| Is it really a surprise where we are? 20:59 - Feb 22 with 6643 views | ghostofescobar |
The reality is we got promoted too early. The plan was probably 2 or 3 years in the championship. We will go down, but I am hopeful for next season. |  |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:04 - Feb 22 with 4294 views | Swailsey |
No it isn’t. But I do wish we had recruited better. I think that’s what feels like a miss for me. We have brought in replacements who are currently barely any better than what we had. Maybe McKenna thought he could weave his magic but I think our approach is failing in terms of keeping us up. I would much prefer to have seen Chaplin, Broadhead, Taylor and Burgess given more game time.
That’s my regret. I have loved the last 3 years and it’s made up for having a season ticket for 15 odd years of dross, but I am a little deflated. |  |
| Who said: "Colin Healy made Cesc Fabregas look like Colin Healy"? | We miss you TLA |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:12 - Feb 22 with 4234 views | Zx1988 |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:04 - Feb 22 by Swailsey |
No it isn’t. But I do wish we had recruited better. I think that’s what feels like a miss for me. We have brought in replacements who are currently barely any better than what we had. Maybe McKenna thought he could weave his magic but I think our approach is failing in terms of keeping us up. I would much prefer to have seen Chaplin, Broadhead, Taylor and Burgess given more game time.
That’s my regret. I have loved the last 3 years and it’s made up for having a season ticket for 15 odd years of dross, but I am a little deflated. |
I think there might be a silver lining in the recruitment process.
Compared to had we bought a batch of PL-ready/experienced players, I would imagine that there will be far fewer players demanding a transfer in the event of relegation.
Similarly, with the hiring process having focused on (hopefully) younger players with high development ceilings, at least some of the current squad should develop well over the course of another Championship campaign.
If we go down, and come back up, we may have a stronger squad than we currently have, and another decent chunk of money with which to strengthen further. |  |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:15 - Feb 22 with 4219 views | Swailsey |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:12 - Feb 22 by Zx1988 |
I think there might be a silver lining in the recruitment process.
Compared to had we bought a batch of PL-ready/experienced players, I would imagine that there will be far fewer players demanding a transfer in the event of relegation.
Similarly, with the hiring process having focused on (hopefully) younger players with high development ceilings, at least some of the current squad should develop well over the course of another Championship campaign.
If we go down, and come back up, we may have a stronger squad than we currently have, and another decent chunk of money with which to strengthen further. |
This is true. I just think it’s a bit of a wasted opportunity. The near £75 million we spent on Clarke, Ogbene, Greaves and Jayden could have brought in a battle hardened midfielder.
I’m torn between now and future planning - but it’s the first time we’ve been here in 20 years and I wanted to stay. | |
| Who said: "Colin Healy made Cesc Fabregas look like Colin Healy"? | We miss you TLA |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:18 - Feb 22 with 4189 views | Zx1988 |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:15 - Feb 22 by Swailsey |
This is true. I just think it’s a bit of a wasted opportunity. The near £75 million we spent on Clarke, Ogbene, Greaves and Jayden could have brought in a battle hardened midfielder.
I’m torn between now and future planning - but it’s the first time we’ve been here in 20 years and I wanted to stay. |
A blended approach may have been better, you're right.
However, with this season being unexpected, and going into it with a squad maybe a further season or two behind where we'd have wanted it to be, would it have made sense to spend £20m-£30m on a single player who might be agitating for a move within a few minutes of the final whistle on final day?
At least any players who'll be in demand in the summer will result in a return on investment, and the others will be very good Championship players. | |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:19 - Feb 22 with 4177 views | Swailsey |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:18 - Feb 22 by Zx1988 |
A blended approach may have been better, you're right.
However, with this season being unexpected, and going into it with a squad maybe a further season or two behind where we'd have wanted it to be, would it have made sense to spend £20m-£30m on a single player who might be agitating for a move within a few minutes of the final whistle on final day?
