Everyone connected with English football has a love-hate relationship with the Championship. The games can feel like the antidote to the modern era – a purist’s dream – no VAR, lenient refereeing, unkempt pitches and tiny grounds modestly full of only the most loyal supporters.
Huddersfield away at midday on Saturday felt like that. Leeds came to play, Huddersfield to frustration. In the Premier League, Huddersfield would undoubtedly have had fewer than the 10 men they ended with.
“It was a difficult away game, a difficult pitch, and more or less the ball was never in play,” Daniel Farke said of the West Yorkshire derby on Monday. Farke was referring to the reported 22 minutes the ball was actually in play during the 54-minute first half.
Broadcasters, clubs, fans and the football authorities all agree that the sport should be as entertaining as possible. Time-wasting is not entertaining, not even for the purists.
Leeds fans have asked for improvements to standards for decades, but Saturday’s derby was evidence those calls have fallen on deaf ears.
If the Championship is to grow as a brand, authorities must enforce rules that favor entertaining football.
Adonis Storr can be found at The Roaring Peacock, external