There are 10 clubs besides Leeds who not long ago were playing in the Championship. Of these there are 2 clubs that can now be deemed as too big to fail so now no chance of relegation. Newcastle were always the typical yo yo club under a variety of managers like Big Sam and Steve Bruce. The new owners own huge chunks of the world. Speaking of huge chunks Marinakis at Forest has bought safety for Forest and European football in quick time. For Forest to be involved in a relegation fight the European schedule would have damaged them but think Nuno has got fat boy to buy enough players to cope. In theory the favourites for a relegation war should come from clubs who only recently played in the Championship, so Everton who we all hope are involved, are not included in the exercise. Brentford Brighton - consistently out punching and now really established. Burnley Bournemouth Fulham Newcastle - wealthy owners mean now safe Forest - rich owner has invested massively so for me safe Leeds Utd Sunderland West Ham Utd Wolves The changes made to FFFP rules since we were last in the premier league have corrupted the system and the upgraded PSR policy has made it almost impossible for newly promoted teams to play on a level playing field. Obviously newly promoted teams are hamstrung by not being allowed to compete as they are only allowed to spend/lose 2 thirds of what the other 17 clubs can spend/lose. That makes no sense because newly promoted clubs actually need to spend more as they need to catch up and not have limits placed on them. In some respects Leeds Utd cannot go bust due to the wealth of our owners yet have a “restriction on trade” placed on them which is actually illegal under law, yet the premier league is a private members club and the shareholders are the clubs involved. Any rule change needs to be backed by 12 clubs, and that means no chance as it’s in the interests of the existing 17 clubs not to change. Cheating the system like Everton did to stay up or like Forest seems to be the only way. Besides those clubs mentioned above, the other clubs who have been relegated a couple of times will fall into that list if promoted again. Southampton West Brom Sheffield Utd Middelsboro Norwich Swansea Hull City Birmingham Leicester Stoke Watford QPR So just how hard is it to stay in the premier league when the system is rigged to see newly promoted teams fail.. on top of that you have to accept that all 17 clubs you go up to join are already way ahead of you in experience and quality. You have to accept that you need to spend a lot of money to upgrade almost every one of your players and try to bring in the quality to allow you to compete. However accepting that you are already way behind on quality and to have Liverpool spend £278.2m on new players compared to Leeds spending £73.8m (as of 19th August) so Liverpool already streets ahead of Leeds actually spend over £200m more than Leeds improving their team. Club Spend 19th August 2025) Liverpool £278.2m Chelsea £240.1m Man Utd £197.2m Arsenal £192.6m Forest £156.2m Man City £153.4m Sunderland £144.2m Newcastle £130.3m Spurs £127.9m Burnley £107.8m Bournemouth £91.8m Brentford £90m Wolves £78.7m Everton £75.4m Leeds Utd £73.8m West Ham £71.2m Brighton £69.7m Aston Villa £31.7m Palace £2m Fulham £0.4m Think you can see that of the 17 premier league we join 14 of them spent more on new players than we did. You can also see the clubs who are almost in breach of PSR rules and can also see that some of those have made massive profits on player sales. We are going to find it hard to compete. We need a special coach, special committed players and refs and VAR help.
How about Fulham ? Always amaze me they are never favourites to implode. Remind me a bit of Brentford as of late. I guess just well run Edit. Ive just seen you list them at the bottom. 2 bitters in, thats all it takes these days
Good thread Doc… it’s quite interesting to look at the PL clubs who have fairly recently been in the champ, and those champ sides who were in the PL not so long ago… it only takes a year or two before you forget about them. Though maybe that’s my age . I agree it gets harder to bridge the gap but the beauty of sport - even one where success is so linked to money - is there are always opportunities for the underdogs and failures for the ‘big’ guys. I’m casting us as the underdog here, but in reality sides like us and Sunderland have resources and opportunities not available to many who want to try and gatecrash the party.
Milky I’m afraid you have watched too many films mate. Runner falls over and gets up and catches everyone and then wins on the line. Great film that. Or was it the race horse that was 500 yards behind and came back to win. What about that great Newcastle film when they bought a useless Brazilian and he turned out to be a worldy and won the FA Cup.
West Ham look dreadful. Chelsea look very powerful. Not looking forward to playing Chelsea. The left back for West Ham is the guy who played against England when Senegal beat them. I was watching Diarra because we wanted him and were heavily linked but the left back Diouf was the highlight of Senegal. He's been decent again. Really like him.
