I just ****ing knew it! Not overly disappointed as we were fortunate to finish above a very poor man U team and below an even worse Chelsea team who only started playing in February but despite being ravaged by injuries and the worst cup draws you could have asked for, 7th and a shot at Europe's third choice competition, kind of felt like a small victory after a trying season, savagely stolen away at the last possible moment. Let's just hope City get banned from Europe (again) this year but this one sticks!
Strangely, I think not qualifying for Europe this season might work in our favour in the long run. I don't mean because having fewer games compared to other teams. I mean because losing European revenue might make the owners more inclined to fight against the roadblocks we keep facing in the guise of new regulations. So far, they've quietly got on with things without any complaints, but I think they will take the next attempt by the PL (and dirty six) to slow us down and use it to hit the PL with an anti competition lawsuit. I can see the club getting more bullish with the authorities now.
I see where you are coming from but it 100% set's us back in terms of income, exposure, recruitment and potentially player retention this year. Bruno and Isak may stick around but it's certainly less likely no there is no European football on offer. The only thing I could see as a positive is we can have a serious run at the FA and League Cups with the squad we have and not impact to much on our league form if we can get players like Botman, Willock and Barnes fully fit and firing asap.
It also means we don't need as bigger a squad as we would have needed. So hopefully we might sign better quality players..i.e. 3 players for 20-30 mil rather than 5-6 players for 10 mil.
True, hopefully with Kelly and less likely looking Tosin they'll have some money in the kitty for a GK and a CF/RW.
6-9 months from March so October - December. Hopefully he'll be back on the grass by the end of preseason and back on the pitch late October/early November in some capacity. Typical ACL recovery for you and me probably takes a year but with the best surgeons and rehab available I'd be hoping he'll back back in the squad for QF of the League cup. Eddie certainly won't rush him back until he's 100% so it could be that he's not available until Christmas but I think they'll try and get him ready ASAP as he is probably our best defender at present.
Don't forget that A) it was end of March. B) Probably April for surgery. C) It was 2nd one in 9 months. I'd be looking at the longer time period of recovery rather than quicker time personally.
