The standard of football between the two divisions has improved vastly over the last several seasons and this season sees the quality of the Championship as good as it ever has been. In defence of these players, there is of course a higher standard of football despite the dip in margin. For example, strikers are up against better teams and while they might have got 10 chances per game in the Football League, they may only get the odd few in the Prem.

So what unfortunate ten make my top ten list of players who are Championship rather than Premier League quality? Find out below…

Click on Routledge below to see the Top TEN

The Welsh side went into the semi final second leg one goal down, but an Anthony Gardner own goal levelled things up. Neither side could find the winning goal in normal or extra time, so the game was decided on penalties.

Bluebirds goalkeeper Tom Heaton was the hero, saving both Jermaine Easter and Sean Scannell’s spot kicks, before Jonathan Parr blazed wide to send the hosts through.

Cardiff boss Malky MacKay was ecstatic after the victory, and spoke of his pride at reaching the final.

“I’m delighted for everyone at the football club. It’s a fantastic achievement for everyone and I thought the players were terrific tonight,” he told Sky Sports.

“I think the first goal settled the whole stadium down and it certainly settled the players down.

“I thought we started at a fantastic tempo and with real belief. Getting the goal meant we could sit and probe.

“We knew the way Crystal Palace were going to play, they wanted to hit us on the counter-attack with pace. We had to make sure that we manipulated the ball.

“I think the fact that there were so many chances in and around their goal meant that the team kept believing,” he concluded.

Cardiff will play either Manchester City or Liverpool in the final, with the second semi final being decided on Wednesday night.

By Gareth McKnight

Football fans always love an underdog and this is when you are certain to find one. This year’s competition created some great games, non-league Tamworth went to Everton and Swindon Town entertained Wigan Athletic, Birmingham City played Wolves and there was also the small matter of a Manchester derby between the two best sides in the country.

These games should more than whet the appetite for neutrals and supporters but it didn’t appear so. The West Midlands derby kicked off the round but the St Andrew’s attendance was only 14,500, Peterborough’s game against Sunderland on Sunday afternoon only brought in 8,900 fans, less than their average league attendance, and most surprisingly, there were big empty spaces at the Etihad Stadium yesterday.

It is a major disappointment to see low attendances for such a traditional footballing weekend and the reason for this problem is TV. Since the beautiful game has been broadcast on the box we have all gathered round and watched the big games. For previous generations the FA Cup final was a monumental family occasion with everybody gathering around to watch the match. In recent years the amount of football that is broadcast into our living rooms has rocketed and now there are multiple games every weekend for our enjoyment. We can watch the Premier League, Football League, European football, cup football, international matches and pretty much any other football we want. For the avid supporter it is fantastic because they can watch any game they want from the comfort of their own home on a TV that they have already paid for.

The only problem is that it is killing the game.

Attendances have been falling for a while and for Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers their stadiums seem half empty at most home games. That may be down to their league position but it is the same for so many clubs now. Everton’s average crowd so far this season is 2,500 less than it was last campaign as are Aston Villa and Wolves. In the Championship, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City are suffering a similar drop along with promotion chasing Cardiff City and more.

With Sky, ESPN and other networks showing us so many games attendances are slipping because a lot of people don’t see why they should buy a ticket to watch a match they can see at home. And it is a fair point but without ticket revenue clubs don’t have the money to continue the way they are.

Clubs rely on fans coming to the games, buying a programme, having something to eat and drink and visiting the club shop. If they aren’t filling the ground to capacity every other week then the fans that do attend will have to start paying more for their ticket so eventually they won’t go either and with no money coming into the club from the supporters it will only spell out trouble for the team.

But it isn’t just attendances that are slipping thanks to the TV revolution, they have upset other facets of the game with equal measure. Thanks to the billions spent on TV rights by the BBC, Sky, ESPN and ITV, it has turned football into a business. While that is not to say that people involved in the game are only interested in money, it now controls so many things.

With all the money involved in the game it is always likely to attract money-grabbers. We all know the names of so-called super agents like Pini Zahavi who make their money by being an advisor in transfer negotiations and the despised ‘advisor’ Kia Joorabchian is a businessman who bought the rights to certain players so that he could make his money from football.

