Rumour
Member
I do enjoy the annual relegation fights. Wasn't too keen on Hull staying up but the Marco Silva hiring now seems inspired - whether or not he keeps the team up, he's certainly enhanced his reputation and will be in high demand when the season ends. Speaking of reputations...
Not a Sam Allardyce fan at all but he's good at what he does, namely saving relegation-bound teams from the drop. Would dearly love to see him lose the 'never relegated from the top flight' tag some day but, alas, that day doesn't seem to fall in this current season - just as it didn't last year when the wrong (IMO) north east team went down.
As for Swansea: what the hell happened?! Seems like yesterday they were being hailed in most quarters as a model team, both on and off the pitch, for other 'small' clubs coming up the divisions to aspire to. Now the Swans are not particularly interesting to watch play, plus the ownership has made a couple of questionable managerial changes (firing Monk, hiring Bradley) that have called the chairman's previously perceived brilliance into doubt.
To sum up, in seasons like this one where the title is basically won with a few rounds of matches to go, I find the struggle at the bottom of the table for Premier League survival quite fascinating. Arguably there's more at stake for those teams as their very existence could be in jeopardy should they go down and not make it back up in a year or two - one only need look at ex-PL teams like Blackburn, Coventry and Portsmouth for some cautionary tales.
Not a Sam Allardyce fan at all but he's good at what he does, namely saving relegation-bound teams from the drop. Would dearly love to see him lose the 'never relegated from the top flight' tag some day but, alas, that day doesn't seem to fall in this current season - just as it didn't last year when the wrong (IMO) north east team went down.
As for Swansea: what the hell happened?! Seems like yesterday they were being hailed in most quarters as a model team, both on and off the pitch, for other 'small' clubs coming up the divisions to aspire to. Now the Swans are not particularly interesting to watch play, plus the ownership has made a couple of questionable managerial changes (firing Monk, hiring Bradley) that have called the chairman's previously perceived brilliance into doubt.
To sum up, in seasons like this one where the title is basically won with a few rounds of matches to go, I find the struggle at the bottom of the table for Premier League survival quite fascinating. Arguably there's more at stake for those teams as their very existence could be in jeopardy should they go down and not make it back up in a year or two - one only need look at ex-PL teams like Blackburn, Coventry and Portsmouth for some cautionary tales.