[Albion] NOW is time to get excited about the play-offs this time.

[Return of the Rev]

Does anyone else feel like this?

It's not that we've been there twice recently, it's not that I don't think we have a fighting chance, it's just that I STILL feel numb after Saturday. I just can't get excited by these fixtures. Anyone else feeling like this, or is it just me?

Still struggling from the Palace cup tie at Stamford Bridge tbh! That Ron Challis whats he like

 

[CarlosTheOwl]

Dreading it TBH.

For all the good we've done this season the only playoff team we have beaten in 90 minutes is Hull, conversely probably the only set of fans we got on alright with. I'm fully expecting a raft of jeering and gloating Wednesday fans with their stupid Sid James emoji to be smugly turning NSC properly working class in six days time. If that doesn't happen the gloating Derby w***ers that will be here over bank holiday weekend when we lose at Wembley on penalties, having had Hemed sent off for picking his nose and Stockdale also dismissed for eating his banana in a casual manner will be too much to bear.

Football can do one.

Amazing considering where you were this time last season.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Amazing considering where you were this time last season.

And the season before? And the season before that?

 

[CarlosTheOwl]

And the season before? And the season before that?

It just made me chuckle... having said that we have our fair share of fans who like to feel defeated before a ball has even been kicked.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Does anyone else feel like this?

It's not that we've been there twice recently, it's not that I don't think we have a fighting chance, it's just that I STILL feel numb after Saturday. I just can't get excited by these fixtures. Anyone else feeling like this, or is it just me?

I agree. I wish the season was done one way or another. I've never liked the playoffs, even when we benefited from them. More expense, more hassle etc. I am also fed up of the lack of sleep and a peaceful mind.

 

[The Albion Roar]

Was anyone really expecting anything from Saturday? I mean really...?

Put it this way...

For all the collective down-ness there is on this result (as if one result determines a season), I had no expectation of us doing the business at Middlesbrough. I had hope, of course I did, and I believe the team has enough about it to have sneaked a result. We couldn't, but it was bloody close. Similarly, I honestly don't care what Derby, Hull and Boro fans think of us (and off the pitch, Hull fans have been sent into another flat spin over their season tickets next season).

It's a back-handed compliment for their little airheads to want to come on here and show off their puerile juvenility for all to see. It means they're spending time and effort thinking about us to such an extent, they actually bother to register. Believe me, it's far more than I'd ever do about them. So we must be doing something right.

Addtionally, I am intensely and immensely proud of what the club and the team has achieved this season. I went into the last match utterly over the moon that we'd gone into the last game of the season with a chance - and a bloody good one at that - of automatic promotion. OF AUTOMATIC PROMOTION.

Stop and consider that for a second.

We have not had such a sustained and exciting challenge to get to the top division for 37 years - and it has been (for the most part) briliant. The contention that we've arguably over-achieved is beside the point. All I would say is I'd be disappointed if we'd not got over the line having got this far and fallen against a lower team. But we still had a pig of a fixture to fulfil. Too bad, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

So to grumble about this so-called failure is a bit self-indulgent. We have to earn the right to be promoted, and we haven't done so yet. And we - the fans - have our obligation to do our bit. We've done our best (sometimes), but now we have to do it again. So... we go again.

So how down was I? For an hour or so, though mostly about Stephens' red card. After that, there's no value in wallowing in misery - it's only destructive and hinders our cause.

For crying out loud - it's only Sheffield Wednesday, a team not capable of getting closer than 15 points to us. History counts for nothing. This is about now. Therefore, I wait in quiet contemplation, for Friday and for Monday, knowing the players and management are professional and willing enough to do it all again. It's within our hands. Everything else is merely white noise.

Not too much to ask, is it?

There, finished.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Amazing considering where you were this time last season.

While I suspect that you don't do slightly ironic, ranty humour, you are aware that we've lost in the playoff semi-finals in two of the last three seasons? That we've never won at Hillsboro? And that there's another Premier Leage c*** in charge on Friday night?

 

[CarlosTheOwl]

Just for the case of stirring the pot... are you guys really that scared of playing us if you finished 15 points ahead of us?

 

[DavidRyder]

Someone posted on another thread that they expect a sell out on Monday. With the gloom that is about, I can't see it. Thoughts NSChatters?

