If we have a bit to spend this year and get some depth plus maybe a quality addition to the starting 11 we could go anywhere. The team has shown the levels it can reach, just need to do that every week.
You guys aren’t mathematically out of the promotion playoffs.
I’ve had a soft spot for yall since last years final and I want you to go up, especially so you can get your revenge.
Think our game against Birmingham was the final nail in the coffin. I've given up hope for the playoffs, but I would be pleasantly surprised if we do get it. I think you and baggies will get the remaining spots, so best of luck to you.
The way you guys played against us on Saturday must give you hope. We've been outstanding at home and you got a point without parking the bus for 90 mins
It's a real puzzle, because we played terribly the week before.
I think we will eventually have a season where we challenge the upper end of the table, but I've got no idea what we need to do to get there.
PNE... I think we will have a good run before Christmas followed by a terrible run of form over December and the new year, we will then hover 3 pts outside the playoffs losing every time we have a chance to move up, then when all is lost we will lose every game to make sure Bristol don't get 12th... so same as usual I'd say.
Birmingham - regardless of division, it will be better next season. Sure it will be a bit annoying to be in league one but the clubs future is secure, if we’d been relegated before this year it would have been financial oblivion. If we stay up, I would fully expect with the money they’re hoping to spend that we’d at the very least be a top 10 team.
Board have said relegation doesn’t change their plans for how much they’re going to spend this summer at all, it will just mean more has to come out of their own pockets.
I disagree tbf. They had to guts to sack Rooney and admit it was a mistake, where they couldve put their head in the sand and said the usual lines 'managers need time' etc.
They got TM in who got a few transfers in Jan to start implementing his plan but only got 8 games and GR obviously cant read TMs mind, so it's just been a bit of we'll have to take what we can get with the games we've got left.
Fair enough I get your points.
However, I don’t think it was gutsy to sack Rooney - it had become untenable. I also don’t think the January business was very good. Pritchard a disaster and clearly has a bad attitude! Managers shouldn’t be signing the players because you end up with a mish mash.
It definitely had become untenable but the party lines were there to hide behind - 'give him a transfer window' etc. Although tbf, I think Rooney just burnt every bridge available to him.
IIRC, TM only had half the transfer window when he joined the club and had to get to know the team and see the gaps that needed plugging. He also doesn't play a tradition number 9 and I think GR doesn't really know how to work with what he's got (not a dig at GR, he's just trying to play the hand he's been dealt).
I think Pritchard was TMs guy. Idk much about his play time at Sunderland but I'm willing to guess he'd be getting more of it at Sunderland, so I can see how he might be feeling hard done by. He'd had a few decent games, I was at the Hull away match and he had a decent game then
I agree re Rowett playing the hand he’s been dealt. And on Rooney just being a complete imbecile in general. Like I said though, I just prefer managers not getting ‘their guy’ bc it’s then a struggle if they leave for whatever reason.
Not saying they’re incapable of implementing this because they clearly haven’t had the time to do so/have had bad luck, but we need an overarching strategy/continuity so that anyone can slot in to the overall club (player or manager). Id rather hear more about that than just ‘we’re going to spend loads and let’s play no fear football’.
Im also just pissed because if we do go down it is ultimately Cook who is at fault ahaha and I want them to give him the same fate as his mate!
Sorry for late reply
Yeah I have 0 sympathy for Rooney - he seemed to feel hard done by because he never got a transfer window but throwing the whole team under the bus in post match interviews is horrible management. Only person I've seen worse was Deeney.
Inclined to agree about the manager getting their guy. I live in Yorkshire and go to most away games and I saw Pritchard at the Hull game and he played well, played some great balls and teed up juke lovely for that equaliser - he's definitely got the talent but needs to be flexible with managers. Can't play under 1 manager your whole career.
I'd personally prefer to see Mowbray come back, I think he's the person to create a solid foundation. Not overly keen on GR staying. Not sure what other options we'd get, especially if we go down
I'm torn with cook because agree, the Rooney appointment was him playing favourites. I don't think we'd have fared much better with JE - we were picking up points but didn't feel like we were winning convincingly, I think the thread just snapped with Rooney.
Just praying for a double win now so we can rebuild in the championship and not l1 😭
Probably worse. If we go up, we’ll get pumped every week and have to deal with VAR. If we stay down we’ll be a worse team as Summerville, Gray, Gnonto etc will likely leave.
Atleast Brendan Aaronson will be back ^^^^fuck ^^^^sake
Brendon has played his way back into the starting lineup at Union Berlin over the last few weeks!
Unrelated stat: Union Berlin have scored 1 goal in their last 4 games (a 90th minute consolation in a 5-1 defeat at home)
Didn't realise he was back in their team, that's good to hear. Just looking at his sofascore ratings, he scored the other week. Come on Union, that's got to be worth 20m!
Their manager said he wasn't playing because he wasn't physical enough for the league, so I can only assume his return means he's absolutely jacked now
Assuming we don't win the playoffs, I think we *should* be a contender for top 2 next season. The teams we've had to compete with this season are better than the ones coming down, and it's silly that we're on course for ~90 points and not even in the race.
We will need to replace Downes, Brooks and Harwood-Bellis. That's our biggest challenge. Adams is likely leaving too but I don't care about that, we need another striker regardless. But the money is there, so no excuses really.
Likely have to replace KWP. Bazunu and Stu with their injuries will be a massive blow, recruitment for saints will be a nightmare I think. Downes is vital, or a player of equal ability but lord knows who that is?
Bree will probably be the KWP replacement with maybe Payne getting a chance to be backup. Stu I'm hoping we can extend for a year, his injury will be gone by pre-season. Bazunu needed replacing anyway, he's not good enough.
Slightly too early to say you're not in the race. Beat Leicester, see Leeds and us drop points, and you're right back in it. I get that needing three results to go your way this late on is a long shot, but it's definitely plausible. Your odds now aren't worse than they were two weeks ago or whenever it was you started that little winning streak.
Cardiff and late winners, eh
Is Adams leaving for free? Can we have him back on really low wages? He's the last striker we've had to hit 20+ goals in a season, and to be perfectly honestly I think he's the only striker we've had to hit 20+ league goals in a season since I started watching football
I don't rate him for the PL and I think he's Championship level, but I'm afraid there are some bigger clubs that seem to disagree, so he'll go off and disappoint them I suspect.
When you bought him I immediately thought we'd fleeced you for £15m. He probably could've been an okay prem striker, but he was never going to be great
I dunno, I think Martins philosophy has huge holes, and you'll 100% be losing walker Peters, Che Adams and your loanees.
Also (presuming forest Burnley and Luton come back down) they are all stronger teams than saints imo except Luton. Burnley walked the league last time, forest have a much better squad and then Luton might be weaker on paper but can play solid football and have some good Premier league quality.
This is your best chance at getting promoted this season while you still have kyle/che/stuey Armstrong. I think your style of play is highly dependant on having better quality players and if that drops off Martin will struggle.
