http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2105505,00.html
[cite]Posted By: Pards[/cite]"It is all about the politics of what happens if you are relegated. The one thing I know about the Championship is that you need a strong spirit and if you do not have that, you will not come up.
"Birmingham and Sunderland have managed to cull their squad and keep the players that have that spirit."
Such a 'cull' seems inevitable at The Valley, with England striker Darren Bent - who is sure to ignite plenty of interest over the summer regardless of the club's status - the most valuable asset.
But Pardew admits that losing some of his current squad is not what worries him most about seeing the club relegated and has focused his attention on others connected with the club for whom relegation could hit even harder.
"You should not fear relegation. Unfortunately, though, whenever a Premier League club gets relegated, the people who suffer most are the ones who work at the stadium.
"The most important thing is bouncing back if you do go down so you can re-employ all those people - that was certainly my focus at (former club) West Ham."
"In terms of clubs coming out of the Premiership, there is a history of top players leaving," he added.
"Personally, I think relegation is something we get carried away with. It is very important, but it is not the be all and end all and in some ways it can even be a blessing because it gives you the chance to re-address the issues at the club.
"Certainly, it is not the end of the world if we go down, we will be strong and we will bounce back if the worst happens - but the top priority is staying up this season."
Comments
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Wise words, we've been drifting for a couple of seasons and patching the team up to play games rather than having a long-term direction. Going down could be a positive thing if we can bring through a new generation of players and find a Bowyer/Kins/Parker type in centre midfield to build the team around.
Pards makes me feel a lot more confident that next season won't be so bad after all though.
Assuming we're playing our football in the Champioship I reckon we'll be there or thereabouts the Play Off spots at worst and it could be an exciting season.
Really could be a positive thing, something to play for throughout the season, getting shot of some of these mercenary, money grabbing Premiership journeyman who somehow seem to coax large fee and salary out of club after club (yes, that means you Marcus (not just him though)), the stadium will still be near capacity most weeks, we might win a few more games, some away games to go to that we haven't done for a while.
Change is as good as a rest, whether we pull off an amazing escape or not I'm much happier with the club's situation at the end of this season than I have been with any of the last 3 or 4 when we were either stale and dull under Curbs or venturing into the board's first real mistakes without him.
well summed up, and remarkably similar to my own view.
Josh Wright
Never seen you two in the same room together..... Spooky!
You know what they say DJDD, great minds and all that. They taught you well at Bexley Grammar....
Have enjoyed this season much more than the last 3. Even Under Dowie I felt he had turned the corner and was starting to play half decent footie.
Can now really feel the management and fans pulling together again.
I think that the Premiership is hugely over-rated as a competition, because nobody outside the top 4 ever gets a look in, and it can be very dull and boring; as we have seen over the last few seasons. Something has to be done to improve the competitiveness of the Premiership, or many more people are going to lose interest in it over the next few years!!