Do you actually want promotion?

[SwearyCanary 1,179]

I just rewatched the highlights of the Newcastle home win and Man City win of 2019. Those results are just what promotion is about, especially for a club with no hope of a cup run. Crazy not to want to have the chance for a pop at the big boys again. Even though it’s no given and ‘no chance with Smith/Squad/Owner’ blah blah blah, it’s still possible only if we are up there. Surely that is worth the relegation scrap/whimper 

[The Great Mass Debater 1,089]

How are people feeling now?

[Robert N. LiM 4,338]

17 minutes ago, The Great Mass Debater said:

How are people feeling now?

Looks like it's not a problem we're going to have to worry about!

[nutty nigel 7,531]

Could drop out of the top six today!

Happy days?

[Herman 9,756]

It's probably been asked, but are those fifty anywhere near the threads wanting Smith gone, as I am sure that would be highly  hypocritical.😉

[nutty nigel 7,531]

5 minutes ago, Herman said:

It's probably been asked, but are those fifty anywhere near the threads wanting Smith gone, as I am sure that would be highly  hypocritical.😉

Smith must be their dream come true, their one and only you🎶

[nutty nigel 7,531]

7th now!

Smith in?

[littleyellowbirdie 2,546]

On 10/10/2022 at 00:33, SwearyCanary said:

I just rewatched the highlights of the Newcastle home win and Man City win of 2019. Those results are just what promotion is about, especially for a club with no hope of a cup run. Crazy not to want to have the chance for a pop at the big boys again. Even though it’s no given and ‘no chance with Smith/Squad/Owner’ blah blah blah, it’s still possible only if we are up there. Surely that is worth the relegation scrap/whimper 

Absolutely this. Also, given the number of relegations we've gone through, and still followed it up with more good times and promotions, there's nothing really to be afraid of from relegation; every promotion is a chance that we'll catch a break. 

[Capt. Pants 4,227]

Tight at the bottom of the EPL; only 4 pts between bottom and 10th. 

Battle for Champions League places kicking off as well. Great season.

Early days but it's looking as though 50 people will be relieved we're starting to make a bit of a hash of getting promoted. 

 

[hogesar 9,658]

Both the Championship and Prem are a bit crazy points-wise at the moment.

[sgncfc 1,227]

Two points per game is usually reckoned to be the aim for the title in the Champs - no one is there yet. The top 3 in League One are all at that rate with others very close. It just shows what a barking mad league the Champs is this season. We need to win 7 on the trot to get to 2 points per game after our recent run - it ain't gonna happen.

So effectively we are already playing for 2nd place - maybe 82-84 points will get that this season. That means we need just under two points per game from this point onwards (30 games left). Personally, I can't see us doing that, so in my head we are playoffs at best.

I think the 49 can rest easy.

[nutty nigel 7,531]

6 hours ago, hogesar said:

Both the Championship and Prem are a bit crazy points-wise at the moment.

Normally at this time teams would have played less games. And with five more in the next 19 days before the world cup break comparisons with previous seasons may not be like for like.

[repman 635]

39 minutes ago, sgncfc said:

Two points per game is usually reckoned to be the aim for the title in the Champs - no one is there yet. The top 3 in League One are all at that rate with others very close. It just shows what a barking mad league the Champs is this season. We need to win 7 on the trot to get to 2 points per game after our recent run - it ain't gonna happen.

So effectively we are already playing for 2nd place - maybe 82-84 points will get that this season. That means we need just under two points per game from this point onwards (30 games left). Personally, I can't see us doing that, so in my head we are playoffs at best.

I think the 49 can rest easy.

It's not even that it's a mad league, it's a league with no standout sides in. There's no one like Fulham last year who had both a top squad and top coach for the level. In terms of our chances, I think we have a good squad and not a great coach, that's an easier problem to solve than the other way round. 

[Big Vince 318]

On 26/09/2022 at 15:01, ......and Smith must score. said:

Good post about GP's woes TGMD.

I recall it was becoming more difficult to see a GP several years ago but the pandemic seems to have shut the door almost completely. It certainly has where I live. Fortunately I haven't needed to present myself with an ailment for some time and I'm not looking forward to the day I need to.

As this thread has now veered away from it's original heading my tuppence worth is that we all live too long. Back in the day a man would retire on his 65th birthday knowing there was a good chance he wouldn't still be around to celebrate his 70th. With all the advances in medical science since then coupled with the demonisation of smoking means that someone lucky enough to retire at 50 having worked for 30 years or so can now be retired longer than they worked. Clearly that sort of financial commitment by a pension provider is unsustainable in both the public and private sector.

