Odds stacked against promoted sides but Sunderland have shown the way

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 MANAGERS

Standing 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