Fulham or EPL for Dummies, or I am a newbie so help me out!

Okay I am new to the EPL and FulhamUSA, but have followed "Football" for quiet a while via the Crew/MLS/and being a Club Coach.

The EPL & Fulman are new to me (yes I have seen some matches on tv from time to time and I understand the game) but I would like some tips from some of you much better informed members on some of the finer points of the Fulham or EPL. Things like scheduling matches, who is Fulham biggest rival, what player(s) do you dislike/hate the most, how does the EPL pay out the large salaries that they do, does the EPL have a draft like the NFL, or a sarlary cap, I read where the matches can be changed but why would they change them, are the English fans as bad as the media makes them out to be, do women go to the matches, will there ever be a EPL team in the USA and if not, why not......? Boy and boy do I have questions, and I am sure there are more like me, who won't ask what might be silly or stupid question to some of you, but.......if I don't ask, I won't learn and I really want to be ready for the first game in August..... Does the EPL do their matches (I realize it would be for a price) live or on tape via broadband like the Major League Baseball does, or only on pay per view cable?

Or maybe is there a section on FulhmanUSA for Dummies like me somewhere? :lol:

 

1) I understand that the three bottom dwellers get knockout of the EPL and
three come up.....but from where?
Yup, you got it right, the 18th, 19th and 20th teams go down to, what is now called, the Championship division. And the 1st, 2nd and winner of the playoff (games between the 3rd, 4th 5th and 6th teams) of the Championship move up to the Prem.

2) Twenty teams in the EPL, do they each play a home and a away match
against each other to reach the 38 games played? Perfect!

3) I have seen the Huge $$$$$$ that some of the guys make, and I have also seen how small some of the the stadiums are seating wise. How can they afford the salaries that some pay out to the players?
The main source of revenue for EVERY premierleague team is the TV rights. In the Premier League, each team gets atleast 25-30 million pounds for the TV contracts which the Football Association negotiates with various television stations. The catch?! When you get 'relegated', you are not given that money thus teams end up selling their best players.

4) Teams like Chelsea, Manchester, Liverpool, Arsenal seem to dominate the EPL. How do the other sixteen teams survive or ever hope to improve with no salary cap, or draft like the NFL has. At least in the NFL you can, if you manage your team well, have a least a chance to be in the playoffs from time to time? The sad part about the Premier League is that money rules. Usually the team with the most money wins the League. See Man U. of the 90's, Chelsea today or even Leeds and Blackburn in the early to mid 90's. What keeps it exciting?! Even though there is only 1 winner, avoiding relegation can be just as exciting as winning the league because it means so much. On top of that, teams are vying for a top 4 or a top 6 finish. The top 4 get automatically entered into the Champtions league where they play some of Europes top teams. This teams lots more money and the excitement of being involved. The same goes for the 5th and 6th place team but substitute the "Champtions League" for the "Uefa Cup". Again, its BIG money.

5) Are the fans as bad as I have heard from the media in England?
In the late 70's, 80's and, in the lower leagues, even the 90's hooliganism was a big issue. I assure you though, this is not a problem at the club level. Its the ignorant few that give the media the fuel they need to make Englands fans look bad. Fulham is a family oriented club which makes 'trouble' nonexistent. Being in the middle of the nicest borough in London, on the River Thames and next to a beautiful park will sooth any visitor! Don't get me wrong though, Fulham has a hardcore, passionate fanbase and singing is never in short supply.

6) And on what channel ESPN, FoxSoccer, do I have the best chance to see Fulhman play, or do they have a Internet deal like Major League Baseball does showing all the game via your computer? Fox Soccer Channel is really the only channel that you will see Fulham play since ESPN does not have the rights to the Premier League. Tom (ChicagoTom) can explain this better since he has a better understanding of the changes to the TV rights. (They just changed this year). On mornings/days where Fulham play but not on TV, Fulham offers a live commentary on their website and the man on the 'gantry' is a hardcore fan by the name of Gentleman Jim who is probably the most unique commentator in the whole of England. Others will agree. The commentary was 35 pounds for the year or something like $7 a month. It includes live commentary EVERY match, video highlights of the match on the following day, video interviews with the players, and a press conference before and after the match. Well worth it and its our way of supporting the club from so far away.

I hope this answers all of your questions you have so far.