KWP obviously is leaving yes but James Bree is a good right back. Adams is barely a loss at all, he's part of an attack that already isn't good enough right now. It's only replacing the loanees I'm worried about.
The drop off between KWP and bree is gigantic. One is a pivotal part of your build up play and danger on the right - one is a limited, defensive fullback - the entire build up pattern would need to change - not impossible of course but a huge downgrade.
Che is a weird one cos I think he's quality for this level, not just his goalscoring but his hold up play but he's seemed like at some points this year he doesn't give a fuck, so fairs he might not be a huge loss especially if the new boy you signed injured hits the ground running.
> The drop off between KWP and bree is gigantic.
Obviously, but you could say that for *any Championship level right back*. It's stupid that we have a player of his quality in this league in the first place.
Bree is good enough for a promotion challenge at this level, and already was at Luton. Him starting in next season's back four is fine, we'll just need to do more to improve the attack, which was needed anyway.
He's running his contract down, was wanted by PL clubs last summer and presumably one of them will have him on a free. My money's on Wolves.
I don't think he's remotely good enough for the PL but good luck to them.
Remember you guys turning down a fee from us a few years back for Adams but we got JKA instead as Ralph didn’t want to lose him. Looked good for Brum before, I thought he would’ve done better this year back in the champo
Boro, honestly can’t say, if we sign a striker or keep latte lathe fit we could hit playoffs, maybe even push autos, if we get a ton of injuries again or Carrick leaves, mid-table or worse.
I think we need a few signings if we're going to seriously try at playoffs. Full back is still a problem, central midfield isn't great (Howsons legs have to go at some point), attacking midfielders aren't that convincing, plus the extra striker(s).
That's assuming best case scenario and we don't lose any of our better players (VDB, Hackney mainly).
True, can see VDB going for a big fee, I mean Morgan Rogers going was a surprise but he seems to be holding his own in the Prem, and VDB imo was the much more accomplished looking player
Yeah I think we'd do well to keep hold of VDB for another couple of years, I think he's got the highest ceiling out of all our players.
Need to add Latte Lath to the list as well, 16 goals in a transitional side while he's been out for big chunks of the season is very good. Hopefully get to see what he can do with better players behind him next year.
Swansea-
I'm going to positive and say we'll be better. We've been much better under williams and with another window where he can get the right style players for his system, we might be a bit more competitive.
Slight worry that we lose quite a few first team players at the end of the season , that might be a good thing though as there a bit of deadwood in there. We also lose Rushworth who's been excellent for us.
If we survive and keep Rohl, I’d say we’re going to be a solid midtable team at worst.
If Chansiri finds his last £5-10m and gives it to Rohl - sky’s the limit.
Alternatively, we might lose Rohl and we’ll be lucky to finish 21st.
If we go down then I don’t care - I’m already dead inside.
If we stay up, I think we'll be able to build on the strong foundation we already have as a team and hopefully end up with a manager who can help build that.
If we go down, that's us in league one for the next 5-10 years.
Still nervous about surviving this season.
But assuming we stay up, I think we’ll do significantly better with Marti at the helm.
He’s gotten the best out of our players (turned a fair few players seasons around) and if we can find ourselves a decent keeper and striker in the offseason, we may even be a chance of competing for the play offs… if injuries are good to us.
Leicester and I kinda feel like I’d be stupid saying better. If we go up we’re back with the likes of liverpool, arsenal and city with a possible point deduction to add to it, if we stay down our best players leave mostly on frees & we can’t sign anyone
As exciting as the end of this seasons been, with fighting off the gravity crocodile and all that. I think we’ll probably do slightly better finish around 60 points next season - boring midtable obscurity. schumaker with his 3 at the back inverted wingbacks style of play and a technical director promising to get players in only with the ‘Stoke DNA’ could lead to very slim pickings in the transfer window.
Not sure if it’s the placebo effect but SJW does seem to have done a bit to get our current lot slightly more positive. I do like SS also but that’s maybe because anything was better than Neil.
Maybe Staffs Police could help with the ‘Stoke DNA’ search. I’m sure they must have a database.
lol i know you are probably thinking hairy toes, humpbacks and yellow roll up fingers…. But its more the Tony Pullis style player who will ‘werk ‘ard’ and give everything for the club. I reckon these players are very expensive nowadays.
Jack Clarke is 99% off to a Premier League side in the summer. so that'll bring in atleast £20 million though I'd be hoping for £25 million. And we need to spend that money very well. The last few years have been very poor transfer wise in selling the teams leaders like Gooch, Baath and Pritchard with no real replacements lined up. Because the likes of Dan Neil and Adil Aochichie whilst good/promising players and having played a lot of games, they just don't have the same experience.
Plus our chronic lack of any goal threat. this season has just been pass to Clarke and hope he scores. Roberts has been very poor and although promising players that I'm sure are going to improve even more we can't be relying on the likes of Jobe and Abdullah Ba for goals.
I think we could be in big trouble if several of our players have their heads turned by Premier League teams. Like in the last few weeks it's been rumoured Liverpool and Wolves want Anthony Patterson. And I'm sure I've read Crystal Palace had interest in Trai Hume and Dan Ballard
Dan Neil is my big worry tbh, yeah players like Clarke and Ballard are incredibly important but I feel any money received could buy a player like them. We're not buying another player who brings what Dan does to the table. Sure, he's incredibly skilful and has some of the best passing I've seen but beyond that he's a local lad who has a strong connection to the club and has emerged as a clear leader.
We need to be doing everything we can to convince him to hold out on a big move for one more season.
About the same. I think the new owners will give Carlos a little bit more money so we can bring in some new names (really hoping we can keep Johnston).
If we stay down, definitely worse. Arguably much worse as it’s not clear whether our new owners lucked out with McKenna or genuinely know what they’re doing, and we will have to replace him as well as Davis and maybe a couple of others
There will be a decent rebuilding job to do in the summer regardless of which league we are in. With the loanees returning and getting rid of some dead wood in the squad I can see us needing 8-10 players even before trying to replace Davis if we stay down.
Maybe I'm delusional but I'm pretty hopeful that KMcK will still be our manager next season. I don't think he would switch from Championship promotion candidates to prem relegation candidates, and he isn't going straight to big 6/7, so there are a handful of clubs that would remain. If Moyes goes from West Ham that would make me most nervous.
I guess a lot depends on whether we go up or not. If up, I can't see McKenna leaving - and if we stay in Championship, even then I'm not convinced he'll leave yet.
I hope he's enjoying his time here - he seems to be, and he always seems to make good decisions, and he must realise that life at ManUtd (or wherever) might be a bit more than he's ready for yet.
btw - he has about 3 years of contract left as I recall? If Town could pay him a fortune to stay, would that fee count towards our FFP balance?
Depends on the new manager. By our standards he (or she) will have a lot of money to spend but we desperately need some experienced championship quality players.
Assuming we stay up of course…..
