by James Abbott

Created on: June 04, 2007

The Football League, unquestionably provides as much entertainment as the Premiership and in doing so provides better value for money than its elitist counterpart.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a Man U supporter and have been since the dawn of the 'Fergie Era' (make sure the Brasso is always well stocked!) but, the Football League, irrespective of which tier your team plays in, presents a far more attractive commodity to neutral spectators. Some will try to put forward the argument that the the Premier League will always have a greater attraction to the spectator, and throughout the course of a single game, this might be true. But, the debate here asks whether the Football 'League' has more to offer, and the league is played out over 10 months.

The Football League has a hectic fixture programme, due to the 24 rather than 20 teams in the divisions. It would seem logical to then argue that there is more chance of a team in the Football League finding themselves with 'nothing to play for', come the last few weeks of the season as there is a larger body of teams between the future-defining, play-off and relegation zones. This year though, that was not the case. Taking the end of March (6 games remaining) as a snapshot of the leagues, Middlesbrough, in 12th place, and all the teams below them (that's nine teams) were all eying the relegation zone, some more closely than others. Blackburn Rovers, in 10th spot were still viewing Uefa Cup qualification as a real possibility. Newcastle, in 11th spot, could have found themselves heading for either fate - though most Geordies might say otherwise. So there is indeed competition for all parties in the Premiership. The same could definitely be said of League One and with the exception of Palace, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester, all of the Championship had something to play for as well.
Despite the fact that the number of teams still having something to compete for in the Football League and Premiership is similar, the identity of those teams is not necessarily consistent. In the last five years, the top four positions in the Premiership have only been shared amongst six teams, with Newcastle and Everton being unexpected inclusions on only one occasion each. At the other end of the table, the teams that gain promotion are, for the most part, the teams that go down. In the football league it is possible for teams to suffer repeated relegations (see Notts Forest, Sheff Wed, Leeds Utd, Man City), or revel in back to back

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