| Walking the Championship? Think again. 09:15 - Feb 27 with 1668 views | ITFCSG |
Plenty of people here and elsewhere think we’d do a Burnley / Sheff Utd / Newcastle / Fulham and walk the Championship next season. Anyone really feels so optimistic?
1. The Championship is a long, hard slog one of the most competitive divisions to get out of
2. If Delap (very likely) leaves means we need strikers in. AAH isn’t even Champ quality
3. Our ageing midfield needs to be replaced
4. We still have to address the RB position in the Champ
Leeds ran rings around Harry Clarke Monday night and our other options are not much better than him. Anyone confident we’d comfortably beat the current Leeds team, which must be used as a marker for a top Championship side - with our current squad at the moment? Take Delap out, I am even less confident.
The Championship isn’t a walk in the park. The same pi$$ the league nonsense was oft quoted when we went down to League One - “only going for a League One tour”, “good to stabilise and reset”, “ rather be a big fish in a small pond”, “straight back up” etc. - how many seasons did we end up there in the end?
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:24 - Feb 27 with 1571 views | RonFearonsHair |
Blackburn have lost over a third of their games and are in the top 6.
It would be a significant drop-off and a huge disappointment if we didn't at least manage that, particularly given the light work we seemed to make of beating Coventry.
The centre midfield and striker situations do concern me though. We need to get those right again. |  | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:25 - Feb 27 with 1566 views | Durovigutum |
We bought the best players we could afford and attract to this club from the Championship in the summer transfer window.
We cruised past an almost full strength Coventry in the FA Cup.
We will sell Delap and have more money than everyone else in that league to spend on a replacement.
We will buy a new midfield.
We lost to Leeds twice in the promotion season. In the Champ the opposite of the Premier League is true. We are going down because we lost to the teams around us and the others are too good to beat, in the champ everyone can beat anyone therefore losing to direct rivals isn't as season ending if you go beat everyone else.
No league is easy, but we will have the advantages that stacked against us for 15+ years after parachute payments were introduced. We will also have a new training ground and an improved profile. Even with a new manager we will do very badly not to at least make the play offs. |  | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:29 - Feb 27 with 1521 views | pointofblue |
Deleted - will rephrase. [Post edited 27 Feb 9:32]
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:30 - Feb 27 with 1509 views | Herbivore |
We finished above Leeds last season. We've since strengthened our squad significantly while they've lost some good players from last season. We just battered Coventry away with our reserves. We shouldn't be firing up HMS Pisstheleague as that kind of overconfidence isn't a good look, but we've every reason to be confident in our chances of bouncing straight back. |  |
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:35 - Feb 27 with 1471 views | BseaBlue |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:30 - Feb 27 by Herbivore |
We finished above Leeds last season. We've since strengthened our squad significantly while they've lost some good players from last season. We just battered Coventry away with our reserves. We shouldn't be firing up HMS Pisstheleague as that kind of overconfidence isn't a good look, but we've every reason to be confident in our chances of bouncing straight back. |
As the poster above has correctly pointed out, we've bemoaned the parachute payments for years with the advantage that it gives. At least we will be the beneficiary this time round! |  | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:36 - Feb 27 with 1443 views | pointofblue |
I think every move this season has been made with next season in mind. Understandably, the decision was made that, whatever we did, it would be difficult to make an impact with the clear financial and scouting differences between us and every other club. If the young British talent we brought in had an impact then fantastic, but they all performed brilliantly in the second tier and the expectation/hope is that they will do so again.
Considering our disadvantages from 24/25 will, miracle notwithstanding, become advantages for 25/26 we need to make the most of them. | |
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:37 - Feb 27 with 1431 views | Herbivore |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:35 - Feb 27 by BseaBlue |
As the poster above has correctly pointed out, we've bemoaned the parachute payments for years with the advantage that it gives. At least we will be the beneficiary this time round! |
Exactly. They mean we don't have to have a fire sale, we'll doubtless lose a few but it'll be for good money and we'll be able to reinvest in good quality players. People need to try and maintain a bit of perspective. | |
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:42 - Feb 27 with 1410 views | nrb1985 |
Why do people feel the need to post this stuff when we're all deflated after yesterday? Particularly in the context of where we've come from 3 years ago...pathetic.
Nobody has said we will walk the Champ either.
