| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. 11:44 - Apr 8 with 4988 views | Ryorry |
Most memorable comment - "dreading getting promoted!", citing all the familiar issues - VAR, getting beaten most weeks, handicap of coming from lower leagues to play against well-established clubs etc.
Good representation from the ITFC fan who rang in (female, didn't catch her name). |  |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 11:50 - Apr 8 with 4058 views | _clive_baker_ |
Its a fair consideration. After we got promoted last season I booked a last minute holiday for the family that was over the playoff final. I went to a bar near the hotel to watch it that was mostly Leeds, but ended up perching on the end of a table with a father and adult son Southampton supporters and having a couple of beers with them. They were really complimentary about Towns achievements and when they won they said it was bitter sweet as 'they knew what awaited them'. Obviously proved right, we never had it as we were just so happy to go up but I dare say if we're near the top this time next year there might be an element of that in my thinking.
Still, if you don't want to win the Championship for fear of being in the prem what's the point of it all? Not good for the game though. |  | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 11:57 - Apr 8 with 3990 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 11:50 - Apr 8 by _clive_baker_ |
Its a fair consideration. After we got promoted last season I booked a last minute holiday for the family that was over the playoff final. I went to a bar near the hotel to watch it that was mostly Leeds, but ended up perching on the end of a table with a father and adult son Southampton supporters and having a couple of beers with them. They were really complimentary about Towns achievements and when they won they said it was bitter sweet as 'they knew what awaited them'. Obviously proved right, we never had it as we were just so happy to go up but I dare say if we're near the top this time next year there might be an element of that in my thinking.
Still, if you don't want to win the Championship for fear of being in the prem what's the point of it all? Not good for the game though. |
We've not been good enough and you can't expect to stay up from a position of 20 points from 31 games, but this season is going to pan out in a way where we had no chance regardless. Strong chance 17th is 40+ points.
Looking forwards, you wonder what hope any promoted club has. Which of the 17 other teams in the league are going to have a 30 point season any time soon? Leeds are perhaps the best equipped if they come up but I think they would get panned as well. The difference in quality is so stark. |  | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 12:04 - Apr 8 with 3957 views | hype313 |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 11:57 - Apr 8 by tractorboy1978 |
We've not been good enough and you can't expect to stay up from a position of 20 points from 31 games, but this season is going to pan out in a way where we had no chance regardless. Strong chance 17th is 40+ points.
Looking forwards, you wonder what hope any promoted club has. Which of the 17 other teams in the league are going to have a 30 point season any time soon? Leeds are perhaps the best equipped if they come up but I think they would get panned as well. The difference in quality is so stark. |
Ironically, Leeds would've been better off going up this season with the players they had, as opposed to now going into next season.
But they won't have to worry as they'll have another bad day at Wembley in the PO's. |  |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 12:24 - Apr 8 with 3840 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 11:50 - Apr 8 by _clive_baker_ |
Its a fair consideration. After we got promoted last season I booked a last minute holiday for the family that was over the playoff final. I went to a bar near the hotel to watch it that was mostly Leeds, but ended up perching on the end of a table with a father and adult son Southampton supporters and having a couple of beers with them. They were really complimentary about Towns achievements and when they won they said it was bitter sweet as 'they knew what awaited them'. Obviously proved right, we never had it as we were just so happy to go up but I dare say if we're near the top this time next year there might be an element of that in my thinking.
Still, if you don't want to win the Championship for fear of being in the prem what's the point of it all? Not good for the game though. |
We will likely be better equipped for promotion next season though. We were in a very unique situation this season which no club has been in for over a decade. We have struggled but next time we might struggle less. Then we might go down again and then we might come up stronger again.
You have to keep wanting promotion I think because at some point you might finish 17th and then you can kick on from there. It just may take a few ups and downs before that happens. |  |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:04 - Apr 8 with 3653 views | itfc48 |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 11:57 - Apr 8 by tractorboy1978 |
We've not been good enough and you can't expect to stay up from a position of 20 points from 31 games, but this season is going to pan out in a way where we had no chance regardless. Strong chance 17th is 40+ points.