 

[Bozza]

Amazing considering where you were this time last season.

We're not disappointed with our season. As you kinda point out, our turnaround from last year has been amazing. Most reasonable-minded Albion fans would have been happy with top-half this year with any flirtation with the play-offs being a bonus.

Saturday is still very raw. We didn't go to Middlesbrough with any expectation of winning, but we went with hope. It was always going to be extremely difficult against a very strong side backed by a raucous home following. But we did have a chance, particularly in shaking them by coming back from 1 down. That chance was swiftly taken away from us by what we believe to be a very poor refereeing decision.

All I can say is that if you were in our shoes, a lot of your fans would feel the same. We may support different teams, but we're all football supporters. We all tend to read things pretty similarly when they affect our own clubs.

 

[sparkie]

Was anyone really expecting anything from Saturday? I mean really...?

Put it this way...

For all the collective down-ness there is on this result (as if one result determines a season), I had no expectation of us doing the business at Middlesbrough. I had hope, of course I did, and I believe the team has enough about it to have sneaked a result. We couldn't, but it was bloody close. Similarly, I honestly don't care what Derby, Hull and Boro fans think of us (and off the pitch, Hull fans have been sent into another flat spin over their season tickets next season).

It's a back-handed compliment for their little airheads to want to come on here and show off their puerile juvenility for all to see. It means they're spending time and effort thinking about us to such an extent, they actually bother to register. Believe me, it's far more than I'd ever do about them. So we must be doing something right.

Addtionally, I am intensely and immensely proud of what the club and the team has achieved this season. I went into the last match utterly over the moon that we'd gone into the last game of the season with a chance - and a bloody good one at that - of automatic promotion. OF AUTOMATIC PROMOTION.

Stop and consider that for a second.

We have not had such a sustained and exciting challenge to get to the top division for 37 years - and it has been (for the most part) briliant. The contention that we've arguably over-achieved is beside the point. All I would say is I'd be disappointed if we'd not got over the line having got this far and fallen against a lower team. But we still had a pig of a fixture to fulfil. Too bad, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

So to grumble about this so-called failure is a bit self-indulgent. We have to earn the right to be promoted, and we haven't done so yet. And we - the fans - have our obligation to do our bit. We've done our best (sometimes), but now we have to do it again. So... we go again.

So how down was I? For an hour or so, though mostly about Stephens' red card. After that, there's no value in wallowing in misery - it's only destructive and hinders our cause.

For crying out loud - it's only Sheffield Wednesday, a team not capable of getting closer than 15 points to us. History counts for nothing. This is about now. Therefore, I wait in quiet contemplation, for Friday and for Monday, knowing the players and management are professional and willing enough to do it all again. It's within our hands. Everything else is merely white noise.

Not too much to ask, is it?

There, finished.

Brilliant post and very well put.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Does anyone else feel like this?

It's not that we've been there twice recently, it's not that I don't think we have a fighting chance, it's just that I STILL feel numb after Saturday. I just can't get excited by these fixtures. Anyone else feeling like this, or is it just me?

Think the big difference this time around is that the play-offs feel like a consolation prize, rather than the main event. Shows how far we've progressed.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Just for the case of stirring the pot... are you guys really that scared of playing us if you finished 15 points ahead of us?

Its not being scared, it is the cruel mistress that is football. The 3rd place team often goes into the playoffs downbeat if they've narrowly missed out on automatic, while 6th, and sometimes 4th and 5th are delighted to have secured their playoff place happy to have made it in there.

That said, the 3rd place team from the Championship has gone up 3 times out of the last 5 seasons, 5 out of the last 10. Given there are 4 teams in it, those odds are very good for the 3rd place team to show their quality and do the business. We will have to wait and see.

 

[Simster]

Just for the case of stirring the pot... are you guys really that scared of playing us if you finished 15 points ahead of us?

I'm not scared of playing you in the slightest - in fact, I think we'll probably beat you. It's just that I am just struggling to feel emotionally involved after Saturday. I can't 100% put my finger on why, I think it's a form of self-protection.

You see, in all likelihood, our best chance was Saturday and we couldn't make it. The chances are that even if we don't cock it up against you, Derby or Hull will turn us over. If someone said now "you're in this division again next year", I'd shrug and accept it, for I think I'd rather have the closure. The Championship is a great league anyway - it's not like League One as you know as much as we do.

