1. Originally posted by wbarenno:[..]
    It’s the richest because it’s by far the most popular league all over the world , some countries the English premier league is more popular then their own leagues .

    I get your point about the champions league , that is a great point . But does that mean the french league is better then the premier league because Lyon are in the semi finals ?

    Ronaldo made his name in the premier league he won everything there was to win in the premier league , Messi has always stayed loyal to Barca . If Messi moved to the mls would you say the mls is the best league in the world ? The amount of foreign players we have that have amazing records abroad then they come to the premier league and they look awful .

    It isn’t just about 1 team winning the European cup , it’s about the league collectively. In the German Italian and Spanish league you can more or less guarantee outside the top 2 to 3 teams who is going to win the games . Teams outsides the top 2 or 3 can’t ever compete with the top clubs .

    In the premier league bottom could beat top and nobody would be surprised. It’s by far the most competitive.Anything can happen which is why collectively it’s the best .
    If you look at the number of points dropped by the champions of they countries it’s clear there’s plenty of good teams in they leagues capable of taking points of the big teams. The premier league is a good league but is overrated. I think if you played position for position between England and Spain more Spanish teams would come out on top. We get slagged off up here in Scotland as well yet the last 7 times we’ve played English teams in Europe we’ve drew 6 times over 90 minutes, all against teams who finished in the top 7 in England.
  2. Originally posted by deanallison:[..]
    If you look at the number of points dropped by the champions of they countries it’s clear there’s plenty of good teams in they leagues capable of taking points of the big teams. The premier league is a good league but is overrated. I think if you played position for position between England and Spain more Spanish teams would come out on top. We get slagged off up here in Scotland as well yet the last 7 times we’ve played English teams in Europe we’ve drew 6 times over 90 minutes, all against teams who finished in the top 7 in England.
    I can definitely see why someone would think it’s overrated. The money thrown around in the league is obscene.

    I think if you compared the lower ten teams in the prem to the lower ten teams in the German , Italian and Spanish leagues the English teams would be a lot stronger. The overall strength in my opinion is stronger. The teams at the top , yeah they match up to a certain degree but for me it’s the overall strength of the league .

    Scottish teams ( Celtic ) normally do well against English sides because they set up very defensively and grind out draws . This is gonna make me sound really arrogant now but I mean it in the less arrogant way possible but when a Scottish team plays an English team it’s a big deal to the Scottish side , they play like it’s their cup final. If Celtic were in the premier league with the side they have in my opinion they struggle. Over a 38 game season instead of a one off game . But if Celtic got the premier league Tv money I think they could definitely strengthen as they will always attract players because of the size of the club. Rangers as well to be honest. Massive clubs

    Who’s your team in Scotland mate ?
  3. Originally posted by wbarenno:[..]
    I can definitely see why someone would think it’s overrated. The money thrown around in the league is obscene.

    I think if you compared the lower ten teams in the prem to the lower ten teams in the German , Italian and Spanish leagues the English teams would be a lot stronger. The overall strength in my opinion is stronger. The teams at the top , yeah they match up to a certain degree but for me it’s the overall strength of the league .

    Scottish teams ( Celtic ) normally do well against English sides because they set up very defensively and grind out draws . This is gonna make me sound really arrogant now but I mean it in the less arrogant way possible but when a Scottish team plays an English team it’s a big deal to the Scottish side , they play like it’s their cup final. If Celtic were in the premier league with the side they have in my opinion they struggle. Over a 38 game season instead of a one off game . But if Celtic got the premier league Tv money I think they could definitely strengthen as they will always attract players because of the size of the club. Rangers as well to be honest. Massive clubs

    Who’s your team in Scotland mate ?
    I don’t agree with that about the bottom 10 in England being stronger. Werder Bremen finished 16th in Germany. I think they would beat most teams in the bottom half in England. Schalke finished low down as well. I’d fancy them against most English teams in the bottom half. Teams like Celta Vigo, Betis and Bilbao in the bottom half of spain I’d fancy every day of the week against the likes of Newcastle, Southampton etc. The thing is English fans always talk about these one off games against scottish teams, but it’s no coincidence we keep getting results. It’s not just a case of saying we’re going to grind out a result and that’s it otherwise you’d have teams in England drawing away to the big sides all the time. English football is a more exciting brand than scottish because of the style of play but the gulf isn’t that big. I’m a Celtic fan and I honestly think we could give just about any team in England a game and have a strong season. Liverpool and city are 2 very strong teams on there day but Chelsea, man Utd, leciester, spurs and wolves are all very beatable. Out of they 7 games I mentioned earlier 3 of them involved hearts who aren’t even in the premiership up here anymore and 2 were Aberdeen against Burnley who would have been desperate to win given they’re not exactly in Europe every year, this was after they finished 7th in the league and they needed extra time to see off Aberdeen. Celtic drew with city home and away in the champions league. As I say it can’t be coincidence that we keep getting results, that’s not a one off.
  4. Originally posted by wbarenno:[..]
    The premier league is the best league in the world , has been for a long time, I don’t think anyone can even debate that. There’s a reason why it’s by far the richest league in the world and tv rights sell for billions
    Richest doesn't always translates to best. All it has done is to inflate values for average players in the epl.

