ExiledAjax

Think the highest I ever went was 48. It's still looking like the team in 22nd will have a higher than normal total, maybe 47 or 48 even, but we will be well clear of that by the end of the Stoke game. For me my attention turns to whether or not we can do something odd. Personally I'd like us to try and hit some sort of nice symmetry, ideally I think that from here we should look for W17 D12 L17 F50 A50 for a GD of 0. It's a shame that hits 63 points as it would be nice to have some sort of round number, but I can't have everything can I.

I believe that this next game against Blackburn presents us with the first opportunity to confirm, mathematically, a 10th consecutive season of second tier football. So far as the drop is concerned we're 12 clear of Birmingham on 22nd, and 11 clear of Huddersfield in 23rd, with 15 points left. Even if we lose on Wednesday we'll likely remain at least 12 clear of the team then in 22nd. So much for the hyperbolic fears of some regarding relegation a few weeks back. As for the legendary top 6 finish - again we're currently 13 behind Norwich in 6th so if we win and they lose, we're confirmed as being in the Championship next season. If we draw and Norwich lose then technically we could still make it, but come on. Be serious. It's possible that due to teams playing each other (for example PNE and Norwich, and Huddersfield and Birmingham) we're actually already technically confirmed to be out of either race, but I've not checked that in detail. Wednesday night is when we could properly confirm it. What a tame ride it's been. Not once finishing a round of games higher than 7th nor lower than 15th. Since Millwall on 1 Jan we've shifted between 11th and 14th. For all the brouhaha through the season, it's been the mid-table cruise that it was always most likely to be. Here's to 2024/25 and hopefully something a little more exciting.

Not really. You'd be pretty unlikely to get relegated with 46. In most leagues, most divisions and most seasons, 1 point per game just about keeps you up. Ok sorry. Although...that's also not "tosh" imo.

As I say Focussing on performances is not "tosh". Is also like promotion with 30 1-0 wins. However, if all of those were like the win v Swansea then I'd be worried about getting a big fat 0 points in our following season, because we'd look like absolute frauds.

Yes absolutely. A "good performance" doesn't necessarily mean you play "front foot football", or that you get a clean sheet, or that you dominate a team. I'd say it just means you play the best you can within the circumstances and context of the match. Do you effectively deliver and execute a plan, and is that plan the right one for that game?

The attitude this season of some Leicester fans gives you an inkling here. Lots of success, but there's a hardcore who are pretty vocal about unentertaining football. It gets louder when they lose, but it's been bubbling under all season. So i'd expect that there would be a few "people" saying stuff like "we're in a great position but I'm bored..." or "all this success has come at the price of entertainment". Stuff like that.

Always performances, regardless of what stage of the season we're at. Look after the performances and the results will look after themselves.

I just reckon the idea that playing teams down the bottom towards the end of the season is notably hard is a bit of a myth. Same as the "new manager bounce", or the idea that you'd rather play relegated PL teams in August over promoted L1 teams, or that signing a striker in January is a good idea. I've not looked at it in detail but the very fact that "great escapes" are so rare suggests to me that shit teams are shit, and they stay shit right to the end of the season. So yeh my hypothesis is that Huddersfield are shit, were shit in December, and will be shit on the last day as well.

Jogging to clear a ball in our own box Yeh this as dead a dead rubber as you'll ever see.

Gets Bailey Wright phoning in live on RTV. First thing Downsy does? Cracks out a holiday photo from Qatar and starts banging on about how he DJ'd one of the Australian games. Could ask about the match...but nah.

Maybe the Stadium of Light IS the bin?

So much rubbish on show, and also some football is being played.

Who's on litter picking duty at HT?

Join me in Madrid.

I'm really not sure that will have any impact on it at all.

Yeh Ipswich have one of, if not the, toughest final 6 games in the division, starting today. Huddersfield on the last day is their only cushy game left.

A lot yes. Quick scan of the articles shows fairly common private equity terms, which will certainly be supplemented by a private shareholders agreement. Interesting to see that Probert, Rolls, and of course Ashton all got issued Growth Shares, which they can sell to club in certain circumstances - most likely a full sale - for a whack of cash.

Do you want to deny the club the glory of winning Group B of the Professional U-18 Development League!?!? Sort your priorities out.

Late to this thread but this is likely. Most likely promotion. Ie - we will pay for N shares now, at a price of £X per share. Then we want an option to buy A shares within the next two years, and the price we pay for those shares at that time is £Y if we're in the PL, or is £Z if we're not. Something like that would be pretty common, and it could also be tied to a loan that is later convertible into shares. Has anyone checked CH to see what shares have actually been issued now, or if the PSC register has updated?

If he stops funding at Holdings level yes. But it's BCFC Ltd that trades as the football entity in terms of transfers, holds player registrations, owns the share in the EFL and gets promoted, relegated, and receives that football income. Isn't it possible that an owner could, for some reason, cease to fund that BCFC side of the Holdings group, but continue backing the AG Ltd side? BCFC then goes into administration, and the stadium isn't involved in that insolvency.

The club would enter administration, be deducted 12 points, and then ultimately likely be bought at a cut rate price. Ultimately if absolutely no buyer could be found, then the clubs assets - the players registrations, the shares in the women's team, the training ground - would all be sold, the proceeds would go to creditors, and the company would be wound up. The stadium, being owned by a separate company, would not be an asset of the club so would likely remain a solvent operational entity. It would lose a major revenue stream, but initially at least it would remain a sports stadium. Derby are the latest most relevant example. No. Other sports demonstrate that sport is possible without the involvement of the billionaires. I've said a few times that my opinion is that the basic corporate structure of football clubs - Ltd companies operating to generate value for their shareholders - is wrong. As @Blagdon red and @Eddie Hitler say, there are clubs out there like Union, like Exeter, that are existing and at times thriving despite having no sugar daddy. But the persistent ecosystem of football does not encourage that kind of set up. So yes clubs can exist with billionaires, but the current system can't.

And with Watford home to PNE, and Cardiff home to Hull, it's quite the mid-table melee tomorrow.

Because of the way points are handed out as in 3, 1, 0 it's much more important to win than to not lose. This is obviously the design of this - encouraging teams, particularly those playing away, to attack and go for the win rather than block out for a draw. But what it means is that the difference between a win and a draw, 2 points, is double the difference between a draw and a loss. Generally draws really don't help a team climb the table. Therefore converting draws into wins has greater impact than converting a loss into a draw. The same goals can have more impact on table position. None of what I say here is exemplary critical thought or revelation. Seeing as no-one ever actually said the phrase "top 6" they'd probably be confused by the question. "Top 6" was implied by phrases like "top end of the division" and "promotion challenge" etc. But quite sensibly they never actually used that little phrase. I go back to what Tinnion said on SoTC. He said at that time we needed to be "about ten points further on". IIRC given the points total at the the time he effectively declared that 1.54ppg was the target. That does make sense as that, over 46 games, achieves a 71 point total - which will normally see you finish something between 5th and 8th. A perfectly reasonable and realistic target for a club with our resources in my opinion. So what I think they are looking for, at any single point in the season, is either 1.54ppg or an indication that we're not far off that.

I'll take number 4 if with a side of 2 please.

Made this post as a bit of a joke, but we really are in this mid-table-mini-league. Maybe that's depressing, or tinpot, or whatever, but it's where we are. I've included Hull and Swansea in the screenshot, but really they're acting as the bread in this gorgeous mid-table sandwich. It's really us, Sunderland, Watford, Cardiff who are the bacon, lettuce, tomato, and er...rogue slug(?) respectively.