EPL Talk » Relegation

The Premier League Relegation Battle: Life And Death At The Bottom

Ethan Armstrong — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:02:53 +0000

The weekend promised excitement, drama and last-minute heartache with several sides still fighting for survival at the season’s very end. Sunderland, Hull, Newcastle and Middlesbrough were all on the edge of the cliff. Some already hanging off the side. Others teetering on the brink. In the end, four losses would keep all sides in their places. Newcastle and Middlesbrough join West Brom in relegation to the Championship. Sunderland and Hull survive by the slimmest of margins.

Hull City: Early Form Rewarded

Hull’s explosive first half of the season (2o points from their first nine matches) was rewarded yesterday despite a 1-0 loss to Manchester United. The results of Newcastle and Middlesbrough allowed Hull supporters to forgive Phil Brown and Co. for the disastrous spell that eventually displaced their early good form. Hull only won one of their last 22 matches.

The Tigers defied expecation at the start of their campaign, recording wins against Fulham, Newcastle, Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham and West Brom all before the end of October. They dazzled further in November when they scored three goals at Old Trafford. They still lost to hosts Manchester United, but after being 4-1 down at the half, scoring two more goals against the Champs and bringing a point within view, showed the true grit of Hull City.

A lengthy slump aside, Hull deserved to stay up after their fierce start to the season. Now the question is: can they find that form again next year?

Death By Own Goal

One devastating moment from yesterday’s match at Villa Park sums up Newcastle United’s season. Villa’s Gareth Barry took a speculative shot from distance, firing the ball into traffic. United’s Damien Duff stood his ground, but was crushed when the ball ricochetted off his shin and careened into the net.

1-0 was the final score. And since other results meant Newcastle only needed a draw to survive, that one moment encapsulates the pain and frustration forced upon supporters as Newcastle’s latest campaign comes to an ugly close.

The Magpies will go down after 16 years in the top flight. Though they’ve had their rough patches, Newcastle always seemed to climb out of trouble and endure. But too many managerial changes and not investing enough in defense led to the fall.

Shearer should not be criticized. If he’d had more time to work out a system with the players (and if he’d had the brilliant goalkeeping of Shay Given at his disposal), it might have been a different outcome.

Duff, gutted from yesterdays events, vows to stay with Newcastle and fight for their promotion next season. Newcastle faithful wait to hear what Shearer’s plans are.

Gareth Southgate’s Nightmare

Middlesbrough have had their troubles since their last promotion to the top flight in 1998. We smirk when we think of 2006, when a fan stormed the pitch and threw his season ticket at Steve McClaren in frustration. But despite various problems, Boro spent the last ten years making themselves a Premier League mainstay. They usually finished mid-table, but even when they dipped lower, they secured enough points to keep from sweating over the drop.

But this season the problems became insurmountable. Former Boro hitman, John Hendrie blames poor transfer window moves and lack of firepower. Boro were the lowest scoring side in the league. Whatever the root cause, Boro simply could not climb out of the ditch they dug themselves.

But Gareth Southgate is expected to stay on as manager and despite the fear of losing some big players, Middlesbrough should have a good enough chance at returning to the top flight.

Sunderland Survive

The Blackcats put their old yo-yoing ways behind them as they prepare to enjoy a third consecutive season in the Premier League. Despite their survival, manager Ricky Sbragia stepped down after Sunderland’s loss to Chelsea. Read more here. Sbragia took over the post when Roy Keane left in December.

Sunderland announced today they will not be signing 27-year-old striker Djibril Cisse who spend the season on loan from Marseille. It will be intersting to see who Sunderland bring in to manage and play for the next season.

With Boro and Newcastle relegated, Sunderland will be the only side from the north east in the Premier League.

Conclusion

The season was very tight for a long time with many upsets and surprises. It took a while for the European hopefuls to pull away from the relegation zone denizens. Unlike last year, when Derby County clinched relegation early, this season’s bottom teams had their chances going into the final weekends. It is sad to see two mainstays go down, but that’s part of the life-cycle of the Premier League. Wolves, Birmingham and Burnley will come up to try and stake their claim on top flight football. Newcastle, Boro and others will fight in the Championship for a fresh chance to rise.