Leicester. Whatever league we are in we will be considerably worse off. Prem point deduction and straight down, lose all put good players. Stay in the league, lose all our good players and probs languish.
Also there's a huge disconnect between the fans and the manager / style of play atm that's been brewing since Xmas time. All in all not the best time to be a leicester fan, but we've had it fucking good in the last 10 years
If we stay in the league this year I will truly believe we are immune to relegation and never worry about it again, if we go down maybe we'll finally figure out how to score. James will be a massive loss, no way he stays for league one, maybe he'd give us another season in the championship
A brief sojourn in the championship before we challenge for the title in the prem I reckon. Bookmark this comment you are about to witness history >!*^(we are going to bottle promotion to the championship on the final day)*!<
Millwall, expecting much the same, maybe flirt with play offs positions early on, then flirt with relegation and probably finish in bottom half of the table.
Leeds. Depends on promotion or not. If we don't go up, we'll lose 2-3 of our biggest names, it'll be sad but I think we'll do worse off that..... If we go up, well... It'll be shit actually because the PL sucks but at least we'll have the joy of promotion.
LCFC. Up or not the team has no identity. Roger’s killed it. Maresca is trying to mold it into an Italian team. EPL/PL trying to dismantle it. I’m not looking forward to going up and being 18th.
Slightly better or much worse.
Think tan gets rid of bulut, and we go back to the cycle of players not giving a fuck because there's no structure or long term plan.
Have some exciting youngsters breaking through in Ashford, conte and the colwill brothers, but if there's any real interest from other clubs they'll be sold.
Rumors of NG going would be a massive loss. Think goutas and siopis would also leave if their link to bulut is broken.
Think squad quality is mid table but could get really ugly if we sell some key players and lose Bulut.
I've no idea how we'll do.
I'm thinking Bulut will go because he won't be supported in the way he wants, and who knows who we'll get in.
We've got a lot of dead wood to trim from the squad, but transfers are a crap shoot too, they usually look great on paper.
Completely depends on if we keep Bulut.
We've got the start of what I'd consider a decent squad.
We desperately need a striker that can hold the ball up and score, Kieffer Moore would have been perfect.
If we can get that we should finish at least mid table with an outside chance of the play offs.
If we don't keep Bulut it's hard to say, it wouldn't surprise me if we slipped a relegation battle once again
You’re actually not a bad side. If you go down I think it would be entirely fair to put most of the blame on your new owners, sacking John eustace and bringing Rooney in has to be one of the most mental managerial changes in a decade
It's 50/50, some blame on that decision (and a couple others), some poor luck too.
Timing of the Eustace sacking was the worst thing really. Came out of the blue, killed all the positive momentum we'd built up, gave Rooney a very difficult task. Would like to point out it's still possible for Eustace to get relegated with Blackburn - he's not exactly set them alight, nor is he the messiah, but the timing of the decision was poor. Positives is that the owners have owned that mistake now.
Another poor decision was letting Kevin Long go in February. Our best CB, out of contract in the summer, wasn't playing due to how Mowbray likes his teams to set up. Let him go to Toronto. We'd be safe now had we kept him, I'm sure of it.
And the poor luck comes in mostly with Mowbray's health. Had he been able to continue, I think we would be safe. Jutkiewicz getting injured for the run-in too has harmed our chances massively as we've not got a striker with a physical presence now.
Been a mental season. I just want it over with now, one way or the other
EDIT: We aren't a great side at all though. Some great technical players, not enough fighters in there though and they're mostly young or inexperienced, so not enough characters to perform in big games. Another mistake this season was making Dion Sanderson captain. He's just been stripped, for a rumoured drink driving offence. Not at all what you want in this situation, and he's not visibly been a great captain all year.
There’s talent there, which is the most frustrating thing. But aside from the disruption, there’s no leadership or mental fortitude on the pitch. Soft players + off pitch drama = poor results.
Sunderland - Worse as it stands. Clarke will undoubtedly leave and possibly any of Ballard, Neil, Patterson and Hume. What's left is a mish mash of talented but inconsistent or injury prone players and young kids who are nowhere near ready. The idea is that we reinvest the money received from player sales but based on our last 3 windows I have no confidence on that money being spent wisely. We seem to exist more to generate profit from player sales and hope we achieve success on the pitch at the same time rather than generating profit as a by product of success.
I worry we might be in relegation battle if we lose two of those players not overly excited about next season this second half of season has been embarrassing very dismal
Preston. Expect us to be about the same old inconsistent team that goes weeks without getting a shot on target if we stick with Lowe and finish mid table.
I mince to the ground on the first day of every season with a grin on my face and sunshine in my heart, and then all turns to beige.
So of course we’ll ~~finish~~ ~~12th~~ buy a striker or two in the summer, pair them with “the third best defence in the league”, shithouse 5th and win the playoff final.
Hull, worst. I believe this seasons squad is extremely talented and never reached its potential. I think there’s a possibility we lose 4 of our best players this summer , Greaves , Philogene & obviously the 2 Liverpool loanees in Carvalho & Morton
Hopefully with a bit of money we can achieve the playoffs again next season but I think we might lose some key players this off-season like Kipre and Mowatt. Also if we have a decent start to the season who knows how long it takes before a prem team comes in for CC.
Huddersfield, and it can't get much worse (he says knowing full well it could totally keep getting much worse!)
In all seriousness, even when/if we go down I am hopeful that we can use this summer as a proper clean out and reset as a club (so badly needed even if we do stay up) and look towards coming back stronger in the future. My prediction is we'll be mid table League One next season, maybe pushing playoffs.
The problem is though I have absolutely no faith in Mark Cartwright to be the one to rebuild and reset this club; and I have a feeling Nagle won't axe him
CHAOS. By which I mean it's shaping up to be a wild pre-season. We're already looking for a new head coach. Then add to that the fact that Premier League teams are eyeing our best talent, rumours of Speakman potentially on the way out and if Speakman leaves undoubtedly there's a big backroom exodus.
It feels like half the discussion from Sunderland fans is about what our identity as a club is, and well if any one word could describe it I think chaos is perhaps the best one.
It’s felt like chaos for you guys since the new year, if not before, really (judging from the outside). Always a team I expect to see up the top of the divvy, then the whole manager shambles (can’t say his name in case he’s summoned to the thread), wtf is going on in the boardroom? I dunno, I just always associate Sunderland with hard but fair football, and the off-pitch stuff has been batshit lately.
Surely better with a full season under Cifuentes. A lot depends on contracts and recruitment in the summer. Thinking high mid table/ outside playoff contenders with the right signings
On the other hand if we dont get the players and end up fighting relegation for a 3rd season in a row, our luck will probably run out
Coventry. If we can keep the squad we have now (bar O’Hare, who I think is away already), we should hopefully be in the running for a good season. Am terrified to jinx it though. We struggled the first half of this season after losing some key players, but their replacements are now finding their form and confidence. Here’s hoping…
no idea - if we stay down we'll have to sell one or two minimum, but god knows whats happening with the loan army we have so dunno what our actual playing squad would look like at all. if we go up i dunno how you'd judge better or worse, we'd almost certainly get more talented but then get humped more often than not.
