When d'yall reckon we'll be back in the top tier for a while?

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

Just like in them thar olden days under South, Watling and Chase (ssssshh, hush)?

Just asking.

OTBC

 

[Green and Yellow 0]

Not this side of the next five years''.

[Saint Canary 0]

Simple answer - When we get some players who can/want to turn up twice a week with their best games rather than once a fortnight.

Complicated answer (and trying not to criticise too much) - The club need to show some drive from the board down.  There has been a laid back attitude over the past few seasons and this has bred from the top.  There is too much "we hope we stay up" and "we will do our best to get promoted".  It''s about time we heard "we will" and "we want".  No politeness, no making excuses for managers and players.  Demanding the best from all at the club, demanding their monies worth!  The board need to set nailed on targets of what they want, not some wishy-washy half target of trying for promotion.  We expect promotion, is what they should be saying. 

For far too long we have seen our players give some real chalk and cheese performances, sometimes in the same game.  We are talking about a side that beat most of the top sides from last season but failed miserably against nothing teams.  This must stop, we need 100% all every game or otherwise we are going nowhere.

More investment would be good but is not actually essential.  Many clubs have done well on smaller budgets, it''s all about getting the best out of the players we have.  That''s not to say money spent well makes things easier.  You only have to look at the teams that went up this season and that got in the play-offs, mostly the biggest spenders in the league.

Finally the club have to stop being "nice" as Grant has suggested and get "nasty", especially when it comes to transfers.  Try and unsettle other clubs players if it gets them here, it has happened to us enough.  It''s a modern tactic of transfers.

Do some of the above and a prolonged stay in the PL could happen.  However the longer we stay out of it, the harder it''s going to be...

 

[Stone Cold 0]

Not holding my breath im afraid , With a bit of ambition and a settled injury free team we may have a decent play off shot but I think they''ll be several sides better than us next season.

[7rew 0]

Lets see if we can''t work out what time scale we could expect that in the best case scenario.

well 1st, what does a while mean?  I reckon that is 3 seasons

staying up.  Well that makes 4 seasons minimum if we get promoted

this season.

Even if we get promoted this season would we stay up next season -

probably not. Even if several of our players/buys this season are of

premiership quality we would be unlikely to have enough strenght in

depth to stay up, without the number of purchases being so large as to

completely disrupt the workings of the team.  However in a best

case scenario we woulkd keep and strengthen the team - becoming a Yo-yo

team.

so:

best case scenario would be:

Up, Down, Up, Stay, Stay, Stay. or 6 seasons

Slightly more realistically* we would probably have to yo-yo a couple

more times before we stayed up.  so 8 or 10 seasons, and as I

doubt even with investment we would actually go up this season add

another year. that makes 9 or 11:

Stay, Up, Down, Up, Down, (Up, Down),Up, Stay, Stay, Stay.

Since Delia will retire in 4/5 years due to the age limit for board members, this means Delia will not get us up and keep us up.

*Slightly more realistically means "a more realistic level of major investment"  (ie not abramovich levels)

[ricardo 7,345]

[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

Just like in them thar olden days under South, Watling and Chase (ssssshh, hush)?

Just asking.

OTBC

 

[/quote]

Unfortunately the Premier league has changed out of all recognition since we were last regulars. Thanks to Mr Chase (shhh hush) we missed out on the big money at just the wrong time. Therefore without the infusion of big money from a very rich investor, I would say we are highly unlikely to ever again grace the Premier stage.

We''ve seen the best days (80s/90s).

Sad but true.