He means first time, in 2006, when they had Steven Hunt and Kevin Doyle in their team. finished just outside top 7 in their first season if I recall. They were relegated in 2008 when we went up.
I think we will be playing in the Europa league next season for definite. Hopefully AA can find another 10 or 20 million to tie round the clubs neck and who knows, we might even find ourselves playing Darlington and Maidstone season after next!
Some very average players letting our stars down. Figgy and Koren should not be starting anymore. Aluko and brady will be like two new signings.
Part of it is mentality. Look at Man Utd as an example: same players, last season they were feared and won the league. This season the players are the same but with the managerial change and pressure put on the squad other teams have had more of a go at them, discovered cracks and got results. Same players, who're clearly capable of winning the league, yet they're languishing in mid table. It's the same with a lot of squads in the league. Put McGregor in any top 6 team and he wouldn't look worse than their current keepers. Is Michael Dawson really better than Curtis Davies? What about Huddlestone (yesterday aside), is he worse than Joe Allen? We're a newly promoted team and we're viewed that way, regardless of who our players are. It also means our players will view themselves that way to some extent. We have gaps in the squad and no one is suggesting we'll be a top 6 club with a few more signings. What we are saying is that there's no reason why a few good signings couldn't see us establish ourselves as a mid-table team. It doesn't mean we'll be beating everyone else but if we can finish 8th - 12th for a few seasons then a cup win isn't beyond the realms of possibility. No one expects it but there's nothing wrong with hoping for it. Even teams finishing in the bottom 3 have the potential to do it.
Team, maybe yes. Squad, definitely no. And therein lies the problem. For the Premier League, and in particular the top end (Europe qualification) you need a squad that will always compete. What Steve Bruce has always done is replace our worst players in any position with our best players in that position. For example 2 weeks ago we had the following strikers (roughly in order of ability) 1) Sagbo, 2)Graham, 3) Fryatt, 4)McLean, 5) Proschwitz. Now we have 1) Jelly, 2) Long 3) Sagbo 4) Graham 5) Fryatt. Now you may argue with my "order", but the point is Bruce replaces players with better than our best, thus constantly improving the squad, Going back to Phil Brown we would have kept our best striker and replaced a **** striker with a slightly less **** striker. In fairness Bruce has had the backing of Allam in a much more positive way then Brownie had, but it is what makes SB so much better a manager. Figgy and Faye came in as our best players in their positions, by this time next season they will have been supplanted by "new" best players in their positions. Then we may have a realistic chance of getting into, and competing in, a European competition.
