Would you have taken 3 points off 5th with 9 games left….

atypical_boro said:
I never thought this season was going to be some kind of cakewalk into the play-offs or better.
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If you read the pre season prediction threads neither did most of the people on this thread who reckon we should easily be top 4. Most of the people who are negative now, were negative then.
I hoped we’d do better than we have, I didn’t expect we’d definitely do better. We still might do better than we’ve done in the last decade.
 
I wouldn't have taken it. I predicted top 4. I was optimistic coming into this season. I expected 80+ points. Didn't think we'd quite have enough to get into the top 2 but didn't think we'd be far away.
If we were on for 80 points, we'd be on 64 now and comfortably in 5th. I'd have been happy with that and thought we'd given it a decent go. It would have been improvement on last season.

I don't take any more comfort that other teams have struggled for consistency as well so we are therefore within touching distance of the play offs. I expected us to improve on last season, and right now, we haven't. We have gone the other way.

If you had told me at the beginning of the season that with 9 games left we would be:
3 points behind Coventry
A point behind Bristol City
A point in front of Blackburn
2 points in front of Sheff Wed
I would not have accepted that. We can go on about our budget/squad etc and not being able to compete with Leeds, Burnley etc, but we should be better than those clubs.
 
No. Like most, I didn't think we would make the automatic spots but I figured we would be fighting for 3rd/4th with an outside chance of the autos if everything went our way. Being in 8th place, 3 points off the playoffs at this point would have sounded like things had gone quite badly wrong.
 
No. Not at all. As I've put on numerous threads the end goal isn't getting in the play-offs. It's winning them. Sneaking into them when 15-20 pts behind the teams that are 3rd and 4th and the obvious ability gap that those points differences indicate would mean we are highly unlikely to win the play-offs, meaning we've fallen short of our aims for the season.
 
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No, we were supposed to be challenging for the automatics. That was the logic behind the ticket prices.

To charge the prices Gibson’s charging, if scraping the playoffs was the aim, he wouldn’t have sold anywhere near as many ST’s.
 
Scrug said:
No, we were supposed to be challenging for the automatics. That was the logic behind the ticket prices.

To charge the prices Gibson’s charging, if scraping the playoffs was the aim, he wouldn’t have sold anywhere near as many ST’s.
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I appreciate thats your opinion but its not like it was an officially published mission statement.

The club will always say promotion is their aim to sell season tickets. And of course it is their aim. Doesn't mean its realistic though, or likely.
 
B_G said:
I wouldn't have taken it. I predicted top 4. I was optimistic coming into this season. I expected 80+ points. Didn't think we'd quite have enough to get into the top 2 but didn't think we'd be far away.
If we were on for 80 points, we'd be on 64 now and comfortably in 5th. I'd have been happy with that and thought we'd given it a decent go. It would have been improvement on last season.

I don't take any more comfort that other teams have struggled for consistency as well so we are therefore within touching distance of the play offs. I expected us to improve on last season, and right now, we haven't. We have gone the other way.

If you had told me at the beginning of the season that with 9 games left we would be:
3 points behind Coventry
A point behind Bristol City
A point in front of Blackburn
2 points in front of Sheff Wed
I would not have accepted that. We can go on about our budget/squad etc and not being able to compete with Leeds, Burnley etc, but we should be better than those clubs.
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Dead right. We have the 4th highest wage bill in the division, the highest wage bill of the none parachute payments clubs. Being 4th or very close to it points wise is how we should judge the season.
 
Marvanelli said:
We invested in the summer quite heavily (for a team with no parachute payments). We kept our crown jewels (Hackney, Rav, ELL) and we were also the bookies 2nd/3rd favs for promotion.

Anyone content with being 8th place in March, has zero ambition for this club.
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I don't think it's lack of ambition, it's recognising that things don't always pan out as you expect/hope. You can make largely good decisions (not saying we have necessarily) and still not have a successful season, there are other factors in play. It's also recognising the opportunity you have, again even if it isn't quite what you hoped it would be. Some people have given up because we aren't 3rd/4th when we still have a shout at acheiving our aims this season.
 
Definitely not. We’ve dropped 22 points from winning positions this season. It would be unrealistic to say we shouldn’t have dropped any of those points but a lot have been lost through self-inflicted things like errors, poor decision making, crumbling under pressure, etc.

Even on Tuesday against QPR, their goal is scored by someone completely unmarked a couple of yards from goal and their ‘keeper has a free header to equalise right at the death. It’s just awful, awful defending. We got away with it against QPR but it’s cost us right across the season.

If you put half of two thirds of those dropped points back onto our total we’d be absolutely comfortable in the top 6 now and that’s sort of where I thought we’d be at this point tbh.
 
atypical_boro said:
I appreciate thats your opinion but its not like it was an officially published mission statement.

The club will always say promotion is their aim to sell season tickets. And of course it is their aim. Doesn't mean its realistic though, or likely.
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Aye it’s my opinion, isn’t that what this thread is?

They’re not going to publish anything that could be used as a stick to beat them with, especially since the ‘smash the league’ debacle.

But we heard a lot of rhetoric when the price increases were announced that they enabled us to challenge towards the top of the league, I think even Kieran Scott was coming out with similar stuff.

