Straight back up?

[Batman]

Anyone think we could?

Do many teams actually do so?

 

Newcastle, West Ham, Burnley in recent years off the top of my head

 

Those clubs held on to a good chunk of their players and had managers who were premier league level.

 

Just can’t see it myself as surely, there will be a high turn over of players, no idea if Hughes will stay and god knows regarding re-investment into the side?

 

One thing is for sure, our quirky European ‘process’ of doing things has failed and would need tried and tested players and manager.

[cellone]

I don't think we have the means to bounce back.

[SuperSAINT]

He gets a lot of stick, but for his faults, Cortese was a major force in our rise through the leagues.

 

We roll over and have our tummy tickled anytime somebody wants a player now, so imagine how weak we will be in the championship.

 

Have to have a manager who can navigate the championship.

[Batman]

I would take warnock if Cardiff go up

[egg]

We roll over and have our tummy tickled anytime somebody wants a player now, so imagine how weak we will be in the championship.

 

And clinging onto Van Dijk did us the world of good!

 

On topic, we won't go up. A big chunk of the squad will move on but we'll be stuck with Forster and possibly others on massive wages. That will make signings difficult and create an unhappy ship. We'll languish in that league for a long time and with the current owners and board I can't see that we'll bounce back.

 

We've had a disastrous few seasons off the pitch, but somehow got away with it. Our luck has run out and I can't see any easy way back sadly.

 

We'll do a Sunderland for sure, and I just hope it's not a Blackburn.

[benjii]

Who knows. Depends entirely on what wage bill the owners are prepared to risk in the Championship for starters, then who we get as manager, then whether we can sign some solid pros to complement whatever is left.

 

With the likes of Stephens and Targett on £40 -£50k a week you would imagine that any of our players would be up for sale if a fair offer came in.

 

If we could keep McCarthy, Targett, Yoshida, Romeu, JWP, Long, Austin and add Sims, Hesketh, maybe Slattery etc. plus a couple of big nasty buggers, keep S Davis for another year, then we might have a chance with a decent manager.

 

Obviously Cedric, Bertrand, Lemina, Gabbiadini, Tadic, Carillo and Boufal will be off (whether loans or permanent). The worry is that we get stuck with too many players who we can't shift and who will still be of little use in the Championship like Forster, Stephens, Redmond, Bednarek which would hamper our ability to rebuild on the wages front.

[doddisalegend]

Impossible to tell without seeing who we sell, who we buy and who the manager is. The club has to be prepared to invest (ideally in the best players in the championship) though last time we went down we all we did was cut costs and spend 90K on the squad.

[Toadhall Saint]

Can’t see it myself.

[Saints foreva]

Nah, good chance of us doing a Sunderland imo.

[Killers Knee]

Get Cortese in and we might have a chance, otherwise I’m prepared to never see us in the top flight again. Our current squad would not get promoted out of divvy 1, wait and see what improvements we make over the summer. I have zero faith in Hughes at any level.

[bpsaint]

I find it a lot more likely that we’re in another relegation battle next year rather than a fight for promotion. I’m more inclined to think we’ll do a Sunderland.

[S-Clarke]

Nah, good chance of us doing a Sunderland imo.

 

Win 4-1 away from home?

 

In all seriousness it's not going to be as bad as Sunderland, I can't see that. No worse than lower mid-table, but given were we were 24 months ago that is a little diabolical.

[IFHP]

No, we wont go back up we will be more likely be nearer the bottom than the top.

 

I think we could be in serious financial difficulties too.

 

We have signed players on long contracts on big wages and i'm not sure who would take any of our hands. I am also not convinced the club put a relegation clause in the contacts as I think the club were so arrogant that they thought we wouldn't get relegated.

 

Then there is the much publicised loan our owner took out to buy us.

[Pamplemousse]

As long as we brought in an experienced centre back, I think we’d do pretty well.

 

I can see is getting rid of Cedric, Bertrand, Hoj, Lemina, Boufal, Tadic and Carrillo (if we get 7 figures for him I’ll be amazed). Rebuild the team around the core British players like Davis, Long and Austin and with the mix of youth, we should alright.

 

McCarthy

New right back (assuming Pied also leaves)

Yoshida

Stephens (although I’d prefer a new CB)

Targett

Reed

Romeu

Sims/Long

Hesketh

JWP/Davis

Austin/Gallagher

 

That’s a pretty decent first eleven. We’ll need some solid new signings to add depth and experience

[The Cat]

Are the only options either go back up or do a Sunderland because the likelihood would be somewhere in between. I'd hazard a guess that we'd be like Ipswich and bumble around mid table.

[adrian lord]

I think several years mired mid-table in the Championship awaits us. Possibly even worse. Can't see a bounce back under this ownership or executive.

[doddisalegend]

Get Cortese in and we might have a chance, otherwise I’m prepared to never see us in the top flight again. Our current squad would not get promoted out of divvy 1, wait and see what improvements we make over the summer. I have zero faith in Hughes at any level.

 

 

Cortese with out millions to spend would make no difference.

[aintforever]

Nah, good chance of us doing a Sunderland imo.

