Back From The Game - Barnsley

[Agent Balti]

I'm going to LOL at evryone on this board when we win the play-offs.

Nurse! Seriously, Winchester - what on earth makes you think we could win the play-offs, apart from the mere fact that somehow mathematically we could still be 'in it to win it'.

7th place please, and save every one of us the heartache.

This just silly. Why - if you support a football team - would you want them to finish lower in the league, and miss out on a chance of promotion. Seriously, are the other contenders really so great?

Because the club is in a mess, going up at this stage would make us look exceedingly better than we actually are. Yes, I fully understand your logic, but as I've said before - going up this season would seem exceedingly fraudulent.

The other contenders are probably not so great, but their form (and general play) is much better than ours. How this miracle could occur where we will wipe the floor with 2 teams to win the play-offs seems pie in the sky and is beyond me. We can't even beat Barnsley, yet somehow we're Premiership bound. Boggle.

[Royal Lady]

It could be out of our hands before the Brum home game if we're currently sixth, in any case.

If by some fluke, we did manage to go up, unless we spend serious amounts of cash and learn our lessons from last season, then there is really no point whatsoever. Would anyone here REALLY be content with watching us getting beaten out of sight week in, week out - with some of the same lacklustre players playing for us? They would, of course, all demand more money for their wages too.

[Elm Park Old Boy]

7th place please, and save every one of us the heartache.

This just silly. Why - if you support a football team - would you want them to finish lower in the league, and miss out on a chance of promotion. Seriously, are the other contenders really so great?

Because the club is in a mess, going up at this stage would make us look exceedingly better than we actually are. Yes, I fully understand your logic, but as I've said before - going up this season would seem exceedingly fraudulent.

The other contenders are probably not so great, but their form (and general play) is much better than ours. How this miracle could occur where we will wipe the floor with 2 teams to win the play-offs seems pie in the sky and is beyond me. We can't even beat Barnsley, yet somehow we're Premiership bound. Boggle.

But there's no rule that says you have to 'wipe the floor with' the other teams. Just come out best in a two-legged tie with one of them, and then prevail at Wembley (by winning or fluking a penalty shoot-out). I agree the odds are against us, but I just don't see how we can be written off. There is no team in the frame that is nailed on, and far superior to the rest.

And whatever the pessimism about how we'd get on if we went up, there was plenty of that even when we went up in 06. Again, I can't understand any supporter who would rather avoid promotion in case we didn't do well enough next season. Do the best we can now, worry about next season later!

[Stranded]

It could be out of our hands before the Brum home game if we're currently sixth, in any case.

If by some fluke, we did manage to go up, unless we spend serious amounts of cash and learn our lessons from last season, then there is really no point whatsoever. Would anyone here REALLY be content with watching us getting beaten out of sight week in, week out - with some of the same lacklustre players playing for us? They would, of course, all demand more money for their wages too.

We'll be in the play-offs before we kick off against Norwich on Monday regardless of the result tonight.

Brum need a home win to ensure promotion - they face Preston.
Sheff Utd need a home win to have any chance of catching Brum - they face Swansea.

I don't buy that we really will get stuffed every week next year if we went up. West Brom are rock bottom and were apparently the best team in this division, Stoke were relatively poor but played to their strengths and are safe now. Hull only got in to the play-offs thanks to a late run and can still stay up.

If we go in with the same squad that it's possible but I simply don't see us going in with the same squad.

[papereyes]

West Brom are rock bottom and were apparently the best team in this division,

The right pair of signings, plus keeping Phillips, and I think West Brom could easily have stayed up.

It wouldn't be impossible and we'd almost certainly win some games that would stick in the memory for some time.

HOWEVER

If we approach it in the manner we have done the last two seasons, I would rather not. Sorry.

[Royal Rother]

Because the club is in a mess....

The team might be in a bit of a mess at the moment but the club most certainly is not.

[Tredder]

Coppell leaves, players abandon ship should you not make the prem, a chairman that wants out, not a mess in QPR terms but still a club is on the verge of a complete overhaul.