So I interpreted this, plus the prices, to think ‘well ****, we’re really having a go this year’.

Then we sell our best striker in January. It’s all b***ks from a club who just want to fleece the fans they know will spend their money on ST’s.
 
There has be a serious review of injuries. The following players have appalling injury records and although I wont say they are weak minded, we will go no where if they continue to be at the club and they should be shown the door and sold if possible.

Dael Fry
Riley McGree
Marcus Forss
Darragh Lenihan
Rav Van Der Berg
Alex Bangura
Senny Dieng


The following need to removed for been useless

Daniel Barlaser
Luke Ayling
George Edmundson (why the hell he was paid for, I will never know. Particularly they wanted an extra loan elsewhere and look how that has turned out.
Lucas Engel
Tom Glover
Micah Hamilton



Kids need to be deemed good enough to be included in the squad and played by the age of 19 or shown the door. I know that is harsh but lets face it if they are not good enough at 19 they are unlikely to be the level we need.

Loans - I would love to keep Doak but I would expect no chance. Travers would be decent but another keeper of a similar level to compete with Brynn will be needed. Doak we have no chance of keeping. Illing Jr I would like to see how next few games pan out. Thought he did well v QPR. Giles habks for the memories, but I fear league 1 or 2 is your future which is sad to say. Iheanacho, I will just be kind and say I think he needs a fresh challenge elsewhere.

So 25/26 squad

Brynn
New Gk - Travers (if possible)
Dijksteel, new RB. Ayling try and release
Borges - new LB (reserve) - Sell Engel and Bangura if we can.
4 new centre backs - Sell Fry and Van der Berg. Plead with Lenihan to retire if not fit at start of season. Prefer he is let go in any case. Edmundson transfer listed.
Centre Midfield - Morris, Hackney (£15m sell or keep if lower than than), 2/3 CMs required. Howson reduced terms and appearance bonus 1 year extension. Barlaser given away. McCabe either replaces Barlaser now or sold.
Right Wing - Whitaker (have to give time due to investment), new RW required. Forss sold
No 10 - Azaz, Gilbert (replace if sold), Whitaker
LW - Burgzorg, sell McGree if possible and replace
Forwards - Conway, Coburn and ELL replacement.

So ideally - 1 new keeper, 6 new defenders, 3 new centre mids (defensive minded), 1 Right Wing, 1 Left Wing, 1 forward = 13 new players
Bye to Dieng, Glover, Engel, Giles, Illing jr (potentially), Fry, Van Der berg, Edmundson, Lenihan, Ayling, Doak( shame), Iheanacho, McGree, Forss = 14 out

The likelihood is that Howson and Hackney wont be here either.
 
Scrug said:
Aye it’s my opinion, isn’t that what this thread is?

They’re not going to publish anything that could be used as a stick to beat them with, especially since the ‘smash the league’ debacle.

But we heard a lot of rhetoric when the price increases were announced that they enabled us to challenge towards the top of the league, I think even Kieran Scott was coming out with similar stuff.

So I interpreted this, plus the prices, to think ‘well ****, we’re really having a go this year’.

Then we sell our best striker in January. It’s all b***ks from a club who just want to fleece the fans they know will spend their money on ST’s.
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I mean, I do think the club WANT to get promoted though. They can't force it to happen. Gibson's previous successes were largely based on having more financial firepower than his competitors, which he doesn't have anymore (with the exception of the Karanka promotion).
 
atypical_boro said:
I mean, I do think the club WANT to get promoted though. They can't force it to happen. Gibson's previous successes were largely based on having more financial firepower than his competitors, which he doesn't have anymore (with the exception of the Karanka promotion).
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Yes, these days, partly due to PSR, all of Gibson's financial support goes into keeping the lights on and ensuring that the wage bill can be paid. The financial firepower we have is based on making a profit in the transfer market. We have, I think, the most expensive wage bill of any club without parachute payments and also spend Premier league money on a Championship academy. That's consistent with Gibson supporting us to the "best of the rest" and for that level of financial support you would expect us to be somewhere around 4th-6th as a par result.
 
Bruce said:
Yes, these days, partly due to PSR, all of Gibson's financial support goes into keeping the lights on and ensuring that the wage bill can be paid. The financial firepower we have is based on making a profit in the transfer market. We have, I think, the most expensive wage bill of any club without parachute payments and also spend Premier league money on a Championship academy. That's consistent with Gibson supporting us to the "best of the rest" and for that level of financial support you would expect us to be somewhere around 4th-6th as a par result.
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Which could still happen, objectively speaking.
 
Lots of good points on this thread we have up to this point underachieved, but we are still completely in with a chance of reaching the playoffs, and a chance of winning those playoffs. I don’t really get the absolute defeatism from many on here, or by fans and podcasters.
We demand determination, passion and commitment from the players, but many on here have the determination, passion and commitment of an invaded Frenchman who’s just been told his lunch is ready.
The time for saying, “it’s been a massive disappointment, a failure, a shambles, I’m bored of it now etc” isn’t now. Do it when the seasons over, before then just support the team and show the same spirit we hope the players have.
 
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