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I'm just relieved. We should never have allowed ourselves to fall into this dreadful division and even during the Evans era we had resources and facilities that most L1 teams could only dream of and should've got straight back up.
What I am celebrating though, is the style in which we've done it. That this feels like just the beginning. That we have a team, a manager, coaching team and board and owners who are with us, who care. That we are on the up.
"We should never have allowed ourselves to fall into this dreadful division"
Well ultimately we did and that has eventually led to us having the things you mention in the second paragraph. Just seems odd that you won't want to embrace promotion because you feel we're too big for this, despite it taking us 4 years to get out.
The reason why I think we should shirk this mindset is simply down to the regime change. GC20 had no part to play in our demise and we only have a couple of players still with us that were part of that era - and you can't really blame them either.
Had Evans still been in charge and we limped to promotion, I would perhaps have been more reserved and in your shoes - but no, I am celebrating.
New squad, New Manager, New Stewardship and a new sense of hope - I am swinging my knickers as I type
I'm not celebrating promotion. on 11:04 - May 1 by wkj
The reason why I think we should shirk this mindset is simply down to the regime change. GC20 had no part to play in our demise and we only have a couple of players still with us that were part of that era - and you can't really blame them either.
Had Evans still been in charge and we limped to promotion, I would perhaps have been more reserved and in your shoes - but no, I am celebrating.
New squad, New Manager, New Stewardship and a new sense of hope - I am swinging my knickers as I type
We also need to get over ourselves a little bit. Compile a list of clubs who have spent some time in league one in the last 20 years and there will be lots of big clubs. Sheff U, just promoted to the Prem, were down there for six years.
Not saying it wasn't a shambles but football is based on what happens on the pitch.
Edited: Changed down HERE to down THERE because we are CHAMPIONSHIP.
I'm not celebrating promotion. on 11:12 - May 1 by J2BLUE
We also need to get over ourselves a little bit. Compile a list of clubs who have spent some time in league one in the last 20 years and there will be lots of big clubs. Sheff U, just promoted to the Prem, were down there for six years.
Not saying it wasn't a shambles but football is based on what happens on the pitch.
Edited: Changed down HERE to down THERE because we are CHAMPIONSHIP.
[Post edited 1 May 2023 11:20]
Sunderland had four years too after their back to back relegations.
We've won a promotion for the first time in many fans lifetimes, or living memory. And we've done it with a playing style that is the envy of any football fan..
I'm old enough to remember some halcyon days at the club..Sometimes our playing style reminds me of those days. But what really takes me back. Is seeing the kiddies at the ground with their families, with smiles , having a wonderful time. That was me, I was that kiddie 45 odd years ago. My team was winning, everyone was bouncing. That's all that matters.
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I'm not celebrating promotion. on 11:19 - May 1 with 2687 views
We’re in League 1 on merit. We lacked anything close to the resources to compete at Championship level under Evans and got what we deserved. Getting out of L1 typically requires about 90 points, it’s not easy. Ask Leeds, Sunderland, Sheffield United. We weren’t well placed to do that under Evans and that was quite evident.
We should celebrate getting back to the Championship because it’s not an easy thing to do. We’ve done it and done it in style.
I think teams who went down due points deductions probably have a bit of a claim to "we shouldn't be in this league", but not us. We went down fair and square.
And far from being a "disaster for this club", as some on here said, a bit of a reset was needed rather than continuously limping along under Evans, firefighting rather than building.
We're building now, and building something special. Think of League 1 as a little holiday to get ourselves straight.
Trust the process. Trust Phil.
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I'm not celebrating promotion. on 11:20 - May 1 with 2669 views
I think that’s very sad if you can’t celebrate a promotion of the team you support no matter whether it’s Lg1 to Championship or National League to Lg 2. We were where we were for a good reason but things are looking very good for the future of our club so we can certainly agree on that.
The end of the beginning, think people are down voting heading / 1st paragraph.
Doesn't matter 100% about resources, all about putting a team out equipped to get results. L1 has been humbling, and will make winning ECL so much sweeter in May 2026
I am celebrating all of it. It’s not often you get a season like this and it’s many years since this club even had an identity to speak of, unless you are talking about inferiority, decay and mediocrity. A byword for failure. Nothing club on its way to L2 in its rotting old ground.
Not now! So enjoy the moment. I am, just as much I did the good times all those long distant years ago. Celebrate that younger people have not seen anything like this and enjoy their enthusiasm. They’re the future of the club.
What has not been done, should have been done is in the past. Forward, not back.
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I'm not celebrating promotion. on 22:35 - May 1 with 2360 views
Of course I'm celebrating, but I realised it wasn't the actual promotion I was celebrating but the way we've done it. Gamechanger have come in and turned this club around. We've done it style and this season - and especially the last few weeks - has been joyous. We have a club to celebrate again and I would've celebrated that even if we hadn't gone up.
I'm not celebrating promotion. on 22:35 - May 1 by TheBoyBlue
Blimey. What a strange reception to this post.
Of course I'm celebrating, but I realised it wasn't the actual promotion I was celebrating but the way we've done it. Gamechanger have come in and turned this club around. We've done it style and this season - and especially the last few weeks - has been joyous. We have a club to celebrate again and I would've celebrated that even if we hadn't gone up.
To be fair, you can't blame people for thinking "I'm not celebrating promotion" means "I am celebrating"
Our time in league one was I feel, always likely to happen after we’d gone in to administration. It just just took time for the club to fully unravel. Evans definitely saved us from complete extinction, but he was actually I’ll equipped to re build us because he had no idea how to run s football club and wasn’t prepared to pay gif the infrastructure that could. But we are only in the position we are today because he sold us to an appropriate new owner.
