Southhampton goes down

[dwertman]

Southhampton heads to the Championship,while WBA survives for another term.Gotta give it up for Bryan Robson....took WBA off the bottom of the table to survival

I bet Fergie slaps a bid on Antti Niemi,Man U needs a keeper since Carroll is more then likely gonna bounce,and Howard is skaky at best IMO

[DEAD!]

I watched Norwich City go down hard 6-0 to Fulham. I wished I saw the West Brom game.

[dwertman]

I watched Norwich City go down hard 6-0 to Fulham. I wished I saw the West Brom game.

I caught the end of the Norwich game....was a shocking scoreline for certain

Here is Robbo...what a manager (being a Man U legend doesnt hurt in my book either lol)

[ColeJ]

for some reason, i don't like west brom....

and southampton and norwich are 2 of my favorite english teams. it was a sad turn of events that they both got relegated........ but it could be worse. at least the pride of lancashire finished safe.

[-kj]

I was hoping for Norwich to stay up. They gave up in the second half, it seemed, after getting screwed out of Ashton's goal and two potential penalties.

I did at least get some enjoyment out of that game, watching Brian McBride put in a fantastic performance.

[Saintsfan]

Ah well!!!

Actually IMO Bryan Robson is not a good manager at all! Obviously better than Harry Redknapp though!!!

I wouldn't mind Niemi leaving to be honest, he has looked a bit past it this year. Hopefully Michael Svensson will be fit for next year and my boys can have a run at promotion back.

[Ron Mexico]

Someone explain this whole Relegation thing to a soccer/futbol novice.

[dwertman]

Someone explain this whole Relegation thing to a soccer/futbol novice.

There are 4 leagues in the Football League(plus a few non-league Conference Leagues)...the Premier League,the Championship,League 1,and League 2.The Top 2 Teams are automatically promoted,and the 3rd-6th places play a playoff (home and home,and then a 1 off final).3 teams go up,and the bottom 3 drop down to the lower league.If Im not mistaken,they relegate 4 from League 1 and promote 4 teams from League 2.

Hey saintsfan,personally Im not a fan of Niemi.If Fergie is gonna swoop for a keeper,I would like to see someone like Sebastien Frey from Parma,or even Iker Casillas (who said if he left Real,he would like to come to Old Trafford).But I got a feeling,that with an American takin the club private,and with his expressed desire to raise the clubs marketability here in the US even further,that Howard will be given every chance to fail

[OMMF]

Someone explain this whole Relegation thing to a soccer/futbol novice.

Here's a pretty good explanation of it courtesy of US Soccer Players.com

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/resource_ce...ers/356966.html

[Ron Mexico]

Damn, that's crazy. I could never see that happening in American sports, but it would be kinda cool to see. So are the lower division teams at all affiliated with the higher teams (like baseball), or is it more like the NBA, the NBDL and the USBL, where one league is just clearly superior to another one?

[-kj]

They're all completely independent teams within the same system. There are no "minor leagues" as we know them, no farm teams. (The clubs usually run their own reserve and youth teams, but under their own names.) Remember that many of these clubs developed as grass-roots clubs back in soccer's infancy. All of those clubs developing all over England eventually lead to the tiered competition. And since it wasn't based on marketing numbers, etc, at that point, the distinction about who played in the upper levels was based on on-field success. The same holds true today to a great extend in English football.

What's crazier is to consider the FA Cup (and to a lesser extent, the US Open Cup is run under the same principles). It's technically open to any team in England, professional or amateur. Granted, the higher pro sides enter the tournament in later rounds, but it's still very possible for lower league teams to go far into the tournament or possibly win it.

[Saintsfan]

Someone explain this whole Relegation thing to a soccer/futbol novice.

There are 4 leagues in the Football League(plus a few non-league Conference Leagues)...the Premier League,the Championship,League 1,and League 2.The Top 2 Teams are automatically promoted,and the 3rd-6th places play a playoff (home and home,and then a 1 off final).3 teams go up,and the bottom 3 drop down to the lower league.If Im not mistaken,they relegate 4 from League 1 and promote 4 teams from League 2.

Hey saintsfan,personally Im not a fan of Niemi.If Fergie is gonna swoop for a keeper,I would like to see someone like Sebastien Frey from Parma,or even Iker Casillas (who said if he left Real,he would like to come to Old Trafford).But I got a feeling,that with an American takin the club private,and with his expressed desire to raise the clubs marketability here in the US even further,that Howard will be given every chance to fail

Just for the sake of correctness I should point out that actually the Premier League is a whole different league, and that the Football League comprises of the Championship, League 1 and League 2.

And personally I wouldn't buy Niemi if I were looking for a keeper now either, 2 or 3 years ago for my money he was the best in the league, but he seems to have lost it a bit and for a keeper is a bit injury prone. But United do need a new keeper.

[dwertman]

And personally I wouldn't buy Niemi if I were looking for a keeper now either, 2 or 3 years ago for my money he was the best in the league, but he seems to have lost it a bit and for a keeper is a bit injury prone. But United do need a new keeper.

Wow I had to look 5 pages deep for this one because i didnt want to put it in a new thread

United signed there keeper,and I am actually quite happy with the signing.I see him doing quite well for the short term pickup he will be

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=335001&cc=5901

Not Frey or Casillas but thats ok.