The Topsy Turvy Football League

It's early (very early) in the season but the initial shape of the  football leagues already presents an interesting picture. In a hierarchical league, one would expect that with few exceptions that the teams gaining promotion the previous year would be at best in the bottom half of the division once promoted. Indeed in a truly hierarchical scenario, ignoring purchase of talent in the close season, they should be close to the bottom three. 

After just three games it's interesting to see the opposite happening. In the championship, Southampton and Brighton are unbeaten after three games, In league Two Crawley & AFC Wimbledon have made excellent and good starts respectively and to a slightly lesser extent, Wycombe and Stevenage have made big impacts in League One. At the end of last season, Norwich of course gained successive promotions to reach the most competitive league in the world.

So, does this represent a flattening of the leagues or are other factors in play? If this is indeed down to a flattening of the leagues then it would be against  a background where cash is becoming more unevenly spread across the leagues - an environment which should create the opposite effect.  It could be though that on promotion, a team is more likely to come out with more passion, belief and the desire to prove oneself than teams who have remained in the league. Think back to Blackpool last year and Hull the previous year who started the Premiership season with real strength before dropping back to their more realistic levels.

Anyway, far too early to make a call but worth a thought and could be worth monitoring through the season