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Slightly mixed feelings about promotion...



P

pork pie

New member
Dec 27, 2008
6,053
Pork pie land.
peterward said:
hanging by a thread...... lose at West Sham and Cardiff win at Oakwell and it will be curtains, we've now got 4 or 5 teams within 3 points of us as well.

West Ham is a must win
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I think we should forget the Playoffs. Gus has a good opportunity to tweak the team into championship contenders with the right funds from Tony Bloom. However, I think we are too far from being a Premiership team and set-up (yet) to bridge the gap if we do go up by some miracle. Even with the money from the Premiership.
 




grummitts gloves

grummitts gloves

New member
Dec 30, 2008
2,796
West Sussex, la,la,la
I'm surprisingly upbeat today for 2 reasons,
1. We played really well, had no issues with team selection, formation etc.
2. It has kind of taken the pressure off as in last night was a 'must win' game in terms of making the playoffs. Now I think we can just relax and enjoy the remaining games and just see where it takes us in terms of league position.
 


The Large One

The Large One

Who's Next?
Jul 7, 2003
52,343
97.2FM
grummitts gloves said:
I'm surprisingly upbeat today for 2 reasons,
1. We played really well, had no issues with team selection, formation etc.
2. It has kind of taken the pressure off as in last night was a 'must win' game in terms of making the playoffs. Now I think we can just relax and enjoy the remaining games and just see where it takes us in terms of league position.
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I saw last night's game as a platform for next season.

We played at a tempo that we've been needing to play all season, and having done so, the shortfalls are that much more clear and apparent.

We can play at a high tempo - now to find that 'quality' of player that Gus has been talking about...
 


Mellotron

Mellotron

I've asked for soup
Jul 2, 2008
31,845
Brighton
The Large One said:
I saw last night's game as a platform for next season.

We played at a tempo that we've been needing to play all season, and having done so, the shortfalls are that much more clear and apparent.

We can play at a high tempo - now to find that 'quality' of player that Gus has been talking about...
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It was one of the first times I could truly imagine us playing like Swansea now play in the Prem.
 


Tony Towner's Fridge

Tony Towner's Fridge

Well-known member
Aug 22, 2003
5,384
GLASGOW,SCOTLAND,UK
I am sure Gus would like to go up but the pragmatic approach is to improve again next season and ensure that when we do go up, we do a Swansea/Norwich and not a year on in and out Bolton or Wolves. With ten games to go he should probably have cast caution to the wind and played a midfield of Vincente and either Razak/Asaulin with Noone and Lua Lua as the wide men to Barnes/Volkes, Barnes /CMS or Volkes / CMS. Go for it and maybe our return from the last 6 games would have been better than the two points we have achieved. All in all though it has been a great season and some of the football we have played has been top notch. Next season we will have a few new faces with some familiar ones departing. It will be guaranteed to be a blast anywhichway.
Would love to sneak into 6th place this season though and become favourites for the play offs!

TNBA

TTF
 




M

Marlton & Hove Albion

New member
Sep 14, 2006
472
Philadelphia
Been a great season and I'm sure more than TB/GP and majority of fans expected with bonus games like Sunderland, Newcastle and Liverpool (twice). Averaging >20K at home, a great early run and flirting with playoffs for weeks now. Surely it's hard to be disappointed. We've bettered clubs who've spent far more than us and we'll place higher than Palace for the first time in donkeys. Having said that, I fear next year will be actually far harder. The promotion bounce will be gone and the teams coming up and coming down will be better than those leaving. Still too early to call but Charlton, Sheff Utd and Sheff Wed are big clubs. Bolton, Wigan, Blackburn, QPR, Wolves. Hull, Blackpool, Birmingham still have parachute money coming, Ipswich and Leicester will continue to invest. Cardiff will be thereabouts, as will Middlesborough. If there was any year to make a push for the EPL, it was probably this season.
 


