7th place

[Bill 1,788]

At an average of  1.3 points a game we are heading for a total of 49/50 points. To finish 8th or above you are usually looking at 50 points plus. For us thatt means a minimum of three wins plus a couple of draws.That is achievable against Fulham, Blackburn and Villa, with draws from Everton, Liverpool with a possible ''shock'' result against  Arsenal, Spurs and Man City.Watching Howson today most fans must now be aware of how important that extra prize money will be to a club of our size. A three place move up the table is worth £2.4m (roughly Howsons fee), fight to the finish and get to 8th and there''s another £2.4m. Put crudely that''s another two players of his ability from where we were at 3pm today.The last game of the season against Villa could be a real battle, with the likelihood of there being three or four clubs all withiin a point or two of each other.

[shefcanary 2,377]

I''m with you here City 1st.  I mentioned on another thread to move from focussing on position, and focus more on the money now we are safe.  If we had just upped our game at the Toon, 7th would very much be on, but I''m not too greedy so will leave it at trying to overtake Liverlose to really cap a brilliant season.

[First Wizard 0]

As we surely are safe now after today, I too have to agree with City1st.

[Legend Iwan 30]

I think you''re spot on City1st - we really do need to finish as high as possible. If I remember correctly from PurpleCanary et al''s thread about the clubs finances, there is a large amount of our debt required to be cleared by the end of next season, which could quite easily eat into the transfer budget. So if we can get another couple of mil in the kitty that would really help out.

[Bill 1,788]

I think we have been focussing on the money since the first game. The higher up you finish the more money you get. Relegation has been a pile of nonsense. At no point have I seen the team playing in a wau taht suggests they were not going all out for the three points.Overhauling the ''saviour'' Dalgleish will certainly make the final cake taste that much sweeter, much as giving the binners a good slap in their backyard on the way to automatic promotion was last season. But there''s money to be had. Very serious money so I have no doubt that McNally and the board will have a very focussed mind over the final eight games - likewise Lambert and the squad.

[Bill 1,788]

[quote user="First Wizard"]As we surely are safe now after today, I too have to agree with City1st.[/quote]Blimey O Reilly wiz, are you sure you are feeling ok ?

[First Wizard 0]

[quote user="City1st"][quote user="First Wizard"]As we surely are safe now after today, I too have to agree with City1st.[/quote]

Blimey O Reilly wiz, are you sure you are feeling ok ?
[/quote]

 

Fine, but fair do''s, you were right on this.

[Bill 1,788]

Not neccesarily as I don''t understand the ''now we are safe'' bitHow does that work out ?

[ricardo 7,336]

[quote user="First Wizard"]

[quote user="City1st"][quote user="First Wizard"]As we surely are safe now after today, I too have to agree with City1st.[/quote]Blimey O Reilly wiz, are you sure you are feeling ok ?[/quote]

 

Fine, but fair do''s, you were right on this.

[/quote]I told you not to worry Wiz.My Magic Moggy had it all sussed out weeks ago.

[Canary_on_the Trent 0]

The team will just continue taking it one game at a time & looking for a points as they have done all season. The league finish looks after itself.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

We should definately be aiming for 7th place,  a challenging target for the remaining games is exactly what we need.The confidence gained from a win yesterday should give us a good boost to have a great finish to our season, cant wait!   

[star_manic 0]

i wish we were playing liverpool next, the way they are playing. still, with any luck 28th april will be a brilliant day for me, my daughter is getting married at edinburgh castle on that day and at the same time we will be beating the scousers.[<:o)]

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,402]

Edinburgh Castle - I''m impressed!

Are you Royalty?

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="Wings of a Sparrow"]Edinburgh Castle - I''m impressed!

Are you Royalty?[/quote]I think it''s a pub.......

[morty 0]

[quote user="First Wizard"]

[quote user="City1st"][quote user="First Wizard"]As we surely are safe now after today, I too have to agree with City1st.[/quote]Blimey O Reilly wiz, are you sure you are feeling ok ?[/quote]

 

Fine, but fair do''s, you were right on this.

