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The curse of the Premier League

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 26/03/2009

As Newcastle United threaten to become the biggest club to be relegated from the Premier League, a group of former top-flight clubs could be set to mix with the cream of League One next season if the Championship relegation race doesn't go their way.

Norwich City and Southampton were both, in their time, stable top-flight clubs with the Canaries' decline coming earlier than the south coast club.

Although largely forgotten, City were for a long time football betting favourites to win the inaugural Premier League in 1992/93, topping the table for most of the season before slipping up at the end and falling to third.

Within three seasons they had fallen into the second tier and only re-emerged once, for the ill-fated 2004/05 campaign, where they were joined in relegation by Southampton, with the Saints dropping out of the top division after a 27-year stay.

Both teams, backed by the parachute payments that all clubs relegated from the Premier League are given, were optimistic of a swift return but now find themselves within spitting distance of the third tier.

With the Saints second-bottom on 40 points with a game in hand and Norwich in 20th place three points above them, nothing is certain for two sides that are unbeaten in three games.

The same can't be said for Charlton Athletic, another formerly stable Premier League outfit and once a beacon for smart, small market clubs in the big league.

The Addicks haven't won in seven games and their season is now all but over with an almost impossible 14-point gap between themselves and Plymouth Argyle - the team currently in the last safe spot.

The Pilgrims have already proved a major factor in the relegation battle, losing to Charlton, Nottingham Forest and Norwich since the turn of the year, and could yet find themselves slipping into League One without putting up much of a fight.

Of the six clubs in direct danger of relegation, Argyle are the only team to have not experienced Premier League football - a fact that has given them financial stability but perhaps a sense of impending doom that the other clubs are consciously fighting against.

Barnsley and Nottingham Forest complete the current bottom six but, with both clubs having long forgotten the burden of Premier League finances, neither side can lay blame at the door of the top-flight.

Forest have emerged as favourites, along with Charlton, for relegation after losing three games in a row.

Despite experiencing a three-year stint in League One that only came to an end last season, a drop back into the third tier would be a devastating blow to a club that remains ambitious with a strong fan-base behind it.

Plymouth, winless in four, appear most likely to fill the final relegation spot but no side in the bottom six has shown enough form to declare themselves free of what is likely to become a frantic scramble to retain their Championship positions.

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