How confident are you about being promoted this season?

[Jon P]

Does anyone still think we will mess this up? If it was any other team than Blades we'd be saying they're out of sight, but because it's our own team we're hyper skeptical.

Even if we lost certain players this month, I think we'd have enough to get over the line.

Interested to see how confident we are feeling. Keep it steady and we're Premier League bound.

 

[Le Cynique]

I’m enjoying the run we’re on, but not losing the run of myself. Nowt is decided yet.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

I don't think we've ever had such a lead with so few games left.

Even if we limped to the finish like we did in 97/98 should be enough.

We should however be looking to chase Burnley down and aiming for 100 points.

 

[Yellarbellyblade]

I think it was mentioned elsewhere that only blades could look at Wednesday’s position and go they’re definitely promoted then look at ours and go well we’ll still mess it up.

(Apologies to the original poster I’d credit you but can’t remember who said it)

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

The Blades are going up, the Blades are going up.So now you’re gonna believe us, so now you’re gonna believe us.THE BLADES ARE GOING UP!

 

[Corkblade]

I personally hope burnley keep winning, their our target, chase them down and beat them at turf moor

 

[Melbourne Blade]

I'm looking at it mathematically and I really can't see us being caught. 18 games left with most teams needing a 5 or 6 game turnaround (they win, we lose) to overtake us.

We do have a challenging run in, however nothing demonstrates in recent weeks that the teams below us are meeting or outperforming the required points per game to cause any worries.

We're going up. I am worried about next season though but who gives a fuck

 

[west_yorks_blade]

Not confident.

Bloody well should be but …
Well you know.

 

[Sheffsteel]

I'm 90% confident of going but know that if there's a 10% chance of failure, then Sheff Utd have this knack of failing ha ha.

The thing that gives me more confidence than usual is the manager and players are still humble and take each game as it comes
Also the players are very focussed, mentally strong with experience of promotions.

A post that is sometimes mentioned is
"We're 13 points clear, so that's only 4 consecutive defeats then the other team has caught up"

but it's not that simple because as well as us losing 4 consecutive games, an opposing team would need to win 4 consecutive games.
Then.....even if a team does perform a miracle to catch up....they then need to maintain that form and keep winning.

So for opposing teams.....we are soon approaching the territory where a team below us needs to win 9 out of 10 matches to overtake us
and that even if we are quite average form from now on.

 

[Westran]

February and March are massive for us, if we get a few decent results against rivals for promotion, we've pretty much sealed it. But if we start badly against them, the nerves could set in. It'd still take a monumental fuck up for us to lose it at this stage, fortunately those below us are dropping points already and so I'm quietly optimistic.

 

[blade_11]

Confident based on the chasing pack taking points off each other, us winning at least 6 of the 9 home games left and picking up the odd away win/draw

 

[vas borbokis]

I'm looking at it mathematically and I really can't see us being caught. 18 games left with most teams needing a 5 or 6 game turnaround (they win, we lose) to overtake us.

We do have a challenging run in, however nothing demonstrates in recent weeks that the teams below us are meeting or outperforming the required points per game to cause any worries.

We're going up. I am worried about next season though but who gives a fuck

We do though have experience of a run of games this season which if repeated could scupper us!

 

[Frank the tank]

In my lifetime we've achieved easily as much success as failure in fact I'd go as far as to say we've over achieved for a club the size ours was when I started supporting it

Being at the top and cruising is anxious and tense and takes all the fun out of it because you just want to chalk up the 3 points and the way we are doing it adds to that

As a fanbase we are way too negative and broken and even after the recent success journeys it resurfaces every time we are doing better than expected or better than shit

Let's face it we aren't comfortable achieving we prefer being the plucky underdog and I can't see that ever changing

 

[djbaldken]

I've been a blade too long. I'm never confident until it happens.
yes we are in a very good position now. 13 points clear of third is a big ask for the chasing pack.
but we are blades. If anyone can fuck up at this point it's us!
Fingers crossed we will do it.

 

[Mad Mick]

I always think the Christmas fixtures are the killer. We got through those and have carried on winning. It's not nailed on but I'm quietly confident. As long as we keep the same team and do not have too many injuries we will do it. Don't get me wrong I'm sure we'll have a wobble. What's really interesting is that we are in a position to destroy the chasing pack's chances as we play two of them at home in the next few weeks.

 

[Harry's Game]

See where we are at the end of February. If we are still double figures clear then its all over,

 

[Tarqs]

In my lifetime we've achieved easily as much success as failure in fact I'd go as far as to say we've over achieved for a club the size ours was when I started supporting it

Being at the top and cruising is anxious and tense and takes all the fun out of it because you just want to chalk up the 3 points and the way we are doing it adds to that

As a fanbase we are way too negative and broken and even after the recent success journeys it resurfaces every time we are doing better than expected or better than shit

Let's face it we aren't comfortable achieving we prefer being the plucky underdog and I can't see that ever changing

When did you start watching, 2019?

