In the aftermath of the West Ham fans booing at the end of their 2-1 win over 10 man Hull on Wednesday, one fan suggested they should be grateful that they're now a steady mid-table Premier League side as opposed to a yoyo club.
Now we've not been relegated since 2001, and whilst I remember us bouncing up and down the divisions, I think I was too young to fully appreciate what it meant and to use that experience to answer the following question, although the majority on here will be able to call upon those memories.
If you had to choose between being a steady mid-table Premeir League side, finishing anywhere between 9th and 15th each season, or being a yoyo club who faced relegation battles or chased promotion every year, which would you choose?
I'm asking purely from a fan's perspective. Forget about the fact that being in the Premier League makes the club a lot more financially stable and all that jazz, which team would you rather be going to watch every week?
I reckon I'd prefer the yoyo option. At least that way your season means something, right to the end. You'd endure a rollercoaster of emotions game after game as opposed to becoming more and more apathetic as the season drew to a close. Sure you'd suffer the heartache of missing out on promotion or of suffering relegation (I'm not sure how it'd affect me as an adult but I remember crying as I watched us win 5-2 at Stoke but still get relegated as a 9 year old), but you'd also have the ecstasy of promotion or making it to the last day and surviving the drop.
I think the only thing that might sway it is if you were a mid-table side that wanted to play good football, ala Southampton or Swansea, and always took the cup competitions seriously, but even then, you'd only experience the same extreme emotions if you reached semi-finals or finals and it's probably unlikely to be a yearly occurrence.
What say you?
Now we've not been relegated since 2001, and whilst I remember us bouncing up and down the divisions, I think I was too young to fully appreciate what it meant and to use that experience to answer the following question, although the majority on here will be able to call upon those memories.
If you had to choose between being a steady mid-table Premeir League side, finishing anywhere between 9th and 15th each season, or being a yoyo club who faced relegation battles or chased promotion every year, which would you choose?
I'm asking purely from a fan's perspective. Forget about the fact that being in the Premier League makes the club a lot more financially stable and all that jazz, which team would you rather be going to watch every week?
I reckon I'd prefer the yoyo option. At least that way your season means something, right to the end. You'd endure a rollercoaster of emotions game after game as opposed to becoming more and more apathetic as the season drew to a close. Sure you'd suffer the heartache of missing out on promotion or of suffering relegation (I'm not sure how it'd affect me as an adult but I remember crying as I watched us win 5-2 at Stoke but still get relegated as a 9 year old), but you'd also have the ecstasy of promotion or making it to the last day and surviving the drop.
I think the only thing that might sway it is if you were a mid-table side that wanted to play good football, ala Southampton or Swansea, and always took the cup competitions seriously, but even then, you'd only experience the same extreme emotions if you reached semi-finals or finals and it's probably unlikely to be a yearly occurrence.
What say you?