Razil raises a valid point in his gloom merchant thread, just how do Champions (and it could be us this year!) fare the year after promotion from L1 to the Championship.....
well here is your answer
Seasons Counted: : 30 (1980/81 to 2009/2010)
Average Points won as Champions : 91
Average Position in Championship Season after Winning L1 : 12th
No of Promotions in Championship Season after Winning L1 : 3 (Oxford 84/85 (champions) - Watford 98/99 (play-offs) - Norwich 2010/2011 (2nd place)
No of Play-Off failures in Championship Season after Winning L1 : 6 (including Reading in 94/95 who finished 2nd but missed out on promotion due to downsizing of Premier League)
No of Relegations in Championship Season after Winning L1 : 5 (Burnley 82/83 - Brentford 92/93 - Brighton 02/03 - Southend 06/07 - Scunthorpe 07/08) (note that 3 of these were promoted with very low points tallies the season before)
Of interest - getting 90+ points will pretty much guarantee survival the following season, only Brighton 90pts & Scunthorpe 91 points have been relegated the season following promotion as Champions with 90 points or more
If we maintain our current form over the last 8 games we will get 100+points which has only been achieved twice before:
Wigan 2002/2003 - finished 7th the following season in the Championship & promoted to the Premiership in 2004/2005
Fulham1998/1999 - finished 9th the following season in the Championship & promoted to the Premiership in 2000/2001
Conclusion: We will be Ok
Happy Reading.
Comments
Southampton
Charlton
That's the trend we're following.
No of Play-Off failures in Championship Season after Winning L1 : 6 (including Reading in 94/95 who finished 2nd but missed out on promotion due to downsizing of Premier League)
Interesting ... so 9 of the 30 seasons, the team that finished top was either promoted again or at the worst reached the playoffs the following season ... not a bad percentage.
2011 - Brighton 95 points, close to play-offs next season, then ??
2010 - Norwich 95pts, then 2nd in Ch followed by PL mid-table
2009 - Leicester 96pts, then 5th followed by to mid-table Championship seasons
2008 - Swansea 92pts, two seasons later Championship 7th (1pt off play-offs, win promotion via playoffs in 3rd season))
2007 - Scunthorpe 91pts, relegated back then finish 6th in L1
2006 - Southend 82pts, relegated back then finish 6th in L1
So to summarise, if you get at least 2 points per game (tick) then within 3 seasons you will be promoted to the Premier League so long as you can learn from Leicester's failure.
What we could do with is some inside experience from Leicester - then we should be sorted.