Daz93 Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Looking back at this season, have we missed out big time on promotion? Not just because of that missed penalty, but because of the quality of the league. You could argue either way about how good the teams in this league are, but I feel that the fact that no team at the top, bar Cardiff, showed any sort of consistency that the standard has been poor. As such, have we missed out on a massive opportunity to get out of this league? We were 2nd in the league and cruising, looking like we could challenge for the title, but blew it and were lucky to reach the play-offs. The league next season will be considerably more difficult. The teams coming down and the teams coming up look better than the teams they've replaced. Reading have a great squad for the championship, strengthened since they got promoted, as well as a very good manager in charge. QPR will be looking to bounce right back up for financial reasons and have a chance with 'arry. Wigan, should they get relegated, will easily be the best team in the league. Not quite the same as the Blackburn or Wolves that came down last season. The teams coming up also look strong and organised and would be better, I imagine, than the likes of Bristol City. You've then got the teams that failed to make the grade this season - one of Watford or Palace, ourselves and Brighton missing out on a Wembley final, Forest and Bolton's late turnarounds, Leeds under McDermott, Ipswich under McCarthy. It all adds up to a tougher division next season, with a smaller chance of promotion even if we do improve on our play from this season. So what does everyone think? Have we passed up on a great chance and made it harder for ourselves to get to the promised land? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ealingfox Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Did we not basically say this at the end of last season? I know I was convinced that Blackburn, Wolves and Bolton would all be in the top 6 this season. You just can't know for sure until the curtains come up again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cc_star Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Did we not basically say this at the end of last season? I know I was convinced that Blackburn, Wolves and Bolton would all be in the top 6 this season. You just can't know for sure until the curtains come up again. Exactly Consensus was at the beginning of this season that it would be a hell of a lot harder than last season. This gets said every single year - Bolton & Wolves were very tough, Blackburn too, they were only 2pts off the top when they Kean resigned or was sacked. Likewise we all predicted the rise of Forest, the fact Cardiff will always be up there & any other number of teams to challenge us for the top... Even Charlton were tipped by a few to do a Southampton. Fact remains it's always tough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indierich06 Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 I think the teams that came down last season were a lot more daunting than those that will probably come down this season. And like others have said - look what happened to them. Nothing surprises me with this league and I've got no idea what will happen next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchandro Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Of course it was a missed opportunity, mainly because we were in pole position to claim the autos at the end of January. The league has been poor this season, even the relatively successful teams haven't been consistently good, and Hull are a very average side. There wasn't a Newcastle, a West Brom or a Swansea this year. I don't see why everyone thought that small clubs like Blackburn and Bolton would do well just because they were relegated. Those kind of clubs rarely bounce straight back. Wolves had terrible managers and a losing mentality, they didn't go down because the league was really strong. In fact, maybe the teams near the bottom were better than usual but the teams near the top were certainly worse than usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Fox Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 The Championship is the same old story 80 points and above equals automatic promotion 68-77 points= playoffs The rest I aint to fussed about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinkenzo Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 This gets said every season and every time we forget that we're not actually that bad a side ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col city fan Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 No one will have any idea what any of the squads will look like at this point. Do you really think QPR, for example, are gonna keep half of their players? They will be shipped out as soon as possible to anyone who wants them... Or just released. FFP will mean that squad sizes will probably be smaller than they are now too. Our concerns are the likes of Beckford and Danns... They need to go ASAP if they aren't gonna be played and if Bolton want Beckford I'd snap their hand off. Transfer fees may well reduce too because clubs will be eagerly seeking to offload. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col city fan Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 I think the real big missed opportunity was last season, not this one. 15 million quid spent (5 mill more than West Ham) to assemble the fookin dross we did was utterly utterly inexcusable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haydos Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Yes, it was. But the league (appears to me anyway) to be pretty weak at the moment and I think the next couple of years should still present us with a decent opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royston. Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Missed opportunity to get our árses handed to us every week in the Prem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz93 Posted 14 May 2013 Author Share Posted 14 May 2013 I understand what people are saying that it might get touted every year, but surely the teams coming down from the Prem next season can't do as poorly as Wolves, Blackburn and Bolton did this season? Not one of them even touched the top of the table, compared to previous years where at least one of the relegated teams would be up there at the end. In terms of ourselves, this was the year where we were closest to achieving promotion than any other since coming out of league one. It's also been a year where the manager has had a full pre-season, been allowed to bring in the players he wants to bring in and not been sacked in the process. The positive is at least we've made some sort of progress. The first step to doing well next season I imagine is shifting the want-aways, keeping our best players and balancing the books a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry - LCFC Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Personally I disagree, I don't think the league will be stronger next season. I can't see any of the promoted teams getting into the POs, they're all fairly low profile clubs and will probably be content with survival. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that relegated PL teams are well placed to blitz the Championship when they come down, while this might have been the case before I don't think it's so true now. The three clubs coming down are probably smaller than the three who were relegated before and none of them got into the top six (although Bolton sort of did I admit) so I don't see them as challengers for the top two although I'd expect one or two to be going for the POs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooseBreath Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Inconsistency at the top doesn't necessarily mean the league is weak, it could also mean the league is exceptionally strong, or somewhere in the middle. It just means the teams are closer together in quality, the actual level of quality could be anywhere along the scale. I think next season will be another close one. FFP is going to make moving away from the pack that much harder. Fine margins get finer, luck becomes the deciding factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hankey Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 The thing is we're all going to be concerned that if we get off to a flyer and with up there 1st, 2nd or 3rd after Christmas the nagging doubt will still be as to whether we can maintain that position or not especially after the events of this season. So, yes, this season was most definitely a missed opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry - LCFC Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Inconsistency at the top doesn't necessarily mean the league is weak, it could also mean the league is exceptionally strong, or somewhere in the middle. It just means the teams are closer together in quality, the actual level of quality could be anywhere along the scale. I think next season will be another close one. FFP is going to make moving away from the pack that much harder. Fine margins get finer, luck becomes the deciding factor. Agree with this, teams at the top getting fewer points does not necessarily mean they are lesser teams. It could well mean that the teams at the bottom are superior to the average. This year's points total required to survive in the division shows how good those teams at the bottom really are, only Bristol City could really be considered a 'weak' side and their points total of 41 would have saved them the season before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vale Blue Posted 14 May 2013 Share Posted 14 May 2013 Of course it was a missed opportunity, mainly because we were in pole position to claim the autos at the end of January. The league has been poor this season, even the relatively successful teams haven't been consistently good, and Hull are a very average side. There wasn't a Newcastle, a West Brom or a Swansea this year. I don't see why everyone thought that small clubs like Blackburn and Bolton would do well just because they were relegated. Those kind of clubs rarely bounce straight back. Wolves had terrible managers and a losing mentality, they didn't go down because the league was really strong. In fact, maybe the teams near the bottom were better than usual but the teams near the top were certainly worse than usual. This Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.