by Roger Larder

Created on: June 02, 2007

The fans have already decided this one for us. 5000 more fans go to see an average Premier League game than the combined average for the Championship and Leagues One and Two. And that's with more Premiership games on television and (usually) more expensive tickets. But I'll argue the case anyway.

People go to football matches to watch a sport they love being played at a quality level far higher than they can achieve themselves. The Premier League has more quality in it than the divisions below because the teams which cannot match the standards required are relegated. Moreover, in general Premiership teams have more specialized coaching and have better training facilities, and Premiership managers are at the forefront of new ideas, (masseurs, dietitians etc) which can be backed by their better funded clubs. All this helps to produce a better standard of football in the top division.

The players that we pretend to be in the park on the Playstation are those players that dazzle us with their skill. Often these players ply their trade abroad, and we catch glimpses of them in European competitions or the World Cup. If these players are to come to England, it is the Premiership where they will showcase their skills as we watch, inspired. Sadly the 'Cobblers' (til I die) will never attract the likes of Kaka, Ronaldinho or Lucio. It may be the case that players in the lower leagues still play for love of the game or a local club, and this is very laudable, but it does not entertainment make. Otherwise the spectacle of 22 hearty souls kicking lumps out of each other in some Sunday league match would attract gates of thousands. Maybe it does, however I know where I am on a Sunday, settled down in front of a television in my local, watching Premiership football, the best league in the world.

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