The geography of the Premiership
Today it's almost a M1/M6 Premiership. Once you have left the five clubs in London behind, it's a short journey off the M6 to the four West Midlands clubs. You then pass through Stoke and it's not too far off the motorway to the two Manchester clubs or those on Merseyside. Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool and Blackburn are all easily accessible. That leaves just two clubs outside London, the West and North Midlands and the North-West: Newcastle and Sunderland. Forty per cent of the clubs are in the north-west.
If we go back to the inaugural season of the Premiership in 1992-3, when there were 22 clubs, there were six in London, not that much different from today's share. The West Midlands was less strongly represented with two clubs and the north-west's share was lower at 27 per cent. What is striking is how much more strongly the east side of the country was represented with seven clubs as against two today: two in East Anglia, three in Yorkshire (including both Sheffield clubs), one in the East Midlands (Forest) and one in the north-east. The picture was completed by a south coast club (Southampton).
When it was founded the geography of the Premiership was much more diverse. Is it possible for communities the size of Ipswich and Norwich to compete in the modern Premiership unless they are benefactor clubs like Wigan?
ERRRM YES it is possible....
Blackpool are back in the Premiership despite the lowest capacity stadium in the Premiership probably not even a quarter of the size of the small cities but well managed and its staff well motivated that they are able to produce the goods. Although early days in the Premiership Blackpool Fc have the team spirit and have shown that its not the size of the town that matters nor the amount of supporters or the size of the stadium but the people who run the club behind the scenes - running it in a profitable manner - and the playing staff and manager.
Get this right like Blackpool have done! and enjoy the ride as long as it lasts - everyone has them down for relgation so whatever we do- how can we go wrong??? No-one expects us to do well and that is to our strength and it is the old story of the underdog that gets people excited - in the same way the crazy gang with a budget of nothing achieved so much in so little time. Mixing it with the 'big boys' and beating the overpaid players if nothing else this season will put a smile on many supporters faces. Recently we tried to sign Bret pitman form Bournemouth - he turned down the offer of Premiership football at Blackpool in favour of Bristol city and its higher wages. This truly underlines how little confidence or vision Pitman had in his own abilities - that he would take money over the chance to play bigger teams. He is still an unproven player in the higher leagues and could have shown his skills at Blackpool and moved on to 'bigger teams' in the Prem had he come good. It really underlines the greed in the game and I for one am glad we will never sign the guy who is a real loser.
As the fans sing - " This is the best trip we've ever been on!"
UP THE POOL!