“ WHY WE SHOULD NOT WANT PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL “ SAYS

“ WHY WE SHOULD NOT WANT PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL “

By a WBA fan.

Tuesday 3rd October 2017

By Will Hayward

Cardiff City fans, there is something you need to know. You are heading somewhere miserable.

Last Tuesday, I went with my Bluebird mate to Cardiff City against Leeds. While there I watched the systematic dismantling of title rivals Leeds by a Cardiff team that was oozing with confidence, pace and power.

I looked around at the cheering, happy Bluebirds fans, all thinking that this could be the year they return to the promised land of the Premier League.

As a long-suffering West Brom fan I wanted to scream at them “don’t do it”.

After been labelled for years as a “yoyo” club, my beloved Baggies have established themselves as an average Premier League team for about seven years.

With this experience please believe me when I say that the journey is far more fun than the destination. There is no sugar-coating it, the top tier of English football is a recipe for misery.

“But it will be great” I hear you cry, “We will be on Match of the Day every week, earn a boatload of cash and see some of the best players in the world.”

All of those things are correct but to quote Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: “It's a trap!”

Yes, you will be on Match of the Day every week but there are a few caveats to that.

If you play any of the other smaller clubs (or lesser clubs as you will be known to certain pundits), prepare for a late night. You will get a meagre four minutes after Goal of the Month. If you do play a bigger (richer) team you may get on earlier. Unfortunately, this will go one of two ways.

If you lose, you will be subjected to a comprehensive analysis of how perfectly their £100m striker dissected your defence (a defence that was assembled for about the equivalent price of Neymar’s foot).

If you win, you can forget about credit. It won’t be “didn’t Neymar’s foot defend well?” It will instead be an inquisition into what tactical flaws the opposition manager has that meant his team couldn’t squash the irrelevant bug that is your club.

“Well at least we will see the best players in the world” you say.

You’re right, you will see players like Hazard, Lukaku and Kane playing.

However, it is the same as enjoying watching boxing, and actually taking part in a bout. Admiring a boxer from ringside is very different to having him or her repeatedly punch you in the face.

Having the top players in the world at the Cardiff City Stadium will mean you see some scintillating football...played against you. If you are anything like me and your happiness is, somewhat pathetically, intrinsically linked to your football team, these repeated face punches soon lose their sense of fun.

Looking back at the best times I have most enjoyed being a football fan in recent years, it was all when we were chasing the top league, not in it.

There is something about the Premier League, every fan is perpetually disappointed.

If your team is one of the top six clubs, you have a one in six chance of considering your season a success. Unless you are one who actually manages to get your team of multimillionaires to win the league, you consider the season a failure.

You could see your team score bags of goals against “lesser clubs” (vomit) and yet all that is forgotten when at the end of the season you sit third on +50 goal difference. You are deemed to have failed.

If you are a smaller team, you may get the glow of staying up in that first year but then it will be quickly replaced by disappointment when your team fails to spend enough money or as every cliche-spouting pundit says – “show ambition”.

Over the seasons, just surviving won’t be enough and managers will fall by the wayside for not playing the “right kind” of football.

Don’t get me wrong, you will be delighted when your team smashes its transfer record and wage cap on a big signing. However, this will only mean that the pressure is on because relegation can now equal insolvency and the liquidation of your team.

Even if you do the impossible (or, as it is now called, “doing a Leicester”) and win it against the odds, the hero manager who inspired that victory could be sacked within months.

Bluebirds, I implore you to enjoy the ride. Bottle every moment of the fun away trips to Burton where you can get in for less than a tenner. What awaits you is paying through the nose for disappointment and unfulfilled lofty expectations. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even a Wolves fan.

Tuesday 3rd October 2017

By Will Hayward

Cardiff City fans, there is something you need to know. You are heading somewhere miserable.

Last Tuesday, I went with my Bluebird mate to Cardiff City against Leeds. While there I watched the systematic dismantling of title rivals Leeds by a Cardiff team that was oozing with confidence, pace and power.

I looked around at the cheering, happy Bluebirds fans, all thinking that this could be the year they return to the promised land of the Premier League.

