Playoffs: Poyet; 'We can do it'

[pottert]

If we can get there then fantastic bring it on.
What concerns me is if we make it to wembley & fail.The last time we reached the equivalent of the championship playoff final we were relegated the following season.that worries me.
We run the risk of losing gus.losing players to epl teams & over expectations from fans for following season that cannot be reached.

If we go up then come down fair enough a long as we are sensible & live to our means

 

[raymondbriggs]

Blackpool report that one season in the Premier league is worth £95million in extra revenue and parachute payments,one season for us could pay back a massive chunk of the cost of Falmer so if we can get it we should and worry about staying up when we get there.
But even if it is one year only would you be worried?
I would rather be on the rollercoaster of promotion and relegation that suffer being in a league we cant win.Cant think of anything more sole destroying than being an Everton-never going to win the league again but never going to get relegated.
4 cups in 10 years is much better than reaching wembley every 7 years or so and beating one of the big 4 being a seasons highlight.

 

[Telford Seagull]

I was only mucking about mate don't worry about it. My point was that I think "in the moment" none of us would enjoy a season in the Prem any less due to things the club still needed to get in place, when it really came down to it.

Nah i know you were lol i was just saying like

 

[Mr Burns]

I appreciate he's changing his tune due to our great position/situation, but Gus has said at at least twice before that 'we're not ready yet/just to come back down again/be whipping boys' (think he' even used the "I don't want to go up yet.." sentance )

DT shouldn't be castigated for being equally concerned here; he raises good points that i guess quite a few here feel too

So why the loan signings? We would have been mid table with ease with one loanee, but he has gone and brought in 5 from premiership clubs, all of which look comfortable in the side, and 3 or 4 will probably play every week.

That doesn't sound like a man who thinks we are not ready. As today has proved, Gus is just playing mind games with his players. He's played a blinder IMO taking the pressure completely off them.

 

[Rowdey]

So why the loan signings? We would have been mid table with ease with one loanee, but he has gone and brought in 5 from premiership clubs, all of which look comfortable in the side, and 3 or 4 will probably play every week.

That doesn't sound like a man who thinks we are not ready. As today has proved, Gus is just playing mind games with his players. He's played a blinder IMO taking the pressure completely off them.

Gus is only saying we might now be good enough to go up, not really changing his stance that we're still highly likely to take a beating most weeks if we do go up. His ego won't like it (self stated fact) and he knows what a massive upheaval of a job it will be to <say> bring in and gel another 6 players to keep us in it.

Everything we know about GP says he likes a metronomic tick-tock style approach, not a crazy, manic-panic summer of buying of players to keep us up and his mind intact.

To your other point, clearly we've out performed our own expectations, both initial squad wise and with each set of additions; TB could (quite rightly) be saying what the hell, lets cut loose and see what happens and trust me to deal with it from there.

Somewhere in between TB's vision and GP's concern, an amazing future is ahead.

 

[Mr Burns]

Gus is only saying we might now be good enough to go up, not really changing his stance that we're still highly likely to take a beating most weeks if we do go up. His ego won't like it (self stated fact) and he knows what a massive upheaval of a job it will be to <say> bring in and gel another 6 players to keep us in it.

Everything we know about GP says he likes a metronomic tick-tock style approach, not a crazy, manic-panic summer of buying of players to keep us up and his mind intact.

To your other point, clearly we've out performed our own expectations, both initial squad wise and with each set of additions; TB could (quite rightly) be saying what the hell, lets cut loose and see what happens and trust me to deal with it from there.

Somewhere in between TB's vision and GP's concern, an amazing future is ahead.

I agree. it is a great time to be an Albion supporter.
Personaaly on the evidence of the past few weeks, I think we will march into the play offs. When you consider the players who cannot even get on the bench, its scary. So long as we do not have another injury crisis, and the spine of the team stays fit, I can't see anyone other than Reading, West Ham, and Southampton finishing above us.

And I dont think we will take a beating each week. The team as it stands right now, would probably be knocking around the bottom 6, but bearing in mind we'll have a mini clear out and a wave of fresh talant, I can see us holding our own in the first season.

The result at Liverpool was a freak, and as I said earlier, if they (we) didnt score for them righton half time, it could have been a completely different outcome, as we were not completely out of our depth in teh first half, nor were we against all the premiership sides we've had at the Amex

 

[Albion Dan]

If we can get there then fantastic bring it on.
What concerns me is if we make it to wembley & fail.The last time we reached the equivalent of the championship playoff final we were relegated the following season.that worries me.
We run the risk of losing gus.losing players to epl teams & over expectations from fans for following season that cannot be reached.

You need to MAN UP!

 

[Mr Burns]

If we can get there then fantastic bring it on.
What concerns me is if we make it to wembley & fail.The last time we reached the equivalent of the championship playoff final we were relegated the following season.that worries me.
We run the risk of losing gus.losing players to epl teams & over expectations from fans for following season that cannot be reached.

You really do need to man up!

 

[B.W.]

No-one has said we will.

Gus always speaks sense on football matters, and today is no different. Good to read.

No he doesn't...

 

[Mellotron]

No he doesn't...

Example?

 

[B.W.]

It's interesting that those two are used as a direct comparison to what we could - or should - be achieving, not just by yourself, but by others too.

Norwich are well-established club, who had no business being in the Third Division, with 26,000 (or thereabouts) STHs. Swansea's story is not dis-similar to ours (i.e. shit stadium to new stadium, even if the circumstances were a bit different), but seven years ahead of us. Both clubs were ready, and both play good football. QPR - Jeez...

