Is promotion good?

[rhroyal]

Obviously yes, but there will be a few issues if we go up. Not just this season, but in general.

One of my highlights from the last 2 seasons has been watching youngsters come through and break into the team. What sort of chance will the likes of Taylor, Obita and D'Ath get if we're a Premiership side?

I also enjoy going into every game knowing that we have a good chance of a result. Even under Rodgers, you knew that the Championship was a tight league where only a few things needed to break your way for a result. In the Premiership, it's fair to say the top 6 are far ahead of the rest and we can't realistically expect to get results against them. This didn't matter last time we went up; it was our first time and these teams still had an awe about them for us. Right now, they don't really offer that to me any more.

In the Premiership, everybody knows how crap you are. People you barely know can tell you why you're going down. A bad result it reported on all week.

There's also the ticket prices.

These issues are all timeless to me. I'm not saying "Maybe next year". I'm saying "Perhaps wait until the disastrous 2nd half to the 07/08 season is but a distant memory and I've forgotten what a horrible thing supporting a Premiership team can be." I had a sense of dread week on week during that period. This time there won't be the excitement of 06/07, it would only take 1 or 2 bad results to remind us how tough it is. I'm not even suggesting a Derby style season.

From a selfish point of view, another year or 2 would be good. I end my years in exile soon and will be moving down to London in time for next season. I'd love the chance to build up my loyalty points and get back to the front of the queue again, whilst hopefully I could get a couple of pay rises between moving down south and promotion to help me cope with the prices. Utterly selfish there though.

Obviously being an establish Premiership team, challenging for top half and Europe semi regularly, would be great. I'm just not sure I can be bothered with the journey to get there. I'll be delighted and celebrate in style if we go up, but I imagine reality will hit in August.

[ZacNaloen]

Anymore Sigurdssons comes through and the academy won't have a problem.

And will in fact mean that we can attract better young players, as the reputation will be of even higher stock.

Money wise we don't have the debts of the last time we got promoted, this is because of the money we got from the previous promotion so we would have more money to spend on (wages) players.


Money wise, regardless of how well we do in the premier league, we then have 4 years of parachute money. We just need to be careful about our debts, and the terms of the contracts on relegation.

It's all positive, except that we would probably have relegation in our near future.

[Snowball]

Ticket Prices. Buy a season ticket now. Done.

We would have a very decent chance of avoiding the bottom 3 in the Prem
but even if we didn't, four years of the parachute.

Also a second visit there makes it much more likely we could manage a third.

[shaka's shorts]

I share the original poster's concerns - but on balance would be very happy with promotion now. I fear, if we don't tale this chance then we will lose Long and maybe Feds, or Mills, or Kebe....? and our chance may have gone.

Go up, do a West Brom i.e. don't over spend and if we come down again, spend the parachute money sensibly and if we manage to stay up, then replace any decent players (Sidwell) that leave....

[Maguire]

Is promotion good?

Err yes, it's generally recognised as being a positive. Some might even suggest it's the ultimate goal of the season.

Next question.

[PieEater]

I tend to agree with rhroyal, the entertainment value in the championship is better. Every game we can be competitive, in the prem we won't be.

More money is nice but that will soon go on inflated wages, ticket prices will rocket and they will be harder to get.

Even in the prem our better players would leave for more money.

I don't want a stadium expansion

[Norfolk Royal]

Steve D'Ath is hardly a spring chicken anyway so not particularly bothered about that.

[Hoop Blah]

Money wise we don't have the debts of the last time we got promoted, this is because of the money we got from the previous promotion so we would have more money to spend on (wages) players.

Not sure that's true. We cleared the overdraft on relegation yes, but that's a small part of the debt.

Money wise, regardless of how well we do in the premier league, we then have 4 years of parachute money. We just need to be careful about our debts, and the terms of the contracts on relegation.

It's all positive, except that we would probably have relegation in our near future.

The extra income will be a massive boost, although if we're going to try and compete we'll be spending the majority of it. Getting the parachute payments for the new longer period on relegation will be very good for the health of the balance sheet though.

Financially promotion will be all positive.

As a fan who's not that keen on a lot of what the Premier League represents I wouldn't mind too much if we didn't go up, but I still want us to be the best we can. Competing against the best we can though is where we should be striving to be.

It's definitely positive, but will come with a few downsides.

[brendywendy]

i doubt very much that madejski will kick out all the kids coming through to replace them with premiere league failures from other clubs anyway, so it dont matter.

of course its a good thing.

