Is the Championship all that?

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Where will we finish in the Championship?

  • Automatic places

    Votes: 32 8.1%

  • Top Six

    Votes: 153 38.9%

  • Mid Table

    Votes: 176 44.8%

  • Fighting Relegation

    Votes: 32 8.1%
  • Total voters
    393
Keen Blade said:
People accuse the Prince of not investing , but think it comes down to poor recruitment.
The Brentfords & Brightons recruit well and their players develop and get sold for a profit.
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The likes of Brighton and Brentford employ a network of scouts who travel all over Europe and beyond looking for talent. These scouting networks cost money to implement. Our scouting network if you can call it that most likely consists of one man that is given a £50 Ryanair voucher and an expenses account that is a Boots meal deal.
 

Mag-83 said:
The likes of Brighton and Brentford employ a network of scouts who travel all over Europe and beyond looking for talent. These scouting networks cost money to implement. Our scouting network if you can call it that most likely consists of one man that is given a £50 Ryanair voucher and an expenses account that is a Boots meal deal.
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To the best of my knowledge Brentford don't have an academy and have a B team instead. The money they save on this is what funds their extensive scouting and recruitment. They also have a director of football who overseas contracts and recruitment. If they sign a left winger and a right winger, then the head coach would be expected to change his formation and tactics to accommodate them.

We would do well to copy this model but I couldn't see Wilder being flexible enough to change his tactics and formations to suit the players brought in for him, he would make them change to suit his precious system.

I genuinely feel that lack of reserve team football is half the reason the players pick up injuries and can't last matches. You go through pre-season building up to being able to play for 90 minutes. Then you're benched for most of the season only coming on for 10-20 minutes here and there. All of a sudden through injuries or suspensions you're called up and your body is not ready for a full match as you've not played 90 minutes since pre-season. 90 minutes would be slog and you will pick up injuries, as your body isn't ready for that kind of demand as you've not done it regularly.

Bring back reserve team football, it also keeps players on their toes. How many times did Kozluk or Morgan get dropped then come back fighting having played well for the reserves? How many players coming back from injury looked sharp and ready after a couple of reserve team games under their belts?
 
I voted mid table looking at our position now.

We are going to have about 10 players come the beginning of July and some of them are shite or not ready. So I’m expecting a 25 ish man turnover with a couple of sales we will probably bring in 20m or so roughly.

I think Wilder will stay on but personally don’t think he’s the man to sort it out. Get this summer wrong recruitment wise and a poor start to next season and it will be the most toxic it’s been for a long time in the stands and we could be in free fall.
 
Top 6 depending on wheeling and dealing. Championship isn't all that, so main competition will be Burnley, Luton, possibly Forest replacing 1 of those 2 but I doubt it. Then at least 1 possibly 2 of Leeds, Ipswich, Southampton will still be there, then WBA and Norwich are some way behind them. Rest of league is mediocre
 
If you watched Dull v Witches last night the championship is all that for the fans . Distinct lack of Jonny foreigner cheats , var , not blowing for offside half an hour after the event and so on . I for one won’t miss it as a spectacle. If the club needs the wedge I guess I’ll have suffer it
 
Tony Currie said:
We do have very strong championship players.

Arblaster (a revelation)
Hamer (much improved since Wilder came in)
Osborn (much improved since Wilder came in)
Bogle (much improved since Wilder came in)
Robinson (Leader)
Brookes (still learning, will be good enough at Championship level)
Osula (still learning, will be good enough at Championship level)
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I’ve taken out the ones who are out of contract and I don’t think will be staying. Genuinely amazed you think that is the basis of a strong Championship team. Robinson and Osborn are solid Championship players but nowt special at that level. Hamer has excelled and Arblaster will, Bogle on the other hand is a complete enigma. Brooks and Osula haven’t yet shown enough.
 
FWIW I think we won’t get the transfer business we need to do quick enough, following the usual pattern. Teams will be scouting now for next season, but we haven’t even got a Head of Recruitment sorted. It’ll be a slow start and we’ll end up midtable. I just hope we don’t play Wednesday early as we’ll be vulnerable.

