What is the true cost of relegation?

[Craig 6700]

There's obviously two different types of Newcastle fan. Those for who relegation is a new experience and those of us who have seen it all before. But have we?

 

20 years ago when we last plummeted out of the top English league, the Premiership wasn't even a twinkle in the eye of those people within the FA. And with it, neither was the money. IIRC, the summer before our last season in Division One, ITV had signed the first 'big' deal to televise football on a weekly basis. Before that Sunday coverage alternated between them and the BBC but I don't remember it being every Sunday. (I might be wrong on that one).

 

What I'm trying to allude to is that the drop into Division Two back in 1989 was not that great. Sure nobody wanted to be in the second tier - it's a natural instinct to want to be with the elite but financially it didn't really make a tremendous amount of difference. Likewise when we were promoted in 1993, the Premier League was very much in its infancy and had not really established itself, nor the gap between itself and the second tier.

 

To put it into context, we can look at two players we bought during the relegation season and compare them to two we bought in the summer following. A good call would be Rob McDonald & Frank Pingel compared with Mick Quinn & Mark McGhee. With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to suggest that the latter two were better value for money but even back then they were considerably better prospects and players that we all wished we'd bought before we dipped out of the top flight.

 

Stepping forward to 2008/09 and trying to think of two players we bought during the season the names that spring straight to mind are Kevin Nolan & Ryan Taylor. Buying players in their position this summer, I'd struggle to think of two players we could realistically hope for who have a considerably better pedigree than those two clowns that Kinnear bought. But that's not down to us no longer being an attractive prospect - it's the horrific border that television money has caused between the two divisions.

 

Should we win promotion at the first attempt, it'll be a very naive person who thinks we can 'take off where we left off' in the Premiership. Not a chance. The counter will be reset, we'll back to zero and one of the prime favourites to go straight back down. And even if we did survive that first season (like Reading did, like Hull have done) there's a good chance that the second season will be a very hard slog. There's only one team in the history of the Premiership who hit the ground running and never looked back and that was ourselves in 1993. But that was a different era, when aging players looked for first team football at other clubs rather than a glorious pay-day warming the bench at the big earners. It was also pre-big 4 which I believe the league will have to eventually consider doing something (wage capping perhaps) to ensure that they don't tighten their stranglehold on the top 4 places even more.

 

Finally, a friend of mind reminded me of a cringeworthy comment made by our outstanding former chairman. I forget the exact words but didn't he say something along the lines of "I'm not bothered about the fortunes of lower league clubs because it doesn't concerned Newcastle United"?

 

Amazing what comes back to bite you on the arse, isn't it Fred?

[Flair 0]

There's obviously two different types of Newcastle fan. Those for who relegation is a new experience and those of us who have seen it all before. But have we?

 

20 years ago when we last plummeted out of the top English league, the Premiership wasn't even a twinkle in the eye of those people within the FA. And with it, neither was the money. IIRC, the summer before our last season in Division One, ITV had signed the first 'big' deal to televise football on a weekly basis. Before that Sunday coverage alternated between them and the BBC but I don't remember it being every Sunday. (I might be wrong on that one).

 

What I'm trying to allude to is that the drop into Division Two back in 1989 was not that great. Sure nobody wanted to be in the second tier - it's a natural instinct to want to be with the elite but financially it didn't really make a tremendous amount of difference. Likewise when we were promoted in 1993, the Premier League was very much in its infancy and had not really established itself, nor the gap between itself and the second tier.

 

To put it into context, we can look at two players we bought during the relegation season and compare them to two we bought in the summer following. A good call would be Rob McDonald & Frank Pingel compared with Mick Quinn & Mark McGhee. With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to suggest that the latter two were better value for money but even back then they were considerably better prospects and players that we all wished we'd bought before we dipped out of the top flight.

 

Stepping forward to 2008/09 and trying to think of two players we bought during the season the names that spring straight to mind are Kevin Nolan & Ryan Taylor. Buying players in their position this summer, I'd struggle to think of two players we could realistically hope for who have a considerably better pedigree than those two clowns that Kinnear bought. But that's not down to us no longer being an attractive prospect - it's the horrific border that television money has caused between the two divisions.

 

Should we win promotion at the first attempt, it'll be a very naive person who thinks we can 'take off where we left off' in the Premiership. Not a chance. The counter will be reset, we'll back to zero and one of the prime favourites to go straight back down. And even if we did survive that first season (like Reading did, like Hull have done) there's a good chance that the second season will be a very hard slog. There's only one team in the history of the Premiership who hit the ground running and never looked back and that was ourselves in 1993. But that was a different era, when aging players looked for first team football at other clubs rather than a glorious pay-day warming the bench at the big earners. It was also pre-big 4 which I believe the league will have to eventually consider doing something (wage capping perhaps) to ensure that they don't tighten their stranglehold on the top 4 places even more.

 

Finally, a friend of mind reminded me of a cringeworthy comment made by our outstanding former chairman. I forget the exact words but didn't he say something along the lines of "I'm not bothered about the fortunes of lower league clubs because it doesn't concerned Newcastle United"?

 

Amazing what comes back to bite you on the arse, isn't it Fred?

 

[Monkeys Fist 43583]

How to cheer me up before the weekend .........

[Craig 6700]

How to cheer me up before the weekend .........

 

A bit of realism don't you think?

 

I think a small minority view relegation a bit similar to England not qualifying for a major tournament. "Never mind, we'll just have to qualify for the next one..." etc.

 

IMO we'll wipe the slate and start again. As hard as it seems, I think if we do get back up there next year the likes of Fulham, Blackburn, West Ham, etc will be way ahead of us - far more so than they are at present.