The Large One

The Large One

Who's Next?
Jul 7, 2003
52,343
97.2FM
Marlton & Hove Albion said:
Been a great season and I'm sure more than TB/GP and majority of fans expected with bonus games like Sunderland, Newcastle and Liverpool (twice). Averaging >20K at home, a great early run and flirting with playoffs for weeks now. Surely it's hard to be disappointed. We've bettered clubs who've spent far more than us and we'll place higher than Palace for the first time in donkeys.
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Fully agree with this.

Marlton & Hove Albion said:
Having said that, I fear next year will be actually far harder. The promotion bounce will be gone and the teams coming up and coming down will be better than those leaving. Still too early to call but Charlton, Sheff Utd and Sheff Wed are big clubs. Bolton, Wigan, Blackburn, QPR, Wolves. Hull, Blackpool, Birmingham still have parachute money coming, Ipswich and Leicester will continue to invest. Cardiff will be thereabouts, as will Middlesborough. If there was any year to make a push for the EPL, it was probably this season.
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Can't agree with this.

This old chestnut about 'next year's division will be harder' gets trotted out year after year. We had it the previous season when we had Southampton, Huddersfield, Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday et al who were supposedly there to push for the title - and we blew the lot of them out of the water.

Every team is in a given division on merit. You're talking about 'big clubs' - but in what context? History? Support? Finances? Or how good they actually are on the field?

With four games to go, we're within farting distance of the teams who came down from the Premiership. Parachute payments or not - we've competed with them, and - bearing in mind we're to all intents and purposes a new club - that's without the level of investment those other clubs have enjoyed over the past seasons.

The 'promotion bounce' went the moment we kicked off against Doncaster - or at least it should have done. Given those clubs you list, I can't say next season won't be harder, but with course that Gus and Tony are on (continued improvement - neither will have it any other way), we are giving ourselves every opportunity to maintain a promotion push far more sustained than this season.
 






S

Storer 68

New member
Apr 19, 2011
2,827
if we do, we do. if we don't, we don't.

Am I allowed to feel its just been a FANTASTIC season whichever
 


Mellotron

Mellotron

I've asked for soup
Jul 2, 2008
31,845
Brighton
The Complete Badger said:
I'm not even vaguely disappointeed. It's because we don't REALLY want to go up. As good as we've been recently, every so often we get a reminder that there is a hell of a long way to go to become an EPL team. Liverpool, Blackpool and Middlesbrough were all big reality checks in my opinion. We might get another on Saturday. If we somehow went up this summer, we'd either need to spend £15m or come straight back down. We've got a great style and some fantastic players, but we've also understandably got a few League One players. We were in League One last season, so it's not exactly surprising. Weed those out and find higher-quality players that can step in to our style and we'll be on to an absolute winner. The only difficult bit is I think we need five.
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If we go up, we get circa £90 million. I think we could spare £15m on new players.

I think 5 new quality players isn't too huge an ask, with the massively increased revenue we've had this season.
 




Mellotron

Mellotron

I've asked for soup
Jul 2, 2008
31,845
Brighton
The Complete Badger said:
It's £40 million for the first season. If we spend £15 million on players and deal with a huge increase in wages we won't have much change from that. I'd rather we didn't overspend, even if that means staying in the Championship for another three of four years. It's not exactly a bad division to be in, is it?
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S'alright, innit?

It's ok. We're not going up this year. But we're going to keep improving.
 


Durlston

Durlston

"Garlic bread!?"
NSC Patron
Jul 15, 2009
9,765
Haywards Heath
I don't think the clubs coming down from the Premier League will be challenging near the top. Wolves are in a terrible state, Wigan won't have the crowds - or Roberto Martinez probably and Blackburn's best players like Paul Robinson, Yakubu, Junior Hoillett, David Dunn etc will move on. Next season will be easier with Gus' knowledge of the Championship and if we do somehow reach and win the play-offs this season then it'll be amazing having top-flight football. Not a lot to moan about.
 






Marc1901

Marc1901

Peace out.
Apr 26, 2009
6,106
The Championship.
Obviously it's not out of sight but I feel it will be too much for us now. I wonder if Middlesbrough fans are thinking the same as a lot of people on here though being in the same position as us?
 


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