We, on the other hand, have gone from a standing start half a season ago, we haven't even finished our stadium, nor do we have our own training facilities.

Incidentally, the point raised by someone else about us 'yo-yoing' will do us no favours if history is anything to go by.

And another thing, the Ipswich game made me believe that we're not ready. Why? We were cut open at the back by a mediocre-poor side who couldn't finish for toffee. Keeper beaten twice with two goal line clearances, poor finishing generally from them. That sort of stuff doesn't happen in the Premiership anything like as often, and you get punished more often for that.

Don't get me wrong - I'd love us to be in the Premiership, but only when we're ready. Going up doesn't mean you are ready, necessarily, and I don't think we are. Yet.

CONFIDENT PREDICTION: If we don't go up this season, with the progress Gus is making, I think we'll have a storming season next season.

You don't KNOW we will have a good season, next season, do you?
We have beaten 2 Prem sides this season...
Liverpool away was an anomaly, and Gus said completely the wrong thing after that 3-own-goal nightmare... he has now corrected that mistake...
We outplayed Ipswich, who had won 4 on the trot before they played us, and were NOT a bad side at all...

You have to grab the chance when it is in front of you, which is EXACTLY what we are trying to do BTW...

Other than that, I couldn't agree more with you!

 

[B.W.]

Why's anyone assuming it'll be this team that starts next season? We'd buy plenty of quality players.

Spot on Mellotron...

 

[B.W.]

If we spunk a load of money on players and dont stay up, we will cripple the club, much like Pompey, Southampton, leeds etc have done.

QPR are on their way to doing it. We cant compete for transfers and wages in this division, it would only be worse if we went up

Of course we will invest, the sensible thing if we go up, is not spunk a load of money and stabilise the finances and pay back some of Bloom money. Will it happen, probably not, look at the Arsenal/Everton (any team) fans moaning they didnt invest.

Yes, but it is a matter of degree... it is NOT spend zero versus spend money you haven't got... its spend what is reasonable a la Swansea and Norwich...

 

[B.W.]

Just one more thing on the "not going up is good argument" debate.

So let's say we don't want to go up and will really give it a go next season.

Wouldn't the likes of Wolves, Wigan, QPR, Leeds, Leicester, Cardiff, Blackpool, Hull, Reading, Derby, Ipswich, Forest, Sheff Wed, Sheff Utd, Charlton all be saying similar same?

It won't be any easier next year, or the year after, or the year after ...........................................

Go for it!!!!

100% agreed...

 

[B.W.]

spot on!
being fair, i wouldnt even mind getting to the final for a cracking day out even if we lost.....as long as its not losing to saints! so lets beat them in the play off semis then have a good day at the final!

Ridiculous!

 

[B.W.]

Of course we may not be ready. However there is a real feeling on here that we can 'choose' when we get promoted. This is ridiculous in the extreme...

Hooray!

 

[B.W.]

Is it? You think we'll be WORSE next season?

There's no guarantee we'll be better, or that our competitors won't be even stronger...

 

[The Large One]

There's no guarantee we'll be better, or that our competitors won't be even stronger...

Did you get here late and are replying to every post?

Of course there's no guarantee we'll be better, but there's no guarantee we'll be worse either, though most if not all the components are in place to only ever improve.

 

[B.W.]

No Simster - cheering on opponents is not what is being suggested at all. Someone like you who is usually incisive and articulate - you do yourself a disservice. I may be wrong - but your comment about there being only around 12 sides that we cant compete with is what worries me. That leaves what - 9-10 sides we could. 18 games that you think we would compete with? That is my issue - at the moment we would only really compete with around 30% of the teams in there and that is why it could be disastrous.

I'm not fearful of relegation - that would be likely - and not the reason I am sceptical as to whether we would make the best fist of it should we go up - and it's a huge if still.

I'm fearful of the non-financial and financial implications it could have on the club - puts huge pressure on a young, untested infrastrucure and also a fan base that is only just being attracted back to games seeing on the whole, defeats and potentially morale-sapping ones on several occasions.

I want us to go up and compete as much as anyone - just not at the expense of the incredible journey we have made in the last 20 years or so.

You really need to be more positive... and have more faith in our Chairman, manager, coaching and playing staff... cheer up!

 

[B.W.]

But [MENTION=2159]Digweeds Trousers[/MENTION], your concerns for the future of the club is all conjecture. There is nothing to say we'd spend wildly in order to stay up. The infrastructure is in place to host Premiership football at the Amex. It's not just that the place will hold 30,750 - it also has ample corporate and media facilities that mean we can afford to pay appropriate salaries. This is in stark contrast to, say, Pompey who not only were paying players good enough for Champions League teams, but didn't have the stadium to generate the income to pay more modest Premiership players.

Two years ago, Blackpool were playing in front of 8,000 at a stadium that held 11,000. They got promoted, built a temporary stand to accommodate extra demand, and very nearly stayed up. But although they went down, they are right in the thick of the promotion race again by off-loading players for good money and recruiting well. And gates are around the 12,000 mark now, 50% more than they were pre-Premiership. So I'd definitely take promotion any time it looked possible. Even one season watching the Albion playing the nation's best teams before returning to this division would be a success. But I don't think it would necessarily come to that. I think we could easily be like Swansea or Norwich.

Nicely put