The numbers don't back up your view. The points to survive is dictated by the points total of the 18th team. This is no indication of the quality of, for example, the bottom 14 sides - it just depends how the three worst sides have done in that particular year. Here are the figures to back...
That Steve McManaman comment is absolute nonsense. There is no correlation between the points needed to survive and the 'quality' of the league. He is just showing his ignorance.