IT is becoming hard to swallow the much vaunted line that the Premiership is the most exciting league in the world.

We continue to be brainwashed by SKY and ITV's marketing spin doctors into believing that no other league can compete with the dear old Premiership.

Wrong. You just have to take a look at the garbage which is being served up these days.

The exciting tag came about when Manchester United were a three or four dimensional attacking force, Arsenal went from boring to scoring and the old pride, passion and commitment was still prominent in the top echelon of the English game.

Unfortunately the idea that the Premiership is still just as exciting is a myth.

Arsenal can still set pulses racing to order but if you're looking for entertainment elsewhere then you'll need Sherlock Holmes to find it.

Take the weekend. Charlton went to Manchester City, refused to go over the half way line and time wasted at every opportunity. This wasn't even at Highbury or Old Trafford but at Maine Road for goodness sake.

If this is all Charlton have to offer against a team which is in the bottom half of the table and still finding its feet after being promoted then I would rather spend an afternoon worming dogs than watching them.

Mind you, watching Charlton is a treat compared to seeing Sunderland away. Howard Wilkinson's side managed the mind-numbing achievement of 90 minutes at Liverpool on Sunday without mustering a shot either on or off target, a blocked shot or a corner.

That's Howard Wilkinson for you. About as much fun as a powercut. He gets the job done but by the time he's done it everybody's so comatose they're past caring.

United have gone from a multi-faceted attacking force to one-dimensional (give it to Van Nistelrooy and hope for the best), Liverpool deserve their reputation as the new bores of the Premiership and the only entertainment at Elland Road is listening to the different chants the fans come up with to slag off Terry Venables.

And they are the best the Premiership has to offer. Behind them you can't even find any blood and thunder football . Instead the obsession with tactics and not losing has turned most Premiership matches into a playing field equivalent of chess.

The idea is to win at all costs but Premiership clubs are even finding that harder than it used to be.

Liverpool virtually had a bye through the first group stage of the Champions League with the teams they were paired with. But they summed up the fact that the quality of the Premiership is plummeting faster than a skydiver by failing to beat a little known team from that mighty footballing hotbed of...Switzerland.

But the most damning evidence of the Premiership's fall from grace came with Celtic's comprehensive defeat of supposedly bright sparks Blackburn in both legs of their Uefa Cup tie. Scottish football is rubbish according to the English media. If that is true how bad is the Premiership in the wake of this result?

The Premiership is still the richest league in the world. But what is the point when all it is buying is a declining standard of quality and entertainment?