    Just look at how english teams have performed in Europe as a whole over the last decade. Still a gap with European elite clubs.
  5. Originally posted by kevinu267:[..]
    Richest doesn't always translates to best. All it has done is to inflate values for average players in the epl.

    Just look at how english teams have performed in Europe as a whole over the last decade. Still a gap with European elite clubs.
    I’d agree with that to be fair , the money branded round is ridiculous and has pushed the price up of average players

    As regards the size of the clubs Man Utd are probably still the biggest club in the world and their teams isn’t that good anymore. Can anyone touch Man Utd as regards worldwide appeal ? I don’t think there is , only clubs that are up for debate are Madrid and barca . Liverpool would easily be top 5 ,always have been. So as regards worldwide appeal there isn’t no gap

    Still doesn’t change the fact that the premier league in my opinion is the best league in the world , serie a , la liga or the bundesliga don’t touch it.
  6. as long as you enjoy the game, as long as you enjoy the music, it's not important who or what is best. Still an interesting discussion though
  7. Originally posted by deanallison:[..]
    I don’t agree with that about the bottom 10 in England being stronger. Werder Bremen finished 16th in Germany. I think they would beat most teams in the bottom half in England. Schalke finished low down as well. I’d fancy them against most English teams in the bottom half. Teams like Celta Vigo, Betis and Bilbao in the bottom half of spain I’d fancy every day of the week against the likes of Newcastle, Southampton etc. The thing is English fans always talk about these one off games against scottish teams, but it’s no coincidence we keep getting results. It’s not just a case of saying we’re going to grind out a result and that’s it otherwise you’d have teams in England drawing away to the big sides all the time. English football is a more exciting brand than scottish because of the style of play but the gulf isn’t that big. I’m a Celtic fan and I honestly think we could give just about any team in England a game and have a strong season. Liverpool and city are 2 very strong teams on there day but Chelsea, man Utd, leciester, spurs and wolves are all very beatable. Out of they 7 games I mentioned earlier 3 of them involved hearts who aren’t even in the premiership up here anymore and 2 were Aberdeen against Burnley who would have been desperate to win given they’re not exactly in Europe every year, this was after they finished 7th in the league and they needed extra time to see off Aberdeen. Celtic drew with city home and away in the champions league. As I say it can’t be coincidence that we keep getting results, that’s not a one off.
    Firstly knowing your a Celtic fan , can you please take oli burke from us , I’ll drive him up to you if you want . Mate West Brom should be paying clubs to take him . 15 million we paid for him , record signing , pound for pound easily our worst signing since I’ve been going to games which was 1993. Don’t get me wrong I’ve seen worse players but because he cost 15 million he is by far the worst signing pound for pound .

    To me Celtic and rangers are two of the biggest clubs in the world , they have massive worldwide appeal. The teams they have now in my opinion would struggle in a 38 game season . But like I said if rangers and Celtic had the 180 million for being in the premier league they would attract players , so the teams they have now would improve massively with that sort of cash injection.

    Personally I think the gap is big between England and Scotland but then by right it should be with each premier league club receiving 180 million each , if the Scottish league got that then that league would be better , so it’s unfair to compare the two .

    I’ve seen some of the players that we’ve signed from Scotland Craig Beattie and George samaras and they were shocking , but then we had graham dorrans and he was outstanding for us
  8. Originally posted by Ricku2:as long as you enjoy the game, as long as you enjoy the music, it's not important who or what is best. Still an interesting discussion though
    You do have a point
  9. I quite like having a "festival of football".

    Play the league over 8 or 9 months and play every Saturday or Tuesday if needed. Then when the league is finished you have 1 month for the league cup, 1 month for the FA cup and 1 month for the European competitions. Straight 1 tie knockout rounds. You'll get a better a product overall, and clubs like Liverpool who purposely throw away the cups to have a crack at the league won't have that excuse anymore, so you'll get more teams taking each cup more serious.

    It obviously won't happen, and trying to schedule it all would be a pain in the arse, and the current giant clubs in Europe would hate the idea because it gives the little clubs a better opportunity to progress.
  10. Originally posted by SJKamal:I quite like having a "festival of football".

    Play the league over 8 or 9 months and play every Saturday or Tuesday if needed. Then when the league is finished you have 1 month for the league cup, 1 month for the FA cup and 1 month for the European competitions. Straight 1 tie knockout rounds. You'll get a better a product overall, and clubs like Liverpool who purposely throw away the cups to have a crack at the league won't have that excuse anymore, so you'll get more teams taking each cup more serious.

    It obviously won't happen, and trying to schedule it all would be a pain in the arse, and the current giant clubs in Europe would hate the idea because it gives the little clubs a better opportunity to progress.
    It’s been brilliant hasn’t it , straight knock out is really good .

    Like you say the big boys ain’t going to ever let that happen . The less games played suits the poor teams as in a one off game anything can happen , more games played suits the better side as class nine times out of ten will show
  11. Well there’s Spain’s 4th best team just put out England’s 3rd best.
  12. Bono in goal!