The English Premier League is dubbed by many as “the greatest league in the world”. It’s highly publicised all over the world. There won’t be many places in the world that haven’t heard of the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool. One of the main headlines of last summer was Cristiano Ronaldo’s £80m move from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Similarly, Ancelotti’s move to Chelsea grabbed headlines. On the other end of the table, the unexpected relegation of Newcastle United was big news as well.
Every season is almost the same. Week after week, there are pictures of Sir Alex Ferguson or Rafa Benitez splashed across the back pages of every newspaper. Last season, Hull City’s great start saw them enjoying a few months in the headlines, as a slight change in tradition. The bizarre way how the bottom 12 clubs were separated by a few wins over halfway through the season meant that the other headline grabbers – the underachieving clubs – didn’t challenge for the back page.
If the Premier League was a family, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool would be the overachieving older brothers, admired by outsiders and their parents. Arsenal would be the older sister, whose overachieving ways are halted by maternity leave. The bottom four clubs would be the underachieving younger brothers, collecting the dole every week. Last season’s surprise package, Fulham, would be the slightly dopey one, who defied the odds and managed some decent exam results. The rest of the top 10 would be the loudmouth siblings, who weren’t particularly spectacular, but you always know that they’re there.
The remaining clubs: Wigan, Blackburn, Wolves, Stoke, Sunderland and Bolton; are the middle children of the Premier League family. They’re the kids that get the average grades and don’t get into trouble. Sometimes you even forget that they’re there. I support Bolton Wanderers. Had it not been for my season ticket, I’d be excused to think that we played 2 or 3 minute matches. Or at least, that’s the impression we’d get off the match coverage and highlights. Match of the Day joked about how many Wigan fans had written in, questioning why they were constantly on last, and averaged about one and a half minutes’ coverage.
You’d think that on one of those weekends where the top 4 conveniently play each other on the same day, that these clubs would get more coverage. However, the attention is directed on the mind games that the managers of the top 4 teams play. We have the Sky Sports adverts hyping up the Super Duper Ultra Sundays, advertising the absolute must-see games. Other than the supporters of the top 4 clubs, these matches won’t affect themselves much. I’m just as excited about watching Portsmouth vs Everton, as I am about Manchester United vs Chelsea.
Last season, Bolton had one game televised by Sky, and none by ESPN in the first half of the season. It’s lonely at the middle.
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