Birley Owl 1867 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Not sure why people are tiping WBA to be promotion contenders. They don't have a pot to wee wee in. They held off sacking pardew as long as they could because they simply couldn't afford it. In fact most of their parachute payments will be used to plug this hole. Couple this with the fact their best players will leave, I use best lightly, they won't have a good squad. Their sellable assets are either free agents this summer or too old to command huge fees like stoke will receive for some players. Wba won't threaten top half next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffjohnsonmyhero Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 1 minute ago, Birley Owl 1867 said: Not sure why people are tiping WBA to be promotion contenders. They don't have a pot to wee wee in. They held off sacking pardew as long as they could because they simply couldn't afford it. In fact most of their parachute payments will be used to plug this hole. Couple this with the fact their best players will leave, I use best lightly, they won't have a good squad. Their sellable assets are either free agents this summer or too old to command huge fees like stoke will receive for some players. Wba won't threaten top half next year. How many teams come down ,Then go back up ?Look at Hull ,Sunderland . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookone Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 13 hours ago, BenOwl1867 said: Do you think United will sink next year then? With or without Wilder? I think without Wilder they will undoubtedly have a huge fall from grace and their fanbase will quite rightly go balistic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hougoumont Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 13 hours ago, Rogerwyldesmullet said: We beat or drew with each of the top six. No need to be fearful No need to get carried away. Replace Bannan and we will be OK. Fixed for ya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch McLovin Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 13 hours ago, wednesdayite7 said: Although we don’t know exactly who will come down and who will win playoffs (in L1 and championship) it’s fair to say next season will be competitive to say the least. Competing at the top- Will be West Brom, Stoke, Potentially Swansea/Southampton, The three sides in the playoffs who don’t go up, Us, Potentially Brentford, Preston, maybe Birmingham under Monk or Norwich. Competing at the bottom- Bolton, Wigan, Whoever goes up through playoffs in L1, Sheffield United potentially this season, Blackburn ( although I think they’ll have a decent season), Ipswich, maybe Leeds even. Reading aren’t great. Will definitely be interesting to say the least. Wigan will be up there next year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffjohnsonmyhero Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 12 minutes ago, Dutch McLovin said: Wigan will be up there next year Got a good manager that's for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanharper Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 It'll definitely be stronger next year, and very tough to predict - it's unlikely that any of the relegated sides will fare as badly as Sunderland and Hull did this season, they'll probably lose key players but I can see all of them being strong contenders for the top 6 if they rebuild wisely. Add in 3 of the 4 from Fulham, Villa, Boro and Derby who don't go up, and it's tough to call. Plus there's sometimes that side that comes out of finishing nowhere the previous season to surprise everybody, teams like Brighton, Huddersfield, Cardiff have done it and maybe an unfancied side like Hull or Birmingham could be that surprise package. Bristol City, pigs and Millwall also surpassed everybody's expectations this season. Then there's the teams like Preston and Brentford who were on the fringes of the playoffs and are no mugs. If we have better luck with injuries and aren't forced to sell the likes of FF and Bannan we're bound to be stronger and "should" realistically be capable of mounting a top six challenge. I'd give an early prediction of 5th-8th, and the pigs won't slump like we hope but they'll be top half again with or without Wilder, can see them finishing 8th-12th. Still, what do I know?! I've looked back at my predicted table for this season and I had a top six of Boro, Derby, Fulham, Villa (3rd and 4th spot on!), Reading and Wednesday - with Wolves and Cardiff midtable, Sunderland and Hull top ten, and Millwall, Burton and Bolton to drop. Had pigs as 16th, above Preston and Bristol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgmetcalf Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 People that last season and RS presenters have said this season wasn’t as good. They all said, last night, the championship is becoming like the premiership in so much you know which teams will challenge, struggle or end up mid table Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
room0035 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 17 hours ago, Rogerwyldesmullet said: We beat or drew with each of the top six. No need to be fearful No need to get carried away. Keep Bannan and we will be OK. The top 6 was not the problem it was the fact we got spanked by most of the bottom 6 in Burton, Birmingham, Bolton and struggled against any team that were a bit physical against us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgmetcalf Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 50 minutes ago, room0035 said: The top 6 was not the problem it was the fact we got spanked by most of the bottom 6 in Burton, Birmingham, Bolton and struggled against any team that were a bit physical against us. That’s always the case. We play the bottom of the league and we think we just have to show up to win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birley Owl 1867 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 3 hours ago, pgmetcalf said: People that last season and RS presenters have said this season wasn’t as good. They all said, last night, the championship is becoming like the premiership in so much you know which teams will challenge, struggle or end up mid table This season was terrible. Every team in this league, except Wolves, are beatable. Makes it more fun I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HillsboroughOwlNI Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 As long as we don't lose either of Forestieri, Bannan or Nuhiu, and we get Venancio back, we're going up next season- automatically, not through playoffs. When you look at who is going up versus who is coming down, this league will be far easier. Swansea/Huddersfield, West Brom and Stoke are badly mismanaged, and will lose their best players. Wolves and probably one of Villa/Fulham will be gone. if Fulham don't go up they will lose Sessegnon and won't be half the side they are now. If Villa are still in the division, they are the only side I would worry about. Everyone else, I think we could (and should) thrash. Look at the quality we have, that has been badly mismanaged by Carlos. For two seasons we almost managed to go up, despite the (second season mostly) sterile sideways tippy-tappy football. Jos has us playing much better, attacking, confident football. We are no longer putting square pegs in round holes. We have started scoring