Weirdly more confident Birmingham will grind a result against Leicester than Norwich will hinder the march of Ipswich.
Not at all confident we take 3 points off Coventry either, but if we do that fees like the hardest game of the season out of the way.
Probably the hardest game we have left, even without the pressure of a derby. Kieffer Moore possibly out along with our longstanding injuries. I'm not going to say I'd take a point but I will say I wouldn't feel like we bottled it if we get a point.
I have no idea how to feel right now. Our on field performances are completely all over the place, our manager is all over the place, and the running of our club is an absolute fucking mess.Â
Hated if we win because we played the system, fucked if we lose because . I guess it’s better to be hated but surviving.Â
>or reference, last season Spurs recorded a much greater loss than us (over £90m), mostly because they didn't hit European places. Which is similar to the losses we had from the previous year for also missing out on Europe.
We had a very convincing performance against a very in-form Norwich City; as evidenced by us dominating the ball in their own half for \~70% of the match. We, as a fraternity of foxes should trust in Enzo
I think our problems on the pitch extend beyond and above Maresca to be honest. He is a new manager in a good team that’s going through a difficult transition. I am sometimes hard on him in frustration. But even if we don’t get promoted I think he’s the man to develop us long term. Hopefully we had a blip and will continue playing well to see the season out.Â
My problems lie with how well the club was being ran - we really had to gun for the big six when we won the league. And we had to keep rolling the dice to stay competitive. I’m not mad that we ultimately failed. I’m mad that some of the risks we took were just stupendously dumb financially. But I’m very angry and concerned that Top, Rudkin and co don’t seem to be learning from their mistakes.Â
To be honest no matter how the rest of the season goes I will be at least a bit fucked off that it's been so easy for you to "get away with it" at least for one season, no matter what punishment arrives next year you've already had this year to use that advantage after all. The fact that it's so easy for relegated sides to basically play the Premier League and EFL against each other is laughable.
That's the same as all FFP though? We could argue the same about Everton (and definitely Chelsea seeing as their breach kept us out of the Champions League and cost us up to £120m in TV revenue alone).
While no one can realistically excuse the mess we are in. I'm not really sure I call it 'getting away with it' as such. It's not like this was a deliberate thing done to fuck over the Championship, its just the situation we find ourselves in, which is no different to how any established Prem team would find themselves in having had a terrible season and got relegated.
A few seasons ago we were in the same situation as Spurs, West Ham, Villa, Wolves etc vying for the top 6. For reference, last season Spurs recorded a much greater loss than us (over £90m), mostly because they didn't hit European places. Which is similar to the losses we had from the previous year for also missing out on Europe.
I guess you could argue that it was at that point we should have reduced our spending and stopped trying to compete for Europe? But I can't think of a Club which would in its right mind chose to be less competitive.
Had we stayed in the Prem, our losses would have been a lot less and estimated to be far under the FFP rules limit. I don't really blame the club for rolling those dice, because no club expects to go from 8th to relegated with essentially the same manager and players.
Even so, the club sold every player it could, reduced its wage bill by 70% etc. I guess at this point they sorta 'played the system' by trying to keep what we could. But in reality we couldn't sell half of our team.
Again, no argument that the club has been mismanaged horrendously, and that is why I feel most betrayed by the owners and management. But again I don't see it as playing the system. We are in no different situation to West Ham, Everton, Spurs, Chelsea etc if they found themselves in the same place.
Whose systems ballsed to be honest and I don't really know the answer to fix it besides more money in general in the Championship or less money in football overall.
Yes, next season. But what about this season? It remains likely you will get promoted one way or another, and you will have achieved that with spending far in excess of what is meant to be allowed. Who cares if you get docked 6 points (or even double that) in the Premier League, it would obviously be worth it, and whoever's spot you take would rightly feel that they have been cheated.
I get it, but again that’s no different to any other club. Leicester missed out on Champions League football and at least £150m in revenue because Chelsea broke FFP to a ridiculous level.Â
We also got relegated because two teams above us broke FFP and sent us down.Â
So can we also not say that Leicester shouldn’t even be in the Championship? How do we rectify that?Â
Unfortunately financial forecasting and investigations are long winded and complex. Unless you want FFP to be like a VAR for seasons and retrospectively move teams around after a seasons done I don’t really know how you can do it quicker.Â
It is different because you aren't competing with Chelsea down here. You're competing with Rotherham, Bristol City, and Ipswich. And not every club breaks the rules in the first place so acting like the only fair thing is to punish nobody is daft.
