Here in the land of 24/7 ice hockey, the trade deadline has just passed with teams jockeying for a run for the Stanley Cup. Trading players can be done all season up to the deadline, but it’s the last few days where the horsetrading becomes intense. It’s not unlike the January window. Superstar players on their last hurrahs go to top teams for the cup run. Usually, their contracts are just about finished, most likely at the end of the current year. Selling teams, teams out of the playoff run look for youth, lower pay packets, and future potential in return. They are in the rebuilding mode. The biggest difference between the NHL (and all leagues here) and the football in Europe is the lack of a relegation threat with the subsequent loss of revenue and star players. Also, the post-season or playoffs create a fan frenzy and tidal wave of money for the play-off teams. Players in the playoffs do not receive compensation for their efforts; it’s all for the glory of hoisting the cup and doing a lap of the rink to adoring fans. All the revenue goes to the owners. So here in North America, the push is for the playoffs and in football it is league champion, European football, and what is appearing to me the most important aspect of football: the dreaded relegation threat.
Suppose the Premiership didn’t use relegation as an incentive; or, in my opinion, punishment for having/not having the poorest season of the twenty teams. A condition that, for most teams, a year ending injury to a player or two would spell disaster and a punishment unfitting of the end result. Beyond normal operating conditions.
The 2012-13 season for Villa has been a rebuilding year. No doubt about it. It looks very North American. Lots of young, lower-paid, unproven talent have flooded every game Villa has played. I include Guzan in this, as goalies take more time to mature. The difference being a distinct possibility of great loss if the rebuilding process took them into the bottom three. Should Villa be punished for this? Is it right that teams are forced into buying past their prime players or to take a chance on flaky players in their efforts to stay up? Villa have several on the books that aren’t used. A never ending cycle at the bottom of the Ieague. A system that really chokes rebuilding with youth.
Is there a solution that would allow teams to have more time to develop and avoid the drop at the same time? I think there is. A combination of the rebuilding strategies of a North American team plus the relegation system of the football leagues could be put together. A system that would send a truly bad team down. Not a system that punishes creativity in building a team, or one that would punish a team that has fallen on the rocks due to unforeseen circumstance. A softening of the relegation process to a two year total point system where a team that doesn’t hit a predetermined point total gets relegated. This would be a more fair process in weeding out the dross. In case of a tie, the usual criteria of goal difference can be used. After a year the differences would be the possibility of more than three teams relegated or also less than three teams relegated. A more fair dispensing of relegation rules for teams in the league.
Could this work? A system that doesn’t punish as harshly. Or is the system in place one that creates a more intense game? We see a lack of good football among the lower teams instead leaves something to be desired. Programs built only for the avoidance of relegation has given the fans really poor teams as Stoke, Wigan, QPR, et al, have shown. There are some bright lights. Newcastle last year, but where are they now? Southampton this year. Can they continue next year? Villa went out of a limb, way out on a limb this year and it”s showing an improvement as the season progresses. The chance of the season not being long enough is a shame as their choice of course is a brave one.
An ability to spend funds more prudently and a vision of improvement would, I suspect start to happen. What do you think would be a more equitable system to reward teams rather than punish teams? Give them a reason to rebuild and not plot avoidance of relegation or spend vast amounts for naught.
The Author