The rest of us will spend the summer scouring transfer rumors and analyzing friendlies and internationals while we wait for the league action to start anew.

Premiership Final Day Preview

Paul Bestall — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:44:09 +0000

Ready For Sunday then?

So, how’s your nerves? Sky Sports News have today been running an article about stress relief for fans for Sunday. Tips included having a hot bath, avoiding alcohol and meditating to stay relaxed in the build up to the final round of matches in the Premiership. Which will be no help to any of the fans who’s nerves are probably already shredded about Sunday. For the first time in the UK, we’re going to have 4 games broadcasted from the Premiership simultaneously with streams coming in from Hull, Sunderland, Aston Villa and West Ham, which worries me about the potential for an RSI based injury.

The trapdoor to the Championship is wide open, beckoning 2 teams to join West Bromwich Albion in relegation despair. Poor WBA, such lovely football, but no cutting edge, what they’d give for a 15 goal a season striker, it would have made all the difference to such a good football side as daft as that sounds. At 6pm, we will know which of the four candidates will have joined them, with each team’s destiny entirely in their own hands, but for Middlesbrough, it just looks too big a job.

Turning around a 5 goal deficit on Hull City, couple with a Newcastle defeat, is the Boro’s only hope. It’s not impossible to imagine Manchester United putting 3 past Hull, but to win 2-0 at West Ham? That’s a tough ask for most sides, but is it impossible to achieve? Come the last day, nothing would surprise me anymore. Can a team who’ve only scored 27 goals get at least 2 away from home and hope that results in two other games go their way?

Most eyes are going to be on the K>C Stadium, to see exactly which team Ferguson sends out to face Hull City. I’m annoyed by the accusations of a “weakened” Manchester United side taking the field, a side that will probably feature Neville, Ferdinand, Nani, Fletcher,Giggs and Tevez. Disgraceful isn’t it to pick such inexperienced players as those. It’s a side track issue that shouldn’t be even a discussion point; all of those players would walk into every other side outside the top 4 without question.

Newcastle need to worry about themselves at Villa Park, if they don’t win then it could possibly not matter. They have to win and hope for the best, but it’s a massive ask of a team that has only won 2 games this year. Defenders are dropping like flies, Owen isn’t fit, Andy Carroll is definitely out and a couple of youth team players may be on the bench. It all looks hopeless, yet I can’t condemn them fully, something just won’t allow me to say they’re down. It looks impossible but with all of the potential relegation sides in such poor form, it’s too close to call.

Finally, Sunderland, who have just drifted into this situation from seemingly nowhere. Keane walked out when he was rightly questioned over his signings by the majority investor, Ellis Short, over just what value for money they were getting. When someone pays £6 million for Teemu Tainio, you’ve got to ask questions haven’t you? Of all the sides at the bottom, they’ve spent the most, yet got worse so have the most to lose in my opinion, by being relegated some Sunday.

I’m going to be here all the way through on Sunday, so if you can’t get to watch any of the games, hopefully you’ll join us here on epltalk.com, and I’ll try to keep pace with events for us all. Let’s hope we’ve we have a fantastic last day and may the best teams stay up!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Join the live blog on Sunday at 10:45am ET/3:45pm BST for the Premier League finale hosted by Paul Bestall. Celebrate the final day of the relegation battle with one eye on the television set, and the other eye on your computer as you participate in the online experience with football fans from around the world.

Without Keane, Sunderland Flirt With Relegation

Ethan Armstrong — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:01:28 +0000

Is Roy Keane smirking right now? Is he rolling his eyes? Both?

For two years Sunderland was Roy Keane’s baby. He took the struggling side, nurtured it back to health and delivered it from the relegation zone of the Championship and back to the top flight. In every transfer window he made moves to improve the squad. Once back at the top, the goal was to dig Sunderland’s feet in and avoid the old yo-yo effect. Stay up. Stay up.

