The true cost of relegation?

[Dave]

I know football has changed, but to be entirely honest, when we got relegated in 1987, I had a fucking great time in the second division for a year.

 

Going to grounds where you outnumber the home fans, seeing places you'd never normally see, towns you'd never usually go to etc etc. Bloke I work with went to every single game we played in the Third Division in the early 70s, and says that was even better.

 

Of course, football is totally different nowadays, so the innocence of those times is gone.

 

The more I think about it the more positives I can find in it.

 

That's not to say it wouldn't be an utter disaster; of course it would be.

[9]

I know football has changed, but to be entirely honest, when we got relegated in 1987, I had a fucking great time in the second division for a year.

 

Going to grounds where you outnumber the home fans, seeing places you'd never normally see, towns you'd never usually go to etc etc. Bloke I work with went to every single game we played in the Third Division in the early 70s, and says that was even better.

 

Of course, football is totally different nowadays, so the innocence of those times is gone.

 

thats the only bright side i see of relegation, new grounds etc, would be great, however anything more more than 1 season of it would be a nightmare and id sooner give it a miss.  there isnt one player id be gutted about losing.

[Luc]

A whole year of humiliation and not bothered about the PL TBH.

[Dave]

I know football has changed, but to be entirely honest, when we got relegated in 1987, I had a fucking great time in the second division for a year.

 

Going to grounds where you outnumber the home fans, seeing places you'd never normally see, towns you'd never usually go to etc etc. Bloke I work with went to every single game we played in the Third Division in the early 70s, and says that was even better.

 

Of course, football is totally different nowadays, so the innocence of those times is gone.

 

thats the only bright side i see of relegation, new grounds etc, would be great, however anything more more than 1 season of it would be a nightmare and id sooner give it a miss.  there isnt one player id be gutted about losing.

 

Would anyone stay? Can't think of many who would hang around.

[Shak]

I could actually see Alan Smith staying to be honest.

 

Would be just our luck.

 

Thing is, he'd probably do really well in the Championship, bag a few goals and become somewhat of a crowd favourite with some people.

[Robster]

Best chance of us getting to wembley really... i.e. via the play offs 

[Guest Knightrider]

 

That's not to say it wouldn't be an utter disaster; of course it would be.

 

How though Dave. How would it be an utter disaster?

[Dave]

 

That's not to say it wouldn't be an utter disaster; of course it would be.

 

How though Dave. How would it be an utter disaster?

 

It'd cost an absolute fortune in lost revenue and status, for a start. There's the possibility we'd never get those back.

[Guest Knightrider]

Status means nowt, it's an illusion. Revenue would drop, but then so would operating costs, no? All those things can be made back up with promotion. In short a drop in revenue and status wouldn't represent a disaster in my opinion. Disaster would be going into admin or something along those lines.

[Mick]

 

It'd cost an absolute fortune in lost revenue and status, for a start. There's the possibility we'd never get those back.

 

Some of the lost revenue would be offset by getting rid of players like Michael Owen who take £100k out of the club every week and give nothing in return, I've singled out Owen but I could easily have mentioned at least 5 or 6 other parasites who take much and give nothing in return.

 

Going to places like Plymouth and Preston does nothing for me.

 

It might not be all that bad going down if we made a clean sweep of some of the hangers on that we've picked up in the Premiership. 

 

I’d rather that we don’t go down but it wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world.

[Colocho]

You hope in the summer were going to get rid of the passengers, c***s, shitheads, the abysmal, the overpaid and the weak minded, but you'd know for certain they'd be gone with a relegation.

 

That would be my only silver lining, everything else would be haunting.

 

 

 

Very true. If we manage to stay up.... who on earth would sign Alan Smith ?

 

Us to go down, Reading to stay up and sign Alan Smith.

[S.S.R.]

The only positive is that we've got a Billionaire to cushion the fall, who would rather get us back to where we were than admit defeat and make a loss.

 

 

[oldtype]

You hope in the summer were going to get rid of the passengers, c***s, shitheads, the abysmal, the overpaid and the weak minded, but you'd know for certain they'd be gone with a relegation.

 

That would be my only silver lining, everything else would be haunting.

 

 

 

Very true. If we manage to stay up.... who on earth would sign Alan Smith ?

 

Us to go down, Reading to stay up and sign Alan Smith.

 

Nah, Coppell's smarter than that.

[bulivye]

we wouldnt return to the prem in a long long time

 

this is my fear as well.

[Ally]

Sheffield Wednesday

Manchester City

 

There you have it in 4 words. I know City are back now but they both ended up in Division 2 ffs. It would be utterly foolish imo to presume we'd just bounce back up because we're a 'big club'. Relegation would be an absolute, utter disaster. The argument that it would be nice to see us win lots of games again is up there with some of the most stupid things i've heard. Get a grip!

[Guest Rey Mysterio]

IF we get relegated, a fantastic striking option would be Fraizer Campbell.

