Robbie Savage clashing with a buoyant Burnley fan on national radio made for enjoyable post-Coventry listening last weekend.

Speaking on the ever-entertaining BBC show 606, Clarets supporter Nathan made the case that crisis club Everton should embrace the prospect of potential Premier League relegation and strap in for ‘the best year they’ll ever have’ riding the rocky Championship rollercoaster.

Savage and fellow pundit - and Pink Un columnist - Chris Sutton frequently hold polarised views and this debate was no exception, with close-minded Savage immediately dismissing the caller's – and Sutton’s corroboration – considered suggestion as ‘stupid’.

The Pink Un: Burnley boss Vincent KompanyBurnley boss Vincent Kompany (Image: PA Images)

Despite all Burnley's Vincent Kompany-inspired Championship joy this season, Savage reckons it's still more fun to watch your team tussle with the Premier League big boys than embark on a successful, promotion-winning second-tier roadshow. 

This has been a debate dominating the Norwich City discussion for years and, of course, factors on both sides of the argument have their merits. 

But the idea that fans should automatically prefer seeing their team play top-flight football because they’re battling against better players in more salubrious stadiums is totally wide of the mark. 

For all Savage's reactionary jibes, Nathan - who was probably representing the view held by the vast majority of Burnley fans given their free-flowing, table-topping Championship exploits - hit the nail firmly on the head.

Kompany's side have enjoyed without doubt their most enjoyable campaign for years, well on the way to romping to the title in splendid isolation while playing an impressive brand of football in the process.

And aesthetics on the pitch aside, you'd surely still rather watch a more direct, perhaps Sean Dyche-managed side, win game after game in a lower league that get consistently pummelled week in, week out by the Premier League big-hitters and their increasingly mind-boggling financial riches. 

The top flight offers clubs like Burnley and City opportunity, some memorable days out and, if you’re lucky, the chance to scale the European heights – just like the Clarets did when they remarkably secured Europa League qualification with a seventh-place finish back in 2018.

But given the growingly uncompetitive and unbalanced state of the division, the chances of a club that size emulating the Clarets’ heroics are becoming slimmer and slimmer year on year.

Of course, City fans will always cherish toppling the might of Manchester City in 2019, winning at Old Trafford in 2015, lowering the colours of Tottenham at White Hart Lane in 2012 and stunning Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United under the Saturday night Carrow Road lights back in 2005.

But these results are total one-offs. These results rarely happen and, similarly to European prospects owing to the money-grabbing direction the division is heading in, are becoming less and less likely to happen.

There may be the odd recent exception – look no further than Brentford and Fulham over the last couple of seasons – but the reality remains that even with significant external investment – which granted, City do not have – there is simply no guarantee of success, or even survival, in the most punishing of Premier League terrains.

Just look at clubs like West Ham, Leeds, Wolves and – yep, you guessed it – Everton this season, all of whom are enduring the depressing top-flight fate City fans have become so accustomed to, despite splashing the cash across multiple transfer windows.

Barring a miracle, the optics of a top-flight season for clubs like City, Burnley and – as it stands – the above four teams are simple: accept you’re likely to get battered whenever you play a big team and, in increasingly-pressured games around your lower table rivals, try and scramble to an often-ugly victory by just one or two goals.

And even if this grim cycle somehow keeps you up, where on earth is the fun in that? Of course, the Premier League-Championship yo-yo debate is inherently paradoxical given the reward for a promotion-winning season is the inevitable top-flight misery that follows.

And despite David Wagner’s stunning start to life in the City hotseat, perhaps a level of tedium reached with that repetitive process played into the much-publicised apathy and ‘disconnect’ that manifested itself during Dean Smith’s tenure.

But no, Robbie Savage, I would not rather travel to The Etihad just to watch Erling Haaland bully Ben Gibson when I can visit more obscure, characterful grounds like Preston, Blackpool and Sunderland and revel in the joy of triumphant away days to savour.

And for all the Premier League offers in terms of quality, having better players does not necessarily translate to more entertaining football – particularly when your team are on the receiving end of a hammering week after week.

Burnley fans are reaping the inadvertent rewards of a Premier League relegation we are all so familiar with and, if Everton follow suit, Savage may well end up eating his words.