester
Stoke-on-Trent
Coventry
Sunderland

Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff aren’t in England.

I’m pretty sure Manchester should also be higher up that list.

Goalposts wrote:there not third, more like 9th,

top 3 by population are london, birmingham,liverpool
/

London
Birmingham
Liverpool
Nottingham
Sheffield
Bristol
Glasgow
Leicester
Edinburgh
Leeds
Cardiff
Manchester
Stoke-on-Trent
Coventry
Sunderland

https://www.smallworldfs.com/small-worl ... ed-kingdom" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

IanMcL wrote:Bates bought a bankrupt Chelsea, for a pound and saved them, before selling up.

Chelsea were on the brink of serious **** when Abramovich stepped in.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ory.sport9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ClaretAndJew wrote:I go to university in Leeds and the amount of shite I hear them all talk about their beloved team is hilarious. What have Leeds actually achieved to be considered a big club? I've checked their trophy list and it's hardly different to ours. They just have a bigger ground that's literally it.

Yes they have a bigger ground but they do tend to pretty much fill it. If they ever get back near the top and get some PL money behind them (and be properly run) they could again become a force. Their trophy haul IS different to ours and most of it is in living memory.
Champions 3 times - runners up 5 times
FA Cup Once - runners up 3 times
League Cup once - runners up once
UEFA Cup/Fairs Cup (now Europa) winners twice - runners up twice
European Cup/Champions League runners up once
All of the above since we last won anything of note. Yes I would say Leeds qualify as a big club and much of their trouble has been caused by being awfully run. I don't like Leeds but to to try to suggest they are less than they are because of dislike is just plain wrong. They could easilly 'do a City' if someone with more money than sense came along and funded them.

bob-the-scutter wrote:Chelsea were on the brink of serious **** when Abramovich stepped in.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ory.sport9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Buy pound sell 50 million, sounds like he did ok for them and him!

Never
The gap is enormous.We are a mid table side in the Prem despite our 7th finish last season.
To achieve this has taken enormous effort and some serious cash
Wolves spent over £200m to achieve the Promised Land
Now with Sky money the clubs up can survive but its harder every year
We are in our own 12 club mini league and our aim is to finish near the top of it or better.
This will give us a serious pot of place money each season allowing squad development
Beating a top six team like Spurs and drawing at Chelsea and United is a bonus

Before we got promoted under Dyche, i also thought the same that the gap wasn't that big, it doesn't seem as big until you get there and realise it's a big step up. I think many see relegated sides struggle and people assume the gap isn't big, but those sides often NEED to cost cut enormously to deal with relegation so end up nowhere near the same group of players and often the difficult task is mentally motivating those players to remain hungry to get back up.

IanMcL wrote:Buy pound sell 50 million, sounds like he did ok for them and him!

He did great for himself but left the club on its ar$e.

The gap between the top Championship clubs and Burnley is significant.

With the players they have right now Norwich, Villa and Sheffield U would be the bottom three in the Prem, methinks.

Any promoted club has to assumne the first priority is staying up - anything else is a bonus. Wolves have done spectacularly well but they have thrown a kings ransom at it but Fulham, despite 100m spent are back down. It appears that something like 2 out of three promoted teams struggle badly and at least one goes back down. I think the season before last was almost unique in recent years in all 3 promoted teams surviving. Anyone suggesting that top Championship clubs are similar to mid PL are fooling themselves. Look at last season alone - 2 out of 3 straight back down.

FactualFrank wrote:I was chatting to a friend of a friend on Friday evening. He's a Leeds fan (which probably explains this) and we were just talking about the Championship.

He said he thinks teams like Norwich, Sheffield United, WBA, Leeds are equal to mid-table Premier League sides.
I said I felt quite the opposite, and that if Leeds had gone up they'd need to replace half their first eleven to stay up, and that the gap is pretty significant.

My m8 Kev (Leeds Fan) agrees with you Frank ... he said Leeds are **** and would have struggled unless replacing "most" of the first eleven....

It's one of those strange ones.

In a one off game there isn't much difference between the teams in mid prem and top championship.

However, over the course of a 38 game season, playing good teams week in and week out there is a massive difference.

I guarantee that the fans of the teams coming up will be saying things like "Well, we are better than Burnley, Brighton, Bournemouth" etc but it's not until you come up against those teams, on a regular basis, that you realise the difference.

I also believe that the teams that come up and do well tend to be the ones that don't concede many goals on the way up. Those that play free flowing football and let goals in at Champ level just get picked off in the Prem.

bob-the-scutter wrote:He did great for himself but left the club on its ar$e.

Bit of a hard one that. He did well for himself, as a result of his hard work and success. He sold to a Russian oligarch, who was willing to meet the price, accepted the status of the club, in that negotiation and went on to further invest.

Champions, cup winners, Euro winners, ground rebuild plans and viability.

Not so sure, your statement holds up.

I am no fan of Bates, however, let's be fair.

teams get relegated because they aren't even good enough for the bottom third of the Premier League. then they do well in the Chumpionship that answers the question every season