Preview: Being relegated is always never the most nicest thing that a football club can experience when being in the top-flight. But while it is widely acknowledged that financially being in the second-tier is not as good as being in the top-flight, the clubs which do survive the dreaded relegation...they will have to watch their backs when another new season approaches. Sunderland and Hull City may live to see another season in the Premier League, but it will be a 'hope we meet again' to Newcastle, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion. In the final part of the look-back of the 2008/09 Premier League season from yours truly, the focus will be on those remaining five clubs.
Alright, before the final part of the five-part series, a reminder of the series so far: The general overview of events in the league, clubs in the top five, those heading for Europe and not, clubs which are still hanging in there. In this entry, those who did escaped relegation and those who did not.
Sunderland began the season with Roy Keane as their manager, but will begin next season with Steve Bruce. In between, there was Ricky Sbragia. Well, how it all happened? The 2008/09 season was Sunderland's second season in the top-flight after their promotion in the season before. The season went promising for them, only for Keane to once hinting in a post-match interview that he realised that he was not up for the job. For someone like Keane in view of his playing days at Manchester United, the alarm bells were ringing. The former Ireland international likes to walk his dog in his spare time (which for whatever reason once led to him saying that he did not trust some of those pundits to even walk his dog) and just on days before Sunderland were actually due to play away at Manchester United, he announced his departure. Keane's assistant Ricky Sbragia was installed as the caretaker manager.
While Sunderland eventually only lost by a goal in almost the last minute at Old Trafford in the post-Roy Keane era (Keane's now manager at Ipswich), subsequent matches had led to Ricky Sbragia earning the permanent job. But then somehow after Sbragia was the manager proper, Sunderland's league position was not in their favour. The possible thought of relegation loomed towards the final stretch of the season, and it also never helped that even their most direct city rivals Newcastle was also being caught in the relegation mire as well. So came the final matchday of the season when Sunderland's league position was still not mathematically certain. And they were due to host Chelsea which were also in the FA Cup final at that time. Even if they eventually lost to Chelsea 3-2 (with even a familar face to Sbragia in Nicolas Anelka even got on the scoresheet for the opposing side, because Sbragia used to work at Bolton when Anelka was still playing there), Sunderland's league status was safe. But that was also when Ricky Sbragia decided to vacate his post.
Now it will be someone who actually grew up supporting Newcastle be leading the club forward in Steve Bruce. But then Bruce, who comes from the north east himself just like the location of Sunderland, said this when he was presented to the media earlier this month - "I think they like one of their own from the north east. It's results on the pitch that matter. I hope I can win over the few doubters I have. The vast majority of what I've seen is positive."
A sign to know the first-half of the season belonged to newly-promoted side Hull City, look no further than when they were away at Arsenal. 2-1, to Hull City. With even a great Geovanni (the Brazilian plays for Hull) free-kick to boot. Ever since Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger first arrived in England in the 90s, his reactions after the match was something I had never really expected since the Frenchman arrived and eventually changed the way how people view the club and their style of play. To say the least, Wenger was simply not amused over the loss. But for a club which was expected to have the same fate as Derby County did in the previous season, they had surpassed every expectation and had many of those who predicted them to have a tough time in their madien season in the top-flight...eating their words.
It is amazing because (there was at one time this season, Hull was in a European spot in the league) 11 years ago, the club was almost on the verge of playing in the Conference. The place where no professional football club like to be in. And Hull even at one time, was on the verge of liquidation. It was only a boardroom takeover in 2000 by former Leeds United commercial director Adam Pearson which secured their status. There were ups and downs in their eventual promotion to the promised land which is called the Premier League and in June 2007, Adam Pearson sold the club to a consortium led by Paul Duffen (who was actually a Tottenham Hotspur fan himself) with Pearson stating that he "had taken the club as far as I could" with him eventually severing all ties with the club. At that time, Hull was playing in the second division. They eventually qualified for the play-offs and on the final of it which was played at the Wembley, it was actually a Hull native in Dean Windass which eventually scored the only goal against Bristol City which secured their Premier League status. Statistics had shown that (lifiting it from the Wikipedia page of the club) - Their ascent from the bottom division of the English football league to the top in just five seasons is the third fastest ever.
But then as soon as people tried to find out the secrets of Hull City's fairytale run, it was the beginning of an almost free-fall. And there was one very extraordinary moment when the club was away at Manchester City in the Premier League's tradition round of Boxing Day matches. At half-time which Hull was already losing, manager Phil Brown did the unthinkable. He made his players sit on the pitch (it was near to the section of where the travelling fans were sitting) with him talking to them there and then, in front of people watching them. Whatever Brown told his players must had worked, because the level of damage was not that bad in the second-half (they were already like 3-1 down in the first-half) with them losing...5-1. But already by then, Brown had his critics of them saying that he craves for attention. And another extraordinary event happened on the final matchday of the season with them hosting the already-crowned league champions Manchester United (which were preparing for their Champions League final against Barcelona at that time). Hull's fate depend on Newcastle which was away at Aston Villa and though Hull lost to United, their goal difference and Newcastle's loss at Villa meant that minutes after the final whistle, Hull manager Phil Brown gave an impromptu karaoke performance in front of the home fans. It was off-key but, Hull City managed to cap their first season in the top-flight by...staying up.
