Serious thread folks, you had a magnificent promotion a few years back, and I am sure you will go up again. Now two promotions take some doing in all fairness. I just wonder what you learned from your last experience at the top level, and where did it go wrong?
Make sure you don't piss money up the wall on a load of over rated, old & permantly crocked tossers. We did, and only the Allams prevented us from serious financial problems.
The manager has to keep the respect of the players and keep the team spirit, also try to avoid getting in too many mercenary types or risking everything on unproven players
A lack of experience off the pitch. The manager had never managed at this level, our promotion was only the first season in football for the people who'd bought the club. We lacked a Director of Football and a safe pair of hands with the fickle media. We got up via the playoffs so had a month less than our rivals to recruit. The people running the club ****ed up the finances between them and we do not own our ground, so have very few assets which restricts borrowing to buy new players. Some people even allege that the half time team talk at Eastlands was the turning point We never found a successor to the Windass-Campbell duo.
Don't assume money is everything - you need the right players not new players. We needed signings like Geovanni etc. But we'd have been nowhere without the likes of Ashbee, Turner and Ricketts in that first season. As for where it went wrong - I just think fate wasn't with us. Stephen Hunt we lost for half a season, when he had been one of our best sources of goals, regardless of peoples opinions of Bullard, or how foolish it was to sign him on the deal we did - to lose him as quickly as we did - just half an hour into his debut. Jozy Altidore, who's now scoring for fun in Europe, couldn't score to save his life for us. We deserved to go down, don't get me wrong, but we had a lot of bad luck.
Don't forget the biased refs amd media ! The Villa home game in 2008/9 being a case in point. Man hidden in tunnel tells linesman in his ear to overrule the ref to deny us a pen when ref os only a few yards away from the incident! Liverpool away in 2008 with both dodgy LFC goals etc
Our Chairman loosely remarked when pressed, suggested 25 million would be made available to improve what we already have. Doesn't sound a great deal, but a few of our players have suddenly come into their own, a bit like new signings, ie. Kimbo and Mutch!
They're reasonable questions so I hope you take it the right way when I say we stayed up 1st season, which is unusual and came down skint, which seems to be normal, so I'd question if things went wrong, as such.
Also Marlon King was great for us, really fitted in with our style and when we lost him we never managed to replace him with anyone who could do that job
Beg to differ, but for a time there the King / Cousin partnership was at least as good as Windass / Campbell!
Don't agree, maybe could have been, but king and cousin were often occupying the same space, making runs at the same time, even challenging for the same high balls. Got in each others way a lot.
I was sat about 20 yards away from that ref in the Villa game and he was definitely having a conversation with someone other than the Lino stood next to him, and he had his hand up to his earpiece whilst talking!! Right decision was arrived at but it was by illegal means!
Don't overspend on wages is massive, and think of contract lengths, but importantly also don't panic if things aren't going right, City have no devine right to be in the Premiership, so if things aren't going right and we look like going down, stick with Bruce, look to yo-yo, it's how a fair few of the recently established teams have made it in the Premier League
Lets be honest who ever goes up finds it hard, the manager will have a list of players and must be very frustrated when many turn him down because they know it will be a struggle for any new promoted team. The choice of new signings will come from present decent championship players, players from relegated teams,players from abroad or players past there best in the premier league, you do get the odd exception but in most cases its a constant battle to keep out of the relegation places and lets not forget most teams you are up against have established premier league players and only have to make a few changes were as in the case of a newly promoted team you need to make quite a large number of changes just to compete.
