If we had won the playoffs...

[TJ blade]

Really? Ah, bless

Sympathise with him mate. Hes not a full bob

 

[Balham]

You can't dismiss the impact of the Covid era though. Part of our success in the first 2/3 of 2019/20 was because we were so hard to break down in away matches that it turned the home fans on their teams, making it easier for us. Once the fans were removed from the equation, the ability of the players became more important than their temprament under pressure (Patrick Bamford being a prime example of this) and as we were essentially still a top-half Championship team we were then at a significant disadvantage. Throw in the failed recruitment - signing Brewster when we were desperate for a centre half and a central midfielder with legs - and a rigid tactical plan which had been figured out by the majority of the opposition analysts and coached and the result was that awful 2020/21 season.

2023/24 I can excuse as we were totally brassic. No serious team sells its best two players on the eve of the season and expects to stay up. That one was all about keeping the club afloat.

I voted for bottom of the pile, sub 16 point in the poll. I have zero faith in the current decision making processes at the Lane and I think we'd have seen a plethora of BordAI driven signings over the summer, the track record of which is not good.

 

[Badger Blade]

I went for a grim season.

Wilder would still have been in his job and would have maintained a sense of continuity. Anel and Souza would still have been here but then so would Jack Robinson just to even things out.

We'd have raided the likes of Sunderland and Coventry for some of their better players and probably paid to keep Choudhury and BBD while seeing them get shown up in the Prem, hence why their parent clubs were willing to let them go.

Essentially, we'd have already been assembling the squad to come back up again, doing what we usually did which was hoover up some of the better Championship players.

We might have even snuck a couple of wins but we'd be sat somewhere around Forest, West Ham, Burnley - somewhere between 7 and 10 points but scoring less than a goal a game. Trying hard but ultimately giving up the ghost by 70 minutes against teams bigger, faster, smarter and more ruthless than we would have been.

Also probably not stumping up £50m+ to get two decent strikers in, getting McBurnie back on a free instead and seeing Moore getting made a mug of against decent defenders.

 

[PaulPeschBlade]

We’d have been rock bottom after spending £80 million on a bunch of championship no marks

 

[54yrblade]

Sympathise with him mate. Hes not a full bob

That was me being as close to sympathetic aa I can get in those particular circumstances

(Message sent on Android from Hillsborough. Obviously )

 

[Upton_Blade]

Correct. Our wasting huge amounts of cash from the PL times is a much bigger reason for our drop offs, PL embarrassment and current position than Covid ever was.

Covid is a very easy deflection tool to move the conversation away from the clubs own failings and from those responsible.

Whilst I completely agree with your 1st point here I want to pick up on your 2nd point.

I've seen various versions over the last page or 2 completely dismissing Covid having any impact, being a cop out etc etc.

That completely ignores where we were in the table and how we were playing when Covid struck. It was a complete sliding doors moment and I truly believe without Covid we would have qualified for Europe and the financial benefits that come with it.

Who knows what would've happened in that 2nd season then.