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Is reaching the Playoffs enough?



Munkfish

Well-known member
May 1, 2006
11,860
IF and its still a big IF at the moment, that we make it into the playoffs, is this enough for the season?

Obviously making the Playoffs doesnt mean promotion, but will you be happy with making the Playoffs if we dont go up?
 

Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Jul 11, 2003
73,270
West west west Sussex
Very much so.

The play-offs represents a natural progression from last season.
Plus more importantly gives the team a taste of play off football, before next seasons further progression.
 

deletebeepbeepbeep

Well-known member
May 12, 2009
20,858
I'd be happy with that, solid progress and shows to current and potential players we have the ability to get ourselves there. Even if we get knocked out in the semi's I'd be happy.
 

TheDuke

Well-known member
Oct 28, 2011
1,210
Arundel
Bloomin' sure I would... it's been a great season albeit we've lost some sparkle over the last few matches
 

Cypriot-Seagull

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2011
1,153
Somewhere in Cyprus
Losing the playoff final will hurt (as I remember from 91) but the whole excitement of the semi-finals and the trip to wembley is amazing and every football IMO should experience it at least once in their lifetime.
 


pork pie

New member
Dec 27, 2008
6,053
Pork pie land.
No, I will not be happy if we manage to scrape into the Playoffs.

As we are subjected to such boring negative football most weeks, the least we should be given is promotion as a sweetener. If we don't get promotion, we could have been entertained instead. Where are Southampton now? Yes, that Southampton who were runners-up to us two years ago.

I know I should be happy with some improvement on last year, but if we don't even make the playoffs that will be marginal. Even if we do get to the playoffs, the best we can hope for is to be playing Palarse, as they are the only team we can beat. Stuff Palarse in the semis and a lucky win in the final - I would take that.
 

strings

Moving further North...
Feb 19, 2006
9,965
Barnsley
I said at the start of the season that play-offs would be where I would like us to be to consider the season 'successful'. I still stand by this point. Where I have changed my mind is that at the start of the season I wasn't too fussed over promotion. However with the new Premier League TV rights deal, I think it is hugely important to go up sooner rather than later - the longer we spend in this league, the further away the Premier League will become.

Having said all of the above, I don't think we are ready for the Premier League quite yet. It may be that if we go up this season, we will come straight back down. Nevertheless, that is something we will have to accept as a possibility.
 

pork pie

New member
Dec 27, 2008
6,053
Pork pie land.
I said at the start of the season that play-offs would be where I would like us to be to consider the season 'successful'. I still stand by this point. Where I have changed my mind is that at the start of the season I wasn't too fussed over promotion. However with the new Premier League TV rights deal, I think it is hugely important to go up sooner rather than later - the longer we spend in this league, the further away the Premier League will become.

Having said all of the above, I don't think we are ready for the Premier League quite yet. It may be that if we go up this season, we will come straight back down. Nevertheless, that is something we will have to accept as a possibility.

That should be our aim anyway. We cannot expect TB's money to pay for a Premiership team. Getting promotion, then parachute payments if we go down, is the way forward. Even if we bounce a few times before we are strong enough to make it stick.
 


mejonaNO12 aka riskit

Well-known member
Dec 4, 2003
21,456
England
That should be our aim anyway. We cannot expect TB's money to pay for a Premiership team. Getting promotion, then parachute payments if we go down, is the way forward. Even if we bounce a few times before we are strong enough to make it stick.

Maybe it's that you have constructed your sentence in that way, but for a moment there I read what you put as saying we should AIM to be relegated....
 

strings

Moving further North...
Feb 19, 2006
9,965
Barnsley
That should be our aim anyway. We cannot expect TB's money to pay for a Premiership team. Getting promotion, then parachute payments if we go down, is the way forward. Even if we bounce a few times before we are strong enough to make it stick.