COYW's

 

Who is Fulham biggest rival?
I would say Chelsea, but only because they are the closest geographically. They are a league of their own with talent and money but we still beat them 1-0 last season. Other rivals from the old days (pre-dates many of us: Gillingham and Brentford)


What player(s) do you dislike/hate the most? Public enemy number 1 at Fulham, in my opinoin, is now William Gallas from Chelsea. In their 1-0 loss to us last season, he stomped and tried to injure one of our players then he proceeded to taunt our fans after his red card.

Do women go to the matches?
Some more than others but yes, they do! There is no separation of sexes in the stands and some of the Fulham woman I know are just as crazy as the guys.

Will there ever be a EPL team in the USA and if not, why not......? I don't think they can move out of England but I could be wrong. I'll pass this one off to someone else. :wink:

 

First of all, OldGuy, welcome welcome! I, too am a Fulham/EPL newbie--I knew some of the answers but certainly not all of them--good questions all around, to be sure.
In fact, Mike, some of these might be good things to add to the FAQ, including information about our rival (aside from the fact that they smell like cabbage, or as I like to put it: spoiled ham and old man feet), some specifics on how the EPL works (I read about it on the EPL site, but they managed to make things complicated) and some of the other questions.
Again, welcome to the group, OldGuy!

 

American Mike,

Thanks....... I hope your answers to my questions helped some others new to the EPL and FulhamUSA as well. BTW When you get 'relegated' does it mean you come in that dreaded 18th, 19th or 20th spot? I am familiar with the concept, as that is how it was in the Soccer League that our club played in. We started at the bottom in the "E league" and move up to being a "A" League team just one step under the rung from being a Premier league member......

 

Yes 18th, 19th, or 20th = relegation

One thing that caught me up in the beginning was the concept of no playoffs. You finish first in the regular season you win. At first I thought it was very pointless and backwards. I soon realized it makes every game meaningful. Now I love the system and wish MLS would do the same.

Since top 6 finishers qualify for European competition there is in a sense playoffs. If you think of the league as Europe and our Conference as EPL. The thing is the European Competitions, Champions League and Ueffa Cup, don't take place until the following season. Its also note worthy that qualifying for Europe has HUGE finical incentive. It would be massive if Fulham pulled off a miracle and qualified for the Champions League. It would mean tons more money which always equals new and better players.

 

I like that the EPL makes each and ever game "a playoff game" and I love your example... and I agree the MSL should try this to make each game much more important....... Thanks!!!

And Spencer that to me is the rub. How does Fulham ever or that matter any of the middle of the rung teams move up, if the money is the answer to getting better players. This system reminds me of MLB and how the Yankees dominate the AL, because they have the money to, while teams like the Cincinnati, Pittsburg, etc. just are fodder for the big money teams. Have the middle to the lower rung of the ladder teams ever tried to ban together to get a cap on the amount spent (aka like the NFL does) to make it a more competitive league from top to bottom? My guess is with all the different leagues in Football around the world, that would be next to impossible, as some other league would just step in and offer the money and the players would follow the money trail to that league......

 

I understand your comments, but how is it fair to the fans of team "B" when they do all the right things (support their team, have good and smart ownership etc.) but the sheer bank account size of team "A" owner and his willingness to spend his own money, even if it isn't smart spending make it fair? Seems to me that the fans of team "A" just got lucky to have a owner who has abiltiy to just spend a ton of money on his team, it says nothing about his or clubs abiltiy to mange that money, just the abiltiy to spend an unlimited amount of money. Putting a cap on spending helps the fans, by making the game more competive for all, keeps the cost of a ticket and even concession prices lower, and more importantly, rewards the team for being smart just not rich..... Again I understand your thinking but.....somehow it just doesn't strike me as being good for the whole just the few......

 

Yes both team A&B can afford to buy the best player, but if that one player falls flat or even that one gets a injury, team A can just go out and buy another, and another and another and so on, while team "B" is not so lucky and gets regulated.... Team A can afford to make a mistake, or can afford to have injuries but poor team B and their fans, well too bad, so sorry.....

BTW I bet you don't know which team started the West Coast offense (per Walsh) and no it wasn't the 49er's but it was the team that Walsh coached for prior to going to them and was the team that drafted the best QB he (per walsh) ever coached..... Bengals and Greg Cook

I will agree with you about the NFL. I had season tickets from 1972 through 1993 but after so many up and down season and a owner who just didn't care whether he won or lost becuase he was gtd the same money no matter what, I lost interest and gave them up.. and to be quite honest I haven't been tempted to go to a game since.....

