The relegation thread

[Carrick 5 Gerrard 0]

Who’s going down?

Managerial changes for Crystal Palace and West Ham looking like they are doing the job.

I would say Swansea, Stoke and then either West Brom, Southampton or Newcastle depending on who can get a striker in form to be their saving grace.

[RedSte]

I have to admit at the start of the season I went for Brighton, Huddersfield and Burnley

[Dante]

I think Swansea and West Brom are done. Stoke will depend on the new manager, but they seem likely candidates.

[RedSte]

There's still half a season to go. I don't think anyone's "done" yet. Quite easily could be any 3 teams in the bottom half, so I could still get 2 right but I admit Burnley are safe and have amazed everyone this season!

[Martin]

Stoke confirmed.

[RedSte]

LOL

[Martin]

He is a buffoon.

If you see any post match interviews with him this season note how many times he says "we were excellent" even when Stoke have been battered.

Terrible manager.

[Carrick 5 Gerrard 0]

I’m not sure why the went for him to be honest, I guess he did his homework but it’s the most uninspiring appointment.

They would have been better off picking someone perhaps less experienced but exciting to lift the team

[RedSte]

Thought they might have tried to entice someone like Eddie Howe. Stoke are bigger than Bournemouth (money, crowd size, history etc) so he may have been tempted.

[SUBXERO]

Bournemouth to Stoke is barely a progress for someone like Howe. The guy has the potential to make it at a much higher level. Don't forget he was even taken into consideration as a possible successor to Wenger.

[ArizonaRed]

Bournemouth to Stoke is barely a progress for someone like Howe. The guy has the potential to make it at a much higher level. Don't forget he was even taken into consideration as a possible successor to Wenger.

At this stage of their careers I think Howe would do a better job for Arsenal than Wenger, so let Howe stay at Bournemouth.

[RedSte]

I think you both misread what I said

[ArizonaRed]

Totally confusion on the last half-a-dozen posts. My bad.

[Martin]

He is a buffoon.

If you see any post match interviews with him this season note how many times he says "we were excellent" even when Stoke have been battered.

Terrible manager.

http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thr ... /excellent

Classic Lambert.

A shame if Stoke go. I think they've established themselves as a PL side and in recent years moved away from the long ball, Rugby style they got accused of playing.

A bad appointment for them though.

[Relly]

What's the deal with Southampton? A few years ago they were finishing top half, playing good football and had lots of great players on the books. They just kept selling their players and changing managers. What is the end game of team like this? We reached 8th place, now lets just slump back into the lower leagues? Are they having financial difficulties I don't know about?

[Martin]

Well like you say they kept selling their top players. You can only do that for so long before you slide down the table.

Mane, Rodriguez, Lambert, Shaw, van Dijk, Lallana, Wanyama, Clyne, Schneiderlin, Chambers & Lovren.

Very good PL side there. You can't keep doing this and expect to get anywhere.

[Relly]

Well like you say they kept selling their top players. You can only do that for so long before you slide down the table.

Mane, Rodriguez, Lambert, Shaw, van Dijk, Lallana, Wanyama, Clyne, Schneiderlin, Chambers & Lovren.

Very good PL side there. You can't keep doing this and expect to get anywhere.

So what is the goal of a team like this? Fans must just think, what's the point?

[Martin]

Well like you say they kept selling their top players. You can only do that for so long before you slide down the table.

Mane, Rodriguez, Lambert, Shaw, van Dijk, Lallana, Wanyama, Clyne, Schneiderlin, Chambers & Lovren.

Very good PL side there. You can't keep doing this and expect to get anywhere.

So what is the goal of a team like this? Fans must just think, what's the point?

Invest again and hope to improve.

They probably did try but when clubs in CL places come for your players it is hard to hang on to them and the cycle repeats.

It might be easier to hang on to your star players now though, thinking of Leicester and Watford in particular.

[RedSte]

Soton win at Swansea in the £100m match!

This makes the Saints safe (bar a 10 goal swing at the weekend) and also means if Huddersfield get 1 point against either Chelsea or Arsenal, Swansea will be relegated!

[RedSte]

Also Baggies manager Darren Moore was named PL manager of the month on the same day his team got relegated. That must surely be a first!

[t.d.]

Well as expected after a good few years of poor transfer dealings and ill-judged managerial appointments.

You can't expect to sell Ashley Williams, Michel Vorm, Ben Davies, Chico, Bony, Gomis, Llorente, Sigurdsson, and, to a lesser extent Michu and possibly Jonathan de Guzman as well, and not bring in suitable replacements. Whiffing on a transfer for Joe Allen, when it was clear he wanted to come back, was Jenkins's nadir as Chairman since getting into the PL. Or maybe it was letting go of Sigurdsson and Llorente at the tail end of last summer's transfer window, and bringing in an inexperienced youngster, and an injury prone and out of form striker. Or not adequately 'replacing' Rangel and Leon.

Actually, his nadir has been his inability to replace Brendan Rodgers. We've had a couple of successful seasons since his departure (winning cup, getting into Europe, highest ever finish), but on the whole we have been an accident waiting to happen because of mismanagement at the highest level.

Anyway, we're not down yet. I think most would rather Huddersfield to stay up, and if the situation was different I'd want them to as well, but as it is...

Given where we were when Carvalhal took over I'd have taken this scenario, but given where we were only a month ago it's a fornicate disaster.

[Martin]

Seems like it's the same old story when clubs go down. Stoke would probably say the same. Sunderland, Villa, Newcastle and so on.

I honestly think the bigger problem is the gap between the top six and the rest. You can say it's down to not replacing players properly but when you are forced to sell so many you can't get all the replacements right, and you're forced to sell because of the gap in revenue and strength of the top six.

And even with lots of money it can be down to luck how they settle in. I think you can run a club well for a couple of seasons but with the gap between top six and the rest you do eventually have to sell if you cannot break into that group.

[t.d.]

That's a fair point, Martin, and I would tend to agree with you to a certain extent.

But as a supporter and not a money man, I cannot see the sense in wringing out an extra 10m from Everton for Sigurdsson and then leaving little time to get a proper replacement in. Nor letting Llorente go on deadline day. Had Spurs come in for him in June or July then fair enough. But to sell him and Gylfi with so little time to properly reinvest was just asking for trouble. This is pure mismanagement.

[Dante]

The establishment of a top six in recent seasons does also seem to have created a situation where the rest of the league is quite close. It's only 11 points from Swansea all the way to Newcastle in 10th.

The only team I can see getting into that group is Everton, depending on who they get in as a manager. Newcastle if Ashley sells up and Rafa stays.