Many League clubs had invested in ground improvements and the player transfer market with anticipated television funds that never materialized, causing several clubs to enter receivership – most notably Bradford City, who were faced with debts of £36 million and almost lost their Football League status as a result.
As a result, financial disparity has been cited as a reason for newly promoted teams finding it increasingly harder to establish themselves in the Premier League, thus worrying more about avoiding relegation than even winning the title.
This was in spite of Rovers initially spending substantial amounts of money following their relegation from the Premier League, breaking their transfer record to land Jordan Rhodes for £8 million in the 2012–13 season.
[6] Rovers would proceed to become a cost-cutting club, due to the exhaustion of their parachute payments across multiple seasons, large amounts of debts beginning to surface reportedly within the region of £100 million, and a lack of investment from their owners Venkys, culminating in their relegation to League One.
[7][8] Another notable example of a former Premier League club that has struggled both financially and competitively, despite being in receipt of parachute payments, would be that of Bolton Wanderers.
[13] The parent company Sports Shield BWFC was wound up in August 2017 after a court hearing, with initial fears that Bolton would face a points deduction as a result, however the club avoided such sanction.
[14] In spite of the club being under a transfer embargo imposed by the Football League for almost two years from late 2015 to September 2017,[15][16] with the club being limited to free transfers and loans under a pre-determined wage cap, Bolton earned promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking under manager Phil Parkinson in the 2016–17 season.
Steve Bruce, at the time manager of Birmingham City, stated that, It's a results business… The Championship is very entertaining at the moment because about 12 clubs think they can win it.
West Brom were, in fact, still bottom of the table on the morning and even at half time in their final match of the last day of the 2004–05 season.
However, a win over Portsmouth, combined with Norwich City and Southampton defeats and a draw for Crystal Palace, enabled them to move up three places and thus survive, an achievement since dubbed "The Great Escape".
West Brom remain the only team to be bottom of the Premier League at Christmas, on the last day, even at half time, and still survive.
[19] Every side that lay bottom at Christmas improved their form in the remaining matches – except for Derby County, West Brom, and Portsmouth over the three-year period of 2008 to 2010, and Sheffield United in 2023–24.
Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United had the third worst and worst forms prior to Christmas respectively, while West Ham achieved the highest points total from a 38-game season for a relegated side – achieving more points at the end of the season than the four sides who survived the drop despite being bottom at Christmas.
In 1996–97, newly promoted Leicester City achieved top-flight survival for the first time since 1986 by finishing ninth and also winning the Football League Cup to end their 33-year trophy drought.
[40] Charlton Athletic's return to the Premier League as Division One champions for the 2000–01 season was marked with a ninth-place finish – their highest for some 50 years.
[43] After two seasons of newly promoted clubs either being relegated or narrowly scraping survival, West Ham United finished ninth in the Premier League in 2005–06 and almost won the FA Cup (only missing out due to a late Liverpool equaliser and a penalty shoot-out defeat),[44] while fellow promoted side Wigan Athletic enjoyed an even more remarkable season.
[45] Reading reached the top flight for the first time in their history for the 2006–07 season and finished eighth – narrowly missing out on UEFA Cup qualification.
Marco Silva replaced Phelan in January and rejuvenated the team, getting some good results, in particular in a 2–0 home win over Liverpool[51] and a point away at Old Trafford,[52] however the damage had been done in the first half of the season, and Hull finished 18th.
[55] Birmingham City, who had two spells in the Premier League between 2002 and 2008, returned to the elite for the 2009–10 campaign one season after relegation and secured a ninth-place finish, the club's best in decades and one of their highest ever.
[56] Norwich City returned to the top flight for the first time in seven years, a season when the team had to win against Fulham at Craven Cottage in order to survive but were relegated straight back to The Championship after a 6–0 defeat.
The season after in 2010–11, Norwich earned their place back amongst the elite by gaining the second automatic promotion spot in the a Championship, with many pundits tipping the team for immediate relegation.
[63][64] Also in 2017, Huddersfield Town also earned promotion to the Premier League for the first time in their history by winning the 2017 Championship play-off final, having finished in 19th place in the Championship the season prior and having only had a £12 million playing budget in their possession, a significantly lower figure in comparison to other clubs such as Aston Villa, who were backed by the wealthy Recon Group and were in receipt of parachute payments.
They were the second promoted team in as many seasons to finish with at least 50 points and did not lose a single away game until December when they lost 2–0 at Manchester City.
In 2020, Leeds United, who returned to the Premier League after 16 years, finished ninth in the 2020–21 season with 59 points, the most by a newly promoted side since Ipswich Town in the 2000–01 season, only missing out on European football by three points, having an outside chance of qualifying to the Conference League until the final day, however both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal won their fixtures.
Another notable example was Ipswich Town, who were promoted to the Premier League after a five-year exile and finished fifth in 2000–01, qualifying for the UEFA Cup, but were relegated a year later.
In 2006–07, Reading were playing top division football for the first time in their history and finished eighth in the Premier League, with only a defeat on the final day of the season preventing them from qualifying for the UEFA Cup.
Another example is Birmingham City, who after securing ninth position with over 50 points, were then relegated in 2010–11 after suffering a horrific downturn in form despite claiming the Carling Cup.
Brentford, with one of the smallest budgets in the division and among the pre-season favorites for relegation after the departure of Eriksen, followed up a stellar debut Premier League campaign in 2021/22 with a ninth-place finish in 2022/23.
Project Big Picture was a plan proposed by leading Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool[69] and their owners Joel Glazer and John W.
[75] The Daily Telegraph described the plan as a "brazen power grab", and "a hostile takeover spun as a rescue package" by the top clubs.