[Royal Rother]

West Brom are rock bottom and were apparently the best team in this division,

The right pair of signings, plus keeping Phillips, and I think West Brom could easily have stayed up.

As could every team ever to have been relegated from any league on the entire planet I should imagine.

[papereyes]

West Brom are rock bottom and were apparently the best team in this division,

The right pair of signings, plus keeping Phillips, and I think West Brom could easily have stayed up.

As could every team ever to have been relegated from any league on the entire planet I should imagine.

Well, no, as some teams require a lot more of an overhaul.

[Stranded]

West Brom are rock bottom and were apparently the best team in this division,

The right pair of signings, plus keeping Phillips, and I think West Brom could easily have stayed up.

It wouldn't be impossible and we'd almost certainly win some games that would stick in the memory for some time.

HOWEVER

If we approach it in the manner we have done the last two seasons, I would rather not. Sorry.

I agree, but given how we would have gone up this year if it happens, I just don't think we would.

[papereyes]

West Brom are rock bottom and were apparently the best team in this division,

The right pair of signings, plus keeping Phillips, and I think West Brom could easily have stayed up.

It wouldn't be impossible and we'd almost certainly win some games that would stick in the memory for some time.

HOWEVER

If we approach it in the manner we have done the last two seasons, I would rather not. Sorry.

I agree, but given how we would have gone up this year if it happens, I just don't think we would.

I'm more torn than I thought I would be as I think we'd be in the position where we'd have hope of staying up until the very end.
But I'm very much a man who looks at how you go about things as much as the final result and ... yeah ...

[RobRoyal]

Nurse! Seriously, Winchester - what on earth makes you think we could win the play-offs, apart from the mere fact that somehow mathematically we could still be 'in it to win it'.

7th place please, and save every one of us the heartache.

This just silly. Why - if you support a football team - would you want them to finish lower in the league, and miss out on a chance of promotion. Seriously, are the other contenders really so great?

Because the club is in a mess, going up at this stage would make us look exceedingly better than we actually are. Yes, I fully understand your logic, but as I've said before - going up this season would seem exceedingly fraudulent.

The other contenders are probably not so great, but their form (and general play) is much better than ours. How this miracle could occur where we will wipe the floor with 2 teams to win the play-offs seems pie in the sky and is beyond me. We can't even beat Barnsley, yet somehow we're Premiership bound. Boggle.

Lordy. What do you think Hull fans would have said with this mentality last year? They got beaten 3-0 by bloody QPR at the back end of the season, but they've had a decent tilt at life in the big league. They might even get another season, with a bit of luck.

So who should go up? The Sheff Utd or Birmingham sides that we humbled on their own ground? The Cardiff team that lost 6-0 away to Preston?

Very average teams get into the Premiership, and they will this year too (whether we're one of them or not). The funny thing is, often they do ok (Stoke?). It's the time between May and August that decide what your Premiership season will be like, not your performance against Barnsley the previous year.

Our ability (or not) to get it right between May and August is another matter completely...

[The Quiet Man]

I thing the disillusionment is because regular watchers of the side realise that we haven't been a "team" this season (or probably the last 3 months of last season), instead of the collective effort we are an assembly of individuals with each individual out for themselves, particularly Doyle and Shunt. At the start of this season Coppell said at a fans forum that 7 or 8 first team players wanted out and I don't really think that that has changed as the season has gone on. Alongside that our recent transfer policy (which I hold Hammond as responsible as Coppell for) has seen us accumulate a lot of 50% players, Rosenior, Mateovsky, Bikey, Kebe whcih has had a disastrous effect on our consistency as they are all capable of a good game now and again but rarely all together and rarely at the same time. As a result we are playing a lot of what I would call lowest common denominator football where everyone puts in the minimum and there are occasional individual and team performances that stand out but the collective consistency has, with the exeception of a six week pre transfer window period, rarely been present. We now bear a close resemblance to the side that Paul Jewell had at Derby at the start of the season, on paper a reasonalbly good one but never with the collective integration or belief to get the consistency to win more that the odd game.

