It is clear to me, as ptc would say, that he and Nuggets should be taken on as p-t independent football coach consultants!
They're both brilliant analysts of our Club and football in general,better than many of the so-called pundits.
Sunderland promoted then. I would have preferred Sheffield United, but there we go. Is this when we find out Sunderland have a £20 million Premier League buyback clause for Jack Clarke?
He’s great at Championship level, you need to play him in a winning team, I’ve said it before, he is a confidence player, get him on fire for the January transfer window and if you’re sitting comfortably in the top 2 sell him You’ll see him differently in the championship, just don’t be fooled that he’s turned a corner and will be good enough for the PL next time around
Food for thought - The gap is widening and promoted teams have all been relegated for two consecutive seasons. Goal Keeper Caoimhín Kelleher will be third choice at Liverpool this season, in the PL he has made 25 appearances in 6 seasons, Liverpool have said he can leave at £12m rising to £18m depending on add ons. Leeds have been after him since promotion was secured, he said he doesn't want to join a team fighting for relegation (season not started) so he has opted for Brentford. Promoted teams might have the money to sign players who could possibly help them avoid relegation but those players are too afraid to join as they don't want a relegation fight. I can see the only way forward is heavy investment in the younger players and bring them through in a championship promotion team or shopping abroad, football in the PL is so broken at the moment
I don’t think it has anything much to do with any footballing or financing model. I think there is corruption - and a little bit of unconscious bias - plus a dose of conscious bias - influencing the outcome of games, which VAR has made a whole lot worse. The people in the control room don’t have to look players in the eye. Everything is not about key decisions either. Week after week we’ve watched the ref fail to book opponents for chopping down our players on the half way line and shifting the momentum of the match in our opponent’s favour, leading to fewer chances and more pressure on our back line. There have been some obvious howlers but we’ve also been stifled and shafted in many tight games. That’s doesn’t tell the whole story on its own - we fell away in 2025 and occasionally we were woeful - but it’s been a decisive part of the equation.
I forgot we have the joys of VAR this season You need to hope you don’t get too many premier league refs on your televised games next season, we noticed they bottled the big decisions to used to having VAR make the calls for them, we hit double figures this season when it came to apology letters
Yep! The assistant referee at the King Power the other week was waiting for the ref to call decisions before flagging. What an absolute state the officiating is in.
I think the main way a newly promoted team can stay up is if one of the existing 17 Premier League sides collapse. They've each had at least three years of continuous Premier League revenue and income to build and enhance their squads. Take Wolves - who have lost Cunha and now possibly Ait-Nouri to Man City. If they don't spend that transfer money wisely, they'll likely regress. As credible and well-run a club as Brentford have been over the last several years - if they were to lose Thomas Frank and sell Mbeuno and Wissa, they'd surely be in a bit trouble. Similar with Fulham if they were to lose Marco Silva and a couple of key players. Those latter two sides, in particular, have benefitted from a few years of continuity and stability across the club. What happens when they lose that? As for what a newly promoted side can do, you could get promoted playing some unique, well-drilled style of football opponents aren't used to (Bielsa at Leeds for the first year). But the best way is to spend really wisely and use the abroad market more. A few years ago, Forest spent massively but had a diverse range of signings from domestic talent to great value signings from abroad. On the other hand, we got tunnel vision believing signing some of the Championship's crème-de-la-crème and a heavy focus on young English players would be the way to do it. Had we shifted focus to include a few more quality value signings from abroad (more along the lines of Cajuste), we might've been prepared better - particularly as a vast majority of the English signings we made hadn't played at Premier League level before. Luton and Sheffield United both tried to do it on the cheap two years ago - with a Premier League net spend of only approximately £30m and £10m respectively. Take the money and invest later, they presumably thought with a smug grin. Fast-forward to this season and one got relegated to League One and the other didn't get promoted. I'm interested to see how Burnley and Leeds do next season, as they've both gone up conceding very few goals relative to recent promoted sides - only 16 for Burnley and 30 for Leeds. Teams like Brentford and Brighton initially stayed up by playing a quite pragmatic, defensive style of football, but the counter argument would be they entered a more open Premier League than the one you'll be going into next season. Maybe a more pragmatic, defensive style of football can grind out enough points. It'll be more sensible than a possession-heavy style that the likes of Southampton and Burnley tried, with predictable results. The issue is that to get promoted from the Championship, you've essentially got a better chance by playing possession-heavy, attacking football (along with a heavy dose of parachute payments). Yes, referee decisions will likely go against you some of the time. Part of that is through an unconscious big-club bias - as Yorkie says - but also because a majority of sides you play will have more of the ball, more chances, and increase their odds of getting the benefit of the doubt or 50/50 decisions called their way. Either way, referees do not relegate bad teams.
I think for any promoted to do well, they need a couple of big strong physical lads in the middle - I'm sure there are a few African brickhouses out there. One issue we had, was we had no physicality. Take delap out, and we're as soft as ****e
Agreed, we did miss a more physical presence pretty much across the pitch. I'm not backing this up with any evidence - but I think Premier League defences have got stronger and taller over the last few years. Almost every Premier League side has some physical, quick central midfielder too. Certainly worth looking at bringing in some players this summer with those attributes.
Retained list announced and Marcus Harness has been released,good servant to the Club moving up from Div 1 but not one for the future.All the best Marcus.
I think it is really noticeable in particular in comparison to league 1 and the Championship, the physicality down the wings including full backs. Then probably really key to our downfall is the players being brought of the bench who are so fast and strong.
