I'd guess that the longer you're in the vortex, the harder it is to come back up? Is there any level of club wealth that would allow you to skip that, or even then do you think the drag of the unwanted firefighter players is too great?
I can't really think of examples, maybe Fulham and Watford who've broadly been able to spend their way back up, but they haven't had the multiple years of PL firefighting. Villa when they finally came up perhaps, as they would otherwise have been stuck long-term.
Parachute payments are key here as you really don't leave the vortex until those expire. I think it's why so many clubs have been able to be quickly promoted immediately after relegation (Burnley will absolutely do so again this season, Sheffield United looks likely to do so and Norwich has a shot). I think Sunderland were such an edge case as they had so many years of barely staving off relegation and they kept doubling down on older players and huge wage bills that even the parachute payments couldn't help. I think Leeds, Wolves and Saints are young enough and have cheap enough wages that they could bounce back quickly with help of parachute funds should they go down. Everton, OTOH, is in a world of hurt if they get relegated. Could easily see them head the Sunderland route which is incredible given the size of the club.
The fact that Palace found a way out of this vortex is still astonishing to me
I'd guess that the longer you're in the vortex, the harder it is to come back up? Is there any level of club wealth that would allow you to skip that, or even then do you think the drag of the unwanted firefighter players is too great?
I can't really think of examples, maybe Fulham and Watford who've broadly been able to spend their way back up, but they haven't had the multiple years of PL firefighting. Villa when they finally came up perhaps, as they would otherwise have been stuck long-term.
Parachute payments are key here as you really don't leave the vortex until those expire. I think it's why so many clubs have been able to be quickly promoted immediately after relegation (Burnley will absolutely do so again this season, Sheffield United looks likely to do so and Norwich has a shot). I think Sunderland were such an edge case as they had so many years of barely staving off relegation and they kept doubling down on older players and huge wage bills that even the parachute payments couldn't help. I think Leeds, Wolves and Saints are young enough and have cheap enough wages that they could bounce back quickly with help of parachute funds should they go down. Everton, OTOH, is in a world of hurt if they get relegated. Could easily see them head the Sunderland route which is incredible given the size of the club.