Relegation, such a bad thing?

Do we think it's such a bad thing?

I personally don't for a number of reasons!

1, We will recieve two years of parachutte payments

2, We won't have to pay £1,400,000 for Danny

3, We will keep most if not all of our players (exception maybe Ash but if he was to go it would be for good moneyn and it would allow us more money on strengthening the squad for a promotion push)

4, Boothroyd will stay regardless of league status

5, King will stay because he's been out injured for such a long time, no prem club will risk signing him

6, We will stand a great chance of bouncing straight back up if we can keep the same squad as now and improve in 3 or 4 positions

7, The most important reason is we have a very low wage bill and haven't over spent on mercenary players i.e. the ****** era!

Watford is in a healthy state whether we stay up or come down! Charlton and Bolton yo-yo'd for a bit and then went on to sustain Premiership status for many years...can't help feeling if we come down and straight back up again we'll learn from our mistakes this season!

The future is bright regardless of what happens this season!

 

I don't think it would be a disaster,

but




The increase in TV revenue next year takes a huge jump.
For a small club like Watford to secure their slice of that pie "could" change this football club.

Yes this seasons unexpected foray will bring a much needed cash boost but add next years prem money as opposed to a para payment in to the equation and managed correctly we could pay off all loans and proceed with the redevelopment without any further borrowing.

Thus the club then stands on an even self sustainable platform, then we will see how good Mr Ashton is at running a company.

the biggest question is how much we "gamble" in January in search of the bigger prize.

 

very optimistic view of life after the prem and why not.

But.

the cash gap between premier and championship will be even greater from next season which makes it imperitive we stay up by any means available.

from next season it will be so much harder to survive in the prem without pots and pots of money.

 

I have to agree with bubble, Relegation, should it happen would not be the end of the world.

I think we'd be able to hang on to the majority of our squad, the one that got us here in the first place, and with a years Premiership experience it'll only be stronger. Granted we may lose Ashley, but he could be replaced, afterall, had Marlon not been injured would there be so much focus on him? Aidy has spent wisely so far in my opinion, players like Smith, who might not be able to quite cut it this year, will be a valuable asset in the championship, but should we stay up, i'd think he's likely to be replaced.

Finacially it won't hurt us too badly, although as Jobr mentioned, the TV money is going up considerably and to grab a peice of the action would be great and if this team keeps us up we'll be able to spend a good deal more next year and hopefully be able to attract the better players.

Not that all this matters because i think we're going to survive!

 

For sure it would be superb to survive and evolve as a club with greater financial power, this is our goal for the season!

I just that Aidy was possibly too naive coming into the Premiership and talking about Europe before a ball was kicked!

Warnock and Coppell said from day one it would be a struggle and their aim was to survive! I love Aidy's positive thinking/approach but he needs a kick up the backside and a dose of realism! This could possibly be relegation, and if that did happen I have no doubt he'd come back an even better manager than he is now! He's still learning as a manager!

 

Have to agree, at first the parachute way of getting up and staying up sounds good and by no means beyond the squad which we've already got, but as Jobby wrote, with the changes in tv cash for next season, i think we'd be better off taking a shot at staying up. 2 or 3 good signings might just do it...but agree with most that 5 is more realistic to give us the best shot.

Tv money increases, i think will mean that it will get harder for the Championship sides to compete for the signings to get up and sustain life. I think the gulf will widen.

 

Anything but premiership status next season is failure. Failure and Aidy Boothroyd do not fit together in the same sentance, therefore we will not go down.

Simple really.

Next season with the big dosh coming in, anything but a top half Euro spot will not be a good season.

Expect the orns to fly from January.

HELLO HELLO, WATFORD ARE BACK, WATFORD ARE BACK HELLO

 

Of course it would not be a total disaster as it would not have been totally unexpected.

However for a club of our size to have had two chances at the Prem and not established ourselves on either occasion would be dissapointing.

Slipping back into the CCC would not be as bad if the TV money was shared more fairly. The differentials between the Prem and the other divisions are completely unfair to all but the top division, maybe a better way forward would be to have a Prem2.

 

Isn't that what the Championship is?