And while they only finished three points from the drop zone, Sunderland didn’t look in danger at the end of 2007/08 and 39 points was an amazing feat compared to their last Premier League finish: 15 points and 20th spot in 2006.

The season began as expected with a balance of wins, draws and losses and Sunderland enjoyed reaching as high as sixth in the League table. But six losses in seven matches led to Keane’s departure. Intense pressure from the board in light of the bad results was too much for Mr Keane. He resigned in early December. Directly before a trip to Old Trafford to face his old club.

Now, I recognize it was Keane’s decision to leave, but doesn’t it seem painfully obvious that the board could have found a more constructive way to work through Sunderland’s problems? Unrelenting pressure at this level is inevitable, especially when the threat of relegation comes into the equation. But boards are too quick to come down on the manager rather than work with him through a rut. It is a foreign concept for boards to think, We’ve got the same goals, let’s fight through this together.

And while Roy Keane may not have been ready for the pressure of leading a struggling premiership side, this would have been an ideal time for Sunderland’s powers-that-be to show their support for the man’s learning process. One six-loss rut in the larger picture of all that Keane had done for Sunderland seems workable. Sure, if the results are not turned around in January, questions need to be asked and a sacking or a resignation may well be in order.

But clearly, Sunderland have gained nothing by letting Roy Keane go.

Interim manager Ricky Sbragia hasn’t turned Sunderland’s results around and now, unless they defeat Chelsea this weekend, their fate will rely on the outcomes of other matches. Newcastle at Villa and Hull hosting Manchester United.

Hull, who scored three goals on United at Old Trafford will put up a fight, and Sir Alex Ferguson is expected to rest his best for the upcoming Champions League final, having won the league already.

Newcastle have a mammoth task playing Villa away, especially with defender Sebastien Bassong suspended. But there’s nothing like facing relegation to inspire a side to glory.

Sunderland will be praying one of the two drop points. But there are no restfull nights in the Blackcats’ week ahead. And even if they survive, the fact that they are in this position in the last weekend is proof enough Keane’s departure didn’t do the club any favors.

Meanwhile, Roy Keane is probably pouring over the scouting reports, plotting his summer moves for Ipswich Town.

“I truly believe that I am joining a club that has the potential, ambition and infrastructure to once again be a Premier League side,” said Keane when appointed. If he returns to the top flight with Ipswich, prehaps he’ll be ready for the next bout of pressure. A good manager learns from past tribulations. Even if boards can’t.

Newcastle Provides Bigger Headlines than Man United as Season Ends

Richard Whittall — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:55:20 +0000

Supreme No More

It says a lot, for better or for worse, that Manchester United’s eighteenth championship sent barely a ripple through the footballing press. Most headlines read, “Man United 0 – Arsenal 0,” with United’s Premier League-winning feat mentioned in the sub header. It seems the Premier League ended some time ago, perhaps when Liverpool drew Arsenal in a more exciting fashion then Saturday’s soaking wet kick about (or at least for me, when Aston Villa drew Stoke in early March).

This was an awful season all-round. The sort of narratives that usually drive speculation among punters, neutrals and johnny-come-latelys fizzled just as soon as they were kindled: Benitez finally winning the league; Aston Villa challenging for the Champions League at Arsenal’s expense; the beginning of the end of Man United’s debt-pooled collapse in the manner of their American shirt sponsor. Like a band of nervous studio execs descending on their auteur director, any hint of originality this year was forced to give way to cozy convention. Even Liverpool trouncing United at Old Trafford 4-1, certainly the most dramatically significant match of the 2008-09 season, was the exciting exception that proved the deadly dull rule.

Sadly, Newcastle United going down with Alan Shearer saluting as the icy waves reach his cabin door, only for a BBC helicopter to come swooping in at the last minute to rescue him as the Toon break in half and lurch to the ocean floor, may be the only real convention broken this year. Watching Newcastle was like watching a club stuck in time warp, with names and players culled straight from 2003-2004. Viduka, Owen, Duff. Only Obafemi Martins looked the part on occasion. Steven Taylor once or twice.

