Championship thread 25/26! (24 Viewers)

[AOM]

Do throw ins count as assists?

It's a good question. I'm not sure, but you'd think so as surely a long thrown isn't much different from a corner?

 

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[Flying Fokker]

Play-Off changes. OK, I’m against this…it ain’t broke.

But if this is about rising revenue then surely extending the league to 26 teams (50 games) would be a route to consider? Or perhaps re-jigging the league structure to a N/S scenario of old and play-offs thereafter?

 

[theferret]

Play-Off changes. OK, I’m against this…it ain’t broke.

But if this is about rising revenue then surely extending the league to 26 teams (50 games) would be a route to consider? Or perhaps re-jigging the league structure to a N/S scenario of old and play-offs thereafter?

There are too many games already. Midweek game turn outs have been really poor across the league all season, clubs are barely selling any tickets above their season ticket base. We're the best supported club this season, going for the title at the tail end of the season, and have barely sold a ticket for next Wednesday. No appetite for more of that.

 

[hologram]

There's a couple of games if you're interested

Fantasy EFL - You pick a new 7 man side each gameweek, across all of the Championship, League 1 and League 2 games.
Gaffr - A more traditional game with a 15 man squad, weekly transfer etc.

Hopefully neither will be needed next year, but I play both currently and enjoy them

Yep, I can recommend gaffr as well, been playing for a few years.

I've got Rushworth plus Rudi and Wright (since they've both found their form)

Hoping to finish top 400 or better for the first time ever

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

I'd imagine it was pretty much unanimous. Why wouldn't it be when it gives clubs increased access to the PO spots.

I don't really see a reason a logical reason why a club would object against it really.

But if you suggested teams down to 20th get a PO spot it'd probably be unanimous too as it gives a team more chance of promotion. There is a point where it becomes a mockery.

Perhaps there should be a headstart depending on how many points ahead you were when the season finished. 1 goal for every 5 points or something.

 

[shepardo01]

It works okay actually in the National League.

Momentum is a big thing in football.
Was it last season York City got over 90 points, narrowly finishing second - miles above the next few teams in the playoffs.
They had to wait around twiddling their thumbs for other teams to play their preliminary ties - a couple of weeks I think.
By the time it came round to their turn, the teams who'd played a series of games were in match nick and York didn't go up.

 

[SkyBlueBarmy84]

Assuming we go on to be promoted this season (), but then got relegated, you’d have to assume we were in the box-seat (given parachute payments) to get promoted.

Even if we had a honking start - a’la Southampton - you’d have to fancy us to get through the playoffs, especially when it’s extended from 3rd - 8th.

I don’t think it’s a necessary move, but our timing for promotion this season couldn’t be much better…

 

[richnrg]

Momentum is a big thing in football.
Was it last season York City got over 90 points, narrowly finishing second - miles above the next few teams in the playoffs.
They had to wait around twiddling their thumbs for other teams to play their preliminary ties - a couple of weeks I think.
By the time it came round to their turn, the teams who'd played a series of games were in match nick and York didn't go up.

But the opposite happened to Sunderland

 

[Nuskyblue]

But the opposite happened to Sunderland

Nah

 

[shepardo01]

But the opposite happened to Sunderland

We've covered this before.
When they knew autos had gone, they changed their aim.
They were rotating and playing below full pelt
Manager and players alluded to this after the playoffs too.

In relation to my post, they were still playing games and not sat twiddling their thumbs!

 

[robbiethemole]

how about we play 46 games over a whole season and the three at the top go up?????

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

how about we play 46 games over a whole season and the three at the top go up?????

Wtaf

 

[robbiethemole]

Too radical, Pete???

 

[SBT]

I don’t think people are ready for how bad the FPL discourse about us is going to be next season.

 

[Irish Sky Blue]

There are too many games already. Midweek game turn outs have been really poor across the league all season, clubs are barely selling any tickets above their season ticket base. We're the best supported club this season, going for the title at the tail end of the season, and have barely sold a ticket for next Wednesday. No appetite for more of that.

I think gates are up all over the place. I’m amazed at some of the attendances clubs are getting. Even National League gates seem to have rocketed. While midweek attendances are lower, they are not hugely different to weekend gates. I’d be surprised if we are not pushing 28k to 29k next Wednesday with Preston’s traditional poor away support adding to that.
Not saying I support the extension of the play offs but attendance wouldn’t be a reason I would be against them.

 

[Ipad Boro]

Would be interesting to see what clubs voted in favour of this.

Somewhat surprisingly, I hear Charlton didn't.

 

[mmttww]

The far bigger risk is the one we’ve just taken: spending tens of millions we don’t have to get promoted. But that horse has bolted.

so you're saying we can't live sustainably and be successful in this league, would stand the best chance long term if we spend enough to stay up, and at the same time the biggest risk we've we could've taken was to do what we've done i.e. spend transfer fees we've received and grow the wage bill to around mid table? fully do not get the hill you're on here.

