Promotion would be great if we used the money to invest in the club infrastructure and it improved things long term. A lot of clubs go up and come down, then go up again and theoretically gradually have more chance of staying up, so getting into that pattern could be good, but as others have said if we end up a club just around the top 6 and competitive that's fine for me. I guess partly why I wasn't as pissed off as some last season.
The thing I enjoyed the most about being in the Prem was that we were the underdogs virtually every week and on those occasions when we caused an upset or came very close, it was such a buzz. Especially against some of the really big teams. A bit like the recent TWS, Sheff Utd and Sunderland performances but another notch up on those. It isn’t great getting hammered every week though and the trouble is you don’t know what you’re going to get until you’re there.
I think if we did go up I'd back Acun to be able to pull some surprisingly good players. In order to stay up you need something special about you and that could be it for us, but I also just worry we'd do a Forest and sign 20 new players and hope 8 of them come good, and then inevitably when we go down we'd have no money left to spend on the club itself.
You’ve kind of just got to hope and pray you stay up at this stage judging by recent history. Ipswich have tried the tried and tested championship players approach, not working. Southampton spent plenty and they’re just **** Leicester barely spent but had a decent enough squad so aren’t far off but are poorly coached. Sheff U were ****e but didn’t spend, Burnley forced it with a “modern style” and Luton went more safe and were the closest but didn’t buy enough quality
Have any of them bought many proven players though? Different era now but like we did with Huddlestone and Livermore in 2013. Forest went a bit scattergun but they signed a lot of quality. We probably all thought it'd backfire but it worked. I couldn't really tell you who Southampton or Leicester signed last summer off the top of my head.
We’ve never been in the top flight for more than two consecutive seasons. As good as Huddlestone was, we were relegated twice from the Prem with him as a key player. Livermore downed tools and forced a move to West Brom in January 2017. Every time we’ve been in the Prem, we’ve failed to build a sufficient squad capable of staying there long-term. Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth and even Wolves have shown it is possible. Fulham are strong and Leicester and Southampton were in the Prem for years before being relegated a couple of seasons ago.
Yeah fair point, we're not exactly a model for PL survival are we. I was thinking that 2013/14 team was, but then it all went wrong the year after, which I still can't really get my head around to be honest.
How expensive is proven now though? Leicester signing Skipp for £20m… he’s a good champ player. Ipswich signed the best of the champ at like £15m a pop. Best bet for me is signing really good foreign players and a few older experienced players. Brentford did well in that regard getting the likes of Mee etc
Didn't some of the grafters we replaced with flash and flair when promoted go on to stay in the Premier league longer than city did. One eyed George Boyd springs to mind.
I loved 3.5 of our 5 seasons in the prem, the 2 seasons we competed and stayed up obviously, but also the year we went down under Bruce, which we should have avoided, but mostly that half a season under Silva....incredible to look back at some of the talent we had in the team and how well we played, Robbo, Maguire, ranocchia, ndiaye, clucas, turbo, markovic, niasse and Abel were all v v capable prem players and we genuinely belonged , had it not been for the lunacy of the summer before and the hapless Phelan we could have established ourselves that season
Brighton or Brentford the models to follow lower league talent or foreign talent that sells on for a **** load more than you paid for them. Buying English talent from spurs, Liverpool Chelsea alike is only ever going to end in pants down
The only good time to sign talent from the top 6 for £20 million+ is when you’ve had them on loan for a full season and they’re the dog’s bollocks, like Hutchinson at Ipswich. Even then it’s a risk. Ipswich have made some solid signings but for the money they’ve spent, you expect more. Villa have had their pants down for Philogene, Clarke has struggled massively and Greaves has done okay but I don’t think any other Prem teams will offer Ipswich more than what they paid us for him in the summer when they go down. Of all their signings, Hutchinson and Delap are the most likely to be sold for significant profit. The rest will probably stay or be sold at a loss.
Agree, but harsh on Phelan. It wasn't his fault he found himself in the position he did. Only one (arguably 2) people to blame.
yeah maybe you're right there, he was dealt an utter turd of a hand....but he also played it really badly.....will never know how much of a hand he had in the transfers, with his connections you would assume he had a part in weir and Keane at least
Why? If it's a draw they will know both teams are still in catching distance and if one team wins, they will think they can catch the team that loses
Hutchinson was only really half a season mind. Definitely not better than Philogene and Clarke. Attackers need to be from the continent for me
