the best league in the world

[wyongho]

Just throwing out there as I've not heard it on TS for 5mins.

[kancutlawns]

And no Moose today.

[russ-essex]

There seems to have been a subtle shift of late; the continuing failure in the Champions League has caused Moose and others to refer to the EPL as 'the richest league in the world'

[Basualdo]

And no Moose today.

Hermans Hermits, weren't it?
Great tune, poppickers.

[delboy1983]

I tell you it is ,it bloody well is ,we're English it must be ffs!!

[tennisman]

There seems to have been a subtle shift of late; the continuing failure in the Champions League has caused Moose and others to refer to the EPL as 'the richest league in the world'

And that's claim I'd agree with and not have a problem with them using, as it's true and can be measured simply, through the combination of TV rights, matchday revenues and commercial sponsorships and their values.

Deloittes do an annual survey showing all of this IIRC.

The 'Best League In The World' was, as I understand it, a promotional construct, created by Sky to be a tagline for their coverage.

Since then, it gets rolled out with considerable and nauseating regularity and is the catch phrase for all the presenters and ex players, especially on TS.

No-one seeks to define it or measure it quantitatively but tends to resort to qualitative terms like 'quality' or 'excitement' or the one that drives me mad, 'competitively', where I have tried to understand, at least, in a thread a while back, looking at the number of winners in each major league since 1992/3 where there is as much evidence as any to suggest that the PL, if competitively is defined by the actual winners determining the likely ones, is as uncompetitive as the others.

They all go on about how the matches are harder but I wonder how many of them actually watch the other leagues? Every time I watch the Bundesliga highlights, it doesn't look like a walk in the park to me and Barcelona have lost to Getafe about the same amount of times Liverpool, say, have lost to Burnley.

To the extent that even the PL's elite are closer to each other than the top teams in the other leagues, this is touted as a badge of honour. Unfortunately, CL and even EL performances show that the top teams in the other leagues are better than our top teams and this applies to the 2nd tier elite too, although the argument which will be trotted out immediately is that our football is harder match by match, another claim never defined (number of km run?) but used to support claims that our football is superior.

Ultimately though, does any of it matter as we see our football through the prism of our loyalty to it?

Do fans of Hamburg or St Pauli care a jot about whether their Bundesliga 1 or 2 are the best or not? They care about enjoying their football and supporting their teams.

Whilst the cross league competitive debate is an interesting one to have, it's all a bit like a bick dick contest, largely undefined, and even if proveable, who really cares?

If our national team is so poor at major championships and our top clubs seem to struggle in Europe, if a ranking is so important, how is the fact that our football is so tough (allegedly) a solace?

Aren't we just slipping back into the mindset which has dominated the thinking about our football since the early 20th century, that ours is just better intrinsically and the rest of the world can do all they want, including beating us regularly, but at it's heart, their football will never actually surpass ours?

[SeanNW8]

I'm praying Ajax can beat United. It will highlight just how poor our league is now.
The likes of the Madrid clubs, Barca and Bayern have gone to another level.
And it will be great to see a dutch team win a major trophy.

Plus it will humiliate Jose after his lofty predictions at the start of the season.
Plus Goldstein will go in a fit of despair.
Plus they won't have CL football next year.
Plus we will witness Brazil claiming a league cup win makes it a great season for Utd.

[carcinogen]

I'm praying Ajax can beat United.

I think it's fair to say any fan of football feels the same way.

[delboy1983]

I'm praying Ajax can beat United. It will highlight just how poor our league is now.
The likes of the Madrid clubs, Barca and Bayern have gone to another level.
And it will be great to see a dutch team win a major trophy.

Plus it will humiliate Jose after his lofty predictions at the start of the season.
Plus Goldstein will go in a fit of despair.
Plus they won't have CL football next year.
Plus we will witness Brazil claiming a league cup win makes it a great season for Utd.

Here's hoping your prayers fall on deaf ears

[Jonathan Grunt]

I'm praying Ajax can beat United.

I think it's fair to say any fan of football feels the same way.

I think Talksports still believe that everyone in England temporarily puts their club differences aside on nights like this and watches the matches wrapped in a flag of St George, supporting Our Brave Honest English Yeomen against them filthy dirty cheating foreigns hoping that good trimphs over evil for THE GOOD OF THE ENGLISH GAME

[Jonathan Grunt]

The station summed up right here:

[JW90]

The top teams might be impressive but everyone below Everton was utter dross. 46 points to finish 8th? Fucking pitiful.

[Bad Blue 2000]

It is the best league in the world.

Give it a rest, you yawnsome cunts.

[The End]

And no Moose today.

Hermans Hermits, weren't it?
Great tune, poppickers.

Hedgehoppers Anonymous.

[The End]

And no Moose today.

Hermans Hermits, weren't it?
Great tune, poppickers.

Hedgehoppers Anonymous.

I think I'm on the wrong song actually.