The Northeast is currently bearing the brunt of an economy laid to waste by the Ponzi-esque banking schemes of moneyed London, and it’s hard to imagine even a club of Newcastle’s stature coming back from the brink without lucrative new ownership. Newcastle can still escape of course, but even if they do, the smart bet isn’t on a bright, sunny outlook for 2009-10. And while relegation can often be the best thing to happen to a club, exclusion for once-mighty top flight teams, as in the case of Leeds or Forest, can last a lifetime.

It seems these days in the Premier League, relegation struggles are squeezing out the top-of-the-table victories for front page headlines. While we can usually depend on You-Know-Who to fill out the Champions League roster, the list of potential relegated clubs is cutting closer to the core of the English football of old. Even Tottenham prior to the intervention of Harry Redknapp, seemed early on destined for a relegation fight. A collapsing domestic economy, coupled with the enormously-inflated cost of competing in the top flight, mean the difference between challenging for Europe and struggling to stay in the Premier League altogether is going to get smaller and smaller.

As is the distance between England’s four best clubs, and the rest.

Newcastle United Need a Miracle to Stay in the EPL

David Schiavone — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:00:18 +0000

The Magpies look destined for the drop

After another defeat, Newcastle United look destined for the Championship. Alan Shearer’s men have three games to save their season, but it appears too little too late, and although it is not mathematically certain they will go down, performances on and off the pitch have made it clear they are just not good enough to remain in the EPL.

After a 3-0 drubbing from Liverpool and a performance that can only be described as disconsolate, hopeless and somewhat distressing for the fans. Despite an encouraging opening start, Newcastle were forced into their own half for much of the game and did not muster a single shot on target throughout the match.

The omission of Michael Owen from the starting line up has also raised even more doubts over his future, furthermore Shearer’s tactical nous must also be called into question, Duff at left back and switching a reasonably effective Joey Barton from centre midfield to right wing is baffling, and may have been a factor in his sending off.
Next Monday’s match against relegation rivals and neighbours Middlesbrough has gained even more significance and will most definitely decide which team has at least a chance of survival. The draw against Portsmouth coupled with the above defeat has left the Magpies in a precarious position and once that I do not see them escaping. Being currently 3 points from safety may not seem much but if recent performances are factored in, Newcastle may as well be preparing for life in the second tier of English football.

On paper, Newcastle have a talented bunch. Damien Duff was a revelation at Blackburn whilst helping Chelsea secure an EPL title. Viduka is an established international and Obafemi Martins is a £10 Million player. Meanwhile, a special mention must go to Michael James Owen, brought in from Real Madrid, earning a reported £100,000 per week, yet he cannot string two full games together. Now even when seemingly fit, Shearer decides he is not good enough for the first eleven. With only 8 goals from 26 EPL appearances, time must be up for the injury prone, former Ballon d’Or recipient. But each of them have failed to perform this season.

I would also point to the loss of Shay Given from the squad as a major factor in the plight of Newcastle United. He is one of the best goalkeepers in the league and served Newcastle well but after 12 years of loyal service, even he knew this was a sinking ship and gladly waved goodbye in January. In previous seasons he was probably responsible for accumulating 10 points or more for the Magpies, and how desperately they need those points now. Steve Harper, though an able deputy is not a first team goalkeeper.

The decision to appoint rookie manager Alan Shearer must also be questioned. He doesn’t have the necessary qualifications, and has never managed before. His lack of experience is telling, the decision to play a 3-man defence against Tottenham was a mistake, Damien Duff is not a left wing back and Joey Barton on the right wing is wrong.
His appointment stinks of desperation from Mike Ashley, who was so desperate to win over the fans he employed the one man that every member of the Toon Army would not disagree with. All this, to the detriment of the club.

In a season where mistake after mistake has been made, it looks as though Newcastle United will not be competing in the EPL next season, and is it coincidence that their new kit does not feature the Premier League logo, I think not.