So, at this moment, where do you actually WANT us to finish this season?

[Leveller]

So, at this moment, where do you actually WANT us to finish this season?

The recent performances and wins have prompted renewed debates about whether we could, even now, scrape into the playoffs. There’s clearly an assumption this is desirable. But what do you actually want?

As far as I remember, before the season I predicted we’d be in the middle third (ie 9^th to 16^th) with the hope that we’d be in the top half of that (ie 9^th to 12^th). As it stands, we’re on course for that.

What are the possible outcomes from here? I’d suggest –

1 – have a great run in, make the playoffs, and by some miracle, win them and get promoted

2 – as 1 but disappoint in the playoffs and carry on in the Championship next year

3 – carry on with the current good form, but fall a bit short in 7^th or 8^th

4 – continue fairly well and end up 9^th to 12^th (top half finish)

5 – return to inconsistency (or worse) and end up back in the bottom half

I’ll assume no City fan actually wants option 5. What about the others?

For me:-

1 – much as I want to reach the top flight, I’m not sure I’d actually want it this season. If we went up now, would we crash and burn more spectacularly than any team has before? It’s possible. But no doubt some will argue that we might do a Brentford, or at least start a beneficial yo-yo era.

2 – making the playoffs but failing could be the worst disappointment of all! It’s the hope that kills you. To get to 6^th would require a fantastic run. To lose the playoff matches then would really hurt.

3 – might be the best result. 7^th would represent a great improvement on last season and on the early part of this. It wouldn’t be a disappointment unless we reached 6^th then fell back again. It ought to provide great platform for next season.

4 – like 3, but not quite as good. I wouldn’t be devastated if we achieved a top half finish and no better.

5 – God forbid. A return to inconsistency and finishing, say, 14^th would be a real disappointment now.

 

So – I hope we win every match I watch, but I’m not sure if I want the EPL yet, or defeat in the playoffs! What about you?

PS – please don’t take my views TOO seriously. By the time you read them, I will have changed my mind.

[phantom]

Champions of Europe with loads of armchair fans walking around all around the world in our kit

[robin_unreliant]

I'd rather we made it to the play offs as it would prove how close we are and help attract new players. I don't think we are ready to go up but it would add some excitement to the end of this season.

I think we'll finish 8-11th though.

[Leveller]

6 minutes ago, phantom said:

Champions of Europe with loads of armchair fans walking around all around the world in our kit

I don't think the rules allow that by May 2024.

[Roger Red Hat]

2nd, because I don't think we'll catch Leicester now...

[ChippenhamRed]

Why on earth would it be undesirable to make the play offs?

Even assuming we lose in the semis, that would mean we’d had a very encouraging run-in, create a positive atmosphere around the club, a sense of progress, and help with summer recruitment.

I can’t see a downside.

[Dredd]

Top

[myol'man]

We have one of the worst play off records in the EFL, if we scraped into 6th place it would make a change to win it

[ExiledAjax]

I want us to win every game, finish on 86 points, and crush the play-offs. I want a massive cider-fest at Wembley in May and an open-top bus all the way back down the M4. I want the £100m and more that we would get next season. I really wouldn't care if we got tonked in the PL for a season but came back down hardened and financed and ready to go. Progressing from an L1/Champ yoyo club to a Champ/PL yoyo club in ten years would be huge.

It's incredibly unlikely to happen, judgement shouldn't be passed if we fail to do this, and that is why I post to try and calm the fervour, but that is what I want.

Edited February 15 by ExiledAjax

[Davefevs]

1.

And then you recruit your arse off to try and get a team capable of staying up.

[1960maaan]

Are you ever ready for the Prem ?

The case I always mention is Burnley of a few years back. Promoted , spent very little , built again after relegation and pissed the League . In the Prem the 2nd time they were better and stayed for a while. 
IMO that's a way to go .
Can you actually build a side good enough when in the Championship ? I guess you can but you need a massive amount of luck and timing. Get promoted and have a good summer adding some quality, no absolute right way to do it.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Burnley actually went up and down, up and down for a little while.

Burnley

Win playoffs 2008-09 ironically after a Cup run much like ours in 2017-18.

Go down after Coyle quits, Brian Laws was a big downgrade. They actually stayed in the Championship for 3 seasons unsuccessfully but then Dyche took them up in 2013-14. The last year of Parachute Payments albeit at thst time FFP was lax the gap was less.

They went down again in 2014-15.

