Indeed, it will be hard not to considering how many live fixtures will be pushed our way by Sky Sports.
My main point of interest will be whether any of the three promoted clubs – Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton can remain in the top flight of English football for more than just a single season.
Last season, 2023/2024, the three clubs promoted from the EFL Championship the previous season, 2022/2023, occupied the three relegation places, Sheffield United, Burnley and, of course, Luton Town.
On gaining promotion strengthening of the team is the number one priority, but how much should be spent is a determining factor for many a season to come, especially if you are relegated after the thirty-eight games.
The Hatters, after numerous dalliances with financial disaster in the past, out of the three clubs, chose to spend very wisely, aiming to bring in new players at respectable prices while also benefiting from the loan system, a thrifty approach that didn’t quite see survival attained in a struggle that almost went right to the wire.
Looking at the three promoted clubs from the EFL Championship last season, it is Ipswich Town that intrigue me the most. While Leicester City and Southampton have experience of playing Premier League football, Ipswich Town, like us, have been on something akin to a fairy tale, rising from League One to the Premier League in successive promotion seasons.
However, looking at the summer transfer deals done so far, it appears that Ipswich Town have decided to spend, spend, spend to try and preserve their status as a Premier League with the following deals already sealed:
• Omari Hutchinson – £20 million
• Jacob Greaves – undisclosed (circa £15 million)
• Liam Delap – undisclosed (circa £20 million)
• Arijanet Muric – undisclosed (circa £10 million)
showing that circa £65 million has already been spent with transfer tittle-tattle also linking the Suffolk based club with a move for the prolific Blackburn Rovers forward – Sami Szmodics – which will, if the deal goes ahead, increase their spending total even further, with my calculations not including any other players they may have snapped up that I’m unaware of.
Clearly, Ipswich Town have adopted a different survival option than we did, now whether they’ll be successful in their intentions or not remains debatable and we’ll only know the answer come next May, or even earlier if their plans do not come to fruition.
But, in bringing this article to a climax, I’d like your opinion on whether, perhaps, the Hatters might still be playing top-flight football if we’d been willing to splash more of the cash that came our way or were we right to be frugal knowing that Premier League cash will safeguard our future for many years to come, even more so with Power Court to be funded in an economy where price rises continue to affect us all.
Please feel free to have your say in the comment facility beneath this article.
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