Ignoring altogther the "why on earth would they" arguments, Do they HAVE to move to the Premier League? I know that the Prem's not forced to accept a promoted team and the Conference and Football league don't have to accept a relegated team, but could a team (for whatever reason) decide to stay in the Championship?
I think if they didn't want to, they would be pushed. It's no secret the Football League and Premier League don't have the best relationship and this would only worsen it. The PL would be sat there with 19 teams going into a new season knowing one team opted to remain in the FL. Sparks will fly, the FA will step in and the team who won the Championship would be pushed into the PL or removed from the FL either way... That's my guess anyways.
yes you could refuse to move up to the PL but why would you ? the money on offer for getting there plus the 4 years worth of parachute payments Would even by losing all 38 PL games, keep your club going for years. i doubt anyone would refuse to go up.
I read an article about the rules on this topic a while ago, but I can't remember what it said. That didn't help much, did it?
Strange scenario! What would happen to promo money? Would 3 still go up? If you didn't, would you lose all your key players?.......and.......would you, as a result, attract good new players? Nice notion though, DMD!
assuming for this thread then that the top team did not go up, then teams 2nd and 3rd would get auto promotion and the next 4 would play off. easy solution to the question.
i would also guess that any club that did reject the PL would have to wait a very long time if ever to get there again.
striclty speaking the team that wins the championship is the league champions. so man utd's claim to 18 or 19 titles does not stand up to scrutiny.
I always wondered if Man U ever had a really really bad season and finished in the bottom three, would they be relegated? Or would the FA spot the huge loss in revenue that they generate and keep them up, therefore enraging the whole of the footballing world?
I can't imagine a scenario whereby a team who wins the championship would not want to go up into the Premier League. The players would all feel their efforts had been worth nothing & would no doubt all seek transfers to a more ambitious club & the fans would surely be up in arms. It would cause a major headache for the football authorities though!
Surely after working so hard over the season to win promotion, why throw it all away by saying 'actually we don't want to go up anyway!'
