Crazy Premier League parachute payments ensure there is always life after relegation

Shortly after the beginning of the 1992 English footballing revolution known as the Premier League, Blackburn Rovers, powered by Alan Shearer's goals, won the title. Last weekend The Ewood Park club were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in 37 years.

After claiming title glory with Blackburn, Shearer moved to his hometown club, Newcastle United and came close to winning the title again. Shearer has long since gone and Newcastle have since twice been relegated from the top flight, including last season. Both times, however, the Toon have bounced straight back; sealing the championship on both occasions.

So, what lies ahead for the teams who will be relegated from the Premier League this season? Will Sunderland and Middlesbrough return next year? And what of the teams who are still battling to avoid dropping into the abyss? Barring some crazy results, one of Hull City, Swansea City and Crystal Palace will complete the bottom three.

It took The Tigers 104 years to reach the top flight of English football. In the nine years since they have been relegated from it twice and returned both times. How long would it take them to do it again? And in 2011, Swansea became the first Welsh team to play in the Premier League. Should their six year tenure come to an end, how swiftly would they return? Indeed, would they return? In 2013/14 there were two Welsh teams in the top flight, but Cardiff City lasted just one year and have yet to re-surface.

Palace were among the inaugural members of the Premier League but have fallen through the trap door on four previous occasions and have spent significantly more of the last quarter of a century outside the top flight than in it.

In order to cushion the blow of being relegated from the most lucrative football league in the world, the Premier League delivers parachute payments to teams who go down. In the first campaign seemingly outside of the riches of the division, they can expect to receive £40m. Should a club fail to return within the three years following their demotion, £87m is the windfall for their lack of income.

In most cases those clubs are instantly richer than their rivals and it is part of the reason why teams so often return at the first attempt. And as the payments aren't confined to just one season they are still financially viable as pseudo-Premier League teams for a couple more years.

Newcastle United may be bouncing back at the first attempt, but Aston Villa and Norwich City face another year away from the glitz and the glamour. Will they be challenging for a return next year? Or will they find themselves in the freefall that besets some clubs?

Last weekend also saw Portsmouth crowned champions of League Two. They had been top of the table at no point during the season until the twilight of the final day. They were of course a Premier League club in 2010 but a combination of financial over-reaching and misspending saw them plummet to the foot of the Football League.

Going the other way are Coventry City, who spent 34 consecutive seasons in the top flight, but once dislodged they have failed to rally and have continued to fall. Next season they will swap the third tier for the fourth.

Part of the beauty of sport is that fortunes ebb and flow – more for some than others. And that when one season is over, another is just around the corner. Sure, relegation is painful, but it can be followed by a revival, promotion and the joy associated with it. Regular mid-table mediocrity may be what many Premier League owners aspire to but it does not lift the soul.

The Championship is far from a wasteland of no-hopers: it is packed with teams with history and big fan bases: Leeds United, Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Derby County, Nottingham Forest to name just some. Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United will be re-joining them next term.

Trying to stay in the Premier League at all costs can lead to problems that take years to sort out. Liquidation and bankruptcy are words that have hovered around some clubs who overstretched in search of glory.

But for fans, the Championship – and the divisions below it – offer entertainment and better value-for-money compared to the huge amounts to pay to watch the illustrious names above them. Sure, your team's shirt might not be instantly recognised when worn in some far-flung corner of the world, but you gain respect for being a fan rather than a glory hunter. Most of all, without the bad times, you don't appreciate the good.