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Yellowhammer

If we don't go up

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[quote user="72season"]Would be in a good position next season , would be a good season with Alex in charge and think we would walk away with it[/quote]

Wouldn''t be so sure about that - we will lose some key players if we don''t get promoted plus the three teams coming down won''t be a pushover.

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If we dont make it this year i can see a better season next year. AN is still working with players he inherited and despite the fact we may lose a few ( Hooper, Johnson, Redmond perhaps)  we will be there or thereabouts next year.I do have some reservations about being back in the Premier League even though its is the promised land financially. Back to winning one game on 4 isn''t a great deal of fun.

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I agree that we should be pretty well placed for a good promotion charge next year if it doesn''t happen this time round. I think the togetherness that we now have is reminiscent of the Lambert era and though there might be some irresistible offers I would be very surprised if too many of the front line first team squad wanted to walk away. I do worry about AN''s inexperience in the transfer market, but I don''t think we''ll need wholesale changes, just some bolstering here and there. This season just happens to have been a rather extraordinary one with so many teams in the race, it''ll probably get back to normal next time and with a fair wind we could well be one of the pace setters throughout.

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[quote user="whoareyou"]If we dont make it this year i can see a better season next year. AN is still working with players he inherited and despite the fact we may lose a few ( Hooper, Johnson, Redmond perhaps)  we will be there or thereabouts next year.I do have some reservations about being back in the Premier League even though its is the promised land financially. Back to winning one game on 4 isn''t a great deal of fun.[/quote]Agree with this.Inevitably we''d lose a few players but whatever squad we ended up with AN seems to have a knack of making players play for him as Lambert did. We''d also have a nice £23m parachute payment to play with too so I''d be surprised if we weren''t top two or very close to that at the end of the season.As to the Premier League for a team like Norwich it''s not much fun being in it but it''s where all the media attention and money is now. The question is do we want loads of money and little fun or a lot of fun and no money ?

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Where is the ambition? What about fun AND money? Surely being a strong mid table team with loads of money is fun. Seeing Norwich go up against the top players in the world.

Who is to say that we will be in another dog fight next year?

This season has been immense, and if we go up I will truly miss it. But I would much prefer us to be in the Prem.

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Do you think Neil would be bothered if we had to sell Hooper and Redmond because i dont think he would be.

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I would think Alex Neil is looking forward to his first full season, with his squad with his own summer signings (if any players want to leave I don''t think he will be too worried) and his own pre season.

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[quote user="CJRV 2014"]Do you think Neil would be bothered if we had to sell Hooper and Redmond because i dont think he would be.[/quote]

True, especially with £10m+ for the pair. But I think it would dramatically weaken the squad. We''d also lose Olsson, Ruddy (if he still has England aspirations, he needs to be playing in the Prem) and at least one of Johnson, Tettey and Howson as well as RvW of course (if anyone will take him).  Hopefully that''s another £10m, so hopefully we''d see some decent quality arriving as well.  If not, the squad would be considerably weaker, albeit the younger ones like Loza, Murphy x2, Morris, McGeehan and McGrandles and Thomson from Swindon would have more opportunities. Whether they will challenge with that sort of squad is debatable in my opinion.

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I don''t entirely disagree with Huh''s point but i do know that if next season is

in the Premier League its unlikely to be anything like as much fun as

this one. The best we could aspire to is to be like Swansea and Stoke

and their seasons have been over for a few weeks now. Neither in danger

of relegation nor able to make the Europa League.The whole Premier League needs a complete rethink in my opinion but its never going to happen whilst the biggest clubs can skim the cream off the top. I have watched very little Premier League football on Sky this year. Its dull and boring.

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This season was always our best chance of promotion but what was needed was an experienced and external manager to provide challenge both to the board and the squad. Failure this season - and let''s not forget we are still in the lottery - will necessarily mean a further unwinding of the squad and, at best, consolidation in the championship as the board grapples with the overhang of premier league wages. Regretfully, if say Leicester and Burnley are relegated, prima facie they appear to be reasonably well run clubs (unlike the crisis which faced both Cardiff and Fulham) and they will likely be in the promotion mix next season making the championship stronger than this. For us failure this season will mean a fundamental rebuilding and likely many more years in the championship. Let''s hope that we have luck in the lottery. If not, both the board and fans will rue the decisions taken last Summer.

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I suspect we''d lose at least Redmond and Hooper in the Summer and unless we look nailed on for promotion in January many of the names you mention at that point.

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[quote user="Highland Canary"]This season was always our best chance of promotion but what was needed was an experienced and external manager to provide challenge both to the board and the squad. Failure this season - and let''s not forget we are still in the lottery - will necessarily mean a further unwinding of the squad and, at best, consolidation in the championship as the board grapples with the overhang of premier league wages. Regretfully, if say Leicester and Burnley are relegated, prima facie they appear to be reasonably well run clubs (unlike the crisis which faced both Cardiff and Fulham) and they will likely be in the promotion mix next season making the championship stronger than this. For us failure this season will mean a fundamental rebuilding and likely many more years in the championship. Let''s hope that we have luck in the lottery. If not, both the board and fans will rue the decisions taken last Summer.[/quote]An interesting point, and not one I''ve seen made here before.

