play offs at a push

[smooth 114]

I have read on here all week fans believing we are certs for the play offs, i think lambert has done an excellent job getting rid of deadwood, cureton, doc and still will.

We have acquired good players smith should start at left back, ward and whitbread centre halves, surman in midfield and clearly crofts sounds a cracking signing. But for me next season the real goal is consolidation in this league yes as high up as we can go but I will not be dissappointed if we don''t reach the play offs by one or two spots... think it is open this season but with many clubs still with more cash than ourselves it will not be as easy as just walking back in this league, we are fortunate the teams that have come down from the prem are pretty woeful.

Realistically we have built a squad good enough maybe to finish in the top half, that is if we get a keeper, altho i like rudd we still need an experienced keepe. We also need a replacement for holt if he gets injured or suspended our plan b last year was woeful we need cover for holt... but top six not even talking about it... top half consolidation would be incredible

[McNamees attitude 0]

You''d really be happy with a top half finish when Bowkett and Lambert have both said their aiming for the play offs? In my view if we finish lower than we have set out to do then we have failed. So essentally your happy with failure? I think after seasons of being messed about since relegation from the prem we should be aiming as high as possible. Last season was great and there''s no reason we can''t bring momentum into this one. We''ve made good signings and with a few more additions we should be ok.

[Bing Bang 0]

I dont think anyone has said we a certanties for the play-offs.

I think the Championship is going to be the tightest it has ever been, There is no clear favourite to go up or go down so i think a lot of teams are gonna be in the mix, us included hopefully if we can start well and carry last seasons momentum into this one. A lot of people are just feeling the usual pre season optimisim. Nothing wrong with that of course but deep down i dont think anyone will complain about a top half finish.

We are still a couple of signings away from being ready for next season. Obviously a goalkeeper, right winger and another striker. This has to be a pacey striker not another Holt type. Jackson fits the bill perfectly in my opinion. If/when we make these signings then i see nothing wrong or unrealistic for us to aim at the play-offs.

[Old Shuck 183]

The mood seems to be changing as the Summer progresses. For many, just getting throughn the coming season respectably was the goal, but, as the new players came in and their "quality" seemed to increase with it (starting with Crofts from League 1 Brighton for a small fee and ending, so far, with Surman, from Premiership Wolves for matbe £1 Million plus), hopes and expectancy seem to be on the up.

Surman spokde of Lambert and the clubs ambition.

What has he been told?

Its all very well he being told the club was "ambitious" when he sat down and talked with Lambert et al, but, like any footballer, he would have wanted to see what we were doing to prove that ambition.

More players coming in? Probably. Potential targets or names mentioned? Possibly. But it seems clear that Lambert doesn''t want to mess about in the CCC for very long, and I rather think that he has got his heart and mind set upon getting out of it first time.

I salute that attitude if it is the one they are declaring, I just hope that, if we have s stop-start beginning to the season, people will hang on in there and let things develo, rather than starting to moan and grumble.

[Have Heart 0]

Play offs at a push, I have no doubts that we will finish top 6.

The championship is going to be the most open season in years! With Lambert at the helm I think we will go from strength to strength.

Lets have faith people... :)

[grantroederdisaster 0]

With ambitious Lambert and Mcnally combined with the momentum we have at the moment combined with our fantastic support I''ll be disapointed if we don''t make a decent challenge for the top 6 next season!

 

Blackpool have proved what is possible with a good manager and a team containing players who most have hardly of!

[Superflash 0]

I echo the thoughts of Smooth. I understand where he''s coming from, it goes without saying we all would love a top 6 finish, but an air of caution needs to be established. We don''t want to run before we can walk....But, I can''t help but also be very optimistic about our chances of finishing in the top 6 with the way the squad is shaping up. The signings so far have surprised me, and I think Lambert is proving to have a real eye for bringing in good players on a paper thin budget. Plus, since our last Championship tenure, our board has reshuffled and we''re much stronger off the pitch than we have been for many years, not necessarily in terms of capital but in terms of the way the club is run in general. If we push for the play-offs but only just miss out with three or so games to go, I''ll consider it a very successful season and something to really build upon for the 2011/12 season where we should be in a position to kick things into an even higher gear, and properly mount a top two push.

[Muddy funster 0]

If we manage - and I know this is all pie in the sky - to go up via the playoffs or finish in the top 2 next season, I think the chances of keeping Lambert are nil.  I would expect Fulham/Everton/Birmingham etc to go for Lambert if they lose their managers somewhere else.  Lambert would definitely go as well, not many wouldn''t. 

[Trent Canary 0]

"I salute that attitude if it is the one they are declaring, I just hope

that, if we have s stop-start beginning to the season, people will hang

on in there and let things develo, rather than starting to moan and

grumble."My thoughts exactly. Ill be happy with mid-table, on the assumption that the team has developed, and we look strong going into the next season. This is the most wide-open championship in years, but then theres 23 other teams who are saying the same thing, many of which have better squads than ours, and as much as I admire Lambert for his work last season he has never managed in the championship.All in all, while I want a decent finish, I think an earlier poster calling a 7th place finish a ''Failure'' is way off mark. Of course Lambert and Bowkett are going to say they are aiming for top 6, if they said anything different the reaction would be much worse! But anyway,each to their own [:)]

[First Wizard 0]

[quote user="Trent Canary"]"I salute that attitude if it is the one they are declaring, I just hope that, if we have s stop-start beginning to the season, people will hang on in there and let things develo, rather than starting to moan and grumble."

