Has winning the Play-Off Final cost us in the long run?

[unique 466]

Yesterday''s result has drastically increased the likelihood that we will be swopping places with Middlesbrough in the Championship next season.

No Norwich fan would have wanted to taste defeat on the day, but maybe the PL came just too early for AN.

The whirlwind months that brought the play-offs, and the euphoria that followed, misled AN into believing that his squad of players, full of PL experience, would give Norwich a head start on Watford and Bournemouth at the very least.

Alas, this season has proved once again that our squad is full of players that are simply not consistently good enough to play PL football:-

Ruddy, Whittaker, Bassong, Bennett, Martin, Howson, Hoolahan, Redmond, Jerome.

If Norwich are relegated, none of these players, bar maybe Redmond and Howson, are ever likely to play PL football ever again.

Allied to the woeful acquisitions of Mulumbu, Jarvis, Naismith, Dorrans and Pinto, it is no surprise that the few positives of Brady, Klose and Mbokani( although lacking in goals), has been nowhere near enough to maintain the PL status.

If Norwich had lost the Final, AN would have learned far more about his squad of players, developed a style of play ( aka Watford and Bournemouth) that they could rely on, rather than chop and change to try and counter the opposition, and although it would not have guaranteed promotion this season, it would not have misguidedly built up the expectations of the fans that we could finally establish ourselves at the top table.

One thing is for sure, Norwich have picked the wrong season to be relegated. The huge gulf is about to get a whole lot wider.

[morty 0]

No.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,215]

There''s never a RIGHT season to be relegated Unique.

Excuse the ''old gitishness'' of the following comment, but I''ve seen us relegated now something like 7 or 8 times. Each time it felt like the end of the world - but you know what - it never was.

[Katie Borkins 1]

Honestly?

I''ll give you £50m now with parachute payment options if it doesn''t work out, or give you the chance of winning £50-60m in a year''s time.

[quote user="Unique"]If Norwich had lost the Final, AN would have learned far more about his squad of players, developed a style of play ( aka Watford and Bournemouth) that they could rely on, rather than chop and change to try and counter the opposition, and although it would not have guaranteed promotion this season, it would not have misguidedly built up the expectations of the fans that we could finally establish ourselves at the top table. [/quote]

I don''t know what you are trying to say with that last bit.  The club built up fan expectation?  What?

Surely fans of Norwich City know what they are going to get, i.e. a roller coaster which more often than not ends in disappointment.  IN historical terms, the last five years has been something of a golden era for our club and yet we still find things to bleat and whinge about.  This latest one, i.e. somehow the club misguidedly built up fan expectation, is arguably a new level of stupid.

[morty 0]

I am kinda amazed that anyone can pluck a negative from the day out at Wembley, possibly the best footballing day of my life.The Championship is a graveyard, full of clubs like us.

[havemyhowsonit 0]

This has got to be the most strangest post I''ve ever seen.

Have you ran out off things to moan about?

Every season is different and we should have made all efforts to stay in the best league in the world. We haven''t made the best effort with regards to the defence not being sorted out in the summer and no goalscorer brought in at all. Along with the supposed ''failed'' signings.

So if we do go down its got f**k all with winning the playoff final

[unique 466]

I''m guessing Middlesbrough fans will be saying that losing the final was a godsend....they''ll be supping at the top table when all the big money is sloshing around........

.....whilst Norwich will most likely be rebuilding,with a squad that will need dismantling, and dreams of establishing themselves in the PL put back a few years.....

[morty 0]

Strange, strange logic....

[FCC 94]

I think the money thing is nonsense. People probably said this when the Premier League started and the money came in. 3 teams will come down next season, and 3 will go up - so which is the better place to be then?

Big money doesn''t guarantee promotion back to the Premier League, no matter how much it is, and many Premier clubs are only some bad luck away from relegation - Palace, Swansea, Bournemouth, Watford to name a few.

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

I think the "worst time to get relegated" tag was first said to me after ''95.  I think it was truer then than it is now.

[King Klose 0]

What a load of complete and utter bollox.

[Ginja 43]

[quote user="morty"]I am kinda amazed that anyone can pluck a negative from the day out at Wembley, possibly the best footballing day of my life.The Championship is a graveyard, full of clubs like us.[/quote]

This.

How many football fans can say they''ve seen their team lift a trophy at Wembley? That day was a once in a lifetime opportunity. What I witnessed on that day was incredibly special to me for many reasons and I cannot contemplate how there can be even the slightest negative point to be had.

[norfolkbroadslim 225]

What''s being said is however factually correct.

If we had not been promoted to the PL last season, it is impossible that we could be relegated from it this season.

[AJ 1,358]

Whilst that is true, we must be in a better financial position having been promoted, even if we are relegated we get far more money than if we had been in the Championship. I fail to see, even if the worst happens and we go down, how we''d be in a worse position had we played in the Championship this year.

As others above have said, there is never a ''good'' year to get promoted or relegated - there''s no logic in that. But B''mouth and Watford have both managed it, and we might still yet.

[HertsCanary93 223]

No chance. Had we not got promoted last year and attempted to rebuild the squad in the Championship, there is absolutely no guarantee we would have gone up this year. It is so easy to become ''one of those'' Championship clubs who wonder around the 9th-19th spots every year. Another year in the Premier League has been both good for finances and club reputation, allowing us to sign better players wherever we are next year.

Football never guarantees anything, therefore it is in my opinion best to assume it is always a good time to get promoted, and never a good time to get relegated.

Not to mention that as others have said, winning the play-off final was one of mine, and I''m sure most of our fans'', greatest footballing experiences.

[Guest]

Had we stayed in the Championship another year, chances are we would have lost more good players. The likes of Howson, Tettey, Redmond and Olsson would have moved on. Making it actually harder to get promoted and even more likely to miss out on the increase in Premier League revenue.

Going down now is actually better than going down next year - providing we bounce straight back up. Those teams relegated from the PL a year from now will have a sizeable income advantage. But we will have a season to avoid them if we get promoted again.

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

[quote user="Pyro Pete"]Had we stayed in the Championship another year, chances are we would have lost more good players. The likes of Howson, Tettey, Redmond and Olsson would have moved on. Making it actually harder to get promoted and even more likely to miss out on the increase in Premier League revenue. Going down now is actually better than going down next year - providing we bounce straight back up. Those teams relegated from the PL a year from now will have a sizeable income advantage. But we will have a season to avoid them if we get promoted again.[/quote]

 

Exactly.  Back in 95 many of us assumed our team was too good for the 2nd tier - remember those "on loan for one season only " t-shirts ?  Credit to Boro for improving after the playoff defeat, but there''s absolutely no guarantee we''d have done the same.

 

Ditto for next season - if we go down and anyone assumes it''ll be easy to get back up, they could well be in for an unpleasant surprise.

[Yellowbeagle 0]

It''s never a good time to be relegated. But I hope it''s something our club continues to factor into its business plan. The real danger is doing a Newcastle'' thinking your "established" then potentially going down with huge overheads you have no way of funding. The extra money brings more threat to the bottom two thirds of the prem not less.