Tickle Tackle - Who's Next?
Tuesday, 1st Apr 2008 00:13 by Steve Tickle

So we're officially relegated... and by a distance. But will we be the last to be so patently out of our depth in the Premier League?

Relegation day came and went almost without the emotions you'd expect. To all intents and purposes, we had after all, been relegation certainties since around Christmas. I don't think I've really looked seriously at the bottom of the table since then anyway.

It hurts when the media write or speak of us with barely concealed contempt... Sky Sports' Matthew Lorenzo in particular irritates me with his smug, snide remarks There's absolutely no excuse for such a lack of professionalism. However, there's no getting away from the fact that we've been seriously out of our depth this season. Has it purely been down to the fact that we haven't had the necessary ability though?

Personally, I don't think so. I believe the reasons are many and varied. At the beginning of the season I said I thought Billy Davies and the then board would have us as prepared as we possibly could be. I was so wrong. We were nowhere near properly prepared and when the going started to get tough and the cracks started to appear, too many people gave up too early... Billy Davies included.

We haven't even been able to earn ourselves the label "Plucky Derby" as far too many winnable games were conceded without even so much as a murmur. Nevertheless, there have been many times this season when I've thought that the position we find ourselves in is as much down to the ever growing gulf between the "Haves" of the Premier League and the "Have nots" outside it. That combined with the playoff system and transfer window, neither of which I believe help the smaller clubs. The attitude at Pride Park has been all wrong for far too much of this season but if it had been any better, would we now find ourselves in a significantly different position?

I look at the top of the Championship and I see names like Bristol City, Watford, Hull City, Plymouth Argyle. Whoever finds themselves in the top flight next season, I wish them well. I fear though that someone is in line to take our unwanted records away from us... the only Premiership team to have been relegated before the end of March and potentially, with the lowest points tally ever.

There's every chance that if one or more of those clubs gets promotion, they're going to be so made up about it they're going to be no better prepared for what lies ahead than we were and will end up as cannon fodder like we've been. If that's the case, I believe football will have to take a serious look at itself.

It's no good for the game if the top league is continually getting stronger and richer at the expense of the rest. Will the big clubs see it that way though? We've already had an abortive attempt by the Premier League to take part of the competition "on tour" and it won't stop there. The top clubs aren't worried about the smaller clubs. They may pay lip service to any discussions that take place but they won't radically shift their position if there's nothing in it for them.