The Now-Irrelevant 2024/25 Relegation Battle (Without Everton!)

[Timbucktoo]

14th was worst their finish in the year they won the euro conference trophy

It shows how hard it is for teams outside the sky 6 to cope with the extra commitment to European fixtures. There`s basically the 6 playing nearly every season and the rest fighting for that last European place. If you`re in Europe you need 3 or 4 good extra players in your squad, but if you miss out and you have those extra players you`ll have a couple not happy that they`re not getting as much game time. Spuds and UTD might miss out this season, but next year not having Europe they`ll be a tougher team and probably get back their place the following year. So many teams outside the 6 have got their European spot and just not been able to cope the following season, and certainly have not been able to build on that progress.

 

[WelshBlue92]

It shows how hard it is for teams outside the sky 6 to cope with the extra commitment to European fixtures. There`s basically the 6 playing nearly every season and the rest fighting for that last European place. If you`re in Europe you need 3 or 4 good extra players in your squad, but if you miss out and you have those extra players you`ll have a couple not happy that they`re not getting as much game time. Spuds and UTD might miss out this season, but next year not having Europe they`ll be a tougher team and probably get back their place the following year. So many teams outside the 6 have got their European spot and just not been able to cope the following season, and certainly have not been able to build on that progress.

We often had similar (albeit not as severe) seasons under Moyes and Martinez after Europe.

 

[jamieni]

Mad that Bournemouth are the safest when talking about relegation…. And that United are in the picture for it!

Yeah it’s changed days! I mean in reality 2 out of Ipswich, Leicester and wolves would have to hit championship winning form now to drag the likes of us and Utd into it. It’s possible but highly unlikely. We should be aiming for 40 plus points now but in reality another win or two will more than get us over the line.

 

[Timbucktoo]

We often had similar (albeit not as severe) seasons under Moyes and Martinez after Europe.

We were a bit stronger than some other teams when we got Europe so that we still held our own in the PL just short of the European places. Southampton, Burnley and Wolves wouldn`t of had European football on their radar when they got in and they fell away quite badly. Not saying it was the extra games that sunk them, as they didn`t get too far, but it must has an affect on how a team approaches a new season, do they bring players in for the extra games, do we go with what got us into Europe.

 

[neil999]

Had a dream we lost 6-1 to united then lost every game after that and got relegated

 

[Toffeepot]

Had a dream we lost 6-1 to united then lost every game after that and got relegated

Take one for the team and stay awake

 

[Victus]

It's wonderful to not care about this now.

 

[BigDunc'sFod]

Had a dream we lost 6-1 to united then lost every game after that and got relegated

Sounds like a bloody nightmare to me

 

[BigDunc'sFod]

The thing about relegation battles is that it's not always a 'standard progression.' Sometimes teams have an upturn in form and string together a sequence of results comparable to those at the top end of the table. Otherwise we wouldn't have had all those miraculous escapes of yesteryear (West Ham in the Tevez era springs to mind). If one of those below us do that (usually as a change of manager) they are capable of staying up. Having said that, i don't think we are in any real danger of relegation. Another 6 points will see us safe and, even if Dyche were still here, he could get that out of 13 games.

Dyche!?

Spurs
City
Wolves
Villa
Luton
Fulham
Spurs
City
Palace
Brighton
West Ham
United
Bournemouth
Newcastle

Total games: 14
Total wins: 0
Total points: 5

 

[Bishop Thumpety-Thump]

It has, really, and I though the Walter years were the absolute nadir.

But even those days weren't blighted by points deductions, PSR, Frank Lampard, the Rafatollah, 777, Denise, Headlockgate, The Esk, and Richard Masters.

Looking back, Walter's days were almost halcyon. 7 centre-halves on the pitch, one up front, Duncan sold out from under us, signings bought on credit returned to the seller, 3-0 at Middlesbrough, and the constant chorus of "Disappointed". They should have added Electronic to the stadim playlist.

Don’t forget the 3-0 Tranmere cup game.

 

[The binman chronicles]

every position in the table is worth c1.7m so the higher the better

Just over 3 million per position.

 

[Acrobat]

Win tomorrow and we can close this thread.

 

[GoldenToffee]

Dyche!?

Spurs
City
Wolves
Villa
Luton
Fulham
Spurs
City
Palace
Brighton
West Ham
United
Bournemouth
Newcastle

Total games: 14
Total wins: 0
Total points: 5

Impressively bad

 

[judge]

Dyche!?

Spurs
City
Wolves
Villa
Luton
Fulham
Spurs
City
Palace
Brighton
West Ham
United
Bournemouth
Newcastle

Total games: 14
Total wins: 0
Total points: 5

Tbf, even 5 points will probably be enough, an 18 point gap and vastly superior goal difference. Plus, if you look at Dyche's last 14 league games in charge, he got substantially more than 6 points. I get that people don't like him and the brand of foootball he played, but he wasn't totally useless (otherwise we would have been relegated a few seasons ago).

 

[Gwladysstreetlad]

As much as I'd love to see Man Utd and Wolves go down (I've got no issue with Wolves but I'd like raid them of their best players on the cheap) its not going to happen. Southampton are dead in the water and I can't see Leicester or Ipswich turning things around either. The gulf between the championship teams and established PL sides gets wider and wider by the season. At this point its going to take either an established club imploding or a newly promoted side having a worldie of a season to shake things up.