Hmm - not a simple question when you ride the Bladercoaster.
Home to Hull on October 6, our 4th win on the bounce and 25 points out of 30 and I thought we were going to do 100 points again - then 1 win in 6 games and my coaster rolled down!
After that it felt like a solid playoff season for a while until 4 wins on the bounce again, ending home to QPR on Jan 12 and I felt that the top 2 was possible again.
However, that was followed by 1 win in 4, ending with conceding 3 in 8 minutes at Villa park and I thought, we can’t compete with the best so prepare for another playoff struggle - especially as the Feb and March fixtures looked tough.
We then won 6 and drew 1 of the next 7, ending with the Bashambauer slide goal at Bellend and I really believed we were on our way, but we only got 2 points from the next 3 games that I went to - as I missed Preston away - ending with Millwall and my coaster was back down to playoff mode.
Riding the tram back to Meadowhall after the Florest game and getting the Weeds Wigan score led me dancing down the platform, followed by my Villa mate telling me that if we won the last 3 they would beat Weeds for us and we would be up.
But finally I really believed while watching Brentford beat Weeds. I had thought that if they drew we would be OK - and so I celebrated Maupay’s goal as much as Bash’s Weedkiller.
So the answer to your question is that I started to believe on October 6th that automatic was possible, but that belief was lost several times until Brentford beat Weeds and Benjamin Bloom and Blades Analytic reviews convinced me that it was almost certain.
I have to say though that ever since beating Villa on September 1st I have never doubted that we would at least be in the playoffs.
Another Truly Magical Mystery Tour