GOING UP AND DOWN

SAM TODD LOOKS AT THE ISSUES FACING CLUBS PROMOTED TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE - AND SUGGESTS POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS...

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THE dismal performances of newly-promoted clubs has contributed significantly to a grim Premier League spectacle over the last couple of seasons.

The 2023-24 campaign was bad enough when Luton, Burnley, and Sheffield United all failed to clear the 30-point barrier and became the second elevated trio - after the unfortunate Bolton, Barnsley and Crystal Palace in 1997-98 - to be relegated immediately.

However, 2024-25 was even worse. Southampton were mathematically down with seven games to spare, Leicester were demoted as soon as Easter Sunday and Ipswich followed six days after the chocolate eggs were handed out.

As a consequence, the same 17 clubs bank the top-flight money and strengthen accordingly.

It also means the second tier’s appeal is waning. Unless you support a promoted team like Leeds or the yo-yoing Burnley, it's hard to get excited about the Championship’s top end when clubs are playing for the right to be next term's whipping boys.

The past two seasons have inevitably sparked a chorus of complaints, epitomised by Ruud van Nistelrooy’s lament after Leicester's fate was confirmed with a 1-0 loss to Liverpool - at the time, their ninth consecutive home league game without a goal - that “the gap appears to be too big for promoted sides”.

This narrative has taken hold, but it’s not the whole truth.

Financially the gap (as per Deloitte’s annual review of football finance) is stark, as demonstrated by Premier League sides generating £6.1bn in revenue compared to the £747m raised by their Championship counterparts.

However, how did Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest all stay up as recently as 2022-23 when faced with such a disparity?

That season marked the fourth time (after 2001-02, 2011-12, and 2017-18) that all three promoted teams survived in the Premier League era.