IIt was another bad weekend for the three promoted teams. Luton fought bravely but were badly defeated at Aston Villa. Burnley felt aggrieved by a couple of VAR calls but lost 2-1 after taking a lead at Bournemouth. And Sheffield United collapsed at Arsenal in the second half, losing 5-0. After ten games each, they only have ten points between the two, and three of those came when Burnley defeated Luton. Together they have a goal difference of -50. The gap between the Premier League and the Championship has perhaps never been greater.
This is the way of modern football. The rich get richer and the rest are left behind. The idea that there was once one smooth pyramid flowing from the top all the way down to the National League and the regional leagues beyond has probably always been a bit fanciful, but the steps between the levels are becoming clearer. There is also a plank between League One and the Championship, as the travails of Sheffield Wednesday (promoted last season and bottom of the Championship this season), Wigan (promoted in 2021/22 and relegated last season) and Rotherham (promoted alongside Wigan and third season). -bottom of the championship this season).
But the biggest step is from Championship to Premier League, which is why parachute payments exist to cushion the fall of relegated sides who suddenly have to deal with a severely reduced income. In practical terms that makes sense, but it is a problem, not least because these payments give the relegated teams a huge advantage. The three teams that went down last season are all currently in the top four of the Championship, while Leicester already look almost certain to win. go up. The payments are an understandable short-term solution that demonstrably worsens the problem. If English football truly believes in the pyramid model, a theoretical route by which even the most modest team can climb to the Premier League, there is an urgent need for greater distribution of television revenues.
However, that is a much broader issue. More directly, for a league that markets itself on its competitiveness, on the idea that anyone can beat anyone else on his or her day, knowing who is being relegated is as big a problem as if Manchester City wins a sixth national title in seven years. The great thing about the Premier League is that it encompasses three separate battlefields: the title, the race for European qualification and the battle against the fall; lose the drama of any of these and the whole becomes smaller. In addition, City end the season against Nottingham Forest, Wolves, Fulham and West Ham. It benefits no one if these matches are a procession against sides that have nothing left to play for.
But it would be wrong to be too gloomy and suggest that relegation inevitably follows promotion. After all, the three teams that went down last season consisted of the 2015-2016 champions (Leicester), a team that finished ninth in 2020-21 (Leeds) and a team that had been in the Premier League for eleven years ( Southampton). ). Brentford, promoted in 2020-2021, show what can be achieved by a promoted side.
All three promoted teams from last season have specific problems. Sheffield United sold two of their stars from last season, Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge, in the summer. Although they eventually signed James McAtee on loan from Manchester City for an extra year, Tommy Doyle returned to his parent club and now plays for Wolves. Only one team, Sheffield United themselves in 2020/21, has ever taken just one point in the first ten games of a Premier League season, and their goal difference is now -22, ten worse than then. The Blades have not yet played Bournemouth, Burnley or Luton, but with confidence waning, Derby’s record low of 11 points for a season is under threat.
Luton finished third in the Championship last season on merit, but they are a limited side with limited resources (they are not owned by their fans as such, but their supporters trust them to have a veto), and play in a stadium with only 11,500. It is a statement of fact rather than a criticism of their ambition to suggest that their best plan for this season is to enjoy the experience, learn the lessons and make the most of the earnings to improve their chances of more sustainable returns in the enhance the future.
Burnley are the big disappointment given how they dominated the Championship last season with slick, intelligent football. The tendency to give the ball away when trying to play out from the back was their big problem and led to both Bournemouth goals on Saturday. That result against another relegation candidate felt meaningful, lifting Bournemouth out of the bottom three, which is now occupied solely by the promoted teams.
It would be naive to think that the performance of the promoted teams will suddenly prompt the richer clubs to offer a greater share of their revenue to the rest of the pyramid, but it would be equally wrong to promote any team that penetrates into the Premier League. is automatically doomed. Last season no one made an immediate return and only once before, in 1997-98, have all three promoted sides gone straight backwards. The struggle of the promoted parties has specific and individual causes, but it also reflects a broader problem.
after newsletter promotion
On this day
In 1928, the editor of El Gráfico, Borocotó, proposed erecting a statue to the inventor of dribbling, saying that it would be “a pipe (hedgehog) with a dirty face, a head of hair that rebels against the comb; with intelligent, roving, deceptive and persuasive eyes and a sparkling look that seems to indicate a rogue’s smile that cannot quite form in his mouth, full of small teeth that may be worn down from eating yesterday’s bread.” In doing so, he laid out the blueprint for the ideal of Argentine football, the boy who grew up watching mass matches on the city’s wastelands, forced by circumstances to develop both close control and a street-oriented capacity for self-preservation.
When Diego Maradona was born on October 30, 1960 in Lanús, just south of Buenos Aires, he arrived with the power of prophecy. It was not just that he was a brilliant footballer, but also a typical Argentinian footballer. A harsh critic might say he only really had four or five great seasons – three league titles, two domestic cups and a UEFA Cup is a modest prize – but the turbulence was part of his glory and Argentina’s World Cup triumph of 1986 was the result of probably the best individual performance in the tournament, entirely in keeping with the pipe tradition.