It is this same desire to make money that has also created corruption in football. Bungs and bribery are despicable acts that have tarnished the game in recent years and it is highly unlikely that this would have happened if their wasn’t the potential to make so much money.

Bank balances have swelled dramatically since the formation of the Premier League and that has meant that transfer fees and wages have too. When the league was formed in 1992, nobody would have expected to see £50 million transfer fees and wages in excess of £200,000 a week. Football has always been a working-class sport where the players would often be seen drinking in the same pubs as the fans and while they were still paid more than the average wage, it wasn’t the chasm that it is now. In the 1984-85 season, First Division players earned an average of £480 a week compared to the average 3192 earned by the ‘man-on-the-street’. But by the 2009-10 campaign, the average Premier League player took home an eye-watering £22,353 a week, virtually an average annual wage.

These astronomical sums of money have put the players out of touch with the supporters and it has led to the anger that the players receive when they do stupid things off the pitch or when they put in less than expected amounts of effort on the pitch.

We have also seen an influx of foreign talent come to England over the past 20 years. This is because every country in the world can watch the Premier League, you can compete in the best competitions in the world and there is a big pay day on offer by coming here. It has meant that some of the best players on the planet have graced our game and brought joy to us all with their ability. It has set us apart from so many leagues because of our diversity but it is hard to ignore that it has stifled so many young English players in that time. Because the clubs have the transfer budget to buy already established players from other clubs they have prevented the progression of their academy players and it has let them fall by the wayside when a chance in the team could have produced a hot prospect for the future.

Having football on the TV has brought so many good things to football and it has made the Premier League one of the most watched sporting competitions in the world but I can’t help in thinking it has created a problem that may not be easy to solve.

What affect do you think TV has had on football? Comment below or tell me on Twitter @jrobbins1991.

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There are definitely some bargains to be had in the second tier of English football and also some genuine Premier League quality that is waiting to be snapped up by the big clubs. Youngsters are breaking through into Championship sides and it may be the case that the clubs look to cash in on the future stars.

Last season Premier League clubs Birmingham and West Ham have held on to the majority of their quality players and some experienced heads are having a much welcomed second wind in their careers that could be worth a gamble on in January. Here are the ten players that have the Premier League clubs sniffing around.

Click on Jay Rodriguez below to unveil the top 10

Crystal Palace stunned Old Trafford on Wednesday night with a 2-1 extra-time victory in the Carling Cup quarter final. Sir Alex Ferguson fielded a weakened team against the Championship side, who completely deserved their win as United’s strength in depth was once again lacking.

With Manchester City five points clear in the title race and United struggling to confirm their progress from the Champions League group stage, the League Cup was perhaps a good chance of silverware this season. Surely it is slightly disrespectful to the supporters to deny them a possible chance at another trip to Wembley or a two legged semi final against one of their arch rivals.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal also fielded second string sides in their quarter final games with varying levels of success, but it is almost as if they don’t care about the competition anymore, which is a sad reality.

If it wasn’t that the players were too tired to play, then it was the managers disrespecting the competition and denying the supporters the chance to be competitive in all competitions. Are supporters of successful clubs bored of playing in cup finals? Are they bored of visiting the new Wembley, seeing their side walk up the famous stairs and lift the trophy?

Premier League rules force clubs to play their best team possible in every league game but no such rule applies for cup competitions. This allows managers to rest first team regulars and give the squad players a chance which rarely ends up in them progressing to become first team regulars the week after.

A Championship side will be in this year’s Carling Cup final and the two second tier semi-finalists have both claimed Premier League scalps along the way. Both Palace and Cardiff have taken the competition seriously and their supporters will be extremely excited about the possibility of a trip to Wembley next year if they can win their two legged semi final.

With the FA Cup third round draw taking place on Sunday, Premier League and Championship sides enter the competition and will be eager to find out their opponents for early January. The majority of top flight clubs will face weaker opposition and inevitably field a weakened side from their usual league 11, leaving them vulnerable to a shock. As much as everyone loves an FA Cup upset, I feel every team should take the once great cup competition seriously again.

