![]() ![]() Chairman Steve Morgan wrote on the club website that "the nucleus is there" already (and yes, the page now brings up a 404 error). Wolves felt ready for the challenge in 2011-12, buying just three players ahead of their Prem voyage. In Wigan's case, Roberto Martinez had complete backing of Dave Whelan and engineered a rousing cup run (more on those later), but a midseason swoon of one win from Nov. Ian Holloway's commitment to aggressive, attacking football made a temporary hero out of Charlie Adam while the manager's post-game press quotes rarely lacked for entertainment. But they came close to safety and earned the respect of their peers for a somewhat persistent, consistent approach. A coherent plan isn't always the best planīlackpool (2010-11) and Wigan (2012-13) stuck with the swashbuckling styles (and second-tier squads) that got them up, only to be relegated due to certain naivety at the back. Some of them were free (Lovenkrands) or a club record signing (Van Wolfswinkel) but it's an area you can rarely enhance on the cheap. Players like Charlie Austin (18 goals) and Danny Ings (11) thrived in the Premier League last season, despite being relegated with QPR and Burnley respectively, but their roads to double-digit goals in 2014-15 are much harder to identify than the small army of recycled talent that's sunk several sides in recent seasons. All of them were brought in with the combination of blind hope and exotic branding to fight the good fight. The list of strikers who've been recruited to try and keep teams in the Premier League makes for grim reading and includes such names as Mauro Zarate, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marlon Harewood, DJ Campbell, Aruna Dindane, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Amr Zaki, Jozy Altidore, Xisco, Peter Lovenkrands, Robert Earnshaw, Tamas Priskin, Jon Stead and Afonso Alves.Īll of the above were leaned on by the likes of Hull City, Burnley, QPR, Blackburn, Blackpool, Portsmouth or Middlesbrough, only to be found incapable against top-flight defenders. You're going to need plenty of goals in the Premier League so don't take any risks in trying to unearth the next Alan Shearer. It's seems so simple but given how few relegated teams catch it, there must be something more at play. For example, though he couldn't prevent Newcastle's disastrous relegation in 2008-09, the £10.3 million spent on Fabricio Coloccini that summer proved sensible, given his reliable role in helping the Magpies get back up and stay there. And let's not forget Jose Bosingwa, or the loan of Man United's Fabio. Purchased for £12.5 million in January 2013, the hapless center-back earned a reported £100,000 per week but helped QPR keep just one clean sheet in the second half of the season. Wolves added Roger Johnson and backup goalie Dorus De Vries in 2011-12 and conceded 82 goals.Īnd then there is Christopher Samba, the epitome of this pitfall. Reading bought Nicky Shorey, Adrian Mariappa, Chris Gunter, Daniel Carrico and Stephen Kelly in 2012-13 and conceded more goals than any other team in the league that season: Their 73 GA was matched by another relegated side, Wigan Athletic. Rio Ferdinand (free, minus his wages) didn't give QPR some much-needed druthers last season. Teams don't always get the players they want and are forced to settle, obviously, but a recurring theme throughout the last 10 years shows a hilarious amount of waste. The transfer market is a bewildering, nightmarish hellscape for every team, but no side feels this more intently than a promoted team/relegation favourite. This might seem obvious (well, these all will to some extent) but the majority of promoted sides believed they could bolster this vital role on a budget. Back in 2005-06, analytics simply meant "ask Harry Redknapp." 1. After all, you'd be surprised how many teams fail to heed the history they end up repeating. Note that some of the below hinges on the "old" metrics by which football is measured: goals for and against, the timeless binary that broadly triangulate your place in the table. Through research of the past 10 seasons of failed attempts to avoid the drop, here are some handy lessons that might be of use for this season's trio. This year, it's the turn of Premier League debutants Bournemouth, third-time-a-charmers Watford and yo-yo club Norwich to have a turn. And if you make it into the Prem, you've found El Dorado. Money, branding, sponsorship, TV viewing figures or global fans, it doesn't matter: The overall scale is the same. It seems silly to reiterate, but the Premier League is the biggest thing in world soccer, regardless of how you measure it. Premier League survival guide: How to stay in football's richest league You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser ![]()
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