It’s the end of an era as four renowned yo-yo clubs – Fulham, Norwich City, Watford and Rotherham United – have all binned their scripts this season.
For Fulham and Rotherham, this is a timely and deserved twist that is a reward for learning from past mistakes. Yet for Norwich and Watford – who have been made to settle for mid-table mediocrity in the Championship – it is a warranted punishment for failing to progress past their recurring off-field misdemeanours.
Fulham
I admittedly look pretty foolish for going for Fulham as one of my three pre-season picks for relegation as Marco Silva’s side have been a joy in the Premier League.
In their previous two seasons in the top flight, the Cottagers went down with a whimper, stumbling to 26 points in 2018/19 and then just 28 in 2020/21.
In 18/19, Fulham haphazardly spent £100m on new signings (including Jean Michael Seri, Frank Anguissa and Andre Schurrle) and went through three managers (Slavisa Jokanovic, Claudio Ranieri and Scott Parker). A recipe for disaster that played out as expected.
Parker – who has since been outed as quite a sh*t manager – was kept on during the 20/21 behind-closed-doors season and managed just five wins in what was a sorry campaign for the club.
His successor – Silva – has taken his second (third?) chance in the Premier League after he failed to amend the downward momentum at Hull and Everton.
Anyone doubting his capabilities have been silenced this season and he has been helped by Fulham’s inspired recruitment. Andreas Pereira, Bernd Leno and Willian have resurrected their careers at Craven Cottage, while Joao Palhinha has been their player of the season.
Silva’s work for the top-half outfit places him among the manager of the season contenders and the whole club needs commending for finding a footing in the Premier League after a ten-year wait.
Norwich City
There are many players deemed too good for the Championship but not good enough for the Premier League. Ex-Norwich striker Cameron Jerome is one such example and the Canaries have been the club version of that trope for four years until this campaign.
After earning 94-plus points in two title-winning seasons in the second tier, Norwich followed that with two 20th-placed finishes in the Premier League that resulted in them failing to surpass 22 points.
Long-term manager Daniel Farke was present during the majority of this period and Dean Smith was tasked with pulling off an almighty salvage job…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…