Who's going down?

[MikeH72]

West Ham look like they're in free fall, so naturally they will smack Swansea 3-0 this week and that will be that for the relegation battle. Disappointing, you've got to love a good relegation battle as a neutral. A shame we've had Middlesbrough and Sunderland who've just given up on making any sort of a fist of it.

 

[TheFinnFan]

Both of them are scrappy enough to do it and stay up.

West Ham, however, seem the most flaky...

I wish but cant see it...it would be too good to be true

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Swansea
Boro
Hull

These could be liable to change depending on the next month or so

At the time I was expecting Sunderland to do better than they have

I'm thinking Sunderland, Boro and Hull now

I can see Swansea surviving

Ideally, Swansea would go down, because then we could look like poaching Sigurdsson in a fire sale and Hull would probably stump up the cash to buy Niasse

 

[obc]

Mackems and Boro are down. Nailed on.

I reckon Hull have the balls to pull something off.

The Niasse Effect.

 

[Professor Toffee]

Please please please West Ham with their appalling manager and centre forward

 

[ToffeeDan]

Hull have been remarkably resilient given their small squad. And reached LC Semi Finals.

Given that they score efficiently (23 of their 32 goals have counted for points) they are going about it the right way.

 

[Sunderland afc]

 

[Armaghtoffee]

Oh please be West Ham going down for the sheer hilarity of it.

 

[TheFinnFan]

I like your club I hope it'll bounce back with new manager

 

[orly]

I like your club I hope it'll bounce back with new manager

i will celebrate unreservedly when Sunderland go down

 

[Eggs]

...would only ever wish it on one side, dreadful time for all of those supporting clubs down there.

 

[Durham Toffee]

...would only ever wish it on one side, dreadful time for all of those supporting clubs down there.

I think for some fans - after years and years of hanging on - it's quite cathartic and freeing in a way...

The worst has happened. Now maybe we can win some games and not spend another season watching us claw draws from the jaws of defeat...

I have relatives who are Hartlepool fans.

Frankly they're fed up of almost being relegated every year and only seem to think that cycle can be broken if they actually are.

However, dropping out of the league entirely to the NL is scary stuff. Most teams flounder and disappear.

Torquay
Wrexham
York
Macclesfield
Dag & Red

Etc.

 

[Eggs]

I think for some fans - after years and years of hanging on - it's quite cathartic and freeing in a way...

The worst has happened. Now maybe we can win some games and not spend another season watching us claw draws from the jaws of defeat...

I have relatives who are Hartlepool fans.

Frankly they're fed up of almost being relegated every year and only seem to think that cycle can be broken if they actually are.

However, dropping out of the league entirely to the NL is scary stuff. Most teams flounder and disappear.

Torquay
Wrexham
York
Macclesfield
Dag & Red

Etc.

..I understand you're point and I'm sure it might be the case but in the years we flirted with relegation I was sick in the pit of my stomach. Remember the picture of Brian Labone walking down an empty Goodison Rd before the end of the Coventry game because he couldn't watch any longer.

I also remember a smug Middlesbrough fan on Soccer AM saying he really wanted Everton to get relegated and thought to myself that I'd never wish that on another team. History shows that we stayed up and a few seasons later Boro made the drop.

 

[PhilM]

Huff... I blame you all for jinxing our desire for West Ham to be relegated by publicly announcing it! After their victory yesterday they'll be safe.

To be fair however, they had a little run of victories on the bounce a few months ago and if it wasn't for that then they'd be right in the mixer.

 

[COYBL25]

I think for some fans - after years and years of hanging on - it's quite cathartic and freeing in a way...

The worst has happened. Now maybe we can win some games and not spend another season watching us claw draws from the jaws of defeat...

I have relatives who are Hartlepool fans.

Frankly they're fed up of almost being relegated every year and only seem to think that cycle can be broken if they actually are.

However, dropping out of the league entirely to the NL is scary stuff. Most teams flounder and disappear.

Torquay
Wrexham
York
Macclesfield
Dag & Red

Etc.

The problem with the first tier of non league football, is that it really isn't non league as such anymore.

If you look at the National League / The Conference there's loads of teams in there, like the ones above who are still full time clubs with relatively big wage bills.

I follow York City, as my missus is from there and really enjoy going to watch them. Clubs like York are seemingly locked in a spiral they can't get out of, in that the moment they unearth a decent player, they have to be sold immediately due to needing the money. This means that the team never gets any better and they end up trapped in that league for years and years.