Naylor is right...aim is promotion or not promotion?

deletebeepbeepbeep · Jan 20, 2014

Watching the football league show on Saturday it is clear that our squad is not currently equpped to make a serious tilt at promotion. You just have to look at the squads available to Forest, QPR and Leicester and then look at our threadbare squad on Saturday to realise we are way off the mark in comparison to the teams at the top of this league. Naylor is right in the Argus this morning that the Club need to clarify what our ambitions are this Season, they need to resolve the Bridcutt situation and give Oscar the backing he needs to mount a serious play off push, or they need to speak to fans expectations and cool them down and in the mean time resolve whatever contracts they can for next Season.

It's not fair to blame the rest of the Season on Oscar whatever happens, we have a threadbare squad that fails to compare with the teams around us. He is doing fantastically well with the options that are available to him and probably not getting enough praise for that.

Brighton Breezy · Jan 20, 2014

Can't imagine any expectation cooling going on in the run up to season ticket renewal time.

Seagulls1984 · Jan 20, 2014

Don't really get the club at the mo, doing everything off the pitch to be a prem club but not spending money on the squad to actually get there.

ROSM · Jan 20, 2014

Agree totally. Most fans will understand if exectations are honest and shared. I'm happy with slower progress if it makes us a more solid future. It does put last season's achievements into perspective. Save for Bridge and ulloa being out for so long and rushed back, it's a similar set of players.

Papa Lazarou · Jan 20, 2014

Seagulls1984 said:
Don't really get the club at the mo, doing everything off the pitch to be a prem club but not spending money on the squad to actually get there.

I'm sure they're trying.

The Bridcutt situation will be a massive factor, as the money from his sale will probably fund much of our recruitment. This needs resolving this week.

hans kraay fan club · Jan 20, 2014

ROSM said:
Agree totally. Most fans will understand if exectations are honest and shared. I'm happy with slower progress if it makes us a more solid future. It does put last season's achievements into perspective. Save for Bridge and ulloa being out for so long and rushed back, it's a similar set of players.

Are we not, or in basically EXACTLY the same position, or possibly slightly AHEAD of where we were this time last season?

Surf's Up · Jan 20, 2014

deletebeepbeepbeep said:
Watching the football league show on Saturday it is clear that our squad is not currently equpped to make a serious tilt at promotion. You just have to look at the squads available to Forest, QPR and Leicester and then look at our threadbare squad on Saturday to realise we are way off the mark in comparison to the teams at the top of this league. Naylor is right in the Argus this morning that the Club need to clarify what our ambitions are this Season, they need to resolve the Bridcutt situation and give Oscar the backing he needs to mount a serious play off push, or they need to speak to fans expectations and cool them down and in the mean time resolve whatever contracts they can for next Season.

It's not fair to blame the rest of the Season on Oscar whatever happens, we have a threadbare squad that fails to compare with the teams around us. He is doing fantastically well with the options that are available to him and probably not getting enough praise for that.

Tricky one this. TB has invested massively in the clubs infrastructure but our adherence to FFP severely restricts our ability to invest in players. We are therefore caught between a rock and a hard place. The magnificent infrastructure we have, and will have even more when the new training facilities kick in, clearly costs an absolute fortune to maintain - the kind of money that is only sustainable in the Premier League, and by our commitment to obey the FFP rules we are unable to make the necessary investment on the pitch to get us there. It's difficult to see how this can be resolved without either severely cutting back on the maintenance costs of the infrastructure (and I mean severely), significantly increasing the price of tickets or sticking two fingers up at FFP (like Forest, QPR, Leicester, Watford etc) and just going for it.

glasfryn · Jan 20, 2014

deletebeepbeepbeep said:
Watching the football league show on Saturday it is clear that our squad is not currently equpped to make a serious tilt at promotion. You just have to look at the squads available to Forest, QPR and Leicester and then look at our threadbare squad on Saturday to realise we are way off the mark in comparison to the teams at the top of this league. Naylor is right in the Argus this morning that the Club need to clarify what our ambitions are this Season, they need to resolve the Bridcutt situation and give Oscar the backing he needs to mount a serious play off push, or they need to speak to fans expectations and cool them down and in the mean time resolve whatever contracts they can for next Season.

It's not fair to blame the rest of the Season on Oscar whatever happens, we have a threadbare squad that fails to compare with the teams around us. He is doing fantastically well with the options that are available to him and probably not getting enough praise for that.

seriously good post to good for this early in the week, but I suspect there will not be a better one during this week.
club let the fans/customers know whats going on ..............Nah!!
not going to happen.

Rugrat · Jan 20, 2014

Seagulls1984 said:
Don't really get the club at the mo, doing everything off the pitch to be a prem club

Not really sure what that means. We built a nice stadium and have decent shirt sponsorship but are there other things going on? I never really understood what "Premier League Ready" meant given it was a phrase created after we had already had the stadium and training facilities sorted. Am I alone in missing the PLR point?

Thunder Bolt · Jan 20, 2014

hans kraay fan club said:
Are we not, or in basically EXACTLY the same position, or possibly slightly AHEAD of where we were this time last season?

