Statistically speaking, only a fifth of teams relegated manage to gain automatic promotion the following season. But with Premier League parachute payments of £60m, you could be forgiven for thinking that promotion should be a formality. It seems that once condemned to live in the Championship, there is not an easy way out. In fact, of the last 12 teams to be relegated from the Premier League, only West Ham have gone straight back up. Interestingly, out of 20 teams who did gain promotion after a single season in the second flight, five went straight back down again.
So why is promotion so difficult for a team who have already played in the highest tier?
Most likely, when a team gets relegated, they lose their best players to clubs still playing Premier League Football, their wage bill decreases and there will be a managerial shake-up.
Even more telling is that just as many teams suffer a second relegation as get promoted again, meaning that over the space of three seasons further relegation is just as likely as promotion back to the Premier League. Once you go down a division, life only gets harder.