Fans who travel all around the country to follow their club deserve the strongest possible line up to give them the best possible chance of victory. Every fan from every club wants to go to Wembley and it is up to the managers to give them the best chance of that. Hopefully the FA Cup draw will deliver some glamorous ties and clubs will go all out to win the trophy to make it as competitive as possible and make any giant killing an unarguable success.

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Who needs enemies with friends like these?

10) Aston Villa v Birmingham – The Second City derby

The countries second city might be a little further down the pecking order in footballing terms but that does nothing to dampen hostilities between Aston Villa and Birmingham.

The Villains have always viewed themselves in higher esteem than their blue neighbours and when the clubs first met when City were Small Heath Alliance back in 1879, the Villa players described Small Heath’s Muntz Street ground as, ‘suitable only for potholing.’

Relations have gone downhill since then and although over the last half a century meetings between the pair have been relatively limited, that only intensifies the occasions when they do get together.

The two clubs traditional stadiums help create a fervent undercurrent which takes few prisoners – just ask Peter Enckelman.

9) Blackburn v Burnley – The Cotton Mill derby

These two might not be considered big players nowadays but Blackburn and Burnley were big cheese’s back in the day by being founder members of the Football League in 1888.

The rivalry between the Lancashire towns eleven miles apart stretches back to the Victorian age when the mill industry was booming and hostilities were later taken from the factory floor to the football field.

Local issues were hardly smoothed over at the turn of the twentieth century when Rovers allegedly complained about Claret’s ‘illegal number of Scottish players’ and the animosity has remained.

Clashes have been scarce in recent years but when they do meet it creates the inevitably cliché’d ‘hot-pot’ atmosphere.

8. Everton v Liverpool – Merseyside derby

The Merseyside derby is English football’s longest running top-flight rivalry with a game having taken place every year since 1962-63, but this familiarity hasn’t tapered the spice of the contests and meetings between the blue and red halves of the city of Liverpool are often some of the most highly charged contests of the season.

This game has long been coined the ‘friendly derby’ because the opposing sets of fans are said to enjoy a healthy rivalry but on the field it’s anything but.

In the last 30 Premier League fixtures between the scouse giants there have been twenty red cards, scores of bookings and more fight scenes than a Jackie Chan youtube compilation making this particular local fare the most tempestuous football match around. Who needs enemies with friends like these?

7) Manchester City v Manchester United – Manchester derby

The Manchester derby has long been fuelled by one sides dominance over the other. United have been at the forefront of English football for well over half a century whilst City have had to play second fiddle in terms of silverware and prominence.

United fans have revelled in their superior status for decades now and have been afforded the luxury of mocking the blue half of Mancunia for their almost comedic failings as City for long periods strived but largely failed to climb out of the shadows of their near neighbours.

However, the Citizens new found wealth has upset that balance and after ending their long-wait for a trophy and embarrassing the reds on their own patch, this is one confrontation which will only intensify over the next couple of years.

6) Newcastle v Sunderland – Tyne-Wear derby

The Tyne-Wear derby is another inter-city confrontation which has it’s routes through indifference to one another stretching back hundreds of years.

Newcastle and Sunderland – despite being just ten miles apart – fell into different hands following the English civil war and the Jacobite rebellions and although that historical context is largely lost present day, none of the rancor has.

There were 160 arrests in the aftermath of the 1990 Second Division play-off second leg when the Toon fans invaded the St James’s pitch hoping to force an abandonment.

Proceeding games have also fell foul to interruptions and last January, nearly 30 fans were again arrested following clashes in and around the ground surrounding a game which saw a 12-year-old Mackem run onto the turf to push over Newcastle ‘keeper Steve Harper.

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Veteran Scottish striker Kenny Miller opened the scoring for the hosts in the first half, before Anthony Gerrard doubled Cardiff’s lead early in the second period.

The defeat leaves Steve Kean with a disgruntled and frustrated Lancashire fan-base to deal with, and attention will now turn to picking up points in the Premier League to avoid being bottom at Christmas.