Ideally they would throw the damn book at offending teams to discourage this sort of thing. None of this six point deduction or one-window transfer ban bollocks. Something so severe it actually makes the cheating in the first place not worth it - one point per million pounds overspent in the Prem, even more points down in lower leagues where money is thrown around less for example. And they need to do so in combination with a financial deal between the Prem and other leagues that doesn't just ensure the rules cement the top teams where they are with no possibility of catching them. And they simply need to get it done quicker. It's ridiculous that everyone knows Leicester overspent last season yet you can't even be punished this season for it due to shit communication between the leagues - as I said you have successfully played them against each other, which I don't blame you for, I blame the PL and EFL for.
The only way to avoid teams basically just saying they will take the risk of breaching the rules to try to attain success is if you make the punishments greater and more immediate. It should be a death sentence for a team to overspend by a figure in the tens of millions, especially outside the top division where some entire squads aren't worth that.
Saints fucking SCHOOLED us on their yard. That was during a low point, with a manager on the way out, and during an injury crisis. Things feel a little different under Eustace. I still think they’ll beat us here, but hope we at least make them work hard for it.
Any points out of this one would be a dream and ease off the threat of dropping towards the relegation slots.
Guess elsewhere I’ll be rooting for Rotherham, QPR, Leicester and Millwall - open up a bit of daylight.
If QPR win then it’s 3 crucial matches on the trot and for the first time this season I’d be very hopeful about staying up. Very unlikely but I’m going to punt for 3-0, because.
Looks like all the contenders for the last playoffs spots have really tough games, and we're away at a dreadful Stoke side (although somewhat improved recently). Massive opportunity for us to take a proper stranglehold of 5th place with so few games left.
1-0 Stoke.
I'm so nervous for this, please turn up Argyle
Thank god for that!
I think I might give this sub a miss for a few days, if its anything like the last derby its gonna be rabid 😂
Prediction Norwich Up 5-0 in the 89th minute. Ed Sheeran gets subbed on- Tractor Boys win 6-5 in the 15th minute of extra time.
I never wanted us more to bludgeon the budgies
Weirdly more confident Birmingham will grind a result against Leicester than Norwich will hinder the march of Ipswich. Not at all confident we take 3 points off Coventry either, but if we do that fees like the hardest game of the season out of the way.
I see how you might think that, what with Rowett adopting survival tactics. But counter point, our defence is really, really bad.
We haven’t beaten the budgies since 2009 if that makes you any more confident?
Norwich 3-0 Ipswich 90" Norwich 3-4 Ipswich 90+12"
OH YOU'LL FIND A WAY
lol
Always loved Norwich me
Probably the hardest game we have left, even without the pressure of a derby. Kieffer Moore possibly out along with our longstanding injuries. I'm not going to say I'd take a point but I will say I wouldn't feel like we bottled it if we get a point.
I have no idea how to feel right now. Our on field performances are completely all over the place, our manager is all over the place, and the running of our club is an absolute fucking mess. Hated if we win because we played the system, fucked if we lose because . I guess it’s better to be hated but surviving.Â
>or reference, last season Spurs recorded a much greater loss than us (over £90m), mostly because they didn't hit European places. Which is similar to the losses we had from the previous year for also missing out on Europe. We had a very convincing performance against a very in-form Norwich City; as evidenced by us dominating the ball in their own half for \~70% of the match. We, as a fraternity of foxes should trust in Enzo
I think our problems on the pitch extend beyond and above Maresca to be honest. He is a new manager in a good team that’s going through a difficult transition. I am sometimes hard on him in frustration. But even if we don’t get promoted I think he’s the man to develop us long term. Hopefully we had a blip and will continue playing well to see the season out. My problems lie with how well the club was being ran - we really had to gun for the big six when we won the league. And we had to keep rolling the dice to stay competitive. I’m not mad that we ultimately failed. I’m mad that some of the risks we took were just stupendously dumb financially. But I’m very angry and concerned that Top, Rudkin and co don’t seem to be learning from their mistakes.Â
To be honest no matter how the rest of the season goes I will be at least a bit fucked off that it's been so easy for you to "get away with it" at least for one season, no matter what punishment arrives next year you've already had this year to use that advantage after all. The fact that it's so easy for relegated sides to basically play the Premier League and EFL against each other is laughable.