My thoughts exactly. Ill be happy with mid-table, on the assumption that the team has developed, and we look strong going into the next season. This is the most wide-open championship in years, but then theres 23 other teams who are saying the same thing, many of which have better squads than ours, and as much as I admire Lambert for his work last season he has never managed in the championship.

All in all, while I want a decent finish, I think an earlier poster calling a 7th place finish a ''Failure'' is way off mark. Of course Lambert and Bowkett are going to say they are aiming for top 6, if they said anything different the reaction would be much worse! But anyway,each to their own [:)]
[/quote]

Top two, its foretold in the bones![img]http://www.acidtrax.net/smileys/loony.gif[/img]

[Lincs CR 0]

I''m not so sure Muddy about Lambert would leave us for someone else if we reach the Premiership. Would he really want to join a struggling premiership team when he could stand a good chance of keeping us up if we reach the top flight? Birmingham and Everton don''t really need new manager and I think many premier league clubs wouldn''t really want a manager who hasn''t managed in a top flight in any country before.

[TheGoogler 324]

I think it''s stupid to be talking about expectations when we still don''t know who will be lining up for us. I think the signing of Andrew Surman clearly shows we have no idea what Lambert wants to bring in in terms of transfer dealings and I for one will wait and see what happens over the next month before setting any expectation.

And as for McWill, "anything less will be a failure" I think your expectations are unrealistic.

[Muddy funster 0]

Lincs - I didn''t say that they needed a manager - just that if their manager''s went on to better things, they are the type of team to want Lambert.  Maybe you''re right about him and he''d stay with us, but it wouldn''t surprise me if he left.  You must admit two promotions in two seasons would make him of interest to managerless Premiership teams though.......or maybe you don''t think so???

[Gingerpele 0]

I think condolidation in the Championship this season wouldn''t be such a bad thing, obviously we should aim high, there is no point, after a great season, with a really solid team, which is being improved, (although, still think maybe Gill and OTJ need to leave, as we have enough better midfielders, i would even put Adeyemi above those two, send him out on loan with a recall clause.....), maybe should have kept Doc as well (he has done well enough in the championship before, maybe not the best defender, but still worth keeping in my opinoin.....)But with a couple more signings (a striker who can really push Holt and martin for their places, a Right Back, maybe another CB, possibley another creative attacking midfielder/winger......) But yeah, i am really looking foward to this season (well the games i can get to.....won''t be too easy being a Student in Canterbury....) and think we should be aiming for the play-offs or higher, but that is ambition, that depending on the quality/consistancy of the other teams (consistancy is key in this league...West Brom looked good to start with, then completley failed, and Forrest looked like they could have cought Newcastle, but then it swapped around.....), we could end up mid table, rather than play-offs....

[Gingerpele 0]

P.S Sorry if spelling/punctuation is poor, i didn''t proof read it....

[The Walking Man 13]

[quote user="Muddy funster"]Lincs - I didn''t say that they needed a manager - just that if their manager''s went on to better things, they are the type of team to want Lambert.  Maybe you''re right about him and he''d stay with us, but it wouldn''t surprise me if he left.  You must admit two promotions in two seasons would make him of interest to managerless Premiership teams though.......or maybe you don''t think so???[/quote]

Personally I would like to have that problem because that means we''re in the Premiership! But let''s cross that bridge if we get to it [:)]

[steakbearnaise 0]

[quote user="MCWILL"]You''d really be happy with a top half finish when Bowkett and Lambert have both said their aiming for the play offs? In my view if we finish lower than we have set out to do then we have failed. So essentally your happy with failure? I think after seasons of being messed about since relegation from the prem we should be aiming as high as possible. Last season was great and there''s no reason we can''t bring momentum into this one. We''ve made good signings and with a few more additions we should be ok.[/quote]What are they supposed to say - that we''re aiming for 18th and we''d be really thrilled if we finish 15th? Sorry, but I think you''re just being shortsighted here - the players need to be told that they''re going out to win every game and they should be aiming for the title. A top six finish has to be the public ambition of the club, otherwise half way through the season when we''re playing the clubs at the top of the table, there will always be something at the back of our players'' minds telling them that a draw or a narrow defeat wouldn''t be too bad, because they weren''t expected to win this game anyhow.And personally, I would be happy with a top half finish. I think our squad needs a season in the championship to consolidate and improve. Some of the players don''t have any championship experience and how many have played more than a game or two in the prem? Those players have no ''right'' to make the play off next season and frankly they will have to perform at their best week in week out against other teams with more experience and depth to get close. If we did go up, then asking the same team to perform against prem sides every week would be even harder, so the pressure would be there next summer to bring in a whole new team just to be competitive. A good solid champs season, playing intelligent football and giving our players the experience they need to step up again to the next level - all the while making sure that they know there is an expectation that they will step up, so it''s clear this isn''t some easy ride in a mid table team where they can just tread water - I don''t see how that can be seen as a failure in the long run. That would give us a platform to make some more changes to the team next summer, make an assault on the championship title the following year and do OK in the prem the year after that.And McWill - look up the difference between their and they''re and between your and you''re. If you can''t even be bothered to write English properly, I don''t see how you can criticise others for a lack of ambition...

[I am a Banana 0]

OoneBoone aid we wee certs for play offs!