Should we worry if not promoted?

[SB_90]

cant remember us getting battered by any prem clubs of late

last few years we won a few head to heads and ran spurs close recently

lost 1-0 at man utd and leicester in last couple of years with what we had



we are nobodys whipping boys

But thats 1 off. When your playing them week in week out things can get tough. Look at west brom

 

[metalblade]

If we did get promoted and got battered every week so what we would be near on £200m better off, more than enough to clear our debts and strengthen the team for another crack at it. I can't see any sense in some fans saying we would be better off staying where we are.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

There are good reasons why we would want to get promoted this time.
1. The smaller clubs staying up are benefitting more and more from massive funds. Burnley, Watford, Swansea, Bournemouth etc. don't need big crowds to continue to be above us as the money is so big, each extra season they stay up, they pull further and further away.
2. It's likely Wolves, Fulham and either Cardiff / Villa will go up replaced by West Brom joined by two of Stoke, CP, Newcastle, Southampton, Huddersfield, West Ham or Swansea. None of the three coming down have Hull / Sunderland finance issues. Therefore more strong teams in the Championship. The Boing Boing Baggies tend to go between the two divisions, Newcastle pissed it last year and the others have decent accounts due to the +£100mil influx.
3. Some of the clubs not sorted this season could (I have to say could as two of them are the dirties and the pigs) sort themselves out next season making the division stronger. This also includes Derby, Forest, Middlesboro (now they have Pulis), Norwich and Ipswich.
4. Stronger lower clubs like Preston, Millwall, Bolton, Brentford and Wigan who will be on a high.
5. Ownership issues causing investment issues.

All making next season in the Championship harder to exit and the Prem harder to stay in the longer we are out of it.

On the other hand
1. We have Wilder and Knill.
2. Coutts will be available.
3. Phenomenal team spirit.
4. Some Astute signings after some of the bit part players leave.
5. Either Brooks playing more regularly or the money from Brooks (hopefully the former).

So I'm happy either way. We have had an amazing season and even flirted with promotion which could still happen regardless of how unlikely.

There’s no “ on the other hand” for me.

Not one of those 5 “on the other hand” things is assured.

If Wilder becomes frustrated at the lack of club ambition and he gets the chance to take on a bigger club he’d be crazy not to do so. Coutts could be courted away in such circumstances. Number 3 and 4 are heavily reliant on a good management team. And the latter is more likely for number 5, but we won’t see all or even most of. the money.

The biggest factor, not mentioned above, is that the gap is widening between the Prem and the Championship. We are reaching a point where if you aren’t at the top table you will never catch up again. The money gap is so great that what we will end up with is a handful of elite clubs at the very top, who I suspect will eventually break away into some kind of European super league, and the rest.

This will spread to the Championship as well. You’ll have a handful of rich Championship clubs who yo-yo between Championship and Prem, not being quite good enough to sustain life at the top table, but having a big financial advantage in the second tier. And the same teams will be changing places every other season.

If we want to “survive” in this dog eat dog situation we have to get to the Prem, as urgently as possible. Even if it’s only for one season. At least that gives us some financial security and a chance of going back up again. Of course I don’t want to see my team lose every week in the Prem - no one does. But if it means it gives us the financial clout to stay in touch with the top league and have another go at getting back it’s worth it.

The longer we stay outside the top tier the more bleak our prospects become.

We either get back soon or we risk being a club that yo-yo’s between the Championship and League 1 instead.

Which do you prefer?

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Dont worry be happy.

 

[Bladezz]

Worry is dropping out of the league.

CW said in the week he’s trying to find a way to close the gap in terms of quality but I think he’s realising it’s momey.

Week before he comes out and asks for which direction the club is coming.

I think the first team is doing so well it’s removing all the issues behind the scenes.

We don’t even know who our owner is / CW boss by start of next season. That’s the biggest concern.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

No. It could well be a make or break season in terms of where we want to be investment wise, as Tufty suggested a couple of weeks ago, but I'm confident that he's shown enough for the owners to step up to the mark.

Every year people say the Leagues get harder as they did in League 1 last season, the thing is, we are (hopefully) on the up whereas there's plenty of teams in this division who are just marking time, Ipswich, QPR etc

 

[Ainsley Harriott]

Ranger won't be able to afford him

500k? Surely they can stretch that

 

[blade too long]

There’s no “ on the other hand” for me.

Not one of those 5 “on the other hand” things is assured.

If Wilder becomes frustrated at the lack of club ambition and he gets the chance to take on a bigger club he’d be crazy not to do so. Coutts could be courted away in such circumstances. Number 3 and 4 are heavily reliant on a good management team. And the latter is more likely for number 5, but we won’t see all or even most of. the money.

The biggest factor, not mentioned above, is that the gap is widening between the Prem and the Championship. We are reaching a point where if you aren’t at the top table you will never catch up again. The money gap is so great that what we will end up with is a handful of elite clubs at the very top, who I suspect will eventually break away into some kind of European super league, and the rest.

This will spread to the Championship as well. You’ll have a handful of rich Championship clubs who yo-yo between Championship and Prem, not being quite good enough to sustain life at the top table, but having a big financial advantage in the second tier. And the same teams will be changing places every other season.

If we want to “survive” in this dog eat dog situation we have to get to the Prem, as urgently as possible. Even if it’s only for one season. At least that gives us some financial security and a chance of going back up again. Of course I don’t want to see my team lose every week in the Prem - no one does. But if it means it gives us the financial clout to stay in touch with the top league and have another go at getting back it’s worth it.

The longer we stay outside the top tier the more bleak our prospects become.

We either get back soon or we risk being a club that yo-yo’s between the Championship and League 1 instead.

Which do you prefer?

its never out of reach
10 years ago who saw burnley , bournemouth and hudderfield holding their own up there

we blew it in 2007 wasting 4 m odd n that january on utter cack signings by warnock
had we got one more decent forward,or midfielder wed have stayed up

• Matthew Kilgallon - Leeds United, £1,750,000 rising to £2,000,000, 8 January 2007[7]
• Jon Stead - Sunderland, £750,000 rising to £1,250,000, 11 January 2007[8]
• Mamadou Seck - Le Havre, free, 15 January 2007
• Luton Shelton - Helsingborg, £2,000,000, 15 January 2007[9]
• Ahmed Fathy - Ismaily SC, £700,000, 24 January 2007

only Stead contributed a bit with 5 goals
we needed far more from the investment
that and trying to defend in the last few games to hold what we thought we had

 

[Benny and the Blades]

We were saying all this about getting back to the Championship a couple of years ago. It will happen one day but I'm betting we'll still be the poor relations again...
cellar vee mi owed pal cellar vee.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

As long as Kev the Blade is my charge I don’t really care where we are as we are in good hands of a bloke with honest intentions.

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

we are nobodys whipping boys

..except for maybe Fulham and Wolves

 

[blade too long]

..except for maybe Fulham and Wolves

we hit 3 and 4 several times which balances it out
last time we were there in 38 games we lost 3 3-0 and 1 4-0 at liverpool

hardly got our asses whooped
arsenals had bigger defeats