[Albion] Backs to the wall in Premier League or Brazil 1970 in The Championship?

[SimpKingpin]

Why not both?

At the end of last year we were interchangeable.
We played more pragmatic towards the end when we needed to, but will keep pushing the philosophy of possession football until it clicks, or we get that bit of the luck we seem to be so devoid of.

Why would you want season after season of boring football? Just to stay up? It's miserable.

That's why Leeds get all the plaudits. Win big, lose big, but always a threat and entertaining. Drag in enough points.
Attractive football is about entertainment and marketing. Growing the global fanbase.
Leeds are "everyone's favourite second club" (apparently) and they are likely on the radar of millions of young fans looking for a club to support.
(yes I hate their fans, just to be clear)\

Staying up for the sake of staying up will get very boring very quickly.

 

[BeHereNow]

This in bucket loads.

Yes, because we only beat Arsenal once a season.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Yes, because we only beat Arsenal once a season.

No, because I agree with him and know exactly where he's coming from.

 

[Icy Gull]

String together 5 exhilarating wins (unlikely I know), and I absolutely guarantee a sea change in attitude to where we play our football from most of those who are currently going a bit French and waving a white flag.

I’d even go so far as to say FACT

Now we just need to do it to prove my point

 

[banjo]

If we go from playing walking football and pick up
Our pace, I think we’ll be good to watch.

 

[disgruntled h blocker]

What makes so many people think we'd play really well in the Championship? The physicality of the league will most probably hamper our style of play

 

[Arthur]

Well, I think it is strange, you want us to be competitive...in a lower league. That is small time mentality, that’s like being a middleweight and wanting to fight a featherweight. We’ve moved on from that level, our level now is trying to get a foothold in the PL, that’s going to take time, you have to be patient, the club realise that.

I think its being realistic, we may have moved on from being small time as you say but maybe just maybe that is part of the problem. You say you want us to compete at the highest level and so do I but we aren't, we're an also ran making up the numbers and given the money sloshing about in the game that is what we will probably only ever be.

Barnsley may be a great day out, but I bet it would still be a great day out in the PL, you say as if it wouldn’t be though.

YES! You don't get it do you. Football to me and I'm sure many others is about an awful lot more than 90 minutes and 22 men kicking a bit of leather about. Best away day by a country mile last season was Sheffield United it could have been in the vauxhall conference for all I care.

I said empty seats AROUND the away end, and yes, when I see empty seats I think it looks a bit shit compared to having fans in them.

****ing hell, must be driving you bonkers at the moment then.

Well, beating Arsenal or teams like Arsenal hasn’t happened just once a season, if it had you may have a point.

Since being in the PL:
Beaten Manchester United 2 times
Beaten Arsenal 3 times and drawn 2 times
Beaten Tottenham Hotspur once and drawn once
Drawn with the champions Liverpool
Drawn with Chelsea
Beaten Everton twice and drawn once
and quite a few other games against the big teams where we came very close to getting results. If someone told me we would do that in nearly 3 and a half season when we were in The Championship, I would’ve thought they were mad! So, yes, we’ve exceeded our expectations in terms of big results. I 100% believed we would be in a relegation battle for at least 5 season once we got promoted.

So by your own admission we haven't exceeded expectation we've only matched them and we've got one more season of it to come?

You say ‘**** that’ for staying in the best league in the world. **** winning away at Bristol City in The Championship and pretending it means as much as winning away in the PL. Presumably you’d be happy to see us in The Conference because we’ll be the big boys smashing teams week in, week out, I’d just feel sorry for the opponents tbh.

Absolutely, I've seen us play in all four divisions and the best days out were by far the ones in the lower leagues.

We’ve been brilliantly competitive against the top teams in probably about 80% of the games, that, to me, is the best we could’ve hoped for. I really don’t know what you expected. We’ve even got to the semi final of the FA Cup, that wouldn’t have happened if we were in The Championship and I expect us to do a lot better in the cups whilst in the PL.

I haven't expected us to do anything, we can't compete at this level. The best we can ever hope for is a cup run and a relegation battle. If that excites you then good luck to you.

I understand that football is different to when you started going, but I think that is football in general, sure the PL does have a few more evils, but I don’t think VAR will last, not in the way it currently is anyway. Don’t let the losing get you down, we’ve been so close to getting better results this season and with a bit more luck we’d be on at least 6 more points.

Losing doesn't get me down, christ if it did I would have never followed this club. Its the PL that gets me down and what the game has become. To an extent I agree it is football in general. I said even before we got promoted the premier league would be nice to do for a season and I stick by that.

