So the league season is done and dusted. We know that Chelsea are Champions that Hull and Burnley will be playing Championship football next season and that Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules will hang like a black cloud over QPR this summer ready to burst with rain at any moment.

We also know that Bournemouth will be playing Premier League football for the first time next season, and that they’ll be joined by Watford and Norwich.

So let’s ask the question - can any - or all three - stay up?

The age-old adage is: take the three promoted clubs, put the names into a hat and pull one out - that name will stay up. That’s how difficult it is for a newly promoted team to stay in the division, and even then ‘second season syndrome’ is prevalent among those overstaying their welcome.

Of the class of 2014-15, only Leicester managed to stay up, and in doing so probably performed the greatest of great escapes, winning seven of their last nine games.

So how did Leicester do it?

Togetherness is a big factor. Nigel Pearson protected his players superbly this season, keeping the media glare firmly fixed on the manager than the players. He gave them the space they needed to get on with their jobs, and they really really came good in the end.

Another factor was probably the money they spent. They brought in big-name signing Esteban Cambiasso and broke their club record transfer twice - for Leonardo Ulloa in the summer and then beat it in January to capture Croatian hot-prospect Andrej Kramaric.

They say you have to spend money to make money. The Premier League is the ultimate in this philosophy. Every other club has millions to spend, so if you don’t do it you can find yourself a long way behind - and promoted clubs have Championship squads to begin with.

Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager, lamented the fact that his club have been ‘priced out’ of the Premier League this season. It’s hard to disagree with him there - their record signing, George Boyd, cost the Clarets £3m. A player earning that per year in wages certainly wouldn’t be considered a high-earner in the Premier League.

The flip side of the coin is spending too much money, though. I mentioned QPR’s financial troubles. They could be hit with a £58m fine on their return to the Championship for their breaches of FFP rules. It’s always struck me as being an insane punishment - ‘Hey! You’ve spent way too much money. Your punishment is to pay even more money!’ But that’s the rule everyone knows before the start of play. So even if it’s a strange rule, it’s not an unjust one.

In this regard, QPR is perhaps unique. But relegated clubs have other financial woes. Once the parachute money dries up, the wages of high-earners - even if they have relegation clauses - will still be high, and the sheer difference in TV money is probably enough to make club accountants gasp for breath.

Overspending is a dangerous game in the Premier League, especially for newly promoted clubs who are trying to compete. Bournemouth are the team with the lowest budget to begin with, so they’ll need to be extra careful here.

Maybe Burnley - despite their relegation and despite their inability to compete financially - are the model to follow here.

They broke their club record signing too, but they didn’t go mad. They brought in players they thought could add to the squad they already had and who might stay even if they were relegated. Burnley’s strategy was to build. Perhaps they got to the Premier League a season too soon, maybe they’d have benefitted from another year in the Championship with some new additions and a better squad before a bigger assault on the Premier League. But the fact is they were never comprehensively beaten this season. They weren’t far from safety.

They didn’t gamble much, they nearly stayed up, but relegation means little to them financially - they’d planned for it. And the money that they’ve spent on the Premier League season is still more than they’d have spent in the Championship. So they’ve really just given their progression a boost, relegation or not.

And that’s the balancing act that these three new Premier League outfits need to master. Do they go for broke and try to stay up, or do they soberly plan for another season in the Championship? Do they back the manager long-term with the task of putting together a squad that can come straight back up and compete in a few seasons’ time or do they task the man in charge with survival and back him with cash?

One thing’s for sure, staying up can be a lottery - but at least these three clubs are in the draw.

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