I don't go. It's not the pricing of tickets that ensures I don't, but the availability of tickets - unless of course I sneaked into the away end.

It's difficult getting tickets due to the demand. WHL needs to be expanded but Harringay Council has all of a sudden thrown a couple of hurdles in the way, such as adequate transport links to and from any expanded stadium. Unlike other clubs I could mention, Tottenham Hotspur is run like a proper business. The council, at the very least, should be grateful the club wishes to stay where it is.

BTW, I take on board that clubs in the lower leagues should be given more PL money - except Leeds of course because they evidently wouldn't want it

Did you ever go? Regularly? Ever travelled away on a regular basis?

40 years is a long time 'not to go'. Amazing how you see so many 25 years olds at WHL.

Yes and yes. But a long time ago.

Errr, sorry, but IIRC you were one of those who fanned the flames originally. I have no problems with Premier League fans at all, but it would be nice if they could see that harm that the project has done to the national team and the lower leagues.

The comment about Sunday Pub teams. Face to face would you expect to get away with that? DO you believe it, or are you just having a hissy fit?

This kitchen isn't even luke warm. It's a taste of what happens on football forums as opposed to cosy little back scratching threads which don't really sit well on TWO. Watch the Man U & Liverpool fans go at in here (which is one of the few times it gets 'real') when the time is right. It's brilliant!

Grow some eh? We can take it, but equally we give it back

If there was no SKY would you go now?

My going would be governed by ticket availability, as I've previously stated. I don't actually need to have Sky to watch Spurs. I have Sky because I watch other sports.

Ahh, but if it wasn't for the SKY contract then there would be no streaming.

That's not true actually.

Ah yes, but the PL negotiates separate rights for foreign broadcasters. The fact that Sky transmits or not makes no difference in the general scheme of things. I never watch Sky or Fox streams.

LOL! at this thread.

Perhaps O'Neil just didn't know how to get the best out of him, unlike Ian Holloway

Exactly

Returning to the hot potato of the merits of the Premier League, I do tend to agree with the conclusion that the Premier League has, overall, had a negative effect on football in England.

However, the problem is that it's still the pinnacle league in England. And any sports team (or sportsman/woman) will try to achieve the highest progress they can. That's why they exist, and competitiveness is part of the human psyche. I don't doubt that Simon & Matthew speak honestly about their thoughts on their teams being promoted to the Premier League. And yet, apart from the financial aspect of being in the Prem, I think it likely that a not inconsiderable part of them would be jubillant at any promotion - simply because they've reached the top division, scaled the highest peak.

Just look at Blackpool fans. They know they've next to no chance of staying up but, like Burnley fans before them, will just enjoy the bigtime whilst it lasts, rubbing shoulders with the world-renowned clubs and seeing some of the best players in the world come to Bloomfield Road. You tell them that the Premier League is soulless and worse than the Championship. Ask them in which division they'd prefer to live life in.

Good news for Stoke City fans at least. That tackle on Saturday looked nasty.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2010/08/17/2074421/breaking-news-stoke-city-stiker-kenwyne-jones-cleared-of-serious-

Juventus apparently on the verge of signing Jermaine Jenas on loan, with a view to a £10m switch. But AC Milan, Sampdoria and Galatasaray are all reported to be keen to sign him.

I laughed at that one too. Getting GBP10m for 'JJ' would be a bloody good result. I can but hope.

Apart from tonight's game the other event I'll be keeping my eye on is Sevilla's match on Wednesday night and whether Fabiano plays.

A fair analysis.

They say it is often better to travel hopefully than to actually arrive. That's what the Premier League is to me. It's something we have to aspire to because there is nothing else. It would signify the resurrection of a club which has, as is still said every time we're on TV, fallen from the Champions League semi-final to being 15 points adrift at the bottom of League One in just a few years. We've taken a fair bit of stick over those years, quite deservedly, but none of it was the fans' fault. Indeed all we did was provide teams with their big pay-days and ensured that League One continually boasted massive attendance figures relative to its status as 1,750,000 fans came through the turnstiles at Elland Road in our three year stay.

But promotion would be bitter sweet. Our realistic aspiration would be upper mid table after, say, five years. For a club with the heritage we have (after all we won the league more recently than Liverpool and were regularly in Europe in the 90s) that is a soulless and depressing thought. And for the privilege we would have to pay massive prices and have our kick offs shunted around left right and centre.