We're one point behind but had just gained Ulloa & Upson.
In the last week, we have lost 3 battling players which is the main reason why I think fans are feeling down. Hopefully that will be sorted out in the next 10 days. One good signing will cheer everyone up.

Giraffe · Jan 20, 2014

Not really sure you can say our squad is lightweight. We have had more injuries this season than I can remember for a long long time and yet we are lying 7th, two points off the play offs. That I would say suggests that we have quite a strong squad. Not as strong as the big three or four, but certainly strong enough to make the play offs.

On Saturday we missed the flair players of Lua Lua and Buckley, but they will be back soon. We need to resolve the Bridcutt issue, but once sold I am confident we will be able to replace with a good championship midfielder, and also get an additional striker.

I am fairly confident that by the end of the month we will have a stronger squad than when we started the month.

Brighton Breezy · Jan 20, 2014

Imagine the accusations of lack of ambition if Tony Bloom or Paul Barber came out and told fans we were not going to promotion this season at a time when the club sit seventh in the table...

And the club HAS invested significantly in the squad. Matthew Upson, Keith Andrews, Stephen Ward, Kemy Augustien et al are not playing for free and will be on decent wages compared to the likes of Gary Dicker, Marcos Painter et al who were let go.

deletebeepbeepbeep · Jan 20, 2014

ROSM said:
Agree totally. Most fans will understand if exectations are honest and shared. I'm happy with slower progress if it makes us a more solid future. It does put last season's achievements into perspective. Save for Bridge and ulloa being out for so long and rushed back, it's a similar set of players.

You have to account for the number of serious injuries to our players, including now one of the key candidates for player of the year in Crofts. At the moment we have also sold Abd, Barnes and probably Bridcutt which has destabalised us in the run up to these important away fixtures against teams above.

Oscar is going incredibly well to have us in touching distance but unless we make 3 key signings its difficult to see us staying the pace.

Notters · Jan 20, 2014

Seagulls1984 said:
Don't really get the club at the mo, doing everything off the pitch to be a prem club but not spending money on the squad to actually get there.

Are you going to stump up a few million for some players then?

Goldstone1976 · Jan 20, 2014

I kind of see his point, but only kind of. TB has made it abundantly clear that he wants to achieve PL status at some point in the nearish future on multiple occasions. He also stated at the fans' forum that a play-off position this season is the target. He has also been fulsome in his praise for PB, which, by very strong inference, includes abiding by FFP.

Taking all this together, it's pretty clear that our goal for this season was a play-off position, while adhering to FFP. All the time that remains the goal, why should he re-iterate it?

However, there has been a material change in the situation since the start of the season: our injury list, the length of which is, IMO, longer than would have been expected. So, there may be a case for a statement that clarifies our current ambitions for this season, given the injury list.

The problem with doing so is that he'll be damned whatever he says, since he can either say "we're still gunning for a play-off position", in which case fans will clamour even more for getting players in in this window, which runs the risk of breaching FFP and the risk of prices being pushed to artificially high levels. Or he can say "a play-off position is now unlikely", which would lead to fans saying that we have no ambition and, probably, a significant drop in playing squad motivation.

On balance, fwiw, if I were him I'd say nothing now and see who we can bring in in the next two weeks.

shaolinpunk · Jan 20, 2014

hans kraay fan club said:
Are we not, or in basically EXACTLY the same position, or possibly slightly AHEAD of where we were this time last season?

We are one point worse off than after 26 games last season, but also one place higher in the table

Seagulls1984 · Jan 20, 2014

Notters said:
Are you going to stump up a few million for some players then?

No but weren't the club on about building a hotel at the Amex, is that really nessecary ??

Geriatric Seagull · Jan 20, 2014

glasfryn said:
seriously good post to good for this early in the week, but I suspect there will not be a better one during this week.
club let the fans/customers know whats going on ..............Nah!!
not going to happen.

I'm afraid the club appears to be no better at keeping its "customers" informed this season than it has been over the last few years. We cannot expect to be told the precise details of what is going on but it would be encouraging to be given some indication of what the club's aims are for the rest of this season.

ROSM · Jan 20, 2014

hans kraay fan club said:
Are we not, or in basically EXACTLY the same position, or possibly slightly AHEAD of where we were this time last season?

That's the point I'm making. From this stage lastvseason we pushed on and made a significant CHARGE into the play offs. But as other teams around us have strengthened we havnt yet.

Whether or not the club is able (within ffp) to strengthen at the same rate again is the question. As of now, the transfer window strategy has seen solid players gone, other injuries occur and no cover or replacements yet available. If we are to make the same second half run as last year, without replacements, there will need to be a significant hear change in the players we do have.

edna krabappel · Jan 20, 2014

Walt Jabsco said:
Imagine the accusations of lack of ambition if Tony Bloom or Paul Barber came out and told fans we were not going to promotion this season at a time when the club sit seventh in the table...

Never going to happen right now though, not when you imagine they're sat round the table pondering how to manage the announcement of the inevitable 2014 season ticket price rise which will be released in eight weeks or so.

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