For all my love of the game and our fabulous Club, the game is rotten to the core because of the absurd levels of money now required to even exist in the professional game. I hate Sky tv!
I know you’re trying to be a little edgy, but everything about your post is what is wrong with entitled football fans.
I initially thought we could bounce straight back up. Now I look back at that squad with hindsight I can see how bad it was. Surely you can see that we didn’t have the resources to bounce straight back up? A few more seasons under Evans and it would have been league 2 here we come.
So I’ll be celebrating all summer. Celebrating the relief that the owners came in, celebrating the style in how we got promoted and celebrating the fact that the future looks really bright.
[Post edited 2 May 2023 7:33]
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I'm not celebrating promotion. on 07:33 - May 2 with 1870 views
I'm not celebrating promotion. on 07:02 - May 2 by ArnieM
Our time in league one was I feel, always likely to happen after we’d gone in to administration. It just just took time for the club to fully unravel. Evans definitely saved us from complete extinction, but he was actually I’ll equipped to re build us because he had no idea how to run s football club and wasn’t prepared to pay gif the infrastructure that could. But we are only in the position we are today because he sold us to an appropriate new owner.
For all my love of the game and our fabulous Club, the game is rotten to the core because of the absurd levels of money now required to even exist in the professional game. I hate Sky tv!
How many clubs of any size have gone into ‘complete extinction’ in the past 30 years? I can’t think of one. Not one. There was no chance of it happening to this club either.
Evans didn’t save us. He saw a business opportunity and hosed it up the wall basically. He didn’t save anything. Nor did he care after the easy money opportunity had gone. It was all about costs to a minimum after that. I wish he’d never come near the club.
Did Evans sell to an appropriate owner or had he run the club down so much it wasn’t worth anything in sporting football club terms and represented an opportunity to some serious, clever people? I suspect Evans would have sold to anyone, appropriate or not, if a few pence more was on offer. Luck was on our side this time and maybe we deserved it.
Money and sport? We know the game is skewed by money, whether it’s top club leverage or unsavoury characters buying clubs that are part of society’s fabric. There’s nothing we can do about that. What Saturday tells us is that for all its contradictions, the game can bring unbridled joy to young and old. It did me. Enjoy it.
[Post edited 2 May 2023 7:34]
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I'm not celebrating promotion. on 07:39 - May 2 with 1826 views
Lot of people kicking your @rse here, not really too sure why.
This club shouldn't be in Division 3, that's for sure. Failure to go up this year would've been horrible. Both of these statements are palpably true.
I'd disagree with not celebrating promotion - Saturday was a glorious day (turns out promotion is FUN), and, for the first time in 20 years, this club feels alive.
We're back in the same silly league we've spent most of this century in, but, this time, with a lot more hope.
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I'm not celebrating promotion. on 07:51 - May 2 with 1796 views
I'm not celebrating promotion. on 11:11 - May 1 by MJallday
“ we had resources and facilities that most L1 teams could only dream of and should've got straight back up”
I think it’s fair to say, with respect ,your recollection is different to mine
Evans didn’t seriously invest in us after the Keane debacle , and at the point he NEEDED to , ie THAT January under McCarthy, he failed to.
We outbid Championship clubs (on wages) to sign Norwood and we resisted interest from QPR in Judge. Evans didn't back us anywhere close to what we're seeing now but someone like KVY, for example, would have been a record signing for more than half the clubs at this level and significantly beyond their reach in terms of both fee and wages. We were a poorly resourced Championship club, but we weren't a poorly resourced League 1 side. The failures in years one and two were primarily down to a manager who had no clue, was a busted flush, and only cared about getting paid.
I'm not celebrating promotion. on 07:39 - May 2 by Funge
Lot of people kicking your @rse here, not really too sure why.
This club shouldn't be in Division 3, that's for sure. Failure to go up this year would've been horrible. Both of these statements are palpably true.
I'd disagree with not celebrating promotion - Saturday was a glorious day (turns out promotion is FUN), and, for the first time in 20 years, this club feels alive.
We're back in the same silly league we've spent most of this century in, but, this time, with a lot more hope.
Seems a bit daft to not celebrate a promotion, whatever the league. Each to their own though. I’d argue we should have been in L1 as well. We got what we deserved. Let’s just hope we don’t suffer such a damaging owner again as willingly as we did.
I'm not celebrating promotion. on 07:51 - May 2 by Herbivore
We outbid Championship clubs (on wages) to sign Norwood and we resisted interest from QPR in Judge. Evans didn't back us anywhere close to what we're seeing now but someone like KVY, for example, would have been a record signing for more than half the clubs at this level and significantly beyond their reach in terms of both fee and wages. We were a poorly resourced Championship club, but we weren't a poorly resourced League 1 side. The failures in years one and two were primarily down to a manager who had no clue, was a busted flush, and only cared about getting paid.
We were certainly better resourced than a number of clubs in L1, but we also finished above a number of clubs in L1. Were we sufficiently resourced (on and off the pitch) to expect to win promotion ahead of Rotherham, Hull, Sunderland etc? I don’t think so. The club was a complete car crash and there’s little value in spending a few hundred grand on KVY or wages on Norwood if you’re not going to invest in a support team that might get them fit enough to compete. A large chunk of our wages were tied up in players that spent more time on the treatment table than the grass.
Lambert was a busted flush and a dire manager, I don’t doubt that, and a better manager might have done better. But he wasn’t given the tools to do his job, certainly relative to a handful of other clubs and those that ultimately went up.
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