I would be jubilant at promotion, yes. But it isn't that long ago we were playing in the Premier League, and some still view it as their right (conveniently forgetting about the 80s wasteland that afflicted the club). We didn't travel to Old Trafford as day trippers. Those 9,000 fans weren't there to enjoy the day. They were there to snarl at the rest of the football world. When I went to Spurs there was no awe. It was the type of ground I have been used to watching Leeds in. In short promotion to the PL would simply be business as usual after the novelty had worn off. Except the world has moved on since 2002. Not even a club of our size can catch up - look at Villa and Everton as examples.

Blackpool, on the other hand, well to them it IS all new. Of course it meant a lot because in modern times they have no history. Generations have been and gone since it was a normal sight at Bloomfield Road for the top talent to turn up for them. I bet relegation, if it happens, will actually hurt them far more than they might admit.

Which grounds in the Premier League WOULDN'T I be excited about visiting? Ones where I can think of better in the Championship?

Blackpool, Wolves, Blackburn, Birmingham, Sunderland, Bolton, Fulham, Stoke, Wigan, West Brom.

This isn't meant to sound arrogant, just honest. I'm not sure I could stomach paying £50 to watch Leeds v Fulham on a Tuesday evening for the privilege of being ten points outside the Europa League place. What IS the point of that existence?

I might also add that once upon a time the 'top' league was an interesting place to be. Players who you only read about in the papers or saw on Match of The Day fleetingly now fill the front & back pages. There are programmes galore out there, supplements everywhere. The internet.

There is no mystery about the Premier League any more. It's piped into my front room, like it or not, to the point where I feel like I know the players and managers.

There is no WOW factor to seeing someone like Rooney because they're always there, in yer face. Blanket exposure, over-exposure. The rarity factor has gone out of the game.

Probably one of the better headlines in recent years.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=337901&cc=5739

Not football related - not a bad headline either

I don't disagree with anything you say.

I've never been that involved with going to watch live football games. My team is Liverpool and they've always been in the top division in my lifetime, but I must have been to Anfield probably only about two dozen times in my life.

Then again, I've always preferred going to see Rugby League live, having a season ticket for several years at Saints as a teenager/young bloke. If you want a contrast to Premier League football, try going to Knowsley Road! I actually did last Friday - the first time in about 3 years. I wanted to visit one last time to say my goodbyes before it's bulldozed at the end of the season, and took my 6 year old daughter. I don't mind saying I had a tear in my eye as I clapped the players off the pitch for the last time there - so many memories of the place.

Saints fans are the Millwall/Cardiff of RL. They always have to turn down the effects micropohones at Knowsley Road because of the profanity that gushes forth. For RL that's pretty rare.

I used to go to Headingley, but the prices went up to the point that for some games it's cheaper to go to Elland Road - which is saying something! They also play on Friday nights, and that's no night to be rushing home after a long week and struggling through the labyrinth of streets to try and find a parking space.

Although strictly a Championship piece of news this sums up the effect of television on the modern game:

http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20100817/fa-statement-on-forest-game_2247585_2125730

It wasn't WW3, as Matty will no doubt tell you. And it wouldn't have happened if the referee had got a grip of the situation in the first place. But most importantly it probably wouldn't have happened if TV hadn't been there. The FA 'had' to take action because it was.

I am not sure how they can charge Gunter as he was given a yellow card. Mind you they did that to Jermaine Beckford a couple of years ago. Booked for a clash with the keeper including an elbow, but when the TV highlighted it the ref lied and said that the yellow was for something else when we all knew exactly what it was for.

Everything under the microscope, blown out of proportion.

EDIT: In the regulations it now says:

In all cases charges will be issued within three working days of an incident, or media comments coming to The FA’s attention.

So TV really does become like a fifth official.

http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Disciplinary/NewsAndFeatures/2010/FastTrackBriefing_090810

LOL. I don't know if you're pulling my leg here, but Saints never used to be any worse in terms of effanjeffin. In terms of out and out thuggishness, the worst clubs were/are the two Hulls and Warrington.

At the game last Friday, it did strike me that there was very little in terms of singing/chanting full stop.