Is the gap closing?

Arsenal, Villa, QPR, Everton all underperforming in the FA Cup. Not to mention the Bradford v Jacks final in the League cup.

So, is the gap between Premiership and Championship closing? What about Championship and League One?

Championship and league 1's widened this season due to the enforcement of the FFP in League 1.

It'll narrow again when the FFP is enforced in this league though.

I repeat the question

Most definitely and I believe money has been the Premier League's own downfall. Its caused a divide between those at the top of the Premier and those lower down. Those lower down like QPR are signing players who can't gel together which is why Harry is now trying to get some Premier proven players in. Any side in the bottom half of the Premiership I believe we could give a very good run for their money if we go up. Villa are inexperienced.

The closeness is proven by Southampton and Norwich going straight up after being promoted from League One and then doing pretty much okay in their first season. Then you have teams like Leeds who came up from League One and have done pretty well in the Championship floating around mid table to the playoff positions.

The Premier teams who come down have struggled massively with Blackburn being completely outplayed by us. Whilst Premier teams are throwing money everywhere trying to make it up the table and you have others buying cheap to set a foundation as Liverpool and Villa you will have inexperienced teams who can on any day be beaten.

More money in the Championship hasn't helped Premiership teams either. Back in the day most Championship teams were struggling and had to sell off their players all the time to stay afloat whereas now they can drive a hard bargain like Palace have done with Zaha. Hopefully by the time Premiership sides realise Ben Nugent is as good as we know he is we will be in a better position financially and can drive a hard bargain. We should have got decent sums for Ledley and Matthews to be honest.

The gap is just as wide. Only reason is teams generally field weaker teams in FA CUP.

The gap is just as wide. Only reason is teams generally field weaker teams in FA CUP.

Suarez, Sterling, Henderson, Downing, Skrtel, Gerrard etc v. Oldham, Bale, Dempsey, Lennon, Parker etc v. Leeds, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Lampard, Oscar, Torres v, Brentford.

Are these really weaker teams?

Get ready for our resident jack comics (lad69 and bustard) to come on here and say that the prem league is the dogs bollox and CCFC will never survive etc etc......

I dont think the gap is closing. I think the character of Premier League footballers
is questionable though. Wet, windy, muddy... The Liverpool team just did not want
to know. I think they see the Premier League as their bread and butter and playing
in shitty little grounds is beneath them. Get it out of the way, who cares kind of thing

Arsenal, Villa, QPR, Everton all underperforming in the FA Cup. Not to mention the Bradford v Jacks final in the League cup.

So, is the gap between Premiership and Championship closing? What about Championship and League One?

If you look how Swansea, Norwich etc have settled into the Premier League it would suggest that the gap is most definately closing between that league and the Championship.

The top 3 through their financial clout are a different proposition. If we played united, Leicester played citeh, & Hull played Chelski, I would wager the top 3 Premier league even away would beat us.

You wouldn't be so confident if Palace, Watford and Boro were playing Spuds, Everton and Arsenal and so forth down to the relegation zones.

The Jacks did well with only 1 upgrade in Danny Graham, Norwich didn't go nuts either. I love the fact we wouldn't have to overhaul our team next season if we go up, as I believe you get a few weeks grace due to the fact the PL teams haven't too much experience of you and you sometimes sneak a few unlikely wins.

I hate it when people say they played weaker teams, nobody I saw played a weak team.

I dont think the gap is closing. I think the character of Premier League footballers
is questionable though. Wet, windy, muddy... The Liverpool team just did not want
to know. I think they see the Premier League as their bread and butter and playing
in shitty little grounds is beneath them. Get it out of the way, who cares kind of thing

Possibly

i think the prem teams who played today struggled with the pitches and the crowds, remember when we turned over the mighty Leeds, the same happened then

Liverpool today looked like a team that could beat anyone in La Liga. All this fancy play but when the rough tackles go in and the going gets tough they just can't hack it. Their back four got bullied for the vast majority of the game and they were shook up and making errors all over the place. Just like Arsenal who have been roughed up on numerous trips to the Britannia. If we are to do well in the Premiership we need to keep the same system we use now. Constant pressure getting in players faces, high fitness levels and forcing them into errors and not allowing them to dictate the pace of the game.

This trip to Dubai is only going to help with fitness long term so it was a brilliant idea.

I dont think the gap is closing. I think the character of Premier League footballers
is questionable though. Wet, windy, muddy... The Liverpool team just did not want
to know. I think they see the Premier League as their bread and butter and playing
in shitty little grounds is beneath them. Get it out of the way, who cares kind of thing

I totally agree, these big names dont want to know in the shit little grounds, can"t handle the atmosphere or just don't want to be there?

Arsenal, Villa, QPR, Everton all underperforming in the FA Cup. Not to mention the Bradford v Jacks final in the League cup.

So, is the gap between Premiership and Championship closing? What about Championship and League One?

If you look how Swansea, Norwich etc have settled into the Premier League it would suggest that the gap is most definately closing between that league and the Championship.

i agree and the relegated prem teams seem to struggle also...

Arsenal, Villa, QPR, Everton all underperforming in the FA Cup. Not to mention the Bradford v Jacks final in the League cup.

So, is the gap between Premiership and Championship closing? What about Championship and League One?

Good point but the fact that teams make so many changes now devalues the cups. Thats the only reason a Little Bradford and smaller Swansea Town are in the 'Leyland Daf, Freight Rover, Chipmunk Oxo Crisps, Cillit Bang' final.