The next promotion was the one. Impeccably run off the pitch too up to time of takeover.

[Roe]

Weird thread imo. You want to do as well as possible surely?

[Mr Popodopolous]

Ideally wij the playoffs then decide how to allocate the £100m minimum rise in TV money alone. Hopefully most of it goes back into the team albeit promotion can also bring non footballing costs in some cases.

Off the pitch, would Breaking even if we got promoted be something to accept, even aim for?

[ZiderEyed]

3 minutes ago, Roe said:

Weird thread imo. You want to do as well as possible surely?

Yep. Why would you want anything other than for us to tonk everyone else in the remaining games and win the playoffs?

[Gazred]

High as possible init.

Stupid question 

 

 

[Wanderingred]

I want us to win every game, apart from the home match against Blackburn. I’d like us to lose that one 1-0 if possible. 

[BigTone]

1 hour ago, Leveller said:

So, at this moment, where do you actually WANT us to finish this season?

 

The recent performances and wins have prompted renewed debates about whether we could, even now, scrape into the playoffs. There’s clearly an assumption this is desirable. But what do you actually want?

 

As far as I remember, before the season I predicted we’d be in the middle third (ie 9^th to 16^th) with the hope that we’d be in the top half of that (ie 9^th to 12^th). As it stands, we’re on course for that.

 

What are the possible outcomes from here? I’d suggest –

 

1 – have a great run in, make the playoffs, and by some miracle, win them and get promoted

 

2 – as 1 but disappoint in the playoffs and carry on in the Championship next year

 

3 – carry on with the current good form, but fall a bit short in 7^th or 8^th

 

4 – continue fairly well and end up 9^th to 12^th (top half finish)

 

5 – return to inconsistency (or worse) and end up back in the bottom half

 

I’ll assume no City fan actually wants option 5. What about the others?

 

For me:-

 

1 – much as I want to reach the top flight, I’m not sure I’d actually want it this season. If we went up now, would we crash and burn more spectacularly than any team has before? It’s possible. But no doubt some will argue that we might do a Brentford, or at least start a beneficial yo-yo era.

 

2 – making the playoffs but failing could be the worst disappointment of all! It’s the hope that kills you. To get to 6^th would require a fantastic run. To lose the playoff matches then would really hurt.

 

3 – might be the best result. 7^th would represent a great improvement on last season and on the early part of this. It wouldn’t be a disappointment unless we reached 6^th then fell back again. It ought to provide great platform for next season.

 

4 – like 3, but not quite as good. I wouldn’t be devastated if we achieved a top half finish and no better.

 

5 – God forbid. A return to inconsistency and finishing, say, 14^th would be a real disappointment now.

 

 

 

So – I hope we win every match I watch, but I’m not sure if I want the EPL yet, or defeat in the playoffs! What about you?

 

PS – please don’t take my views TOO seriously. By the time you read them, I will have changed my mind.

 

In the Championship

[ExiledAjax]

Slightly off topic but I think I have two perfect dream seasons.

The most obvious would be 38 2-0 wins plus 8 3-0 wins (the 6 games against the 3 relegated PL clubs plus Cardiff home and away).

That would give us a perfect W46 - D0 - L0 - F100 - A0 - GD - +100 for an unbeatable record of 138 points.

The weirder one is that I would kind of love it if we lost the first 13 games. Then, when there are just 99 points left to play for we go on an insane 33 game winning run and soar up the table to snatch the league title with a game or two to spare. 

[Yozzarian]

1 hour ago, Leveller said:

So, at this moment, where do you actually WANT us to finish this season?

 

The recent performances and wins have prompted renewed debates about whether we could, even now, scrape into the playoffs. There’s clearly an assumption this is desirable. But what do you actually want?

 

As far as I remember, before the season I predicted we’d be in the middle third (ie 9^th to 16^th) with the hope that we’d be in the top half of that (ie 9^th to 12^th). As it stands, we’re on course for that.

 

What are the possible outcomes from here? I’d suggest –

 

1 – have a great run in, make the playoffs, and by some miracle, win them and get promoted

 

2 – as 1 but disappoint in the playoffs and carry on in the Championship next year

 

3 – carry on with the current good form, but fall a bit short in 7^th or 8^th

 

4 – continue fairly well and end up 9^th to 12^th (top half finish)

 

5 – return to inconsistency (or worse) and end up back in the bottom half

 

I’ll assume no City fan actually wants option 5. What about the others?

