Championship 🏆 2025/26

[dobbylcfc]

The championship last time was enjoyable under Enzo no var seeing us win every week near enough. But let’s face it this time round we ain’t bouncing back and we’ll stagnate there for years. 

[ClaphamFox]

10 minutes ago, dobbylcfc said:

The championship last time was enjoyable under Enzo no var seeing us win every week near enough. But let’s face it this time round we ain’t bouncing back and we’ll stagnate there for years. 

Our first eleven next season will be comfortably stronger than the large majority of the other teams in the division. We’ll be competing at the top of the table and be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.

[Pliskin]

Just now, ClaphamFox said:

Our first eleven next season will be comfortably stronger than the large majority of the other teams in the division. We’ll be competing at the top of the table and be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.

To be a success we need the board to accept the mistakes they’ve made, and vow to put it right. Employ a good coach, with a good team, invest in the squad without fear of the EFL repercussions, because by the time they can act, we should be well clear… but above all, recruit young exciting players, players with a high ceiling….. we need to study both Bournemouth and Fulham to see how they managed to come up, and stabilise themselves.

[coolhandfox]

1 hour ago, Happy Fox said:

Not a chance mate! We will be lucky to finish 10-12th 

How confident are you on that prediction.

 

I will have a bet with you that we finish higher, loser pays £500 to the charity of the winners choice? 

[An Away Move]

6 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

To be a success we need the board to accept the mistakes they’ve made, and vow to put it right. Employ a good coach, with a good team, invest in the squad without fear of the EFL repercussions, because by the time they can act, we should be well clear… but above all, recruit young exciting players, players with a high ceiling….. we need to study both Bournemouth and Fulham to see how they managed to come up, and stabilise themselves.

You’re not wrong, but we’ve already been there. 

Let’s see how Bournemouth and Fulham do after two seasons of European football when they have bigger squads and a higher wage to turnover ratio and then fail to qualify for Europe a third season and have players on high wages near the ends of their contracts. The latter would **** up a lot of clubs under PSR rules designed to protect the richest clubs. 

Edited 16 March by An Away Move

[Happy Fox]

Just now, coolhandfox said:

How confident are you on that prediction.

 

I will have a bet with you that we finish higher, loser pays £500 to the charity of the winners choice? 

I don’t bet mate, but would love to be proved wrong but as things are right now , under this regime and a manager that’s tactically inept it’s hard to see us finishing in the playoffs or auto spots but would love this to happen.

[Pliskin]

1 minute ago, An Away Move said:

We’ve already been there. 
Let’s see how Bournemouth and Fulham do after two seasons of European football when they have bigger squads and a higher wage to turnover ratio and then fail to qualify for Europe a third season and have players on high wages near the ends of their contracts. The latter would **** up a lot of clubs under PSR rules designed to protect the richest clubs. 

PSR will only hurt you if you invest poorly. 
 

Clubs like Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth appear to have sound models and don’t step outside of what they comfortably afford….

 

The reason PSR has hit us so badly, is because our investment was appalling……. We can’t blame PSR for the situation we’re in, it’s our fault, PSR is only an issue because we made it an issue due to incompetence and negligence. 

[huddersfieldfox]

I enjoyed the championship, crunching tackles no VAR better crowds. Let's face it we are not Premier League standard. Let's enjoy the ride and let go of what's happened. Hopefully new faces in the top jobs and hit the ground running 

[Pliskin]

1 minute ago, huddersfieldfox said:

I enjoyed the championship, crunching tackles no VAR better crowds. Let's face it we are not Premier League standard. Let's enjoy the ride and let go of what's happened. Hopefully new faces in the top jobs and hit the ground running 

It’s only enjoyable if you’re winning and going up. Otherwise it’s a hideous league. The standard of football is incredibly poor…. 

[lgfualol]

Cant wait tbh as long as Rudders and Ruuders are both binned.

[ClaphamFox]

24 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

PSR will only hurt you if you invest poorly. 
 

Clubs like Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth appear to have sound models and don’t step outside of what they comfortably afford….

 

The reason PSR has hit us so badly, is because our investment was appalling……. We can’t blame PSR for the situation we’re in, it’s our fault, PSR is only an issue because we made it an issue due to incompetence and negligence. 

For the second consecutive season the three promoted sides are going to be relegated. This suggests that the PL’s crackdown on PSR is beginning to bite. 

[Pliskin]

15 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

For the second consecutive season the three promoted sides are going to be relegated. This suggests that the PL’s crackdown on PSR is beginning to bite. 

But recruitment has been poor for all of us. We’ve spent £80m (excluding the sale of KDH)… on largely rubbish. 
 

What PSR has done, is it means one poor window can savagely ruin you…. So recruitment needs to be consistently good…. Which is why our original model was ideal, and we need to return to it. 

[Brizzle Fox]

The worst thing that could happen for us with the current regime in charge would be for us to get promoted again.

 

There's just no point as it would be simply another rinse repeat, with no lessons learnt.

 

Needs a few seasons down to potentially lead to any change happening. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

Our PSR issues are self inflicted, we have overpaid on fees and wages understand you have to make tactical decisions at times to try and be competitive but we have just made rank bad decisions, paying well over the odds to bang average squad players and then also moving away from a proven model of selling an asset each season to then reinvest. 

