Monday, 11 May 2020

The Championship would be worse for AFCB than for the fans

We don't know yet if AFCB will be relegated. But if the worst happens and they do go down, whether through the league being stopped now, or through the league playing to an end, is it really that bad for the club and fans? Arguably for the fans, it could even be more exciting playing in the Championship with more games, potentially more winnable fixtures and still the possibility of winning promotion back, with the parachute payment to help. Yet, for the club, it could be an absolute financial catastrophe.


The Championship would mean a massive drop in revenue for AFCB.
The Cherries income is 88 per cent gathered from TV broadcasts through the Premier League. Worse still, most of that goes on player wages. There would need to be a savage cut in wage payments next season, if Bournemouth did face the drop. That would probably mean a mass exodus of the payers we have come to like and know so well. Bournemouth won't lose much in match day revenues, and commercial revenue is only eight per cent of the club income. Where it will hurt is financially with the loss of TV revenue and Eddie Howe would have a big restructuring job on his hands.

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Howe has started a big restructuring programme at Burnley, which I suppose was ultimately successful when a season after he left Burnley Sean Dyche won promotion, but it is something Howe has not done himself. Whether he could lead Bournemouth back to the Premier League will be on fans minds. Perhaps the possibility will come sooner than we might have hoped, but Bournemouth have had five years in the Premier League which is outstanding for such a small club.
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Ultimately, the fans would still get to see their team playing and more often on a Saturday as well as in midweek. The Championship was great fun in 2013-14 and 2014-15. It was a new experience and Bournemouth played against clubs that it hadn't played in a long time. We may have to watch younger and less experienced players next time, but the Championship always offers good value. Fans will enjoy football again, even if it might not be against the really big boys.
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  1. Anonymous11 May 2020 at 13:41

    We also need to acknowledge that AFCB (like Watford, Southampton, Brighton and others) have reached an impasse in the Premiership. That's not a bad thing in itself, but it nevertheless starts to feel like you're permanently wedged between a glass ceiling and a trap door. Arguably, the only team who seem to have really graduated from the Championship to playing on level terms in the Premiership are Wolves - who could quite easily have done the double against Liverpool this season - and it's perhaps no coincidence that they won their promotion by a country mile. Just like in real life, the whole point of promotion should be that you're too good or talented for your current job!
    If we reverted to two up, two down - the mid table would offer some sanctuary and allow teams (and managers) room to breathe and express themselves.

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