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

Asamoah Gyan’s shock loan move from Sunderland to United Arab Emirates club Al-Ain was the surprise move of the latest transfer window, with money seemingly the only possible reason for Sunderland to let one of their best strikers leave and for Gyan to want to swap the Premier League for the United Arab Emirates.

But Gyan’s loan is not the first strange move by clubs and players in the transfer market. What are the top ten bizarre transfer moves ever to be seen in the world of football?

Click on Tevez and Mascherano to find out

What do you think is the most bizarre transfer move ever? If you want to read more of my bite size, 140 character views and thoughts follow me on Twitter @jennyk5

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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.

Left with no matches to report on, and out of ideas on how to re-spin Cesc Fabregas transfer news, they wrote instead on the horror of not being able to attend matches. Replete with a picture of him looking suitably disgusted, Henry Winter was FORCED to pay £25 to watch Nottingham Forest play, and the sporting world held its breath.

Winter and others (such as Sam Wallace at the Independent), argued that this was bad news for all fans of football. Winter argued that “newspapers, whether in print, online or via Twitter, keep fanning the flames of supporters’ interest in clubs.”

“On Sunday morning they will turn to their newspapers for a neutral’s verdict to find an absence of match reports.

“…the report is part of the match-day experience, fans’ reading up on the game, agreeing or disagreeing. I could spend an hour or more a day dealing with tweets, emails and letters sparked by a report of the previous night’s match.”

Sam Wallace said:

“But without us, and the other members of our dysfunctional press family, who is left? The answer is, the clubs’ own media. I have nothing against the website and TV personnel of our clubs, many of whom started life on our side of the fence and are very capable journalists. But are we sure the clubs are going to strive to give us the real, inside, uncomfortable story on their organisations?”

“…..I fear that my industry is getting elbowed out of the way by certain wealthy clubs who dislike not being in total control. I fear that some of these young men and women may end up in a ghastly PR-version of journalism where their questions are restricted.”

“…..I do not believe any football fan thinks that the clubs’ curtailing of press freedom is something to be celebrated.”

Thankfully a deal was struck just in time for the start of the Premier League, a brand that cannot be damaged at any time, or else the world would shift on its axis.

And this was good news for all concerned. Yes?

As already mentioned, when the ban kicked in it covered the Championship and below. But for fans of non-Premier league teams, the question is this? Was there a huge chasm in your life last weekend, a sense that something was missing, that you weren’t as up-to-date and educated with the goings-on of your football team? Or was it business as usual? Probably the latter.

When I was very young, before the days of Premiership football, live steaming, Super Sundays and message boards, I relied on newspaper match reports. Their words shaped much of how I thought about teams and players. Only when I became a regular attendee did I realised what drivel was being written.

Ok, not drivel – but I realised that people were seeing games very differently to how I was, and the match reports were nothing more than opinion pieces much of the time. Many a time you can watch a match with a friend and see things in a totally different way. Your man of the match is someone your friend thought was terrible. Even with 100 slow-mos and multiple angles you’ll still get wildly different opinions on whether an incident was a penalty, or a red card or a dive.

The most reliable of match reports was often the Football Pink, because it was a match report that simply reported what had happened, rather than trying to crowbar in a particular angle or agenda, and without some sub-editor’s misleading headline. On the downside, it did have a tendency to suddenly end after 67 minutes.

In the modern world of access-all-areas, how much do we need match reports? I never read them as one way or the other I will have seen the match, and so don’t need someone else to summarise it for me, but that’s just a personal choice. Sunday papers are known to sell better during the football season, so it seems their coverage is important to many. You may have seen a match, but when your new signing has scored a hat trick on his debut, you may want to read every match report possible. But if you support a small, lower-league club, there will be little of interest in  antional newspaper anyway.

But Winter’s theory that fans’ interests in their clubs is kept burning brightly by the press is laughable in the extreme. I, like millions of others, have supported my team for decades, and I managed to do it just fine without having to read newspapers to gee me up.

The problem journalists have is that their reputation is besmirched by the minority. Fans have become tired by lies, false rumours, sensationalizing of minor events, and perceived agendas and injustices. This used to be the style of the tabloids alone, but is is depressing how many broadsheet reporters have been reduced to spreading tittle-tattle and speculation. In the world of 24-hour news, there is not enough proper news to go around. When under 20% of transfer rumours turn out to be true, then it is hard to believe anything you read.

