Ok. So I've been doing some thinking about how we'll fare in league 1 and actually I do think we'll be challenging for promotion. I think this season, defending against better players will have to have been of some benefit, and if we play a settled defence then they will start to get to know each other. I honestly cant see us getting enough points and the fact that Charlton for eg. are plugging gaps caused by injuries with short term contracts where we're not willing to do so is going to be the difference.
I think we’ll have to make signings in jan choose what the calibre with the amount of stupid bookings we’ve conceded so far just to put out a team . Most of the bookings have come from indiscipline or because we simply couldn’t defend and it was they’re only answer.
It's all part of the plan Helen. Get relegated, players develop at a lower level, get promoted, pre championship fire sale, start again. Everything is just fine and dandy in that respect.
What pissed me off about this is that I think you're absolutely right and I also think it's exactly what our owners want. Sign players, watch them struggle. Get relegated, watch them shine. Get promoted, sell them. Make money for themselves. Start again. It's depressing and it's not football
It's the worst way to run a football club but the best way to make money for yourself if you're a greedy *******
And that appears to be the one and only reason that they are here - making relatively decent returns for very modest investment.
Agree. We’ve got the makings of an excellent league one side especially once the core of this squad has another 20+ games together.
Thats the problem sell one or two every transfer window to balance the spreadsheet and keep yo-yo'ing between divisions! Not my idea of fun. How can you develop a bond with a team or players when you know if they do well they will be sold on straight away. I wont be fooled again tho after this season ill cherry pick a few games but im not going every weeknin league one if we have to have seasons like this in the championship. Absolutely no forward thinking about making money actually stopping in this league...
I think we will struggle in L1 next season. It's a much tougher division than people think and history counts for nothing*. Top half finish, but no promotion. Not unless we learn to defend. And definitely not if we sell Woodrow and Mowatt and replace with two unproven development players. I reserve the right to change my mind after January and then again after the closed season. * copyright Keith Hill
The January window will determine which level of the EFL we will be playing in next season. However, I do not believe that the owners want us to be a yo-yo club. We are and always have been a selling club but Championship players are much more valuable than League 1 players (look at Brentford) so I believe the owners would want us to be a championship club. Their problem is that the "best ever transfer window" turned out not to be anywhere near that, particularly as far as the defence is concerned. After a lean start our attackers are coming to terms with the Championship, unfortunately they are being undermined by our leaky defence.
Fans bemoaning us becoming a ‘yo-yo’ club. Comments like ‘that doesn’t sound like fun’. I’ve experienced only 4 promotions within my lifetime. Regular promotions would be incredible! It certainly beats the perpetual misery of a bottom-half struggle.
Mowatt and woodrow would be long gone if we go down. So I'd imagine it would be a different team. Raldinger is only here for a season (thank god)
I can’t honestly see why the owners would plan to get relegated. It’s automatically writing off £6 of revenue so makes no sense at all. No guarantee we’ll get back up straight away next time either.
Trouble with that RH is that we are judging our prediciment on league one based on the players we have now! You know and i know the milli second any offers come in for our better players they will be off, for a slight profit.
So you would be happy to become Rotherham and yo-yo out out league one just for a promotion rather than establish ourselves in the championship even if it meant finishing around 8th to 16th every season??
Our ambition for most of the last 30 years has been to finish 4th from bottom in the Championship. I’d take a promotion party season over scraping safety by goal difference on the last game of the season.