If you look at the bookies odds when a team gets relegated they are almost certainly favourites to go straight back up, such is the percieved difference in class between the two leagues. Yes Norwich and Swansea are doing very well at the moment. Hull, Blackpool and other similar clubs all done fantastically well to start with but faded 2nd half of the season. This would give your argument merit about the need to improve the squad maybe more than the first 11 because as the season goes on you will need suitable replacements to come in due to injuries and suspensions. You can see in various cup competitions that Championship sides can more than hold their own against teams from the Prem but these are one off and there is probably more motivation to win a one off game. Looking at the Premier League table, Villa are in 15th and have Darren Bent, and other international class players. You then have QPR who have spent a fair bit of money and now have a "big name" in charge. That leaves the bottom 4 who I think we could match and to be honest if we could finish above the bottom four would be a great season. However as I said at the start, Whoever went down from Wolves, Wigan, Bolton and Blackburn would be strong favourites to go straight back up.
The important thing is that if we get to PL (or when according to Nigel) we maintain the team accord. Players brought in must fit in. Teams struggling in the PL probably have some class players, but don't play well as a team. Nicola has an idea of creating a team that plays a certain way and uses players coming through our academy..he may have to compromise if we go up first time to the Prem and bring in at least 3 or 4 quality players. Lets worry about that when we get there..will be a nice problem to have.
my concern with just staying above the bottom 4 are the fans. we are blessed with loyal fans that have supprted the club through thick and thin- but we do have some fickle dickheads that start jeering after 2 or 3 losses. if we go up now we will obviously lose more than we win- but the fans must stay behind the players
No we wouldn't. At Home we'd give everyone a run for their money. Away from home is a different story but that isn't the point.
I think that the Premiership quality level is quite low at the moment. This means that the league is far more open but I think European exploits have highlighted how much weaker the Premiership is compared with a few years ago. Therefore I think the gap between the middle of the road Premiership teams and the Championship has decreased. You look at the number of Championship and League One players which have been picked up by Norwich, Swansea, WBA, Wolves and you can see that plenty of them have made the move up the divisions (eg Pilkington, Morrison, Whelan, Britton) and many have been successful. This may show the decreasing gap or highlight the quality shortage in defences in the Premiership currently.