The story of Newcastle this season has been nothing but, reading like a soap opera. And among the clubs in the Premier League this season, they had changed managers like...whatever you like to use as a synonym. Fan favourite Kevin Keegan was the man in charge but some time during the season, he decided that he had enough because he could not agree with the decisions the club board has done, like the transfer of players for example. Keegan had always believed that the manager must have a say in the transfers. So with the fan favourite left, a whole host of names was thrown around on who will be his successor and in came the one brave person who had the balls to take on the Newcastle job - Joe Kinnear. It never helped with Newcastle's situation when Kinnear arrived and, Kinnear 'announced' his arrival by swearing quite a number of times to the media in his first official appearance (they had since nicknamed him 'JFK' since...if you get the idea). And after an initial rocky start to his tenure, Kinnear managed to steady the 'ship' and fans began to accept him.
But the thing is, Joe Kinnear is only at the club on a caretaker basis. But Kinnear's health caught up with him and he had to undergo a heart bypass surgery on 16 February. Doctors advised him to stay out of the game until he fully recovers. During those time, his former assistants in Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood managed the club in his absence. Both men took on the job with the knowledge that Kinnear may not return before the end of the season. It was on 31 March, another fan favourite returned. It was Alan Shearer who until he decided to take on the club's remaining eight matches, was working as a pundit for the BBC...taking on the challenge of saving his hometown club from relegation. But even with Newcastle having some of the best-supported fans in the league, Shearer did not managed to help steer his hometown club from the dreaded drop on the final day of the season. After 16 years, Newcastle went down.
It was ironic on how Newcastle eventually got relegated. An own goal away at Aston Villa on the final matchday of the season. That in a way symbolised how Newcastle's season had been like. While Alan Shearer had said that everyone at the club had a share of the blame for the woes, the former England international did not minced his words when he indirectly warned that if action are not being taken to get the club back into the Premier League, the club may end up in a worst-case scenario...ala Leeds. But, where do the club go on from here? Both Shearer and Joe Kinnear's futures are still up in the air, and the club is back on the market...again.
Middlesbrough might had once beaten Liverpool at home 2-1 (that was one of the results which soon became widely acknowledged as among the reasons why Liverpool failed in their title bid), but it was a false dawn. Back then, I actually believed that was the beginning of things to come for Gareth Southgate's side. Not. In an era of time where the changing rate of a manager is scary in the Premier League with owners demanding instant success and all the complaints of one too many foreigners in the league itself, Middlesbrough managed to defy those two often-heard complaints. Southgate is lucky to have a chairman like Steve Gibson because had it been another chairman, the former England international would not be still around even on the final matchday of the season. Even if when it looked like the club was heading for the relegation mire, Gibson still backed his manager who also happened to be the youngest in the league. Not only that, Middlesbrough is a club which constantly let their academy players graduate to the senior side.
For those positives, one of the often-cited reasons for Middlesbrough to eventually got relegated on the final matchday was...the lack of goals. When Brazilian Afonso Alves first came from the Eredivisie in Holland, it was with expectation in view of his goal-scoring rate. But ended up...you know. Club chairman Steve Gibson once defended the signing of the Brazilian, which he also pointed other clubs also have signings which do not do well. He was right but, goals win you games. But unfortunately, it did not always come often for the club. A quick glance at the Wikipedia page of the 2008/09 season, Middlesbrough was one of the two clubs (the other was Wigan) which scored the fewest amount of goals at home. After 11 years in the top-flight, the club went down. Of a sudden, those days under Gareth Sotuhgate's precessor and his former manager in Steve McClaren were much more better. A League Cup win which sent the club into the UEFA Cup was the club's best-ever achievement for the man who is now currently making waves in Dutch football with his side FC Twente in only his first season there (inevitably, casting envious glances from England). And this was after McClaren's forgettable England stint.
Much was expected of West Bromwich Albion when they were in the Premier League this season. They were promoted as winners of the Championship (second division), and Tony Mowbray's side are said to play their football like how Arsenal has been doing under Arsene Wenger. As much as free-flowing football was West Brom's selling point, that was also one of the cited reasons for their eventual standing in the Premier League - last. Even if the Baggies for much of the season was in the last spot, fans have not ruled of an incredile 'Great Escape' which once happened when Bryan Robson was their manager.
At times it looked like it happened, but it only lifted them off the bottom of the table. Still for much of the season, in the relegation mire though. Even if the pundits were criticising, West Brom manager Tony Mowbray refused to change his principles on how side should play their football. He even once famously said that he did not watched BBC's Match Of The Day. That is where the BBC's round of football pundits would analyse each Premier League match and give their take on the match in question. Mowbray was actually referring that he is not listening to what everyone else is saying about his side, even if they are at the wrong end of the table.
So...that is it. My very own attempt of recapping the season that was in the Premier League. Maybe the race for the title was for a moment between Manchester United, Liverpool and even Chelsea to only just between the first two clubs I mentioned...there was quite a race at the bottom of the table only for the English media to dub the final day of the season as 'Survival Sunday'. Whether the Premier League has quality all across its 20 clubs in the top-flight, it is open to debate. But even if the state of the current financial situation around the world at the moment which may somehow threaten the state of the league or clubs which may not be in the best state of financial health in English football's promised land...the ball will still be rolling around next season in what Britain's Sky Sports once famously labelling the league as the best league in the world. Something like that. That is how they termed it, not me!
