Good luck 89 points you deserve it

[fridge]

I don't really know why people keep saying we deserve it. No we don't. We don't deserve it any more than the other 3 in the playoffs, why on earth should we deserve it? They all did enough to make the top six, just like we did. Everyone deserves to go up based on finishing top six, that's how it works.

Well after starting the thread about deserving it I will tell you why I think you do.

We started this season with the usual favourite for promotion and I for one didn't consider brighton as one of these, my thoughts right now are you are the best 11 players team in the league, we Boro probably had the best squad in depth but putting our best 11 against yours I think you win.

Now if you had had a good season last year you would have had a stronger bench this year...but the results you have had this season without coming close last season have been incredible, after our slow start I was waiting for your 5 game then 10 game then 20 run game without losing streak coming to an end but you just kept going ... I and others admired . When we visited the amex we were playing well but to be honest this early six pointer was decided in no small measure by your injuries...that's were that strong bench comes in.

Our last game against you was very much in the balance even after you went down to ten men and I thought we were fortunate to get over the line. Now that's only two games in a season, you have played extremely well finishing on level points as us, given that we played you at home first if this one thing was reversed... ie we play you at home first and beat you then the last day of the season we only need a draw at your place...I don't think we would have got it and you would have gone up with points in hand.

There have been lots of congratulations on the football forums saying how we fully deserved promotion and I won't argue with that but if we do really deserve promotion then you do too. Some on this forum have mentioned us having a man extra that last game..well to be honest it was like 12 v 10 with the crowd and like I said this fixture reversed you win and we go into the play offs.

You have a lot to be proud of, if you have just an ounce more luck than your opponents then you will achieve , so to the best 11 in the championship...good luck you do deserve.

 

[Dick Head]

I don't really know why people keep saying we deserve it. No we don't. We don't deserve it any more than the other 3 in the playoffs, why on earth should we deserve it? They all did enough to make the top six, just like we did. Everyone deserves to go up based on finishing top six, that's how it works.

I think we deserve it but I am bias.

 

[Stat Brother]

I don't really know why people keep saying we deserve it. No we don't. We don't deserve it any more than the other 3 in the playoffs, why on earth should we deserve it? They all did enough to make the top six, just like we did. Everyone deserves to go up based on finishing top six, that's how it works.

I agree. It sounds like a sense of entitlement.

With the added good fortune of a ready made scapegoat completely unconnected to the owner, management, players and fans.

It's a win/win.

 

[Weststander]

Hull vs Wednesday final at Wembley.

 

[Worthingite]

Well after starting the thread about deserving it I will tell you why I think you do.

We started this season with the usual favourite for promotion and I for one didn't consider brighton as one of these, my thoughts right now are you are the best 11 players team in the league, we Boro probably had the best squad in depth but putting our best 11 against yours I think you win.

Now if you had had a good season last year you would have had a stronger bench this year...but the results you have had this season without coming close last season have been incredible, after our slow start I was waiting for your 5 game then 10 game then 20 run game without losing streak coming to an end but you just kept going ... I and others admired . When we visited the amex we were playing well but to be honest this early six pointer was decided in no small measure by your injuries...that's were that strong bench comes in.

Our last game against you was very much in the balance even after you went down to ten men and I thought we were fortunate to get over the line. Now that's only two games in a season, you have played extremely well finishing on level points as us, given that we played you at home first if this one thing was reversed... ie we play you at home first and beat you then the last day of the season we only need a draw at your place...I don't think we would have got it and you would have gone up with points in hand.

There have been lots of congratulations on the football forums saying how we fully deserved promotion and I won't argue with that but if we do really deserve promotion then you do too. Some on this forum have mentioned us having a man extra that last game..well to be honest it was like 12 v 10 with the crowd and like I said this fixture reversed you win and we go into the play offs.

You have a lot to be proud of, if you have just an ounce more luck than your opponents then you will achieve , so to the best 11 in the championship...good luck you do deserve.

No ones said it yet, but very kind words and thank you. Clearly we're all hurting a lot so don't expect this thread to get any more positive, we've had a shithouse week, and I think that at the moment not all of us can see the wood for the trees, myself included.

