Making the jump on a budget

What does it feel like as a player when you make the jump from the Championship to the Premier League?

When you are in the Championship, you are playing with confidence. You want to take the ball, are bossing teams and scoring goals. It means the strikers feel comfortable.

In the Premier League you only get one hit and maybe you have not scored in five games. Your defenders are under constant pressure to make mistakes. You are not as comfortable on the ball because the press is better and the opponents are understanding where you are going to go next. The opposing players are just so much more savvy.

Over the past few seasons, you had six or seven heavyweights at the top of the Championship that had the benefit of parachute payments and also had Premier League experience in their ranks because they had been up and then down.

But this year look at Burnley, who have completely changed the team with their recruitment and managed to get promoted. Luton have come up but they have no real Premier League experience. Sheffield United have a couple of players filtered in with Premier League experience but not that many. That’s the difference. In previous years, teams could adapt more quickly.

For instance a team like Fulham who had already been up down up down, compared with Luton Town and their minute budget.

Take Nottingham Forest last year. They spent more than £100m at the start and they still found it really tough at the start and only just got over the line. These clubs are trying to do it without anything like the same financial outlay.