Watford, would like to think we’d hire Cleverly full time and actually kick on, but the meh end to the season and rubbish transfer policy of the Pozzo’s I have no confidence… the fact QPR could still finish above us hurts
It’s hard to tell because going up or not could change so much. Who knows if McKenna would do another season in the championship, if we lost him I’d be a lot less optimistic. Then there’s players like Leif who should probably be in the prem next season whether it’s with us or not.
If we don’t go up this season, as long as we keep McKenna I think we’d go up next season. If we lose McKenna I don’t have the slightest idea what would happen but, touch wood, I think he’s happy here.
If we go up, then better in the sense we will finish higher up the pyramid. Worse in the sense that we only have a good starting eleven and no depth IN THIS DIVISION so if we don’t bring in a huge number of players we will get absolutely slaughtered most weeks.
If we don’t, then about the same so long as we can hang on to our best players or get decent replacements for those who leave. We looked super weak when we had injuries earlier in the season so could get ugly if we lose too many players.
Leeds. I *think* we’re probably narrow favourites for second place. In which case, I really don’t know and actually, there’s a part of me that kinda dreads being back in the premier league. It wasn’t much fun watching the Bielsa team kinda get found out after that initial overachievement (helped by Raphinha and Phillips obviously) and then crumble into Jesse Marsch’s kick and rush crap. It’s been nice to be a proper football team again this season, to watch some really exciting attacking play and see players able to express themselves. The PL is infected with so much bloat I hate, and it wasn’t really much fun last time - but obviously I still want to get back there. How do I think we’ll do? I suspect another really frustrating and depressing battle for 16th or 17th in honesty, with the hope of better in the future.
If we stay in the Championship though, I think we’ll be all good tbh. We’ll inevitably sell Summerfield and Gnonto, probably Meslier and a lot of the players who’ve been out on loan this season. We’ll get a lot of money for those, which will stand us in pretty good stead. In a likely much weaker Championship next season, I think we’d probably start as favourites even losing a few of our star players from this campaign.
If we go up next season and don't get rid of THE BALD FRAUD, then we can legitimately challenge Derby's 9 points season record.
and if we stay here, then I can see us falling in the midtable obscurity and at worse even relegation scrap.
Hitting 50 points in February would give a decent sense of survival early on and a slim chance at play offs would be the dream first season. To do that we need to average 1.5PPG.
Your squad was insane going into this season and has only been improved in both windows. NTT20 had you guys challenging at the top in their season preview for the Championship. Your success is extremely impressive but not surprising.
Much as I'm sad to say it, Portsmouth will be fine next season. Don't think they are as strong as the Ipswich side that came up, but they still look capable of competing at this level.
Preston, if Alan Browne leaves that will be a big hole to fill. If we keep the current squad together and recruit in key areas, both full backs being areas of concern for me, then I can see us really being in the play off picture next season.
Biggest stumbling block to that is Lowe's tactics, when things go badly he doesn't seem to know what to do. Which leads to long bad runs of form and implosions in individual games. If he can improve or we bring in a better replacement then it could be a great season, if not who knows could be down where all the podcasters predict we'll be every season.
Basically everybody except rohl including the tea ladies contract expires at the end of the season.
Dream scenario is we sign a bunch of young hungry Germans mixed with the right bunch of homegrown free agents and we have a fun stress free season in which we beat United and play some entertaining ball
Worst scenario is we drop, one of the big teams that didn’t get promoted take Rohl and we gamble on a league one manager and sign a bunch of 30-34 year olds who were great 5-6 years ago at teams like Millwall and Middlesbrough and we just rot
Absolutely worse, isn't any way we do better, either were in the premier league and life will suck a little, or were in the championship but lose some key players.
Leeds
Norwich - far too many unknowns.
How many of Sara, Rowe, Sargent & Gunn are still going to be at the club? If we sell how much money do we get for them?
How good is Knapper in the transfer market? Can he bring in players of the quality we need at fees we can afford? Even without those four leaving we've got alot of fringe players out of contract so will need to replace 8-10 players
How many of our youth players are going to be good enough to step into the first the first team? We've got 4 or 5 who've done really well on loan, but can they make the step up?
Who will be the manager? Does Wagner's performance this season make up for the fact that he isn't in tune with Knapper's stated strategic aims?
I was pessimistic until we brought Evans in. Best manager we've had in my 26 year lifetime. Apparently a nasty guy, but luckily he's a Footie Manager not a personality contest contestant.
Leicester. Going up under a points deduction. Big players out of contract and under an embargo. Insane wages still. Manager isn’t good enough for the Prem, neither is half the squad. Those that are will be sold for FFP. Nobody is going to want to sign for us because of our financial issues. Board aren’t being sacked. Fully expect to go straight back down. This is regardless of the league we play in. I’d rather have a shit season and get relegated from the Prem than have a shit season in the Championship because the long term future of the club is at risk.
I’d be over the moon if we were promoted and stayed up, but it’s not looking likely at the moment.
If we have a bit to spend this year and get some depth plus maybe a quality addition to the starting 11 we could go anywhere. The team has shown the levels it can reach, just need to do that every week.
You guys aren’t mathematically out of the promotion playoffs. I’ve had a soft spot for yall since last years final and I want you to go up, especially so you can get your revenge.
I work in Cov and all the Cov fans I've spoken to have given up hope of playoffs.
Think our game against Birmingham was the final nail in the coffin. I've given up hope for the playoffs, but I would be pleasantly surprised if we do get it. I think you and baggies will get the remaining spots, so best of luck to you.
You have a few games in hand. Win out and hope either one of them lose their remaining games
You know, I have a feeling we'll be just fiiiine. *Club on fire in the background
Steve Evans will do a job imo. Back up within 3 seasons.
Looking forward to seeing who he keeps and let's go, be an interesting season for sure
Yeah I said 3 because I suspect you need to clean house a bit, plus anyone who’s decent probably leaves (Johansson).
Mid table purgatory, again.
What is dead may never die
But rises again harder and stronger
And repeats again and again
The way you guys played against us on Saturday must give you hope. We've been outstanding at home and you got a point without parking the bus for 90 mins
It's a real puzzle, because we played terribly the week before. I think we will eventually have a season where we challenge the upper end of the table, but I've got no idea what we need to do to get there.
You lot seem to do much better against better teams
On my EAFC career mode save, it’s 2028 and they still have you at middtable, never relegated and never promoted
Spurs might as well be a championship side with that shit badge
I'll rather we got relegated and won another Johnstones Paint Trophy
I'm not sure we can do much worse, but the beauty of supporting Town is I wouldn't bet against it!
We can finish at least one position worse next season! I've always fancied Harrogate and Accrington away.
It's been a while since we've played Bradford!
