Is the double drop from the Premier League becoming more common?

Fifteen years ago, the suggestion a top-flight club could be relegated in successive seasons was unthinkable.

After all, in the first 20 seasons of the Premier League it happened just the once.

That was to Swindon Town, and even then there were special circumstances.

The Robins finished fourth bottom of the second tier in 1994-95 but were relegated because of the rebalancing of the divisions to reduce the Premier League to 20 teams.

In any other season they would not have suffered the double drop.

As such, it could be argued that Wolves were the first team to suffer a double drop from the Premier League after being relegated in 2011-12.

Since then it has happened four times in 14 seasons.

Or, after Sunderland went down in 2016-18, three times in nine seasons.

And then back-to-back seasons with Luton and Leicester.

Meanwhile, Wigan and Portsmouth were relegated to League One after a second season in the Championship, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday after a third.

For Wolves, Sunderland and Leicester there was considerable turmoil on and off the pitch which contributed to their demise.

Burney fans may fear there are similarities at Turf Moor.

During their double drop descent, Wolves - who remarkably suffered a treble drop to the bottom tier in the 1980s - burned through four managers and made a series of poor transfers.

Sunderland did so with the ignominy of being the only club to finish bottom of both divisions, winning just 13 of 84 league matches.

The Black Cats had been in the top flight for 10 seasons - though they had only reached the 40-point barrier, usually the target to remain in the division, three times.

Leicester's relegation to League One was a direct result of poor boardroom decisions, with a six-point deduction for breaching profit and sustainability regulations ultimately sealing their fate. The Foxes finished 23rd in the Championship, five points from safety.

It took Sunderland four years to return to the Championship, and such is the turmoil at Leicester an immediate promotion looks unlikely. Russell Martin's Leicester side sit 13th in League One, with the club up for sale.

"Despite the fact we've seen Luton and Leicester suffer back-to-back relegations in recent years, I don't see it as a trend that will continue," former Watford and Reading midfielder Jobi McAnuff, now an EFL pundit, told BBC Sport.

"For both of those clubs, in my opinion, it was a case of mismanagement of the playing squad.

"From Luton's perspective, there were a few players there who maybe felt an entitlement to stay in the Premier League. They didn't readjust to being back at the Championship, where most of their players had actually been previously.

"And for Leicester City, they kept hold of too many that didn't really want to be there and then obviously weren't equipped to deal with a relegation battle."

While Luton may have got their recruitment wrong, they were much more responsibly run compared to the other double drop clubs.

The Hatters' progress off the pitch remains progressive rather than regressive, with work advancing on a new 25,000-capacity stadium at Power Court which is due to be completed for the start of 2028-29.

The fine line for success is shown by Luton's relegation from the Championship in 2024-25. They went down because of their inferior goal difference compared to Hull City, with the Tigers then promoted to the Premier League the following season.

Burnley had earned a reputation as the archetypal yo-yo club - relegated from or promoted to the top division in each of the past five seasons.

But after a leveraged buyout by Alan Pace's ALK Capital in 2020, the Clarets were carrying £142m in loans in the 2024-25 accounts - the year they went up - which was the highest debt level in the Championship.

This week Burnley set a new English league record for the longest run without a home win. When they host Portsmouth on Saturday, it will be 378 days since their last home victory.

Being humbled by a well-run, up-and-coming club like Lincoln, with far fewer resources but savvy ownership, will not be lost on Burnley supporters.

And the financial gap is huge.

Burnley's total revenue for 2024-25 was £71.7m, which dwarfed Lincoln's £7.81m.

The Clarets then received £48m in parachute payments. Lincoln can expect about £5.5m in solidarity funding.

Off the pitch there should be no contest, but football is not played purely on balance sheets.

In its State of the Game report, published earlier this month, the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) said a new financial deal between the Premier League and the EFL must "reduce the distortive impact that parachute payments have on financial incentives within the Championship".

The solution is merit payments, which would mirror the Premier League's model of prize money by final league position.

At present, every club in the Championship receives the same payment, regardless of where they finish.

"The amount of money paid in parachute payments will reduce and the amount of money going into the Championship will vastly increase," IFR chair David Kogan said.

"The delta between parachute payment clubs and non-parachute payment clubs is going to significantly reduce, which makes the Championship a much more competitive league."

Parachute payments are paid to clubs relegated from the Premier League to help them adjust to the financial realities of the second tier - £48m in year one, then £39m in year two,

Could this make the double drop more common as the revenue gap closes? Much will depend upon just how "significantly" the gap is closed.

The IFR report found that parachute payment clubs were more than four times more likely to be promoted. In 2024-25, four clubs were in receipt and they were almost 27 points better off, and filled the top three places (with Luton relegated).

"If you look at the numbers of teams that go back up or finish in the top places, there's a huge correlation between those clubs and the ones that are parachute payment clubs," McAnuff said.

"Even with a reduction in parachute payments, I still feel that advantage will prove to be massively significant for those teams.⁠​⁠‍⁠"

It may yet be that Burnley escape the double drop, that the financial advantage of parachute payments outweighs poor decision-making.

But the double drop has generally become far more common. And that should concern any club that gets relegated and is not prepared for life in the Championship.