 

The CCC is the Matalan version ..... cheap as chips !!! run be the Football League as opposed to the Premier League 8)

 

Clever answer budfrog, but don't knock matalan!

Is the only difference the fact that the Premier league run it as opposed to the football league? Would there really be any difference?

 

Yup as far as I know ....

The thing is the Prem are the big hitters with regard to the SKY TV revenue >>>>> hence the vast paycheques that Prem Clubs get as opposed to the scraps fought over by those further down the foodchain.

The rich get richer and the rest struggle to survive.

 

The thing is, the advent of a 'Premiership 2' would just lead to all the mega-bucks being redirected to 'Premiership 1'. If anything it wouldn't solve the problem, it would make it worse.

 

I prefer the fizzy pop league to the premiership.
I enjoy the football more in the championship because the pressure is not so great. Sorry if i don't sound very ambitious but a club our size is best suited to the championship. Everyone who has replied in this thread has talked about money not the football which i think is wrong. The championship is a more honest league both players and officials all we've all done this season is moan about diving cheating and poor refs. In the Championship you have none of the "glory hunter" rubbish because the people who go to see Watford want to see Watford not "the bloke off the tele". We have our excitement most years with good cup runs and when we do beat the big teams we have headlines like "hornets sting..." now if we win the headlines "poor unite lose to hoofing hornets". It was bad the last time but this time it seems everyone is out to get us. There is never any complementary comments about us and when we are doing well (for us) holding Man city to a nil-nil we've not played well we've "dragged them down to our level" The focus on the lower leagues isn't so great most of our games are at 3pm on a Saturday not at silly o'clock on a Sunday or 8 o'clock on a Monday.
Getting to the premiership was fantastic but now we're here and you can't see the football for the prawn sandwiches. Don't get me wrong if we stay up it will be a fantastic and next season should be a bit easier but if we don't i think it'll be the end of the world.

 

i'm not convinced we'd do that well in the championship.

 

On what evidence do you base this ???????

 

Going down wouldn't be the end of the world as we've proven before. But if it does happen we've gotta stay behind Aidy otherwise we could be the next Forest/Swindon/Sheff Wed.

 

Forest/Sheff Wed are huge clubs who have fallen on hard times but will return, we are a medium sizedl club punching above our weight allbeit a bit bigger than Swindon.

 

Well none obviously, as no such league exists. But here's my thought process: BSkyB currently invest £1bn a year into the TV rights for the Premiership. They do this mainly to show the games involving Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool. That's simple common sense. The FAPL has already had to bar these clubs from breaking the collective TV rights agreement (between the 20 clubs) and heading off to sell their rights on a club-by-club basis. Why? Because BSkyB have made it pretty clear that this is where they would direct the majority of their investment, to the detriment of the remainder.

That would leave the unfashionable clubs such as ourselves, Wigan, Blackburn, Bolton, Middlesboro etc etc fighting for the scraps - if indeed any were even forthcoming. BSkyB would rightly question paying similar amounts for showing these teams so they would offer considerably less (they're not silly, they wouldn't want to alienate their customer viewers by not showing them at all). This would then leave the clubs in a 'take it or leave it' scenario and undoubtedly they would 'take it'.

If you create a Premiership 1 and a Premiership 2 you would have the same effect essentially. The FAPL can no longer sell the Premiership package as a whole due to a ruling of the European Court of Justice so no doubt they would end up splitting the available packs into P1 and P2 (and then different time slots). Along come BSkyB, whack in a huge bid for P1 and a smaller bid for P2. God knows what the Championship would be left with (probably much less than now as all the 'likely to be yo-yo' clubs would probably be in P2).

And so the gap continues to widen - only this time even less clubs get a piece of the big pie. Of course, this whole opinion of mine would be affected by the numbers in P1 and P2. Over the last few years I've heard of options including simply splitting the current Prem (ie 10 and 10), having an elite and minor league (ie 10 and 20) or having a larger FAPL all round (20 and 20). What did you have in mind?

 

Agree.

NFFC home average- 19000 (same as ours)

SWFC home average-23000 (a more than full Vic!)