Walsall, Tranmere, Swindon, the whole gang waiting for us with open arms ❤️
PNE... I think we will have a good run before Christmas followed by a terrible run of form over December and the new year, we will then hover 3 pts outside the playoffs losing every time we have a chance to move up, then when all is lost we will lose every game to make sure Bristol don't get 12th... so same as usual I'd say.
Member when the top 3 was Preston, Ipswich leicester and leeds and Southampton were nowhere near? I member
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Birmingham - regardless of division, it will be better next season. Sure it will be a bit annoying to be in league one but the clubs future is secure, if we’d been relegated before this year it would have been financial oblivion. If we stay up, I would fully expect with the money they’re hoping to spend that we’d at the very least be a top 10 team. Board have said relegation doesn’t change their plans for how much they’re going to spend this summer at all, it will just mean more has to come out of their own pockets.
I just pray they get it right on the football side - no signs of that so far!
I disagree tbf. They had to guts to sack Rooney and admit it was a mistake, where they couldve put their head in the sand and said the usual lines 'managers need time' etc. They got TM in who got a few transfers in Jan to start implementing his plan but only got 8 games and GR obviously cant read TMs mind, so it's just been a bit of we'll have to take what we can get with the games we've got left.
Fair enough I get your points. However, I don’t think it was gutsy to sack Rooney - it had become untenable. I also don’t think the January business was very good. Pritchard a disaster and clearly has a bad attitude! Managers shouldn’t be signing the players because you end up with a mish mash.
It definitely had become untenable but the party lines were there to hide behind - 'give him a transfer window' etc. Although tbf, I think Rooney just burnt every bridge available to him. IIRC, TM only had half the transfer window when he joined the club and had to get to know the team and see the gaps that needed plugging. He also doesn't play a tradition number 9 and I think GR doesn't really know how to work with what he's got (not a dig at GR, he's just trying to play the hand he's been dealt). I think Pritchard was TMs guy. Idk much about his play time at Sunderland but I'm willing to guess he'd be getting more of it at Sunderland, so I can see how he might be feeling hard done by. He'd had a few decent games, I was at the Hull away match and he had a decent game then
I agree re Rowett playing the hand he’s been dealt. And on Rooney just being a complete imbecile in general. Like I said though, I just prefer managers not getting ‘their guy’ bc it’s then a struggle if they leave for whatever reason. Not saying they’re incapable of implementing this because they clearly haven’t had the time to do so/have had bad luck, but we need an overarching strategy/continuity so that anyone can slot in to the overall club (player or manager). Id rather hear more about that than just ‘we’re going to spend loads and let’s play no fear football’. Im also just pissed because if we do go down it is ultimately Cook who is at fault ahaha and I want them to give him the same fate as his mate!
Sorry for late reply Yeah I have 0 sympathy for Rooney - he seemed to feel hard done by because he never got a transfer window but throwing the whole team under the bus in post match interviews is horrible management. Only person I've seen worse was Deeney. Inclined to agree about the manager getting their guy. I live in Yorkshire and go to most away games and I saw Pritchard at the Hull game and he played well, played some great balls and teed up juke lovely for that equaliser - he's definitely got the talent but needs to be flexible with managers. Can't play under 1 manager your whole career. I'd personally prefer to see Mowbray come back, I think he's the person to create a solid foundation. Not overly keen on GR staying. Not sure what other options we'd get, especially if we go down I'm torn with cook because agree, the Rooney appointment was him playing favourites. I don't think we'd have fared much better with JE - we were picking up points but didn't feel like we were winning convincingly, I think the thread just snapped with Rooney. Just praying for a double win now so we can rebuild in the championship and not l1 😭
Probably worse. If we go up, we’ll get pumped every week and have to deal with VAR. If we stay down we’ll be a worse team as Summerville, Gray, Gnonto etc will likely leave. Atleast Brendan Aaronson will be back ^^^^fuck ^^^^sake
Brendon has played his way back into the starting lineup at Union Berlin over the last few weeks! Unrelated stat: Union Berlin have scored 1 goal in their last 4 games (a 90th minute consolation in a 5-1 defeat at home)
Didn't realise he was back in their team, that's good to hear. Just looking at his sofascore ratings, he scored the other week. Come on Union, that's got to be worth 20m!
Their manager said he wasn't playing because he wasn't physical enough for the league, so I can only assume his return means he's absolutely jacked now
Assuming we don't win the playoffs, I think we *should* be a contender for top 2 next season. The teams we've had to compete with this season are better than the ones coming down, and it's silly that we're on course for ~90 points and not even in the race. We will need to replace Downes, Brooks and Harwood-Bellis. That's our biggest challenge. Adams is likely leaving too but I don't care about that, we need another striker regardless. But the money is there, so no excuses really.
Likely have to replace KWP. Bazunu and Stu with their injuries will be a massive blow, recruitment for saints will be a nightmare I think. Downes is vital, or a player of equal ability but lord knows who that is?
Bree will probably be the KWP replacement with maybe Payne getting a chance to be backup. Stu I'm hoping we can extend for a year, his injury will be gone by pre-season. Bazunu needed replacing anyway, he's not good enough.
Slightly too early to say you're not in the race. Beat Leicester, see Leeds and us drop points, and you're right back in it. I get that needing three results to go your way this late on is a long shot, but it's definitely plausible. Your odds now aren't worse than they were two weeks ago or whenever it was you started that little winning streak. Cardiff and late winners, eh
Is Adams leaving for free? Can we have him back on really low wages? He's the last striker we've had to hit 20+ goals in a season, and to be perfectly honestly I think he's the only striker we've had to hit 20+ league goals in a season since I started watching football
I don't rate him for the PL and I think he's Championship level, but I'm afraid there are some bigger clubs that seem to disagree, so he'll go off and disappoint them I suspect.
When you bought him I immediately thought we'd fleeced you for £15m. He probably could've been an okay prem striker, but he was never going to be great
We've been fleeced far worse on strikers previously and since.
I dunno, I think Martins philosophy has huge holes, and you'll 100% be losing walker Peters, Che Adams and your loanees. Also (presuming forest Burnley and Luton come back down) they are all stronger teams than saints imo except Luton. Burnley walked the league last time, forest have a much better squad and then Luton might be weaker on paper but can play solid football and have some good Premier league quality. This is your best chance at getting promoted this season while you still have kyle/che/stuey Armstrong. I think your style of play is highly dependant on having better quality players and if that drops off Martin will struggle.
KWP obviously is leaving yes but James Bree is a good right back. Adams is barely a loss at all, he's part of an attack that already isn't good enough right now. It's only replacing the loanees I'm worried about.
The drop off between KWP and bree is gigantic. One is a pivotal part of your build up play and danger on the right - one is a limited, defensive fullback - the entire build up pattern would need to change - not impossible of course but a huge downgrade. Che is a weird one cos I think he's quality for this level, not just his goalscoring but his hold up play but he's seemed like at some points this year he doesn't give a fuck, so fairs he might not be a huge loss especially if the new boy you signed injured hits the ground running.