The Scottish coach was clearly disappointed with the result, but admitted his team selection was effected by the upcoming league clash with Swansea on Saturday.

“The side we put out tonight was with one eye on Swansea at the weekend,” he told Sky Sports.

“I felt that we started the game very well. I felt the first 15 minutes we had the best two opportunities and then when Cardiff managed to score they had a good period

“I took the decision to make five changes and on top of that we have (Christopher) Samba and (Martin) Olsson back so we will have seven faces fresh for Swansea.

“Saturday’s a massive game for us and a game we need three points from; obviously I’ve got one eye on it.

“We’ve some very good games at home coming up, teams that are within touching distance of us and these are our cup finals, the league games coming up are all cup finals,” he concluded.

Cardiff supporters meanwhile will be dreaming of glory, as they enter the semi finals draw for the cup, and are joined in the hat by Liverpool, Manchester City and either Manchester United or Crystal Palace.

By Gareth McKnight

Elsewhere Fernando Torres and Raul Meireles get the chance to face off against their former employers, while in-form Crystal Palace get a money spinning tie at Old Trafford.

Quarter Final draw in full

Arsenal v Manchester City
Chelsea v Liverpool
Manchester United v Crystal Palace
Cardiff v Blackburn

The ties are to be played the week commencing the 28^th November

The Red Devils will face off against the lowest ranked team still left in the competition with the visitors likely to give youth and Michael Owen a chance at the Recreational Ground. There will also be a Championship presence in the Quarter Final with Crystal Palace hosting Southampton at Selhurst Park whilst Burnley travel to Cardiff.

Serious contenders for the three handled pot are Arsenal who host Bolton at the Emirates desperate to avenge last seasons defeat in the final against holders Birmingham. Newcastle are also actively seeking silverware and will fancy their chances against Blackburn at Ewood Park along with Liverpool who could see the trophy as a route into the Europa League.

Carling Cup Fourth Round 

Wolves v Man City
Cardiff v Burnley
Blackburn v Newcastle
Arsenal v Bolton
Stoke v Liverpool
Aldershot v Man Utd
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Everton v Chelsea

This new deal has reduced the amount paid to Football League clubs from £88 million to £65 million. As part of this agreement, clubs relegated from the Premier League will now receive £48 million in parachute payments over four years instead of £16 million a year for two years as they received previously.

Looking back, the concerns of the lower league clubs at the time were understandable. Already this season we have witnessed the financial clout of the likes of Leicester City who have spent vast amounts of money in comparison to some of the smaller teams in the teams like Coventry and Watford, who both have financial problems.

The fact that a team relegated from the Premier League now receives £48 million while a team going in the opposite direction to League One will actually lose £3.7 million shows the sort of disparity that exists between the two leagues. This makes it extremely difficult for the relegated team to bounce straight back unless they actually have the financial aptitude as Norwich and Leicester showed. It will be even harder for the smaller teams to get back into the Championship but much easier for teams coming down to get out it.

The difference in central payments in the Championship and League One is already substantial. The television and solidarity payments that come into the football league are split 80 per cent Championship, 12 per cent League One and eight per cent League Two. Although the money the other two leagues receive has increased, it is nothing in comparison with that of the Championship.

Every year, we hear about clubs spending beyond their means to remain in or try to reach the promise land of the Premier League before seeing them go into financial trouble when this does not materialise. What is the Premier League doing to prevent this situation apart from giving them even more of an incentive to spend with the fall-back of parachute payments?

How long will it be until there are two separate tiers of English football, where promotion and relegation does not exist? We seem to be going more and more towards the American example of the franchise system where Television and money completely dominate the game.

It would seem that Premier League Two is not too far off.

This could lead to the death of the traditional English football clubs and the game outside of the top two divisions. The loyal fans would probably remain at these clubs but would the money still come in from the richer elite leagues? If this was divide was to take place, the long-term future of lower league football clubs outside the top two divisions would be very bleak indeed.

Follow me on twitter @aidanmccartney for more thoughts and views about the beautiful game.