English Premier League Relegation run in part 3

Trying to predict results at the bottom of the English Premiership currently is like trying to come up with those elusive lottery numbers to win the jackpot - in other words it's all rather unpredictable at the moment!  There have been more "shock" results since I last blogged my predictions for the run-in.  QPR pulled off a win against Tottenham (playing with 10 men for the last 10 or so minutes of the game); Wigan, despite their brilliant run of form recently, finally succumbed to Fulham in the last minute of their last game after earlier having pulled off another shock result in beating Arsenal; Blackburn have managed to keep their increasingly slim hopes of staying up alive by beating Norwich at home and Bolton took full advantage of one of their two games in hand on everyone else by beating Aston Villa on a horribly damp night which would have suited the mood of the Villa supporters. 

Speaking of Aston Villa, they are starting to look like "that team" that no-one thinks is in trouble until the last minute.  Interesting times for fans of anyone not supporting any of these clubs as they can watch on in fascination whilst those around them panic!  It should be noted that at this point one of my original predicted teams to go (although this one was fairly easy to foresee) fell through the trapdoor over the weekend - the Wolves (or Wolverhampton Wanderers) will be on new hunting ground next season.
So to my latest predictions for the final table (drum roll please - or should that be death knoll?!) my version stands as follows:


15th Aston Villa  -17 Goal Difference 36 Points
16th Bolton Wanderers -29 Goal Difference 36 Points
17th QPR -22 Goal Difference 35 Points
18th Blackburn Rovers -28 Goal Difference 35 Points
19th Wigan Athletic -28 Goal Difference 35 Points
20th Wolverhampton Wanderers -44 Goal Difference 24 Points (already relegated)

No change since the last update on who actually goes down with Wigan and Blackburn still in the bottom three in my final reckoning but it's still very tight, in fact goal difference is the only thing separating Blackburn and QPR and the fact that Blackburn would have scored more goals than Wigan keeping them above their neighbours.  Aston Villa's recent form is reflected in the fact that they only scrape to safety by 1 point along with Bolton.

There's plenty of action on this front to look forward to this weekend, with all sides facing difficult or challenging opposition, it would only take one side to get a result and the others failing to change my table again.  The race to avoid relegation is hotting up, it remains to be seen who can stand the heat.

The varying fortunes of the Football League Founder Members

Football has changed hugely over the years, today if you asked people to name a well known football team you might get answers such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.  Fair enough you may say since they are all currently sat in the top half of the Premier League, however, none of these teams were founder members when the football league as we know it was first formed.  This honour went to 12 teams from the North West and the Midlands; they were Aston Villa, Accrington Stanley (of "who are they?" fame), Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

So where are they all now?  Well seven are currently plying their trade in the Premiership (Aston Villa, Blackburn, Bolton, Everton, Stoke, West Brom and Wolves), whilst Burnley and Derby are one below in the Championship, Notts County and Preston are playing in League 1 and Accrington are in League 2.  It is fair to say that despite the apparent success in having over half of the founder members in the top flight of football that each team has had its fair share of ups and downs over the years.  Let's take a look at the varying fortunes of each team over the last 10 years.


How the Founder Members have faired

Only 4 of the teams haven't been involved in promotion or relegation over the last 10 years: Aston Villa, Blackburn, Bolton and Everton (though at the time of writing, both Blackburn and Bolton are sitting in the relegation places in the Premier League) and all four have had good cup fortunes, either winning or being runners up in a competition.

West Brom win the yoyo team tag with no less than 3 relegations and 4 promotions over the last 10 years - plenty of bitten finger nails in the black country there then!

Yet a lot of credit should go out to two teams that many would consider unfashionable - Stoke City and, yes, the much maligned Accrington Stanley.  Both have been promoted twice in the last ten years and have thrown in a cup win for good measure.  Neither of them have endured relegation during this time, whereas all the other clubs mentioned in the table above that have been promoted in the last 10 years have also been relegated at some point too.

It just goes to show that success isn't always about being in the top half of the premiership, there's plenty going on in and around and outside of it and that's what makes football so interesting and unpredictable!  It would be nice to have all of the founder members back in the big league together, let's see what the next 10 years bring - you never know!