goals for fun. We are much fitter. The squad age will be hugely reduced this summer, with even more hungry, youthful, energetic players. Many of our experienced players will want to prove a point. We have a formation that works for us now, defensively and offensively. We will have a full pre-season, and not a shortened one with playoff heartache to get over and no jolly to Portugal hopefully. Jos is a proven promotion specialist. Everyone, including the fans are confident. We are going straight up, and I'll be putting my money where my mouth is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgmetcalf Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 45 minutes ago, Birley Owl 1867 said: This season was terrible. Every team in this league, except Wolves, are beatable. Makes it more fun I suppose. Well it does if you’re winning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_johno43 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 I felt at the start of the season that promotion was a MUST for us this year working under the previous regime at Hillsborough and to the FFP time frame. I would normally count myself in the more relaxed camp in terms of pressure and my own expectations on the squad as I am not really one for ranting and raving at games and giving players abuse. I just felt at the start of the season after two play off attempts and sticking by the manager both for the sake of manager and Chairman at the time it was a must. What transpired was a horror show and everything seemed to unravel very quickly, Birmingham away really highlighted everything that was wrong with the club in the first half of the season seriously watch the game back at the time Birmingham had just sacked their manager had not won in nearly 2 months and we simply passed from side to side it really does just pull into sharp focus how badly we had drifted under the previous manager. Since the Job has come in however I have warmed to him over time like most have and he is (with me at least) in a lot of credit in terms of next season. In his own way he has really gone about instilling into the players a sense of pride for playing for the club and turned around the negativity that has existed amongst our fan base this season since we walked out the gates against Preston on opening day. The interesting thing is many were screaming for a manager with more "PASHUN" but he has gone about it by just getting on with the job in hand with the players at his disposal, never has he complained about injuries or the ref or the squad he has just got his head down and got on with it, something that I think rings very true in our part of South Yorkshire. Wins help this yes but he also has the players working for one another again and now understanding his way of playing, Wolves away had some of our academy graduates mixing with the experienced pro's Fernando playing wide left (a position under the previous manager he said he did not want to do). Next season my own hopes for the squad are similar to what they were under the previous managers first season a top half finish would be a baseline to work from as realistically we do not know the in's and out's of the squad yet over the coming months and we will have to work some magic in the transfer window in order to stay off the radar of FFP. Year on Year this division is difficult for a whole host of different reasons of those coming down from the Prem this year, West Brom would be the club who I think will be in and around the play off's as they will have a host of players disappearing and have been prepping for relegation for a month or two. They stopped all their academy age groups up to under 16 4 weeks ago according to a co worker who's son played for their under 14's with the reason being they do not feel they will have the money to sustain it and want to give the kids a chance to find another club. They have experienced relegation most recently (assuming Swansea come down) and many of the core group of their squad (Dawson,Brunt etc) I will imagine stay. I just get the impression that after 6 months of unrest, that we are in a good place going into pre season this year, not only that for the first time in 18 months or so I trust the manager to actually work our players in pre season and get them fit. Here's to an interesting summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royalowlisback Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Every year people say it will be the hardest - then during it they say it is the weakest. I expect the same predictions for next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilli Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 23 hours ago, stevewhiterose said: A manager who's done it before helps. Again, I can't disagree with your point, it's a fair one, but I still can't recall there being many people tipping them for even a top 6 finish let alone automatic promotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheffsteel Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 (edited) United didn’t surpass expectations, anyone who saw them dominate league 1 knew they’d finish comfortably in the top half this season. The standard in the Championship isn’t that high really and again it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see United finish top half. They dominated possession most matches this season, had more shots and corners than the opposition most matches but really struggled putting away the half chances. Sometimes the difference between teams can be strikers and clinical finishing. However agree that the Wilder factor is very significant, so losing him could send United into a tail spin. Wednesday should comfortably finish top half but that was said this season and even before the injuries Wednesday were struggling. Its too early to make any predictions until you see what sales and purchases have been made. Will be interesting to see how FFP affects Wednesday, Chansiri may be forced to sell before he buys. Also interesting to see how the boardroom battle at Bramall Lane pan out, it’s almost like there’s a transfer embargo until ownership is sorted. Edited May 9, 2018 by sheffsteel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiJ Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 So it's too early to make predictions on us, but you can confidently predict United will finish top half again. Right... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheffsteel Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 (edited) 7 minutes ago, SiJ said: So it's too early to make predictions on us, but you can confidently predict United will finish top half again. Right... Didn’t say that. No one can predict anything really because no one knows the teams. Agree without Wilder United could struggle badly, depends on the new manager, the ownership battle and the mood amongst the fanbase. I think the most confident prediction you can make is that Wednesday will have a better season next year. Edited May 9, 2018 by sheffsteel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HootHoot Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Stoke is a sinking ship. They'll have to do quite the recruiting over summer to replace their outgoing players. With West Brom, knowing our luck Berahino will finally find his level and slot 4 past us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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