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#MartinezOut
Just a year after Roberto Martinez helped the Toffees finish 5th and claim a place in the Europa league, the Evertonians are now calling for his head after just 1 win in 12 games. Everton find themselves in 14th, 6 points from the drop. In all their years as a football club, is this the year they finally go down? Should Martinez get the sack? Also Villa are in danger of going down themselves, another first. Unlikely? We will see

Leroy Ambrose said:

Villa have been relegated a few times - I remember then going down in the 80s when we were in the old first division - I think it was the playoff year

Think he means in the prem era
1 of only 7 clubs to have played in every season of the PL

Exiled_Addick said:

I thought Arsenal were the only team never relegated from the top flight? Seem to remember Everton being next longest standing. Doubt they will go down though. They are better than their current form. Villa, less certain. They have big home games vs QPR and Burnley - win both and they will probably be safe at the expense of those two sides. This could well be the first year in a long time that all three promoted sides go straight back down.

Again that is top flight, the Villa thing is only in the prem era

Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
Man Utd
Tottenham

7 teams who have played in every season of the PL

As per his name football was only invented in 1992 as sky would have you believe.

Simplified version;
Arsenal were relegated in 1914 but paid the FA management loads of money and they left Arsenal in the first division at the expense of Tottenham Hotspurs promotion

Everton need to back Martinez, not sack him. Everton are a well run football club and they'd only sack him if they were in any real danger of going down. That defence needed sorting out in the summer and they failed to do so.

They won't sack him, they will be sensible and stick by him. He will steer them to safety this season and they will reap the rewards next season when they're back in the top 6.

It's completely pointless to compare the PL to the old Division 1. There was far more scope for the top clubs to get relegation and for promoted clubs to have longer tenures in the Division. The rot set in once the money started flooding in. You might as well call a moratorium on equating PL titles to First Division Champions, if only to end the stupid debate over whose the most successful club of all time. Comparing Liverpool of 1970s to Man City of 2014 in like comparing the Duke of Wellington's army to the modern day United States Air Force. Both considered top in their time but on completely different playing fields.

Martinez does appear to have lost the plot though. Everton have got too many players that could walk into most other PL teams for it to be a talent issue and it's one of the few instances I would blame the manager's choices of formation and team selection for their slump. I can't see them getting relegated and to be honest they'd walk the Championship on the first attempt, wouldn't be funny having them in the mix next season.

IA said:

Are Arsenal also the only side never promoted to the top flight?

When Woolwich Arsenal joined the League they started in division 2 and eventually gained promotion to Division 1.
Previous to them joining all the clubs were Northern based.

Starinnaddick said:

IA said:

Are Arsenal also the only side never promoted to the top flight?

When Woolwich Arsenal joined the League they started in division 2 and eventually gained promotion to Division 1.
Previous to them joining all the clubs were Northern based.

Yep, OK, wasn't sure if Woolwich Arsenal were a founding member. I've looked into it now. They were promoted in 1903-04, finishing second behind Preston. They were relegated in 1913-14, and finished 6th in Division 2 in 1914-15.

In the seasons immediately before and after, only 2 teams were promoted from Division 1. Following a vote, along with the top 2, 6th placed Arsenal were promoted (with 18 votes). Arsenal's owner had argued that Arsenal should be promoted due to their "long service to league football". The First Division was expanded from 20 to 22 teams, so only one team was relegated from the 14-15 season - Spurs - who had received 8 votes.

For anyone who cares, Barnsley finished 3rd in Division 2 in 1914-15 (and received 5 votes for promotion). Relegation from Division 2 was strange that year too. 2 teams relegated - 20th place Glossop North End and 15th place Leeds City

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