As a long-suffering West Brom fan I wanted to scream at them “don’t do it”.

After been labelled for years as a “yoyo” club, my beloved Baggies have established themselves as an average Premier League team for about seven years.

With this experience please believe me when I say that the journey is far more fun than the destination. There is no sugar-coating it, the top tier of English football is a recipe for misery.

“But it will be great” I hear you cry, “We will be on Match of the Day every week, earn a boatload of cash and see some of the best players in the world.”

All of those things are correct but to quote Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: “It's a trap!”

Yes, you will be on Match of the Day every week but there are a few caveats to that.

If you play any of the other smaller clubs (or lesser clubs as you will be known to certain pundits), prepare for a late night. You will get a meagre four minutes after Goal of the Month. If you do play a bigger (richer) team you may get on earlier. Unfortunately, this will go one of two ways.

If you lose, you will be subjected to a comprehensive analysis of how perfectly their £100m striker dissected your defence (a defence that was assembled for about the equivalent price of Neymar’s foot).

If you win, you can forget about credit. It won’t be “didn’t Neymar’s foot defend well?” It will instead be an inquisition into what tactical flaws the opposition manager has that meant his team couldn’t squash the irrelevant bug that is your club.

“Well at least we will see the best players in the world” you say.

You’re right, you will see players like Hazard, Lukaku and Kane playing.

However, it is the same as enjoying watching boxing, and actually taking part in a bout. Admiring a boxer from ringside is very different to having him or her repeatedly punch you in the face.

Having the top players in the world at the Cardiff City Stadium will mean you see some scintillating football...played against you. If you are anything like me and your happiness is, somewhat pathetically, intrinsically linked to your football team, these repeated face punches soon lose their sense of fun.

Looking back at the best times I have most enjoyed being a football fan in recent years, it was all when we were chasing the top league, not in it.

There is something about the Premier League, every fan is perpetually disappointed.

If your team is one of the top six clubs, you have a one in six chance of considering your season a success. Unless you are one who actually manages to get your team of multimillionaires to win the league, you consider the season a failure.

You could see your team score bags of goals against “lesser clubs” (vomit) and yet all that is forgotten when at the end of the season you sit third on +50 goal difference. You are deemed to have failed.

If you are a smaller team, you may get the glow of staying up in that first year but then it will be quickly replaced by disappointment when your team fails to spend enough money or as every cliche-spouting pundit says – “show ambition”.

Over the seasons, just surviving won’t be enough and managers will fall by the wayside for not playing the “right kind” of football.

Don’t get me wrong, you will be delighted when your team smashes its transfer record and wage cap on a big signing. However, this will only mean that the pressure is on because relegation can now equal insolvency and the liquidation of your team.

Even if you do the impossible (or, as it is now called, “doing a Leicester”) and win it against the odds, the hero manager who inspired that victory could be sacked within months.

Bluebirds, I implore you to enjoy the ride. Bottle every moment of the fun away trips to Burton where you can get in for less than a tenner. What awaits you is paying through the nose for disappointment and unfulfilled lofty expectations. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even a Wolves fan.

This is depressingly true. I hated the Premier League.

Interesting, as the guy who sits next to me at home games said on Saturday that he was enjoying the ride but didn't want the end product, i.e. promotion!

Personally, I couldn't attend (never have) if I only wanted my team to be stagnant and with no ambition. In all the years I have supported and attended City games, I have never once NOT wanted the club to achieve or move upward. I'm competitive by nature and want to feel the elation of any success that comes the club's way!

I loved that FA Cup Final run (even the final itself) under DJ, the League Cup Final under Malky, the Blackpool Play-off and all those little moments of pleasure over the years (Leeds United, Man City more than once, stopping teams like Fulham andBrighton being promoted on the last day, etc., etc.) and reaching the Premier League again makes sense financially and competitively. It's riches are very important to this club and its owner and it adds up in a competitive sense...to me at least!

Hopefully others agree or I am left to ask "What is the point?"

