The last two Premier League seasons have seen the three promoted clubs relegated
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters hopes the new season will deliver a genuine relegation battle, following two consecutive years where promoted clubs have swiftly returned to the Championship.
Leeds, Burnley, and Sunderland are now tasked with bucking this alarming trend, which suggests the gap between the top flight and the Sky Bet Championship is widening significantly.
Last season, the fate of Ipswich, Leicester, and Southampton was sealed with four rounds of fixtures still remaining, underscoring the lack of competitiveness at the bottom.
The 2023-24 campaign saw Luton, Burnley, and Sheffield United all relegated – marking the first time since 1998 that all three newly-promoted teams failed to survive.
Each of these six clubs accumulated 26 points or fewer. Southampton, with a mere 12 points, and Sheffield United, with 16, recorded some of the lowest tallies in Premier League history, becoming the second and joint fourth worst teams respectively.
Richard Masters said: “I’m aware about the last two seasons; you obviously need to look at it over a longer period, work out whether this is a trend.
“What we want from the Premier League perspective is a competition that works from top to bottom, that is competitive from top to bottom.
“The last two seasons we haven’t had competition at the bottom. We would like there to be competition at the bottom of the league, in the middle of the league and at the top of the league, so that debate will continue.
“At the moment, it’s three seasons out of 33 in the Premier League it has happened.”
Play-off winners Sunderland host West Ham on Saturday afternoon in their first Premier League fixture since 2017.
Championship runners-up Burnley play away to Tottenham, who finished 17th last term and 13 points clear of danger, at the same time before title winners Leeds welcome Everton to Elland Road on Monday evening.
“We want to see lots of clubs, over time, coming in and out of the Premier League,” said Masters “We’ve had 51 since the Premier League began (in 1992).
“The season before the two that you talked about (the last two) was when Forest, Bournemouth and Fulham came up, and they’ve all stayed since.
“Forest are in Europe and Bournemouth had their best season ever (56 points last term).
“Other clubs have proven it’s possible to come up and make a success in the Premier League, with and without parachute payments.”
Parachute payments are a series of solidarity payments the Premier League makes, for up to three years, to help relegated clubs adapt to reduced revenues in the Championship.
The English Football League believes the funding gives teams a significant advantage while forcing rival second-tier sides to risk financial jeopardy by overspending in an effort to compete.
“The debate about the solidarity payments and parachute payments within the league will continue,” said Masters.
“The importance of parachute payments to me is obvious because it’s not just the promoted clubs.
“Any club that might think they have a chance of relegation during a sort of five to 10-year period has got to feel like they’ll be supported and continue to invest.”
Burnley and Sunderland are odds-on to finish in the drop zone, with bookmakers tipping Leeds to join them.
Asked if the lack of competition at the foot of the division would become a serious concern if those clubs do go down, Masters replied: “We’re going to have to wait and see.
“I don’t want to predict anyone’s going to get relegated before we’ve started.”
Category: General Sports