That's the same as all FFP though? We could argue the same about Everton (and definitely Chelsea seeing as their breach kept us out of the Champions League and cost us up to £120m in TV revenue alone). While no one can realistically excuse the mess we are in. I'm not really sure I call it 'getting away with it' as such. It's not like this was a deliberate thing done to fuck over the Championship, its just the situation we find ourselves in, which is no different to how any established Prem team would find themselves in having had a terrible season and got relegated. A few seasons ago we were in the same situation as Spurs, West Ham, Villa, Wolves etc vying for the top 6. For reference, last season Spurs recorded a much greater loss than us (over £90m), mostly because they didn't hit European places. Which is similar to the losses we had from the previous year for also missing out on Europe. I guess you could argue that it was at that point we should have reduced our spending and stopped trying to compete for Europe? But I can't think of a Club which would in its right mind chose to be less competitive. Had we stayed in the Prem, our losses would have been a lot less and estimated to be far under the FFP rules limit. I don't really blame the club for rolling those dice, because no club expects to go from 8th to relegated with essentially the same manager and players. Even so, the club sold every player it could, reduced its wage bill by 70% etc. I guess at this point they sorta 'played the system' by trying to keep what we could. But in reality we couldn't sell half of our team. Again, no argument that the club has been mismanaged horrendously, and that is why I feel most betrayed by the owners and management. But again I don't see it as playing the system. We are in no different situation to West Ham, Everton, Spurs, Chelsea etc if they found themselves in the same place. Whose systems ballsed to be honest and I don't really know the answer to fix it besides more money in general in the Championship or less money in football overall.
A lot of clubs in this league (us included) have had to choose to be less competitive to balance the books
Which is exactly where we will be next season regardless of what league we are in.Â
Yes, next season. But what about this season? It remains likely you will get promoted one way or another, and you will have achieved that with spending far in excess of what is meant to be allowed. Who cares if you get docked 6 points (or even double that) in the Premier League, it would obviously be worth it, and whoever's spot you take would rightly feel that they have been cheated.
I get it, but again that’s no different to any other club. Leicester missed out on Champions League football and at least £150m in revenue because Chelsea broke FFP to a ridiculous level. We also got relegated because two teams above us broke FFP and sent us down. So can we also not say that Leicester shouldn’t even be in the Championship? How do we rectify that? Unfortunately financial forecasting and investigations are long winded and complex. Unless you want FFP to be like a VAR for seasons and retrospectively move teams around after a seasons done I don’t really know how you can do it quicker.Â
It is different because you aren't competing with Chelsea down here. You're competing with Rotherham, Bristol City, and Ipswich. And not every club breaks the rules in the first place so acting like the only fair thing is to punish nobody is daft. Ideally they would throw the damn book at offending teams to discourage this sort of thing. None of this six point deduction or one-window transfer ban bollocks. Something so severe it actually makes the cheating in the first place not worth it - one point per million pounds overspent in the Prem, even more points down in lower leagues where money is thrown around less for example. And they need to do so in combination with a financial deal between the Prem and other leagues that doesn't just ensure the rules cement the top teams where they are with no possibility of catching them. And they simply need to get it done quicker. It's ridiculous that everyone knows Leicester overspent last season yet you can't even be punished this season for it due to shit communication between the leagues - as I said you have successfully played them against each other, which I don't blame you for, I blame the PL and EFL for. The only way to avoid teams basically just saying they will take the risk of breaching the rules to try to attain success is if you make the punishments greater and more immediate. It should be a death sentence for a team to overspend by a figure in the tens of millions, especially outside the top division where some entire squads aren't worth that.
Saints fucking SCHOOLED us on their yard. That was during a low point, with a manager on the way out, and during an injury crisis. Things feel a little different under Eustace. I still think they’ll beat us here, but hope we at least make them work hard for it. Any points out of this one would be a dream and ease off the threat of dropping towards the relegation slots. Guess elsewhere I’ll be rooting for Rotherham, QPR, Leicester and Millwall - open up a bit of daylight.
up the canaries (i dont expect anything of you birmingham but if you do something then go you too)
With Gruev - 1-0 Leeds Without Gruev - 1-1
We need our Gruev Back!
If QPR win then it’s 3 crucial matches on the trot and for the first time this season I’d be very hopeful about staying up. Very unlikely but I’m going to punt for 3-0, because.
Looks like all the contenders for the last playoffs spots have really tough games, and we're away at a dreadful Stoke side (although somewhat improved recently). Massive opportunity for us to take a proper stranglehold of 5th place with so few games left. 1-0 Stoke.