Fantastic end to this season?

[SPARTA]

Nah, I'm hoping I'll end be on tender hooks but can't help but feel it's gonna be a damp squid.

Who will be our escape goat when it goes wrong?

sandman will blame Adkins. The majority will probably show some sense and look at how a lack of investment and off-field problems haven't helped us, and still being in the play-off race come April actually isn't all that bad a result considering. Whatever happens, I'm looking forward to a summer of change, and a new team being put together - hopefully a Nigel Adkins team!

[Ouroboros]

look at the rest of the fixtures. no game is winable

JIM, as you know I'm a big fan of your work, but this seems too much.

[Maguire]

I look forward to us not winning all of our next four games, the U18s and U21s slipping to disappointing cup defeats, and the senior team losing at home to Wigan in the play-offs.

Fantastic

[MmmMonsterMunch]

1 Leicester 35 35 80
2 Burnley 36 28 73
3 Derby 36 17 63
4 QPR 36 12 63
5 Wigan 35 14 59
6 Nottm Forest 36 14 57
7 Reading 36 15 56
8 Brighton 35 11 56

To suggest the top 5 is sewn up is crazy. Look at the table! QPR are in freefall right now & Derby haven't scored in 4. If QPR & Derby fail to win this weekend & those below all do, all 4 spots are up for grabs with potentially 4 points separating 6 teams. Many of which still need to play each other again.

Tight as a ducks ass!

[3points]

Forest play Brighton last game of the season

[winchester_royal]

It's certainly been an eventful season, and it doesn't the tension doesn't look like relenting in the final few weeks. The fan base does seem a little fatigued despite all the 'excitement' - I imagine that's down to the failures of last season and the ownership f*ck up - though and because of that it doesn't quite feel as 'fantastic' as it maybe should.

[harry]

1 Leicester 35 35 80
2 Burnley 36 28 73
3 Derby 36 17 63
4 QPR 36 12 63
5 Wigan 35 14 59
6 Nottm Forest 36 14 57
7 Reading 36 15 56
8 Brighton 35 11 56

To suggest the top 5 is sewn up is crazy. Look at the table! QPR are in freefall right now & Derby haven't scored in 4. If QPR & Derby fail to win this weekend & those below all do, all 4 spots are up for grabs with potentially 4 points separating 6 teams. Many of which still need to play each other again.

Tight as a ducks ass!

Leicester's run in
Blackburn A
Yeovil H
Burnley A
Wigan A
Sheff Wed H
Brighton H
Reading A
QPR H
Bolton A
Huddersfield A
Doncaster H

Burnley's
Charlton A
Doncaster H
Leicester H
Watford A
Barnsley A
Middlesbrough H
Blackpool A
Wigan H
Ipswich H
Reading A

Derby's
Nottm Forest H
Ipswich A
Charlton H
Middlesbrough A
Blackpool A
Huddersfield H
Doncaster A
Barnsley H
Watford H
Leeds A

Fake hoops
Middlesbrough A
Wigan H
Blackpool H
Bournemouth A
Blackburn A
Nottm Forest H
Leicester A
Watford H
Millwall H
Barnsley A

Wiggurn
Watford H
QPR A
Bolton A
Leicester H
Leeds H
Millwall H
Birmingham A
Reading H
Burnley A
Blackpool H
Blackburn A

Forest
Derby A
Charlton H
Ipswich A
Millwall H
Sheff Wed H
QPR A
Birmingham H
Leeds A
Bournemouth A
Brighton H

URZ
birmingham a
barnsley h
huddersfield h
charlton a
bournemouth a
leicester h
wigan a
middlesbrough h
doncaster a
burnley h

Brighton
Ipswich H
Sheff Wed A
Middlesbrough H
Blackburn A
Barnsley A
Leicester A
Charlton H
Huddersfield A
Blackpool H
Yeovil H
Nottm Forest A


So Leicester have to play 4 of the top 8 in their last 10. Hoping that's enough to drop the points so our 106 is safe. Can't see them or Burnley not going up automatically.

Derby are on a bad run, but after the weekend have the easiest run in so should have enough with 7 point cushion over us to make play-offs.
QPR also have the 7 point cushion.
Wigan have the game in hand and are the form team in the division with a 3 point cushion. Injuries & cup run, as well as playing 4 of top 8, are obstacles to them consolidating a play off place.
Forest are a point above us but are on a poor run and have Derby & QPR to play. Can see them choking.
If we can get some home form back we could overtake them.
Brighton have a game in hand over us & are in decent form. They have to play Leicester & Forest away.

So assuming Derby, QPR & Wigan have enough in the bank to get over the line, we need to overtake Forest & keep Brighton at bay. Can see it going down to the last game where Forest & Brighton play each other while we play already promoted Burnley.

[maffff]

Wigan drawing, QPR losing. Things might look pretty sewn up in places but anything can happen in the Championship.

Except Leicester not going up. Don't be crazy.

[floyd__streete]

1/ We now have four very winnable games in a row against out of form sides. I will be disappointed if we don't get four straight wins and then the table will look very different.

