If you could go back in time and change 1 result...

[Forbury Lion]

I bumped into my future self a few weeks ago, he was here to tweak things and make sure Paul Ince got the job to ensure we're on track to win the Champions League in 5 years time.

Future me didn't give present me the winning lottery numbers or anything so I can only assume that's because I'm going to get rich anyway, unless I was supposed to bet on Ince getting the job?

[Mr Angry]

Actually, I'll change changing the PO Final with Bolton, to winning at Blackburn and then we would have got into Europe. That would have probably meant Sidwell staying, and the camp not falling to pieces the next season over wages/bonuses and whatever else it was.

Interesting one.

It would have been a superb experience for supporters, but it might have just meant the squad fell apart quicker and relegation was decided earlier in the season as a threadbare squad stuggled with all the extra demands and travelling. They would have needed extra investment and I'm not sure they would have got it. Plus Catalyst, who made such a positive difference in the previous two seasons, had moved on by then.

Everyone saying "it would have been good to qualify for Europe" is missing a rather big point though; we DID qualify for a European competition on the back of our final placing in our 1st season in the PL - the Intertoto Cup.

SSC turned down the opportunity to play in that tournament for exactly the reasons outlined by Dirk above, and our place was taken - ironically - by Blackburn.

[Loafer]

Arsenal

[SCIAG]

Either of the 2-0 home defeats to Bolton or Fulham in 2007/08. A draw in either would have kept us up.

This. Another year in the top flight, likely considerable recruitment, probably our best chance to actually consolidate ourselves up there for an extended spell.

Bolton po final was too soon.

I’m completely over the Rougier final, in the long run it didn’t matter much.

Swansea would probably have made no difference. If anything we would have been worse without the Zingarevich “money”.

Don’t care about the FA Cup.

Huddersfield is the only other contender for me, that was a great opportunity. Maybe qualifying for the playoffs under Adkins, but we’d probably have lost.

It’s not even getting a draw against Bolton and Fulham that stopped us in the end. In both matches with Fulham we conceded a late goal which extended Fulham’s lead. If we’d still lost those games but not conceded those goals, we would have stayed up. Galling.

On the Huddersfield play-off final that people have mentioned, I don’t subscribe to the opinion that it wouldn’t have made much difference. We’d have had exceptionally wealthy owners with more relaxed FFP regulation, and perhaps more importantly, we would have had a Director of Football in place to oversee things a lot better than what is happening now.

Yep - more financial freedom, parachute payments if we got relegated, and probably no Aluko.

Given what we know about our forward line’s injuries the next season, we would have needed quite a lot of reinforcement, but it is hard to imagine us being significantly worse off than we are now.

[URZZZZ]

This. Another year in the top flight, likely considerable recruitment, probably our best chance to actually consolidate ourselves up there for an extended spell.

Bolton po final was too soon.

I’m completely over the Rougier final, in the long run it didn’t matter much.

Swansea would probably have made no difference. If anything we would have been worse without the Zingarevich “money”.

Don’t care about the FA Cup.

Huddersfield is the only other contender for me, that was a great opportunity. Maybe qualifying for the playoffs under Adkins, but we’d probably have lost.

It’s not even getting a draw against Bolton and Fulham that stopped us in the end. In both matches with Fulham we conceded a late goal which extended Fulham’s lead. If we’d still lost those games but not conceded those goals, we would have stayed up. Galling.

On the Huddersfield play-off final that people have mentioned, I don’t subscribe to the opinion that it wouldn’t have made much difference. We’d have had exceptionally wealthy owners with more relaxed FFP regulation, and perhaps more importantly, we would have had a Director of Football in place to oversee things a lot better than what is happening now.

Yep - more financial freedom, parachute payments if we got relegated, and probably no Aluko.

Given what we know about our forward line’s injuries the next season, we would have needed quite a lot of reinforcement, but it is hard to imagine us being significantly worse off than we are now.

But then there’s always the argument that if we went up, we’d only have spent equally as bad, just we’d have spent more and on even higher wages given the track record that summed

Get the PP argument but still don’t think it would have made much of a difference in the long term

[The Green Programme]

And we finished 2nd and would’ve gone up in any other year….

Only because we put out a full team for the final match - the other teams, who were already assured of a play-off place, rested players and eased off a bit to avoid injury.

Everyone understood the rules that season - if 2nd place had been an automatic promotion place the other teams would have gone all out to get it, and almost certainly we wouldn't have had a prayer of it.

Fair point