Questions about FA Premier League

[12th Doctor]

Here in the US, a feature of a healthy sports league is that its franchises, though they may move, rename, etc are basically perminant.  I have been trying to follow Premier Soccer on the Soccer Channel and something has me kinda confused...

Are the teams non-perminant in the English league?  It seems that some teams are fairly new and they talk about other teams that don't exist anymore, as far as I can tell.  Someone told me that a team needs to "qualify" and keep up a certain level of performance in order to stay a member, or esle they are bumped down... can someone explain this to me?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's quite simple; the Premier League (was once called the First Division) is just the highest level of a network of leagues that go all the way deep down into non-league level. Each year the three bottom-finishing clubs from the Premiership are relagated to the old Second Division (the name of which keeps changing all the time; I think it's the Championship now. Team I support is in that division) and are replaced by three clubs from that division. And so on and so forth all the way down the various other divisions, leagues and so on.

[afleitch]

As a result, most of the big clubs stay up and smaller clubs can get a shot at glory. Of course some of the bigger clubs can get the boot, like Leeds for example which went from UEFA cup to relegation in two seasons. I don't follow the FA Premier League however.

[freek]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotion_and_relegation

[Filuwaúrdjan]

like Leeds for example which went from UEFA cup to relegation in two seasons.

[Silent Hunter]

And at the rate West Ham are going, they'll be going from UEFA Cup to relegation in one season.

[12th Doctor]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotion_and_relegation

Thanks... that's an... interesting system.  Seems to work for you guys, I can't imagine ever doing it here in the U.S.  Of course, the only sport that has an establishment that would even come close to mimicking this system would be the MLB... and I suspect that some AAA teams might be able to defeat some of the MLB teams, but even then only the top AAA teams would ever have a chance against the worst MLB teams.

[12th Doctor]

I wish there acctually were such things as "minor" American Football Leagues, cause I think that would be interesting.  We have Arena Football, but that's not quite the same.

[12th Doctor]

So... who's good in the Premeir right now?  Who are considered the top and bottom teams... I know Manchester United, but everyone knows them.

[freek]

So... who's good in the Premeir right now?  Who are considered the top and bottom teams... I know Manchester United, but everyone knows them.

The other usual suspects: Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal are in the top 4 also.

Reading is doing fine, they are placed sixth, they are one of the 3 teams that got promoted last season.

Table: http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng07.html

When you are interested in football statistics, interesting websites might be:

http://www.rsssf.com/curdom.html for all top level leagues in the world, and a lot of the lower level leagues. It also contains a huge amount of historical results.

http://www.tonykempster.co.uk/gridsindex.htm for all leagues in the ten(!) highest levels of English football. For example, this page shows that, when the standings don't change the next months, Derby County and Birmingham City will be promoted to the Premier League next season, together with either West Bromwich Albion, Preston North End, Southampton or Cardiff City.

[Joe Republic]

It's quite simple;

This was as far as I got.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Freedom Fighter, Fox Soccer is my lifeblood w/o the world channel.


Been w/o it for a few weeks tho..... need to get it back.

[Silent Hunter]

At the moment, West Ham, Watford and Charlton look like they'll go down. West Ham is having one bad season. Even changing our manager hasn't made things better.

[Michael Z]

It's quite simple; the Premier League (was once called the First Division) is just the highest level of a network of leagues that go all the way deep down into non-league level. Each year the three bottom-finishing clubs from the Premiership are relagated to the old Second Division (the name of which keeps changing all the time; I think it's the Championship now. Team I support is in that division) and are replaced by three clubs from that division. And so on and so forth all the way down the various other divisions, leagues and so on.

I hasten to add that virtually all European leagues follow this model, albeit with some minor variations (German leages get divided into more and more regional and local leagues as we go down the ladder, for instance).

[minionofmidas]

It's quite simple; the Premier League (was once called the First Division) is just the highest level of a network of leagues that go all the way deep down into non-league level. Each year the three bottom-finishing clubs from the Premiership are relagated to the old Second Division (the name of which keeps changing all the time; I think it's the Championship now. Team I support is in that division) and are replaced by three clubs from that division. And so on and so forth all the way down the various other divisions, leagues and so on.

I hasten to add that virtually all European leagues follow this model, albeit with some minor variations (German leages get divided into more and more regional and local leagues as we go down the ladder, for instance).

...and it happens pretty damn fast. First and second level are national, third is two leagues, but fourth is already ten.

[Јas]

At the moment, West Ham, Watford and Charlton look like they'll go down. West Ham is having one bad season. Even changing our manager hasn't made things better.

After losing to Watford at the weekend, it's hard to see West Ham escaping relegation.