Premiership newboys prepared for yo yo effect

Sunderland soccer manager Roy Keane meets supporters on his first day in the job, in Sunderland, north-east England, August 2006.

The promotion champagne has only just gone flat in Derby, Sunderland and Birmingham, but already the English Premiership's three newcomers will be fearing the inevitable hangover.

Bookmakers have made the trio favourites to make an instant return to the Championship, and no wonder.

Last season, Watford and Sheffield United both saw their stays among the elite restricted to a single year; Birmingham and Sunderland, meanwhile, bounced back into the top flight at the first attempt.

There has always been a gap between England's top two divisions but now it is threatening to stretch into a chasm.

The financial benefits of Premiership football have never been so lucrative, with clubs now preparing to share a 2.7billion pounds television rights bounty over the next three years, while 14million pounds of parachute payments have significantly softened the blow of relegation.

Clubs established in the top tier are becoming increasingly difficult to shift and the ambitions of newly-promoted sides have shrunk accordingly.

Billy Davies, the Derby County Manager, gestures during the pre-season friendly match between Mansfield Town and Derby County at Field Mill on July 28, in Manfield, England.

Reading may have flourished last season, but Steve Coppell's doughty side were the exception to the rule which states that mere survival is the goal of all promoted teams.

"When we were in the Championship we had a definite three year plan and that was something that we could work towards," Billy Davies, the Derby manager, said.

"As it turned out we managed to get where we wanted to get well ahead of schedule and that was fantastic.

"But you cannot plan like that in the Premiership. You have to work from one season to the next. The most important thing we can be this year against the best sides in the country is hard to beat. At least that will give us a platform to build on, but it would be foolish to get ahead of ourselves."

Of the three new arrivals, Davies has most to fear. While Birmingham boast deep pockets and Sunderland a genuine feel-good factor courtesy of the remarkable Roy Keane, Derby squeaked into the top flight courtesy of a narrow play-off final victory over West Bromwich Albion and have done most of their summer shopping in the bargain basement.

A year ago, Watford's Adrian Boothroyd was confronted with a similarly daunting prospect. His plucky side did not disgrace themselves but relegation, always a probability, was confirmed three weeks before the end of the season.

Boothroyd is a relentlessly positive soul, but even he cannot maintain a sunny disposition when dissecting the challenge of conquering the Premiership.

Birmingham City's manager Steve Bruce waits for the start of an English Premiership football match against Tottenham, in March 2006, at Saint Andrews stadium in Birmingham.

"It's very difficult," he said. "There are obviously technical issues which have to be overcome but clubs also have to make a big mental adjustment. The level of attention from the media goes through the roof and it can be hard to cope with."

Boothroyd admits the difference in resources can make the gap seem like an unbridgeable divide.

"You have to accept that every player who plays for one of the big teams will get into your own team," he said - but he does not believe the new season is a lost cause for the new brigade.

"Birmingham have an edge," he added. "They have the experience, in terms of players and manager, which the others don't. But all the other sides can do is put up the best fight they can."