 

Heather

Your definition is more specific to the socialist society, while mine was more specific to the rules as they affect sports leagues. I get what you are saying, but the rules in leagues are across the board for the most part, limiting team size to what they wear, but only in some instances how much a team can pay for players.

Well you point out some great reasons to actually have caps, and you may have sealed my belief that a socialized system makes more sense. New England plays a much more "the whole is greater than the parts" type of football, and I think people really enjoy it. The Steelers did the same thing last year. Sure you will lose some players as their stock rises, but the nucleus remains as players who want to play for a winner don't want to abandon or also want to be a part of a winner (much more passionate and applausible than playing for the cheese $). And the NFL continues to build on being the most popular sport in the U.S., while other leagues struggle.

Much like the U.S. has laws against business monopolies, there may be some sense in inhibiting the purchase of sports monopolies also. I think many people who yearn for and still enjoy the days of their sports team having a corner on the market, are the ones who find the idea of caps so offensive. It is hard to convince those on top to release some of their power. I am convinced the EPL would be stronger from a player, team, team mentality, and fan perspective, if they would return to playing for some honor and for the team and fans, versus the $.

Regardless, the point is most likely moot, as this would most likely not occur in the European Leagues.

 

How can a middle of the pack team climb the ladder?

While if you know a Russian billionaire it helps 8) When you become a Fulham fan you kind of have to accept that they may never become Champions. Fulham have never won a major trophy in over 100 years of existence and who says that’s to change? Other than striking it rich with a new owner I think the best bet would be to raise a super crop of young talents through the youth system.

I'll explain. You asked if a draft exists. It doesn’t, the way you get new players is to buy them from other teams or find unattached players and sign them up. Every team has a youth academy, they sign up kids as young as 12 and cultivate their talent until they get good enough to play for the 1st team or they realize he's not good enough and sell them to a lower team or release them out right. At which point the poor kids on his own.

So if Chris Coleman were to go on vacation to oh say Jamaica. He sees some undiscovered wonder kid playing some ball on the beach. He decides, "WoW that kid is good I got to sign him up" he does. Ideally the wonder kid reaches his late teens and makes his debut for Fulham. He's a smashing success and turns out to be a world class player. Fulham can sell him to a big club for lots of money and in turn buy several new players or keep him and try to build the team around him.

Now that may be a little far fetched but it has happened before. If Fulham cultivated numerous top class players in their academy (a Golden Generation of sorts), held on to them and had great success they would then get more money and buy players for the future and ideally maintain their success and become a "money club". Sadly Fulham's academy seems to be anything but capable of producing future super stars.

This type of thing can happen. West Ham had one that I believe included Jermain Defoe, Frank Lampard, Alain Smith, Rio Ferdinad and possibly more. Unfortunately the Hammers they were relegated before all these guys had reached their peak. Short of cash because of relegation they sold all their young talent.

One last thing, success is relative. A Carling or FA Cup may be only of relative importance to a Manchester United or Chelsea because they win them all the time. It how ever would be huge for Fulham, and not unrealistic. So it’s all in the eye of the beholder. As Mike said as a Fulham fan you'll appreciate a good three points.

 

Now all I have to do is convince my wife of 35 years to allow me to sign up for the FoxSoccer channel (my Christmas present), let me spend the money to get the Fulham TV show from the Internet (my birthday present), and then let me cross the pond to watch a match live in Fulham (It could be a great 36 year anniversary present/second honeymoon). First two no problem, the third? I will have to work big time on that one! :big grin:

 

This leads me to a question I've been wondering about. Do teams have control over players for a certain amount of time ala MLB having first rights to their players for the first 5 or so years of major league service, or is everybody pretty much on year to year deals? Say Fulham signs some 16 year old kid for rock bottom dollar, and he makes the club and then goes on to be a superstar in his first year. Is he still on the hook with Fulham for whatever they signed him for originally, or can he re-negotiate his contract, or can he get sold immediately for top dollar to one of the big clubs, even if his actual salary wasonly a fraction of that?

Thanks for the info, it's one of the final things I'm trying to get a handle on myself.