I know many football fans who followed their teams in the lower divisions and have said that Premier League,ruined their football club and the closeness,lost their diehards etc
The fanbase changes and everything to do with their club they knew changed.

There are even some Jacks who don't enjoy it.

Football as they say,"Is a funny old game"


Our loyal fans deserve some years in the Premier League,they can then decide

Enjoy the journey and destination I say. I get what the OP is saying but to me it's all part of supporting your club and Cardiff fans more than most are used to rising rollercoasters!

Great article - totally agree.

The journey is the destination lads.

Enjoy the ride

This has been on my mind since our 100% record after 5 games. I'm not excited by the premier league one bit.

Unfortunately the money being thrown at clubs in the championship far exceeds us, let alone the premier league. If we do go up, I can only see a repeat of our last trip.

I adore the championship, and would be content if we're here for longer to come.

But that aside.. WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!.... THE BLUES ARE GOINGGGGGG UP... etc etc etc

I can't be alone in enjoying our last sojourn into the Premier League (red stuff apart) and there were some fantastic games, including the Man /City and United games

It only really fell apart one the Malky situation reached breaking point and the whole club (players, fans, owner and sadly the new manager OGS) effectively gave up the ghost too early and we drifted into relegation

“ WHY WE SHOULD NOT WANT PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL “

By a WBA fan.

Tuesday 3rd October 2017

By Will Hayward

Cardiff City fans, there is something you need to know. You are heading somewhere miserable.

Last Tuesday, I went with my Bluebird mate to Cardiff City against Leeds. While there I watched the systematic dismantling of title rivals Leeds by a Cardiff team that was oozing with confidence, pace and power.

I looked around at the cheering, happy Bluebirds fans, all thinking that this could be the year they return to the promised land of the Premier League.

As a long-suffering West Brom fan I wanted to scream at them “don’t do it”.

After been labelled for years as a “yoyo” club, my beloved Baggies have established themselves as an average Premier League team for about seven years.

With this experience please believe me when I say that the journey is far more fun than the destination. There is no sugar-coating it, the top tier of English football is a recipe for misery.

“But it will be great” I hear you cry, “We will be on Match of the Day every week, earn a boatload of cash and see some of the best players in the world.”

All of those things are correct but to quote Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: “It's a trap!”

Yes, you will be on Match of the Day every week but there are a few caveats to that.

If you play any of the other smaller clubs (or lesser clubs as you will be known to certain pundits), prepare for a late night. You will get a meagre four minutes after Goal of the Month. If you do play a bigger (richer) team you may get on earlier. Unfortunately, this will go one of two ways.

If you lose, you will be subjected to a comprehensive analysis of how perfectly their £100m striker dissected your defence (a defence that was assembled for about the equivalent price of Neymar’s foot).

If you win, you can forget about credit. It won’t be “didn’t Neymar’s foot defend well?” It will instead be an inquisition into what tactical flaws the opposition manager has that meant his team couldn’t squash the irrelevant bug that is your club.

“Well at least we will see the best players in the world” you say.

You’re right, you will see players like Hazard, Lukaku and Kane playing.

However, it is the same as enjoying watching boxing, and actually taking part in a bout. Admiring a boxer from ringside is very different to having him or her repeatedly punch you in the face.

Having the top players in the world at the Cardiff City Stadium will mean you see some scintillating football...played against you. If you are anything like me and your happiness is, somewhat pathetically, intrinsically linked to your football team, these repeated face punches soon lose their sense of fun.

Looking back at the best times I have most enjoyed being a football fan in recent years, it was all when we were chasing the top league, not in it.

There is something about the Premier League, every fan is perpetually disappointed.

If your team is one of the top six clubs, you have a one in six chance of considering your season a success. Unless you are one who actually manages to get your team of multimillionaires to win the league, you consider the season a failure.

You could see your team score bags of goals against “lesser clubs” (vomit) and yet all that is forgotten when at the end of the season you sit third on +50 goal difference. You are deemed to have failed.

If you are a smaller team, you may get the glow of staying up in that first year but then it will be quickly replaced by disappointment when your team fails to spend enough money or as every cliche-spouting pundit says – “show ambition”.

