big fish, little fish: phil brown sings the praises of his hull city side after they stay in the premier league last season

Mind the gap

With the excitement of the Champions League over for a couple of weeks, and the majority of England settling in to watch a thrilling three-way battle for the Premier League title, the rest of the leagues in England have taken a bit of a back seat.

So, I think it is entirely appropriate at this stage to offer preliminary congratulations to Newcastle in the Championship and Norwich in League One who have wrestled their way to the top of their prospective divisions and, after another comfortable win for Newcastle in midweek, at home to Scunthorpe, both sides don’t look like missing out on promotion.

Many in the game will offer a mini lament that Newcastle did not fail to secure an immediate return to the Premier League, despite their problems off the field. The same lament could be flung in the direction of Norwich, too, who have made small potatoes out of their very brief stay in the third tier – their first at that level for 40-odd years.

In the Championship, too, fellow relegated club West Brom look semi-certain in second place, while Charlton are poised to grab a play-off place in League One at least, despite a miserable time of it last year in the Championship. Even Middlesbrough are not out of the play-off hunt, as are Southampton in League One but it is a stretch to see either returning from whence they came next season.

Meanwhile, Burnley, and Wolves continue to struggle in the Premier League, and Hull’s red letter season last year seems a distant memory – particularly after the arrival of Iain Dowie and the subsequent late loss to Portsmouth this weekend.

Which brings people to question where the ‘gap’, the scourge of the modern money-oriented game is now.

Once it was claimed to be at the end of the Premier League rainbow, but that was extended in 2007 down to the top of the Championship to include those relegated from the Premier League who had received hefty parachute payments. Yet, Norwich, Charlton and Southampton, among others, all received those payments and find themselves sitting in the third tier.

Worse has befallen Bradford City and Wimbledon (MK Dons).

Perhaps it is true that the influx of so many ex-Premier League teams in the second tier has created a new mini-elite, but if that was the case why do a more-than-coincidental smattering of small clubs still sneak into the Premier League (Burnley last season, Hull, Reading, Bradford City, Barnsley etc…?

At the top of the Premier League, meanwhile, there is the obvious gap between the top four, er three, or is it seven (Spurs, Man City, Aston Villa). Eight if you count Everton. And maybe nine if Birmingham’s new money men give them some proper backing. You see people’s problem.

The trickle-down theory

It’s all very confusing. Where once supporters of the ‘real game’ (the nom de guerre of fans of clubs not invited to eat at the lavish top table) could bemoan the top four, and their hangers on, this is no longer the case. In fact, there is minimal gap now between the Championship and the Premier League, and League One has its wealth of stars, too. Is it possible that the gap is further down?

Fans, of say, Huddersfield, could once proudly state their working class roots but, in League One they are financial princes in comparison to Southend, Tranmere, Crewe, Wycombe and Brentford. Financially, they are sounder than a lot of Championship clubs. Leeds in the same league are princes among paupers – despite their financial mystery.

I have mentioned a few times this season that the league with the most direct correlation between the haves and have nots is League One. Administration is now a regular occurence at the bottom of the third tier and promotion back to League One from the basement division is no longer guaranteed.

Now, too, a gap between League Two and non-league has merged as teams coming into the leagues from the Conference rarely struggle, swiftly passing the debris of once glorious clubs huddled for warmth at the bottom of the flat Earth as they know it. Conference attendances are not dissimilar to League Two these days, either. Is this an achievement of trickle-down theory or a backlash to the disaffection for the game at the top flight. Premier League attendances are, after all, down.

Those that fall have found some recourse in non leagues: Oxford are not far from a return, while Luton are enjoying a stay in the fifth flight. They may get a redux next season, too. Chester have gone bust again, but their fans do not lose heart. The plight of AFC Wimbledon – newly formed just __ years ago and now on the verge of league status gives many heart.

In effect, football fans no longer know where they stand, which is why the FA Cup has proved a curious animal in the last few years, not helped by the lack of a Champions League place or any desire by the top clubs to win it before they get to spring.

Essentially, it all means that money not football rules the roost and, while there is no easy answer to the problem one thing is sure. If it continues on this path then football will slowly lose the place it hold in the heart of the English psyche. Portsmouth fans once talked of football, now the football seems worthless. Many other teams have been there before them and as more follow, fans will care little.

We spend our weeks struggling with finances – why would we want to take to the terraces on Saturday (or Sunday, or Monday night)?