According to journalists, Wesley Sneijder has joined Manchester United five times, the first time being over a month ago. He has joined Manchester City twice. He has snubbed City twice too, United have ended their interest three times, terms have been agreed four times, and a fee agreed five times. Nasri signed for Manchester City three weeks ago, but then he was staying at Arsenal, this all coming after United had closed in on his signing, then he has since signed again four times, and the latest news is he will sign again once more later this week (for City).

Sam Wallace is probably right in saying the recent dispute is fuelled partly by the desire of clubs to have more control on the release of information, and more power in deciding what stays behind closed doors. The new tradition of players to tweet information will only have increased their paranoia. But the newspapers do not help themselves by writing critically of clubs – often it is deserved of course, but it is no surprise trust breaks down with clubs.

And journalists alone do not have access to breaking news. Twitter will break any story instantly, with or without journalists, and will spread malicious rumours in much the same way. The age of instant news has also put great doubt over the newspapers themselves. Exclusives are no longer the domain of the morning paper, as by then most people will already know the story. Add to this that agents and the truthful “in-the-knowers” can keep fans up to date with transfer stories, and that plenty of normal fans have an inside line to clubs, and what are reporters providing that’s unique? What’s more, quality bloggers like the Swiss Ramble have no constraints on space, and no deadlines.

Even Joey Barton, in a week of tweeting Nietzsche, the musings of Wittgenstein and calling Brian Woolnough a nugget, found time to say that the press won’t exist in ten years’ time. Wishful thinking on his behalf, but you can see the logic of his point.

What football journalists do have is contacts and access to areas we normal fans don’t (Old Trafford excepted). They get interviews with players and managers, get briefed on stories and get into press conferences. They have plenty of worth in what they can tell us. With experience comes relationships with those in the game, which bring sinsight and information that might not otherwise be known.
And many write excellently of course, such as Martin Samuel, Daniel Taylor or the financial investigations of David Conn. Quality football “writers” are plentiful (see also Jonathan Wilson). But this is more about the need for reporters rather than writers.

Times have changed, and the way news is reported has entered a new era that has made many old methods redundant. Newspapers have faced difficult times for decades, and the football journalists are no different, as they are no longer the sole bearers of news. Increasingly they know that times have changed, and have looked to branch out, be it appearing on radio shows, podcasts, or nibbling on a croissant on the Sunday Supplement panel. There will always be a role for sports reporting in newspapers in this country, but in future, it may well be less about exclusives and more about fulfilling a much broader media role. The competiiton for them is now huge, but they still have a vital role to play.

An exciting new era for youth football begins this evening, with the Next Gen series kicking off. It is an international tournament, with 16 of the worlds best clubs showcasing their stars of the future in an exciting knockout competition. The likes of Liverpool, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Manchester City, and Celtic are all featuring in the inaugural challenging 6 month international competition. In light of the competition, should the FA look to set up an elite Premier League for the academy sides rather than the regional Premier Academy Leagues which currently exist?

Next Gen is hailed as the new era in competitive football, providing competition on a level that isn’t seen through the regional Premier Leagues. Players will be able to test themselves against world class opposition players trained and nurtured by the best sides in Europe, which can only be of benefit for youth development in this country. It’s a unique opportunity for youth players to experience all aspects of a competitive, large international tournament, including adapting to an unfamiliar style of play, prolonged periods of travel and two match weeks, which are more likely to help them transition into the first team, than the current Premier Academy Leagues, with its lack of competitiveness, as well as its constraints and restrictions.

Unlike playing in the reserves or the Premier Academy League, Next Gen will stretch players, and this is likely to improve their play. Many promising young academy graduates haven’t been provided with enough consistent high quality challenges in the regional leagues, so it could help more to reach senior levels, but more needs to be done on the domestic front to improve the standards of youth football.

Aside from the FA Youth Cup, English youngsters don’t really have enough competitive games, in order for them to frequently test themselves. The Premier Academy League is made up of 40 clubs currently split into four regional leagues, 2 southern and 2 northern, meaning the best sides may only play each other once over the season or not at all, this format lacks that competitive edge for players to be able to benefit from it. Youth football in this country has been stagnant, and now is the time for long overdue progressive ideas to make the difference.

