Agreed...what a depressing thought though...For some reason (I can't help it) when I see the likes of Burnley, Swansea, Bournemouth, Blackpool, Brentford, Bristol City, Brighton, Hull... I go back to the 95/96 season when we OWNED THOSE BITCHES...and I look at where they are now...or what they have achieved in the recent past, even if they've gone up to the Prem and come back down (but just look at those stadiums!!!) and I think, FUCK...why can't it ever be us...
Similar but the season I go back to is 03/04 and the Brighton play off season under Kingy.
…even if you ignore the 4 teams that finished above is (Plymouth, QPR, Bristol City & Brighton)
Bournemouth, Luton, Colchester, Barnsley, Blackpool, Sheffield Wednesday, Brentford, Peterborough & Wycombe have all spent season in the top 2 divisions.
…then you look at the division below.
Doncaster, Hull, Huddersfield, Yeovil, Swansea, Southend & Scunthorpe have all spent seasons in the top 2 divisions.
20 years later quite a mixed bag of ‘where are they now?’ But on the face of it…
I dunno why I default to 2003/04. It probably wasn’t but really felt like that’s when the gap between the Premier League and the rest started getting bigger and bigger. When Chelsea starting spending billions. Also feels like the time Champions League qualification started becoming more important than the domestic cups and also when longer term contracts and any form of squad continuity went out the window and everything was 1 and 2 year deals. Big clubs hoovering up young talent, lower leagues filling their squads with loan players.
At the time seemed like new stadium = success. Reading, Wigan, Swansea, Hull all seemed to get new stadiums and progress.
I can’t imagine that’s exactly when it ALL happened but must have been around that time.
