Championship 2021-2022

I think the loans they had from MSD had the stadium + training ground as collateral, another reason why I think the group I work for will pick them up

 

Derby won today regardless of everything going on off the pitch. Rooney's doing a reasonable job, all things considered.

 

Extremely reckless even so, I know the ref saw it, but surely that's a red card if they can change it!

 

Hasn't their wage bill been running at over 100% of turnover for at least a couple of seasons?

I know our owners are less than perfect but what some of these owners spend their money on, only to still fail I have no idea.

 

There were reports last season that they needed to sell a few of their better players to avoid FFP penalties. They decided to gamble on promotion instead.

 

Reading are a bit of a strange club, before the mid 1990s they'd hardly played in the upper divisions, now they have two promotions to the Premier League (one in spectacular style, after which they almost got into Europe, but they didn't last long at the top level in both cases), three play-off finals, two play-off semis and three 7th place finishes. That's an impressive record for a club their size and history, but they seem to be the Championship equivalent of Peterborough, a team that often does well at this level but hasn't yet been able to enjoy sustained success in the level above.

 

Been around 200% for the last 3 years on record!
https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/status/1440318652482408473?s=19

Agreed on the Pozzos, I've long stopped believing they have a master plan, but the tactic of bringing in a load of ringers from Udinese worked a treat, and by the time it all went sour, other teams were in a far worse position!

 

Blimey. I know the foundations of us being able to get out of the championship came from being able to loan players from Udinese, and those players were probably worth a few bob on a comparative basis, but it does make you wonder how these clubs are run. All that money and they still haven’t really looked like getting promoted. Same with Derby, Mel Morris pumped £200m in and look where it got them.

 

It's all the fault of evil parachute payments.

 

At least Derby almost got promoted on numerous occasions, the closest Reading got since pumping up the spending was 7th place! I don't know about now, but they famously had a bigger wage bill than recent Champions League quarter-finalists Atalanta at one point!

 

Parachute payments are a necessary evil given the difficulty teams will have adapting back to Championship levels of money, the real problem is that there is such a gulf between the Premier League and the Championship in terms of money in the first place

 

I reckon pretty much every relegated side would be in administration within a few months without PP. Which is, of course, why PP exists.

 

Sarcasm doesn't always come across well on a forum.

 

I’ve said it a million times, reduce the PL to 18 teams, scrap parachute payments and make first place in the championship worth £60m, second £50m and so on. I know the championship is a tin pot league that has a fraction of interest compared to the PL but let’s face it, so are we.

Even though we’re in the PL we’re just there to make up the numbers, individually we contribute nothing to the 4bn overseas revenue generated, even though we directly benefit from it, nor do we individually pull in any of the £5bn domestic revenue. We only do by proxy because we’re part of the league, but barely any of that money comes in simply to see us play.

So it’s no different to extending that down into the championship, but it would eliminate the boom and bust nature of how championship clubs are run and bridge the huge gap between 20th and 21st. Relegation wouldn’t be the end of the world like it is now. You’d have a better quality championship with bet

 

Paging @Manatleisure

 

Normal service utterly resumed with that second brilliant line/defence-busting ball from Chair that Andre managed to just run right out into touch.

 

Incredible wasn’t it.

I’ve never heard someone’s name mentioned so much without them actually having any impact on the game at all.

 

The Deeney paradox - some of that stardust has obviously rubbed off on Andre after such a long association.

Championship's just lucky to have the future spouse of such a famous popstar gracing it with their presence. No wonder the commentators are so excited.

 

Dieng. Oops! Butterfingers.

 

A decent goal TBF. Beat the offside trap & slid it past the keeper. Reminded me of the last-minute winner he got for us against Leasta a couple of years ago.

 

Absolutely cracking winning goal for West Brom. The sort of slick team goal that almost never wins Goal of the Month but should.

 

Not sure I get the comparison to the Dell?

 

I only went once. The day Steve Sherwood scored. I don't honestly remember the ground much. T'was a long time ago.

 

I went a few times, including a glorious victory in the Cup played in quite thick snow. Kenny Jackett scored at least one of our goals.

 

Went once, League Cup 1980 - lost five nil.

 

That was after the Andy Rankin ‘bringing the coal in’ injury, I believe.