Why Didn't We Get Promoted?

CommanderComcast said:
Now that the season is over and dust settled what's the thoughts on why we, ultimately, failed in the pre-season target of promotion? I'd offer:

Should've replaced Warnock this time last year to give a new manager a full pre-season and transfer window. Chopping half way through did us no favours when we knew Warnock was leaving at the end of this season regardless.

The loanee forwards signed in the Jan window largely failed to deliver.

The Wilder-Burnley situation completely wrecked our run in. I feel certain that we would've made the play offs if Wilder had not let this run and run.

Thoughts?
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We never got promoted as our keeper lumley was terrible. Cost us about 15 points.

Also we should have never let the lad join Cardiff on loan.

Massive improvements with the change of manager he has a period to assess the team to mount a top two challenge in the 22/23 season.
 
I was convinced we would finish in the top 6 just before we hit that run of games in April. We had just murdered Peterborough away and I thought if we could take 6 or possibly 7 points from Fulham (H), Hull (H), Bournemouth (A), Huddersfield (H) we would be nailed on to finish in the playoff's. We came out of that run with one point and were unforgivably beaten by Hull at The Riverside. That game was a huge turning point for me.
 
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Muttley said:
Joe Lumley's failure to score.

Seriously, I don't think the Burnley thing had much effect, we were already fading. The keeper thing is over emphasised by a few posters, we only conceded 50 goals, averaging 1.09 per game, par for a top ten team. Matt Crook's 3 game suspension was probably more terminal than those factors. The loan strikers didn't work out, buying/loaning in January is risky and rarely successful. It's fine margins, Luton who finished 6th had a one goal worse GD but 5 more points!

I'm interested to see how we build a new squad and team now rather than raking over the failures of last season. A few expected departures have happened, how quickly will we start bringing players in? It must be a relatively quick return to training so I guess a lot of players are getting a few weeks in the sun with families/mates (depending on age). I suppose when they start to come back we will see arrivals?
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I agree that we over play the Lumley being awful card, we had a pretty good defensive record and Lumley gained us a point with his save at Millwall while probably losing using a couple at QPR and a point at home to Hull. He was also integral to our style of play with his sweeper keeper role and playing out from the back something we saw that Daniels couldn't do. I agree we need a new keeper, but don't think Lumley was the main reason we didn't go up.

The Burnley thing again maybe unsettled us v Huddersfield, but Matty Crooks daft booking in the last five minutes at Bournemouth was as significant.
 
Mfc79 said:
I was convinced we would finish in the top 6 just before we hit that run of games in April. We had just murdered Peterborough away and I thought if we could take 6 or possibly 7 points from Fulham (H), Hull (H), Bournemouth (A), Huddersfield (H) we would be nailed on to finish in the playoff's. We came out of that run with one point and were unforgivably beaten by Hull at The Riverside. That game was a huge turning point for me.
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Yes you can't lose three at home in the run in without scoring and expect to go up, in the end three draws in those home games would have seen us in the box seat going to Deepdale.
 
Redlips said:
Massive improvements with the change of manager
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There were bigger improvements at Forest and Sheffield United. That is fact.
Gibson backed both Warnock and Wilder. The talk of not being able to recruit in January is rubbish.
Scott/Wilder simply chose the wrong players in January.

The fall away in April was very concerning. To win just 3 of 8 matches and lose the 3 at home was just poor.
But frankly 9 wins in the last 21 and 31 points since the turn of the year is not impressive at all. It is a 68 point season. It would have us finish 10th last season.

So has Wilder really done so very well?
It would be stupid to ignore what happened on his arrival. Even given the unfortunate first two home matches, we won 5 of Wilder's first 8 matches to January with Warnock's squad, including a thrilling 5 wins and a draw in 6 matches around Xmas.
We took 17 points from 8 matches and rose to 5th in the table and 4 points inside the play offs. It is impossible to deny he had a great start. We were 4 points outside the play offs when Warnock left after 17 matches.
We finished 5 points outside the play offs at the season end in 7th.

It would also be churlish not to mention an exciting Cup run to the FA Cup QF. That Spurs performance was as good as we've seen since Karanka highlights.

We brought in four players in January and Wilder expressed his delight. He also played the two strikers he brought in an awful lot, with Connolly first choice far more than any other striker.
He was no more unlucky with injuries than Warnock had been previously.

So has he done so very well?
Not nearly as well as Cooper (5 points behind Boro on Jan 1st to 10 points ahead at season end) or Heckingbottom (7 points behind to 5 points ahead) that much is crystal clear. Or Jones at Luton (10 behind to 5 ahead), or Corberan at Huddersfield (3 behind to 12 ahead). There are 4 managers who trounced Wilder since January with a typical 15 point higher haul and all from poorer positions.
Don't lets kid ourselves about others falling away so much more either. We only took 7 points off "freefalling" Blackburn and 5 points off West Brom since Jan 1st.

