Theo It is set on a high level!!! You learn more from a close fought defeat than you do from trouncing easier opposition! If you have a android/iphone and enjoy chess download droidfish!!
I expect he is too Good to see that at least one and probably both of Wigan and West Ham are down - Blackpool look doomed too with Blackburn getting a point
Leo - I think Blackburn probably didn't need that point anyway - can't really see Blackpool winning their last game at ManUre, but stranger things have happened I suppose. It will still be squeaky bum time at next week's Wolves vs Blackburn match though
Oh I wish we were if it meant we were back in the Prem - surely next time we get there we wont be so financially naive
After it nearly damn well killed us last time and were still paying for it now! No thanks, It nearly killed Derby , nearly killed Hull, might as well stick pompey on the list! I would be very wary ,all that glitters is not gold! It forces a small club to pay big money , yes you get big money in ,I just feel that to try and compete you have to spend much more than you can afford! To have another attempt in the top division we would defo need anotherSEJ first!
They all had a board plus chairman willing to shovel money ! wasnt Fulham fayeds club! Harrods owner etc
I dont think at this time we are ready for the prem , we are over achieving staying in the championship!!! another couple of years of reducing debt , a new sugar daddy (or mummy) then maybe!
i agree. People often ask me if i wish we'd go up..and i answer no. i know the money is good, but money isn't the be all and end all. We're nowhere near ready for the Prem, we'd be straight back down again, and with going down, we lose players, or end up having to pay more and getting in a terrible mess. We're not a Prem side..it's nice to dream, and who knows, one day we might be ready. Right now, i'm happy staying where we are..if we can!
We have been a second tier club now for 35 years - I don't think we are over-achieving and we should be careful not to lower our expectations too much. We may not be rich but we never were and that has not stopped us being successful in all that time.
I can't see anything wrong with our previous ambition to be a club like a few others that "bounce" between 1st and 2nd tier. If you know you will be unlilkley to establish yourself in the top half of the Prem you can set your players, costs and amibtions to a level that suits that. There is alot of money from the Premiership "appearances" which if spent correctly would benefit the club.
i think the problem is that it's cyclical. We do well, we go up, we come in the bottom three, we go down, we lose all our players, we spend money getting new players in, we're broke, we start again, eventually we go up, we come in the bottom three, we do down....etc..etc. Yes there's money, but it costs a lot to restart a team when we go down and you're right Leonardo, it has to be spent wisely..that seems to be where we fail!
But some clubs learn to do it correctly - WBA for example "bounced" a few times before going up and staying a while. We should go up and retain the majority of players - putting them on win bonuses in the Prem which are very high but not stuplid wages. That way when we come down we do not have over inflated salaries to deal with - again we could put in good win bonuses to ry to get us back up. We miight lose two or three players in the process but that would be natural if those players are then good enough for more established Prem teams. I feel once you lose the ambition to get promoted then there is nothing to play for - endless seasons of pre-season friendly type games is not my idea of fun. I want to win - to get promoted - and then will face what has to be done. Just my way of thinking I guess - I have never been able to do anything without an element of competition - is it a "man" thing?