As a result I would expect that next season we will see a cull of the individuals and coaching staff and manager and an attempt to rebuild a team. Given RFC''s history and finances (parachute ending etc) it would be reasonable to expect that it will take a couple of managers, several years, and a major flirtation with/or relegation before a new team emerges that matches previous.

Blame is easy in such circumstances but I would prefer to view as what happens naturally to successful RFC sides under SJM, they take 4 or 5 years to bring to fruit, last a couple of years, decline dramatically and the process starts over again. The worry for us would be the expectation hangover will mean that this timescale will affect attendances and that financially with the removal of the parachute payments it could cripple the club with debt permanently.

[Dirk Gently]

I thing the disillusionment is because regular watchers of the side realise that we haven't been a "team" this season (or probably the last 3 months of last season), instead of the collective effort we are an assembly of individuals with each individual out for themselves, particularly Doyle and Shunt. At the start of this season Coppell said at a fans forum that 7 or 8 first team players wanted out and I don't really think that that has changed as the season has gone on. Alongside that our recent transfer policy (which I hold Hammond as responsible as Coppell for) has seen us accumulate a lot of 50% players, Rosenior, Mateovsky, Bikey, Kebe whcih has had a disastrous effect on our consistency as they are all capable of a good game now and again but rarely all together and rarely at the same time. As a result we are playing a lot of what I would call lowest common denominator football where everyone puts in the minimum and there are occasional individual and team performances that stand out but the collective consistency has, with the exeception of a six week pre transfer window period, rarely been present. We now bear a close resemblance to the side that Paul Jewell had at Derby at the start of the season, on paper a reasonalbly good one but never with the collective integration or belief to get the consistency to win more that the odd game.

As a result I would expect that next season we will see a cull of the individuals and coaching staff and manager and an attempt to rebuild a team. Given RFC''s history and finances (parachute ending etc) it would be reasonable to expect that it will take a couple of managers, several years, and a major flirtation with/or relegation before a new team emerges that matches previous.

Blame is easy in such circumstances but I would prefer to view as what happens naturally to successful RFC sides under SJM, they take 4 or 5 years to bring to fruit, last a couple of years, decline dramatically and the process starts over again. The worry for us would be the expectation hangover will mean that this timescale will affect attendances and that financially with the removal of the parachute payments it could cripple the club with debt permanently.

Agreed on just about all of that.

Remember when we went up so spectacularly? It was said so many times that we were "a team without stars", and that the crucial ingredient was teamwork and that everyone played for each other?

Spot the difference now we are a team with a couple of highly-paid "stars."

[Hoop Blah]

If we go in with the same squad that it's possible but I simply don't see us going in with the same squad.

Even if we did they'd probably have a much bigger appetite for the game and perform a lot better than they have recently.

[brendywendy]

Would anyone here REALLY be content with watching us getting beaten out of sight week in, week out - with some of the same lacklustre players playing for us?

it has been that way for much of my previous reading supporting time,and i still had a reet good laugh, so it would be churlish to say no now

wouldnt it?

[winchester_royal]

I'm going to LOL at evryone on this board when we win the play-offs.

Nurse! Seriously, Winchester - what on earth makes you think we could win the play-offs, apart from the mere fact that somehow mathematically we could still be 'in it to win it'.

7th place please, and save every one of us the heartache.

The only reason I believe we are going to win the play-offs is because just about every team is as poor as us. The standard of this division is truly appalling, and I would fancy us against any of the poosible 4 we may come across.

[juanpablo]

I'm going to LOL at evryone on this board when we win the play-offs.

Nurse! Seriously, Winchester - what on earth makes you think we could win the play-offs, apart from the mere fact that somehow mathematically we could still be 'in it to win it'.

7th place please, and save every one of us the heartache.

The only reason I believe we are going to win the play-offs is because just about every team is as poor as us. The standard of this division is truly appalling, and I would fancy us against any of the poosible 4 we may come across.

deffo Sheff U looked utter shite depite the loss and they were the "inform" team of the division