Brentford still 9th in the form table despite that poor record - must be a lot of teams out of form. And there was some bloke on the other forum calling our recent run...of 2 wins and a draw bottling it! Bournemouth will probably be wishing they had changed managers earlier but I'd expect them to win the play-offs.
Yes.... I would love Barnsley to make it.... just down the road from my territory.... or Brentford......
IF Norwich (guaranteed) Us (looking likely) and MUff go up, it will be the first time that the 3 that went down come back up.
Yes - I guess it will lead to the debate about parachute payments but tbf us and Bournemouth have hardly dominated the league until recent weeks.
But we had to do it the Watford way by sacking at least one manager and not starting till alway through the season Do you remember the Monty Python sketch where one team are drinking cups of tea while the opposition scores 20 goals and in the second half they score 21 to win the game by one That is us this year
If there were no parachute payments no team could go up and stand a chance of staying up because they couldn't sign the quality needed. If they did and then came straight back down they would be bankrupting themselves. Even with the parachut payments teams like Norwich and WBA have typically bounced between the 2 divisions whilst storing up funds to make a decent fist of it.
I think the main difference is being able to afford to keep hold of your best players. Having the extra financial cushion allows team building over time, we kept Sarr for example, instead of having the best players cherrypicked by lower PL sides/promoted sides. Promotion this year would really put us in a strong place going forwards. It'll be interesting to see where we invest. We definitely need to replace Gray and/or Deeney, goals keep you up and Pedro/Perica/Deeney/Gray are not going to hit double figures.
Sorry to disagree , but statistically, it's NOT goals that keep you up, it's clean sheets. In fact, if you score1 goal per game (every game) you ill ALWAYS stay up. Read 'The Numbers Game'. It's all there. This 'goals keep you up' rubbish is peddled by pundits who are almost always ....... goalscorers. Goalscorers know less about the game than almost any other player. They only talk up goals for the excitement /entertainment value. Same as the twaddle about scoring just before or just after halftime. Statistically such goals have no significant bearing on the outcome that is different from any other time in the game. Which 'pundits' talk the most sense ...? Neville (G) Murphy, Hansen, Nevin. And before them, the real class act Armfield. If you want drivel, try Lineker, Shearer, Wright, Sutton (what a muppet) . I will happily accept that Dublin talks a lot of sense, but it's mostly not about goalscoring. Having got that off my chest, as it were, I heartily agree that OUR team would benefit hugely from a reliable goalscorer. We make chances by the shedload. Oh for a Mo Johnston - he would have absolutely buried all Gray's chances ,and all the others that would have come this way.
Or, going back even further, for the predatory instincts of a Dai Ward. When our defence was so inept it couldn't keep a clean sheet in a laundry, it was his goal scoring exploits that kept us up.
Clean sheets only get you so far. I fully see your point, but scoring goals wins games, clean sheets give you at best 1 point rather than 3.
Yes - you are right. I hold my hand up. 1 goal a game that season would have given us 36 points - not enough to survive. I still recommend 'The Numbers Game' though !
Sorry to flog this a it further but... In 62/63 we scored 85 goals. Ward scored 31 ( I think) although the history books tell me that Hudson of bristol city was top scorer with 30. So perhaps Wards 31 included cup goals. So the rest of the team scored 54. My premise of 1 goal a game would have got us 46 goals. Another 8 goals (at the right time!) would easily have garnered us the 5 points necessary to stay up. I stand by my conviction , especially now that goals are harder to come by.
1 goal per game this season would have led to 79 points at this stage. Not only keeping us up , but ensuring a play off spot , because of the clean sheets backing up the 1 goal. Yes it's true that (now) goals are worth more in garnering points, but ,to take the logic to extremes, scoring 1 goal every game, and keeping a clean sheet every game leads to.... The Champions league ! (Eventually).
Yes I agree and not all teams go straight back up. Going by the BBC looks they could be 2 or 3 up so not expecting much from Millwall.