The Million Pound Drop

Since the dawn of time, man has thrived on one basic instinct. Survival.

Admittedly, that’s a bit of a grandiose opening, but an appropriate one given the implications of relegation from the Premier League. While it’s certainly considered a ‘life or death’ matter amongst fans, it may well be worth more than that for clubs, with an estimated cost of £200 million plus pounds.

To put that into perspective, that’s University education for 7407 people.

Or 2 and a bit Gareth Bale’s.

Either way, such a fall can literally implode a club, as seen with the likes of Portsmouth, Birmingham City, Leeds and Wolves, all of whom have seen a catastrophic decline, of which relegation played a major (although not entire) role.

Entire empires can fall in an instant and biblical-level legacies can be made. All from one kick of a ball. One 90^th minute equaliser. One wonder-save.

And this is very much why the relegation fight is my favourite part of football. On all levels, but particularly the Premier League.

The absolute unmatched elation a goal can bring in this scrap is incredible, and has seen pitch invasions and statue erections alike. You can see the pain; the anguish; the euphoria on fans faces, you can hear it, you can feel it. I’ve been there myself.

While similar things can be said about the title race, I generally prefer the lower-end fights as I believe it provides much more entertainment value. Sure, the football’s nowhere near as pretty, but this very factor coupled with the unpredictability makes ‘shock’ results that much more significant and memorable.

So, how do you beat the drop?

This question has never been so pertinent, with a meager 10 points difference between the bottom 10 clubs. All of them could go down, and all of them have the potential to stay up.

Essentially, what I call the ‘survival formula’ boils down to some very simple criteria, littered with clichés.

First of which, is a proven goal-scorer. At the end of the day, as ignorant and cringe-worthy as it sounds, goals win you games. A defence able to keep a clean sheet is one thing, but a player capable of turning that 0-0 into a 1-0 can be immensely significant. This year in particular, some of the league’s best, and underrated strikers are involved, which is perhaps one of the reasons it’s so enthralling. Shane Long, Christian Benteke, Darren Bent, Wilfried Bony, Steven Fletcher, Peter Crouch, and Andy Carroll could all conceivably play for top 6 teams, and will have major roles to play come crunch time.

Experienced players are also essential to these teams. Having seasoned pro’s in the dressing room that have been here before and lived to tell the tale can be absolutely pivotal for a team’s chances of staying up. Your Kevin Nolan’s, your Scotty Parker’s, your Kevin Phillips’. After all, the logic of being involved in the relegation fight dictates that you are going to lose a lot of games, plain and simple. And having these players to rally the drooping heads and lead the younger players through is an invaluable asset, and will be the key to getting the shock results that keep a team up.

The dreaded C word also remains a huge factor on two levels. No, not that one.

On the pitch; consistency is one thing that needs no explaining. But consistency off it is perhaps more important. Barring nuclear-level incompetence, fans and owners must remain patient with their manager and allow them to steer the team out of trouble, chopping and changing rarely gets you anywhere. Changing a successful manager is bad enough (eyes on you, Vincent Tan) but trying, mid-season to implement a new style of progressive football is nothing short of suicide, as West Brom have tried to do.

“Right. We’re in trouble and need to stay up. Let’s bring in an unproven manager from a far inferior league mid-season and start playing attacking possession-based football.”

Hmm.

This is fine at the start of a season, and should be encouraged - with the whole of pre-season to introduce such tactics, as Stoke have done, but is generally disastrous to do at this time, and is the result of desperately trying to keep up with the growing trend of tiki-taka.

"All goalkeepers are crazy, but some are more crazy than others." A quote from a book I read at Primary School. I can’t remember what it was called, but for some reason that extract stuck with me, and always proves to hold some relevance come this time of the season. As I’ve said earlier, one wonder save can make all the difference, and team’s having a strong, solid goalkeeper have a distinct advantage in surviving.

Almost ironically placed – last, but not least, is the fans. Ask any player past or present: creating an intimidating, partisan atmosphere has an effect on the team and is vital for the survival effort, its importance undoubtable given almost every manager will ask the fans for this in the pre-match programme once the big games start coming. The sea of passion and noise can give players a massive lift, provide a second wind, inspire confidence, and is just as important as any other factor.

Or you can pull a West Ham and field a load of ineligible players. Your call. 

So, here's where we end up. 

Given that table, my picks must be Fulham, Albion, and Palace.