Football FanCast columnist Wayne Lloyd-Smith feels that Charlton and Southampton are a warning to the potential pitfalls you can face by dropping out of the Premier League.

Currently, a look at the bottom of the Championship is like a graveyard for teams that would have considered themselves established Premiership clubs not so long ago. This is illustrated by a look back 5 years, when Southampton finished 12th and Charlton were in their best ever position of 7th in the Premier League. The declines of Charlton Athletic and Southampton have been mesmeric.

Of course, there are many clubs that suffer relegation from the top flight and bounce straight back up again, Birmingham and West Brom being good examples. However, those clubs can hardly count themselves as long established top division stalwarts. When Southampton were relegated from the Premiership in May 2005, it ended a run of 27 years in the top flight, just 2 years after an FA Cup Final appearance. With the exception of West Ham United, in recent years it's seemed that the more established the club, the harder it is to find your way back to the Promised Land.

Since their relegation, Southampton has slowly disintegrated as a force as they've had to sell their most prized assets to cope with the reality of Championship football. In the years since their relegation, players like Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale, Kenwyne Jones and the like have gone out of the door, amassing around £25 million. Board Room in-fighting, club takeovers and poor managerial appointments have contributed to their steady decline. This is perfectly illustrated by the parting of the ways between the club and the man that led them to safety on the last day of last season, Nigel Pearson. A year later Poortvliet and Wotte have failed to turn things round and the club are not only staring relegation in the face once again, but face financial meltdown. And, waiting to pass them in the other direction to the third tier of English football is none other than Nigel Pearson's Leicester City.

Trigger happy chairman and poor decision making also seems to have lead to the slightly more rapid decline of Charlton Athletic in the last 3 years. After that 7th placed finish in 2005, Charlton enjoyed another season of mid-table safety. Long standing manager, Alan Curbishley's resignation led to the appointment of Iain Dowie. Dowie was given money to spend and the mission of building on Curbishley's good work at one of the most stable clubs in the league. However, after just 12 games in charge, Dowie was sacked and, after a brief stint with Les Reed in charge closely followed by Alan Pardew, were relegated after 7 years in the top flight.

Since then, Charlton have suffered two desperately disappointing years in the Championship, culminating in their relegation last weekend. Phil Parkinson (Pardew's successor) thinks the club can bounce back as they have suffered setbacks in the past and lived to fight another day, which can't be denied. However, Alan Curbishley's belief that their decline began with the premature sacking of Dowie in 2006, is a warning against giving managers money to spend and then not giving them enough time to complete their vision for the club.

Incidentally, in that season 5 years ago, Newcastle United finished 5th with Middlesbrough 11th. How those fans must hope that the same fate doesn't befall their clubs?

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