They sold their best player for over £10 million last summer. Anyway, if they did hang on to their other League 1 players, who are now doing so well, that only reinforces the fact that there's no "huge gulf".
Pinnock is 26 though which is old by our standards. If we don't go up he will be gone. If we do go up he might still be gone as he's of that age where they might want to cash in rather than offer a new contract.
You may be right. I'm optimistic that a few more will step up, but experience has taught me that my optimism could well be misplaced!
Not wishing to be overly pedantic but should we finish in the top two I'd say that would be on merit rather than good fortune. Ok our circumstances may be affected by fortunate adverse results by some of the other teams but in general, finish 1st or 2nd then you deserve it. The playoffs however are another matter though it would seem that the last promotion place tends to go to the team with the best momentum and form at the time.
Momentum is the key. If we're promoted automatically I'd fancy us to pick up points against any of the bottom ten teams. That's 20 wins assuming you beat them home and away. 60 pts comfortable mid table.
Mathematically in a year’s time our current crop will all be a year older... I hope we will be promoted and I think then, if all other variables/staff remain the same,we will be an attractive place for players to come and develop. This year we are a shop window for players to the Championship, next year this could be the Premier League. People mention spine, but at the moment the spine is pretty strong, who would we replace? Adding extra depth would be sensible. Would an older head provide this? Although the old romantic in me remembers fondly the impact of Ashley Ward and Fjortoft. My one concern with our current squad is up front - as others have mentioned we are creating enough chances to bury the Scunthorpes 5-0, but only converting through what could be described as slightly fortuitous goals. Moore and Woodrow are great and developing a partnership still. So let’s hope that our chance to goals count does increase. An outfield captaincy always makes sense to me in Daniel we trust, maybe the current outfield players aren’t ready for it - let them get on with their job rather than adding the pressure of captaincy. I imagine the business plan is for consolidation in the Championship next year...
I just think goals are like buses. You wait for ages for one and loads come at once. Wouldn't surprise me if Woodrow and Moore start sticking the chances away again. It isn't exactly a lean spell by any chalk.
One each per game for the rest of the season would do me nicely with Big Mama,Sir Alex and the Cam chipping in every so often.