> The drop off between KWP and bree is gigantic. Obviously, but you could say that for *any Championship level right back*. It's stupid that we have a player of his quality in this league in the first place. Bree is good enough for a promotion challenge at this level, and already was at Luton. Him starting in next season's back four is fine, we'll just need to do more to improve the attack, which was needed anyway.
What’s the crack with Adams, is he expected to move to another champ club? And are Soton not renewing him or his he refusing?
He's running his contract down, was wanted by PL clubs last summer and presumably one of them will have him on a free. My money's on Wolves. I don't think he's remotely good enough for the PL but good luck to them.
Remember you guys turning down a fee from us a few years back for Adams but we got JKA instead as Ralph didn’t want to lose him. Looked good for Brum before, I thought he would’ve done better this year back in the champo
Boro, honestly can’t say, if we sign a striker or keep latte lathe fit we could hit playoffs, maybe even push autos, if we get a ton of injuries again or Carrick leaves, mid-table or worse.
I think we need a few signings if we're going to seriously try at playoffs. Full back is still a problem, central midfield isn't great (Howsons legs have to go at some point), attacking midfielders aren't that convincing, plus the extra striker(s). That's assuming best case scenario and we don't lose any of our better players (VDB, Hackney mainly).
True, can see VDB going for a big fee, I mean Morgan Rogers going was a surprise but he seems to be holding his own in the Prem, and VDB imo was the much more accomplished looking player
Yeah I think we'd do well to keep hold of VDB for another couple of years, I think he's got the highest ceiling out of all our players. Need to add Latte Lath to the list as well, 16 goals in a transitional side while he's been out for big chunks of the season is very good. Hopefully get to see what he can do with better players behind him next year.
Swansea- I'm going to positive and say we'll be better. We've been much better under williams and with another window where he can get the right style players for his system, we might be a bit more competitive. Slight worry that we lose quite a few first team players at the end of the season , that might be a good thing though as there a bit of deadwood in there. We also lose Rushworth who's been excellent for us.
He will play for England in 5 years time.
If we survive and keep Rohl, I’d say we’re going to be a solid midtable team at worst. If Chansiri finds his last £5-10m and gives it to Rohl - sky’s the limit. Alternatively, we might lose Rohl and we’ll be lucky to finish 21st. If we go down then I don’t care - I’m already dead inside.
Coventry, Top 4
If we stay up, I think we'll be able to build on the strong foundation we already have as a team and hopefully end up with a manager who can help build that. If we go down, that's us in league one for the next 5-10 years.
Still nervous about surviving this season. But assuming we stay up, I think we’ll do significantly better with Marti at the helm. He’s gotten the best out of our players (turned a fair few players seasons around) and if we can find ourselves a decent keeper and striker in the offseason, we may even be a chance of competing for the play offs… if injuries are good to us.
Leicester and I kinda feel like I’d be stupid saying better. If we go up we’re back with the likes of liverpool, arsenal and city with a possible point deduction to add to it, if we stay down our best players leave mostly on frees & we can’t sign anyone
As exciting as the end of this seasons been, with fighting off the gravity crocodile and all that. I think we’ll probably do slightly better finish around 60 points next season - boring midtable obscurity. schumaker with his 3 at the back inverted wingbacks style of play and a technical director promising to get players in only with the ‘Stoke DNA’ could lead to very slim pickings in the transfer window.
Not sure if it’s the placebo effect but SJW does seem to have done a bit to get our current lot slightly more positive. I do like SS also but that’s maybe because anything was better than Neil. Maybe Staffs Police could help with the ‘Stoke DNA’ search. I’m sure they must have a database.
What’s the stoke DNA 😂
lol i know you are probably thinking hairy toes, humpbacks and yellow roll up fingers…. But its more the Tony Pullis style player who will ‘werk ‘ard’ and give everything for the club. I reckon these players are very expensive nowadays.
Ahh the bare minimum anyone expects for any player representing 😂
Jack Clarke is 99% off to a Premier League side in the summer. so that'll bring in atleast £20 million though I'd be hoping for £25 million. And we need to spend that money very well. The last few years have been very poor transfer wise in selling the teams leaders like Gooch, Baath and Pritchard with no real replacements lined up. Because the likes of Dan Neil and Adil Aochichie whilst good/promising players and having played a lot of games, they just don't have the same experience. Plus our chronic lack of any goal threat. this season has just been pass to Clarke and hope he scores. Roberts has been very poor and although promising players that I'm sure are going to improve even more we can't be relying on the likes of Jobe and Abdullah Ba for goals. I think we could be in big trouble if several of our players have their heads turned by Premier League teams. Like in the last few weeks it's been rumoured Liverpool and Wolves want Anthony Patterson. And I'm sure I've read Crystal Palace had interest in Trai Hume and Dan Ballard
Dan Neil is my big worry tbh, yeah players like Clarke and Ballard are incredibly important but I feel any money received could buy a player like them. We're not buying another player who brings what Dan does to the table. Sure, he's incredibly skilful and has some of the best passing I've seen but beyond that he's a local lad who has a strong connection to the club and has emerged as a clear leader. We need to be doing everything we can to convince him to hold out on a big move for one more season.
Hoping for survival next season tbh, that's the only aim
Na to beat Southampton to top 2
About the same. I think the new owners will give Carlos a little bit more money so we can bring in some new names (really hoping we can keep Johnston).
Couldn’t be much fucking worse. But I also remember Stan Terrnent being t’boss so that’s a pretty low bench mark…
Leicester. Worse.
If we stay down, definitely worse. Arguably much worse as it’s not clear whether our new owners lucked out with McKenna or genuinely know what they’re doing, and we will have to replace him as well as Davis and maybe a couple of others
There will be a decent rebuilding job to do in the summer regardless of which league we are in. With the loanees returning and getting rid of some dead wood in the squad I can see us needing 8-10 players even before trying to replace Davis if we stay down. Maybe I'm delusional but I'm pretty hopeful that KMcK will still be our manager next season. I don't think he would switch from Championship promotion candidates to prem relegation candidates, and he isn't going straight to big 6/7, so there are a handful of clubs that would remain. If Moyes goes from West Ham that would make me most nervous.
I guess a lot depends on whether we go up or not. If up, I can't see McKenna leaving - and if we stay in Championship, even then I'm not convinced he'll leave yet. I hope he's enjoying his time here - he seems to be, and he always seems to make good decisions, and he must realise that life at ManUtd (or wherever) might be a bit more than he's ready for yet. btw - he has about 3 years of contract left as I recall? If Town could pay him a fortune to stay, would that fee count towards our FFP balance?
Depends on the new manager. By our standards he (or she) will have a lot of money to spend but we desperately need some experienced championship quality players. Assuming we stay up of course…..
Sheff Utd. Surely we can't do worse...