Looking forwards, you wonder what hope any promoted club has. Which of the 17 other teams in the league are going to have a 30 point season any time soon? Leeds are perhaps the best equipped if they come up but I think they would get panned as well. The difference in quality is so stark. |
The season possibly tougher than most points wise because, bar Liverpool the rest of the top 6 haven't been anywhere near as dominant. In a normal season the lower teams wouldn't take anywhere near as many points off the likes of City, United and Spurs. | | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:06 - Apr 8 with 3636 views | Kievthegreat |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 11:57 - Apr 8 by tractorboy1978 |
We've not been good enough and you can't expect to stay up from a position of 20 points from 31 games, but this season is going to pan out in a way where we had no chance regardless. Strong chance 17th is 40+ points.
Looking forwards, you wonder what hope any promoted club has. Which of the 17 other teams in the league are going to have a 30 point season any time soon? Leeds are perhaps the best equipped if they come up but I think they would get panned as well. The difference in quality is so stark. |
I think that 40+ points is important to note. There were only 2 basket case established clubs in Wolves and Everton, but they both made the critical hires they needed to pull them well away from danger. It's probably likely that we'll finish closer to West Ham rather than Wolves now. That's how good Pereira has been for them. |  | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:11 - Apr 8 with 3568 views | _clive_baker_ |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 12:24 - Apr 8 by TRUE_BLUE123 |
We will likely be better equipped for promotion next season though. We were in a very unique situation this season which no club has been in for over a decade. We have struggled but next time we might struggle less. Then we might go down again and then we might come up stronger again.
You have to keep wanting promotion I think because at some point you might finish 17th and then you can kick on from there. It just may take a few ups and downs before that happens. |
Possibly, but sufficiently equipped to pick up 50%+ more points is another question. Southampton and Leicester had 1 season in the Championship after multiple in the Premier League and they've been worse than us. Both have been a bit of a circus though. It'll be interesting to see how Burnley and Sheff United do if they bounce straight back, I dare say not very well. It's a monumental gap to bridge and its only increasing the longer those 17 clubs stay there and don't get disrupted.
There's 1 or 2 that are perhaps a poor recruitment cycle of managerial disaster away from getting sucked in to trouble, for the good of the game I'm hoping they do next season. | | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:19 - Apr 8 with 3504 views | LeoMuff |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:11 - Apr 8 by _clive_baker_ |
Possibly, but sufficiently equipped to pick up 50%+ more points is another question. Southampton and Leicester had 1 season in the Championship after multiple in the Premier League and they've been worse than us. Both have been a bit of a circus though. It'll be interesting to see how Burnley and Sheff United do if they bounce straight back, I dare say not very well. It's a monumental gap to bridge and its only increasing the longer those 17 clubs stay there and don't get disrupted.
There's 1 or 2 that are perhaps a poor recruitment cycle of managerial disaster away from getting sucked in to trouble, for the good of the game I'm hoping they do next season. |
I don’t we were as far away as people think, 25 points lost from winning positions. We weren’t that far off being in the mix for me. |  |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:38 - Apr 8 with 3384 views | Illinoisblue |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:19 - Apr 8 by LeoMuff |
I don’t we were as far away as people think, 25 points lost from winning positions. We weren’t that far off being in the mix for me. |
But we ARE undeniably far off from survival. We’ve been a bit less worse than Saints and Leicester which isn’t much of a consolation, but that second half home to Wolves should be a massive warning. Never laid a glove on them.
Injuries have hit us incredibly hard
Recruitment has been a mixed bag
We needed to have no major injuries and get every signing right. Can any promoted club hope to achieve that? Need a lot of luck! |  |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:40 - Apr 8 with 3366 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:11 - Apr 8 by _clive_baker_ |
Possibly, but sufficiently equipped to pick up 50%+ more points is another question. Southampton and Leicester had 1 season in the Championship after multiple in the Premier League and they've been worse than us. Both have been a bit of a circus though. It'll be interesting to see how Burnley and Sheff United do if they bounce straight back, I dare say not very well. It's a monumental gap to bridge and its only increasing the longer those 17 clubs stay there and don't get disrupted.
There's 1 or 2 that are perhaps a poor recruitment cycle of managerial disaster away from getting sucked in to trouble, for the good of the game I'm hoping they do next season. |
Of course but its also very likely as you say that there will be a season where one a team in the premier league just collapse. Be it through bad ownership, points deductions and the hope has to be that we are the club who benefit from that position.