You need someone to get us 15-20 goals in the Championship and those players cost money. Osula and Jebbison have potential, but if we’re relying on them for more than 5 goals each we are in serious bother.
 
I'm actually quite surprised by the levels of optimism is the poll. I honestly can't see anything other than a relegation fight (the fight part may be generous).

We have the worst defence in premier league history and have conceded so many really basic goals. There's a distinct lack of organisation back there.

At the other end of the pitch the players who are under contract have scored a combined 15 goals in all competitions. 15!

Unless we manage to work some absolute miracles in the transfer window, we're in an absolute mess.

Oh and to add insult to injury we're a couple of points (possibly 4 if we can't offload anymore) behind before a ball is kicked.

We're finishing 24th next season.
 
The Championship will be tough as old boots next season.

Wecome back Portsmouth and Derby and Blades Burnley Forest.

Three tribal derby matches happening what havent happened in a while.......Blades v Pigs......Pompey v Saints.....Rams v Scabs
 
Mag-83 said:
The likes of Brighton and Brentford employ a network of scouts who travel all over Europe and beyond looking for talent. These scouting networks cost money to implement. Our scouting network if you can call it that most likely consists of one man that is given a £50 Ryanair voucher and an expenses account that is a Boots meal deal.
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Don’t Brentford just scab off their owner’s main source of income and then pass themselves off as Business FC?
 
Mag-83 said:
The likes of Brighton and Brentford employ a network of scouts who travel all over Europe and beyond looking for talent. These scouting networks cost money to implement. Our scouting network if you can call it that most likely consists of one man that is given a £50 Ryanair voucher and an expenses account that is a Boots meal deal.
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And yet Brighton get so many deals wrong also.

It’s a balancing game. They are scouted extensively they sign a few players for £100m and then see the results. Some do amazing others they end up loaning out and selling a loss. Which is more than made up with the sales of the stars that work.

It’s a very high risk strategy that can be incredibly profitable.

But that’s the reason why not many follow it.

If Ten Hag at Man Utd did it the spot light is on them. They sign someone for £25m and then sell him for £15m 1-2 years later there would be massive scrutiny.

Also they would sign some players for £3m, the Man Utd fans would say they aren’t closing the game on City.

It’s a hard business model to follow with lots of risks and needs to be at the right club. They just got bumped by little old Bournemouth. Our fans would be screaming from the roof tops.
 

Bladezz said:
And yet Brighton get so many deals wrong also.

It’s a balancing game. They are scouted extensively they sign a few players for £100m and then see the results. Some do amazing others they end up loaning out and selling a loss. Which is more than made up with the sales of the stars that work.

It’s a very high risk strategy that can be incredibly profitable.
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Brighton could struggle next year.

They’re ending the season in pretty poor form and the Manager also seems pretty disillusioned.

Only so much of selling your best players can an ambitious manager accept.
 
Champagneblade said:
Brighton could struggle next year.

They’re ending the season in pretty poor form and the Manager also seems pretty disillusioned.

Only so much of selling your best players can an ambitious manager accept.
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They won’t struggle as they have large amount of money that can be spent if needed as they will label it as a calculated risk.

The manager has done poorly (he’s one of my favourites too). I think he knows it’s time to move on.

But they’ll gamble again spend large sums hoping they hit big. But they are playing at a casino and the house doesn’t have advantage. They may well lose on the first 1-2players and hit big on the 3rd.

But it’s a fantastic model they have.
 
Bladezz said:
They won’t struggle as they have large amount of money that can be spent if needed as they will label it as a calculated risk.

The manager has done poorly (he’s one of my favourites too). I think he knows it’s time to move on.

But they’ll gamble again spend large sums hoping they hit big. But they are playing at a casino and the house doesn’t have advantage. They may well lose on the first 1-2players and hit big on the 3rd.

But it’s a fantastic model they have.
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Yes they do unearth a lot from parts often infrequently explored.

It’s just their form is a worry (for them).

They seemed set for another good season but they’ve fallen behind Bournemouth (and lost 3-0 to them at the weekend), who were looking likely for a relegation scrap earlier in the season.

As you say with the Manager, it feels like time to move on. He stays longer and his star may start to descend. They need to turn to a new face, unless they fancy Potter back, though he was in negotiations with Ajax, which must be an intriguing role.
 