At the end of the day, it’s about how you look at it, we’re at the start of our PL journey, it’s going to take a lot of time and building to progress, but I’m ready to wait. I’m quite content with us winning 10-12 games a season (as long as we stay up) and don’t need 30+ wins to make me enjoy it.

Agreed and I get where you are coming from I really do, just don't agree with you that is all.

Merry Christmas

 

[Guinness Boy]

Absolutely, I've seen us play in all four divisions and the best days out were by far the ones in the lower leagues.

Cheltenham, Darlington, Kidderminster for three plus finally winning at Orient all stand out more in my memory than the time we out sung (but got outplayed by) Arsenal.

 

[BeHereNow]

I think its being realistic, we may have moved on from being small time as you say but maybe just maybe that is part of the problem. You say you want us to compete at the highest level and so do I but we aren't, we're an also ran making up the numbers and given the money sloshing about in the game that is what we will probably only ever be.



YES! You don't get it do you. Football to me and I'm sure many others is about an awful lot more than 90 minutes and 22 men kicking a bit of leather about. Best away day by a country mile last season was Sheffield United it could have been in the vauxhall conference for all I care.



****ing hell, must be driving you bonkers at the moment then.



So by your own admission we haven't exceeded expectation we've only matched them and we've got one more season of it to come?



Absolutely, I've seen us play in all four divisions and the best days out were by far the ones in the lower leagues.



I haven't expected us to do anything, we can't compete at this level. The best we can ever hope for is a cup run and a relegation battle. If that excites you then good luck to you.



Losing doesn't get me down, christ if it did I would have never followed this club. Its the PL that gets me down and what the game has become. To an extent I agree it is football in general. I said even before we got promoted the premier league would be nice to do for a season and I stick by that.



Agreed and I get where you are coming from I really do, just don't agree with you that is all.

Merry Christmas

Yes, we are also rans atm, which is what I fully expected. I’m totally ok with that, as I’d rather be winning 10-12 in the PL than 30 in The Championship. To go back to that league now, after the excitement we’ve had in the PL would be terrible. It is also assumed that we would walk the league, when we could easily do a Stoke. I think we will become more competitive over time, that’s how projects are built properly with solid foundations. I actually happen to find relegation battles very exciting, almost like every game is a cup final and you could argue that’s more exciting that finishing in mid table.

You don’t know that away games would automatically be better in the lower leagues, just because it was better then, doesn’t mean it would be now. I remember having great away days in the League 1 days, but that was probably mainly due to A) The people I went with B) I was a lot younger C) I could drink a lot more and not worry about forgetting the game and D) (possibly most importantly) How good our support was. I’m not sure how much of that would change if we went down. I’ve had some great away days in the PL and I wouldn’t trade them for a lot of the Championship ones.

Matched our expectations in terms of league positions, but exceeded them in terms of big results, so in that respect, it’s more than I could’ve hoped for really. I’m living the dream really, that’s not to say I didn’t love getting promoted, but all that was to get where we are now, relegation would be such a massive backwards step imo. I bet most teams that have come up over the last decade or two didn’t get any many big results as we have. You could say we’ve been spoilt!

I know where you are coming from, I miss the necessity of winning that a promotion chase brings, but that’s started to come back with this current relegation battle.

Merry Christmas, I hope you start to enjoy as much as before soon.

 

[Weststander]

Premier League all day long.
Aston Villa showing how a teams fortunes can change quickly from one season to another.
Championship is too many games midweek so i would miss the majority.
Less is more game wise....
Those wanting the Championship would need us to lose to ensure we do not get promoted again so the point of that is......

Aston Villa spent £144m, then another £81m in fees alone, in just 15 months. Not from genuine income, from the billionaire owners. They pay wages up to £120k a week, including £100k a week to loanee Barkley.

Classic EPL, they’ve bought that improvement.

We operate in a mini bottom 6 finances league.

 

[nwgull]

Cheltenham, Darlington, Kidderminster for three plus finally winning at Orient all stand out more in my memory than the time we out sung (but got outplayed by) Arsenal.

That Orient game was brilliant. 2nd game of first season at Withdean and it felt like we were on our way back.

I think we’d be back within 2 seasons if we went down. Yes, we’d lose our best players, but for big fees on top of the parachute millions. We’ve already got a squad full of young players that have excelled at Championship levels so we’d certainly be strong when that money is used to recruit.