To your point though - as Ben on the BM podcast put it at the weekend; Any reason to be cheerful about going down? "Yes, I can think of a hundred million". | | | |
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:46 - Feb 27 with 1387 views | Churchman |
Do you watch Championship games? Monday Leeds looked better balanced than last year, but less talented. No surprise. They lost a couple of their better players. One of their best was Archie Gray who looked vulnerable on Saturday and was bullied by Delap when he got some service first half. The other is Summerville who is not exactly tearing it up. They cost £65m btw.
The game looked like old fogey walking football compared to the Premier League. Make a mistake? No problem, the opposition will need more than one chance to score. Not in the Premier League. Any team promoted will struggle. Further evidence? Coventry are decent Championship and lost 4-1 to our ressies (with one or two of their own).
Comparing the situation to that of the side relegated to L1 is beyond me. The circumstances were totally different in every way.
Yes, the Championship is a slog, but the standard is way beneath PL. People keep wheeling out Luton. Well on that basis ourselves, Leicester and Saints will be in L1 end of next season. If you bet, bung a few pounds on it. You’ll get brilliant odds.
They won’t be and neither will we. I don’t know why Luton have gone down the pan. I do know they ambushed a few sides with their heathen Wimbledon style game, as they did in the Championship. It worked - for a while but I think they are paying for their lack of quality now. People who watch them will know the answers.
I don’t think anyone has said the Championship will be easy. Nothing ever is. But it is highly do-able. |  | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:49 - Feb 27 with 1378 views | Steve_M |
I’ve seen more posts telling us not to expect the Championship to be easy than ones claiming we’ll walk it next season. |  |
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:56 - Feb 27 with 1325 views | MaySixth |
Absolute nonsense - Leeds didn't run rings around Harry Clarke on Monday.
Baffling comment. |  |
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:57 - Feb 27 with 1314 views | lazyblue |
Yup, remember how we should have walked it when relegated in 2002 with Burley and how that went! | | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:59 - Feb 27 with 1292 views | _clive_baker_ |
Don't think anyone is saying we'll walk it but along with Leicester & Southampton we'll be one of the best 3 or 4 equipped at that level. Of course only 3 go up, and the longer it doesn't happen the harder it becomes as we lose our financial advantages and perhaps some of the better performers, but I wouldn't bet against it. Keeping McKenna will help, a managerial change is a big variable. |  | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 10:00 - Feb 27 with 1283 views | Churchman |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:57 - Feb 27 by lazyblue |
Yup, remember how we should have walked it when relegated in 2002 with Burley and how that went! |
Ah yes, that was when we went into Administration, Sheepshanks was trying to sell everything apart from his private pension contributions and the divisions were much closer in standard than they are now. Yes, I remember. | | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 10:02 - Feb 27 with 1248 views | pointofblue |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 10:00 - Feb 27 by Churchman |
Ah yes, that was when we went into Administration, Sheepshanks was trying to sell everything apart from his private pension contributions and the divisions were much closer in standard than they are now. Yes, I remember. |
No such thing as parachute payments back then. It was just after ITV Digital went bankrupt, which us, Leicester and Derby had all budgeted for when planning for 2001/02. We all went into administration. | |
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 10:06 - Feb 27 with 1209 views | Rozz |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 09:57 - Feb 27 by lazyblue |
Yup, remember how we should have walked it when relegated in 2002 with Burley and how that went! |
Baffling comment considering the state of the club at the time. |  | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 10:06 - Feb 27 with 1203 views | SWLondonBlue93 |
If we can make use of pre-season to shape our collection of strong Championship players into something resembling a cohesive team, I would expect us to be one of the best sides in the league. Appreciate we will need to sign at least one CM and a striker, but we shouldn't need a full rebuild. | | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 10:07 - Feb 27 with 1199 views | ChateauWines |
That's strange re Harry Clarke. Sheffield were winning 1-0 when he went off and Wilder said him getting injured was a big blow | |
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| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 10:14 - Feb 27 with 1148 views | Libero |
the sky is falling... |  | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 10:22 - Feb 27 with 1078 views | billlm |
Not walk it is a very difficult league, but if we start we'll I'd be shocked if we didn't go back up, watch Birmingham they will do well, |  | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 10:52 - Feb 27 with 984 views | itfc_statman |
We should be in a good position to compete at the top of the Championship however most clubs rely on a manager change to swing the mood / mentality after a relegation. If we end up with 20 odd points it's pretty demoralising from a professional / squad POV and it can often linger into the early parts of next season.
So I suspect we'll have to freshen the squad a bit and it may include selling a couple big players to enable that to happen | | | |
| Walking the Championship? Think again. on 11:26 - Feb 27 with 884 views | homer_123 |
Not one single person has said we'll walk the Championship.
Where are you getting that from? |  |
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