Should the FA do away with the regional leagues and set up one elite Premier Academy League for the best academy’s in the country? It would perhaps provide a greater competitive edge, if there was one elite league and the matches week in week out were of a higher standard. If the best academy’s are playing against similar opposition, then this is likely to increase competitiveness and standards. Playing against similar level opposition on a consistent basis is likely to improve the youth development in this country.

However, there are some problems associated with making a single elite Premier Academy League. It is likely to widen the gulf between the Premier League elite teams and the rest. This could pose a big problem to the smaller academies, with restrictions and constraints on travel and rules lifted, they could find themselves forced out of being able to compete on that level with the cash rich Premier League sides. It could potentially go the other way and kill youth development in the country with smaller clubs in different regions missing out, and subsequently the talent in the local area slipping through the net. Academies could also become more elitist, and it could encourage young players to join bigger clubs, with clubs like Crewe, Huddersfield, and Mk Dons missing out. However, small the academy, they serve to fulfil the potential of local talent around the community, so to wipe this out would be a travesty.

There are only six teams in the league who have not had previous experience in the Premier League and there are number of sides that have had long-term spells in the top-flight and will be looking to return there this season.

The likes of former double European Cup winner’s Nottingham Forest, Leeds United with their intensive history and recently relegated West Ham are all clubs associated with the higher echelons of the English game, not the second tier.

These sorts of clubs are capable of attracting high-profile managerial names such as former England manager’s Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren who will both be looking to set their career back on the right-path with Leicester City and Nottingham Forest respectively.

West Ham’s new man at the helm, Sam Allardyce is a highly regarded manager in the lower regions of the Premier League and probably one of the main reasons why both Bolton and Blackburn are now established clubs in the Premier League. Although the football under ‘Big Sam’ won’t be that pretty, I don’t think Hammers fans will mind if come the end of the campaign they are back in the top tier of English football.

Then you have the other relegated teams, Birmingham City and Blackpool who will both be hoping for an instant return to the Premier League. Birmingham have recovered from losing Alex McLeish to rivals Villa by appointing Chris Houghton as boss. Houghton did an excellent job taking Newcastle back to the Premier League at the first time of asking and Birmingham fans will be hoping he can repeat his magic at St Andrews this term. Blackpool may have lost key men in Charlie Adam, David Vaughan and DJ Campbell but under Ian Holloway they still stand a chance of challenging this year and also have the benefit of parachute payments to help them achieve an quick return.

Leicester City look like title contenders after their summer spending and they have made a statement of intent with their high-quality signings. They have strengthened an already established team and I would not be surprised if it didn’t pay off with a promotion season under Sven.

Another team who could be in with a shout are Reading who will still be picking themselves up from the disappointment of their playoff final defeat to Swansea but the success of their season may hang on keeping last year’s squad together.

Other clubs who will be disappointed not to be involved in the playoffs in May are Burnley who under Eddie Howe look a good bet to have a better campaign after a transition season last term. The list goes on of teams who will be in with a reasonable chance of competing for the playoffs.

Add teams like Hull City, Bristol City, Cardiff City, Milwall, Portsmouth and Watford to the equation and you can see just how tough it will be this year, with all these outfits looking for a place in the higher reaches of the league.

Then you have to consider the three promoted teams who all have plenty of cash to spend after winning promotion from League One. Southampton look an outside bet for playoffs under the leadership of Nigel Adkins as do Brighton who will be in a new home with over 18,000 season ticket holders. Both could well upset the odds this season and repeat Norwich’s trick of a double promotion.

The new Championship season is set to one of the most competitive ever and it will be hard to predict the winner in any game making it very difficult for even the biggest of teams. I expect to see a few of these major teams disappointed at the end of the year and trying to pick out of any of the teams that will finish in the playoffs is a bit of lottery, a lottery worth an estimated £90m to the victor. I can’t wait for it to kick off now!

Nothing has been finalised yet but it seems Spanish Under-21 goalkeeper David de Gea will arrive in Manchester imminently to complete a transfer worth in the region of £20million, Phil Jones has already secured his first professional transfer by leaving Blackburn for a fee of £16.5million, and Ashley Young sealed a move to Manchester United player this week to the tune of £17million+.

