The Cost of Relegation

[Clampy]

I think we can all agree going by the majority of the posts that going down would be an absolute  disaster, but to think not that long ago there were people on here who would have gladly suffered relegation for winning the F.A Cup.

[DB]

Please read this thread if you have had a shit say and want cheering up. Be positive.

Hard to be positive when the management and players look so unmotivated.  They are probably more concerned about which clubs will pay them the most once we're completely fucked.

I understand that, but I don't want to think about what happens if we go down - as said by others we have 8 cup finals to get behind them and stay up. At least we can say as supporters we did our bit.

[TheSandman]

If we go down and are able to come straight back up then it is only bad and we will be able to recover. This immediate return is no given and if we don't manage it that is when the situation goes from bad to disastrous. Randy might be willing to invest to seal that immediate return and keep some good high earning players. This is the situation we saw with Newcastle. Through a combination of that and nobody wanting to sign players who played below their level in the previous season they were able to keep a lot of good players. After a first failed return we will most likely see the tap of investment turned off. If we don't come straight back up we will be trapped in a downward spiral. Look at Leeds, Norwich, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Coventry. All big clubs who went down and did not seal a quick promotion. Just as they have no god given right to be Premier League sides and sweep all before them in the second tier we don't. We may go down another division or be stuck perpetually in the lower reaches of the second division. So that is why an immediate return is necessary but by no means certain.

I think the worst effects will not be on the balance sheet however, but on the playing staff. My personal belief is that we will lose our best young players. We have already seen links to Liverpool for Albrighton and Man United for Clark. These lads may be young but they have the makings of top players and top sides would be crazy not to bid for them. A few others might get offers from top flight sides too. I personally believe that we will have more trouble shifting the senior players than these guys. Of the senior players it will be easy to find takers for the likes of Young, Downing and Bent. We will probably still have a decent enough team in the Championship. Houllier will probably be sacked meaning that guys who otherwise would have left might be willing to stay to get us back up. See for example Petrov, Dunne, Collins and a few others all of whom are well capable of doing well in the championship. Add to this a few players with an affinity to the club such as Gabby might stay. We will have a good team but it will be a big loss to see our good young players leave.

[Stu]

I'm having a break from this board until the end of the season, its just too fucking depressing.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

now fx pro have jumped the sinking ship, maybe we could have the samaritans on our shirt next season?

Let's put acorns back on the shirt.  We did alright with them!

[WikiVilla]

The curse of the shirt sponsor
LDV
cDWS
Mita Copiers
Davenports

All gone tits up

[TheSandman]

MG Rover too

[pauliewalnuts]

Whilst I agree, we are in a relegation battle, some of the stuff on this thread is a bit hysterical.

Portsmouth had a similar wages to turnover ratio to us, but it wasn't just that which cause them ruination. Their owner effectively turned his back on the club.

If Randy turned his back on us a year ago, or right now, it'd be ruinous, but nobody was complainng about that when we were spending a fortune (as recently as three months ago).

[john e]

I think we can all agree going by the majority of the posts that going down would be an absolute  disaster, but to think not that long ago there were people on here who would have gladly suffered relegation for winning the F.A Cup.

if it were possible, i still would

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I personally think that relegation will ruin this club and could go the way of Sheffield Wednesday.

[Lucky Eddie]

some of the stuff on this thread is a bit hysterical

like the bit above naming coventry fuckin city as having been a once big club - do me a favour!

[DeKuip]

The cost of relegation? Cheaper tickets, particularly at away games.

We've been relegated three times in my time as supporter and amazingly, the world kept turning, the true fans stuck with the club and we all enjoyed the ride back.

I don't want it to happen again, but if it does I won't sit there crying my eyes out waiting for the TV cameras to zoom in on me.

The only people who have a genuine reason to be scared of relegation are those whose livelihoods depend on it, like club staff. For the rest of us it's all part of the adventure.

We're not going down anyway, stop worrying.

[hawkeye]

The next 2 games will  decide our season,0 or 1 point we are done, 2 points and we live to fight another day, 3 points and we should scrape through, 4 points or more and we can relax a bit

[placeforparks]

We've been relegated three times in my time as supporter and amazingly, the world kept turning, the true fans stuck with the club and we all enjoyed the ride back.

there wasn't a such a cavernous gap between the top 2 divisions back then though. they don't say the championship play-off final is the richest game in the world for nothing...

the effects of relegation on our club,  in the premier league for nearly 20 years, would be absolutely massive.

i doubt the players have wage decreases written into their contracts, like they would at wolves, the albion, blackpool etc. and that is what fucked up leeds.

[dave.woodhall]

We've been relegated three times in my time as supporter and amazingly, the world kept turning, the true fans stuck with the club and we all enjoyed the ride back.

there wasn't a such a cavernous gap between the top 2 divisions back then though. they don't say the championship play-off final is the richest game in the world for nothing...

the effects of relegation on our club,  in the premier league for nearly 20 years, would be absolutely massive.

i doubt the players have wage decreases written into their contracts, like they would at wolves, the albion, blackpool etc. and that is what fucked up leeds.

What fucked up Leeds was buying players they didn't own with money they didn't have. Some proportion, please.