The problem is we're living, or in a growing number of cases existing, too long. Perhaps to lower outgoings the government could start adding extra ingredients to the Covid boosters ? Luckily it looks as though they haven't as yet as I had my fourth jab this morning and still standing 😉

 

 

The strain on the planet's resources, both natural and physical, is just too much and not sustainable. Before he died, Professor Stephen Hawking stated that within two hundred years, at the current rate of depletion, a new earth will have to be found to accommodate all the humans on this one. If one is not found or the technology is not ready to get us there, then the choices are stark.

Governments around the world will have no choice but to introduce programmes of euthanasia, voluntary initially, then becoming compulsory as the crisis on the planet deepens. Such ghoulish, dystopian outcomes will become the new normal. Governments even now need to bring forward measures to reduce their populations by one third. So which groups are to be culled first? The entire prison population? Politicians? Solicitors, yes, especially solicitors. Followed by all the economically inactive, excluding children and adolescents.

[nutty nigel 7,531]

I'm already at the front of the queue Vinny. Quite happy to say "after you" to any binners though ...

[Big Vince 318]

3 minutes ago, nutty nigel said:

I'm already at the front of the queue Vinny. Quite happy to say "after you" to any binners though ...

Well done. Keep up the good work. And remember, "always look on the bright side of ....."

[Trevor Hockey's Beard 527]

Back on topic.

This is a hard one for me - of course I want us to be trying for promotion, but the scars of last season, following on from two seasons earlier, mean that I cannot face being in the Premier League with the core of the team we currently have.

I can hope that we'd buy well and strengthen the squad, but that would be a case of "hope over experience". We've failed to do this these last two times, and I cannot see us doing a Fulham or Forest. For Fulham it took two attempts, and at the time 19/20 seemed like a free hit - take the money, go down, build the squad and come back stronger, but that didn't happen, and I can't see it happening if we got promoted this season either.

So it's a "No" from me.

[repman 635]

With this head coach we won't be getting promoted so it's not something to even talk about. Bring someone new in and I suspect people will start to believe again.

[Big Vince 318]

8 minutes ago, Trevor Hockey's Beard said:

Back on topic.

This is a hard one for me - of course I want us to be trying for promotion, but the scars of last season, following on from two seasons earlier, mean that I cannot face being in the Premier League with the core of the team we currently have.

I can hope that we'd buy well and strengthen the squad, but that would be a case of "hope over experience". We've failed to do this these last two times, and I cannot see us doing a Fulham or Forest. For Fulham it took two attempts, and at the time 19/20 seemed like a free hit - take the money, go down, build the squad and come back stronger, but that didn't happen, and I can't see it happening if we got promoted this season either.

So it's a "No" from me.

The EPL is out of reach until such time as the club starts paying £100,000 per week per player.

[unique 435]

The sad fact is that so few of our squad are currently of PL standard, and from the evidence so far, are regressing under the coaching of Smith and Shakespeare. Even an ageing Pukki would find the PL hard work on the pittance of supply he currently receives.

None of the players who have endured relegation from the PL on two occasions should be retained. Mentally scarred, and proven serial losers, it would mean disposing of the likes of Krul, Hanley, McLean, Aarons etc, as well as jettisoning all the lightweights such as Gibson, Dowell, Hernandez, Sorensen, Hugill, Idah etc.

On recent evidence, it would also require a style of play that every player understands and buys into, as with Brentford, Fulham and Sheffield United. I think all NCFC fans can vouch that we are a million miles from that!

It would therefore require a Forest-like approach to rebuilding the squad……which as we all know, is well beyond our means.

[For the future 65]

No as we will come straight down again embarrassing 

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,294]

2 hours ago, unique said:

The sad fact is that so few of our squad are currently of PL standard, and from the evidence so far, are regressing under the coaching of Smith and Shakespeare. Even an ageing Pukki would find the PL hard work on the pittance of supply he currently receives.

None of the players who have endured relegation from the PL on two occasions should be retained. Mentally scarred, and proven serial losers, it would mean disposing of the likes of Krul, Hanley, McLean, Aarons etc, as well as jettisoning all the lightweights such as Gibson, Dowell, Hernandez, Sorensen, Hugill, Idah etc.

 

Yep. 

We'll leave Sara and Nunez out of this as they haven't played a minute of PL football to judge. 

So ..... 