 

For me:-

 

1 – much as I want to reach the top flight, I’m not sure I’d actually want it this season. If we went up now, would we crash and burn more spectacularly than any team has before? It’s possible. But no doubt some will argue that we might do a Brentford, or at least start a beneficial yo-yo era.

 

2 – making the playoffs but failing could be the worst disappointment of all! It’s the hope that kills you. To get to 6^th would require a fantastic run. To lose the playoff matches then would really hurt.

 

3 – might be the best result. 7^th would represent a great improvement on last season and on the early part of this. It wouldn’t be a disappointment unless we reached 6^th then fell back again. It ought to provide great platform for next season.

 

4 – like 3, but not quite as good. I wouldn’t be devastated if we achieved a top half finish and no better.

 

5 – God forbid. A return to inconsistency and finishing, say, 14^th would be a real disappointment now.

 

 

 

So – I hope we win every match I watch, but I’m not sure if I want the EPL yet, or defeat in the playoffs! What about you?

 

PS – please don’t take my views TOO seriously. By the time you read them, I will have changed my mind.

 

It's always worth going up at any time. I hardly think most of us would expect to stay up if we did get promoted this season, however you take the funds and run, planning to invest 2 seasons from now, with the parachute payments.

 

If by some miracle you hang on the following season then you build in the summer and try to cement your place.

Edited February 15 by Yozzarian

[Leveller]

28 minutes ago, Gazred said:

High as possible init.

Stupid question 

 

 

Yet there have been plenty of posts in the past from fans who don’t want to play in the Prem. At all. Let alone too early.

[Mr Popodopolous]

A rough split.

TV money alone up by minimum £100m.

Our players wages I expect save for those released perhaps rise to an average of £30-40k per week.

New signings also fall into tbis range.

10-15 new signings for a total outlay of £100m?

Average contract length 3 years maybe.

35-50% Relegation Reduction clauses.

These are all just plucked..

Then there is the issue, would Lansdown wish to put more equity and cash in if we went up. This would also impact on our spending power to some level.

Edited February 15 by Mr Popodopolous

[Sleepy1968]

Er, 1.

As I once said to Cindy Crawford, worry about coming down once you've reached the top of the mountain.

Which then started an insane conversation about Everest double glazing , but I digress.

[1960maaan]

8 minutes ago, Leveller said:

Yet there have been plenty of posts in the past from fans who don’t want to play in the Prem. At all. Let alone too early.

I'm really not sure I want to be there, but you just have to want to get there, that does make sense in my head.
I'd probably try and go everywhere for a year , then do a few games here and there. Can't say I'd enjoy playing whipping boys to the top few Clubs and have VAR suck the joy from the few good moments of the season.

I have said , given a choice of a Cup or promotion , I'd take the Cup.

[Davefevs]

30 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Slightly off topic but I think I have two perfect dream seasons.

The most obvious would be 38 2-0 wins plus 8 3-0 wins (the 6 games against the 3 relegated PL clubs plus Cardiff home and away).

That would give us a perfect W46 - D0 - L0 - F100 - A0 - GD - +100 for an unbeatable record of 138 points.

The weirder one is that I would kind of love it if we lost the first 13 games. Then, when there are just 99 points left to play for we go on an insane 33 game winning run and soar up the table to snatch the league title with a game or two to spare. 

Too much cheese before bed!

[Offside]

I definitely want us to win the play offs. 

More realistically, though, I’ll be happy if we can continue to be within touching distance of them for as long as possible without the drop in form we saw after we beat Watford away. 
 

 

[Gazred]

10 minutes ago, Leveller said:

Yet there have been plenty of posts in the past from fans who don’t want to play in the Prem. At all. Let alone too early.

It was only intended as a light hearted reply. 

[Dr Balls]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

1.

And then you recruit your arse off to try and get a team capable of staying up.

No one could recruit more than Forest. They needed to use the whole of the Atyeo stand to fit in their full squad when we played them!

[Open End Numb Legs]

I think the options in the OP are fair. I would love promotion but losing in the play offs would be really tough. I would take top 6 though.

As stated, to make good progress would be the minimum. I do find it stressful to have to fight relegation so I am grateful we don't seem to be heading in that direction.

[W-S-M Seagull]

I want us to finish as high as we possibly can until its mathematically impossible for us to finish in that position. 

The expectations from the club was set. My own pre season expectations were to be top 10 and going into the last few games with a chance of play offs. I'm now starting to think it may just be possible.