Interested on peoples thoughts on a Super League (SL) at some point in the future.
If you had asked me 5 years ago I would have been dead against it but have slowly come around to the point where I'd now actively like to see it happen. I know the Leicester thing skews it slightly but realistically as an Albion fan, and like most other fans in the country, I have little to no chance of ever seeing my side win something and the novelty of PL football has well and truly worn off.
When attention turns to next season one of the most prominent topics of conversation will be hitting the 40 point mark which I just find depressing. The best we can hope for is 8th-14th on a regular basis and at some point in the next 5-10 years we will almost certainly be relegated. In the last 5 years we've spent some big money, spent no money, been managed well, been managed poorly, been a newly promoted club and an established club, had 2 chairman/oweners, played some decent football, some awful football, some pragmatic football. The end result has been petty much the same give or take 1 or 2 wins a season. It's dull.
Looking at the table this year the gap seems bigger than ever to the top 6/7 with only the top 7 sides having a positive goal difference. United have been pretty dreadful this season but still won 2 (3 if you're desperate) trophies. Arsenal have been 'awful' for years but still play their 3rd FA cup final in 4 years next week.
If you look below that though there's just 6 points separating 10 teams. How exciting would that be see as a title race most seasons. I appreciate the gap would likely expand but not to the extent it is now. You would have teams like Norwich/Sheff Wed/Derby/Wolves etc not thinking about going up and clinging on to PL status but going up and winning the league within 5 years. Academy's would become vital to clubs fortunes as the financial gap would be negligible. Scouting unknown and good value players from abroad wouldn't be the difference between 14th and 10th but the difference between relegation and winning the league. In this format Southampton would have won the league the last few years and it's probably fair to say both their academy and scouting has been the best in the league in that period.
Theres other benefits. I think this format would see more youngsters playing first team football at an earlier age which would help the national side. I am completely against the B tam idea thats been floated around but wouldn't necessarily be against the Super League teams playing B sides in the league if they didn't have another side in he competition. Financially fans would feel like they made a difference again as gate receipts would make up a larger proportion of revenue which should lead to more input within the clubs.
Whats other peoples thoughts from an Albion point of view?