Wesley Sneijder, Luka Modric and Alexis Sanchez have also been heavily linked with an Old Trafford move, and though de Gea and Jones have been ‘bought’ with strategic necessity – de Gea to replace the retired Edwin van der Sar and Jones as a long-term solution to Rio Ferdinand – Young’s potential appearance in the red of United next season has caused confusion in several quarters. The club may have struggled against Barcelona but conquered the Premiership yet again with an all too familiar swagger for the twelfth time, largely thanks to the League’s top assister, Nani, and the dependable performances of Park Ji-Sung, not to mention that Ferguson retains the services of Antonio Valencia; arguably the most capable winger of the three. So what then is the need for a fourth wide-man at Old Trafford and what could Young provide Ferguson that he may not have accomplished from his current creative charges?

First and foremost Young is, as his name would imply, at a good age to adjust instantly at a club in the higher reaches of the League. Having made his name at Watford in the Championship and for four years at Villa Park, the 25 year-old has experienced a natural career progression and was a palpable stand-out in an otherwise flat Aston Villa side last season, scoring 9 and assisting 14. He is incredibly versatile and has adapted to a number of attacking positions under four different managers in the Premiership in as many years, and has conceded as much, saying: “I believe in being versatile and I’m happy to play on the left, on the right or through the middle.”

His pace and trickery are unequalled by England standards and his noticeable flair had him recognised by none other than Real Madrid just two years ago. He has featured 15 times for his country, is considered by Fabio Capello as a significant part of his future plans and scored in England’s 2-2 draw with Switzerland earlier this month. Young is consistent with corners, something Nemanja Vidic would relish, and free-kicks, an area that hasn’t been effectively addressed since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

He has been more-or-less the first name on the team-sheet at Villa so will have to acknowledge the difficulties in forcing his way in to a talented team like United. In my view, his quality aligned with an adaptability which allows him to play anywhere across the front make him an ideal signing for the club whose inventive force has weakened since the retirement of Paul Scholes. Links to Liverpool have perhaps muted the excitement of United fans, but Young is likely to prove the doubters wrong in no time.

Do you think Young is the right signing for United? Have your say on Twitter –  and Facebook

Cardiff must pay Watford an undisclosed sum in compensation for Mackay, who had agreed a new three-year contract at Vicarage Road in March this year.

“I see a club with massive ambition, an infrastructure that is exciting, a beautiful stadium, great training facilities and a club that wants to go places,” Mackay said at his unveiling as Cardiff manager on Friday.

“It’s well documented the finances we’ve been working under at Watford.”

“Watford over the last couple of years have fought hard under the restrictions. But coming here gives me an opportunity to challenge at the top of the table.”

A centre back for Celtic, Norwich and Watford, Mackay moved from a playing role to the coaching staff at Vicarage Road in 2008, serving as caretaker manager following the sacking of Aidy Boothroyd and then as an assistant to Brendon Rodgers.

After Rodgers resigned in June 2009, Mackay assumed the full-time manager’s role, guiding the team to 16th in 2009/10 and 14th last season.

Expectations are likely to be high at Cardiff, who brought Jones’ six-year reign at the club to an end after he failed to secure promotion to the English Premier League, despite reaching the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.

Watford, meanwhile, will now begin the search for their third new manager in the past two years.

“I can’t hide the fact I’m disappointed to see Malky leave,” Watford owner Laurence Bassini said.

“I do, however, wish him the very best of luck and every success for the future as he begins work at his new club.”

Jones, who joined Cardiff in 2005, took the club to consecutive appearances in the Championship playoffs during the last two seasons.

But he paid the price for failing to secure promotion to the English Premier League.

Former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer was in talks to take over at the Cardiff City Stadium earlier this week, but discussions proved unsuccessful.

Mackay became the next man in Cardiff sights, with Championship rivals Watford turning down an initial approach on Wednesday.

But after Mackay pressed his board to be allowed to enter discussions, the Watford hierarchy have relented.

“We have reluctantly agreed to allow Malky to speak to Cardiff,” Watford chairman Graham Taylor said Thursday.

“The owner spoke with the board members and following Malky’s request to speak to Cardiff, we have granted him permission.”

Mackay, 39, signed a three-year contract with Watford in March, meaning Cardiff will be required to compensate Watford accordingly if the Scot agrees to leave Vicarage Road.