Over the seasons, just surviving won’t be enough and managers will fall by the wayside for not playing the “right kind” of football.

Don’t get me wrong, you will be delighted when your team smashes its transfer record and wage cap on a big signing. However, this will only mean that the pressure is on because relegation can now equal insolvency and the liquidation of your team.

Even if you do the impossible (or, as it is now called, “doing a Leicester”) and win it against the odds, the hero manager who inspired that victory could be sacked within months.

Bluebirds, I implore you to enjoy the ride. Bottle every moment of the fun away trips to Burton where you can get in for less than a tenner. What awaits you is paying through the nose for disappointment and unfulfilled lofty expectations. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even a Wolves fan.

I agree with some of what the poster has said and they are in a better position to make a judgement based on their premier league experience and our lack of lol.

However, I'd hope that being miserable in the premier league would be better than being miserable at the bottom of the championship where we were not so long ago. Obviously it's about enjoying moment and yes even if we do get up, it may not be for long but when future bluebirds look back at our history in years to come - they will probably look at the years of success over the years in the bottom divisions. Getting the famous wins against the big clubs and even trying to somehow push on to get into Europe. Now I know it is highly unlikely unless what happened with Leicester happened again but these are our dreams. We know we are likely to get a grilling most weeks ESP by the bigger clubs but I guess the excitement in the PL is different. At first it'll be...can we stay up? Can we beat some of the big clubs? After that if we succeed, it'll be pretty much what West Brom are trying to get more established in the PL and push on upwards. For a high percentage of smaller clubs they do not reach higher than this point and at some point end up going back down. For a smaller percentage they actually may push on - this stuff is what we all dream of and gives you the buzz even though you know it'll prob never happen!

So all in all, I personally agree with the west brom fan but also I think we have try and reach the highest point we can.

Difference here is cardiff have much more potential to enjoy premier league than west brom or say swansea. Much smaller clubs potential wise.

If cardiff were say established for 10 plus years there we could grow and grow and push for top 6 and europa leauge imo now that would be good

“ WHY WE SHOULD NOT WANT PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL “

By a WBA fan.

Tuesday 3rd October 2017

By Will Hayward

Cardiff City fans, there is something you need to know. You are heading somewhere miserable.

Last Tuesday, I went with my Bluebird mate to Cardiff City against Leeds. While there I watched the systematic dismantling of title rivals Leeds by a Cardiff team that was oozing with confidence, pace and power.

I looked around at the cheering, happy Bluebirds fans, all thinking that this could be the year they return to the promised land of the Premier League.

As a long-suffering West Brom fan I wanted to scream at them “don’t do it”.

After been labelled for years as a “yoyo” club, my beloved Baggies have established themselves as an average Premier League team for about seven years.

With this experience please believe me when I say that the journey is far more fun than the destination. There is no sugar-coating it, the top tier of English football is a recipe for misery.

“But it will be great” I hear you cry, “We will be on Match of the Day every week, earn a boatload of cash and see some of the best players in the world.”

All of those things are correct but to quote Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: “It's a trap!”

Yes, you will be on Match of the Day every week but there are a few caveats to that.

If you play any of the other smaller clubs (or lesser clubs as you will be known to certain pundits), prepare for a late night. You will get a meagre four minutes after Goal of the Month. If you do play a bigger (richer) team you may get on earlier. Unfortunately, this will go one of two ways.

If you lose, you will be subjected to a comprehensive analysis of how perfectly their £100m striker dissected your defence (a defence that was assembled for about the equivalent price of Neymar’s foot).

If you win, you can forget about credit. It won’t be “didn’t Neymar’s foot defend well?” It will instead be an inquisition into what tactical flaws the opposition manager has that meant his team couldn’t squash the irrelevant bug that is your club.

“Well at least we will see the best players in the world” you say.

You’re right, you will see players like Hazard, Lukaku and Kane playing.

However, it is the same as enjoying watching boxing, and actually taking part in a bout. Admiring a boxer from ringside is very different to having him or her repeatedly punch you in the face.

