9 points from the play offs

I might be in a minority of one but I think we are in for a barnstorming end to the season with a lot of injured/missing quality set to return to fire us to play off success.
The return of McGree, Lath, Dieng, McNair, Jones, Forss and whoever is brought in alongside Azaz and Ayling means we will be a considerably stronger first team squad than we’ve been playing with for months now. I’m pretty sure without the terrible injury list we’d be embedded in the top 6, so now that’s (hopefully) starting to ease, we can put stronger squads out and have a great end to the season. It’s pretty incredible that we’ve managed to stay within touching distance of the top 6 given the missing players list.
No one is ever really ready to go up, but I much prefer the journey than the destination anyway.
 
I do want us to go up. But...
Staying up is almost a strategic plan 3 season plan, build sensibly with some older experienced heads (because we won't have the £90m Prem money plus another £100m injection from loaded invester), accept it'll be a struggle, likely down again but keep the squad and go back up, build on it again...
 
It's never to early to go up. In reality we would probably come straight back down, but we would be financially better off, with a better core of players.
 
I think a relatively low points total will get you in the playoffs this season. Usually need 75+ points but I think 70-72 will be enough this season.

There's probably 10 teams in with a squeak of finishing in 5th and 6th. Assuming 3rd and 4th are occupied 2 of the current top 4.

TeamGames PlayedPointsCurrent PPGRequired PPG (to get to 70 points)Required PPG (to get to 72 points)Required PPG (to get to 75 points)
WBA
28​
45​
1.61​
1.39​
1.50​
1.67​
Coventry
28​
43​
1.54​
1.50​
1.61​
1.78​
Hull
28​
42​
1.50​
1.56​
1.67​
1.83​
Norwich
29​
41​
1.41​
1.71​
1.82​
2.00​
Watford
28​
40​
1.43​
1.67​
1.78​
1.94​
Sunderland
28​
40​
1.43​
1.67​
1.78​
1.94​
Boro
28​
40​
1.43​
1.67​
1.78​
1.94​
Preston
28​
38​
1.36​
1.78​
1.89​
2.06​
Bristol
28​
37​
1.32​
1.83​
1.94​
2.11​
Cardiff
28​
37​
1.32​
1.83​
1.94​
2.11​
 
It's work in progress which I think is only a matter of time till it starts to come together.

Michael Carrick is still learning his trade and has made some tactical mistakes setting up his team and some of his substitutions at times but theres also no doubt we have played some cracking football under Carrick and after the years of always been set up quite defensive as a team to change that mentally to a more offensive team is always going to take time and getting the right personnel in to play that way.

We are a young squad but as others have mentioned we need strengthening in areas too and that's where Steve Gibson comes into it, if he is serious about getting this club promotion once again then he also needs to back Carrick in the transfer window with some funds.

So as a fan I'm happy with the progress so far. I do think we will have a good run towards the end of the season, will it be enough to get a play off spot, let's see what happens.

UTB!!
 
Nano said:
I agree. I much prefer being in the championship and being unable to beat teams like Rotherham. Beating Chelsea the other week was boring
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Yeah, i'm sure Burnley and Sheff Utd are glad there in the Premiership now... Sheff Utd sacked their manager, and Kompany is now under pressure

The only good thing is the parachute payments that will sustain both clubs,

We beat Chelsea 1-0 in a cup match, we can do that again next season in a cup competition, not sure what your comparison is about?
 
Similar to the 93/94 season injuries and youngsters thrown in (Moore, Liburd etc) always hovering around the top half but never cementing a top 6 place and falling short finishing 9th 4 points off the playoffs

Phillips, Falconer and Kernaghan moved on too

Playoffs only mathematicially impossible when we lost to champions crystal palace second last game of the season

Some weeks we were awesome other weeks Terrible as the crowds dwindled in their thousands (didnt help games being live on Tyne Tees)
 
Alwaysaborolad said:
Yeah, i'm sure Burnley and Sheff Utd are glad there in the Premiership now... Sheff Utd sacked their manager, and Kompany is now under pressure

The only good thing is the parachute payments that will sustain both clubs,

We beat Chelsea 1-0 in a cup match, we can do that again next season in a cup competition, not sure what your comparison is about?
Click to expand...
Last season people were asking the same questions. "Do we want to get promoted when it's more fun to win every week" but as we have seen from this season we don't win every week. Personally I find it far more depressing being unable to beat teams like Rotherham than I do getting beaten by a team like City or Chelsea and being in the PL gives us ample opportunities of getting a big result against one of the big teams without just drawing them in the cup. Being in the PL brings the potential for staying in the PL, buying better players, watching better footballers, improving the squad so beating Chelsea in the cup isn't an upset but something with a realistic chance of happening and ultimately giving us an increased chance of getting our hands on a trophy again.