[Teasy]

There isn't a club in the league as well equipped to deal with relegation as we are tbh. It would still be a disaster though.

 

 

Why do you think that?

 

Because financially we're extremely strong.  We sit at 13th in the worlds highest earning clubs despite finishing 13th in the league last season and not playing in Europe.  Remove Premiership TV money and prize money and we would still be bring in higher revenues then a lot of Premiership clubs.  Of course we have a large wage bill, but that would fall to a small fraction of its current level if we were relegated (you can bet quite a few will jump ship, some sold, some with release clauses).  Also it doesn't hurt that we're also now debt free.  I agree with Wullie, financially we're in the best position of any club when it comes to being able to withstand relegation.

 

Now let me ask you, why on earth would we be likely not to come back up for a very long time?

[brummie]

Because financially we're extremely strong.  We sit at 13th in the worlds highest earning clubs despite finishing 13th in the league last season and not playing in Europe. 

 

Isn't this negated a bit by the recent revelation of how bad the debts were following the Ashley takeover? Turning over a huge amount is impressive, but not if you have to spend almost the same amount to generate that turnover.

 

Turnover = vanity, profit = sanity, as they say.

 

Now let me ask you, why on earth would we be likely not to come back up for a very long time?

 

You'd come straight back up, almost certainly.

[ChezGiven]

Being known as the cub that sacked Allardyce, appointed Keegan and went down. We'd be a laughing stock.

 

The difference between going down and staying up is around 4 years before we are anywhere again and even that isnt sure.

[Teasy]

Would we theoretically be the richest club the second tier has ever seen?

 

QPR?

 

QPR aren't a rich club, they just have rich owners

[9]

the worry is, if we go down 90% of our squad will be sold, unlike other clubs that go down they have 5-6 1st teamers that would stay, we would be building a whole new squad of players meaning that it would be a bigger task to get right back again.

[Teasy]

Because financially we're extremely strong.  We sit at 13th in the worlds highest earning clubs despite finishing 13th in the league last season and not playing in Europe. 

 

Isn't this negated a bit by the recent revelation of how bad the debts were following the Ashley takeover? Turning over a huge amount is impressive, but not if you have to spend almost the same amount to generate that turnover.

 

Turnover = vanity, profit = sanity, as they say.

 

Now let me ask you, why on earth would we be likely not to come back up for a very long time?

 

You'd come straight back up, almost certainly.

 

The debts were built up by paying stupid money for far too many poor players, as well as paying those players silly wages.  Fee's can be made more conservative and wages will inevitably fall to a fraction of there current level were relegation to happen (Owen would f*** off and take his £100,000 a week wages with him for a start and many more would follow).  The way I look at it a club that brings in more money then all but 4 or 5 teams in the league despite finishing 13th with no European Football is in a much better position to go without the money Premiership Football brings then just about any other.  Remove TV rights money and prize money and our revenue would half from £80 to £46 million, remove the same from most other Premiership clubs and they'd be scraping around for coppers on the floor..

 

Obviously other things have to be taken into account, season ticket price drops for instance, but that would happen at any other club as well so it changes very little.

[sicsfingeredmong]

"disaster"

 

"catastrophic"

 

Just a few choice words I've read describing what relegation from the Premiership would be like.

 

Does anyone care to expand on those kind of doomsday scenarios, not being predicted, but said in a matter of fact way?

 

"The Hunted"

 

A big club, status wise that is, going down into the Fizzy Pop League means that everybody else will raise their effort level against us. Every weekend will become like an FA Cup tie. A tough slog to get back up.

[Guest sittingontheball]

This'll mean nowt to most of ya, but none of us in the far east would get to see the games if we went down. They don't show the Championship live.  On the positive side, that means loads more sleep! If you think its bad following the toon, imagine what its like with midnight kickoffs.

[Martin Lol]

I know football has changed, but to be entirely honest, when we got relegated in 1987, I had a f****** great time in the second division for a year.

 

Going to grounds where you outnumber the home fans, seeing places you'd never normally see, towns you'd never usually go to etc etc. Bloke I work with went to every single game we played in the Third Division in the early 70s, and says that was even better.

 

Of course, football is totally different nowadays, so the innocence of those times is gone.

 

I know what you mean.  When Spurs were relegated I had a cracking time the season after.  Seeing a lot of wins home and away did wonders for wiping away the misery of what went on the season before.  But Spurs only got back on goal difference getting a draw at Southampton on the last day of the season and it's a lot tougher now to bounce back at the first time of asking.  There's probably 10 teams who could realistically hope to get promoted and there usually is one team that you could never have guessed.  Add to that the fact for a lot of clubs playing Newcastle would be their Cup Final, there would be totally motivated opposition every week.

 

It all depends what players stay to fight for promotion, but I don't think it would be anything like a foregone conclusion that any team relegated will be near certainties to bounce straight back.  Did anyone really expect Bristol City and Stoke to be leading the fight for a premiership place in March?  I didn't expect either of them, let alone both of them!