Honest predictions for next season....

[Row D Seat 7 0]

Where will we finish, where will Ipswich finish????????

My prediction:

Norwich 8th

Ipswich 10th

[Canary_on_the Trent 0]

How is it posisble without seeing the close season activity?

[ncfc_1902 0]

At the moment I''d be happy just to stay up next season (should always be the main priority of a promoted team, consolidate and then anything more is a bonus), but I''m hopeful that with a good summer and us carrying on as we have done for the past 7/8 months then we might sneak a top half finish.

Anyone who mentions the play offs as being a realistic aim for next season needs their head looking at in my opinion.

[DOGGER 0]

Who ever we sign, we have to aim for play-off''s

[ncfc_1902 0]

Why?

[CharlieFarlie 0]

Mid table will do so long as its above Ipswich !  , As I posted in a few weeks ago back to back promotions would not be good for us as we are no where near ready, personally I have enjoyed this season much more than the one in the prem where we were whipping boys.

A decent mid table or higher position would be a great season ( with a half decent cup run) it would allow us to build and allow Lambert to strengthen the sqaud to the extent that should we go up we could stay there !

 

 

[Sing Up The South Stand 0]

I reckon us, and Ipswich will finish between 8th and 16th.

[DOGGER 0]

[quote user="lmc"]Why?[/quote]

I''m saying we should aim for play-off''s, i''m not nescessarily saying we will finish there.

No point aiming to stay up, where is the ambition in that?!!!

[Stowmarket Canary (not Delia) 0]

May sound a little boring but mid table, consolidate ourselves as a Championship side again, then push on the season after, anything more would be a massive bonus!

[Tumbleweed 106]

We cannot judge until the summer is over and we know what the squad is (and even that lambert is still here!) but assuming he is and that the team is basically the same with 2 or 3 signings to increase the quality I would say 14th-15th would be about par. remember that many of our players are not proven championship performers so any more than that is highly optimistic, and we still have to do the business in these last 8 games first!

["""""""""Ben """"""""""" 0]

I think we may get into the play offs. If we keep all our good players and add to the squad there is no reason why we can''t. We have a winning team and a good manager so I can''t see why not. Look at teams such as Leicster, Swansea and Nottingham Forest, they have all done well so far this season and were in League 1 long not long ago.

[city-till-i-die 7]

[quote user="Canary_on_the Trent"]How is it posisble without seeing the close season activity?[/quote]bang ,nail,head...if we have money to spend top 10...if we have very little money to spend mid table

[Crafty Canary 545]

I would be very surprised if PLwas aiming for anything less than the play-offs. He doesn''t strike me as the sort of chap who''s interested in getting by.

[nutty nigel 7,889]

[quote user="crafty canary"]I would be very surprised if PLwas aiming for anything less than the play-offs. He doesn''t strike me as the sort of chap who''s interested in getting by.
[/quote]

We need to be aiming for the top. If we fall short we could still have a good season. Falling short of aiming for mid-table could result in relegation. It did last season.

 

[Henry 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="crafty canary"]I would be very surprised if PLwas aiming for anything less than the play-offs. He doesn''t strike me as the sort of chap who''s interested in getting by.[/quote]

We need to be aiming for the top. If we fall short we could still have a good season. Falling short of aiming for mid-table could result in relegation. It did last season.

 

[/quote]Well said. The momentum of this season and the habit of winning should not be underestimated. Yes we need a bit more quality in a few areas and hopefully we can address that somehow before next season, but i see no disadvantages in shooting for the stars.

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

With the current squad and no additions at all but with Lambert at the helm somewhere about 15th. With 2 or 3 signings that come off possibly top 10

[Norfolk Mustard 106]

[quote user="crafty canary"]I would be very surprised if PLwas aiming for anything less than the play-offs. He doesn''t strike me as the sort of chap who''s interested in getting by.[/quote]

Bang on Crafty!

What is the point in aiming low?

That would be the quickest way to ensure a quick departure for Paul Lambert! He simply isn''t interested in poor performance - others need to think like him or move away...

As a provider of Peak Performance training programmes, I know which camp I firmly reside in!

With the support of the board, the aim should be the same again; the auto promotion places.

[blahblahblah 2]

Bristol City and Swansea have shown in recent seasons that it is possible to promote from league 1 and be a force in the championship.  Auto-promotion is highly unlikely though, mainly because you''re competing against teams with parachute payments, aswell as those with rich owners propping their clubs up with cash.  The play-offs would be a very respectable finish - I can''t speak for Lambert, but I think the fans would be very happy with this.  Realistically, 10th-16th is most likely.

[PhatCanary 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="crafty canary"]I would be very surprised if PLwas aiming for anything less than the play-offs. He doesn''t strike me as the sort of chap who''s interested in getting by.
[/quote]

We need to be aiming for the top. If we fall short we could still have a good season. Falling short of aiming for mid-table could result in relegation. It did last season.

