[Locke]

Abolition of Relegation rears its ugly head, again....

League Managers' Association chief executive Richard Bevan has warned some foreign owners of Premier League clubs want to scrap relegation from the top flight.

With the number of foreign owners increasing in recent years, Bevan is concerned their growing numbers could see them succeed in forcing through a vote to abolish relegation and promotion.

Relegation does not exist in some other sports and in some other nations. For instance, none of the major American sporting leagues use relegation, with fixed membership in Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the minor leagues that serve as their feeder teams.

With the increasing number of American owners in the Premier League, it should come as no surprise that promotion and relegation could be under discussion.

Four of the five American ownership groups in the Premier League - those at Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa - also own sports teams competing in the American major leagues, and they are not used to the threat of relegation, and the huge financial losses that can follow.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...gation?cc=5901

More commentary which I particularly agree with:

Such a concept would suck the competitive element out of the game, ridding sides out of contention for honours of motivation. Those heart palpations surrounding survival would evaporate. If a side accepts they cannot achieve the title but yet there is no penalty for sitting in the lower reaches of the division, then what is one playing for? Of graver concern would be the removal of promotion.

Imagine a sudden lockdown of divisions, the bolting of the gates on the Premier League, Championship, League One, etc. These sides, who fight to write new chapters of history, or, for some, look to return to the heady days of the 'big time' would be left abandoned, their fates frozen in time and their supporters left decidedly numb. Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson recognises this.

Ferguson, who won promotion from the Scottish First Division with St Mirren in 1977, said: "There are at least eight teams in the Championship at the moment with great history. What do you say to those eight teams, they can never play in the Premier League? You may as well lock the doors. It would be absolute suicide for the rest of the teams in the country, particularly the Championship."

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns...s-soul?cc=5901

I like the relegation and promotion, its an incentive for teams in the Championship and Premier League teams to play their best.

Some of best times of the Premier League are the last two weeks when teams are desperately fighting to avoid the drop.