Relegated again - Is the gap between the Premier League and the Championship becoming insurmountable?
Note: This article was written weeks ago, with publication in mind.
Sparing a dramatic uptick in form over the next two months, this season will see all three promoted teams return to the Championship for the second Premier League season running.
Despite spending handsomely, Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton have struggled massively to adapt to the ever-increasing standard of England’s top football league.
It was a similar story last season, with Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United served up a reality check and batted straight back down, after enjoying dominant seasons in the Championship.
Of course, the Premier League is the pinnacle of football in England and its quality is expected. But the question must be asked, is the gap to the leagues below becoming insurmountable?
The struggles of Leicester and Ipswich suggest so.
The Foxes won the Championship last season with a tally of 97 points after winning 31 games, but they have won just four so far this season.
There is mitigating factors in Leicester’s case, in fairness. In a turbulent start to the season, they lost both manager Enzo Maresca and star midfielder Keirnan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea, while also facing the uncertainty of a potential points deduction.
The same can not be said of Ipswich, who secured promotion with 96 points, after losing just six over the course of the season. They retained manager Kieran McKenna and secured the signings of Omari Hutchinson, Liam Delap, Jack Clarke and Jaden Philogene – players who all starred in the Championship last season.
All that and yet, they have managed to win just three league games this season.
Financial compensation is one glaringly obvious disparity between the leagues.
According to Swiss Ramble, revenue generated by Premier League clubs in the 2022/23 season grossed at over £6bn, dwarfing the, measly in comparison, £747m generated by Championship clubs.
And while clubs promoted often can spend well upon their promotion, it is the incapability to spend to anywhere near the same level that means by the time they are promoted, the task to dramatically adapt a Championship squad to the Premier League level, is an impossible task.
Ipswich, unlike Leicester and Southampton, are an outlier in the fact they have not been the recipient of parachute payments in the last three years.
Parachute payments, paid out by the Premier League to clubs relegated, are rising year-by-year and result in a group of clubs able to dip in and out of the Championship – so called ‘yo-yo’ clubs.
With the trio of Sheffield United, Leeds United and Burnley currently leading the way in the Championship this season, it appears a pattern all too familiar is emerging.
On the horizon, is the potential introduction of an independent football regulator who, according to the Government, would seek “to protect and promote the financial resilience of English football as a whole”.
Within those discussions, must include steps to protect the sanctity of desire for promotion to the Premier league, and ensure progression towards the very top is not seen as unattainable by those who dare to dream.