Not sure about that. If Everton get relegated then when they return they’re less likely to get relegated than, for example, Wigan. Ideally you want small/smaller clubs being promoted and being relegated within 2 seasons over and over again. But there is a downside in that eventually you could end up with all the Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday size clubs in the premier league, however, that’s never happened and that’s because fan pressure demands they climb higher than fighting relegation and down some of them go.

As long as you know your manager, or more importantly squad (seeing as it’s normal now to sack a manager around 10 or 4 games in), are better than at least 3/4/5 teams that season, you’ve got a good chance of never being relegated. Parish just about ensured this, while having no backups or no players for certain positions, yet how many times have we seen teams who haven’t just been promoted go into the next season poorly stocked?

COYP

I remember reading several articles saying that he didnt think we were the right challenge for him (not wanting a relegation dog fight / the squad rebuild project being to much for us as a club to cope with) I dont remember reading a single article that said that we had actually approached him, discussed the vacancy with him, interviewed him or offered him the job.

Hmm . . . Where have i heard that before

I'm a blind man, i'm a blind man, now my room is cold,
When a blind man cries, Lord, he feels it from his soul.
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I agree, but it's a poisoned chalice more than anything else because the fans are delusional. They think they're a big club, demand to act like they're a big club, and then things rapidly turn sour when history repeats itself and it becomes obvious they're not a big club. They hired totally the wrong manager for a relegation battle (see my earlier post) precisely because they think they're too big for a Roy-type so Moshiri gave the fans the glamour name they wanted (Lampard) and...that's working out well, isn't it? Just like it did with Ancelotti, who ran for the hills the first time a proper big club came calling. Everton fans over the past year have created an absolutely toxic atmosphere around the club and it's no wonder everything's falling apart. Yes, I get why they didn't want Benitez and hiring him was an awful decision but at the end of the day, their reaction to his hiring is quite likely to cost the club its Premier League status. As we at Palace know better than most supporters, what you have to do is get 100% behind your manager and your team, whether you like it or not. Our ability to do that is one of the reasons we've stayed in the Prem for ten years now putting up with Pulis, Sam, and Roy giving us week after week of sometimes dire football because the price was worth paying and first and foremost, we support the Palace no matter what. Everton supporters right now are a self-deluding joke.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

I couldn't possibly say Nic, it's the height of bad manners, not to mention, at great risk of personal injury, to divulge a womens privacy.

I'm a blind man, i'm a blind man, now my room is cold,
When a blind man cries, Lord, he feels it from his soul.
[Link]

Agree with a lot of this but there’s been a problem with recruitment for a long time. Remember when they signed Gylfi Sigurdsson but played three number 10’s? Incidentally, what’s happened to him? He’s disappeared. Perhaps he’s misbehaved behind the scenes and away from football.

They hired Steve Walsh as chief scout or DOF a few years ago. He followed Nigel Pearson everywhere from Newcastle. When Walsh got to Leicester he built the squad that Ranieri inherited to win the title on a very small budget. He also signed all the first crop of Chelsea players for mourinho. But at Everton he made a few bad signings and they sacked him just after not signing a few players he recommended who’ve gone onto become highly sought after expensive players. Get your recruitment and recruiter right and with a good manager you’ll reach your potential within reason of what’s sensibly achievable. You can look at plenty of clubs where it’s still the way to do it. Chucking money around without the right people doing it and you just fall behind those doing it right. All very obvious to some but still others chuck money around.

COYP