I still can't work out why Boro were favourites though. Even at the time I thought it was crazy. They bought a load of jocks (time and time again it's been proven that most of them are not even Champonship quality, just like it's been proven time and time again that the Bundesliga is nowhere near as a good as the Premier League, but I digress). They didn't really have any quality players to build their signings around either unlike us. Strachan is a poor manager and has done poorly at most places, unlike Sven. Plus the Riverside is always half empty which doesn't help, we have reasonable attendances and atmosphere for this League. We've also got much more money.
I can't really see many comparisons with Boro and us apart from the fact we were both well fancied in different seasons, so I wouldn't worry about us flopping that badly. I do agree though, if the players thought they were under pressure last season it's nothing compared to this. It won't bother Sven but I did get the impression he wasn't as calming an influence as I might have hoped, as every crunch game we underperformed and looked a bit scared (apart from Forest, when the pressure and expectation was already off, but we still managed to **** that one up).
On the bright side, the mood is optimistic (assuming Sven doesn't leave or something stupid) which is in contrast to last season when all the fans were disgruntled about a number of things, namely Pearson's departure, the Clubs treatment towards the fans and our poor start. This time, I think people might be more tolerant of a poor start without those other things, but patience will of course only last for so long.
I don't think Top is stupid enough to sack Sven at the drop of a hat. If at the end of the season we haven't gone up, he will be sacked, but not before unless things go terribly wrong. So I wouldn't worry about that either.
We've got reason to be positive and have high expectations but it is up to the fans to get behind the manager and the team at games if things aren't going so well. I won't hold my breath though.