[ZacNaloen]

Not sure that's true. We cleared the overdraft on relegation yes, but that's a small part of the debt.

Other than what we've built up over the last year or so the only debt that was left unpaid was that to Madejski, which is effectively nothing as he clearly doesn't expect it back except as part of the sale cost of the club.

[Hoop Blah]

Not disagreeing with that Zac, but our other debts before going up were not that significant from what I remember. The overdraft and some low level debts that got paid off weren't causing us financial issues.

From what I've heard the relegation and the finances as a result of that were more of a concern (partly due to the issues getting credit within the industry) and meant we had to pay off that overdraft.

Point is, in reality I don't think we're in much of a different position than in 2006.

[ZacNaloen]

Perhaps, I was under the impression we had a fair bit of liability with the bank, could be wrong

[brendywendy]

squad s wages will be lower, and JM wont allow the same decsions to be made on wages- much more likley to see the blackpool model, where its all in bonuses etc.
we are also higher profile so players who maybe wouldnt have thought us a good bet last time may well think otherwise now.
the debts are all lower, regardless of how much, we already have a media centre, we already have a training ground, we already have a nice new pitch, so none of that will be draining our resources.
id say its all very different to last time

[ZacNaloen]

Thats a good point, we don't need to invest as much in infrastructure immediately.

Stadium expansion will probably stay on hold at first.

[wolsey]

Is promotion good?

Err yes, it's generally recognised as being a positive. Some might even suggest it's the ultimate goal of the season.

Next question.

I sgree with the OP.

Promotion to the Premier League is an unfortunate consequence of having a good season in the Championship

[Duke the Dog]

Prices tend to go up if you get promotion (Premiership or otherwise). It's by how much that's the issue.

Youngsters coming through will get better. As a premiership team we will attract higher quality youngsters. Again this is true the higher in the league you are (and stay of course!). The youth tram/academy (whatever you want to call it) will always be playing catch up to a certain extent, especially if you start from a low base (as we have done).

I get the point about being competitive though. Although having seen 2 seasons of PL footie now with Reading I'm less afraid. There are at least 10-12 teams that we can compete with. The rest we can haul in given time (and more Sigurdsson's).

Whether watching grossly overpaid primadonnas on a weekly basis is entertainment is another matter, but at least we don't support Chelsea or Arsenal!

[strap]

Do not fret. Should we get promoted this year, (and miracles do happen), Mr Mad will only have eyes for the 4 years of parachute payments we will receive for seasons 2012-13 to 2015-16. So yes, promotion will be seen to be good in that respect.

Our one season in the limelight will not impinge on the development of the current crop of Academy players, and there will be no need to spend vast sums on infrastructure, although wages may go up a bit for one season. So as long as we fully appreciate that it'll only be for one season, then there will be no problem.

[brendywendy]

Do not fret. Should we get promoted this year, (and miracles do happen), Mr Mad will only have eyes for the 4 years of parachute payments we will receive for seasons 2012-13 to 2015-16. So yes, promotion will be seen to be good in that respect.

Our one season in the limelight will not impinge on the development of the current crop of Academy players, and there will be no need to spend vast sums on infrastructure, although wages may go up a bit for one season. So as long as we fully appreciate that it'll only be for one season, then there will be no problem.

when will you learn, negativity is shit.

id say it would be about 50- 50 at worst that we would go down,
with sigurdson back in on loan, bertrand in from chelsea, and BMcD in charge.
wed be more likely to finish 7th than go down.

[roadrunner]

Obviously yes, but there will be a few issues if we go up. Not just this season, but in general.

One of my highlights from the last 2 seasons has been watching youngsters come through and break into the team. What sort of chance will the likes of Taylor, Obita and D'Ath get if we're a Premiership side?

I think we'd do things different this time. The academy is very much part of our present and our future. Of course we would try and bring in some experience, but the kids will always get a fair crack here IMO.

[Hampshire Royal]

I sort of agree with the OP. Going up will mean that for the seasons we are in the PL, we will not actually compete for anything. I also agree with Duke in that we have nothing to fear from half of the PL sides. So the choice (well, it's not really a choice) is a) being among the best in a competitive league, as we are now, or b) being (at best) a mid-table PL side with nothing really to play for.

I hope that the business model of the club doesn't change next season, and we will still live within our means. I would rather be like WBA than like Pompey. There is no point in trying to catch clouds.