Hopefully get Plymouth on a Saturday 3pm early in the season, nice little over-nighter on the sunny south coast.
I'm hoping you surprise a lot of people mate, the second season syndrome may be harder than the first. As for us, we'll be flirting with the top six I reckon, our new owner won't accept failure like his predecessors and him sorting the stadiums mess up early is a great sign of intent.. Having said that, it's Birmingham, so we could be down by Christmas..
I think we're nailed on certs for the drop, our club is a mess from top to bottom. Haven't got a pot to piss in so it'll be loans and freebees that no one else wants. The only question is who's coming with us.
It seems that nearly everyone is one bad or good window from challenging on either front of the table. Difficult to predict but QPR, Rotherham, Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham, and Plymouth will go in as the favourites for the drop. We'll see once teams start bringing in managers and players. As always there will be one side nobody expects to struggle. I could see it being Swansea right now.
Can only speak about the promoted clubs but Plymouth may surprise a few this season. The manager is clued up and they play ‘modern’ front foot, attacking football, tactically cute. Suppose much will depend on the quality of loans they’re able to attract, it’s probably easier to get players who will smash league one than ones who can do the same in the Championship, I think they had a few last season. Wednesday need some new blood in my opinion, an older squad who had the power and nous to see off much of the league last year but Bannan plus some experience might not be quite as effective a division up. Think they will need to bring in goals for sure. Can certainly see us all surviving though.
On a separate but similar note, Trev, It looks like my travels will be coming to an end in early 2025, thinking of moving back to the UK and Worthing is looking like I might be headed. Save me a seat in the Cricketers..
I watched the FA Cup final with a couple of your old cronies at the weekend Panj, sat with Frenchie Mowg and a few others when it sounded like a plane was going to land on us, twenty seconds later in walk twenty odd Outlaws, great lads!!
I could tell you a few stories about the niners from back in the day when Frenchie was the leader of the pack. Be good to see them again, it’s been too long..
My wife is from the Channel Islands and has never lived in England but her sister lives in Pulborough and she likes the area. There’s no way I’m living too near her sister so Worthing is the compromise. Is that where you live Bleeds? Thinking I might start following Worthing FC from afar to get started..
We will be a regular in here; we certainly won't be hitting top of the table like last season. Rumours of Chair, Willock, Dieng and Dickie all going but we have £0 to spend. So we will replace with freebies who have a history of being injured. Due to injuries, we'll be down the bottom at the end of Oct and we'll sack Ainsworth and go a whole different route again.
Cardiff under Tan remind me a lot of us when Marcus Evans was owner, slow decline. Some of their decision making is more outside the box (like this new manager) but I think they’re only going one way. For a surprise name, I think Watford could struggle because for their hire and fire approach to work they’re even more reliant on having a better squad than most of their opponents, which they don’t have anymore.
i'm not going to rule us out of this thread, definitely not convinced we'll go straight back up like some people seem to think and i'm massively unsure about our owners ability to sort the club out. Wouldn't be surprised at all to see us just outside the relegation zone early season
You going to lose a few players from the relegation Frannie? I’d fancy you to bounce if you can keep the majority of the side that scored four against Liverpool..
Can’t fault the logic fella. I live in Lancing currently which one town over but I’m probably moving to Worthing later this year with a mate. It’s probably a good time to start following Worthing too. Last year was their first year in the conference south and they ended up finishing 4th. Lots of goals and big crowds for that level. It’s definitely filled the void of not going to Brighton games for me.
A surprise to others maybe but not us Watford fans. Certainly cant see us challenging for promotion. Finances arent great, and weve already lost Pedro. If only we'd kept Edwards, that was apparently a turning point where we'd give a manager time and 10 games or so later we sacked him. Mid table for us i think but if we don't start well we could be flirting with those relegation spots. Our players have shown they don't have a backbone. We seriously need some fresh faces in, but how we afford those I don't quite know.[/QUOTE]
We currently have no strikers until Evans and Riis return, which could be late autumn. DJ is sure to leave, and it wouldn't be a shock if we cashed in on Whiteman this summer who only has 12 months left and is supposedly asking for more than we're willing to pay. Alan Browne only has 12 months left too, and I doubt we'll offer him the same wage he's on now. We're contenders unless we get lucky in the loan market, we need to sign another Cannon or Archer this summer rather than waiting until January.
That does sound very, very Blues . Similar things happen at Stoke, like getting relegated in our first season after moving to the new stadium. And making the biggest pigs ear possible from spending £50m in the Championship. Don't think it's possible to waste money more emphatically if you tried. I can see Stoke very much being involved in the relegation battle next season. We've got an almighty clear out this summer so it's a blank canvas that could go either way. But with our consistently dire recruitment since 2016 I know which way is more likely.
