How did the relegation issues from the premiership affect Saints
West Ham being relegated was not good news for Saints fans in many respects, OK it did mean a nice little London Trip, but on the other hand here is a club that have better support than us, big financial backing, not to mention the parachute payments.
This being the case, Saints fans watched Survival Sunday with interest as just who joined the Hammers in the drop could have a big impact on Saints chances of promotion next term.
Blackpool were probably the first club to join West Ham and this was probably good news for Saints, Blackpool had punched well above their weight to get promoted with little financial backing and a ground with only two sides, a big chunk of their increased revenue had to be spent on getting Bloomfield Road up to scratch, it still holds no more than the Dell used to and to be blunt their support will dip, previously it was around the 8,000 mark, whilst it wont go that low, at least initially alighn that with the fact they dont have massive investment behind them and you have to conclude that although like any relegated club with the Parachute payments they have an advantage, it wont be as great as it could have been.
Perhaps the ideal companions for the aforementioned two would have been Wigan, a club that never fills its stadium and relies on givaways and big away supports to maiantain even a reasonable average, you would have to guess that making the drop would see them have to sell a large chunk of their playing squad on big wages and rebuild, however Wigan saved themselves and perhaps the worst choice, at least in Saints terms went down.
Birmingham like West Ham have big money behind them, they also have reasonable support at least at Championship level and of course the parachute payment, if they stay with Alex McCleish they have a manager who has done it before and knows how to build and rebuild sides, in truth not good news for Saints fans.
But caution should be applied when considering Saints hopes of repeating Norwich's feats of the past two seasons, there are at least a dozen clubs in the Championship who can match Saints in terms of financial backing (To the level needed in this division) Support, Playing Squad, Stadium etc, if you dont believe me here's a quick count, West Ham, Birmingham, Forest, Derby, Leicester, Leeds, Burnley, Huil,Brighton, Cardiff, Ipswich, Middlesbrough, and thats not including Swansea/Reading in the play offs.
At the next level there is Bristol City, Pompey, Coventry, Watford, Blackpool, Millwall and Palace.
It easier to name the clubs who havent really got the support, financial backing nor at this moment the squad to mount a promotion challenge, Doncaster, Barnsley, so thats only two clubs who dont look to have nough to challenge Saints, that could go up to three if Peterborough go up, but if its Huddersfield they will definately be in group two.
So next year will be hard for Saints make no mistake, there are plenty of other Clubs with at least as much as us in all departments, however we do have a couple of advantages.
As Norwich showed this year and Blackpool, Burnley & Hull before them its not just about money and superstars, Cardiff showed that when they blew it again even after bringing in Craig bellamy on loan, getting up to the premiership is about getting a solid squad together and performing week in week out and from that point of view we have the basis and of course momentum, but make no mistake we do not have the leeway for the individual errors that almost cost us dearly this year.
In many respects i dont think our squad is much worse than the one that Blackpool put out in the premiership, Jason Puncheon cant get in our side but can get in theirs and that perhaps shows that we arent too far behind them, perhaps a good signing or two in key areas.
If Saints want to challenge for promotion for a second consecutive year then they have to throw sentimentality out of the window and Saints fans have to realise the real work starts now, it was hard enough buying our way out of league One, we wont be able to do that in the Championship with plenty able to match us pound for pound in the transfer and wages stakes, its going to be about good management, the real work starts here.