We'll come straight back up next season

[Canary Poirot 1]

Seriously, looking at the championship, who have we to fear next season? Only Newcastle, Derby, Brighton and Hull for me have teams which can beat us, possibly QPR on a good day. Villa will be hopeless next season. The rest of the division is mediocre dross. Take Ipswich, finished 7 th this year, 8th last season, got no money, and are miles behind us in terms of quality. If we can hold this,squad together we will destroy the championship next season.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Canary Poirot"]Seriously, looking at the championship, who have we to fear next season? Only Newcastle, Derby, Brighton and Hull for me have teams which can beat us, possibly QPR on a good day. Villa will be hopeless next season. The rest of the division is mediocre dross. Take Ipswich, finished 7 th this year, 8th last season, got no money, and are miles behind us in terms of quality. If we can hold this,squad together we will destroy the championship next season.[/quote]I''m confident we''ll do well, maybe not quite as confident as you are. I''ll reserve judgement until I see what happens over the summer.But play offs is obviously the absolute minimum.

[Gunthorpe 0]

Morty I agree has to be a realistic goal

[Row D Seat 7 0]

It''s tough to say as things seem a little uncertain at the moment. I think we''ll be back up within three seasons.

[Gunthorpe 0]

Row D Seat 7 wrote the following post at 12/05/2016 4:33 PM:

It''s tough to say as things seem a little uncertain at the moment. I think we''ll be back up within three seasons.

The problem with this is we only get 2 years parachute payments - who will fund the 3rd year in Champs ?

[Branston Pickle 3,638]

I see no reason why we can''t do well - within the relegated sides over recent seasons there seems to usually be one that struggles to cope, but you''d like to think we were better prepared for it than the others. Clearly, retention and recruitment of players for all three will be important.

[Canary Poirot 1]

[quote user="Row D Seat 7"]It''s tough to say as things seem a little uncertain at the moment. I think we''ll be back up within three seasons.[/quote]

You have to get out of the championship within 2 seasons. Otherwise the budget shrinks and our squad slowly turns into a standard championship quality squad And that''s when you end up getting stuck in the division for years.

But if we can invest wisely if we lose some of our stars, there is no reason we can''t come straight back up.

[Bradley Johnsons left foot 0]

I wouldn''t be too quick to right off Villa, irregardless of how bad they''ve been this season they still have some decent players (on paper anyway) and money to spend. Combine that with a good managerial appointment and I expect them to challenge us next season.

Play-offs will be a minimum requirement as they were in 2014/15. I think Hull have the strongest squad of the teams left in the Championship and could be dangerous next season if they don''t go up via the play-offs.

Newcastle will be up there as well but will be interested to see who out of their high earners will leave.

[Bradley Johnsons left foot 0]

Write*

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="Canary Poirot"]Seriously, looking at the championship, who have we to fear next season? Only Newcastle, Derby, Brighton and Hull for me have teams which can beat us, possibly QPR on a good day. Villa will be hopeless next season. The rest of the division is mediocre dross. Take Ipswich, finished 7 th this year, 8th last season, got no money, and are miles behind us in terms of quality. If we can hold this,squad together we will destroy the championship next season.[/quote]If they finished 8th last season how did they get in the play-offs?

[Horse Renoir 1]

With AN''s play off record I''d snap your had off for 6th place now if offered, but I think we''ll do better than that. Surely the law of averages states we can''t have another summer window as bad as the last 3?

[OldRobert 38]

[quote user="lappinitup"][quote user="Canary Poirot"]Seriously, looking at the championship, who have we to fear next season? Only Newcastle, Derby, Brighton and Hull for me have teams which can beat us, possibly QPR on a good day. Villa will be hopeless next season. The rest of the division is mediocre dross. Take Ipswich, finished 7 th this year, 8th last season, got no money, and are miles behind us in terms of quality. If we can hold this,squad together we will destroy the championship next season.[/quote]If they finished 8th last season how did they get in the play-offs?[/quote]Poirot got mixed up with the number of fingers on each hand!

[lappinitup 629]

[:D]

[Tumbleweed 106]

Well we''ve spent most of this season playing like a Championship side so there is no excuse for a slow start.............

[andyc24_uk 59]

Obviously I would have preferred us to stay up, but if managed right there might be up-sides to playing a year at a lower level - that horrible season in League 1 allowed us to lay the foundations both on and off the pitch for becoming a much more stable club and we brought through several youngsters who we wouldn''t have played in the Championship - hopefully we can do something similar next year albeit at a step higher up.

Villa I suspect will lose the few decent players they have and struggle badly; Newcastle will lose Wijnaldum and co but still have the money and backing to spend their way to the title; and I think the rest depends on who goes up this season - I''d be worried about Brighton if they''re still here next season; but I think several of Hull''s better players will move on if they''re facing another season at this level, and possibly the same for Derby. I think unless we lose too many key players and fail to replace them, we''ll be well in the hunt for second place though to be honest.

[morty 0]

Big question is who will be Newcastle manager?

We reckon Benitez is likely to hang around?

[Canary Wundaboy 1,358]

[quote user="morty"]Big question is who will be Newcastle manager?

We reckon Benitez is likely to hang around?[/quote]

Not a chance.

[Capt. Pants 4,202]

Ashley is sniffing around BHS so Benitez might end up in the Lighting Department.