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Well I''m pretty optimistic about our chances next season, even if we lose a couple of the names regularly mentioned. I am not sure who will come out of the existing pack and if Ipswich and Brentford don''t do up then I can''t see them doing so well again. Derby may lose McLaren to Newcastle. Forest and Blackburn? Possible but they seem to have reached a plateau of Champ mediocrity. Relegated clubs always take time to readjust and the negativity of it can take a while to get flushed through. We have stabilised however and there is a positive vibe at the moment so I think we''ll do well. So while I would prefer to go up this time I have little fear at the moment that failure would mean we are necessarily stuck here for the medium term.

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I honestly get the feeling that AN doesn''t see Redmond and Hooper as ''his sort'' of players so I would not be shocked to see them both leave.

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In my opinion a two year period of re-building is exactly what we need. To have a decent chance of  establishing yourself in the PL you need to arrive there with a largely PL quality squad requiring just one or two better quality additions to keep improving. We didn''t, and that unpreparedness (plus the commitment to pay off the external debt in the second season) means we are still short of where we need to be in quality terms. Does anyone seriously think that the present squad is basically good enough to survive more than a season in the top league with just a bit of tinkering? I don''t, even with AN in charge.

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As for the clubs that may come down:

Burnley will lose Ings but will be stable, I can''t see us struggling too much against them though. I think they will be playoff challengers.

Leicester will be able to keep their mainstays and I can see them as a bit of a threat to be honest. They''d probably lose Kramaric and maybe Mahrez and Cambiasso but the likes of Drinkwater, Vardy, Ulloa would stay. I could see them being similar to us this year and they have money to spend.

Hull have shot themselves in the foot a bit with their signings, they got similar to us in that they survived with their promoted squad and a couple of useful strikers and tried to add quality with the majority failing. I think they''d keep people like Snodgrass though and I could see them being a threat for playoffs/ a title challenge.

Sunderland look a bit of a pickle but have some good players in amongst the chaff. Defoe would most likely leave, same with Rodwell but I think they''d manage to keep the rest and Sunderland seem to be the masters of this league. I''d have them down as title challengers.

QPR are a similar story. I think Fer would leave, as will Austin and Green regardless of going down or not. I still think they''d scramble a good team together and challenge for at least playoffs.

As for the teams at this level, assuming the top 3 go up, that leaves us Derby who will probably be playoff challengers again, Forest with another summer of recruitment but Lascelles and Darlow to replace will be there or thereabouts, Blackburn I think will drop off as their assets will be sold (Gestede, Cairney, Rhodes). Same with Brentford. I think/hope Ipswich will be found out and will float back down to midtable but it might depend on who they keep from their good youngsters.

I don''t think any other sides in the championship look a big challenge either.

The sides coming up don''t look too much of a threat (even if Preston did beat us this year) but you never know what momentum can do.

I can''t think of many sides from the rest of the also rans that look particularly convincing.

For me, that leaves us, Derby, Forest and the relegated sides as the main challengers. I think if Watford or Bournemouth fail to go up this season they will struggle more next season as I can see the vultures circling for people like Wilson and Deeney. Boro look like they will stay strong if they fail.

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I don''t really care if Redmond or Hooper goes but who is going to buy them for fees acceptable to City. Redmond rumoured at £8m but not playing in the league to justify that fee. Whereas Hooper cost £5m+ and looks poor value. Doubt if we shall sell this pair.

Remember RVW is coming back £8m of waste of space need to find another loan after not setting St Ettiene alight.

Only Johnson and Olsson of current squad could readily find new employers.

Howson is out of contract signed on 3 1/2 year contract not heard he has resigned on his way.

Replace Redmond with Jota at Brentford or Gray at Birmingham.

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Jimmy, I think you underestimate Brentford and are almost certainly wrong in suggesting they, like Blackburn, are likely to lose their best on-field assets. They have done better than they expected this season, so I think their expectations will be to at least match it next season. A lot''s been made of the impending departure of  Warburton, but Benham''s track record shows that he knows what he''s doing. Guardian piece about Benham''s "other" club here

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The way things are set I will be surprised if Watford and Bournemouth drop any more points.

That means two from us, Middlesborough and Derby will still be scrapping it out next year, and whoever it is will almost certainly be in the mix. If the unthinkable happened in the playoffs it would be all three. There''s normally one relegated club stays in contention but rarely all 3.

But it''s not just about which players will leave, it''s also about who can retain a good manager. We will, Derby may not, so they might drop out of the equation. Boro? Don''t know. If by any chance Bournemouth do falter Howe will surely move upwards.

In reality it''s easier to replace players with confidence than managers, but really the managerial appointments have the most effect. It''s surprising how few Boards get it right twice in a row.

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