Match Day Thread Birmingham Vs Norwich, Tue 23rd Feb @ 19:00

The bottom of the Premier league is looking very predictable Fulham and Sheffield Utd stuck to the bottom with West Brom , Leeds doing a Sheffield United and surprising a few .


IF we go up I don't want to spend big and try and buy survival I would much rather invest in the academy and squirrel the money away .

It makes the victories against the money bags clubs even more satisfying.


Of course I would prefer it if we stay up but fighting for relegation is bloody stressful .

 

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You see images of despondent fans crying in the stands when they get relegated , I don't even get sad anymore it's part of supporting our club .

You get more seasons like this one

 

I agree with DD, being good enough for Premier League survival isn't really the aim - being far too good for the Championship is. We can keep yoyoing until our club is good enough, or get lucky with a weak Premier League season. All you really need in order to stay up is to be stronger than the other promoted clubs, and one existing Prem team to have a meltdown.

I'd much rather any signing we make is someone prepared to grow with the club, in either division, than somebody who will only try in the Prem until relegation looks likely. And continue to make ourselves equivalent to a top 10 Prem club in every other area - training facilities, recruitment, academy, stadium, etc.

 

Which is what SW is working towards each year and most of us buy into. I was watching the U23s and Colney has certainly progressed into a first class training set-up. That part is done now and our squad is much stronger now than two years ago should we go up. As DF says, back then we had two number 10s in Leitner and Trybull, whereas McLain, Rupp and Sørensen are much more complete players in both defence and attack. It would be great to get Skipp back again, but I'm not counting on that. We've also added that balance throughout the squad and we wouldn't be dependent on the youngest defence in the PL. The biggest change would be the amount of PL experience in the squad and DF's approach. I think we could give it a decent go and if that fails we rebuild and carry on.

 

“We really would like, if we could, to have a really healthy club that is going well in the Premier League without having to sell it, because it might go to someone who doesn’t care about it."
Delia, FT Football Business Summit 2021

That sounds to me like saying that "being good enough for Premier League survival" IS actually the aim?

Personally I think it's a mistake to believe that yoyo-ing is realistically sustainable beyond a certain point. "We are yoyo-ing" has a promise that "This -- i.e. 2014/15, 2018/19, 2020/21 -- is as good as it gets" does not. Furthermore, Webber is committed only to the end of next season, as also is DF; an immediate return to the Championship would see the club facing considerable upheaval running way beyond the first team squad. For those two reasons I'd expect far greater determination to stay up this time round, with a matching commitment of resources.

 

"Most of us"? Do you mean on here Rick? Or most City fans?

 

Gosh that goal we gave away there were a couple of hospital passes there, the first to Krul and then to Zimmerman

 

Better get the next thread started

 

Once again you miss the point or being purposely contrary.

Realistically Aarons Buendia and Skipp will leave in the summer leaving 3 gaping holes in our first 11.

We can't compete with Watford ,Villa , Brighton , West Brom , Palace , Fulham Sheffield United etc on transfer fees and wages .

We are the second poorest club in the top 2 division I believe only fan owned Luton being poorer with regards to wealth of the owners.

Naismith still sends a shudder through my spine the amount we wasted on him.

There are big money duds in most Premier league sides but their foreign mega bucks owners can soak up the shortfall.

Fulham and Villa both blew over £100m to stay up, for us that would be suicide.

Yo yo ing has proven to be sustainable for us that's where we have amassed a majority of our finances , the academy is designed to turn young talents into multi million pound superstars, which also keeps the wolf from the door.

Godfrey and Maddisson both potential England players now and over £40m raised.

We can't force players to stay with us and it's an unwritten agreement that when the time comes we will let them fulfill their potential away from Norwich.

Our squad is better than 2 seasons ago and IF we go up I expect us to do better but our style of play doesn't usually work for grinding out battling 1-0 wins with sides used to battling for every point like Saints Hammers and Brighton usually do .

We may be the only club to attempt to stay up without spending big on players but it's extremely unlikely, we are more suited to being too good for the Championship but too cheap for The Premier league.

 

Re. our third goal, how does Ollie Skipp have the energy to make that run? Rupp and Hugill had just come on, but Skipp had been in the thick of it for 95 minutes

 

Super fitness!

 

He's played every single game for us the boy is a robot.

I don't remember a better defensive midfield player to put on the yellow shirt .

I would be amazed if we keep hold of him

 

And young

 

Whilst I agree with most of this, I honestly think we stand a decent chance of keeping both Aarons and Buendia for another year if we go up. If we don't then no way. Yo yo ing is fun, though if we stuff up a Championship season we can easily be sunk for years because we don't have the financial backing to sustain our squad without premiership money.

The obvious solution is to train chefs and get them into lower premiership clubs to poison their food so that we can stay up.

What I do notice with clubs such as Bournemouth and others that do manage to get a foothold is that they often stuff up replacing the squad that got them up there. Arguably you could say that about our 3 year stay in the premiership, when we went down the expensive route we just didn't get the players we needed. It's so hard for a club like ours to compete against the mega money, but hope springs eternal and yes we don't do 1-0 wins which makes it exciting and frustrating at the same time, we can just look down the A140 to see what could have happened! Keep the youth conveyor going and sometime we will get lucky

 

Last season Leeds spent about £100m West Brom about £40m and Fulham about £35m


Even Sheffield United spent about £56m


For us to spend money like that gambling on staying up could bankrupt the club .

No thanks I would rather be a yoyo club that is completely debt free .

 

For whom?

 

People that support a team that has been promoted and relegated more than any other club.

You don't get an open top bus or trophy for finishing 17th

 

I also don't think we'll lose players if we go up unless it's for really silly money. For us to survive we need manageable injuries and a team performing consistently over the season. We'd need to spend around £18m if we retain Gibson, Giannoulis and Quintilla. Beyond that we need a fourth CB unless Famewo is ready and a DM if Skipp isn't available. That would leave a decent squad already bedded in from the off.