Typically, newcomers struggle to survive in the Premier League, especially in recent years — there’s nothing new there. But last season was the first time since 1998, and only the second time ever, that all three promoted Premier League clubs were relegated to the Championship.
To provide some context to just how difficult it has been
for Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton, last season’s relegated trio provide an
unflattering reference point. Statistically, Sheffield United, Burnley and
Luton Town were the worst bottom three in Premier League history. They picked
up 66 points between them — 10 points fewer than the next lowest on record.
Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton are currently on course
to finish with a cumulative total of 63 points. They have two fewer wins than
Sheffield United, Burnley and Luton at the same stage of the season and have
conceded 174 goals compared to 178.
The financial numbers are interesting, too, and, in many
ways, highlight what promoted clubs are up against now. Ipswich spent
£106million ($134m) in the summer — the 13th-highest outlay in world football during
that window, according to data compiled by Transfermarkt. Bayern Munich were
one place above Ipswich in that table and Saudi Arabian club Al Ittihad one
place below them — a snapshot of the modern game if ever there was one. Next on
the list was Southampton (£99m). Leicester, for the record, spent £73m (not
insignificant, but the sixth-lowest in the Premier League).
If the instinct among some is to read those figures and
wonder how they are struggling so much, the reality is that promoted teams are
now playing a game of catch-up that it feels almost impossible to win — all the
more so in the case of Ipswich, who had been out of the top flight for 22 years
and were hosting Forest Green Rovers in a League One game on this weekend two
years ago.
It’s hard to escape the feeling that the chasm that has
opened up between the Premier League and the Championship is widening every
season — it looks like that on paper and also when you regularly watch games at
both levels — and, realistically, that means one summer splurge isn’t going to
come close to bridging the gap in quality, squad depth and wages (a figure that
is often overlooked amid all the talk of spending) that has built up over an
extended period of time with mid-table clubs, let alone the top six.
Nottingham Forest do, of course, offer an exception to the
rule and one must be cautious of generalising from just two seasons.
With clubs increasingly in American hands, is the number of
promotion and relegation places at risk? They find the whole idea of relegation
odd and see it as a threat to their investments.
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