Will the relegated Premier League teams bounce straight back up?

The Championship is a tough old school, not that Premier League fall guys Cardiff, Fulham and Huddersfield need reminding of that fact.

Only 14 months have passed since Cardiff and Fulham were last plying their trade in the second tier, while Huddersfield’s top-flight sojourn lasted only a season longer, so they will not be in for any surprises on their return to a level they know so well.

It is also highly likely that Neil Warnock, Scott Parker and Jan Siewert, the bosses at those three clubs, are aware that teams who come down don’t boast the best of records for an immediate return.

Of the last 57 clubs relegated to the Championship since the turn of the century, demoted with all the benefits of parachute payments plus Premier League pedigree and squads, only 14 have achieved promotion in the following season.

The most recent of those was Newcastle in 2016-17 who delighted punters by storming to glory at a best price of 15-8.

A year earlier two clubs, Burnley and Hull, made instant returns to the Premier League, the Tigers via the playoffs after a fourth-place finish.

But in each of the last two seasons the relegated sides have drawn blanks. Indeed, in 2017-18 Sunderland did far, far worse than merely drawing a blank – they couldn’t even apply the brakes and continued their freefall through into League One.

Last term at least relegated West Brom made the playoffs though Stoke, who came down with them and went off 11-2 favourites to go straight back up, finished 16th.

The picture is mixed at best, discouraging at worst for our trio of Premier League flops, though it hasn’t stopped Fulham going off second favourites behind Leeds with Cardiff next fancied by several bookmakers.

The positivity for Fulham is based on a respectable end to the season under Parker, who managed three wins in ten games, just one less than Slavisa Jokanovic and Claudio Ranieri had between them mustered in 28 attempts.

Parker was handed a thankless task with his team ten points adrift when he took the reins and while he couldn’t close the gap there were clear signs of progress over a short period of time.

Owner Shahid Khan continues to back him, the pair helping to persuade some of the Cottagers’ better players to stay put while investing in decent newcomers Anthony Knockaert and Ivan Cavaleiro. Layers and punters foresee them contending and it’s easy to see why.

They will certainly be hoping that there isn’t a repeat performance of the season following their last relegation from the Premier League when, interestingly, they also finished in 19th place. That was in 2013-14 and 12 months later they were languishing in 17th place in the Championship.

Indeed, the 19th-placed finishers in the Premier League have, quirkily, a far worse rate of instant return than those clubs who go down in 18th or 20th. Since 2000, just three clubs relegated in 19th spot bounced straight back up.

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