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How does English football fix its competitiveness issue?

Every footballer dreams of one day playing in the English Premier League.
Due to the Pyramid system, their dreams could come true.

READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/07/10/how-does-english-football-fix-its-competitiveness-issue

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Transcript
00:00For the second year in a row, the three teams promoted to the Premier League at the beginning of last season
00:06have immediately found themselves relegated back down to the Championship at the end of it.
00:12Is it getting harder to remain in England's top division?
00:15If so, how can Leeds United, Burnley and Sunderland break that trend next season?
00:26Hello and welcome to Football Now.
00:29Here from the Albayt Stadium in Qatar.
00:32Based on the last two seasons, there are growing concerns that the English Football League has a problem with competitiveness.
00:40In the last two Premier League campaigns, the three teams who have been promoted have been immediately relegated back down to the Championship,
00:48suggesting there is now a clear gulf between the already established Premier League teams and the rest of the English Football Pyramid.
00:55Let's take a look at how the pyramid is devised.
00:58It comprises initially of all 92 league clubs that are split across all divisions of the EFL.
01:06At the very top is the pinnacle, the place where every team wants to be, the Premier League.
01:12Below that is the Championship, then League One, then League Two.
01:16If we delve further down the layers, 11 in total, the pyramid reaches the very depths of semi-professional and amateur football.
01:25The system, though, is all still connected to the very top.
01:29For this reason, every club in the country has a theoretical chance of one day making it to the Premier League,
01:35with the right investment and infrastructure behind them, making the dream accessible for everyone.
01:42A great system and we love it over here.
01:44And I think the reason we love it so much is because it gives hope to every single team.
01:49Every single team in that pyramid believes that one day they could be in the Premier League.
01:53And why not?
01:54We've seen recently with Wrexham and Welcome to Wrexham and those owners how much it blew their mind.
01:59Because in the States, that's just not a concept that you can have a team that can almost go all the way.
02:04And we've seen them get us back-to-back-to-back promotions, which is a fairytale in itself.
02:11The way you get to that league above and the play-off system, you don't have to just finish first or second.
02:18You can come in the sort of a top seven and you've still got a chance of going up.
02:22Every team believes that that can happen to them.
02:25And I think that's what makes the football pyramid so special.
02:28That promotion, that relegation and the competitive nature of it.
02:33Well, the ambition for all clubs in England is to one day play in the Premier League.
02:38And an even greater ambition is to figure out a way to stay there.
02:42That second part at the moment seems to be proving tricky.
02:46It's fair to say that in the last two seasons, the three teams promoted to the Premier League could not keep up competitively over the course of 38 games.
02:56Not only this, but on both occasions, the clubs were relegated with the lowest combined points totals the league has ever seen.
03:04So, after two seasons, are these performances from promoted teams just a coincidence or is there a genuine problem?
03:12I understand the worry.
03:15I do get it.
03:16And the last two seasons have been quite staggering, really, when you're looking at them.
03:19What I would say is I think there is context to be applied to a lot of the teams.
03:22I've obviously been a championship viewer for all the years I have.
03:25You look at the Ipswich side, which is an excellent League One side that's gone up through the pyramid again and just accelerated.
03:32Probably never seen a side do what they've done, you know, going up from League One, finishing second and then just destroying the championship and then going up again.
03:39And you don't really see that.
03:41So, really, actively, it was a League One side, so it needed a lot of surgery to it.
03:45It just, it's all felt really self-inflicted by a lot of these clubs.
03:50I think the recruitment from Leicester and Stampton was really, really poor this season.
03:54So, I think there is context to be applied, but I also acknowledge the fact that when you look at the 17 teams now,
03:59often as a Leeds United fan going into the division, and I think, who can we grapple back?
04:02And I look at Wolves, and I look at West Ham, and then it's Man United and Spurs and Co.
04:07It's like, wow, that level now is just ridiculous.
04:11This upcoming season, we'll see the arrival of Leeds United, Burnley and Sunderland to the Premier League.
04:18So, how can at least one of these clubs find a way to break this concerning trend?
04:24Well, Leeds and Burnley, who are already promoted to the Premier League,
04:28have an advantage in the sense that they've been up, down, up, down.
04:33And when you're in that cycle in a four-year period,
04:37your core squad potentially is still stronger because of your last time in the Premier League.
04:44They know what they're dealing with in terms of the competitive standard
04:48and the financial playing field as well.
04:50It's a different scenario for a club that is a complete first-timer in the Premier League
04:55or has had a long gap since the last time they were there.
04:59So, things move very fast for a newly promoted club,
05:02and you realise how competitive things are on and off the field.
05:06And that's why it's so hard in that first season to stay,
05:10because there's a lot of work to be done.
05:11But if you've been there in recent history before, like Leeds and Burnley,
05:14you know a bit more about what you're doing,
05:17and that can definitely give you an advantage
05:18in terms of trying to stay in the Premier League in that first season.
05:22Once you've done it in that first season,
05:24I think the gulf narrows a little bit.
05:27You can do a bit more, you can spend a bit more,
05:29and that's when you hope that you can really consolidate yourself in the division.
05:33A big challenge is ahead, Ben, for the newly promoted Premier League teams
05:37as they look to remain competitive and avoid relegation next season.
05:41Will any of them manage to do so?
05:44Let us know your thoughts using the hashtag
05:47footballnowplpromotion.
05:49That's all we've got time for, though, here this week.
05:52We'll see you next time.
05:53Bye for now.

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