Just wondering everyone's thoughts on our final league placing. I personally think that 10th is good for the club as a whole as our supporters inevitably want more from their club. My point is thus - had we finished where, at one point, it looked like we could have, in 6th position what would our fans expectations have been for the upcoming season?? Champions League or better?? In finisihing 10th, it has given the platform to build without outweighing this against demand. I believe most of us aimed for 10th and expected no better before the season start. We finished in this position. What would your ideal (realistic) aim be for the upcoming season? Personally, I would want small inroads made into the league to finish top 7 or 8 next season - more chance to invest in the squad as a whole (and monito the fitness!!) and then push on for the following season.
10th is progress for which we can be thankful but the dramatic collapse is a cause for concern because once a slide like that gets under way (and for whatever reasons) it is hard to arrest and we could so easily have ended up in a last day battle for survival - or worse! That must be avoided next and future seasons.
It's even more concerning that this is the second season in a row that this has happened. I would have been happy with 10th at the beginning of the season but it's a bit like when you say "I'd be happy with a draw" then when you're 2 up with ten minutes left and you end up with a draw you're not so happy after all.
10th place and 47 points in isolation is a very decent season to be fair but then looking at isolated stats can often lead to mistaken conclusions. Yes it was a season on season improvement and yes we set a target of top ten and achieved it with the last kick of the ball at Sid James but overall, there is a bit of a sour taste in many mouths today? I think it has papered over some big cracks this season although I concede that it has indeed granted the manager a huge reprieve and bought him some breathing space, to rebuild his less than impressive resume at SAFC recently and get back on track with his ambitions. We were 6th at the turn of the year and way out in front for the chase to the Europa league. A lot of the ‘established’ clubs were faltering and we should have taken advantage. In my opinion, we missed a huge window of opportunity to change the perception of this club for a generation, as a European venture would have given us a much higher profile and led to better players taking notice of us as a top club. We really needed a strong finish and what we got was a humiliating collapse - and not for the first of times either. There are several reasons for this I know and some were out of his control granted but Bruce must take a huge share of the blame for the 2 collapses and a miserable run of 1 win in 11 games. It cost us everything in terms of real progress for me and although it all ended well, up until the 3rd week from the end of the season, we were not fully comfortable at all in the league. The whole shambles of the Darren Bent fiasco was one he was certainly responsible for and especially the decision not to replace him which, to be brutally frank, looks like total folly and amateurish now (and to many people back in January as well). We must not forget this. Bruce can turn it round and will be given time and money to do so but another collapse post Christmas and he will have to go. Improve our position or even consolidate with much more ease our top 10 place next season and Bruce will be back to where he was in my eyes 12 months ago. Anything less and a new face will be required in the managers offices come the 2012/13 season.
Cest mate, you have to look beyond the last 3 month of the season and look at it as what it is a season's campain, you say we finished 10th because WBA scored a late equaliser, so where does the 47 points WE WON come into play. You seem to dismiss our improvements as if they didn't happen or because it was because of what others did. 13 clean sheets, unbeaten in the capital (can you ever remember that happening before) takeing points of everyone from last seasons top 8, finishing 2 points from 8th place (17 points difference last season).These are not isolated stats these are reasons why we have finished top 10, we all know the old season "the table never lies" well it is never more true than after the final game. We know Steve Bruce still has a massive job to do and for many it will be a season of "what ifs" but lets not give credit to others for where we have finished