 

[biggiesablade]

I'm rarely confident of anything bar my own ability and good looks.

 

[Overthehills]

It's boring as hell maybe, but i'm trying not to think about it until perhaps the 10 games to go stage.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have opened up a gap like we have at this stage of the season. But never the less, I try not to give too much of a though or toss about the opposition.

If we continue to win games, then we are well and truly in position to go up. But for now the concentration has to solely be on this in my opinion.

As said, we've got some huge games coming up and failing to produce in these could quite easily reduce the gap a bit and make it more twitchy bum. Factor in that the second half of the season WILL improve the performances of certain teams as well, not just those fighting for a top 6 spot... but those fighting for their Championship lives.

So for now, we concentrate on upping our own game and performances and we continue to tick them off on an individual basis. If we do that, our fate noe looks after itself..... simples.

 

[Frank the tank]

When did you start watching, 2019?

1980

 

[b1ade4life]

The plus side.of being this far ahead is when we play any of the immediate chasing pack we can afford a draw against them, they have to win and will come at us leaving them open to the counter

 

[Sheffsteel]

In my lifetime we've achieved easily as much success as failure in fact I'd go as far as to say we've over achieved for a club the size ours was when I started supporting it

That's factually incorrect.
Winning and being promoted from league 1 and the Championship isn't success for a club our size (historically the 18th biggest in England).
We've only spent a pathetic 6 seasons out of a possible 34 seasons in the Premier League.
We are well down the rankings based on playing in the Premier League, behind Stoke, Swansea, Bolton, Watford, Birmingham, Portsmouth etc etc.

We are the biggest club in England with such a poor record of hardly playing in the Premier League.

However before the PL were spent nearly 60 seasons in the top flight.
In the 70's I remember my grandad saying to me.
When he was growing up everyone just took it for granted...Sheffield United would always be in the top flight for ever.
We still hold the Sheffield record of having 37 (thirty seven) consecutive seasons in the top flight,
compared to Wednesdays 16 (sixteen) consecutive seasons in the top flight.

Another interesting stat is the longest spell we've had outside the top flight is 14 seasons.
Where as Wednesday longest spell outside the top flight is the current 23 seasons and counting.
Both Sheffield clubs have massively underperformed...based on their history and size.

 

[Gin&Juice]

Burnley are the best thing to happen to us this season and vice versa. It means we constantly challenge and don't become too complacent.

Norwood, Baldock, Billy, Bash and Enda have done this before and that experience shows. Although not the most glamourous of players, the fact they've done it before and know what standard is required means we have no excuses to not finish in the top 2.

 

[Upton_Blade]

In reality even if we only won 8 and lost 8 of our last 16 games Watford would need 38 points from their 16 games to over take us.

 

[Tarqs]

1980

How have we over achieved in that period (which has seen about 15% played in the top division and a greater amount played in the 3rd and 4th tier).

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

How confident am I that we're going up?
I'm trying to think whether I'd like someone like Man U away first game next season, or Burnley at home.

 

[Jon P]

I'm looking at it mathematically and I really can't see us being caught. 18 games left with most teams needing a 5 or 6 game turnaround (they win, we lose) to overtake us.

We do have a challenging run in, however nothing demonstrates in recent weeks that the teams below us are meeting or outperforming the required points per game to cause any worries.

We're going up. I am worried about next season though but who gives a fuck

We just need the injection of cash that the prem brings, we'd likely come back down but then be challenging for promotion again. Happy to be a yo-yo club for a while

 

[RammyBlade]

In reality even if we only won 8 and lost 8 of our last 16 games Watford would need 38 points from their 16 games to over take us.

We've got 18 matches left as have Watford. We have wone 60% of our matches played 17/28.

If we only win 50% of the last 18 then we have 84 points which would mean Watford in 3rd place would need to win at least 13 and draw one of their last 18 matches (40 points) to equal us AND we currently have a +19 goal difference advantage so effectively another point to get above us.

It gives me a lot of comfort BUT I am a Blade and naturally pessimistic and the thinking is - if there is a way to fuck it up we will find it !

 

[Stretch]

The maths does suggest that even those with the slimmest of changes blew it over the weekend, but we still need to win half of our remaining games, and no game is easy.

In answer to your question, very confident but not complacent.

 

[Davalon]

If we don't lose key players to sale or injury, I'm very confident.

We've done well to be where we are this season with all the injuries, and I expect us to keep having them. Without a ridiculous crisis, however, I'd still expect us to gain 1.5 points per game minimum to see us home.

With the financial cloud above us it adds a bit of edge and uncertainty but hopefully that's out of the way in the next week or two.

That said I hate complacency in anything, which is very different to positivity, so we all need to keep our feet on the ground and back the team.