Firstly. IF we stay up, would you prefer a mid table or better finish with no thought of relegation.Or a cup win? Secondly IF we go down, promotion or a cup win?
It has to be a cup win and our usual fight at the bottom, i would like to think though that if we did stay up we would be in a better position that we are now. If we go down i would like auto promotion, i would imagine it would be what is expected. Nothing better than going straight back up. It would be good to have a good cup run as well but we cant even win it now lol..
Yes and Yes. Whatever happens, we need to stabilise the club, no more of this manager merry go round that we've done in the past. Get Big Sam to commit and let him build a solid foundation both on and off the field. We simply can't carry on like we have been, it just doesn't work. We need a few boring seasons of stability and get the club back on a secure financial footing and then we can move on. Get rid of all the dodgy deals that we're still paying for, get rid of all the dead wood and let Sam build his own squad.
I couldn't give a monkey's about the cups. I just want my club comfortably making its way in the PL. There's no reason, logistically, resource-wise or whatever, that the club could be another Stoke, Everton or West Ham. We have the infrastructure base in place. What we lack is capability to use it effectively.
This game is about trophies and winning, if you've been conditioned to just 'taking part' then that's incredibly sad. I argued with a poster at the beginning of this season that any club, no matter where they are right now, should never lose sight of what this game is about, that top prize in the Premier League, I was accused of talking rubbish essentially, as I said you should look at teams like Saints and Everton for inspiration, build and try to achieve, not just accept splashing around in the water with a few sharks who take all the best food. Low and behold a few months later Leicester are favourites for the title. Anybody saying a mediocre ****ty mid-table finish is preferential to even the League Cup win for Sunderland, to me is being ridiculous. Nobody can ever take a trophy away from you, nobody gives a **** even 4 months later about your great 12th place finish, when you're adrift at the bottom of the league after 6 games.
Ideally I would like us to become a comfortable mid table team for 2-3 seasons, then we can think about cups. Supporting a team who for the best part of their premier league existence have been battling relegation is tormenting and not having to worry where your next win is gonna come from would be shear bliss. Its like a person who has a serious illness who would prefer to concentrate on getting better before splashing his lottery winnings. And for teams like us relegation is potentially a financial disaster where recovery would be on a knifes edge. If asked 30 years ago I would have taken relegation/cup win. Now I would have to take safety/no cup purely due to the fact that I would like to guarantee having a club to support in 5-10 years time.
If we stay up, I'm looking no further at the moment than actually winning a game within the first seven. Beyond that. comfortable mid table , sacrifice some bad days against ''lesser'' teams in exchange for the odd exciting win over some of the big boys. Going down, prefer to get straight back, in first place from start to finish
It's about next season, not about your entire club's future. You're assuming a 12th place finish next season would mean you'd kick on again the next by the looks of things, if that's the case then fair enough, every club wants progress in the league first and foremost. If you finish 12th you could just as easily finish 20th the following year, so for that reason, trophy, every time.
Great post, had this argument on the Saints board a few times, I'd rather finish 15th n win a cup than than finish 4th/5th and not. Infact, if it was the FA Cup then I'd probably accept winning it and being relegated in the same season. It's what football is about surely? Sadly is the common theme these days though even with the big clubs. I bet your board would rather finish 4th than win the Cup. All about money now, sadly.
For United, I think our deal with Adidas is worth a lot more per season if we are in the Champions League, so I'd imagine our objective is 4th minimum and any cups are a bonus. For me personally, I'd rather finish 2nd/3rd/4th than win the FA Cup if I could choose, but I'd probably take the cup if my team hadn't won a cup since 1973.
98/99 promotion season. Title clinched today against Barnsley, with 3 games to go. Strangely Barnsley were the only team to win at the SOL that season. Only 2 away defeats 105 points. 31 wins in 46 games.91 goals scored only 28 conceded. SKP 23 goals, Quinny 18. Dichio 10 and Bridges 8. Best win 7-0 v oxford.
Great thoughts - even if our football experience becomes a bit boring - hang on to those - maybe we'll get cold turkey due to lack of football season stress - but it'll be worth it