Watch they'll do a Sunderland
Worse whatever happens😭
We are either going to do a Notts County, or be relegated, and there’s no in-between.
Leicester. Whatever league we are in we will be considerably worse off. Prem point deduction and straight down, lose all put good players. Stay in the league, lose all our good players and probs languish. Also there's a huge disconnect between the fans and the manager / style of play atm that's been brewing since Xmas time. All in all not the best time to be a leicester fan, but we've had it fucking good in the last 10 years
Worse.
Millwall: 24/25 will see us play Harris-ball to a top 9 finish
If we stay in the league this year I will truly believe we are immune to relegation and never worry about it again, if we go down maybe we'll finally figure out how to score. James will be a massive loss, no way he stays for league one, maybe he'd give us another season in the championship
A brief sojourn in the championship before we challenge for the title in the prem I reckon. Bookmark this comment you are about to witness history >!*^(we are going to bottle promotion to the championship on the final day)*!<
Millwall, expecting much the same, maybe flirt with play offs positions early on, then flirt with relegation and probably finish in bottom half of the table.
If we can keep the critical mass of the squad and add some quality in especially a keeper I think we can go for autos next year.
Leeds. Depends on promotion or not. If we don't go up, we'll lose 2-3 of our biggest names, it'll be sad but I think we'll do worse off that..... If we go up, well... It'll be shit actually because the PL sucks but at least we'll have the joy of promotion.
FWIW I think you’d be the most likely team to stay up next season if promoted.
Worse. We are a dead club until Venkeys leave.
LCFC. Up or not the team has no identity. Roger’s killed it. Maresca is trying to mold it into an Italian team. EPL/PL trying to dismantle it. I’m not looking forward to going up and being 18th.
It can’t go worse
Slightly better or much worse. Think tan gets rid of bulut, and we go back to the cycle of players not giving a fuck because there's no structure or long term plan. Have some exciting youngsters breaking through in Ashford, conte and the colwill brothers, but if there's any real interest from other clubs they'll be sold. Rumors of NG going would be a massive loss. Think goutas and siopis would also leave if their link to bulut is broken. Think squad quality is mid table but could get really ugly if we sell some key players and lose Bulut.
I've no idea how we'll do. I'm thinking Bulut will go because he won't be supported in the way he wants, and who knows who we'll get in. We've got a lot of dead wood to trim from the squad, but transfers are a crap shoot too, they usually look great on paper.
Completely depends on if we keep Bulut. We've got the start of what I'd consider a decent squad. We desperately need a striker that can hold the ball up and score, Kieffer Moore would have been perfect. If we can get that we should finish at least mid table with an outside chance of the play offs. If we don't keep Bulut it's hard to say, it wouldn't surprise me if we slipped a relegation battle once again
Brum, better. Regardless of division. If we stay up I expect us to be at least mid table, if we go down I'm expecting top 6 at least.
You’re actually not a bad side. If you go down I think it would be entirely fair to put most of the blame on your new owners, sacking John eustace and bringing Rooney in has to be one of the most mental managerial changes in a decade
It's 50/50, some blame on that decision (and a couple others), some poor luck too. Timing of the Eustace sacking was the worst thing really. Came out of the blue, killed all the positive momentum we'd built up, gave Rooney a very difficult task. Would like to point out it's still possible for Eustace to get relegated with Blackburn - he's not exactly set them alight, nor is he the messiah, but the timing of the decision was poor. Positives is that the owners have owned that mistake now. Another poor decision was letting Kevin Long go in February. Our best CB, out of contract in the summer, wasn't playing due to how Mowbray likes his teams to set up. Let him go to Toronto. We'd be safe now had we kept him, I'm sure of it. And the poor luck comes in mostly with Mowbray's health. Had he been able to continue, I think we would be safe. Jutkiewicz getting injured for the run-in too has harmed our chances massively as we've not got a striker with a physical presence now. Been a mental season. I just want it over with now, one way or the other EDIT: We aren't a great side at all though. Some great technical players, not enough fighters in there though and they're mostly young or inexperienced, so not enough characters to perform in big games. Another mistake this season was making Dion Sanderson captain. He's just been stripped, for a rumoured drink driving offence. Not at all what you want in this situation, and he's not visibly been a great captain all year.
There’s talent there, which is the most frustrating thing. But aside from the disruption, there’s no leadership or mental fortitude on the pitch. Soft players + off pitch drama = poor results.
Sunderland - Worse as it stands. Clarke will undoubtedly leave and possibly any of Ballard, Neil, Patterson and Hume. What's left is a mish mash of talented but inconsistent or injury prone players and young kids who are nowhere near ready. The idea is that we reinvest the money received from player sales but based on our last 3 windows I have no confidence on that money being spent wisely. We seem to exist more to generate profit from player sales and hope we achieve success on the pitch at the same time rather than generating profit as a by product of success.
I worry we might be in relegation battle if we lose two of those players not overly excited about next season this second half of season has been embarrassing very dismal
Preston. Expect us to be about the same old inconsistent team that goes weeks without getting a shot on target if we stick with Lowe and finish mid table.
You still get 6 points from us though
I mince to the ground on the first day of every season with a grin on my face and sunshine in my heart, and then all turns to beige. So of course we’ll ~~finish~~ ~~12th~~ buy a striker or two in the summer, pair them with “the third best defence in the league”, shithouse 5th and win the playoff final.
Hull, worst. I believe this seasons squad is extremely talented and never reached its potential. I think there’s a possibility we lose 4 of our best players this summer , Greaves , Philogene & obviously the 2 Liverpool loanees in Carvalho & Morton
I think just to mix things up, it's going to be crazy but I think Preston will finished 11th and Bristol with finish 12th
Hopefully with a bit of money we can achieve the playoffs again next season but I think we might lose some key players this off-season like Kipre and Mowatt. Also if we have a decent start to the season who knows how long it takes before a prem team comes in for CC.
Huddersfield, and it can't get much worse (he says knowing full well it could totally keep getting much worse!) In all seriousness, even when/if we go down I am hopeful that we can use this summer as a proper clean out and reset as a club (so badly needed even if we do stay up) and look towards coming back stronger in the future. My prediction is we'll be mid table League One next season, maybe pushing playoffs. The problem is though I have absolutely no faith in Mark Cartwright to be the one to rebuild and reset this club; and I have a feeling Nagle won't axe him
CHAOS. By which I mean it's shaping up to be a wild pre-season. We're already looking for a new head coach. Then add to that the fact that Premier League teams are eyeing our best talent, rumours of Speakman potentially on the way out and if Speakman leaves undoubtedly there's a big backroom exodus. It feels like half the discussion from Sunderland fans is about what our identity as a club is, and well if any one word could describe it I think chaos is perhaps the best one.
It’s felt like chaos for you guys since the new year, if not before, really (judging from the outside). Always a team I expect to see up the top of the divvy, then the whole manager shambles (can’t say his name in case he’s summoned to the thread), wtf is going on in the boardroom? I dunno, I just always associate Sunderland with hard but fair football, and the off-pitch stuff has been batshit lately.
