Question

BigBenRoeth

This has probably been discussed before but it's been on my mind for a while.
Say you support a premier league club like Wigan or the like,who barely hang in at the bottom of the league year in year out,getting bet week in week out,would you rather go down to the championship for a year and come back up as champions or continue to wallow at the foot of the table?

yabadabado

better to hang on in the EPL every year you survive it should be improving the club.also some teams never recover from relegation.

frantic190

I would of thought it would be better to build slowly at the foot of the PL table, even just playing in the PL can be an incentive for better players to play for you.

Vurnon San Benito

Well I can tell you right now, they're about the same but winning something caps it.
Winning the Championship was special for all Toon fans.

However, staying in the best league in the world, never a bad days work either

BigBenRoeth

Doocey wrote: »

Well I can tell you right now, they're about the same but winning something caps it.
Winning the Championship was special for all Toon fans.

However, staying in the best league in the world, never a bad days work either

Yeah,personally,if it came to years of being consistently shíte,I think I wouldnt be too upset to go down and kick ass in the championship

flahavaj

BigBenRoeth wrote: »

Yeah,personally,if it came to years of being consistently shíte,I think I wouldnt be too upset to go down and kick ass in the championship

Just as often as this happens, relegated teams fail to adjust to the championhip and struggle to come back up, or worse slip further down the league.

BigBenRoeth

flahavaj wrote: »

Just as often as this happens, relegated teams fail to adjust to the championhip and struggle to come back up, or worse slip further down the league.

This is also true

curry-muff

I know this isn't a PL example but everything you said struck a chord with me as a Finn Harps fan, we yoyo'd between the premier and first division quite a lot in recent years, it was hard to watch matches in the Eircom league when we were getting battered week in week out, but then we went down and would either win or come in the top 3 for a few years, I enjoyed the years of actually winning matches a lot more, even if it was the first division.

That said we pretty much couldnt buy a win even in the first division nowadays

Coillte_Bhoy

Doocey wrote: »

Well I can tell you right now, they're about the same but winning something caps it.
Winning the Championship was special for all Toon fans.

However, staying in the best league in the world, never a bad days work either

It'll be a long time till Newcastle are in La Liga mate......

SDTimeout

Surely as a west ham fan OP you could give us an insight what it's like to flirt with the notion

therokerroar

Sunderland fan here.

Continuing to survive in the Premier League is much, much better than winning the Championship. We've been up and down like a yo-yo over the years so I know what I'm talking about.

Silly question, IMO.

Kiwi_knock

Speaking as a Birmingham fan who have floated between both divisions in the last few years the Championship is the last place any club wants to be. It is one of the hardest divisions to get out due to there being so many contenders for promotion. Newcastle are the exception rather than the normal for both relegated premiership teams. On average one of the relegated teams will find the league easy enough and stroll it but that is not the case for the other two teams who will struggle in mid table and playoff places. Using the OP's example of Wigan, I think Wigan would struggle to make it back to the Premiership if they were relegated. It would certainly be a season long slog which would take them to the final day of the season like Birmingham in 08/09.
Going down to the Championship most likely means that you will lose any of your quality players so you end up scrounging around for free transfers and loans. The quality of football is no where near Premiership standards. Sometimes the football is woeful to watch. Relegation also hits your attendance, Birmingham have still not recovered their fan support due to their yo yo nature. They rarely sell out a game which for a team that performed so well last year and had a great home record shows the devastating affects relegation can have on a fan base.
The Premiership in my opinion is the best place for any struggling team, even though you have to watch your team get beaten week in week out, at the end of the season you are still there and you have to chance to regenerate your team andprovide it with a fresh impetus which it will lack in the Championship.

HyperSkypeWiper

flahavaj wrote: »

Just as often as this happens, relegated teams fail to adjust to the championhip and struggle to come back up, or worse slip further down the league.

Leeds, Charlton, Southampton

Helix

Doocey wrote: »

However, staying in the best league in the world, never a bad days work either

tricky for english sides to get into the la liga tho

everdead.ie

HyperSkypeWiper wrote: »

Leeds, Charlton, Southampton

I reckon Leeds will be back in the premier league in the next 3 years although it means they have been out of it for ages it's not good for the club at all in the premier league if your bringing in players they always have the potential to catapult you up the league your more likely to lose your best players if you drop a division.

LuckyLloyd

I think a regular match attending fan and a dude who follows mostly from a TV set local to him (and who isn't living in the town of the club concerned) would give you very different answers to this question.

LiamMc

As another fan supporting another small after getting promoted and spending the promotion year wishing we would be promoted and what matches I'd go to in the top Division, after a string of defeats I didn't go to a match because I hated getting beaten.

But hanging on in there in the top division would be my choice now, if only for the record books.

3greenrizla's

Saints Fan here....

Finishing the prem season 4th from bottom is a success in a lot of people's eyes. Every fan I know (regardless of the club they support) want to see their team play in the highest league.

Sure result's might improve and the club might become a "big fish", but the lower leagues are tougher than many fans realise.