At least any players who'll be in demand in the summer will result in a return on investment, and the others will be very good Championship players. |
True. I don’t pretend to know the ins and outs of transfer dealings and I know it isn’t football manager. But going into January I don’t think many of us thought wingers and right-sided defence were our priorities.
Next year will be fun. | |
| Who said: "Colin Healy made Cesc Fabregas look like Colin Healy"? | We miss you TLA |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:30 - Feb 22 with 4090 views | itfc1108 |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:15 - Feb 22 by Swailsey |
This is true. I just think it’s a bit of a wasted opportunity. The near £75 million we spent on Clarke, Ogbene, Greaves and Jayden could have brought in a battle hardened midfielder.
I’m torn between now and future planning - but it’s the first time we’ve been here in 20 years and I wanted to stay. |
That £75 million could have got us a central midfield pairing of Mctominay and say Harvey Elliott from Liverpool or Sander Berge from Burnley maybe.
Then build from that base. | | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:31 - Feb 22 with 4070 views | Zx1988 |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:30 - Feb 22 by itfc1108 |
That £75 million could have got us a central midfield pairing of Mctominay and say Harvey Elliott from Liverpool or Sander Berge from Burnley maybe.
Then build from that base. |
Would they want to stay upon relegation? Absolutely not. They'd probably end up being sold at a loss, and we'd be back in the Championship no further forwards, and at greater risk of doing a Luton. | |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:35 - Feb 22 with 4037 views | ITFCSG |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:30 - Feb 22 by itfc1108 |
That £75 million could have got us a central midfield pairing of Mctominay and say Harvey Elliott from Liverpool or Sander Berge from Burnley maybe.
Then build from that base. |
You don’t even need that much
Should have gotten Moder and Pascal Groß from Brighton
Combined not even £10 million and way better than anyone we have right now | | | |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:41 - Feb 22 with 3968 views | smithy69 |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:15 - Feb 22 by Swailsey |
This is true. I just think it’s a bit of a wasted opportunity. The near £75 million we spent on Clarke, Ogbene, Greaves and Jayden could have brought in a battle hardened midfielder.
I’m torn between now and future planning - but it’s the first time we’ve been here in 20 years and I wanted to stay. |
What 75m battle hardened player is ever joining us . At least be realistic | | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:43 - Feb 22 with 3951 views | sjg |
Not a surprise at all - we are still allowed to criticise, though | | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:43 - Feb 22 with 3950 views | itfc1108 |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:31 - Feb 22 by Zx1988 |
Would they want to stay upon relegation? Absolutely not. They'd probably end up being sold at a loss, and we'd be back in the Championship no further forwards, and at greater risk of doing a Luton. |
You're right, I just mean that kind of money is better invested in positions other than 10s. Central midfield is key, and we just brought in 2 loans there (albeit probably expensive loans) | | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:46 - Feb 22 with 3922 views | Illinoisblue |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:04 - Feb 22 by Swailsey |
No it isn’t. But I do wish we had recruited better. I think that’s what feels like a miss for me. We have brought in replacements who are currently barely any better than what we had. Maybe McKenna thought he could weave his magic but I think our approach is failing in terms of keeping us up. I would much prefer to have seen Chaplin, Broadhead, Taylor and Burgess given more game time.
That’s my regret. I have loved the last 3 years and it’s made up for having a season ticket for 15 odd years of dross, but I am a little deflated. |
Would love to know more about our recruitment process and if it’s just a case of KM saying “I need player X for this position” and then Ashton and co. get to work. Feels like we’ve massively overpaid for a number of players who you’d struggle to say have given us even a marginal edge compared to what we had - even in an inflated market - and let’s not even talk about having our pants pulled down over Muric. |  |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:50 - Feb 22 with 3863 views | Axeldalai_lama |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:04 - Feb 22 by Swailsey |
No it isn’t. But I do wish we had recruited better. I think that’s what feels like a miss for me. We have brought in replacements who are currently barely any better than what we had. Maybe McKenna thought he could weave his magic but I think our approach is failing in terms of keeping us up. I would much prefer to have seen Chaplin, Broadhead, Taylor and Burgess given more game time.
