Help me find the right EPL club

[treiz]

Yeah, I didn't set out to have a team (I watched the Prem pretty regularly, but didn't really feel attached to anyone; cheered for NUFC when they were on, but that was it), but a couple years back started reading about Southampton right after they emerged from administration. Liked the fact that they had been rescued from the brink of extinction and were ambitious, they develop their own, and so forth, so I started following them casually...as much as one can with a team in League One, which meant that I streamed a handful of games, including the JPT Final, and checked boxscores and the old 606. And I used them on Football Manager for good measure, which helps with the whole familiarization deal.

Certainly wasn't anticipating that they'd run through two successive promotions (they aren't **** up against Coventry) and end up back in the Prem.

I too am glad Southampton are back up in the Prem, sad when they went down, now all that's missing is Leeds and West Ham to get promoted.

[Schadenfreude]

I too am glad Southampton are back up in the Prem, sad when they went down, now all that's missing is Leeds and West Ham to get promoted.

I like Leeds fans (they are eerily similar to Raptors fans, except for the bit where some of them have experienced success in their lifetimes), so I'm hoping that Bates somehow fails to screw them over, and they come back up. West Ham...well, they belong in the Prem, but I wouldn't mind it if it took them another year. Fat Sam angers me, and they could use a quick humbling.

[Midway Bully]

Arsenal still have a high wage bill (4th highest behind City, Chelsea & United) and I think their net transfer spend will be 5th behind those and Liverpool. It's much to the frustration of fans that Wenger doesn't buy any big names when the club needs them to challenge for titles, but Kroenke and the board seem pretty content to make a profit and pay for the stadium.

I'm not sure what TV you get access to in America - are there no highlight shows or anything? We have BBC Match of the Day and various highlights on Sky Sports over here. I appreciate for full games the big 5 will likely attract the most coverage.

I think you need to put Arsenal's transfers hand in hand with their wage bills. The reason its so high is because of the fact that Arsenal roll the dice with their youngsters much more than other teams, and prospects are always coming in. Some of that money is made back with Wenger's transfer moves.

Aside from that, I do agree that Wenger needs to stop being so reliant on Arsenal's youth system and go out and buy some top players. He says he will do so this summer, but really, he's said that for years. Podolski is a start, so we'll see where Wenger goes with this. There needs to be a mix between good signings and good homegrown talent, a balance that Wenger has yet to strike in recent years.

Back on topic, like others have stated, it can be really fun watching the mid-table teams, and sometimes even the bottom teams, but you have to have a top team to root for. There really isn't much in the way of parity that we are used to seeing with American sports. Take for example the La Liga. It's pretty much a 2 horse race, and most people in Spain root for their local club, but when it comes to European competitions, they all have their designated team in either Real Madrid or Barca (aside from maybe Valencia fans). Aside from Arsenal, I still watch some West Ham games here and there, mainly due to Paolo Di Canio. He was the one player that really got me into footy. I started rooting for West Ham, but Di Canio left a year later, and I jumped on the Arsenal bandwagon, and have stuck with them ever since. Have to take all the successes and failures in stride.