I am not saying Wilder has been poor, nor am I saying he should be replaced, but I am saying that he is a part of poor recruitment, performance and results since the turn of the year.
Our forwards were grim, our goalkeepers awful and we lacked leaders on the pitch. We did not address the vulnerabilities in January despite having funds and scope.
But our recruitment guru and Manager need to start to justify their press and the massive support they have been given by the Boro support...and owner.

I think Gibson will heavily back Wilder and we have some good players to build on or trade. And Wilder does have experience of promotion and much greater knowledge of the club now.
But this is the summer to get recruitment very right.
 
I was certain we would make the play offs on boxing day after beating Forrest, but I think we had a poor transfer window if we had managed to get a decent keeper and striker or realised quicker that the new strikers were gash and stopped playing them I think we would of been grand. However, I reckon Riley Mcgree will prove to be a great signing and we will smash the league next season :)
 
Injuries to Dijksteel, Fry, Hall & Bola
Loaning Djed Spence out to Forest
Not signing a left back in the summer
We had a really good cup run
The January window didn’t work out

Thin squad, poor requirement
 
Warnock should have gone last summer - his signings were mostly gash, Lumley, Ikpeazu, Sporar, Hall, Akpom, only Crooks looks to have been a decent buy, and as for Djed Spence - jesus :rolleyes:
 
1. Sacking "promotion specialist" NW
2. Players coming on this forum and feeling disheartened.
3. Aaron Connolly put off by misogynistic attitudes toward his ex girlfriend on here.
 
Otto42 said:
I agree that we over play the Lumley being awful card, we had a pretty good defensive record and Lumley gained us a point with his save at Millwall while probably losing using a couple at QPR and a point at home to Hull. He was also integral to our style of play with his sweeper keeper role and playing out from the back something we saw that Daniels couldn't do. I agree we need a new keeper, but don't think Lumley was the main reason we didn't go up.

The Burnley thing again maybe unsettled us v Huddersfield, but Matty Crooks daft booking in the last five minutes at Bournemouth was as significant.
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The goalkeeper thing is being massively exaggerated. The defence was pretty good all season. The goalie made some mistakes, but for every point lost by a goalie error about 6 sitters were missed at the other end.

The way to get out of the Championship is not to buy expensive goalies, you don't get a return. It's about scoring loads of goals. Boro will not be promoted by trying to tighten up the defence.
 
A really poor January transfer window let us down.

Not brinigng in a decent keeper. Not bringing in a RWB as cover for Jones. Not bringing in a holding midfielder as cover for Howson. Bringing in two strikers on loan, when we should have just stuck with the strikers we already had and rotated Watmore and Hernandez playing alongside Sporar.
 
parmoboy said:
A really poor January transfer window let us down.

Not brinigng in a decent keeper. Not bringing in a RWB as cover for Jones. Not bringing in a holding midfielder as cover for Howson. Bringing in two strikers on loan, when we should have just stuck with the strikers we already had and rotated Watmore and Hernandez playing alongside Sporar.
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Agree, the 2 strikers we brought in weren't up to much and I felt the subsequent rotation policy simply further blunted what was hardly a prolific front line to start with.
 
Nerdy graph time again. At least our post Christmas win/lose/win/lose/etc.... form kept us on the 75 point mark but at the very moment we needed to kick on we folded ............ just as we did the previous season. The squad seems to be psychologically fragile no wonder Wilder talked about attitude over ability post the Preston game.

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We capitulated at Luton when 1-0 up. Got hammered 3-1. If we’d won that we’d have been in the playoffs at their expense. Which is why talk of huge rebuilds and a dozen new signings coming in should always be cause for concern because it suggests we were a million miles away. I don’t think we were. It’s a fine line between meeting your targets and not.

We need a good ‘keeper, a left-sided defender and a couple of strikers. Those are the priorities. Some leadership and some quality. We’ve got a good nucleus already in place IMO.
 
The striker swops in Jan did not work.

I felt the FAC cup run deflected us a bit from our league games.

I thought we were too slow to get going under NW - some bad home defeats Blackpool, QPR, and Birmingham. The summer transfers were not great neither and we were a couple of players short.

We didn't have top 6 keepers.
 
Soutra said:
The goalkeeper thing is being massively exaggerated. The defence was pretty good all season. The goalie made some mistakes, but for every point lost by a goalie error about 6 sitters were missed at the other end.

The way to get out of the Championship is not to buy expensive goalies, you don't get a return. It's about scoring loads of goals. Boro will not be promoted by trying to tighten up the defence.
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Honestly Joe Lumley is the worst keeper we have ever had. He had a mistake in him every game he played.

Off the top of my head he has stinkers against, Hull, QPR, Birmingham, Blackpool, Blackburn. Probably more, 15-18 points ge cost us at least.

With him in goal we needed to score two goals a game.

No stand out teams in that division next season.

A keeper or two are our top priorities.

Soapy Joe needs to go.
 
We would have been smashed in the play-offs regardless but,

We weren't good enough in either box, lacked cover/rotation options and the left side lacked the quality of the right so once teams knew our strengths we became too easy to defend against, hence the falling away towards the end of the season.
 
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