 

[/quote]

Totaly agree with you NN,we have to aim high,and in all honesty i think with a few new players we could have a good push for top six but i would be happy if we finish in the top ten and keep well away from the bottom three!

[ncfc_1902 0]

I''d love for us to finish up and around the top six, but I don''t think we should expect to finish in the upper reaches just because other clubs have. It obviously will take a lot of hard work to be successful next season, we can''t just take it for granted.

What happens next season if we bob along in around 15th / 16th place next season? Is this failure? Would you be dusting off the ''Lambert Out'' banners?

I don''t have a problem with aiming high, the problem would occur if we don''t reach the play offs and the negativity returns amongst some fans. The most important thing is that we don''t get ahead of ourselves.

[Canary_on_the Trent 0]

There is very little between all of the sides in the Championship barring perhaps the top 2 and the bottom few sides. I don''t see why with a couple of new signings, our team spirit, winning mentality and the management of Lambert why we can''t finish in the top half, there is very little between making the top 6 and actually struggling in the bottom half.

[King Klose 0]

Suprised Leicester havent been mentioned yet, League 1 Champions last year, where are they now...

[Henry 0]

[quote user="NCFC91"]

Suprised Leicester havent been mentioned yet, League 1 Champions last year, where are they now...

[/quote]Its that winning habit thing [;)]

[King Klose 0]

[quote user="Henry"][quote user="NCFC91"]

Suprised Leicester havent been mentioned yet, League 1 Champions last year, where are they now...

[/quote]

Its that winning habit thing [;)]
[/quote]

Yep, there are some average teams in the Championship, and if we aim for the play-offs and finish top half/mid table thats no disgrace. [:)]

[Jacko 0]

Mid table not looking in much danger of going down would be fine for me. A massive improvement on our last couple of seasons in that league

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

If Bowkett, McNally and Lambert are still in charge we should seek to build on the momentum and squad unity developed this season and go for a second straight promotion.

The board should seek to fund at least three good championship level players prior to the seasons start and look towards boosting the squad with no more than 2/3 loans if things are looking good by late September/October.

Lambert''s growing reputation may well induce players to join us who perhaps would not have done so otherwise. 

We need to capitalise on Paul Lambert''s presence with us to the maximum before no doubt he moves on to higher things. Certainly back to back promotions would look good on an already impressive CV.

If our troika are disturbed then the dreaded consolidation may be the best we can realistically hope for.

Yep, I think we should be ambitious and go for it as far as possible, but without breaking the bank.

OTBC

 

[grantroederdisaster 0]

Here Here Bly Bly!

 

I don''t see no reason why with Lambert, Mcnally and Bowkett being as ambitious as they are, keeping the nucleus of our squad together and replacing 3-4 of the fringe players with good Championship players, we shouldn''t be capable of having a real go at getting prmoted from the Championship into the Premiership! 

 

Apart from the top 2 and the bottom 2, theirs not much difference between all the sides in this seasons Championship which is always the norm at that level!

 

The regular pessimists insist that the Championship is to much a step up for most of our squad - Codwallops!

 

That maybe the case for 5-6 of our squad but no more. Remember we got relegated last season due to a succession of bad board room decisions over 4-5 years. If better decisions would have been made we''d of been no where near relegation and I think this seasons team is better than last seasons shower!

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]Yep, I think we should be ambitious and go for it as far as possible, but without breaking the bank.

[/quote]I think that''s called "ambition with prudence" Bly. I seem to recall hearing that before somewhere![;)]

[Barclay hero 0]

One side that gets promoted from League 1 usually goes on to challenge for the playoffs - often making it

Leicster are up there this year and Manchester City did it a few years back (the only side to actually manage back to back) .  In between there has been

Preston - promoted in 2000, 4th place in 2001 AND
Burnley - promoted in 2000, 7th in 2001 - 2 points off the playoffs
Millwall - promoted in 2001, 4th place in 2002
Reading - promoted in 2002, 4th place in 2003
Wigan - promoted in 2003, 7th place in 2004

There is then a couple of years where the promoted sides did nothing - albeit they were not the strongest (Plymouth, QPR and Brighton in 2004 and Luton, Hull & Sheff W in 2005) until

Col Who - promoted in 2006, 10th in 2007 but only 6 points away from the playoffs
Bristol City - promoted in 2007, 4th place in 2008
Swansea - promoted in 2008, 8th in 2009 but only 6 points off 6th
Leicester - promoted in  2009, currently in 6th

So the odds are that one of the promoted sides WILL be in or around the playoffs 12 months from now.  Why not Norwich?

[Delia Out! 0]

I reckon:

Norwich - 12th

Ipswich - 6th