I'm a bit sick of the championship to be honest. It's a slog where there is very little glory for winning and you are constantly being beaten by teams full of cloggers. It's not fun.
 
Alwaysaborolad said:
Yeah, i'm sure Burnley and Sheff Utd are glad there in the Premiership now... Sheff Utd sacked their manager, and Kompany is now under pressure

The only good thing is the parachute payments that will sustain both clubs,

We beat Chelsea 1-0 in a cup match, we can do that again next season in a cup competition, not sure what your comparison is about?
Click to expand...
Sheff U and Burnely are still in a better situation now than if they were 1 and 2 in the champo.

How they deal with it is up to them. If Burnley have any sense they should try and keep Kompany for a promotion tilt next season.

Only thing I am not sure about is whether champo FFP will bite either of them, or Luton once they are back under the aegis of the champo rules.
 
We have to take promotion whenever it comes. Even if it means an absolute dogdirt season in the top flight. Because it's a financial reset. It gives us the parachute payment clout to keep us up the top of this league if we come back down, it allows our scouts to invest, it allows us to pay our best players good wages to stay and it helps us maximise sale potential if we don't need to balance the FFP books. 1 season in teh prem, with a transfer policy that isn't spunked on Britt and Fletcher types, will be massive for this club.

If we sell Hackney in 12 months only having championship experience, he'll never be more than a 25m player. If we do it after he's had a personally successful prem season, in a relegated side, he's a 40m player. That's the reality.
 
Nano said:
Last season people were asking the same questions. "Do we want to get promoted when it's more fun to win every week" but as we have seen from this season we don't win every week. Personally I find it far more depressing being unable to beat teams like Rotherham than I do getting beaten by a team like City or Chelsea and being in the PL gives us ample opportunities of getting a big result against one of the big teams without just drawing them in the cup. Being in the PL brings the potential for staying in the PL, buying better players, watching better footballers, improving the squad so beating Chelsea in the cup isn't an upset but something with a realistic chance of happening and ultimately giving us an increased chance of getting our hands on a trophy again.

I'm a bit sick of the championship to be honest. It's a slog where there is very little glory for winning and you are constantly being beaten by teams full of cloggers. It's not fun.
Click to expand...
Yeah it's alright when you first come down. When the pain of relegation goes then you feel like a big fish looking forward to different away days, other teams look at you as a big scalp and we are winning games - alot more than the previous years, if we've just got relegated we've obviously lost, alot - Then narrowly miss out on going up the next year you're still a big fish etc and you feel like if a player is available and Championship clubs are linked then you have as good a chance as anyone of signing them and we feel like we will win every week.

I feel like we're just a stable Championship club now similar to Stoke, Birmingham, WBA and a host of others. We've been out of the top flight for too long. The longer we aren't one of the sides going up/down or in the picture the more these clubs are receiving big PL money and we're not and that pushes us further down the pecking order. We need to get back, we need to be on MOTD, we need to be on Sky, need to be linked to top players, we need to be talked about on the podcasts and stuff, on the top half of the footy coupon, the latter rounds of the cup, the team other teams loan players FROM not where clubs send players to.

I want us playing the top sides every week and getting that buzz of big teams coming here bringing a decent number of away fans and each home game is a big game that attracts attention and people want to go to, rather than just watching the cup draw and getting excited about pulling a PL side. 1 year in the PL will help so much with the clubs finances, but again we would only need to finish above three other clubs - two who had come up with us, and a handful who narrowly avoided relegation the year before! I was lucky growing up, to my recollection my first game was the last game at AP so i grew up watching superstars play for us, watching us in the PL and then Europe and my eldest are 12 and 14 and i want them to have something like what i had when i fell in love with the club.

I am still annoyed at not beating Rotherham yet the Chelsea defeat has pretty much left me now. I want promotion and i want it now.
 
VestasBoro said:
Yeah it's alright when you first come down. When the pain of relegation goes then you feel like a big fish looking forward to different away days, other teams look at you as a big scalp and we are winning games - alot more than the previous years, if we've just got relegated we've obviously lost, alot - Then narrowly miss out on going up the next year you're still a big fish etc and you feel like if a player is available and Championship clubs are linked then you have as good a chance as anyone of signing them and we feel like we will win every week.

I feel like we're just a stable Championship club now similar to Stoke, Birmingham, WBA and a host of others. We've been out of the top flight for too long. The longer we aren't one of the sides going up/down or in the picture the more these clubs are receiving big PL money and we're not and that pushes us further down the pecking order. We need to get back, we need to be on MOTD, we need to be on Sky, need to be linked to top players, we need to be talked about on the podcasts and stuff, on the top half of the footy coupon, the latter rounds of the cup, the team other teams loan players FROM not where clubs send players to.