Having the top players in the world at the Cardiff City Stadium will mean you see some scintillating football...played against you. If you are anything like me and your happiness is, somewhat pathetically, intrinsically linked to your football team, these repeated face punches soon lose their sense of fun.

Looking back at the best times I have most enjoyed being a football fan in recent years, it was all when we were chasing the top league, not in it.

There is something about the Premier League, every fan is perpetually disappointed.

If your team is one of the top six clubs, you have a one in six chance of considering your season a success. Unless you are one who actually manages to get your team of multimillionaires to win the league, you consider the season a failure.

You could see your team score bags of goals against “lesser clubs” (vomit) and yet all that is forgotten when at the end of the season you sit third on +50 goal difference. You are deemed to have failed.

If you are a smaller team, you may get the glow of staying up in that first year but then it will be quickly replaced by disappointment when your team fails to spend enough money or as every cliche-spouting pundit says – “show ambition”.

Over the seasons, just surviving won’t be enough and managers will fall by the wayside for not playing the “right kind” of football.

Don’t get me wrong, you will be delighted when your team smashes its transfer record and wage cap on a big signing. However, this will only mean that the pressure is on because relegation can now equal insolvency and the liquidation of your team.

Even if you do the impossible (or, as it is now called, “doing a Leicester”) and win it against the odds, the hero manager who inspired that victory could be sacked within months.

Bluebirds, I implore you to enjoy the ride. Bottle every moment of the fun away trips to Burton where you can get in for less than a tenner. What awaits you is paying through the nose for disappointment and unfulfilled lofty expectations. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even a Wolves fan.

A fantastic post and unfortunately so very true

What a great post from a baggie...I think thr championship is terrific and competitive....i hated the 1 year we had buy that was more down to rebrand and having no connection. Maybe in blue it would feel different?


I loved supporting city in the bottom two divisions more. Especially when you could relate to the players and all you asked was commitment. Usually we would lose but as long as the players tried the small army of fans would stay right to the end and applaud. These days half of thr fans leave a a few boo despite the players best efforts!

Reply on FB


Wayne Hewitson:

Totally true, but you can't not want it. Even if it means 1 year in the premier league and live of the parachute payments for the next few years. Small clubs have done plenty in the top division over the years and you just hope for one of those Leicester style moments (I'm not saying for 1 second we can win the league but it puts you in a stronger position to win something)...


The last Premier league season for us was generally miserable but I look forward to the next time (if there is ever a next time)

A very good post, and sadly very true. If and when we return to the PL, our ambitions will change completely. The hope of winning anything will vanish, and we will have to get used to losing matches on a regular basis. For a club like us, success will be simply to finish 18th, or slightly higher if possible. Our only target each season would be to avoid relegation, and the hopes and excitement that so many fans are experiencing right now will be a thing of the past. Many loyal fans will either get bored of an annual battle to avoid the drop, or won't be able to afford the inflated admission fees. They will be replaced by the better off fan, or the ones who will be there when the big boys come to town. An extended stay at the top will completely change the club as we know it.

Reply From FB


Neil Hasson:
Brilliantly written and so spot on but like Wayne said we got to keep wanting to be better. Personally I love the championship but I also love the thought of my team the city being up there

Reply from FB


Lauren Ann McNie:

Realest thing I've ever read.
The Premier League is not the be all and end all of football. Cardiff are my number one team but I'm also a Spurs fan and I got so much stick last season for thinking it was amazing that we finished second! If you don't win the league then you're either forgotten or deemed failures. That season City spent in the PL was dreadful; how many fans would say that they honestly enjoyed every

Reply From FB


Darren Evans:

Agree with everything he says ,I hated the premier part from the Man City and Man Utd games where we got a great win and last minute draw the rest ,hated it ...he's right with everything he says three are not interested in the smaller clubs .

We are top of the championship now.crowds in my opinion are disappointing'even though we are relatively cheap to watch.if we fail to go up it will be hard to hold on to the support we get currently.the novelty of top flight football would last for years as the club has only played 15 top flight seasons in its 97 year league history.

