I want you to imagine for a moment you are not a Palace fan.
I want to look back briefly on the progress of English League football. It has under performed in Europe significantly this year. There is a danger that Arsenal will lose their fourth place qualification spot for the Champions League.
Clubs continue to either try to avoid the Thursday Night League or just put out the reserves (or in Tottenham’s case, fail to not qualify, put out only some of the reserves then always mess up the following Sunday’s League game).
Remember, we are not Palace fans at the moment. Just for a few more paragraphs. Bear with me.
I have a plan that might, just might, fix this problem.
It is a problem that many of the clubs in the Premier League do not want to fix. Because they are rubbish.
A brief aside:
My plan has nothing** (see note below) to do with the fact that Palace were relegated in fourth bottom place with 45 points when the Premier League was reduced from 22 to 20 in 1994/95. And nothing to do with the fact that we lost the players of the calibre of Gareth Southgate, Chris Armstrong, John Salako and Richard Shaw as a result. Nothing at all.
Back to my point:
It is honestly because I believe that the standard of teams in the bottom of the Premier League is not good enough. If we can increase the standard of the teams in the bottom half, and reduce the number of domestic games, then the seven or eight English sides (and Swansea City, perhaps) playing in Europe can really give it a go.
I know that many of you might look down on the Thursday Night League in particular, but I think teams outside the Richest Six (not Smartest Six as Tottenham are in that group) have been wrongly lulled into focusing only on the Sky Premier League money.
That has resulted in a semi-predictable four tier system in the Premier League. These groups are the Rich Six, the mid-table over-achievers (the likes of Southampton and Swansea City), the bottom half over-achievers (which includes a team with a London SE25 post code) and the strugglers. You could argue that Newcastle United is in a tier of its own, because they do not fit in any category common to another team, but I am tempted at this stage of the season to call them a struggler.
Anyway, returning slowly to my key point (still not a Palace fan remember), the fourth tier of strugglers is too big. It should be a huge achievement to be fourth bottom and survive. It should be as exciting as the race for the top or Arsenal’s race for fourth place.
But this year the struggle for fourth bottom is not good enough. At least three poor teams will stay up.
Let us be Palace fans again. In the last three weeks we have played both Queens Park Rangers and Sunderland. And we have beaten them soundly. We are a good side at the moment. There are lots of articles on this site and others re-assuring us of this fact.
QPR and Sunderland are poor teams, badly managed and badly organised. And yet they may both stay up. Because there maybe three or more other clubs, either more badly organised and managed than they are, or in one case (Burnley), a club who have simply done an awesome job even to challenge for the opportunity to be relegated.
I want to see my close personal friend Richard Scudamore ‘do a Simon Cowell‘ and introduce a double elimination week or two.
QPR, Sunderland, Hull City, Leicester City, Aston Villa and (sadly) Burnley have all been too poor to be in a competition where only three go down.
So let us fix that problem and relegate five teams this year so that only one of those poor teams survive.
Now the fight for relegation immediately becomes far more interesting, especially for teams with at least 42 points.
Then next year, we have 18 clubs, we have more money for each team, four less league games, and we demand that the teams put out their strongest sides every other Thursday. Oh and I think the Premier League will use the extra television money to pay for us all to go to the away legs of the later rounds of the Europa League.
As a fan of improving English football, sounds like a plan, don’t you think?
Now, feel free to become a Palace fan again.
And a Palace fan who might still be slightly bitter about that 1994/95 season.
(** ok, maybe not nothing)
