Enjoying the Championship?

I ****ing am....

 

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Not as much as last time to be honest. I think its the home form which is putting a damper on it. Hopefully Rafa is going to do something about it and bring the swashbuckle back.

 

Yeah I hope we fail to get promoted actually because otherwise it's getting beat every week again

 

The PL is football you know. If you're not in the PL its not worth existing as a club. Relegation from the PL means you will turn into Portsmouth and you don't actually get to watch football anymore.

So I've been told anyway.

 

I don't like the premiership when you're just an an also ran

Don't see the point being involved in anything if you're incapable of winning

 

I enjoy watching us whatever league we're in and however well we are doing provided the ****s on the pitch are trying. If not and they act like sacrificial little pussies, then I just think **** them. That is what you think when you see a sacrificial pussy at the end of the day.

 

I'm happy for us to be drop down to the conference if Ashley goes

I'm not even joking

 

It would be great coming back up through the leagues. Bit of football romance. Honestly, I don't care what division we are in. It would be great to be doing well in the PL of course, you always want the best for your team. I just want to see players bust a gut every week. I do like a flair player though, a guy with natural ability.

I tell you who I liked the look of yesterday watching Swansea, Alfie Mawson and Tom Carroll. Carroll looked a lovely little footballer with a nice left peg. Like Jack Colback but mobile, accurate with his passing, and not ginger.

 

He can't be even remotely like jack colback if he's good at anything mate

 

Well he is small and is left footed. He also plays in midfield. There endth the similarities.

 

Surely Rafa will only stay if he is assured funds to build and be successful with. Sadly given the January debacle, I fear there's a significant chance that Ashley could keep the purse strings tight again, which will almost certainly result in Rafa walking.

And yeah enjoying the Champ, but not as much as last time, we were steamrollering teams at this point last time, but time we're grinding out wins and the team doesn't look such a tight unit, the gulf between us and the other teams seems much smaller this time.

 

F A W D L F A GD Pt Form
1 Newcastle United 30 17 9 4 49 21 11 4 0 30 7 6 5 4 19 14 +28 60 DWDWLD
2 West Bromwich Albion 30 17 8 5 61 31 9 2 4 31 15 8 6 1 30 16 +30 59 DDWWWW
3 Nottingham Forest 31 15 10 6 46 24 11 1 3 33 13 4 9 3 13 11 +22 55 WWLWLL
4 Swansea City 30 12 13 5 27 21 7 7 2 14 9 5 6 3 13 12 +6 49 WDDWWD
5 Cardiff City 29 14 6 9 55 35 7 3 4 24 11 7 3 5 31 24 +20 48 DDWWLW
6 Leicester City 29 12 10 7 36 29 8 5 3 23 13 4 5 4 13 16 +7 46 LLDWDW
7 Sheffield United 31 12 9 10 44 42 8 6 2 26 15 4 3 8 18 27 +2 45 WLLDLW
8 Middlesbrough 31 12 8 11 43 34 6 4 6 15 16 6 4 5 28 18 +9 44 DWDDWW
9 Blackpool 31 10 11 10 46 40 7 4 4 28 17 3 7 6 18 23 +6 41 WDLLLD
10 Coventry City 31 10 10 11 35 41 7 6 3 21 18 3 4 8 14 23 -6 40 LDDDWW
11 Preston North End 30 10 9 11 34 40 6 6 3 20 15 4 3 8 14 25 -6 39 WWLLWD
12 Barnsley 30 11 6 13 39 46 6 4 6 20 24 5 2 7 19 22 -7 39 WLWWLL
13 Watford 29 10 8 11 41 43 7 4 3 26 16 3 4 8 15 27 -2 38 DLLWLW
14 Doncaster Rovers 29 9 10 10 35 36 7 5 3 21 16 2 5 7 14 20 -1 37 WLLLDW
15 Bristol City 30 8 13 9 34 42 6 7 2 22 20 2 6 7 12 22 -8 37 WLDDLL
16 Derby County 30 10 6 14 33 41 8 1 6 23 22 2 5 8 10 19 -8 36 LWLWDW
17 Queens Park Rangers 30 8 10 12 41 48 4 6 4 25 21 4 4 8 16 27 -7 34 DLLLLL
18 Sheffield Wednesday 30 9 7 14 36 47 6 3 6 23 23 3 4 8 13 24 -11 34 WWLWLW
19 Crystal Palace 29 11 10 8 33 31 6 4 4 17 15 5 6 4 16 16 +2 33 DWLWWL
20 Ipswich Town 29 6 15 8 34 41 4 9 2 17 16 2 6 6 17 25 -7 33 DWDLDW
21 Scunthorpe United 30 9 6 15 35 55 6 3 5 20 19 3 3 10 15 36 -20 33 DWWLLL
22 Reading 29 8 8 13 32 46 3 6 5 12 17 5 2 8 20 29 -14 32 LLLWWW
23 Plymouth Argyle 29 8 3 18 27 41 4 2 8 13 17 4 1 10 14 24 -14 27 LWLLLW
24 Peterborough United 31 4 9 18 33 54 4 5 6 24 26 0 4 12 9 28 -21 21



Even though we have 5 points more now than we did last time.

 

Indeed I think its because we hadn't lost a home game, had scored 30 goals and only conceded 7 in 15 games. We had only lost 4 in total. This time round we've lost 7 in total. 4 of those have been at home. We have actually scored more (33) but also conceded a lot more (15). That is more goals conceded than in the whole of the 2009-10 season. As a fan, the vast majority only make the home games. There is something special about watching your team live at home. Its not the same on TV. So I think this directly influences your happiness with your team past the bare stats of everything. Context to stats is everything if you ask me e.g. timing, how you've played, etc etc

We didn't lose a home game at all that season, we were imperious. 18 wins and 5 draws (56 goals scored and only 13 conceded) was some record. We never lost another game from this point on that season, losing only 4 all season. Impressive stuff. We romped the league by 11 points and finished 23 points clear of third. Also 3 of the defeats had come by mid to late October. So in 7 months of football we lost just 1 league game. Such a strong middle and final 3rd of the season left a very strong memory of a dominant season.

 

Why did we sack Chris Hughton?

 

Be careful what you wish for mate. I'd rather the devil we know, than some incompetent Asian 'billionaire' who colours our shirts red because it's more auspicious, or changes the name of the club etc. I know the St James/SDA debacle was bad but it could be worse.

Or it could be Ellis Short.

 

I think the main benefit of being a lower tier premiership side would be to have enough money/good enough players to mount a decent cup challenge. I'd like to see Newcastle win something in my lifetime, even if it's only the league cup. And I imagine that's the extent of the ambition of most fans.

It might take some years of rebuilding and consolidation to get there, but I get the impression that's the goal now, however incompetently it's been managed in the past.

 

Premier league football in my eyes is "corporate" football, and all about the money, the money, the money. So far I've enjoyed this season, but will always want to be in the prem. Being in the/top of the championship is all about the goal of getting to the prem. Season analysis is great so far but could have enjoyed more (see previous comments re home form). But with rafa in charge I think we will look forward to prem football, at some point and maybe being able to compete at the top teer of English football. I will miss the efl of it means to going back in a relegation battle.. every season

 

We are definitely going to have to go big in the summer. We've got a chance with a manager that players actually think is worth playing for. It will be the first time in a long while that we potentially (if we keep the boss!) won't look like a complete sh*t show of a club. Mike has got to let Rafa spend the cash.

 

Yes but the teams in 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 13th, and 19th are now STILL in the Premiership and one of those has won it. We're back down here again.

Still enjoying the season though.