I want us playing the top sides every week and getting that buzz of big teams coming here bringing a decent number of away fans and each home game is a big game that attracts attention and people want to go to, rather than just watching the cup draw and getting excited about pulling a PL side. 1 year in the PL will help so much with the clubs finances, but again we would only need to finish above three other clubs - two who had come up with us, and a handful who narrowly avoided relegation the year before! I was lucky growing up, to my recollection my first game was the last game at AP so i grew up watching superstars play for us, watching us in the PL and then Europe and my eldest are 12 and 14 and i want them to have something like what i had when i fell in love with the club.

I am still annoyed at not beating Rotherham yet the Chelsea defeat has pretty much left me now. I want promotion and i want it now.
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1706185404544.jpeg
 
Alwaysaborolad said:
Do you really want us to go up?

We had a better team last season, yet still miles behind Burnley in quality, look at them struggling week in week out in the Premier league.

If by some miracle we went up, we would need at least 8-9 new quality players, ( which we cannot afford), not 8-9 young prospects.

We need another season in the Championship.
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I thought similarly but for me the gulf is such that if we went up we'd have to change just about the whole team, and would have if we were successful last May.

There's not many in our squad that are Premiership quality, and there weren't last season either.
 
Corcaigh_the_Cat said:
I thought similarly but for me the gulf is such that if we went up we'd have to change just about the whole team, and would have if we were successful last May.

There's not many in our squad that are Premiership quality, and there weren't last season either.
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Thats where we'd have to trust MCs dealings.

Out of our best XI now i reckon only Dieng, VDB, Jones, Hackney, McGree, Forss would/could be capable of stepping up to the first XI of a team who could survive in the PL.

Not counting Rogers who might leave, Azaz whose brand new, any loan players of Howson/McNair out of contact but its not a bad base to build from.
 
Alwaysaborolad said:
Do you really want us to go up?

We had a better team last season, yet still miles behind Burnley in quality, look at them struggling week in week out in the Premier league.

If by some miracle we went up, we would need at least 8-9 new quality players, ( which we cannot afford), not 8-9 young prospects.

We need another season in the Championship.
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We don’t need another season in the championship.. not at all.
 
VestasBoro said:
Thats where we'd have to trust MCs dealings.

Out of our best XI now i reckon only Dieng, VDB, Jones, Hackney, McGree, Forss would/could be capable of stepping up to the first XI of a team who could survive in the PL.

Not counting Rogers who might leave, Azaz whose brand new, any loan players of Howson/McNair out of contact but its not a bad base to build from.
Click to expand...

I think I would agree with those names

But that is a very small base to start with, that leaves us 6 (ish) short of a starting 11, plus then needed 6 or 7 back ups - all needing to be better than we currently have, in the most.

And we just hope and pray we dont encounter a period of injuries like this season. Its a daunting task!
 
MichaelDebeve said:
I think I would agree with those names

But that is a very small base to start with, that leaves us 6 (ish) short of a starting 11, plus then needed 6 or 7 back ups - all needing to be better than we currently have, in the most.

And we just hope and pray we dont encounter a period of injuries like this season. Its a daunting task!
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I think a newly promoted team (not a yoyo team so much) needs a lot of luck to stay up. Even if they spend big.

They generally need:

7 or 8 good new players to come in and hit the ground running.
A good run of fitness because they generally won't have squad depth.
One or two established premier league teams to have a bad season.
 
B_G said:
I think a newly promoted team (not a yoyo team so much) needs a lot of luck to stay up. Even if they spend big.

They generally need:

7 or 8 good new players to come in and hit the ground running.
A good run of fitness because they generally won't have squad depth.
One or two established premier league teams to have a bad season.
Click to expand...
1706187144985.jpeg
 
MichaelDebeve said:
I think I would agree with those names

But that is a very small base to start with, that leaves us 6 (ish) short of a starting 11, plus then needed 6 or 7 back ups - all needing to be better than we currently have, in the most.

And we just hope and pray we dont encounter a period of injuries like this season. Its a daunting task!
Click to expand...
It's definitely scary, but its got to be the aim. Every season we're here its another season we're falling behind other clubs. I think MC would want to bring in 6/7 as early as possible which in itself is hard then he'd pray for luck with injuries and suspensions, he'd pray the teams who barely survived the year before had bad seasons again, pray there wasn't an AFCON or similar tournament to drag our key players away, pray we got to 10 wins because thats rougly what you're aiming for to stay up. A lot of praying going on.

I'd be happy if we went up with 6 players who Carrick felt could compete and just needed to plug the gaps and then strengthening the bench comes after. We've got to try because how long do we stay down here before we fall to L1, it's happened to far bigger clubs than ours.
 
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