I said at the start of the season that play-offs would be where I would like us to be to consider the season 'successful'. I still stand by this point. Where I have changed my mind is that at the start of the season I wasn't too fussed over promotion. However with the new Premier League TV rights deal, I think it is hugely important to go up sooner rather than later - the longer we spend in this league, the further away the Premier League will become.
Having said all of the above, I don't think we are ready for the Premier League quite yet. It may be that if we go up this season, we will come straight back down. Nevertheless, that is something we will have to accept as a possibility.
That should be our aim anyway. We cannot expect TB's money to pay for a Premiership team. Getting promotion, then parachute payments if we go down, is the way forward. Even if we bounce a few times before we are strong enough to make it stick.
That should be our aim anyway. We cannot expect TB's money to pay for a Premiership team. Getting promotion, then parachute payments if we go down, is the way forward. Even if we bounce a few times before we are strong enough to make it stick.
Maybe it's that you have constructed your sentence in that way, but for a moment there I read what you put as saying we should AIM to be relegated....
West Brom will be the last of the "yoyo" teams though. They were doing it at a time where the parachute payments gave them a huge advantage, their squad was very good and the championship wasn't as competetive.
It just won't happen now. It's very naive to think "Oh, we could just go up and down a few times and then settle".
Who got relegated last year? Blackburn. Now in relegation trouble.
Wolves. Now in relegation trouble.
Bolton, only just catching up to the playoffs now.
Who was relegated the season before
West Ham - just got back up via the playoffs despite having a HUGE squad with MASSIVE wages. They gambled and it just paid off.
Blackpool - Still in this division and not going up
Birmingham City - Still in this division. Could be relegated.
The season before
Portsmouth - Now in league One and ****ed.
Burnley - Nowhere near Playoffs. still in Championship.
Hull - It's taken 2 years to sort their squad enough to get them back in the promotion hunt.
Reaching the play offs and putting in a good performance
What with Casper in goal?That will be the interesting bit won't it? Will Poyet let them play like he does in the cup matches?
What with Casper in goal?
It certainly would be a gamble.Hell no!!!!!!!!!