Premier League 2015/16 Relegation Watch

Would be interesting to see what the odds would be on us staying up next year now.

Guess a lot depends on who stays up/comes up. As you say, Newcastle and Sunderland are both big clubs who always have the potential of being a lot better with the right money/managers. And we could have Boro, Hull and Burnley all coming up who you'd imagine would be strong considering their more recent premier league flirtations.

We could well still find ourselves in the top 4-5 candidates for relegation according to the bookies.

 

I'm not overly concerned by Hull or Burnley. They're the dictionary definition of yo-yo clubs, and have neither the reach nor the appeal to mount a sustained claim for a Premier League spot. Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't either; our ability to compete in this league is down to the Pozzos and their well established infrastructure. Hull and Burnley are basically us without the Pozzos: capable of a good season here and there, but ultimately not competitive enough to permanently claim a spot in the top league.

For my money, the ones to watch out for are clubs like Forest or Wednesday. They might finally lurch into life if they manage to get up into the top league again, and have the name recognition and history to potentially help them compete and survive (especially Forest). Wednesday are starting to look like they might pull it off this year, too.

 

Would love to see FF back at The Vic next year.

 

I agree with you about Hull and Burnley. Their current owners have had a shot at the Premier League but never showed too much ambition.

Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton are the ones to watch for me. Boro because they have a solid set up, an excellent manager and an already solid team. Sheffield Wednesday remind me a little of Leicester (mid table obscurity for years before being taken over by a discreet owner who puts just the right amount of money in). Brighton are hugely ambitious but I think they need a revamped squad and a new manager. Hughton isn't up to the Premier League.

 

From a fans perspective seeing Bournmouth got all the praise for diving their way to the championship, whereas we all know that we slipped up in the last minute on the last day and presented them with it. If they stayed up I don't believe they would " kick on " very much as their infrastructure is small, top players won't want to go there and I think they will struggle.

Bourmouths attendance last Saturday was less than every game in the championship, and that includes Rotherham who were also at home!

 

If Muff do stay up then no doubt increasing capacity or moving would be very high on the agenda. I don't know what the infrastructure currently is but I bet someone has been tasked with exploring expansion; a club of their size and catchment area wouldn't need to go overboard, I'd imagine that at the very most doubling their capacity would be sufficient.

 

Quite a bit of space around the ground so they can increase capacity. Can't imagine it would be a huge amount though.

 

Considering that 3 of the last 4 matches are against Norwich, Villa and Sunderland, wouldn't it be great if we relegated all three of them?*

And as a bonus beat Liverpool in the intervening week to seal Europa cup berth instead of them.

* For that to happen, Villa would have to overtake Norwich.

 

2nd season syndrome is a real threat to us, the players have had to scrap for every point this year but staying up could lead them to believe they are premier league players without having to do anything, a 10% drop off in effort/intensity and we would be doomed. The key will be to bring in another 4-5 players that are another upgrade on what we have already - which undoubtedly the Pozzos will do. Players like Parades, Anya etc need to be out the door, they then need to be replaced with players like Nyom, Watson etc who will come off the subs bench and/or be cover but not be starters. even if we do that we won't be a surprise package anymore, we might do well next year to end up on the same amount of points as this year, but a few years of consolidation wouldn't be a bad thing, with maybe season 3-4 looking at the top half and maybe more.

 

Is infrastructure the new forum fashion word?

 

I must be being whooshed ???!

Why all the negativity around this place ???! What on earth makes people think we will struggle next season? Top 10 all the way baby....

 

I don't like that word "consolidation". I prefer "ambition".

Europe should our target next season.

 

i certainly wasn't whooshing anybody! And I'm not certainly not posting here in February 2016 worrying about our prospects for next season. I was just saying that I think, although we all have our own personal favourites to see go down, it's relevant to discuss which clubs we think might start next season as favourites for the drop if they're still in the PL.

In his autobiography Roy Keane discusses 2nd season syndrome and says that at Sunderland he felt they targeted getting x more points than in their first campaign and they forgot that to do so, they first had to equal the number of points they got first time round. You rely on beating the same clubs two years in a row, which doesn't always happen of course.

I'm not anti Bmuff, unlike many here, and I think if they just stay up this year, they could be candidates for 2nd season syndrome, as it's unlikely they will go beating United, Chelsea etc again next year. Then again they could be this season's Leicester haha. Can you imagine??!!

Hull may turn out to be a yo-yo club but Bruce knows what he is doing and some think they were unlucky to go down last year. They know the PL and personally I hope they don't come up. Oh and I reckon they will knock out Arsenal on Saturday too!

 

Hull were only in it last season because John Carver had no idea what he was doing. I think all three promoted teams next season will have trouble bringing in quality players. They may have ambition/money but convincing people to join them is tough, Boro smashed our transfer record just to bring in someone like Rhodes. I don't think players like Capoue, Britos and Suarez would touch clubs like that (and us really), we're just lucky that our owners are known/respected and brought in a manager who is likewise.

As for slumping next season, given we have already made two summer signings (essentially), I don't think the club is looking to stand still.

 

And we will be minted with all the new TV money.

 

Second season syndrome may depend if we still have Deeney and Igalho.

If Igloo stays won't we lose him for a month for the African Nations cup along with possibly Nyom?

 

There isn't any more. Though the site is big, they are hemmed in the corner. They built a block of flats a few years ago behind one of the stands behind the goal if I remember. They would have to knock the main stand down and move it backwards, rebuild it behind and continue to use the others. I suppose they could just move the temporary stand along a bit more but would mean them losing even more of an already too small capacity.

If I remember, didn't the ground use to be 90 degrees the other way years ago? I am sure they spent a year at Weymouth or something. Anyway, I reckon they will go down with Villa and Norwich so it will be fine for Championship football!

I suppose they could just build a new stadium where the athletics one is.

 

I must have missed the flats (or come from the other way). I know their training ground is there as well but assume they could in theory build a new one somewhere.

You're right, they turned the pitch 90 degrees.

 

Have we sent down any teams in past seasons? Plenty of teams have been promoted/got into the play-offs in games with us (usually when we've been crap) but I don't recall any being relegated.

 

Why is nobody mentioning third and fourth season syndrome? Surely that is at least as big a threat as second season?

 

There will be a cure for the syndrome by 2017/18 according to the WHO.

 

Stop it! Not funny!

 

The cure's always 5 years away though.


Re: Second season syndrome.

£100M+ in the hands of the Pozzos in addition to what we already have. Even if Iggy and/or Troy were to leave (giving Gino even more dosh to play with) we've got absolutely nothing to worry about.

 

One will cancel out the other.

 

-Isn't their owner reported to be a billionaire?
-Depends what your definition of a 'top player' is - we've certainly done alright without any real 'top player' signings.
-Well, it's pretty difficult to have a higher attendance when your ground only seats ~11,000.

 

Just keep an eye out for Bristol Rovers coming through in the next couple of years.

 

I genuinely think they're relegation candidates for next season in the Championship as well.

 

Ayew serving time for ridiculous sending off last week

'Comprised of' is just such awful grammar

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/05/why-wikipedias-grammar-vigilante-is-wrong

 

Haha, good find. Being opposed by The Graun's resident contrarian is a source of comfort

 

Personally I think comprised of is fine when talking past tense ... but I would favour "comprising of" for the present.

 

I's blames Labour for killings off all da grammar schoolz innit