[ClaphamFox]

Just now, Claudio Fannieri said:

Our PSR issues are self inflicted, we have overpaid on fees and wages understand you have to make tactical decisions at times to try and be competitive but we have just made rank bad decisions, paying well over the odds to bang average squad players and then also moving away from a proven model of selling an asset each season to then reinvest. 

Two things can be true at the same time. It is definitely true that we have inflicted significant damage upon ourselves by veering away from a model that worked. It is also true that PSR is a crooked fiddle designed to reinforce the status quo and make it very difficult for clubs like ourselves to compete. 

[when_you're_smiling]

13 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

But recruitment has been poor for all of us. We’ve spent £80m (excluding the sale of KDH)… on largely rubbish. 
 

What PSR has done, is it means one poor window can savagely ruin you…. So recruitment needs to be consistently good…. Which is why our original model was ideal, and we need to return to it. 

Do you think Bilal, Fats and Okoli are rubbish? Because that’s 65 per cent of the spend.

 

It’s not just one poor window. PSR lowers the allowances for mistakes (ie £20m for Skipp) ridiculously. How much more £20m plus mistakes have the likes of Man U made in the last few years. Heck, they wasted at least £10m on sacking Dan Ashworth for a month or two. We (reportedly) can’t even afford to sack RVN.

[murphy]

2 hours ago, Happy Fox said:

Not a chance mate! We will be lucky to finish 10-12th on paper I feel Southampton / Ipswich will do far better than us next season they have players that are good at this level, if Southampton get Rohl as their new manager I expect them to certainly finish in the top 2.

 

If I had to do a prediction albeit early.

 

The likes of Middlesbrough, Sunderland, WBA, newly promoted Birmingham , Ipswich, Southampton, Coventry (if they don’t get promoted via the playoffs), Bristol City and Norwich City will all fair better than us. 
 

Winning the title will not happen; I worry for us for the foreseeable future unless we have a change in ownership.

 

Did you say the same thing in May '23?

 

 

[suffolk fox]

1 hour ago, Pliskin said:

It’s only enjoyable if you’re winning and going up. Otherwise it’s a hideous league. The standard of football is incredibly poor…. 

We will fit in nicely then.  Our standard of football is truly  honking.

[SafewayFox]

17 hours ago, ealingfox said:

Relegation more or less confirmed now, time for the club to start planning for it.

A well run club prepares for both eventualities.

 

Sadly, we’re not a well run club right now.

[ClaphamFox]

16 minutes ago, murphy said:

Did you say the same thing in May '23?

 

 

There were certainly plenty of posters predicting we’d either be going straight down to League One or end up ‘mid table at best’ in the Championship. Those of us predicting a swift return to the PL were accused of being deluded. 
 

There is a massive gap between the PL and the Championship. This makes it difficult for promoted teams to stay up but it also gives relegated teams an advantage when they go down. Our first 11 next year will be very strong by Championship standards. That doesn’t mean we’ll walk it, but we will be up there. These predictions that we’re in some inexorable death spiral towards the lower divisions are just catastrophizing arising (quite understandably) from depression about our current state. 

[RedSoxUK]

1 hour ago, Happy Fox said:

I don’t bet mate, but would love to be proved wrong but as things are right now , under this regime and a manager that’s tactically inept it’s hard to see us finishing in the playoffs or auto spots but would love this to happen.

Good because you'd be bloody bankrupt lad

 

We automatically start off miles ahead than the rest of the championship, Very likely spend more than the rest of the championship, have the highest wage bill in the championship. If we are 10th or lower then it's a bigger embarrassment than anything we've ever seen.

[Silva Fox]

35 minutes ago, RedSoxUK said:

Good because you'd be bloody bankrupt lad

 

We automatically start off miles ahead than the rest of the championship, Very likely spend more than the rest of the championship, have the highest wage bill in the championship. If we are 10th or lower then it's a bigger embarrassment than anything we've ever seen.

Yes that would be hard to imagine with our ownership wouldn't it? 

[sycokilla]

I think we will be around the top six... but more importantly I think we need to revamp recruitment and encourage younger players into the first team...after all Seagrave has been a very expensive investment but has not particularly paid any dividends yet because we have kept and bought too many older players for "experience" . Yet still ended up in the championship. 

[reynard]

1 hour ago, ClaphamFox said:

There were certainly plenty of posters predicting we’d either be going straight down to League One or end up ‘mid table at best’ in the Championship. Those of us predicting a swift return to the PL were accused of being deluded. 
 

There is a massive gap between the PL and the Championship. This makes it difficult for promoted teams to stay up but it also gives relegated teams an advantage when they go down. Our first 11 next year will be very strong by Championship standards. That doesn’t mean we’ll walk it, but we will be up there. These predictions that we’re in some inexorable death spiral towards the lower divisions are just catastrophizing arising (quite understandably) from depression about our current state. 

Well this really depends on what the make up of that 11 will be. We have some decent players at that level but several may be sold in the summer. Certainly think our keeper will go, Vardy probably retire  and we don't really have another striker as I'm not sure Daka will cut it even at that level and may indeed leave.

[FrankieADZ]

honestly, i think im looking forward to next season more, i just hope we can drain the swamp of the players here for themselves nothing more(likes of Faes etc)

hopefully we'll see the likes of Nelson, Alves, Evans given a go next season, i know it will be a struggle but id rather take it than have the idiotic ponies who think they are gods gifts we've had the last number of seasons