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We need to be in amongst it at the top of the Championship and look like we are going places (places like Anfield and Stamford Bridge) not down the bleedin' bottom looking like another year of struggle lies ahead to have any chance of persuading or convincing a player with the potential to step up a division and interest from a club already there to stick with us for one more season.

Brentford have done ok out of buying and selling, and buying some more. It's not what you do (most clubs are doing broadly the same thing) it’s the way that you do it. And that's what gets results.

.... team stays in bottom 3 all season, crowds shrink, income shrinks, L1 rocks up, season ticket sales shrink, all other income shrinks, further sales and cuts required, team starts poorly in L1, crowds dip below 10k .....

All that will happen then is that the opposition will "set up" differently against us and exploit the weaknesses that come with 4-4-2 and posters on here and students of the game will suggest 3-5-2 as the way to overcome our difficulties. Probably. Problem appears to be too many Championship sides have a few too many better players than we have. Until Kalas and Semenyo return, we can hope.

We're all melts at the moment

Sounds familiar

Thrupence ha'penny?

Don't be silly

Fascinatingly, the Few also broke down on route to Hull. In May '84. They came to a halt about 80 miles away, and went by a fleet of taxis only for one of them to get a puncture. The Few's coach was an early 70's Len Munden thing (probably), it did well to get that far in them days. Hull needed a win to go up, the Few drew nothing each. Better than we managed.

GrahamC throws the City bus under the bus.

Massive. Possibly the biggest game we've had in August since Arsenal '76.

Take up bowls? Gardening? Watch afternoon tv, Antiques etc? A cruise, around the world?

Come on now darling, er, Dave (stop this, now)

Better from a bricks and mortar point of view, but on the pitch? SL's wedge has helped us cling on at this level longer than we would typically manage, longer than we would manage under previous, less minted owners; typically by now, after the good run ended or someone crucial left, we would quickly fold and be back in L1 before you can say: Les Kew. In the words of Sheff Weds fan Paul Brady and Ronan Keating, all that's happening here is a long goodbye (to Championship football. Imho).

Bloke's on the other side of the world, give him a chance! I don't think they cover our L1 on Kerry Packer's Channel 9 what with all the Aussie rules and what have you ...

LJ? Best finish 8th? Might we be in a better position than we are in now if his father was still with us? (We could carry on with this, a bit)

"Ffs" on the Matchday thread on a Saturday between 3 and 4.55 pm and/or 7.45 and 9.40 pm on a Tuesday or Wednesday

Now something's telling me, that ....

It’s just a nonsense football cliché, at the end of the day

Ooh arr ooh arr

That's a good spot, actually, and pretty concerning. Weimann, you might say, is in a "sweet" phase of his career but otherwise, that looks to be a weakness

Fair enough. Juliette Binoche on the telly at moment, by the way. Might help with not thinking about Preston and our budgetary disadvantage. I'm giving it a go.

I wouldn't even criticise Nige. He's up against it. But football's rich with examples of miracles worked against the odds, minnows somehow having their day, clubs outperforming reasonable expectations. And at this moment, very early in the season, and after 18 months in the job, it doesn't appear as though anything of the sort is happening with Nige here. We hope for more than this because if there isn't, it's back to L1 we go.

6 points, 2 points, 2 points, 3 points (a quick check, I'm sure I will soon be corrected if I am wrong here). Thankfully, this has no bearing on 2022. But interesting, all the same. That start in 80/81, though: decent. Encouraging, even. Defensively solid/organised. Two points for a win back then, remember. Played West Ham too. Must've been some optimism about the place. Until we sold our best player, I suppose. Might've gone "Dicks In" in hindsight. Oh well ....

But we have had a "huge financial advantage" over Preston, Millwall and others up until covid and yet Preston have managed a best finish of 7th and finished above us in all but one of this spell of seven Championship seasons, and Millwall on a comparatively shoes string budget have matched our best of 8th twice. Luton with peanuts reached the play-offs. Being a bit strapped for cash is an excuse, as well as a reason. It doesn’t excuse playing two promoted sides in your first three games and being bottom of the pile. Why are we shite when we have less money than Preston? They're not shite when they have less than us.* Preston were buying lads out of Irish football and shit-housing us off the park when we had more dosh to throw at it, pre covid. Where have Millwall been shopping? (I genuinely don't know). We do have Kalas, Weimann, Dasilva, Bentley, Martin as well as the lower league lads you list, so we're not a squad of L1 and 2 boys trying to step up. It's a poor start after two and a half very poor years. Nige has had long enough now to have a bit more of an impact than this. But it's early days still, too early yet to be sure what lies ahead, and if Weimann, Kalas and Semenyo when they return remain injury free for the rest of the season, I remain hopeful that we can finish above the drop. But not above Preston or Millwall, I wouldn't have thought. * perhaps @Red Exile has the answer to this, earlier in the thread.