Quite a match at the Parc de Prince this evening...two or three football WhatsApp groups with people I play with here, were very busy then went very quiet.
Heverton Santos gone from 3rd choice right back to playing in the uefa conference league tonight against Betis
Like Dunga leaving us a director before managing Brazil and our two chillians (Isla and the other one) going on to win Copa America.
Some bloke called Tyler Roberts, on loan from Birmingham, scored for Northampton in a win away against Orient (top scorer, Charles Kelman Esq. of this parish) today. So miracles do happen. But not for Taylor Richards, still, mystifyingly, a QPR player on loan to Cambridge Utd, who has made 5 substitute appearances so far this season, totalling 45 minutes of professional football. He hasn’t been in the squad for any of their other games. We will be paying Mr Richards’ wages until June 2026.
Our old mate Jeff Hendrick has signed for Derby having not played a football match for a year. That’ll go well I’m sure.
Had a good chat with a pal who's an Ipswich fan today....has absolutely hated this season, and can't wait for it to end and get back to the Championship. Says the stadium is joyless, everyone knowing they're going to get beat before they even kick a ball, the football is sterile and don't even mention VAR. He's been to a fair few home and away, hates the football tourists who've started turning up, the extortionate prices for a pie and a pint, says the football is mind-numbingly slow as everyone is afraid to give the ball away and lose. The gap between the Championship and PL is getting bigger and bigger - the same teams will be down at the end of the season, and those going up this season will be back down the following. I don't watch PL football, can't be arsed with it, and he's certainly not selling it to me. I know for the good of the club finances that it's somethibg we should strive for but it doesn't sound enticing anymore - take a look at the car crash that is Luton...would you trust us to do any better than these yoyo clubs?
This is the dilemma isn't it. It's no fun watching your team getting beaten week in week out, we've been there and done that. A half decent season in the Championship and you run the risk of getting yourself promoted to the "promised land" And once there, even if you throw £100m of money you don't have at it doesn't guarantee survival. I really don't know where I stand on it anymore, we all want our club to be successful but promotion almost seems futile these days. But, if you stand still you stagnate.
I didn’t enjoy the last three seasons we had in the prem, even not doing well in the championship is better
not every team does a luton if we expect to come down pocket as much money as possible and pay off the debts then get ready for another 10 years of the championship
Or do a Leicester under Ranieri or what Forest are doing this season. Ideally if we got promoted again , we could do what Brentford or Brighton have done. It's all about getting the right manager in to start with, and recruit ****ing brilliantly without ripping the heart out of the team that got you promoted. It is possible, just highly unlikely. I don't like the top flight anymore either, but it has to be the aim, else what's the point of it all. Without ambition , there's just a malaise that sets in. The financial benefits would go a long way to keeping us afloat aswell. If we could go up with another Bobby Zamora moment at Wembley too, that would be the icing on the cake. I don't think there's many on here who wouldn't mind another day like that one !
Luton look like they may slide down to League 1……From Glenfidich 15 year old scotch to tennie weenie West Coast Crusiers. That a bit of a fall.
I think our chances are diminishing every year. If you look at the last three years Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton went up, Leeds, Leicester and Southampton came down. The next season almost reversed it bar Leeds missing out. This season Burnley, Sheffield United and Leeds look set to go up and last year's trio set to come down. The worrying stat is the massive gap between those above the bottom of the Prem and the massive gap to those chasing the top three in the Championship. It's like a mini-league with just the occasional one off such as Luton & Ipswich. The fact teams can so dominate the Championship but then can barely win a handful of games in the Prem shows the massive gap which widens every season when the bottom team trousers £100 million for total failure. We are merely playing to preserve our Championship status, we don't even have the occasional cup run to dream about and we financially are barely able to compete even with teams below us. Our scouting has barely improved over the years and the lack of squad depth is a perennial ball&chain to our progress. I can't see any massive improvement with our limited income & resources launching a credible assault on the play-offs any time soon...
What a time to be alive in all serious though I agree with everything you say. Yesterday I was going to post about Nottingham Forest and how its possible, but then remembered the 4,000 players they bought in two seasons and how they dodged the fine and points deduction. Just shows how much we fukked it up when we had the chance!
I was desperate for them to go down only to see if they were treated as we were. They did not, we did.