Just need to keep getting to the PL (easier said then done of course) and hope that one season you can break the cycle. But have to keep the faith in the club. | |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:57 - Apr 8 with 3291 views | Steve_M |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:38 - Apr 8 by Illinoisblue |
But we ARE undeniably far off from survival. We’ve been a bit less worse than Saints and Leicester which isn’t much of a consolation, but that second half home to Wolves should be a massive warning. Never laid a glove on them.
Injuries have hit us incredibly hard
Recruitment has been a mixed bag
We needed to have no major injuries and get every signing right. Can any promoted club hope to achieve that? Need a lot of luck! |
Worth adding that we needed all that to go for on top of everything going well for us the season before too. Momentum counts for a lot in sport but it would need to have been two exceptional seasons in a row (two and a half really from Feb 23 but promotion from League 1 with our resources was an expectation).
It was asking a lot and I think we actually did ok up until the end of December. Still not sure maintaining that form would have been enough once Wolves got their act together but the failure to pick up more than four points since 5 January is not surmountable. |  |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 14:23 - Apr 8 with 3178 views | Ryorry |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:38 - Apr 8 by Illinoisblue |
But we ARE undeniably far off from survival. We’ve been a bit less worse than Saints and Leicester which isn’t much of a consolation, but that second half home to Wolves should be a massive warning. Never laid a glove on them.
Injuries have hit us incredibly hard
Recruitment has been a mixed bag
We needed to have no major injuries and get every signing right. Can any promoted club hope to achieve that? Need a lot of luck! |
I think we'll be very lucky if we can re-assemble a side that works like an oiled machine, as our L1 & Champ squad did - and that's what you need really.
Reminds me of a couple of our sides from way back - one in the early 80s; and another I think must have been mid-90s - the one that included Wrighty, Cundy, Mogga, Dyer etc. - you could reel off the team-sheet days in advance of the match. | |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 14:34 - Apr 8 with 3112 views | Ryorry |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:40 - Apr 8 by TRUE_BLUE123 |
Of course but its also very likely as you say that there will be a season where one a team in the premier league just collapse. Be it through bad ownership, points deductions and the hope has to be that we are the club who benefit from that position.
Just need to keep getting to the PL (easier said then done of course) and hope that one season you can break the cycle. But have to keep the faith in the club. |
There was another interesting feature on the EPL on the BBC World Service sports programme, where they pointed out that the EPL, in allowing foreign owners (whether Saudi, Russian, USA or anyone else) to easily acquire English clubs, have made a rod for their own backs; the policy has led to so many of the league's ills.
In other countries (Germany, Italy & I think France were cited as examples), it's made much, much harder for foreign owners to buy footbsll clubs. | |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 14:52 - Apr 8 with 3022 views | BseaBlue |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 14:34 - Apr 8 by Ryorry |
There was another interesting feature on the EPL on the BBC World Service sports programme, where they pointed out that the EPL, in allowing foreign owners (whether Saudi, Russian, USA or anyone else) to easily acquire English clubs, have made a rod for their own backs; the policy has led to so many of the league's ills.
In other countries (Germany, Italy & I think France were cited as examples), it's made much, much harder for foreign owners to buy footbsll clubs. |
Germany operates under the 50+1 rule which is really interesting when you read in to it. Far too late to operate anything like that now in this Country though.
Whilst the gulf to the top clubs is huge, the PSR rules are a hinderence to those seeking to catch up. You've then got the disadvantage of the parachute payments and FFP rules in the Championship which means the two tiers are just widening apart.
We are at a point now where you have to question whether the benefits of trying to protect the game via financial regulations are actually causing it more harm than good. |  | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 14:58 - Apr 8 with 2970 views | _clive_baker_ |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:40 - Apr 8 by TRUE_BLUE123 |
Of course but its also very likely as you say that there will be a season where one a team in the premier league just collapse. Be it through bad ownership, points deductions and the hope has to be that we are the club who benefit from that position.