 

Bolton and Charlton yo-yoed for a while before they established themselves and I don't think it would do us any harm. It would be a miraculous acheivement to survive in the Prem this season with our resources, bad luck, injuries and shoddy refereeing, so no, I don't think it would be a disaster to go down. I can see many of this season's weaker players thriving again in teh Championship, and we could come back up as Champs, with a stronger, wiser squad.

Still, let's not worry about htat for now. Aidey (and Paddy) are still certain we are gonna stay up, so I'll jump on that badwagon.

 

In answer to UEA

My thought process was a probable reduction in the size of the 2 leagues to 16 each (allowing England planty of time for their meaningless friendlies).

The 32 clubs would split the current pot on a similar basis to the current Prem where the revenue is based on

1. The Status of Being in Prem1 or Prem 2
2. Revenue per Appearance on Live Sky transmittions (PPV pro-rata to monies in)
3. Incentive Payments for Final Positions in Prem 1 or Prem 2
4. UEFA Slot for Winner of Prem 2
5. Reverse Parachute Payments Paid to Clubs Promoted From CCC to Prem 2 to Enable Acquisition of New Players or Upgrading of Facilities.
6. Scrap Transfer Window for Players
7. Introduce Transfer Window for Managers
8. Draft System

 

Wow! That's quite a radical overhaul there Budfrog. And not just in England - it would require FIFA to totally change tact as well. That does seem like quite a good structure in theory though I still think it would result in a big revenue gap between P1 and P2 and the Championship. The draft system works will in the US because of their system of college youth football - I don't think it would work in the European system which sees pro clubs picking up youngsters at the age of 12 or even less.

 

The question was.... Would relegation be such a bad thing

Simple answer - Yes

...... and the yes's far outweigh the yeah but's!

Southampton, Birmingham, Leeds, Norwich, Palace, Derby, Sunderland, West Brom, Wolves, Ipswich, Leicester, Coventry, Sheff Weds, Forest....... how about you ask their fans now if they maybe thought at the time whether relegation would be a good or bad thing...

They'd give their right arm to be where we are.

You need semi miracles (like Aidy) to get promoted nowadays..... I CANNOT BELIEVE PEOPLE ARE SUGGESTING IT WOULDNT BE SUCH A BAD THING IF WE WENT DOWN.

Talk about giving up not even half way through the season!

 

We've got half a season to go, and the transfer window coming up. We can enjoy the rest of the season whether we are going up or down. I just hope that we don't gamble our future again in January and then end up going down. I would rather we lost every game from now til may than end up in another ****** fiasco.

 

i agree with you but we cannot be shy in january like we were in the summer. we need to go and buy 4 or 5 good quality players to keep us up. the board should give aidy the most to spend as possible if they believe we can stay up.
given the money and good enough players, nobody will use it better to keep us up than aidy.

 

I dont think it would be such a bad thing. for all the reasons bubble mentioned. much better to be a yoyo club than never get anywhere. I just dont think we are ready for the prem as the team stands at the moment. The team have a lot of hard work to do, and it cant all just be down to who we sign in january. The rest of them need to pull their socks up too...

 

That seems to infer they're not trying, which I think couldn't be further from the truth. Some are out of form (eg. Hendo) but even he's trying his hardest.

 

although it wouldnt be as bad as it would for other teams, it would still be failure, i want european football and fully believe we'll see it in the next 5 (4 now) years.

 

I know, but it would seem that either their best just isnt good enough for this league, or they need more help....

 

You may be right, but if they're already playing to the maximum of their abilities I don't think you can ask them to try even harder!

 

If we went down, I doubt we’d come straight back up, I think it will take another 2/3 years – basically until the stadium and infrastructure is complete. If we can develop our youngsters in that time – e.g Priskin, Banguara etc I think when we do get promoted again we will then be able to establish ourselves in the Premiership.

I still hope (and part of me thinks) we can stay up, but I’m beginning to think of this year as a bonus/experimental year. So long as we exist as a club, and preferably in one of the top two English leagues I can’t complain.

Out of interest who expected us to almost be in liquidation two years after we got relegated last time? I for one couldn’t believe we went full circle and started to struggle again like in my early days as a supporter in the early 90’s.

 

yeah. alright. I'm a slave driver!! Get me in the changing room and I'll sort them out!!

 

go down rebuild, and go back up. bring it on;D ;D