That’s my regret. I have loved the last 3 years and it’s made up for having a season ticket for 15 odd years of dross, but I am a little deflated. |
I do kind of understand this thought process, but aren't people basically saying, I wished we tried a different way, and then imagining a scenario that in their heads magically then worked? It's the easiest thing to do, imagine magically getting 'better' players, 'different types' of player, but in the dream scenario you imagine that they work, that's the main difference isn't it? It's not more likely to have worked, or a better chance of working, because we've no idea who we would have attracted with different tactics and types of player. Any scenario that failed leaves the door open to, I wish we'd have not failed by doing x, it's a shame we didn't try it, and any failing would have had people saying why didn't we stick with the old players as we clearly haven't bought better replacements.
Unless I'm missing something. |  | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:54 - Feb 22 with 3768 views | Denny32 |
It doesn't matter how long you spend in the championship it wil not prepare you for the top flight..as we will still have to buy in experienced Premier players to compete to some extent..its the quality we bought in isn't good enough..no amount of time in the championship will make us a better team Than your average or basement premier team | | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:57 - Feb 22 with 3734 views | SuffolkPunchFC |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:50 - Feb 22 by Axeldalai_lama |
I do kind of understand this thought process, but aren't people basically saying, I wished we tried a different way, and then imagining a scenario that in their heads magically then worked? It's the easiest thing to do, imagine magically getting 'better' players, 'different types' of player, but in the dream scenario you imagine that they work, that's the main difference isn't it? It's not more likely to have worked, or a better chance of working, because we've no idea who we would have attracted with different tactics and types of player. Any scenario that failed leaves the door open to, I wish we'd have not failed by doing x, it's a shame we didn't try it, and any failing would have had people saying why didn't we stick with the old players as we clearly haven't bought better replacements.
Unless I'm missing something. |
Exactly this.
It’s easy to be an armchair manager for fantasy football, especially when you imagine that every choice you make performs perfectly. | | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:59 - Feb 22 with 3730 views | Axeldalai_lama |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:35 - Feb 22 by ITFCSG |
You don’t even need that much
Should have gotten Moder and Pascal Groß from Brighton
Combined not even £10 million and way better than anyone we have right now |
People are dreaming on this thread, both those you mentioned are playing champions league football with clubs way bigger than us. Also mctominay, and Harvey Barnes.
You can't just say you wished a different strategy and then invent some dream scenario where players way too good for us just agree to join us for a relegation battle over playing in the champions league and winning the premier league.
Yes it's all been a little underwhelming, but trying to act like it's a strategy failure and not just bloody hard to figure out which of the players who will join us is actually good enough is a bit much. | | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:00 - Feb 22 with 3696 views | Swailsey |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:57 - Feb 22 by SuffolkPunchFC |
Exactly this.
It’s easy to be an armchair manager for fantasy football, especially when you imagine that every choice you make performs perfectly. |
I do think the other approach would have given us a better shot. | |
| Who said: "Colin Healy made Cesc Fabregas look like Colin Healy"? | We miss you TLA |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:04 - Feb 22 with 3659 views | Axeldalai_lama |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:00 - Feb 22 by Swailsey |
I do think the other approach would have given us a better shot. |
What other approach? Buy 'better' players, buy 'experienced' players? Nobody knows who would have come and who wouldn't, nobody knows how far down the list of experienced players we'd get, no one knows how much we'd have to risk on a fully formed 'ready' player, and definitely no one knows if it would have been the right type of player for a relegation scrap in this team with this management. It's all just basically saying if we'd have done better, then we'd have done better. | | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:07 - Feb 22 with 3620 views | Vic |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:15 - Feb 22 by Swailsey |
This is true. I just think it’s a bit of a wasted opportunity. The near £75 million we spent on Clarke, Ogbene, Greaves and Jayden could have brought in a battle hardened midfielder.