[/quote]*Everyone was right about it, apart from you.[;)]

[PurpleCanary 5,553]

[quote user="Legend Iwan"]I think you''re spot on City1st - we really do need to finish as high as possible. If I remember correctly from PurpleCanary et al''s thread about the clubs finances, there is a large amount of our debt required to be cleared by the end of next season, which could quite easily eat into the transfer budget. So if we can get another couple of mil in the kitty that would really help out.[/quote]

 

Yes. IF we stay up then most of our bank debt has to be paid by May 2013, and the rest by October 2013. I don''t think there is going to be any leeway there; banks want to get out of football debt. Hard to be precise now, but it was not long ago at least £10m without counting interest. Also at that point (October 2013) Smith and Jones and Foulger could demand back their loans (£3.5m). I suspect that is only a theoretical problem. Bear in mind, though, the £20m plan to increase capacity. That has to be financed somehow.

[Herman 9,700]

[quote user="lappinitup"][quote user="Wings of a Sparrow"]Edinburgh Castle - I''m impressed! Are you Royalty?
[/quote]

I think it''s a pub.......
[/quote]

Quite a nice one on the edge of Camden.Prefer the Dublin Castle.Bit sticky floored for a wedding though.

[star_manic 0]

[quote user="Wings of a Sparrow"]Edinburgh Castle - I''m impressed! Are you Royalty?[/quote]......no i''m far from that. my daughter is an officer in the RAF and she is marring an officer in the Army who is garrisoned in edinburgh and so has the right to wed at St. Margarets chapel in the castle.[*]

[Felixfan 53]

If we finish above Swansea I think Lambert will get manager of the year otherwise I think Rodgers may get it.

[smooth 114]

Depends where Newcastle finishes too really. Pardew has kept them at the top. But maybe the fact that we can get to those high heights is a reflection on how this league is not as competitive as it used to be.It used to be considered that there were three mini leagues in the prem. well the top one has now added two more in spurs and man city and the middle is now topped by Newcastle who were promoted last year all the way down to the bottom of the table. I don''t think too many teams stand miles ahead, it shows how Everton and Villa have slumped.I totally agree, we need a nice bit of form to go into next season. City 1st you are right to highlight a number of games where we can pick up points and those that many of us will expect to lose could have the odd surprise. But I don''t care if not.The points that are raised about debt repayments and the importance of adding genuine quality is quite right. We are looking at adding genuine quality this summer and I think that a few player sales can be advantageous. That is one thing hopefully we can do with the route that Lambert has taken as good players prove their worth and attract interest and hence perform well for us before moving on for a bigger fee.Howson has shown his ability already and that is exactly the type of player we are now in the market for. I believe in the summer I would have rated our team as having a number of players who were probably 8/10 for the season with others at 7/10. What Lambert did was bring in quality and raised that so that all this season have been an 8/10 and now we are adding those that can bring us to 9/10 and this summer hopefully a few more additions will make most of our squad 9/10''s.We do have to look at being further up the table. It will not mean next season we will finish top half, what it will mean is that we can attract players, keep players and look at structuring our debt.I will bring it up again but one place further up the premier league table gives us more money than getting to the quarter finals of the FA Cup and to me that was an easier win, because I know anythnig above 17th is a massive bonus. Cup runs can wait, resolving our debt issues and bringing in the calibre of signings to make us mid table contenders year on year is what we want.City 1st I agree we need to keep pushing on and the fact that we did that against Wolves and held on at the end bodes well. I am actually very excited about gonig to the Fulham game, I feel Morison and Jackson could have a good game and we could come away with something. But there is no question we keep on going and give some players some much valuable experience and have Lambert test his abilities against top managers. We need money for transfers because we cannot get by with this squad for another year. We have been fortunate with injuries this year and a few star players coming in can certainly begin to move us up.Howson has the ability to stand out next season as does Holt and Pilkington. Time to put some players around them who can totally shine, Vaughan and Morison may be able too. But for sure a new striker has to be on the shopping list. Matty Phillips, Stuart Holden are two that still stand out for me. Although I still could see Henri Lansbury being an option. Miss Pacheco but feel by bringing in Howson that his ship has sailed.But we need £3 million calibre players now coming in.

[lake district canary 0]

7th place?   Its possible if we turn in a good run of form to the end of the season.   The key could be when we play Liverpool at carrow Rd.  I know we are supposed to take one game at a time, but with only 8 games left,  it''s a realistic possibility.   A continued positive attitude and players still giving their all will mean we have a chance of doing this.  Thats not to say that anything less than 7th would be a failure.   To have achieved what we have by the end of March is itself a cause for celebration - but what a challenge - to be in with a shout of 7th place!  That''s how far our club has come.  Realistically any of the middle placed teams could get that place, but we have as good a chance as any of them.