Prepare to be disappointed.

2/ I am really looking forward to the home leg of the final of the Under 21 Premier League Cup - what fantastic run by the younger players.

They've done well but this is rather a meaningless competition tbh.

3/ And I am looking forward to the Semi-Final of the Under 18 Youth Cup and hopefully the Final too. Last Wednesday was a fantastic evening and one of the most exciting football games I have ever seen. Come on URZZZZZZ and attend the Semi-Final in good numbers. We have some fantastic young talent coming through.

Again, they've done well and this is a very meaningful competition. But they'll lose over 2 legs to Fulham whose teams at this level seem to be a lot stronger than ours. And the semi-finals will be televised on ITV4 apparently, so you can't expect that much of a crowd will turn up.

4/ And then to cap it all we have the Play Offs to look forward to and another trip to Wembley. Ok we are bound to lose (we always do), but it will be a great day out. I enjoyed the Swansea game, even if the result was disappointing.

On current form we won't get to the play offs, which will be a huge failure given the relative talent we have in the squad. And personally I hated every minute of Wembley 2011.

[floyd__streete]

The fan base does seem a little fatigued despite all the 'excitement' - I imagine that's down to the failures of last season and the ownership f*ck up

Rubbish. It is more down to the poor football on offer and wholly mediocre home results. Remember, we were 'sold' a change in management would improve the quality of what we were watching. It really really hasn't.

[Ian Royal]

The fan base does seem a little fatigued despite all the 'excitement' - I imagine that's down to the failures of last season and the ownership f*ck up

Rubbish. It is more down to the poor football on offer and wholly mediocre home results. Remember, we were 'sold' a change in management would improve the quality of what we were watching. It really really hasn't.

There've been hints, although that's all. But perhaps that's better than the wholesale changes we saw under Rodgers where we dropped like a stone. Maybe the difference is so marked that we really do need a squad of different players or a year or two of transition before we get there.

Lets not forget that even under a sort of system we'd largely been playing for half a decade or more, under a manager who favoured it, we still looked utterly clueless at implementing it at times in the first half of the last championship season. And we can just about afford the transition with parachute payments and a capable youth squad that are set up to play that way possibly coming through.

One season and a handful of games simply isn't always long enough for a manager to make their mark fully and successfully. Especially, when there's off pitch turmoil and set backs. Sometimes you probably need to take the panic response, but mostly it's better to show patience. We could have sacked Coppell pre 2005 when he failed to make the Play Offs 2 seasons in a row. We could have sacked Pardew when he ballsed up promotion. We showed patience and it paid off. It won't always, but nothing's certain.

[winchester_royal]

I'll agree that the football has hardly been scintillating, but if you actually take a step back and look at the season as a whole it's been a pretty decent one. Not great, not even close, but it could have been plenty worse. One only has to look at what happened to Wolves last season to realise that. We're not a massive club, we don't have a divine right to shit on this league, and when you look at the clubs we're competing with, it's hard (for me at least) to completely dismiss the season. With 10 games to go we're still firmly in the play off race, have 2 very successful academy sides, and a number of younger players in the squad. Could have been worse.

Where I agree with Floyd is that it wasn't what was promised at the start of the season, and this is where the ownership issue comes to the fore. We were led to believe that there would be investment into producing a team that would steamroll this division, a team that would put sides to the sword and go up in a blaze of goals and excitement, and this obviously has not happened. Therefore the season feels flat compared to what we hoped it might be.

[floyd__streete]

Good and reasonable responses lads.

Proud of you both.

My boys.

All grown up

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Look at the investment QPR put in, and how that is failing, what is needed is hunger, not arrogance, give me the 06 squad any day, at the start of that season we did not have one billy big bollox player. No one dropping down below where they believed they deserved to be, relegation is hard to take for players, especially rom The Prem, as after playing there they believe they should still be there. Which was a problem we had before, the likes of Hunt and Doyle thought they were better, history though shows they werent.

I dont begrudge any player a move for better money or a higher league, but sometimes perhaps, someone should talk to them well, and advise stability can be a good thing.

Should we go up this season, and Fulham come down, I would go straight in for Sidwell. Seems well balanced and sensible, despite his comment all those years ago he continued to play and do well, and has played in the Prem ever since.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Harper So Royallwrote: Look at the investment QPR put in, and how that is failing, what is needed is hunger, not arrogance, give me the 06 squad any day, at the start of that season we did not have one billy big bollox player. No one dropping down below where they believed they deserved to be, relegation is hard to take for players, especially rom The Prem, as after playing there they believe they should still be there. Which was a problem we had before, the likes of Hunt and Doyle thought they were better, history though shows they werent.

06 squad... we had Steve Coppell in charge and he knew what it took to build a side capable of winning promotion to the Premier League.

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

I dont begrudge any player a move for better money or a higher league, but sometimes perhaps, someone should talk to them well, and advise stability can be a good thing.

Unfortunately, those that have their ear are the agents and we all know what interests them most!