Last season three great teams were relegated from the Premier League. Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion and Swansea City had their style, some fantastic players and a large group of supporters. However, Premier League is arguably the toughest championship in the world and you’ve got to show something special during the season or go down. Curiously, Stoke City managed to keep hold of their main stars this summer, including Jack Butland and Joe Allen, and brought in some reinforcement in Benik Afobe and Tom Ince. Looks like they don’t want to spend much time in the Championship and bid to return to the top tier as fast as possible. 

However, some teams have a reality check in the second tier, finding out that England’s second best football league is not an easy walk. Look at the teams that got relegated last year: Hull City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland. Middlesbrough were the only team that actually fought for Premier League return following their relegation at the end of 2016/2017 season and finished 5th in the Championship last season. Hull City were happy to survive the threat of going further down the pecking order, finishing 18th. However, it was Sunderland that delivered the biggest disappointment to their fans, finishing bottom of the Premier League in 2017 and repeating that classless feat in the Championship last season. Sunderland only won 7 of their 46 games in the second tier, got relegated to League One and had to conduct a complete revamp of their squad and managing staff in order to stop their freefall. Portsmouth hold arguably the most infamous league record in recent years that saw them downgrade from Premier League to League Two in four seasons. However, that decline was largely influenced by administrative problems.

At the same time, it does not mean all teams are destined to struggle after being relegated from the Premier League. There are clubs that managed to secure promotion back to the top tier in the next season. Norwich City got relegated at the end of 2013/2014 season but got back next year after winning promotion play-off. It should be noted that they dropped again in 2015/2016 season, thus crashing out of the Premier League twice in three years. Hull City are the other team that proved not good enough for England’s top tier twice in three years, 2014/2015 and 2016/2017 seasons. Like Norwich, they did secure promotion through Championship playoffs in between those years.

Newcastle United are the other team that balance between Premier League and the Championship in the past few years. The Magpies were relegated from the top tier at the end of 2015/2016 season by a tiny margin of just two points. However, guided by experienced Spanish manager Rafael Benitez, they won the Championship next year and got back to the Premier League.

Clearly, it depends on the club’s financial situation and ambition of owners if they want to fight and get back to the Premier League after relegation. History witnesses that some clubs find their way to elite division fast, while others could drop even further if people in charge do not solve the team’s issues.