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.
