Richmond FC Fantasy League Version 4 - EPL 2009/10

[Hellenic Tiger]

Lampard makes it 2-0 to Chelsea title race over.

As it stands Chelsea 4 points clear.

United still have to play Sunderland later.

Next weeks final fixtures have Chelsea home to Wigan and United home to Stoke.
Can't see either team dropping points against opposition who are safe in mid table mediocrity.

[one-eyed]

Man Utd won against Sunderland so they remain in the hunt going into the final weekend if Chelsea choke.

Liverpool    0 - 2  Chelsea
Sunderland 0 - 1  Man Utd
Fulham      3 - 2  West Ham

[Hellenic Tiger]

Tottenham have sown up a Champions League Spot and are in a position of possibly qualifying automatically in the main draw if they win their final game on Sunday and Arsenal lose theirs.

Hull have officially been relegated also.

Only thing left to be decided with the last round of games this Sunday is whether Man United can retain the title for a fourth time in succession.

Wigan      2 Hull           2
Man City 0 Tottenham 1
Fulham   0  Stoke City 1

[one-eyed]

Chelsea romped home 8-nil against Wigan to win the EPL title.


Ar_senal     4 - 0   Fulham
Aston Villa  0 - 1   Blackburn Rovers
Bolton        2 - 1   Birmingham
Burnley       4 - 2   Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea      8 - 0   Wigan Athletic
Everton       1 - 0   Portsmouth
Hull City      0 - 0   Liverpool
Man United  4 - 0   Stoke City
West Ham   1 - 1   Manchester City
Wolves       2 - 1   Sunderland

[Hellenic Tiger]

Congrats to Ramps.

OER Fantasy Premier League Coach of the Year 

[one-eyed]

Blackpool to meet Cardiff City at Wembley for the final spot in the EPL next season.

[Hellenic Tiger]

Blackpool to meet Cardiff City at Wembley for the final spot in the EPL next season.

Would love to see either side in the top flight next year.
Both sides bring alot with their fans especially the Welsh club.

[mightytiges]

Blackpool to meet Cardiff City at Wembley for the final spot in the EPL next season.

Would love to see either side in the top flight next year.
Both sides bring alot with their fans especially the Welsh club.

Happy for either club to make it as they've been to the abyss (4th division) and back in since last being in the top flight in the 1960s. Blackpool has a pretty decent supporter base for a club that's been out of the top flight for 44 years. They were one of top sides in the 1950s.

I've got a theory going at the moment that as the EPL becomes more and more about how much money you have to buy the best players and squads, the more big clubs from England's largest cities will dominate the competition. The top 9 clubs this year were from London, Birmingham and Manchester. Cardiff being Wales' largest city might be another example of that trend. Big cities have the support bases (both attendance and tv audience) and sponsorship dollars to generate more revenue or their club(s) than smaller cities despite many smaller English cities/towns historically being more traditional football regions.

[mightytiges]

Poor old Pompey. Admittedly they were lucky to be still level at half-time with Chelsea hitting the bar/post 4 times but Boateng will have recurring nightmares over that penalty miss only for Drogba's classy free kick to put Chelsea in front a minute later.

Hard to see Portsmouth surviving even the Championship next year being 130m pounds in the red  and virtually having to find another team from scratch next season as this one they will be forced to let go to try and balance the books. It's not going to be a pleasant ride for their fans. So sad to see so many clubs in debt over there. Surely something has to give eventually as more and more clubs face financial troubles.

[one-eyed]

Blackpool will be in the EPL next year. Their back in top flight English football for the first time since 1971.

They came from behind twice to beat Cardiff City 3-2 and gain promotion along with Newcastle and West Brom.

[Hellenic Tiger]

Some proud and famous clubs from yesteryear coming back from the brink and earning top flight status.

[mightytiges]

Apparently Blackpool averaged crowds of just 8000 in the Championship and the current ground capacity is just 12k. Welcome to the Premier League boys. Makes North Melbourne look like a giant club lol. In the 1950s Blackpool were getting crowds of 38k so it shows how much 40 years in the wilderness has cost them.

[Hellenic Tiger]

Apparently Blackpool averaged crowds of just 8000 in the Championship and the current ground capacity is just 12k. Welcome to the Premier League boys. Makes North Melbourne look like a giant club lol. In the 1950s Blackpool were getting crowds of 38k so it shows how much 40 years in the wilderness has cost them.

On those figures and with ground capacity they won't stay long in the EPL.

It's hapenned before with teams like Barnsley and Bradford and unless they have plans to build a new stadium which for some of these clubs is a weight of debt anyway just ask Southampton who moved to a new stadium in St Mary's from their spiritual home in The Dell and played this season in the third tier with a 10 point deduction for entering administration. Once relegated from the EPL these teams just don't have the cash flow from the TV rights and such and therefore fall on hard times as the loans taken out to build the stadium and pay players just don't allow them to make ends meet.

[mightytiges]

Apparently Blackpool averaged crowds of just 8000 in the Championship and the current ground capacity is just 12k. Welcome to the Premier League boys. Makes North Melbourne look like a giant club lol. In the 1950s Blackpool were getting crowds of 38k so it shows how much 40 years in the wilderness has cost them.

On those figures and with ground capacity they won't stay long in the EPL.

It's hapenned before with teams like Barnsley and Bradford and unless they have plans to build a new stadium which for some of these clubs is a weight of debt anyway just ask Southampton who moved to a new stadium in St Mary's from their spiritual home in The Dell and played this season in the third tier with a 10 point deduction for entering administration. Once relegated from the EPL these teams just don't have the cash flow from the TV rights and such and therefore fall on hard times as the loans taken out to build the stadium and pay players just don't allow them to make ends meet.

Spot on Tucky. Even for big clubs such as Ar_senal building a new stadium such as Emirates deprived them of $$$ needed to buy gun players to keep up with the Jones of Chelsea and Man Utd. For smaller clubs it's just a catch 22 as you mentioned. They can't hope to survive in the mid-to-long run in the top flight. Sadly English football now comes down to who has the most $$$ wins .