 

 

 

 

[Bill 1,788]

I would echo Mr Districts last sentence. I think it is fair to say the top six are beyond us, so we are fighting in a ''league'' of 8 or 9 clubs

7	Liverpool	30	+5	42
8	Sunderland	30	+5	40
9	Everton	30	-2	40
10	Swansea C	30	-2	39
11	Norwich C	30	-6	39
12	Stoke City	30	-12	38
13	Fulham	29	-3	36
14	West Brom	30	-5	36
15	Aston V	29	-7	33

To suggest, as some did after the game, that we can now relax is absurd.  The prize for finishing top of this table is a further £3.2 m to what we would get by finishing 11thThe difference between finishing bottom and top of this league is £6.4m£3.2 m may not sound much. Until you measure it against season ticket income.  Assume, as has been suggested, that we built a new stand and increase the ground capacity by another 7000. Assume that EVERY seat is paying the adult price of £471, that only equates to £3.29m (£97k more to be exact). However, that income from the increased seating does not include repaying the loan to build the stand nor does it allow for any of the seats being at the lower rate.Now before anyone starts bleating about the rights and wrongs of a new stand, this IS NOT about any new stand (we have done that one to death) - it is merely a means of comparison to demonstrate how important this kind of money is to us.We are currently 4 points off that target. We finished comfortably top in ''10 and fought our way to second in ''11. Automatic promotion both times. We need to be aiming for top of this group - 7th, nothing less.

[claud 0]

Not entirely league placing related, but probably not worth a thread of its own.

Liverpool are likely to qualify for the Europa League via their league placing, but have already qualified via their League Cup win. Does the Europa league place go to Cardiff or get passed onto the next league position down?

Likewise, if they win the FA Cup (or Chelsea) does that place go to the runner up?

[Bill 1,788]

Fairly certain it is noEach place just passes down the league, not across to the beaten cup finalists

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

[quote user="City1st"]I would echo Mr Districts last sentence. I think it is fair to say the top six are beyond us, so we are fighting in a ''league'' of 8 or 9 clubs

7	Liverpool	30	+5	42
8	Sunderland	30	+5	40
9	Everton	30	-2	40
10	Swansea C	30	-2	39
11	Norwich C	30	-6	39
12	Stoke City	30	-12	38
13	Fulham	29	-3	36
14	West Brom	30	-5	36
15	Aston V	29	-7	33

To suggest, as some did after the game, that we can now relax is absurd.  The prize for finishing top of this table is a further £3.2 m to what we would get by finishing 11thThe difference between finishing bottom and top of this league is £6.4m£3.2 m may not sound much. Until you measure it against season ticket income.  Assume, as has been suggested, that we built a new stand and increase the ground capacity by another 7000. Assume that EVERY seat is paying the adult price of £471, that only equates to £3.29m (£97k more to be exact). However, that income from the increased seating does not include repaying the loan to build the stand nor does it allow for any of the seats being at the lower rate.Now before anyone starts bleating about the rights and wrongs of a new stand, this IS NOT about any new stand (we have done that one to death) - it is merely a means of comparison to demonstrate how important this kind of money is to us.We are currently 4 points off that target. We finished comfortably top in ''10 and fought our way to second in ''11. Automatic promotion both times. We need to be aiming for top of this group - 7th, nothing less.

[/quote]At the risk of getting the thread a little off track, and I know you''re only using this as an example to prove your point about the importance of our final league position, I don''t think your point above tells the whole story.In my opinion, the increased capacity is only the second, supplementary advantage of a new stand when it comes to increased revenue for the club. A new stand would give the opertunity to increase the amount, and the quality of corporate facilities that the club can hire out for match days and other events. This would add way more revenue than the £3.29m you suggest above.I''ve heard mentioned before (although I can''t find refernces to back up up right now) that Wembley actually makes more money from corporate events and match days than it does from public ticket sales. While I doubt that would ever be the case for NCFC, I''d dare say it would make up a large percentage of any benefit evaluations of a new stand at FCR.Again, I''m sorry for taking this off track, however I just don''t want people to read this and think that extending the stadium may not be worth the pain, debt and disruption. It is. A bigger, more modern ground is vital to the long-term growth and success of NCFC.