 

[Spicy]

That means nothing now. 4 teams play two games on a level footing.

You were right to be negative as it turns out, and sorry if you thought I was being patronising.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

You were right to be negative as it turns out, and sorry if you thought I was being patronising.

Don't worry about it. I didn't want to feel negative, honestly.

 

[Eeyore]

Well after starting the thread about deserving it I will tell you why I think you do.

We started this season with the usual favourite for promotion and I for one didn't consider brighton as one of these, my thoughts right now are you are the best 11 players team in the league, we Boro probably had the best squad in depth but putting our best 11 against yours I think you win.

Now if you had had a good season last year you would have had a stronger bench this year...but the results you have had this season without coming close last season have been incredible, after our slow start I was waiting for your 5 game then 10 game then 20 run game without losing streak coming to an end but you just kept going ... I and others admired . When we visited the amex we were playing well but to be honest this early six pointer was decided in no small measure by your injuries...that's were that strong bench comes in.

Our last game against you was very much in the balance even after you went down to ten men and I thought we were fortunate to get over the line. Now that's only two games in a season, you have played extremely well finishing on level points as us, given that we played you at home first if this one thing was reversed... ie we play you at home first and beat you then the last day of the season we only need a draw at your place...I don't think we would have got it and you would have gone up with points in hand.

There have been lots of congratulations on the football forums saying how we fully deserved promotion and I won't argue with that but if we do really deserve promotion then you do too. Some on this forum have mentioned us having a man extra that last game..well to be honest it was like 12 v 10 with the crowd and like I said this fixture reversed you win and we go into the play offs.

You have a lot to be proud of, if you have just an ounce more luck than your opponents then you will achieve , so to the best 11 in the championship...good luck you do deserve.

Very much a key point. As a good friend of mine, a Chelsea season ticket holder (a proper old school fan), said to me as we were walking through the countryside last summer, "You now need a season of consolidation again before you mount another challenge". Few would have disagreed at that point. What ensued was something quite unexpected. It was not trivial or dismissive for a neutral to suggest this though.

I can understand why folk expected us to fail. At first our run was ignored as a fortunate set of fixtures for an improving team ('You haven't played anyone god yet'- although we were supposed to be poor...), then it was considered an irritation to the usual challengers who could do without another team entering the frame. It fell off the rails and, just as the expected challengers began to forget about us, re-invented itself. The problem for us, as has been shown, was that we needed one or two more players of significant strength to take it all the way. Knockeart and Skalak joined a team that became mostly injury free- the challenge then took off again.

Had there been that extra quality we may have gone up automatically, but it was always a big ask. We can bemoan refereeing decisions, missed chances, unfortunate deflections- whatever. But so can 23 other sides in this league.

Middlesbrough had the best side on paper throughout. Their problem, briefly, was the Karanka circus in early spring. I expected them to win the league- and they would have done. For some reason I have issues with Burnley, I don't know why (It's not bitterness or jealousy as it doesn't extend to Boro).

The saving grace is that next year we will start strong with additions but a lot of that will depend on how we re-invest resources that may come as a result of some players moving on to higher pastures. I sound like someone defeated, but I view Monday's game as a bonus rather than a lamentable outworking of last Saturday's match. I'm strangely philosophical. But it's a bonus we can throw our heart and soul at knowing the team did everything they could have done. It's been a great season. Who knows, it may not be over, but I can understand why most neutrals think it is.

The legacy is a fine structure of a club and team in an advanced stage of development. The overall synopsis is one of a club entering its sixth season at the second level. You may not be aware but this has never happened to us before (taking out the First Division years of 1979-1983)- many on this board are too young to remember them. We look teams like Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest square in the eye now. We know we can make the next step- but with the parachute payments it gets harder after next season.

Nonetheless, looking back only a few years to when we nearly fell into the Fourth Division, the level that has been attained is remarkable. When licking our supporters wounds we should be proud. And incredibly this season is still not over.

If all else fails it's Newcastle United and Aston Villa joining us next year.

The Premier League will just have to come to us......