 

[Bozza]

Just for the case of stirring the pot... are you guys really that scared of playing us if you finished 15 points ahead of us?

In pure footballing terms - not at all, no. You're clearly a decent side. You wouldn't have been in the top 6 if you weren't. I was at both league games this season, and witnessed it for myself.

My concern is the expected loss of Stephens will hit us hard and his partner in our engine room, Beram Kayal, is all but knackered and two games in 4 days is going to be tough for him.

Beyond that, I am concerned that despite their best efforts not to be, the flatness felt by some of us will be the same for our team. If their heads are down at all, Wednesday should be good enough to capitalise on that.

 

[Boy Blue]

I'm preparing for another season in the championship and watch the vultures desend in the summer and cheery pick our best players. Our players are really going to find it hard to pick themselves up for the play-offs.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

It just made me chuckle... having said that we have our fair share of fans who like to feel defeated before a ball has even been kicked.

Can't actually see where, I personally, have succumbed to defeat? Please keep up.

 

[Machiavelli]

Was anyone really expecting anything from Saturday? I mean really...?

Put it this way...

For all the collective down-ness there is on this result (as if one result determines a season), I had no expectation of us doing the business at Middlesbrough. I had hope, of course I did, and I believe the team has enough about it to have sneaked a result. We couldn't, but it was bloody close. Similarly, I honestly don't care what Derby, Hull and Boro fans think of us (and off the pitch, Hull fans have been sent into another flat spin over their season tickets next season).

It's a back-handed compliment for their little airheads to want to come on here and show off their puerile juvenility for all to see. It means they're spending time and effort thinking about us to such an extent, they actually bother to register. Believe me, it's far more than I'd ever do about them. So we must be doing something right.

Addtionally, I am intensely and immensely proud of what the club and the team has achieved this season. I went into the last match utterly over the moon that we'd gone into the last game of the season with a chance - and a bloody good one at that - of automatic promotion. OF AUTOMATIC PROMOTION.

Stop and consider that for a second.

We have not had such a sustained and exciting challenge to get to the top division for 37 years - and it has been (for the most part) briliant. The contention that we've arguably over-achieved is beside the point. All I would say is I'd be disappointed if we'd not got over the line having got this far and fallen against a lower team. But we still had a pig of a fixture to fulfil. Too bad, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

So to grumble about this so-called failure is a bit self-indulgent. We have to earn the right to be promoted, and we haven't done so yet. And we - the fans - have our obligation to do our bit. We've done our best (sometimes), but now we have to do it again. So... we go again.

So how down was I? For an hour or so, though mostly about Stephens' red card. After that, there's no value in wallowing in misery - it's only destructive and hinders our cause.

For crying out loud - it's only Sheffield Wednesday, a team not capable of getting closer than 15 points to us. History counts for nothing. This is about now. Therefore, I wait in quiet contemplation, for Friday and for Monday, knowing the players and management are professional and willing enough to do it all again. It's within our hands. Everything else is merely white noise.

Not too much to ask, is it?

There, finished.

Every. Single. Word. Of. This.
Can't quite believe this thread. This utterly amazing season is still alive, and we're in with a shout. I'm absolutely thrilled at the prospect of the next two, and possibly three, games.

 

[Hillian1]

Quite frankly I am beginning to wish we had been relegated last season, then none of this would have happened.

 

[CarlosTheOwl]

In pure footballing terms - not at all, no. You're clearly a decent side. You wouldn't have been in the top 6 if you weren't. I was at both league games this season, and witnessed it for myself.

My concern is the expected loss of Stephens will hit us hard and his partner in our engine room, Beram Kayal, is all but knackered and two games in 4 days is going to be tough for him.

Beyond that, I am concerned that despite their best efforts not to be, the flatness felt by some of us will be the same for our team. If their heads are down at all, Wednesday should be good enough to capitalise on that.

That's what we are banking on, this difference in 'mentality' in terms of you looking down and disappointed and ourselves being pretty pleased with just making it in time. I'd say that footballers are different though and without creating a love in with your team (I wouldn't want to do that) we can see that they're a tough bunch to have only lost 5 games all season... it shows quite a grit.