by Ben Hughes

Created on: March 13, 2008

A few months ago I might've disagreed with this statement, but after the exploits of three Championship sides in the FA Cup recently, I've now changed my mind.

The Premier League includes some brilliant teams who play quick, intelligent football and are very successful. The fact that Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool have all reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League indicates just how good Premier League sides are. Everton and Tottenham also just missed out on quarter-final places in the UEFA Cup and Bolton may yet get there themselves; so the quality and individual skill in the Premiership shouldn't be underestimated.

But there are also problems with the Premier League. It's the richest league in the world and clubs pay footballers huge salaries for doing their job. Football is becoming increasingly focused on business and profit rather than for playing the football itself. Therefore, players are lazy, too interested in their sponsorship deals or, with the increasing number of games, too tired to play at their best.

This has been seen not only at club level but also at international level, as England underperformed in the recent 2008 European Championships qualifying campaign and now won't be playing in Switzerland and Austria this summer.

Contrast this with the Football League. Here, players aren't competing for big salaries and clubs aren't competing to be the richest in the world. Instead, the players are playing because they enjoy football and the clubs are fighting for survival. This is where the real football takes place before the better teams are promoted or the better players are poached.

Okay, the skill level isn't as high as in the Premier League, but neither is the greed factor. Here, football is more "nitty gritty" and many fans can identify more with these players than the superstar untouchable footballers earning thousands of pounds a week.

Lower leagues are also arguably more competitive. Whereas the Big Four dominate the Premier League, the Championship, League One and League Two are closer and tighter in the battle for honours. And the FA Cup runs of Barnsley, Cardiff and West Bromwich Albion show that Championship sides shouldn't be underestimated. The fact that these three teams reached the last four of the world's greatest club competition, knocking our Premier League clubs on the way, shows that these smaller sides take it more seriously than the larger ones whose attentions are elsewhere and often play weakened teams in domestic cup competitions.

Overall, both leagues have something to offer; it's just that the Football League is a bit more down to Earth about it and is often too easily written off. And with lower prices for admission, food and replica shirts, the Football League seems the better choice.

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