I was hoping for a nice sensible middle of the table building for next year but now unfortunately, play offs would be a minimum
4th It's interesting to see a 3rd of the fanbase now think we'll gain automatic promotion (not saying that's right/wrong, just interesting).
I think there may be different criteria in play. I went for second, play off which is what would keep me happy based on our squad and my (limited) knowledge of the opposition. But I wouldn't call it a prediction, I have no idea where we will actually finish. CR needs to spend the international break drilling the defence into a cohesive unit.
We will win the whole thing. So, campioone,campioone.....even without the best manager in the league.
I was happy with mid table last time, would be happy to finish in 8th place now. We are building a team and club again, knowing QPR we'll stumble somewhere along the way.
I upgraded from mid table to playoffs but having thought about it I may change my vote. We are all chuffed that Austin is still with us but we have the January window. I'm sure he will keep banging them in but quite a few Prem clubs will be desperate to find an in form striker due to injuries or to help get out of relegation battles. We were lucky this window but the next who knows?
If he is banging in the goals and we are in with a good chance of promotion why would he go to a relegation-threatened team?
I originally thought between fighting off relegation to mid table but now we, with the full squad still intact, I'd go for mid table to possible play offs.,anything better is a bonus, keeping in mind that this season was meant to be a 'rebuilding' year. If the team clicks and plays good football, this can only help us for a genuine promotion push, the following season. As l said, anything before is a bonus.
Champions Like any team though we need luck to mean no major injuries to key players (Austin and Onouha as most vital) and i'm assuming this Angella is decent Our front 6 are better than most bottom half prem teams Did back us back when we were 16\1 as well
I had us between 7th and 10th the last time. Have to upgrade to the play offs now as the window ended better than I thought. But we still resemble the side who got relegated in 1996. Strong going forward, well dodgy defensively. We had the likes of Sinclair, Impey, Gavin Peacock and John Spencer banging them in. But we couldn't defend to save our life. Even the coaching situation is similar. An untried head coach/manager in Stewart Houston, now we have the same in Ramsey. We missed out that time and we can miss out again. So won't put my hopes on more than the play off max for now.
Now I voted for the play-offs but not expecting promotion. First time around I opted for lower mid-table 15th based on 50 million fine, transfer embargo and the loss of at least 6 more players.
The team is much stronger than I would have predicted a couple of weeks ago and nobody could deny that Austin and Phillips will add extra goals to whatever we would have had. In terms of rebuilding the essence of the club, this may create an obstacle. We ruined our times in the Premiership by either trying to buy success or survival at the expense of building anything sustainable. Now we may well push more towards success this year than the previous aims of getting the culture right, consolidating and then pushing on afterwards (perhaps three years in the future). Most of this falls on Ramsey who has a squad that people rightly expect to challenge and he's got to balance that with the development of the lesser players. Promotion with a squad that isn't ready would result in another revolution of playing staff, anything less and there'll be questions asked. Perhaps a West Brom yoyo target of stability is the best we could hope for then. I won't cote on this because mid table would probably benefit us (if CR remains in charge - I consider him as crucial to the future of the club) but it would be a failure given the team we can now field.
Good post Norway I think with the squad so strong play offs as a minimum due the goals we can score and I feel the defence will tighten up over the next few weeks. I agree with your point re a coach who becomes a manager, it rarely works, don't get me wrong Ramsey has had a solid start but we are only four games in... Realistically with us keeping Austin, Philips and Fer - Ramsey has no excuses.. Lets hope he continues the good form and we finish in the top 6..........
I have gone for champions from possible relegation in the previous survey. I believe we will have a record points haul of 139, record goals scored in the region of 225, & win the FA cup beating Chelsea 6-0 at Wembley, Charlie hatrick & 3 John Terry O/G's. That is of course until we lose at home to Forest !
It's all about the £$£ at the end of the day. I'm hoping this does not happen of cource but never say never! Anyway whenever I make any kind of prediction the complete opposite usually happens so I did change my vote back to 7 to 15th, hoping that will make us play better
There's some quite prophetic posts on this thread. Especially from KooPeeArr and Norway. I wonder where we all stand now? I'm going to go all out on a limb here and say 10th.
I didn't vote originally and the Preston game was my first live game this season. I was horrified at how bad we were in the second half although the first half we played some good stuff. Based on what I saw Saturday, I think our current position of 13th flatters us and I expect us to finish between 16th and 21st but not relegated. Our lack of a good playmaker in the middle of the park was glaringly obvious after Faurlin went quiet in the second half. I hate to think what we would be like without Ale.