Just need to keep getting to the PL (easier said then done of course) and hope that one season you can break the cycle. But have to keep the faith in the club. |
Don't disagree Truers, you don't win the raffle without a ticket. As you say just have to put the percentages towards your favour by having a seat at the table and hoping something clicks sufficiently to accrue the required points and build off it, whether it be internal or external factors. It was never going to happen in 1 cycle, the trick is keeping the majority of the core together who we think can get us up and fit in the PL, then adding 6 or 7 to it each time. If we're to go back up and start life again at that level with the likes of Philogene and Hutchinson off the bench for example, its a step up on Harness and Al-Hamadi where we started this season.
The other factor is we had a huge amount of distraction this summer by way of off field infrastructure investment, that wouldn't reoccur to those levels. That must've been a drain on people's time which is a valuable commodity in a short summer window.
In the meantime I just hope we play our cards well this summer and attack next season as we're capable of. | | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 15:27 - Apr 8 with 2819 views | itfc48 |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 14:58 - Apr 8 by _clive_baker_ |
Don't disagree Truers, you don't win the raffle without a ticket. As you say just have to put the percentages towards your favour by having a seat at the table and hoping something clicks sufficiently to accrue the required points and build off it, whether it be internal or external factors. It was never going to happen in 1 cycle, the trick is keeping the majority of the core together who we think can get us up and fit in the PL, then adding 6 or 7 to it each time. If we're to go back up and start life again at that level with the likes of Philogene and Hutchinson off the bench for example, its a step up on Harness and Al-Hamadi where we started this season.
The other factor is we had a huge amount of distraction this summer by way of off field infrastructure investment, that wouldn't reoccur to those levels. That must've been a drain on people's time which is a valuable commodity in a short summer window.
In the meantime I just hope we play our cards well this summer and attack next season as we're capable of. |
With the gulf now, for one of the 17 to go down they essentially need to do what we did post McCarthy. Poor manager appointment followed by losing a core of strong players and replacing them with poor signings. | | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 15:31 - Apr 8 with 2797 views | LankHenners |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:11 - Apr 8 by _clive_baker_ |
Possibly, but sufficiently equipped to pick up 50%+ more points is another question. Southampton and Leicester had 1 season in the Championship after multiple in the Premier League and they've been worse than us. Both have been a bit of a circus though. It'll be interesting to see how Burnley and Sheff United do if they bounce straight back, I dare say not very well. It's a monumental gap to bridge and its only increasing the longer those 17 clubs stay there and don't get disrupted.
There's 1 or 2 that are perhaps a poor recruitment cycle of managerial disaster away from getting sucked in to trouble, for the good of the game I'm hoping they do next season. |
Sheff Utd supporting mate of mine admits to having a sense of dread about what's coming if (when) they get promoted this season. They've enjoyed this season massively after the horror one in the Prem beforehand but there's a sense of the 'fear of the known', as it were.
As you say can't see them or Burnley doing much next season - they've both broadly got the squads that weren't good enough last time and will find it tough to recruit players that are a significant step up. Suppose you could level that logic at us if we're successful next season, which is a fairly depressing thought. |  |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 15:32 - Apr 8 with 2798 views | Vaughan8 |
I remember a few days after sealing promotion I saw a Sheff Utd fan in a local park with my son who was wearing an Ipswich shirt at the time and hence the guy brought it up.
He basically said "getting there is a lot better than being there". He was spot on. | | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 15:43 - Apr 8 with 2715 views | soupytwist |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 15:31 - Apr 8 by LankHenners |
Sheff Utd supporting mate of mine admits to having a sense of dread about what's coming if (when) they get promoted this season. They've enjoyed this season massively after the horror one in the Prem beforehand but there's a sense of the 'fear of the known', as it were.
As you say can't see them or Burnley doing much next season - they've both broadly got the squads that weren't good enough last time and will find it tough to recruit players that are a significant step up. Suppose you could level that logic at us if we're successful next season, which is a fairly depressing thought. |
Burnley could be interesting. Someone on Guardian Football Weekly last week made the point that in their promotion campaign under Kompany they played progressive football and didn't change when they got to the Premier League. They weren't good enough at it and were relegated. A lot like us in both respects.
This time they're coming up not having conceded a goal since the clocks went back (or near enough) and they're unlikely to change that approach much next season. Will the outcome be any different? If it is, will that provide a template for those at the top of the Championship in both their promotion season and subsequent EPL campaign?
