Bring it on!!

Isn't it nice, folks? Isn't it just so nice that we can actually have an article like this on the home page this close to the end of the season? :)

A Blackburn win might have spurred them on against us to edge even closer, so on balance this is probably a good sign.

Not Jordan Rhodes scoring two goals mind you - we could do without that.

Good results tonight, let's hope for some tired rovers legs on Saturday. COYB

Can only be good news for us, as for playoffs, a close run thing to get there, it will be fun but i really do not want us to win them just yet, as we are a long way off from being a prem club yet, i did say yet!

Never rated Rhodes. He was never going to be our 50 goals a season man.

Shouldnt really be looking at what the others are doing. As long as we get to 71 points mark we should make the playoffs nomatter what the others do.

Promotion is what we've been longing for since forever, don't really buy in to the we're not ready to go up, if we do then everyone should be ecstatic! Palace weren't ready but they've just beaten Chelsea, every year is going to get harder with the financial gap continually growing between the leagues and even if we do go down we can build a team with the greater finances which will be able to challenge at the top of this division and give a good account of ourselves. Basically IMO the quicker we go up the better (IF we go up, not getting too carried away and suggesting it's a formality)

@Simonds - It's an interesting debate & I take your point, but overall I'm not sure I'd agree with you.
Going up when not ready, with a small squad & miminal investment can have terrible consequences for some clubs. Invariably the manager gets sacked for something completely out of his control & the club then panic buys mercenaries on unsustainable contracts while a losing mentality spreads through the squad. The team is relegated & it can takes years to get back to where they were before the unlikely promotion.
Of course it doesn't have to happen that way, but it is a possibilty & one we have seen happen before.
Personally, I think a good finish this year, which will further help sell the club to the kind of players we are looking to sign, plus a loosening of the purse strings by ME (as he sees that he finally has a manager who knows what he is doing) could put us in a great position for a strong & genuine run at promotion next season, where we would have the foundations of a side that could stay up/hold their own.

Len Brennan - I agree with your comments.

However, how can ME loosen the purse strings when we hear he is up to his funding limit already this season (£5 million?), with the incinuation that any more funding would cause us to fall foul of FFP? I know we all want more cash to be made available to Mick, but unfortunately I don't think we should expect this to happen, however frustrating it may be to us supporters.

I always look at Leicester as a good recent model
Built a good squad ( not the biggest) but with good mix of experience and youth
( Pearson used the ex Man U Acad players well - also )
Started knocking on the door and then after going close last season will def make it this year
If we make the P offs - great but there are still three tough games left
I remember the late 90s Burley era when we were knocking at the door afew times before we made it
If we come top 8 it is a great season
If we make p offs superb
If we make the FINAL - AMAZING
If WE GO UP - OUT OF THIS WORLD
Remember where we were Nov 2012 !
MM and TC deserve an amazing amount of credit

Believe Pearson was interviewed for the managers job at town but didn't get it, not sure if it was before Keane or Jewell were appointed. No guarantee that if he had got the job he would have done better than either of those two but doubt he could have done worse! Pearson spent a lot in the early days and Leicester were offering good wages as well if i recall. I would much rather have MM though. MM has done a great job with limited resources. Its been said before but where would town be if MM had the same resources that were given to Keane!

So come saturday afternoon we could be sitting in 6th place with our destiny in our own hands and if Wigan slip up we'd be 3 points off 5th with 6 to play. It's going to be very tight. The good thing here is that we have a bit of momentum, improving form and possibly the lowest expectations of any team in the top half (maybe barring Bournmouth).

Having just done the league calculator, I reckon Bournemouth could surprise all and sneak that last play off place. That was with us beating them at home!
We have four tricky away fixtures and I feel we will need to win two of them, plus our three at home to get in the top six.
Do able but we will need to be positive. Over to you MM, time to break the habit of your management master plan!

As for promotion, I agree we are not really ready but it's the only way we are going give MM some money to spend. We certainly have the bones of a side which can survive the Prem mainly in defence. Chambers on the right is maybe the weak point but we have to assume that in many games our full backs need to do more defending than attacking which suits him. Think back to Delaney and McAuley, good defenders playing well in the Prem now but no better than we have in Smith and Berra (or Chambers for that matter.

Town are on their way to wembley!!!!!!! Due to the stupid nature of modern football no squad is ever ready for promotion to the premiership Mick ain't going to get much of a summer holiday

With Blackburn drawing last night I'm not sure it's a good sign for Saturday, they now desperately need a win now to stay in touch. Very rarely do you see a Championship team (due to the competitive nature of the league) pick up 2 wins on the bounce at home within a few days - if they had won last night I would be more confident of us picking up at least a point on saturday, same applied to us when we played Forest after a win against Derby and again with Yeovil not winning mid-week against us.

TimmyH: On the other hand, we also desparately need a win, so I think both teams will be up for it. And we didn't win our last match either.

Obviously this is head over heart but I've seen this happen many times this season, hopefully I'm wrong but I'd honestly say Blackburn need the 3pts even more than what we do...to not lose touch with the race, their fans will be 'expecting' a win now after last night. Fingers crossed this doesn't happen!