If & it's a big if (but getting smaller) we get promoted,then first season i would predict a top ten finish,whilst Bielsa builds a team capable of challenging the top six,season two possibly a top six finish & by now we have attracted a billionaire to take over,once we get to that position the skies the limit,but would be touch & go whether Bielsa would still be with us,as he might be looking for his next challenge,although he might stay to push for champions league football,or if not he will leave us in the capable hands of corberan. & NO I HAVE NOT HAD A DRINK YET
As there appears to be stats and predictions flying all over the place, here is Eires. I predict if we win our remaining games we will be promoted. Chew on that one
This post somehow got me thinking of Vieira. Wonder how he's getting on. Also wonder how he'd have fitted in with us if he'd stayed.
Interesting read that was but is this promoted to the first team a bit of a myth? The only ones I can remember featuring fairly regularly are BPF before Casilla signed, Jack Clarke before his illness and Jamie Shackleton when Ayling was injured. Halme played once or twice when our injuries hit crisis point & Leif Davis but I’m struggling to think of any others. A few sat on the bench but never looked like getting on.
Correct mate but think the idea is there are some u23 players who progress through and train with the first team and then used as emergency options on the bench. The rest of the U23s are back-filled with U18s and they go through the exact same coaching and drills as the 1st team for that week. Everyone has a job and it changes for every game as no opponent plays the same way.
There should be a whole thread on this because we talk about it at least once per month and in my view is a joke. Parachute payments has tainted the game for me as it rewards failure and we have seen small and much smaller clubs be able to play in the premier league with gates of only 7,000 in the case of Wigan, and remember they were able to stay in the prem for years. A headline grabbing statement today says Bielsa and Leeds would be guaranteed £177M in season one of promotion. This is made up from TV money and then 2 parachute payments if we went straight back down. Those new parachute payments consist of 1 at £44.9m and then another at £37.3m and in the event that we managed to stay up for one season we would be able to get another payment of £18.4m for going down in season 2. It's a bent, corrupt joke. TV money last season saw the bottom club get £97m for being on telly 3 times. Leeds Utd were on telly 15 times last season and received £7m, so you can see why Radz was angry and this season will be worse as we are on telly 21 times. In the Championship over half the clubs are or have received parachute payments. When some of our fans complain about not splashing cash on top players its because we dont have the cash the 'smaller' clubs have due to the PP System which rewards clubs for being relegated and allows them to bounce straight back up or the season after. They have better players and can pay better wages. Yes some screw it up through either bad managers or a bad owner, but the point is that a crap prem team can be out performing a big club in the Championship, because the big club hasn't got the cash. The difference for us this season is Bielsa and the he has improved the team without cash and if Bielsa wasn't here we would probably be around the 10th place mark in the league at best. I say that its been the parachute system that has kept us locked in the Championship all these years. The one season when it wasnt was because Bates refused to back Grayson who had already got us promoted from L1 and was on track for doing back to back promotions, but Bates refused to back Grayson in January because we had been at the top or close to the top all season. The wheels fell off and we finished 7th.
