The basic principle of 'what comes up must come down' is, of course, gravity. However, the same eternal truth is regularly applied to football and, in particular, to the Premier League.
Every season the three newly promoted teams are immediately odds-on to go straight back down.
There are practical reasons for this. The likelihood is that at least one of them will get sucked back down and therefore the odds on this happening are short. Furthermore, they are a somewhat unknown quantity when they enter the Premier League.
But it is also based on assumptions which are starting to seem erroneous. It is expected that most teams in the Championship cannot cope with the higher level of football that the Premier League offers. However, on a week by week basis last season, I'm not sure we can claim that the standard of matches in the top flight was all that high.
Take away the top four (although I'd still argue that they all underperformed at times last season) and there were some incredibly poor teams who shuffled their way through the season trying to keep their heads above water.
I realise that, as a Boro fan, I was not witnessing Premier League class from my team in many, or maybe any, of our fixtures last season. But as a football fan and a journalist, I also noticed that the opposition were generally either just as poor as we were or even worse!
The quality of football on show seemed somewhat lacking and I would go as far as to say that in the 2008-09 Premier League season, the majority of teams were poor.
This may seem like a bold statement to make when we regularly boast about having some of the world's best players in the Premier League but hear me out. The top scorer last season, Nicolas Anelka, scored 19 league goals. The season before, this would have put him fourth, as it did with Roque Santa Cruz, whilst Cristiano Ronaldo banged in 31. Most seasons the top scorer is around the 25 mark, although Thierry Henry was never really happy with anything under 28.
It can be argued that more team members are contributing goals and one individual at each club is not running away with the strike record. However, the statistics point to a generation of strikers who are less and less prolific.
And it is not just scoring that the players seem to have forgotten how to do. The best teams in the league still conceded goals from monumentally stupid mistakes. Even Arsenal couldn't defend for toffee, although the Toffees themselves did an excellent job of 'square pegging' players out of injury-related necessity.
The top four aside, most of the teams who prospered did so by digging in and fighting. And if the entertaining football slipped, or in some cases disappeared, well that's the nature of the beast.
With the demise of West Brom, Newcastle United and Middlesbrough came the arrival of Burnley, Birmingham City and Wolves.
Wolves won the Championship with a solid 4-4-2 formation and an attacking mentality. Birmingham were only relegated by a single point in the 2007-08 season and have proved their 'bouncebackability' by finishing second and coming straight back up, Meanwhile, Burnley won all three play-off matches without conceding a single goal.
Newly promoted teams have a lot in common with the new kids at school. Some will take pity on them and some will applaud their achievements, but they inevitably have a target on their backs and a sign that says 'kick me'.
The popular kids are rich and mean. They think they own the place and they do not welcome newcomers. The top four look to take maximum points from the 'fresh meat' otherwise they consider it an embarrassment.
Last season it was Hull City, Stoke City and West Brom who arrived in the Premier League, wide-eyed and nervous.
West Brom, of course, were the ones to go. Tony Mowbray's determination to 'play football' at all costs seemed admirable at the time but now appears rather hypocritical in light of his move to Celtic.
Regardless, the Baggies are out of the Premier League mix.
Stoke spent the majority of the season staring down into the abyss until they began to capitalise on Rory Delap's throwing ability and signed James Beattie.
Then there's Hull.
Actually Hull weren't nervous at all. If anything they were rather cocky!
For a while they held their nerve and were largely unruffled by the big boys but sadly their bravado didn't last.
Hull City are likely to have another trying season. The Tigers were burning bright at the beginning of last season but their spark diminished all too quickly and by May, the embers were barely glowing.
Other teams who struggled last season and may do so again include Portsmouth, Bolton Wanderers and Sunderland.
Portsmouth were relegation-bound until Peter Crouch went out all guns blazing to secure safety for Pompey. In doing so, he endeared himself to the fans. Soon afterwards, he bad-mouthed the club and the chairman, and moved to Spurs.
Bolton relied on Kevin Davies's unlikely but potent scoring spree and their ability to batter teams into submission.
And Sunderland were the only North-East team to stay up but they needed quite a lot of help to do so.
Keane's resignation, players who didn't gel, and a general lack of ideas kept dragging the Black Cats back towards the danger zone.
With Steve Bruce at the helm they will be a different team. However, whether changing the manager will be enough to improve the whole structure of the club remains to be seen.
The point is that I can see several teams struggling to compete again this season and it may just work in the favour of the newly promoted sides.
If Burnley can stay injury free and concentrate on the job in hand, I think they have a good chance of finishing safely.
Birmingham were unlucky to go down by so small a margin two seasons ago and will work hard to rectify their mistakes.
Wolves will try to adapt their rigid formation and learn to play teams at their own game.
Common sense and probability say that at least one will plummet back into the Championship but as I'm not really a fan of either concept, I say good luck to the newboys. Don't let the bullies get you down!
First published on www.SportingPreview.com on 6/8/2009
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