Parky's Bradford through to Wembley Final against Northampton. Look hot favourites to me given they can take a much needed rest. In Div One, Yeovil through to the Final, having beaten Sheff Utd over two legs. A magnificent achievement by a very small club. However well they do, their gates can never rise above a certain (Div Two) level because there is no-one else around to recruit as fans except cows and dunnocks. Sheffield Utd's plight should be another warning to the fans of Bristol City and Wolves that bouncing straight back ain't easy. There were times last season when Sheff Utd, not us, were favorites to win that division. The longer you stay down the more you leak supporters and the harder to sign good players. At time of writing Brentford are leading Swindon 4-3 on aggregate with 30 mins to go. Interesting that now the chips are down they have left out both Hayes (as usual) and BWP.
I agree with what you say about Bradford, eddie - on the evidence of the game yesterday, they're going to have too much for Northampton in the final. Seriously fancy Yeovil to beat Brentford at Wembley. That was a snorting game at Griffin Park today, and a suitably nail-biting finish. Brentford should have played BWP today - they created enough chances to sew it up by half-time, what they needed was a significant striker to play up alongside Donaldson, who was tremendous throughout. Hayes was completely anonymous and contributed absolutely nothing. A Swindon mate texted me 'what a terrible way to lose' - yep, tell me about it - three seasons ago, with Nicky Bailey's penalty heading towards Woolwich...
Woolwich? He probably caught the ball when he turned up to his first training in Middlesborough. Horrible, Horrible moment, then again, we probably would have been spanked in the final against Millwall. My most vivid memory was not the miss, but Deon Burton shooting inches wide of the post in like the 120th minute, it probably just brushed the post, but was so so close but well played Parky, they will beat Northampton, and I agree, Yeovil could do it, would be very nice
Would be fun to see them in the Championship and an inspiration to other small clubs, but I think our management would prefer a couple of London derbies and less travelling.
As long as Newcastle don't go down, because they are a long long trip and they will romp the league too, although I'd put money on Forest to go up this season.
My worst memory of Swindon was being 1-0 up against ten men, losing the ball cheaply in midfield, and Swindon racing down the pitch to equalise. I agree though that a final against Millwall could have been painfull.
Yeovil looked very good yestersay I though, especially in the first half. Everytime a player received the ball another would rush to be on hand to either play a pass or to simply dominate space in case of losing posession. Next season looks like it will be tougher. Donny and Bournemouth will both spend, especially the latter. QPR have a very good manager and will still have money to play with from copious player sales and TJ simply wanting to get back to the promise land. Reading will be confident in keeping their 'stars' and have a new manager who has a strong record for promitions. An exciting season lays in wait!
I wonder how much more money QPR are prepared to spend. They don't get big gates even in the Premier League and must have a huge wage bill, including a very expensive manager. Clubs who get relegated have a poor record of going back up again. They have to offload their best players, and the others aren't good enough, that's why they went down. I expect Bournemouth to be a bigger threat.
