The Relegation Thread

[Ariksan]

As it seems like our management is working hard and puts in overtime and great many resources to build a top quality League One side for the next season - what other two teams will join us for relegation in 2025/26?

[Doc H Ball]

You’ve just been rejected by the Colne Dynamo Club.

[Colne Dynamo]

yep. Instant fail.

[Ariksan]

Despite my bitterness about the current state of affairs - I have good memories from our Championship seasons. They certainly were a lot more entertaining than the last one. Here you go, a positive spin .

[S-H]

Man Utd
-------------
Burnley
Leeds
Sunderland

[DusseldorfHammer]

Would look in particular at Wolves and be worried. Maybe also a major wobble fof Brentford ahead. Plus we might be in the mix as well.

[Turns to Stone]

**** this noise.

[wolf359]

Can we enjoy the trials and tribulations of that the England cricket team vs India before turning to our lack of hopes for next season.

[Cockneyboy311]

Would look in particular at Wolves and be worried. Maybe also a major wobble fof Brentford ahead. Plus we might be in the mix as well.

Wolves did absolutely fine without Cunha when he was banned a few times. If they get 60m for him I’d expect them to invest that back into the team. Strand Larsson is quality imo, and will continue to score goals for them.

Brentford you may have more of a point, especially if they lost Mbeumo. If Wissa went as well then they are huge gaps to fill. Yes they’d have plenty of money to reinvest, but they would be difficult to replace.

Palace may be down there if they lose Eze. I’d expect us to be in the bottom half too.

Difficult to look beyond the 3 promoted teams going straight back down again but it will be way closer this time around.

[norse]

The gap between the Championship and the Premier League has grown too big, we may be due a relegation since it's over a decade since the last time, but it would take a massive overachievement by any of the promoted sides to stay up. If one of them can survive, then we are in the mix. We had a manager who got us to overachieve against the odds and the boardroom, and that will be what it takes for us to get higher than 13-17th.

[mumbles87]

We will finish 12th-8th next season

Relegation won't be an issue

[Paolopaul]

We will finish 12th-8th next season

Relegation won't be an issue

We were terrible last season and managed 14th, so this is realistic with small improvements.

Although depends on if Spurs, Man Utd and Everton significantly improve.

[alf git]

As it seems like our management is working hard and puts in overtime and great many resources to build a top quality League One side for the next season - what other two teams will join us for relegation in 2025/26?

You think we're going to drop two divisions at the end of next season?
I blame the parents.

[norse]

We were terrible last season and managed 14th, so this is realistic with small improvements.

Although depends on if Spurs, Man Utd and Everton significantly improve.

Spurs winning the Europa League might actually hold them back in the league because will keep Ange in charge and focus on the CL, but only Man Utd are in deep enough **** financially to not improve a whole lot and they've already announced a high profile signing. Everton will start to chase the top 8 next season already I think. I think Forest will be back down and we'll need the likes of Fulham, CP, Brentford etc to do the same.

I can't see us improving that much over the course of one Sullivan Summer, our squad is weaker now than at the start of last season because of the ones released.

[TheHandOfDog]

We will finish 12th-8th next season

Relegation won't be an issue

Amen brother

[Kermit]

Spurs winning the Europa League might actually hold them back in the league because will keep Ange in charge and focus on the CL, but only Man Utd are in deep enough **** financially to not improve a whole lot and they've already announced a high profile signing. Everton will start to chase the top 8 next season already I think. I think Forest will be back down and we'll need the likes of Fulham, CP, Brentford etc to do the same.

I can't see us improving that much over the course of one Sullivan Summer, our squad is weaker now than at the start of last season because of the ones released.

I can't see Everton getting anywhere near top 8 tbh. The usual suspects will rise to the top again and will dominate imo. And I do find the idea of Spurs focusing on the CL to be amusing. How that club is considered one of the big 6 I will never know. Ffs they haven't won the league for over 60 years.

Obvious candidates for relegation are the three coming up. Leeds, imo, are probably the best equipped to survive. Sunderland and Burnley will imo go straight back down. As things stand right now I see us as being very vulnerable to being the one to go if Leeds do make a go of it. But things can change and it remains to be seen how the recruitment goes and then, more importantly, if Potter can get a good enough tune from them to give us a fighting chance of pushing upwards.

But given our record in the transfer market of overpaying for players coming in and not selling particularly well, as many have highlighted elsewhere, I don't see too many reasons for confidence in our ability to suddenly getting better value from the transfer market. Time will tell I guess.

[DusseldorfHammer]

Wolves did absolutely fine without Cunha when he was banned a few times. If they get 60m for him I’d expect them to invest that back into the team. Strand Larsson is quality imo, and will continue to score goals for them.

Brentford you may have more of a point, especially if they lost Mbeumo. If Wissa went as well then they are huge gaps to fill. Yes they’d have plenty of money to reinvest, but they would be difficult to replace.

Palace may be down there if they lose Eze. I’d expect us to be in the bottom half too.

Difficult to look beyond the 3 promoted teams going straight back down again but it will be way closer this time around.

Yes. Burnley and Sunderland at least already played a style this season, that should make sense to replicate at PL level. Both don't need the ball to get results. Leeds might be capable of investing heavily. I don't think all three will be a lost cause like the three promoted teams last season.

Wolves still got a lot of drama within the club. That Mendes is back influencing recruitement so heavily, not well liked by everyone.

[Swiss Pauli]

Promoted clubs likely to go back down because the money gap - and therefore quality gap - from top of champo to established PL clubs is just too big to bridge, unless some exceptional factors intercede.

Burnley have the best chance because of their style under Parker and lack of fire sales when last relegated. That said, key players like Brownhill and Egan-Riley might leave on frees.

Leeds have sold too many good players since relegation to have a good chance of staying up, I think. 16 players got very big minutes and one of them was on loan. I think they'll do an Ipswich and sign prospects who did well in the Champo with an eye on going down but being in a better place to come back up and make it stick.

Sunderland have gone big on youth, but finished the regular season so poorly that it's hard to see how they bridge the gap. Likely to be next season's Southampton, I feel.

Brentford are canny operators. And easy to forget their record signing missed the season through injury. Wolves always a concern, but they always seem to find a way to keep their heads above water

[SammyLeeWasOffside]

Sunderland
Burnley
Leeds

All three managers gone by Christmas as the usual reward for achieving promotion.

Unless City get 100 points deducted.

[Ariksan]

You think we're going to drop two divisions at the end of next season?
I blame the parents.

No. But if we end up selling Kudus, Bowen, losing Paqueta, buying a dozen two-bob players to fill the massive gaps will leave us with a top notch team next season. Super duper quality team. The best of the best.
If measured by League One quality. That does not mean we will drop two divisions... just one. And maybe another one the season after. I don't even blame the manager. Frankly, I've become apathetic last season.
Since f###ing 40 years of supporting this club - everytime there is a bright spot the upper management finds a way to f### it all up and dismantle the team.
Instead of bolstering the front line when we needed it we just let the good run fizzle out and let team morale drop.