Aug 14 : Sunderland provided the blueprint for promoted clubs when they finished seventh in the Premier League last season, but recent history shows the difficulty awaiting Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City in the 2026-27 campaign.Sunderland's capacity to dip heavily into the transfer market to boost their squad was a major factor, these days perhaps the biggest in determining if a team will stay up.But it is telling that so far in this transfer window, they have signed only right-back Thomas Meunier as a free agent from Lille, despite the demands of European football that will be placed on them after they qualified for the Europa League.How much Coventry, Ipswich and Hull can spend to bolster their squads is crucial as the gap in quality between the Championship and Premier League widens with time.
In the two years preceding last season, all six promoted teams – Burnley, Sheffield United, Luton Town, Leicester City, Ipswich and Southampton – came up and went straight back down. In the last 10 seasons, 16 of the 30 promoted sides have been relegated in their first campaign in the top flight. And at least one promoted side has been relegated in 30 of the 34 seasons since the Premier League started in 1992-93. Coventry manager Frank Lampard orchestrated a successful relegation battle when he was at Everton in 2021-22 and will understand the pressures it places on a squad.NEW MANAGERSStanding in favour of the promoted clubs is that nine top flight teams have new managers this campaign, almost half the league, and how quickly the players adapt to them could be a factor in other teams being drawn into a relegation scrap. One of those clubs is Ipswich. They have brought in Gary O’Neil to replace Kieran McKenna in the hope that his extensive Premier League experience with Bournemouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers will help keep them up."That’s why I’m here," O’Neil told reporters. "I have experience, I’ve done it before. The playing group fits what I like, from watching from the outside, there is a good culture, hard work, honesty, and the same in the stands (with the fans). "I think the real focus this year is, let’s get enough points but let’s still look like a good football team. Let’s be well coached, let’s be together and let’s be hard-working. "But come the end of the season, the only thing that most people are going to care about is how many points we’ve put on the board."Hull's Bosnian manager Sergej Jakirovic has no Premier League experience, but is bullish about his team’s chances. "We will survive. I don’t know fear," he told Croatian website Sportske Novosti. "Sunderland is my guiding principle, the club recognised, conditionally speaking, cheaper, but very good players, mainly in Belgium and France."We will need 12 to 15 (new players). To get 120 million pounds ($161.99 million) for transfers (like Sunderland reportedly spent), that's a dream. I don't believe we will have that much money available, but we'll see."Coventry play their first Premier League fixture in 25 years at champions Arsenal in the season-opener on August 21, while a day later Hull welcome Manchester United and Ipswich host Sunderland.($1 = 0.7408 pounds)