 

[CovValleyBoy]

so you're saying we can't live sustainably and be successful in this league, would stand the best chance long term if we spend enough to stay up, and at the same time the biggest risk we've we could've taken was to do what we've done i.e. spend transfer fees we've received and grow the wage bill to around mid table? fully do not get the hill you're on here.

It's the contrarian hill.

 

[David O'Day]

We've covered this before.
When they knew autos had gone, they changed their aim.
They were rotating and playing below full pelt
Manager and players alluded to this after the playoffs too.

In relation to my post, they were still playing games and not sat twiddling their thumbs!

yeah, let's believe their excuses for playing shite

got a bridge for sale if you want it

 

[shmmeee]

so you're saying we can't live sustainably and be successful in this league, would stand the best chance long term if we spend enough to stay up, and at the same time the biggest risk we've we could've taken was to do what we've done i.e. spend transfer fees we've received and grow the wage bill to around mid table? fully do not get the hill you're on here.

I think spending above your income is riskier than spending below your income if your concern is financial stability, yes.

A mid table wage bill still results in losses in this division.

The “hill” I’m on is again that spending £50m on paying off the stadium mortgage is less beneficial to our long term financial stability than spending the same £50m on players in an attempt to stay in the Premier League where our income is significantly higher and each extra year increases out parachute payments should we come down.

There is a mistaken belief on here that the stadium makes us tens of millions a year and makes us sustainable at Championship level. Even if that were true paying off the mortgage early would save us comparative pennies in interest.

 

[clint van damme]

There is a mistaken belief on here that the stadium makes us tens of millions a year

I havent seen one post stating that and have only seen 1 poster advocating for paying off the mortgage.

 

[shmmeee]

I havent seen one post stating that and have only seen 1 poster advocating for paying off the mortgage.

Theres loads of posts on here about how the stadium changes our finances. And that one poster is the one I was replying to that you and mmttww were complaining about!

 

[clint van damme]

Theres loads of posts on here about how the stadium changes our finances. And that one poster is the one I was replying to that you and mmttww were complaining about!

The stadium changes our future, its not without challenges, for sure.
But there's a reason sisu, wasps, Ashley and now King all wanted it.
And after 2 (3 if you count Burton) exiles and a failure to be able to fulfill early season fixtures in 22/23 I Don know why anyone wouldn't be pleased that that won't happen again?

And I'm disagreeing with your general stance on spending.

 

[shmmeee]

The stadium changes our future, its not without challenges, for sure.
But there's a reason sisu, wasps, Ashley and now King all wanted it.
And after 2 (3 if you count Burton) exiles and a failure to be able to fulfill early season fixtures in 22/23 I Don know why anyone wouldn't be pleased that that won't happen again?

And I'm disagreeing with your general stance on spending.

My general stance on spending is “if there’s £50m available spend it on players not the stadium” to be clear.

I don’t think our games are in danger because we have a mortgage to pay. No more than they would be if we were mortgage free and had upkeep to pay.

All the exiles happened because of poor owners with bad business practices attempting to get something on the cheap and failing who people on here backed mostly because they’ve been radicalised to hate councils.

 

[Grendel]

My general stance on spending is “if there’s £50m available spend it on players not the stadium” to be clear.

I don’t think our games are in danger because we have a mortgage to pay. No more than they would be if we were mortgage free and had upkeep to pay.

All the exiles happened because of poor owners with bad business practices attempting to get something on the cheap and failing who people on here backed mostly because they’ve been radicalised to hate councils.

Still bending over for your mates in the Council?

Well that is truly a surprise.

 

[Matt Grimes' Beard]

I'm still doing everything I can to convince myself that everything is going to be fine and so with 11 games left, have been looking at the number of points won by us, Boro and Ipswich over the last 11 (12 for Ipswich).

Ipswich 26 (avg 2.17ppg)
Boro 23 (avg 2.3 ppg)
Coventry 20 (avg 1.82pp)

If this were replicated and projected forward, that would leave us

Coventry 91
Ipswich 89
Boro 89

This made me very happy so I decided to look over the slightly more recent form and it made me even happier still.



Essentially, we are keeping pace with Ipswich and starting to improve significantly on Boro on the back of them having their "Wobble".

Although it might feel like Ipswich, in particular are in good form, they are actually picking up points at more or less the same rate as us right now and so our 8 point lead over them at the moment would, in theory, give us enough of a buffer for the odd rogue result that will invariably come our way.

Boro, definitely have quality but they seem to be a little streaky and have taken a few games to recover from losses. They may well string some more wins together but they also have a history of going 3 or 4 games in a row where they drop points.

 

[TomRad85]

I'm still doing everything I can to convince myself that everything is going to be fine and so with 11 games left, have been looking at the number of points won by us, Boro and Ipswich over the last 11 (12 for Ipswich).

