Straight Back Down

This weekend confirmed what many of us thought would happen all season, the 3 newly promoted teams are heading straight back down to the Championship.

Sure there had been moments where it looked like one or more of them may survive, but even with points deductions galore above them and injury ravished runs of poor form for others the return of last season’s second tier teams straight back to that level is now all but confirmed.

Sheffield United’s relegation was confirmed weeks ago and with just 3 wins all season they looked more likely to snatch Derby’s record than safety. A paltry 16 points from 37 games is a woeful return in any league, but whilst their inability to average a goal scored a game (35) is dreadful it is at the other end that their hopes of survival fell apart.

Conceding triple figures in any league would be terminal, but to concede 101 goals so far is criminal by the brittlest blades ever forged. They come from the steel city but there defence is made of wet paper. To avoid the dreaded double drop next season it is at the back that they need to strengthen most.

The second team to follow the Yorkshire men through the Premier League trapdoor ply their trade just across the border in Lancashire and they made a far better fist of fighting for survival.

Burnley put together some excellent performances and even looked at times to be putting together a run of form that would propel them out of trouble, but their inconsistency in keeping these form runs going has proved their downfall.

They were better than Brentford when we visited Turf Moor a few months ago (https://the-football-tourist.com/2024/03/21/the-nightmare-was-real/) and if they had put together more performances like that they could still be in with a chance on the final day.

As it is though Vincent Kompany’s battling Clarets continue their yo-yo trajectory between the top 2 leagues.

A late loss to Spurs on Saturday turning the final day visit of Nottingham Forest from a potential winner takes all nail-biter into nothing more than a chance for the home faithful to show their appreciation for the never-say-die attitude their team has shown all season.

The tenacity shown by the Lancashire lads makes me hopeful that another promotion parade will be making it’s way down the streets of Burnley next summer.

By far the most galling of the trio of relegations for the neutrals is the demise of Rob Edward’s Luton Town.

Luton have been many neutral’s second or favourite club in the league this season and as underdog stories go it would have been incredible to see them survive, but alas reality is often disappointing.

On a shoe-string budget, for the Premier League, Luton have played some incredible football this season and those fans lucky enough to visit Kenilworth Road’s enigmatic away end will have had an experience matched by few others in Premier League history.

This tiny Bedfordshire club has given as good as its got across the season and many teams have found out just how difficult they are to kill off in games.

After a baptism of fire in which the Hatters lost their first 2 games 7-1 on aggregate they slowly found their feet and gave more than one of the big boys a huge challenge to overcome.

On January 30th they avenged their opening day defeat on the south coast by smashing the Seagulls 4-0 at Kenilworth Road. Winning against a team on their way to the knockout rounds of the Europa League will have provided memories that will stick with the home fans for decades to come.

Coming agonisingly close to doing the double over Newcastle is another incredible memory for Hatters fans to treasure, but it could have been even better had they held on for the win on Tyneside when holding a 4-2 lead just after the hour mark.

The draw at St. James Park hinted at an underlying issue for the hatters though as they found themselves unable to hold on for crucial results under pressure, as they would show again just weeks later by surrendering a 3-0 half-time lead to leave the Vitality Stadium without a point.

Pushing Liverpool and title-chasing Arsenal to the wire at home, with both all-star teams requiring goals after the 90 minute mark to secure results against the tenacious Hatters.

One more result goes Luton’s way and they could have stayed up and every neutral in the land would have celebrated like it was their own team winning the league.

Unfortunately, losing 3-1 to West Ham on Saturday has left them a mountain to climb on the final day. Not only do they need already relegated Burnley to destroy Forest, but they also need to humiliate Fulham at Kenilworth road to have any hope of overturning their 12 goal deficit on goal difference to the East Midlanders.

Realistically Luton Town are already down, but in this crazy league many fans will be hoping for one final crazy day that keeps them up.