I for one will welcome a 'first don't concede' strategy next season, could be quite funny. |  | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 15:57 - Apr 8 with 2610 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 15:43 - Apr 8 by soupytwist |
Burnley could be interesting. Someone on Guardian Football Weekly last week made the point that in their promotion campaign under Kompany they played progressive football and didn't change when they got to the Premier League. They weren't good enough at it and were relegated. A lot like us in both respects.
This time they're coming up not having conceded a goal since the clocks went back (or near enough) and they're unlikely to change that approach much next season. Will the outcome be any different? If it is, will that provide a template for those at the top of the Championship in both their promotion season and subsequent EPL campaign?
I for one will welcome a 'first don't concede' strategy next season, could be quite funny. |
I think they could well be panned even more with that strategy. You can't go into a PL campaign with the hope of nicking games 1-0. How many times this season have we been quite solid and then conceded a goal? All of these established sides have players that can create and score a goal in an instant. And if they struggle to score goals in the Championship, that is only going to get a lot harder in the Premier League. | | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 16:05 - Apr 8 with 2570 views | Axeldalai_lama |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 15:31 - Apr 8 by LankHenners |
Sheff Utd supporting mate of mine admits to having a sense of dread about what's coming if (when) they get promoted this season. They've enjoyed this season massively after the horror one in the Prem beforehand but there's a sense of the 'fear of the known', as it were.
As you say can't see them or Burnley doing much next season - they've both broadly got the squads that weren't good enough last time and will find it tough to recruit players that are a significant step up. Suppose you could level that logic at us if we're successful next season, which is a fairly depressing thought. |
That's the crazy thing now, clubs almost have to somehow try and treat relegation as another season of building the squad for a crack at premier league survival the next. Which is clearly hugely risky and ridiculously hard to achieve.
Already conversations about who to bring in become 'they'd probably be good in the championship but would be way off for the prem'. Which is mental, really. Maybe that's the whole point in us choosing 'higher ceiling' players, gives them the best chance of kicking on with the club 'when' we go up again.
The whole things a calamitous precarious mess, but kind of exciting in its own way. |  | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 16:39 - Apr 8 with 2413 views | Benters |
Hmm tricky one that.
Of course the gulf is massive even to us who finished 2nd in the Championship,but look at the buzz it created getting promoted.
I notice a lot of people are saying we will bounce straight back again,I’m not so sure I think a more realistic target will be playoffs next season.
Still there you go,people will still go meet up for a few pints before hand,and enjoy the day whatever happens I guess.(other options are of course available). |  |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 16:42 - Apr 8 with 2381 views | Parsley |
It just becomes harder and harder each season. I imagine that if say Burnley or Sheff Utd had stayed up last season they'd be a team that we'd hope to compete against this year but for every season that the same 3 that go up and get relegated the other teams in the Prem become more established and more difficult to compete with.
Next season there'll be 17 teams that have had at least 3 seasons in the Premier League. Relies on an established side imploding, which at different times this season it looked like Everton, West Ham, Wolves or perhaps Palace might get sucked in but never materialised. |  | | |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 16:45 - Apr 8 with 2358 views | hoppy |
I thought that was a rather niche phone-in about RSIs then… wondered who might’ve responded as to how and why they’d developed… |  |
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| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 16:48 - Apr 8 with 2334 views | Jon_456 |
| Excellent R5l phone-in on EPL-Championship gap this a.m. on 13:38 - Apr 8 by Illinoisblue |
But we ARE undeniably far off from survival. We’ve been a bit less worse than Saints and Leicester which isn’t much of a consolation, but that second half home to Wolves should be a massive warning. Never laid a glove on them.
Injuries have hit us incredibly hard
Recruitment has been a mixed bag
We needed to have no major injuries and get every signing right. Can any promoted club hope to achieve that? Need a lot of luck! |
Ultimately points wise we were no where near it in the end but given the context of our starting position, I don’t think we were actually that far off.
The difference next time (should we go up next year) is that we will be in a position to spend £100-£150m on 3-4 prem quality players instead of having to bring in numbers to boost the squad. On top of that, the players we’ve had this season should in theory be better the next time we get there. | | | |
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