Ipswich 26 (avg 2.17ppg)
Boro 23 (avg 2.3 ppg)
Coventry 20 (avg 1.82pp)

If this were replicated and projected forward, that would leave us

Coventry 91
Ipswich 89
Boro 89

This made me very happy so I decided to look over the slightly more recent form and it made me even happier still.

Coventry Ipswich Boro
Last 9 19 19 20
Last 8 16 16 17
Last 7 13 13 14
Last 6 13 13 11
Last 5 13 12 8

Essentially, we are keeping pace with Ipswich and starting to improve significantly on Boro on the back of them having their "Wobble".

Although it might feel like Ipswich, in particular are in good form, they are actually picking up points at more or less the same rate as us right now and so our 8 point lead over them at the moment would, in theory, give us enough of a buffer for the odd rogue result that will invariably come our way.

Boro, definitely have quality but they seem to be a little streaky and have taken a few games to recover from losses. They may well string some more wins together but they also have a history of going 3 or 4 games in a row where they drop points.

I don't know why people obsess over points over a random amount of games, you can cut and slice to make any point you want.
Over the course of the season - Top.
Won our last handful suggesting we're in good form at this moment.
All that matters really.

 

[clint van damme]

My general stance on spending is “if there’s £50m available spend it on players not the stadium” to be clear.

I don’t think our games are in danger because we have a mortgage to pay. No more than they would be if we were mortgage free and had upkeep to pay.

All the exiles happened because of poor owners with bad business practices attempting to get something on the cheap and failing who people on here backed mostly because they’ve been radicalised to hate councils.

I'm not in disagreement with the first paragraph.

But the idea we were only vulnerable to exile because we had shit owners and wasps were really benevolent landlords just isn't true.

Look at what happened with the Henley sports centre to see how conniving and ruthless wasps could be, and not a Tim or joy in sight

 

[jas365]

I'm still doing everything I can to convince myself that everything is going to be fine and so with 11 games left, have been looking at the number of points won by us, Boro and Ipswich over the last 11 (12 for Ipswich).

Ipswich 26 (avg 2.17ppg)
Boro 23 (avg 2.3 ppg)
Coventry 20 (avg 1.82pp)

If this were replicated and projected forward, that would leave us

Coventry 91
Ipswich 89
Boro 89

This made me very happy so I decided to look over the slightly more recent form and it made me even happier still.

View attachment 49645

Essentially, we are keeping pace with Ipswich and starting to improve significantly on Boro on the back of them having their "Wobble".

Although it might feel like Ipswich, in particular are in good form, they are actually picking up points at more or less the same rate as us right now and so our 8 point lead over them at the moment would, in theory, give us enough of a buffer for the odd rogue result that will invariably come our way.

Boro, definitely have quality but they seem to be a little streaky and have taken a few games to recover from losses. They may well string some more wins together but they also have a history of going 3 or 4 games in a row where they drop points.

I did all this a few days ago in the "10 more wins" thread

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

My general stance on spending is “if there’s £50m available spend it on players not the stadium” to be clear.

I don’t think our games are in danger because we have a mortgage to pay. No more than they would be if we were mortgage free and had upkeep to pay.

All the exiles happened because of poor owners with bad business practices attempting to get something on the cheap and failing who people on here backed mostly because they’ve been radicalised to hate councils.

You added the councils bit didn’t you after I liked it
All exiles happened because of poor ownership the second exile very different from the first though

 

[Nick]

My general stance on spending is “if there’s £50m available spend it on players not the stadium” to be clear.

I don’t think our games are in danger because we have a mortgage to pay. No more than they would be if we were mortgage free and had upkeep to pay.

All the exiles happened because of poor owners with bad business practices attempting to get something on the cheap and failing who people on here backed mostly because they’ve been radicalised to hate councils.

It's ironing about being radicalised.

 

[CrawleySkyBlue]

My general stance on spending is “if there’s £50m available spend it on players not the stadium” to be clear.

I agree to an extent. Only works if the £50m is spent on good players. The risk is spending the £50m on players who subsequently turn out to be crap. Risk v reward.

 

[shmmeee]

It's ironing about being radicalised.

Yes wanting your club to lose millions to stick it to some councillors you’ve convinced yourself are evil incarnate is perfectly normal. You are as always having a normal one.

 

[David O'Day]

It's ironing about being radicalised.

The Russell Hobbs Liberation Front

 

[skybluecam]

My general stance on spending is “if there’s £50m available spend it on players not the stadium” to be clear.

I don’t think our games are in danger because we have a mortgage to pay. No more than they would be if we were mortgage free and had upkeep to pay.

All the exiles happened because of poor owners with bad business practices attempting to get something on the cheap and failing who people on here backed mostly because they’ve been radicalised to hate councils.

you're not seriously suggesting we could've turned round and spent £50m on players