When it comes to English football being in the Premier League is what every club, player and manager wants. However, how much should clubs risk to get there? A blog post by Paul Fletcher this week put this financially risk into perspective. There is now around £700m worth of debt within the Football League and more than 80% of this is within the Championship.

Now, this is not to suggest that debt in English football is exclusive to clubs outside of the Premier League – because we know there are a number of big Premier League clubs who carry heavy debt. But although we should be concerned with any sort of debt; the debt is more manageable when there is turnover in excess of £100m.

The debt in the Football League is of far greater concern, because it’s causing clubs to go into administration and possibly out of business. Then there is the issue of parachute payments to consider and if it’s really fair on the rest of the Championship that clubs are given these payments over several seasons after being relegated to the Premier League. To a certain extent it is up to the individual club how much they want to risk in order to stay in the Premier League.

The risk that Blackpool took on to remain in the Premier League was relatively minimal after spending just £4m on new players. When considered that they received £40m in TV revenue alone for their solitary season in the top flight. However, they will receive up to £48m over the next four seasons. This will put them at a significant advantage over other teams that weren’t involved in the Premier League and encourage them to risk their club’s future in order to try and compete. There is also the argument that Blackpool don’t really need the parachute payments based on the fact that there are in a stable place financially and are likely to profit hugely from the likely transfer of Charlie Adam.

The debt issue is about to be tackled in some way as Football League clubs have agreed in principle to adopt Uefa’s financial fair play rules. An interesting development especially given the financial gap between the Premier League and the Championship; Premier League clubs receive a minimum of £40m in TV revenue each year – where Championship clubs can only expect to receive only £1m. Furthermore, it widens the advantage of the parachute payment system. Clubs with the parachute payments will clearly hold an advantage with those extra resources. Therefore, other clubs will have to get smart to strengthen their squads on a budget. The new regulations look like coming in for the beginning of the 2012/13 season. There is an interesting development in League One for next season where a Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) will be introduced for next season. They system basically means that clubs will only be able to spend a fixed percentage of their turnover of players wages. A similar system already operates in League One.

It is certainly good to see football clubs taking responsibility and being open to tackle the issues of debt head on. However, at the top of world football transfer fees and wages are still extremely high and although the financial fair play rules may start to control this. The reality shows that there a huge amount of money available and just looking at the income clubs of the statute of Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid make shows us that extremely high transfer fees and wages will remain despite any new regulations. But Manchester City and Chelsea in particular will need to adjust their spending to fit in with the new regulations.

There seems to be a danger of English football becoming anti-competitive with a financial disparity between clubs could eventually mean that their will only be a select group of teams that will have a chance of getting into the Premier League. Within the 72 Football League clubs there are plenty of teams that have had their time in the Premier League but have fallen from grace and it’s not as if all those teams still appear in the Championship. Some of those teams appear in League One and League Two. It’s truly remarkable to think that sides such as Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday find themselves struggling in League One with significant financial difficulties – despite the fact it wasn’t long ago that they were solid Premier League sides.

The Championship also contains two previous giants of English football in the shape of Leeds United and Nottingham Forest and both of these sides spent several years in League One as they seriously fell from grace; but both clubs now seem to be making progress again and were both in and around the play-off picture last season. Norwich and QPR provide some inspiration for these sorts of clubs. They were both involved in the Premier League when it began – but had fallen from grace in recent seasons and Norwich even dropped down to League One. However, they have proved that it can be turned around and are now back in the Premier League.

There is no doubt that clubs pushed out to try and get in the Premier League last season – but it didn’t work for them all. It is unclear how much money Cardiff put into the deal to secure Craig Bellamy on loan – but their wage contribution would still have been significantly higher than most wages in the Championship. However, the gamble backfired as Cardiff fell short in the automatic promotion picture and was eliminated in the play-offs. Leicester and Hull also invested heavily in their teams in order to try and force their way into the play-offs but neither managed to get there.

Expect to see more teams take the gamble in the summer and have a crack to get into the Premier League. Promotion the world’s best league is estimated to be worth £90m and clubs will feel it’s worth taking the gamble in order to get a slice of that financial cake. But a word of warning if they fail the consequence may involve the club spiralling out of control getting relegated to League One and entering administration. So proceed with ambition but not recklessly.

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