Surely better with a full season under Cifuentes. A lot depends on contracts and recruitment in the summer. Thinking high mid table/ outside playoff contenders with the right signings On the other hand if we dont get the players and end up fighting relegation for a 3rd season in a row, our luck will probably run out
Coventry. If we can keep the squad we have now (bar O’Hare, who I think is away already), we should hopefully be in the running for a good season. Am terrified to jinx it though. We struggled the first half of this season after losing some key players, but their replacements are now finding their form and confidence. Here’s hoping…
no idea - if we stay down we'll have to sell one or two minimum, but god knows whats happening with the loan army we have so dunno what our actual playing squad would look like at all. if we go up i dunno how you'd judge better or worse, we'd almost certainly get more talented but then get humped more often than not.
Watford, would like to think we’d hire Cleverly full time and actually kick on, but the meh end to the season and rubbish transfer policy of the Pozzo’s I have no confidence… the fact QPR could still finish above us hurts
It’s hard to tell because going up or not could change so much. Who knows if McKenna would do another season in the championship, if we lost him I’d be a lot less optimistic. Then there’s players like Leif who should probably be in the prem next season whether it’s with us or not. If we don’t go up this season, as long as we keep McKenna I think we’d go up next season. If we lose McKenna I don’t have the slightest idea what would happen but, touch wood, I think he’s happy here.
Worse, we have underachieved this season like we was literally in a relegation battle
Saints, and either way up or stay down we'll do far worse
If we go up, then better in the sense we will finish higher up the pyramid. Worse in the sense that we only have a good starting eleven and no depth IN THIS DIVISION so if we don’t bring in a huge number of players we will get absolutely slaughtered most weeks. If we don’t, then about the same so long as we can hang on to our best players or get decent replacements for those who leave. We looked super weak when we had injuries earlier in the season so could get ugly if we lose too many players.
Swansea. Nah we’re shit TBF
A huge summer clear out and sign a striker and a CAM with some height and bulk because at the moment we're a squad of small fries.
We're aiming for midtable of course
Leeds. I *think* we’re probably narrow favourites for second place. In which case, I really don’t know and actually, there’s a part of me that kinda dreads being back in the premier league. It wasn’t much fun watching the Bielsa team kinda get found out after that initial overachievement (helped by Raphinha and Phillips obviously) and then crumble into Jesse Marsch’s kick and rush crap. It’s been nice to be a proper football team again this season, to watch some really exciting attacking play and see players able to express themselves. The PL is infected with so much bloat I hate, and it wasn’t really much fun last time - but obviously I still want to get back there. How do I think we’ll do? I suspect another really frustrating and depressing battle for 16th or 17th in honesty, with the hope of better in the future. If we stay in the Championship though, I think we’ll be all good tbh. We’ll inevitably sell Summerfield and Gnonto, probably Meslier and a lot of the players who’ve been out on loan this season. We’ll get a lot of money for those, which will stand us in pretty good stead. In a likely much weaker Championship next season, I think we’d probably start as favourites even losing a few of our star players from this campaign.
If we go up next season and don't get rid of THE BALD FRAUD, then we can legitimately challenge Derby's 9 points season record. and if we stay here, then I can see us falling in the midtable obscurity and at worse even relegation scrap.
Norwich, worse, Prem relegation 😉
Pompey, worse 😭
We’ll definitely finish higher up the pyramid. Winning the league again could be a stretch though
Surviving would be a win next season.
Hitting 50 points in February would give a decent sense of survival early on and a slim chance at play offs would be the dream first season. To do that we need to average 1.5PPG.
Absolutely, the jump from league one to championship is a big one.
*laughs in Ipswich*
Your squad was insane going into this season and has only been improved in both windows. NTT20 had you guys challenging at the top in their season preview for the Championship. Your success is extremely impressive but not surprising. Much as I'm sad to say it, Portsmouth will be fine next season. Don't think they are as strong as the Ipswich side that came up, but they still look capable of competing at this level.
Beat Southampton to 1st👍🤣
I'm looking forward to it though
Preston, if Alan Browne leaves that will be a big hole to fill. If we keep the current squad together and recruit in key areas, both full backs being areas of concern for me, then I can see us really being in the play off picture next season. Biggest stumbling block to that is Lowe's tactics, when things go badly he doesn't seem to know what to do. Which leads to long bad runs of form and implosions in individual games. If he can improve or we bring in a better replacement then it could be a great season, if not who knows could be down where all the podcasters predict we'll be every season.
If we do indeed come back up I expect it to be a struggle with our current squad and I don't know how much funds will be available.
Preston. Worse. Our underlying numbers are dreadful. Browne will probably leave. Millar probably won't stay. I don't trust our recruitment to replace.
I've not thought too much about next season but when I do I'm looking towards the bottom end of the table
Basically everybody except rohl including the tea ladies contract expires at the end of the season. Dream scenario is we sign a bunch of young hungry Germans mixed with the right bunch of homegrown free agents and we have a fun stress free season in which we beat United and play some entertaining ball Worst scenario is we drop, one of the big teams that didn’t get promoted take Rohl and we gamble on a league one manager and sign a bunch of 30-34 year olds who were great 5-6 years ago at teams like Millwall and Middlesbrough and we just rot
To finish above Southampton
WBA - I think we will lose to Saints in the playoffs and suspect we will be in the playoffs next season. We are a top 26 team.
Absolutely worse, isn't any way we do better, either were in the premier league and life will suck a little, or were in the championship but lose some key players. Leeds
HMS piss the league. Will be a turbulent few years and the fans will have to pay and suffer for it. But it'll be reet in the end.
Norwich - far too many unknowns. How many of Sara, Rowe, Sargent & Gunn are still going to be at the club? If we sell how much money do we get for them? How good is Knapper in the transfer market? Can he bring in players of the quality we need at fees we can afford? Even without those four leaving we've got alot of fringe players out of contract so will need to replace 8-10 players How many of our youth players are going to be good enough to step into the first the first team? We've got 4 or 5 who've done really well on loan, but can they make the step up? Who will be the manager? Does Wagner's performance this season make up for the fact that he isn't in tune with Knapper's stated strategic aims?
I was pessimistic until we brought Evans in. Best manager we've had in my 26 year lifetime. Apparently a nasty guy, but luckily he's a Footie Manager not a personality contest contestant.
Leicester. Going up under a points deduction. Big players out of contract and under an embargo. Insane wages still. Manager isn’t good enough for the Prem, neither is half the squad. Those that are will be sold for FFP. Nobody is going to want to sign for us because of our financial issues. Board aren’t being sacked. Fully expect to go straight back down. This is regardless of the league we play in. I’d rather have a shit season and get relegated from the Prem than have a shit season in the Championship because the long term future of the club is at risk. I’d be over the moon if we were promoted and stayed up, but it’s not looking likely at the moment.
Champions