Newcastle supporter (sack Pardew PLZ!) here.

I think I got the opposite effect in my league. At lvl 7, I'm tied for the highest team rating at 49.1. My friend who took wnd in our league last season promoted with me. Other than that, I think only 2 others in the league were promoted here. Everyone else was held back and I appear to have a 3-10 point advantage over all but 2 teams.

We'll see how it goes though. Last season I lost big against weak sides.