Really?!?! Sunderland were at home and mostly 5hat the bed until the last few minutes. They don't seem any great shakes either.
Despite the win, Watford once again looked like a bunch of blokes who are quite good at football but have just met for a kickabout to see what happens. They certainly don’t look like they ever practice together.
I meant their game today. A few local lads charging around giving their all, a couple more who would be said to not-be-good-enough for the level (O’Nien) being superb - but the crucial one in relation to my point about them/us…they have Diallo, on loan, £30m etc etc and he’s charging around like a lad from the mackem suburbs…we can’t get a tune out of Sarr who cost us the same or more permanently. We are broken when it comes to the fundamentals of pride in who you are, what you do, and where you come from. Nothing changes until that is fixed.
If WBA really are screwed then they might be available on the cheap. I think we should have signed each of them on a free. Diangana is pretty good and Asante has a lot of potential. Adjusted well to a big step up for a young player. O’Shea is a solid championship CB. One of their best players and just 24.
Don’t know how relevant it is considering 3 teams in a much better financial position than us will be coming down into the division.
They didn’t make the play-offs this season though. There will still be four teams in the play offs next season.
I feel I live in a parallel universe to most fans around me at the game. Criticising the banners, applauding Davis’s every touch, clapping Sarr for another tepid performance. And then staying at the end to clap arguably the most under performing squad I’ve ever witnessed on their “lap of honour” (I presume they were as we were the only people in our line that left on the whistle) fu@&&g mad the lot of them
No idea - I did applaud Bachmann at the end of the parade of shame when his two children ran on to the pitch and he gathered them up in his arms. Did not drop either off them - well done sir!
Everton are in a different universe to us in terms of their standing in the football universe, they’ll be able to outcompete us financially in the championship with ease.
But it’s not really, they didn’t stop us getting in the playoffs this season, we stopped ourselves. Only one club who was in the PL last season is leaving the division, to be replaced by 3 clubs who would’ve been in the PL the season before, so even if two of them occupy the top spots there will still be at least one club that will be significantly more of a threat next season than WBA were this season. Long story short, we’ll have more competition for a play off spot next season, not less.
Of course, but these are good players we're talking about, it's not as if other, better-run clubs won't be interested in them too. Maybe Dike might have a particular interest in coming here if Ismael comes, but that's a big if
Can they actually buy players though? They have been, to put it mildly, sailing close to the wind in terms of FFP for a long time now
A fitting performance end to the season ( other than the fact we won ). A few moments of quality amongst some farcical passing and a lack of coherence . Great finish from Louza who I think also played probably the pass of the season for that Sarr chance early on . Was good to see a few more youngsters thrown in although I understand Blake Is off. Andrews grows with Every performance . Thought the Stoke fans were good value and I enjoyed the banner being passed around in the rookery end ( not sure what it said-Pozzo out I’m guessing?) There was some strange over zealous policing in the sej stand with a fan being called out by the ‘ head of security’ who I’ve never seen before and warned for giving it large to the stoke fans . Not something I would ever do , but happens all the time and was all fairly good humoured . I don’t know if the irony of having a piece on the Deeney goal at half time may have been lost on the owners . That goal was certainly a moment of genuine togetherness between fans and players . 10 years later it couldn’t be any more different . i really do hope we see the shift we need over the summer to get us back on track .
I tend to agree, but equally worth bearing in mind the forum savants talking gleefully about how shafted Burnley were before last summer compared to us just before they built an entirely new league winning team. We are stiffed by what Pozzo has done to our finances. WBA being worse doesn't change that in the big scheme of things really.
They got relegated a year before us, do you think our financial position will be better or worse than theirs is now, in one years time?
Am I being whooshed? They didn’t even get in them this season so were not a rival for them anyway, and there will be more stronger teams (financially) in the league next season that there are this season. So how does that theory work? We will be losing a team via the playoffs that hasn’t been in the PL for years, for starters, to be replaced with one that has been in the PL for a while, so that’s more competition, not less.
If it's the banner I think you mean it said "Cowards". A few stewards attempted to remove it but the fans' prevailed this time with a fire safety certificate which allowed it to stay.
Yes I thought exactly the same. You just know they're going to be on minimum wage and a casual contract. What are they supposed to do? Say ''no" to the earpiece hollering big cheese. There's yer real sniveller. The grand gentleman boss.
At one point they were sixth today, but fell short after losing to Swansea. I'd argue that they were very much in the hunt for a play off spot. Hopefully having them out of the equation for next season is surely a benefit is it not? Yes there are more teams who are in a better financial state than us but that doesn't necessarily translate well on the pitch. To me, having a team that missed out on a play off space on the final day of the season possibly not be in contention the next season is a positive for us.
Well it’s one positive, but there are more negatives i.e. 3 well established PL teams being relegated and only one team who were in the PL last season going up. Net/net we will have more rivals for play off slots in the shape of teams in a much better financial positions than we’ve had to compete against this season, so I think overall WBA being more skint now than they were a year ago is really just ******* in the wind in terms of the bigger picture.