Tricky one to predict as there's strong grounds for positivity and also strong grounds for negativity.
Next season is exciting because at the moment I haven't a clue what to expect...could go from one extreme to another.

However if I had to bet money I expect mid table most of the season with a late run towards the play-offs.
Think we'll finish the season quite strongly but just miss out on the play-offs, probably 7th.
but the general vibe around the club will be upbeat with a lot of positivity for promotion in the 25/26.
 
Foody said:
I'm actually quite surprised by the levels of optimism is the poll. I honestly can't see anything other than a relegation fight (the fight part may be generous).

We have the worst defence in premier league history and have conceded so many really basic goals. There's a distinct lack of organisation back there.

At the other end of the pitch the players who are under contract have scored a combined 15 goals in all competitions. 15!

Unless we manage to work some absolute miracles in the transfer window, we're in an absolute mess.

Oh and to add insult to injury we're a couple of points (possibly 4 if we can't offload anymore) behind before a ball is kicked.

We're finishing 24th next season.
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Attention seeker ha ha
You do realise we'll have one of the bigger budgets (parachute payments) in the league next season....with many of the big earners off the books too.
Some top quality youngsters will be 1 year older and better and several excellent at Championship level players will be back from injury.

The raw ingredients will be there....however it's a total rebuild.....like starting a team from scratch.
Recruitment will be key....we're really lacking attacking players...will Brewster finally stay injury free and fulfil some of his potential?

Wilders record is similar to Warnock's.....when he buys underwhelming or lower division cheap players they tend to be good sigings but when either manager was given money to make big more ambitious signings...they tended to be flops.

In fairness 24th is possible, but we all know Championship is a much lower quality, so top 2 is equally just as possible as 24th.
That's what makes next season so interesting because at this stage...predictions are almost a stab in the dark.
We'll have so many new players but suspect we'll be amongst the favourites with the bookies.
 
Last edited:
I think a few years in league 1 will do us good , start from scratch, with young hunger players .
 
CW said in an interview over the weekend he knew what the problems are, who he needs and how to fix the problems on the pitch. Sounds good to me as he and Knill have done it once, bring it on again.
 
sjl said:
Then we can look forward to another season of being the laughing stock of football. I’ve just got back from holiday and had the embarrassment of fans sitting in a bar and literally laughing at each goal going in against Burnley. A guy at a restaurant called us Sheffield Ulosers when he asked where we were from.

I really hope we don’t go up for the sake of everyone in the city.
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This loser mentality is why we’ll never be a big club.
 
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Mag-83 said:
The likes of Brighton and Brentford employ a network of scouts who travel all over Europe and beyond looking for talent. These scouting networks cost money to implement. Our scouting network if you can call it that most likely consists of one man that is given a £50 Ryanair voucher and an expenses account that is a Boots meal deal.
Click to expand...
It's amazing how far an OAP bus pass can take you 😬
 
Despite what wilder says he will keep his old ‘pals’ around where possible.

He wil be unable to attract the players we need for a variety of reasons and such we are royally fucked …. I fully expect a very bland season followed by a second season of relegation.

Nothing will change while the current owner is around, the silence is deafening and I don’t know why anyone is surprised given that horrible media interview given by that horrible guy when they put Hecky in place.

He basically told us ; didn’t give a shit about football, didn’t know anything about it and it was a business.

That’s exactly what I see now when I look at the club
 
Bladezz said:
I voted mid table.

Teams much better than us Southampton & Leeds aren’t automatic promotion so we will be further behind them.

The mess we are in isn’t fixed in one or two windows. I think it’s 3 or 4 windows to fix us. We have Hamer and Arblaster and Bogle. The rest aren’t really auto promotion players or playoff players.

Anyone who votes automatic should compare us to Leicester and go player for player. Arblaster and Hamer get into there team. The rest don’t reach their bench.
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but how many teams in the championship would hamer arblaster and bogle get in, probably every team apart from the 3 you've mentioned maybe they would but fucking hell if QPR can lose at home to wednesday then demolish Leeds we've got nowt to worry abart
 

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