This never used to be my thinking, but it is now. West Brom were a yo-yo team for several season before finally managing to make things work in the Premier League. I think we'll start to see fewer and fewer examples of teams that can get up and stay up (Stoke, Swansea, etc...).
 

pork pie

New member
Dec 27, 2008
6,053
Pork pie land.
Maybe it's that you have constructed your sentence in that way, but for a moment there I read what you put as saying we should AIM to be relegated....

Sorry, yes it is. Thank you for pointing it out. My point is that we should aim for promotion, even if we go back down, because the money will help us grow stronger. Anyone who thinks we should wait to go up until we have a team capable of staying up is frankly deluded. TB is not a Russian or Arab oil billionare. Well, not to my knowledge, and given his ethnic grouping, it is very unlikely.
 


mejonaNO12 aka riskit

Well-known member
Dec 4, 2003
21,456
England
West Brom will be the last of the "yoyo" teams though. They were doing it at a time where the parachute payments gave them a huge advantage, their squad was very good and the championship wasn't as competetive.

It just won't happen now. It's very naive to think "Oh, we could just go up and down a few times and then settle".

Who got relegated last year? Blackburn. Now in relegation trouble.
Wolves. Now in relegation trouble.
Bolton, only just catching up to the playoffs now.

Who was relegated the season before
West Ham - just got back up via the playoffs despite having a HUGE squad with MASSIVE wages. They gambled and it just paid off.
Blackpool - Still in this division and not going up
Birmingham City - Still in this division. Could be relegated.

The season before
Portsmouth - Now in league One and ****ed.
Burnley - Nowhere near Playoffs. still in Championship.
Hull - It's taken 2 years to sort their squad enough to get them back in the promotion hunt.
 

pork pie

New member
Dec 27, 2008
6,053
Pork pie land.
West Brom will be the last of the "yoyo" teams though. They were doing it at a time where the parachute payments gave them a huge advantage, their squad was very good and the championship wasn't as competetive.

It just won't happen now. It's very naive to think "Oh, we could just go up and down a few times and then settle".

Who got relegated last year? Blackburn. Now in relegation trouble.
Wolves. Now in relegation trouble.
Bolton, only just catching up to the playoffs now.

Who was relegated the season before
West Ham - just got back up via the playoffs despite having a HUGE squad with MASSIVE wages. They gambled and it just paid off.
Blackpool - Still in this division and not going up
Birmingham City - Still in this division. Could be relegated.

The season before
Portsmouth - Now in league One and ****ed.
Burnley - Nowhere near Playoffs. still in Championship.
Hull - It's taken 2 years to sort their squad enough to get them back in the promotion hunt.

I think the imprtant thing is not to overextend yourself when you go up, so that the effects of relegation are managed.

The other major factor is the MASSIVE amount of extra money involved from next year as well. Without premiership parachute payments, promotion will become nearly impossible. It will be like the top Premiership clubs, and the rest of the Premiership teams, the haves and the have-nots. The money involved next year will distort things even further than the examples you have used, and to my understanding, the big money comes in for three seasons.
 


Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Jul 11, 2003
73,270
West west west Sussex
That will be the interesting bit won't it? Will Poyet let them play like he does in the cup matches?
What with Casper in goal?
 


Monkey Man

Your support is not that great
Jan 30, 2005
3,155
Neither here nor there
I think we may be approaching a crossroads.

Miss out on promotion and I reckon it's goodbye to Gus and a few of our top players. Means a season of rebuilding next year.

Go up, and I don't think we'll survive (actually I think all three promoted teams this year will probably come down, whoever they are). Yes, we'll pocket a big parachute payment, but again it will mean the loss of our best players, including some of the new faces we'd have signed for the Premiership, as well as Gus if he's still here. Means a season of rebuilding the year after next.

There are positives as well as negatives to either outcome. But whatever happens next, I think we'll be seeing some big changes. I'm happy to enjoy the ride, but I really hope we don't take any decisions that jeopardise the financial health of the club.
 

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