A lot of new grounds have bought into this idea but what if clubs could only sell the rights if the buyer reflects them.

Click on the Sports Direct Arena to see some of the best endorsement opportunities for clubs around the country.

It hasn’t happened many times in the 20-year existence of the Premier League but on the few occasions a team without the resources and stature of the so called ‘big clubs’ decided they want a place in the illustrious top six, it’s rather exciting to watch. This season Newcastle United, touted as relegation candidates just a few months ago, have made an astonishing start to the campaign going 11 games unbeaten a run which has seen them soar into the top three. For a few hours on Saturday after their win over Everton the Magpies went second which is some achievement considering the troubled pre-season they endured which was documented closely in the press. Whilst their challenge to stay in their current position may ultimately falter as the season progresses it’s safe to say that, as of now, the Geordies are surprising everyone on and off the field.

Their rise to prominence is both remarkable and enchanting evoking memories of sides who have no business challenging at the top flight summit but fancy adding a bit of spice to the Premier League season. You have to admit it’s always a pleasure to watch the underdogs beat the big guns, david slay goliath and the weedy kid kick seven bells out of the school yard bully.

Ladies and Gentleman I present to you the Top TEN Premier League Surprise Packages.

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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…

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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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10. Craig Bellamy

Love him or loathe him, Craig Bellamy is undoubtedly one of the biggest characters in the Premier League. A tremendously talented football player, who certainly has not achieved what his ability allowed for, unfortunately Bellamy has too often fallen foul of disciplinary action or injury limiting his playing time. The late Sir Bobby Robson labelled him the ‘gobbiest’ player he had ever worked with. Bellamy’s most controversial incident perhaps came in 2007 when he allegedly confronted John Arne Riise with a golf club before an away game at Barcelona. Bellamy was fined £80,000 by the club but made amends as both the Welshman and Riise scored in a 2-1 victory.

9. Stuart Pearce

Positively nuts in his commitment to the cause, his nickname ‘Psycho’ tells half the story. Stuart Pearce gave everything for club and country throughout his career and was an outstanding left back. Perhaps best remembered for his penalty miss for England against Germany at Italia 90, and subsequent penalty he scored at Euro 1996 against Spain, Pearce embodied passion on the football pitch. Kevin Keegan once stated that Pearce ‘emerged, running out of the mist, wearing nothing but a pair of underpants and a towel wrapped round his head. That’s why they call him Psycho.’

8. David Luiz

For the Sideshow Bob hair alone, David Luiz deserves his place on this list. Yet, there is so much more to the Brazilian. Maybe it’s his recent habit of ‘giving luck’ to teammates in a pre match ritual by touching their foreheads, eyes closed in concentration. Maybe it’s that he is disturbingly attacking centre back, indeed Luiz is more likely to be found on a bamboozling run down the left wing than he is to be making a last ditch tackle. Or maybe it’s that he cannot seem to take life too seriously, indeed his post match interview with Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard is comedy gold. Luiz will need to cut the mistakes from his game if he is remain a cult hero to Chelsea fans, but currently for the neutral he is a joy to watch.

With a squad littered with international stars like Viv Anderson, Peter Shilton and Archie Gemmill, scorer of one of the best goals in World Cup history, the Reds put the city on the footballing map with their swashbuckling style of play.

Winning trophies was an expectation rather than a revelation and the club will forever be in footballing history for buying the first million pound player, Trevor Francis, in 1979.

Even in the Premiership years the club has reached astronomical heights, finishing third in the 1994/95 season and earning themselves a place in the UEFA Cup where they played Bayern Munich, who have since tasted multiple successes in continental competitions.

But 30 years on and fans in the Trent End are now having to satisfy themselves with seeing their team leap out of the Championship relegation zone after winning at home for the first time this season against a lacklustre Middlesbrough.

The matter is made worse by the fact that it is now 12 years and counting since the Reds last graced the country’s top flight and in that time they entered the doldrums of League One, the first European Cup winners to sink so low.

A club that once graced the pitches at the Olympiastadion and the Bernabeu are now spending snowy Tuesday nights at London Road and Ashton Gate and it must come to an end.

It is a sorry state for Forest to be in and it is time for them to return to the top flight. The passion and atmosphere at the City Ground is needed to reinvigorate a league lacking in personality, where Ewood Park and the DW Stadium resemble half full libraries than the home of teams in the most watched league in the world.

