SOUTHEND UNITED have rehired Phil Brown as their manager with six games to go this season, but whether he fancies a stint in the National League remains to be seen. Southend would appear to have one foot in the non-league structure. They have hordes of unhappy fans, an unpopular target of a chairman and they […]
Tag: Relegation
Schalke 04 are defining what crisis really means
IN the past few years, some big clubs have suffered relegation from the Bundesliga: Hamburg, Köln, VFB Stuttgart and Fortuna Düsseldorf to name but four. The list could see Schalke 04 from Gelsenkirchen added this season if the current form of the royal blues continues over the coming weeks. It has been a grim 12 […]
Championship survival the short-term objective for Huddersfield Town
HUDDERSFIELD TOWN will restart their 2019-20 Championship campaign behind closed doors on June 20 against Wigan Athletic, hoping they can successfully avoid a second successive relegation. The Terriers are three points from the drop zone and have nine games remaining to save themselves, including that definite “six-pointer” against Wigan, who are one point and two […]
Fulham show calm regrouping pays off
ONE YEAR after newly-promoted Fulham were throwing money around and buying players for fun, the Cottagers found themselves back in the more humble surroundings of the Championship. The moneyball experiment, if that’s the right word for the way the club accumulated quantity over quality, was over and some of the higher profile names, notably some […]
Crowd reaction – why English and German fans are more loyal
RELEGATION is often a big blow to clubs in Europe’s top leagues, mostly because it comes with financial implications, despite parachute payments. TV money and legacy wage bills are the biggest issue, but income at most clubs is affected by lower attendances. Or is it? Football fans are known for their undying loyalty and a […]
The cost of the drop
WITH SOME worrying messages coming out of both Newcastle United and Aston Villa, two of the clubs most likely to suffer relegation from the Premier League, the cost of dropping out of English football’s top flight is becoming ever more apparent. According to the game’s think tank, Football Benchmark, relegation has never been more costly […]
Mind the gap! First day results can tell a lot
The opening day of the season was a case of déjà vu for the teams promoted from the Championship. For the third consecutive year, a Premier new boy failed to win their first game: Bournemouth went down at home to Villa; Watford drew at Everton; and Norwich were beaten at home by Palace. Ominous signs […]
Di Canio experiment may be doomed – regardless of which side of the political pitch he stands
The hotbed of soccer has got its own hot head now in the form of new Sunderland manager Paulo Di Canio. This may have been a strange choice, but now it has become a controversial decision after the Democratic Republic of British Football raised its concerns about one of its clubs hiring a man who […]