We are top of the championship now.crowds in my opinion are disappointing'even though we are relatively cheap to watch.if we fail to go up it will be hard to hold on to the support we get currently.the novelty of top flight football would last for years as the club has only played 15 top flight seasons in its 97 year league history.

A lot of truth in that,if we want to try and become a bigger club,with a bigger fan base we need to be in the Premier League,whether we like it or not.

With all due respect I disagree with this post. Yes it’s true that we’ll face a lot more hardship with ticket prices increasing, losing to the better sides, not being able to compete financially but that’s all part of being a football fan.

If you don’t want to be at the top then you shouldn’t be in the game, seeing Cardiff represent our fans and our country in the best league in the world is a privilege. Every club in the football league the same dream to play at the top flight.

I may be talking more off personal opinion but does Match Of The Day really mean something to most fans? Watching my team play and seeing how they perform, us fans know how well they do, we don’t need Lineker and co to give us the appreciation we deserve. That’s what we are for!

It’s all part of the same journey going up and back down again, the rebrand, it’s all part of our story on how we get to the top and who knows if we stay there or win trophies.

Even as Cardiff fans, you can’t deny the way the Jacks played under Rodgers in the PL, they had credit in abundance and rightfully so, they didn’t have any world renowned superstars, they played football the right way under a top manager. They beat the best teams on times, won trophies and played in Europe.

Like I said, it’s all part of being a football fan.

Funny story is, if we are promoted, increased prices in some cases £55 tickets,more live Sky matches, terrible times of matches etc and yet We will be sold out, home and away.

With all due respect I disagree with this post. Yes it’s true that we’ll face a lot more hardship with ticket prices increasing, losing to the better sides, not being able to compete financially but that’s all part of being a football fan.

If you don’t want to be at the top then you shouldn’t be in the game, seeing Cardiff represent our fans and our country in the best league in the world is a privilege. Every club in the football league the same dream to play at the top flight.

I may be talking more off personal opinion but does Match Of The Day really mean something to most fans? Watching my team play and seeing how they perform, us fans know how well they do, we don’t need Lineker and co to give us the appreciation we deserve. That’s what we are for!

It’s all part of the same journey going up and back down again, the rebrand, it’s all part of our story on how we get to the top and who knows if we stay there or win trophies.

Even as Cardiff fans, you can’t deny the way the Jacks played under Rodgers in the PL, they had credit in abundance and rightfully so, they didn’t have any world renowned superstars, they played football the right way under a top manager. They beat the best teams on times, won trophies and played in Europe.

Like I said, it’s all part of being a football fan.

*A trophy should I say*

The only good thing about our Premier League season was now being able to say that I have followed the City in all four divisions.

Difference here is cardiff have much more potential to enjoy premier league than west brom or say swansea. Much smaller clubs potential wise.

If cardiff were say established for 10 plus years there we could grow and grow and push for top 6 and europa leauge imo now that would be good

Slow down haha

Great article - totally agree.

The journey is the destination lads.

That's deep, man

The original post obviously hasn't seen the coverage we get on 5.

It sounds like MOTD will be exactly the same

It's not like we're used to getting attention from the media. Our own BBC Wales barely recognise us on this amazing run.

the last time we played Swansea I'd never seen a more one sided build up in my life.

And then the commentary on the Leeds game was an utter joke and that's in the championship. The commentator just couldn't help giving us 'back handed' compliments. Like Hoiletta goal for eg... He said about 50 times the keeper should have done better then begrudgingly said "he did strike it well".

I'd put forward an argument to say although he speaks some truths the author is a pessimistic b*stard. In fact, he'd fit right in on this forum!

Difference here is cardiff have much more potential to enjoy premier league than west brom or say swansea. Much smaller clubs potential wise.

If cardiff were say established for 10 plus years there we could grow and grow and push for top 6 and europa leauge imo now that would be good

Slow down haha

I think West Brom fans would probably dispute that.

I don't see no excitement about aiming for survival/mid table every season.

However, if we are promoted this season at least the real Cardiff city will be representing us in the PL in our traditional blue colours.