Nottingham Forest are one of the few clubs that can genuinely be called a sleeping giant. The phrase is banded around far too much and any club that ever spent more than one season in the top flight are now seen in that way. But the Reds epitomise its meaning, a club with a trophy cabinet brimming from previous success and a history that new kids on the block like Manchester City can only dream of.

While teams like Sheffield Wednesday have tasted the Premier League in the past, their history does not even come close to that of Forest. The success of English clubs on the continent is paramount to all Englishmen and after the immense success of the Reds they will forever have a place in the hearts of football fans.

The fans are in place, the facilities are there and so is the pedigree of the club. In recent years the team has produced talents like Michael Dawson and Jermaine Jenas, as well as launching the career on John Terry during his loan spell in the East Midlands.

All the club needs now is that slice of luck that can take them over the finishing line.

After a shocking start to the season, new boss Steve Cotterill has a lot to do to salvage the campaign in such a competitive Championship, but history shows that it is possible to turn an awful start into a promotion push with some good results.

If Cotterill can get the confidence flowing through the Reds then there is no doubting that the talent in the team can take the team to the top. And if he achieves the unthinkable and guides Forest back to the Promised Land, the Premier League will be more than happy to welcome back one of its most well-known former members.

The former England coach had a ill-fated and short-lived period as boss at the City Ground, holding the position for only 111 days before handing in his resignation.

McClaren has been frustrated by the club’s lack of available transfer funds, something he claims he was promised before joining the Championship team.

With the Midlands outfit in trouble after a slow start to the campaign, McClaren pressed the issue of financial backing once more after the side’s heavy defeat to Burnley on Tuesday.

With no further commitment to new players come January, McClaren has confirmed that he has left Forest.

“I resigned. They don’t share the ambition that I came for,” he angrily told reporters on Sunday.

The news was confirmed on the club’s official website, with the search for a new man in place already.

“Steve McClaren has resigned as manager. He has left the club without compensation — nor will he be seeking any. The club can confirm that the search for a new manager will begin immediately,” the statements reads.

McClaren recorded only two wins in his ten games in charge, and will now look for a new coaching role, potentially back in Europe after successful spells at FC Twente and Wolfsburg.

The manager’s complaints were with chairman John Doughty, who will also be leaving Forest in the near future.

“Mr Doughty will step down as chairman at the end of the season. The search for a new chairman will commence immediately,” the Forest statement concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

Whether it be the fans discontent, friction amongst the ranks or just the inability to maintain a strong leadership, these such managers, who should have left with a legacy, left instead with their tails between their legs and their heads held low.

This wasn’t as easy as first thought but here are my Top 10 managers who remained in the hot seat for too long, a list Fergie will never find himself on.

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Listen to the first episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast.

Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and Toploader’s Dan Hipgrave makes a special appearance!

Michael Owen celebrated his first appearance of the season by bagging a brace against Leeds. The Manchester United striker was leading the line in a side characterised by experience and youth at Elland Road. His first came after a quarter-of-an-hour following fine work by Park Ji-Sung and Dimitar Berbatov, before an emphatic second, drilling the ball home at an angle from just inside the Leeds area. Ryan Giggs’ deflected shot sealed the victory in first-half injury-time to send the Red Devils through.

In arguably the game of round 3, Newcastle overcame Steve McClaren’s Nottingham Forest in a 7-goal thriller that was eventually settled in extra-time. Peter Lovenkrands had twice put the Toon ahead but each goal was cancelled out immediately, first by Findley and then Derbyshire in the second-half. Danny Simpson gave the away side the lead not long in to extra-time before Marcus Tudgay provided a third equaliser of the night for Forest. The tie seemed to be destined for penalties before Fabricio Coloccini headed home the winning goal after 122 minutes.

In other scores, Tottenham debutant Massimo Luongo missed the decisive penalty in Spurs’ shootout defeat at Stoke. After a dull 120 minutes of goalless football, the game sprang to life in an enthralling penalty shootout, with the home side eventually emerging triumphant 7-6.

Bolton won 2-0 at Aston Villa in the night’s only other all-Premiership fixture with second-half goals from Chris Eagles and Gael Kakuta. Aldershot came from behind to earn their first appearance in the fourth round of the Carling Cup by beating Rochdale 2-1. Blackburn Rovers withheld a late rally from Leyton Orient thanks to a first Rovers goal for Simon Vukcevic providing the difference in a 3-2 win.

