looking back who would have thought ?

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

When the final whistle went and we had just beaten Manchester City in an exciting game which was far from a fluke and having had a good earlier win against Newcastle, who would have thought that we were heading for our worst ever top flight season, certainly not me. I had always thought relegation was a distinct possibility but i had always thought the squad with its momentum would give a very much better account of itself and either survive or just narrowly go down, certainly not be 20 odd points worse then Sheffield Utd. add to this that we would still be playing the season through June and July after a pandemic and  we would  realistically tamely surrender our Premiership status in an empty stadium with two very poor displays against middle of the table sides with still half a dozen games to go. There will be many views on what went wrong and i will not add to the post mortem.  The re start after the lock down seems to have been the final nail in the coffin of our season , with a combination of no crowd, injuries and a total lack of confidence combining to snuff out our hopes of survival without even a fight. We do have some very good young players  many of which will go on to have very fine careers with bigger clubs than us, but the old saying goes you will never win much with a team of kids. These very young kids have played well on many occasions been a tad naive on others and when the going has been tough needed and deserved the support and character of seasoned professionals in the squad, the trouble is there has been a total lack of character in our seasoned professionals, oh for a few Huckerby, Malky McKay, Dion Dublin or Iwain Roberts type characters. We have looked a bit toothless up front, out muscled in Midfield and fragile at the back despite having an excellent goalkeeper. Very disappointing and surprising. we all knew we did not have much money to spend but Byram apart what money we have spent post promotion has been down the pan as far as i am concerned. That said i feel we will rebuild and have a decent season in the championship a level we as a club are more comfortable with and to be fair better suited to in the absence of outside investment. I would expect many of the youngsters who have shown promise to be sold, why would they stay if they get the offer of premiership contracts and with money being tight in the Championship post pandemic why would we not sell. We have a decent manager in terms of the championship and bringing through youth, though probably out of his depth in the Premiership, though to be fair to him it would have been interesting to see if he  would have success at a bigger and wealthier club. well  lets get this season finished, hope we get back to watching in person as soon as possible with optimism and remembering that  much as we all enjoy football recent times have shown us there are many more important things

Edited June 25, 2020 by Yorkshire Canary

[sgncfc 1,221]

The injury crisis from that Man City game onwards killed our momentum and we've never recovered. The lack of strength in depth has therefore been very exposed. Our first choice team is probably good enough to stay up - given that they play every week. But that's never happened. Pukki's loss of form since December was the final nail. I don't think we ever really had a chance with everything that went against us.

Compare all that to Sheff Utd, who managed to maintain their momentum all the way through (much as we did under Lambert) and suffered very few lost games to injuries.

I don't think we have worse players than them, just worse luck. I suspect our squad is worth more.

 

[South Sider 114]

Looking back a little further...

Who would have thought we would have won the Championship last season?

With a team built on youth and free/cheap transfers?

Then moving forward sign a load of promising young talent before entering the tough world of the Premier League.

Then, as so often happens, going down. But, going down having not 'done a Villa/Fulham' and spent way in excess of £100m.

No, going down with a lot of that promotion money in the bank, an amount that could truly see us comfortable for a few years. Parachute payments. Young talent amongst our numbers. And exciting current 1st team youth that will either keep improving or fetch a pretty penny.

The present looks saddening, but the future DOES look bright.

And financially we could be in a position to come back and attack the Premier League stronger, more equipped, financially just that bit more secure.

And quality wise, we may have a little more experience, I still believe we went up too early. Our talented players won't quite be so new and hopefully will be less naive.

Stop listening to those 'fans' who want to attack our club.

The way we do things seems as right as it can be for modern football. Sure it may take a little longer, but its what keeps me connected on a personal level.

Looking back, who'd have thought. It's all about perspective.

[canarydan23 4,060]

19 hours ago, South Sider said:

Looking back a little further...

Who would have thought we would have won the Championship last season?

With a team built on youth and free/cheap transfers?

Then moving forward sign a load of promising young talent before entering the tough world of the Premier League.

Then, as so often happens, going down. But, going down having not 'done a Villa/Fulham' and spent way in excess of £100m.

No, going down with a lot of that promotion money in the bank, an amount that could truly see us comfortable for a few years. Parachute payments. Young talent amongst our numbers. And exciting current 1st team youth that will either keep improving or fetch a pretty penny.

The present looks saddening, but the future DOES look bright.

And financially we could be in a position to come back and attack the Premier League stronger, more equipped, financially just that bit more secure.

And quality wise, we may have a little more experience, I still believe we went up too early. Our talented players won't quite be so new and hopefully will be less naive.

Stop listening to those 'fans' who want to attack our club.

The way we do things seems as right as it can be for modern football. Sure it may take a little longer, but its what keeps me connected on a personal level.

Looking back, who'd have thought. It's all about perspective.

Agree with all of that, looks like there is some common ground for us to start from for our date next week.

Edited June 26, 2020 by canarydan23

[sonyc 5,492]

21 hours ago, South Sider said:

Looking back a little further...

Who would have thought we would have won the Championship last season?

With a team built on youth and free/cheap transfers?

Then moving forward sign a load of promising young talent before entering the tough world of the Premier League.

Then, as so often happens, going down. But, going down having not 'done a Villa/Fulham' and spent way in excess of £100m.

No, going down with a lot of that promotion money in the bank, an amount that could truly see us comfortable for a few years. Parachute payments. Young talent amongst our numbers. And exciting current 1st team youth that will either keep improving or fetch a pretty penny.

The present looks saddening, but the future DOES look bright.

And financially we could be in a position to come back and attack the Premier League stronger, more equipped, financially just that bit more secure.

And quality wise, we may have a little more experience, I still believe we went up too early. Our talented players won't quite be so new and hopefully will be less naive.

Stop listening to those 'fans' who want to attack our club.

The way we do things seems as right as it can be for modern football. Sure it may take a little longer, but its what keeps me connected on a personal level.

Looking back, who'd have thought. It's all about perspective.

That's a fair summary. 

Lots to moan about in terms of recent performances which have been a bit baffling. Yet, we surely are nicely set for next year compared with lots of clubs. In terms of relegations it's not like we don't have a realistic hope of a decent campaign.

 

Edited June 26, 2020 by sonyc