I'd say we have 6 that are capable of sustained PL football Krul, Gunn, Omobamidele, Aarons, Hayden and pukki. 

Now 2 of them are keepers (one of which is nearing the end of his career and would probably do best at a Celtic/Rangers type club these days but can still do a job in the PL) 

Max and Omo while showing they are capable, it's still debatable as to whether they can sustain top tier performances or whether they'd be bit part players in teams like an Everton/villa etc. 

Hayden isn't our player yet again (not yet anyway) 

And teemu, again well past his best sell by date, don't get me wrong - still a fantastic striker and still one of the most intelligent forwards I've seen but again is he going to be able to play in the PL for an extended period? No of course not, age dictates that. He would be a very good squad player for a Newcastle/villa to have on the bench to bring on for a second half burst (but yet again age means he's got a couple years left at best) 

Raschica and Tzolis i genuinely don't think we'll ever see either of them do anything in a yellow shirt or in England what so ever and will end up leaving permanently in the summer (probably for losses) 

The rest of our squad are decent/good championship players, how many of those are top end championship?.... Probably Giannoulis, Byram, Dowell, Sargent  (possibly Gibbs in a couple more seasons/more experience) 

The rest I'd place as 10th -15th championship players who, when put in a team together surrounded by the better players, can pull together and become more than the sum of their parts, WHEN THEY WANT TO or WHEN THEY ARE GENUINELY PULLING IN THE SAME DIRECTION, which it doesn't seem like they are at the moment. 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by GodlyOtsemobor

[unique 435]

2 hours ago, GodlyOtsemobor said:

Yep. 

We'll leave Sara and Nunez out of this as they haven't played a minute of PL football to judge. 

So ..... 

I'd say we have 6 that are capable of sustained PL football Krul, Gunn, Omobamidele, Aarons, Hayden and pukki. 

Now 2 of them are keepers (one of which is nearing the end of his career and would probably do best at a Celtic/Rangers type club these days but can still do a job in the PL) 

Max and Omo while showing they are capable, it's still debatable as to whether they can sustain top tier performances or whether they'd be bit part players in teams like an Everton/villa etc. 

Hayden isn't our player yet again (not yet anyway) 

And teemu, again well past his best sell by date, don't get me wrong - still a fantastic striker and still one of the most intelligent forwards I've seen but again is he going to be able to play in the PL for an extended period? No of course not, age dictates that. He would be a very good squad player for a Newcastle/villa to have on the bench to bring on for a second half burst (but yet again age means he's got a couple years left at best) 

Raschica and Tzolis i genuinely don't think we'll ever see either of them do anything in a yellow shirt or in England what so ever and will end up leaving permanently in the summer (probably for losses) 

The rest of our squad are decent/good championship players, how many of those are top end championship?.... Probably Giannoulis, Byram, Dowell, Sargent  (possibly Gibbs in a couple more seasons/more experience) 

The rest I'd place as 10th -15th championship players who, when put in a team together surrounded by the better players, can pull together and become more than the sum of their parts, WHEN THEY WANT TO or WHEN THEY ARE GENUINELY PULLING IN THE SAME DIRECTION, which it doesn't seem like they are at the moment. 

 

That is an extremely generous list of six!

Krul and sadly, Pukki, will be 'past it'.

Gunn and Omobamidele are untested.

Aarons has looked fragile at Championship level this season, and all other PL clubs are clearly unsure of his ability at the highest level.

Hayden, as you point out, is not even our player.

Grim.

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,294]

1 hour ago, unique said:

That is an extremely generous list of six!

Krul and sadly, Pukki, will be 'past it'.

Gunn and Omobamidele are untested.

Aarons has looked fragile at Championship level this season, and all other PL clubs are clearly unsure of his ability at the highest level.

Hayden, as you point out, is not even our player.

Grim.

I did point out Krul and pukki's age. 

Gunn I'd think he could well be a PL level keeper given a proper run of football. 

Max and Omo, again, I did say squad players at a PL team not necessarily starters. 

[CANARYKING 637]

Absolutely not

[Ken Hairy 3,772]

Won't be an issue if we stick with Smith. 

[Capt. Pants 4,227]

Well tough if you do because you aint going to get it.

More worrying is the US investors pull out.

[ged in the onion bag 855]

Still No!    

[nutty nigel 7,531]

So 52 happy people tonight.

Stick with Smith until it's too late?

@Big Vince you once wrongly posted that I was a humanist. Are you a communist?

[KeiranShikari 1,410]

Deano clearly voted no.

Hanley too.