Kieran Trippier and Andre Amougou helped Burnley come from behind to secure a place in the last 16 at the expense of MK Dons. Crystal Palace eased past Middlesbrough. A 2-1 score-line at Selhurst Park enough to put Boro’s League win at Palace last Saturday in to the back of Palace fans’ minds. But the biggest winners of the night were Wolves who smashed 5 past hapless Millwall to erase a bad Premiership showing against QPR at the weekend. George Elokobi, perhaps the biggest culprit in Wolves’ early capitulation in that game, was amongst the scorers last night to secure an easy progression for Mick McCarthy’s team.

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Spells at Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur have seen the England midfielder fail to live up to the potential that was first noticed back in 2001 when he was bossing the Nottingham Forest midfield as a fresh faced 18-year-old. Big-money moves to Tyneside and North London followed where he constantly flattered to deceive. 10 years after his £5 million move to St James’ Park, where he was supposed to turn into the country’s leading midfielder, he’s now on loan at Aston Villa with a resurrection on his agenda. But why does it never work out for Jermaine Jenas?

When he first signed for Newcastle in February 2002, the late Sir Bobby Robson labeled Jenas the complete midfielder and the most talented youngster in the country. For the first 18 months of his career at St James’ Park there was cause to agree with Robson’s sentiments - Jenas took the Premier League by storm with his box-to-box engine and tenacity winning him many supporters. The club was riding high at that time with Champions League football and a top three finish corresponding with Jenas’ emergence. It was no surprise that after his outstanding debut season he deservedly picked the 2002/03 PFA Young Player of the Year award.

I watched him many times during his time in black and white and those two seasons he spent playing alongside Gary Speed were a joy to behold. He could outrun a Duracell bunny, scored some fantastic goals and showed no fear when coming up against tougher and more experienced opponents. However, the next three years were a complete mirror image with a majority of games seeing Jenas turn in some bland and lifeless displays. The problems intensified after Robson was sacked and Graeme Souness came in. Despite being handed the vice-captaincy, Jenas never regained his form and in 2005 decided to leave the club citing the fact he wasn’t enjoying life in the Newcastle ‘goldfish bowl’.

A £7 million move to White Hart Lane and relocation to London looked like the tonic that Jenas needed to reignite the spark that he’d lost in the North East. Fast-forward six years and once again he’s got a fight on his hands to save his career and avoid slipping into obscurity. His time at Spurs hasn’t exactly been the best with the odd notable performance, but I’d imagine most fans, as well as Harry Redknapp, weren’t weeping when he joined Villa.

The problem I think Jenas has is that he can’t handle pressure very well.

The two big clubs that he’s played for over the past nine years both have intensely loyal fan bases, creating a heated environment where one mistake or under-par performance will be scrutinized ferociously. During his time at Newcastle and Spurs, both clubs were challenging at the top end of the Premier League and in Europe. Normally players would thrive on such opportunities but Jenas seemed to just slump into his shell and crumble under the weight of expectation that surrounded the football clubs at the time. Pressure seems to be his kryptonite and whenever the dial is turned up ever so slightly he goes into hiding. It could be a case of too much pressure being shifted onto his shoulders at a young age. A lot of people were branding him as a future England captain during his Forest emergence and at only 18 I can imagine it being quite daunting to be set in that bracket.

In my opinion he has spent too much time worrying about living up to the expectations set for him just as he was starting his career. Regularly performing to that level to appease those who have put their trust in your and having that weigh on your mind during a game must be mentally exhausting. He did receive a lot of criticism for his drastic plummet in form at Newcastle and that has had a bearing on his ability to play with freedom.  I’d imagine that each and every game he has played during his career he’s approached it with the perturbed mindset that he has to match the level set by fans, coaches, pundits and journalists. He’s never struck me as a player that oozes confidence and I think that his standard of performance has deteriorated swiftly over the years because of that.

It’s been a career filled with disappointment. Today Jenas is considered yet another player who has failed to fulfill the vast potential he showed in his youth. At Villa he is now at a club where the minimum requirement this season is to finish in the top half. That kind of mellow environment could allow him to regain some confidence and rediscover the form that he displayed as a teenager in his early days at Forest and Newcastle.