I’m torn between now and future planning - but it’s the first time we’ve been here in 20 years and I wanted to stay. |
We’ll be back - but we’ll need a couple of battle hardened midfielders. The good news is that we’ll be able to afford them next time. |  |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:15 - Feb 22 with 3557 views | Swailsey |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:04 - Feb 22 by Axeldalai_lama |
What other approach? Buy 'better' players, buy 'experienced' players? Nobody knows who would have come and who wouldn't, nobody knows how far down the list of experienced players we'd get, no one knows how much we'd have to risk on a fully formed 'ready' player, and definitely no one knows if it would have been the right type of player for a relegation scrap in this team with this management. It's all just basically saying if we'd have done better, then we'd have done better. |
Sorry, I thought I made it clear above. Buy players who are recognised at this level, rather than the obvious approach which has been to buy younger players for potential. Just one or two. It would have made a big difference I feel. | |
| Who said: "Colin Healy made Cesc Fabregas look like Colin Healy"? | We miss you TLA |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:20 - Feb 22 with 3518 views | ITFCSG |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 21:59 - Feb 22 by Axeldalai_lama |
People are dreaming on this thread, both those you mentioned are playing champions league football with clubs way bigger than us. Also mctominay, and Harvey Barnes.
You can't just say you wished a different strategy and then invent some dream scenario where players way too good for us just agree to join us for a relegation battle over playing in the champions league and winning the premier league.
Yes it's all been a little underwhelming, but trying to act like it's a strategy failure and not just bloody hard to figure out which of the players who will join us is actually good enough is a bit much. |
You'd never know. So what were the players Fulham, Bournemouth, Forest etc. signed when they went up? If we have gotten them in the summer there was no guarantee of a relegation scrap.
Would Moder rather remain in the PL or move to the Eredivisie to play in a sh*t league bar the top 3-4 clubs just for a few European games a season? I doubt it.
A mixture of experience would have improved the situation. Even if they are an Aluko/Keogh type signing. All our new signings have little or no Prem experience and it is showing. Too weak, too naive. | | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:26 - Feb 22 with 3444 views | TheBoyBlue |
No, it's no surprise. But not because we were promoted too soon, although that is a tempting and understandable conclusion. If that was the case, what does one say of Leicester and Southampton?
We haven't been far off. Despite so many injuries, as McKenna said we've come out the wrong side of many fine margins. We only needed to fall the right side of those on a couple of occasions and we're above Wolves.
Still, like you, I believe we're in a good position for next season. | |
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:34 - Feb 22 with 3374 views | HungryLikeTheWoolf |
So if we'd instead had 2-3 years in the Championship, would we be comfortably out of the relegation zone if / when we did get promoted, given this season and the last, all 3 promoted teams were / are in the bottom 3?
Sadly there is a wide gap between the promoted teams and established Premier League teams, so staying up in your first season is very difficult (and who's to say the gap wouldn't be even wider in a few years?), but regardless we are way better off for getting promoted last season than not doing so. |  | | |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:53 - Feb 22 with 3293 views | PrideOfTheEast |
There’s an argument that it was possibly last season or many, many years in terms of getting promoted. Not sure people appreciate the gap opening up between the divisions and therefore within the championship too.
As it is, can’t see how we won’t be top 3 next season in that division and with the mess Leicester and Southampton are in, or will be in, I would expect us to be favourites for the title. [Post edited 22 Feb 23:14]
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| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:56 - Feb 22 with 3269 views | Axeldalai_lama |
| Is it really a surprise where we are? on 22:15 - Feb 22 by Swailsey |
Sorry, I thought I made it clear above. Buy players who are recognised at this level, rather than the obvious approach which has been to buy younger players for potential. Just one or two. It would have made a big difference I feel. |
Yeah, fair enough, I just can't see how, given the huge number of potential issues with any potential signing, anyone can come up with a 'better' strategy. It's basically better because you're saying it would be better players in your scenario, no matter what you based it on. | | | |
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