The 2014-15 Barclay's Premier League season has ended. With that, we say good bye to the bottom three teams in the standings. (for those of you who don't follow English football, every season the last three teams in league standings get relegated to a lower tiered league. The top three teams from that league, called The Championship, get promoted to play in the Premier League. Think of that format applied to your favourite sporting league.)
Two teams who were promoted this season, were then promptly relegated.
At the bottom, Queens Park Rangers (QPR)
8 wins 6 draws 24 losses - 30 pts
QPR is in a bit of a bind with FIFA over their 'fair play' mandate about spending within your means.
They spent a LOT of cash to get promoted, and those moves just didn't work in the long haul. Expect a fire sale at Loftus Road over the summer transfer window as they look to get under budget.
7 wins 12 draws 19 losses - 33pts
Burnley fought bravely, but in the end were overwhelmed by more experienced teams with bigger payrolls. Look for rising stars Danny Ings, Tom Heaton and Scott Arfield to be plucked away by bigger clubs offering Burnley bushels of Euros.
Hull City F.C.
8 wins 11 draws 19 losses
Hull, one of my favourite clubs to watch, fell short of avoiding the drop on the final day. They had to win, combined with a Newcastle loss to stay up. It was not to be as the drew Manchester United at home while Newcastle broke an 11 game losing skid to defeat West Ham.
I'll miss them. but Steve Bruce has what it takes to bring them back.
On a more positive note.... we have added three new clubs. We welcome to the 2015-16 Premier League....
Norwich City F.C.
the Premier League will once again be visiting Carrow Road after a brief hiatus. The Cannaries were relegated after the 2013-14 season, spending one season in the Championship before earning another promotion.
Watford F.C
Watford! Watford! WATFORD!
The Hornets are back after an 8 year absence. I for one, can't wait. And I know that Arsenal may have one fewer fan next season....
Bournemouth AFC won the Championship title on the last day of the season, and come up to the Premier League for the first time in their 117 year existence.
Patience pays off people. Never give up. Don't ever give up.
I for one, cannot wait until the new season kicks off. But before we get to that, we'll have a few months of transfer rumours and dealings to get through.
Have any hopes for you club?
3 comments:
I don't follow EPL, and yet at this time of year I'm always looking to see who's been relegated and who's been promoted. The concept just fascinates me, and from watching waaaaay too much British television over the course of my life, I'm at least a little bit familiar with many of the teams.
The fact that Watford and Bournemouth got promoted at the same time amused the heck out of this Monty Python fanatic, as there was one Python sketch which featured a match between the Bournemouth Gynecologists and the Watford Long John Silver Impersonators. Pure and unadulterated silliness, and a particular favorite of mine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejTTJmJSHkk
The final day this year lacked a lot of the drama of other final days -- no great escapes, no last second champions -- and even the playoffs in the Championship brought back a team that was up last year. Honestly, I'd have preferred Boro.
Bournemouth will be an interesting club to watch this summer. Will they go all out with their Russian backing and try to compete right away (especially with both the massive TV money and the inevitable relaxation of financial fair play rules because, after all, it's not fair play that all the English teams get so much more money than everyone else in Europe...or at least that is what the rest of Europe are saying), or will they simply try to stay up and consolidate next season?
Watford will be good to see back up as well -- congratulations to your Hornets. As an American, I'm sort of partial to the team that gave my Wisconsin homeboy Jay DeMerit his chance at the Premier League!
I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to get through next season without b*tching about Gerrard being too old to play.
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