 

I agree, it all depends on the owners and they have shown zero effort to connect with the fans or even give a clue to their plans. Suggests to me that they don’t have good intentions.

[Saint Garrett]

Can’t see it, we aren’t good enough now, let alone with a weaker squad.

 

 

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[kwsaint]

Gao is going to want to protect his investment based on the little that we have seen so far. So a fire sale of better players, parachute payments being used to pay off the loan, with little investment in quality. And none of the Van Dyck money will get spent. At some point things will bottom out. But we are on the slide and I really dont see us being top half in the Championship next season. Apart from anything most of the current bunch have no fight in them and the Championship is a tough league.

 

The frustrating thing is that this was all so unnecessary. Better recruitment of both players and managers since the summer of 2016 would have avoided all this. Hopefully Les Reed will be gone in the summer, but he will need to be replaced with someone who actually knows what they are doing.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Mark Hughes is a premier league quality manager with a track record of good mid table finishes, if we can keep him then we will have one of the best in the Championship.

 

Our "European approach" worked while it worked. We just need to start doing it well again.

 

We are not Sunderland. They have a serious culture problem in their squad and are unattractive to players geographically. We are potentially similar to Blackburn, but Gao hasn't been in any way as eccentric as the Venkys since he took over. He seems to be leaving it to the football people at least, its just they've let him down.

 

The big questions is will there be investment in the squad? I don't think anything will come from the owner but if we sell a lot of players then we may have something to spend. Is there still VVD money in the bank? Plus we will have parachute payments.

 

Wasn't it said after our last relegation that we had learnt our lesson and would be inserting relegation clauses which halve each player's wages? That would help us.

[doddisalegend]

Can’t see it, we aren’t good enough now, let alone with a weaker squad.

 

 

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Well if all we do is flog a load of the first team and don't buy in decent replacements (for the league we are in) leaving us with a weaker squad then we are screwed for sure.

 

If we clear out the dead wood and actually invest in a good championship squad then we have a chance.

 

It all depends on how we approach next summer.

[DuncanRG]

It's impossible to predict when we don't know who our manager or players would be.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Get Cortese in and we might have a chance, otherwise I’m prepared to never see us in the top flight again.

 

Why do people write nonsense like this. We’ve spent about 10 years of the last 45 outside the top flight. I’ll be amazed if we’re not back up in 5 years.

 

 

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[Saint Albert]

It’s probably our best chance, if the remainder of the VVD money not spent on Carrillo and whatever we get in parachute payments allows Les and Co (assuming they’ve not been fired) to field a decent side capable of fighting for promotion, rather than the team of wet blankets presently embarrassing the club in the PL. Long term I don’t have much faith in the new ownership structure keeping the team competitive.

 

It would be interesting to see who leaves the club following relegation but I assume there’s already a thread on that.

[SW5 SAINT]

I'd like us to actually win a division, we've only done it once in about a hundred years. Not sure how many other teams of our status have had such little success in actually winning a divisional title.....

[stknowle]

Are the only options either go back up or do a Sunderland because the likelihood would be somewhere in between. I'd hazard a guess that we'd be like Ipswich and bumble around mid table.

 

I think it's likely to be a bit like last time to be honest. Bumble for a couple of seasons then plunge. Hopefully they'll be another Marcus waiting in the wings. FFS I cannot believe it's come to this so quickly after some great years.

[simo]

Win our game in hand and we jump 3 places , don't give up just yet

[Batman]

Win our game in hand and we jump 3 places , don't give up just yet

 

That is true. The home game against Bournemouth is certainly must win regardless

[qwertyell]

Win our game in hand and we jump 3 places , don't give up just yet

We've only won once in four months. Our last three "must win" games against relegation rivals have gone 0-0, 0-3, 0-3.

 

We aren't winning another match this season.

 

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[Wade Garrett]

I don't think we have the means to bounce back.

 

We should have- parachute payment, profit we just announced, and a load of VVD money.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Win our game in hand and we jump 3 places , don't give up just yet

 

On paper yes, but it was the nature of yesterday's surrender that was worrying. No doubt we'll play better next week because you have to. Play poorly against a top 6 side and you'll get beat 5 or 6, the players self preservation takes over. I think we'd all have taken 3 points from West Ham & Arsenal, so maybe we can salvage something. One thing for sure, to stay up you need to produce a surprise result. Next Sunday ?

 

 

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[Baird of the land]

I'd have severe doubts. We have so many highly paid players who i think wouldn't be interested in staying & fighting to get us back.

Equally if Hughes does nothing to keep us up i wouldn't be keen on him in the Champ. Much prefer we went & got Adkins back. That would require paying Hull though which our board wouldn't want to do.

 

Only positive is that it might see a few of the younger lads actually getting a run (Mcqueen, Gallagher, Targett, Hesketh, sims)

[alpine_saint]

The only way we will come back up is if we find another rich phillanthropist. And only then after the club has been gutted and rebuilt from the bottom again.

 

Gao (with KL mooching in the shadows), Kreuger and Reed ? Not a f**king chance

[benjii]

Why are people banging on about this before knowing the players or manager?

 

You say we could do alright and it translates to 'we'll walk the league', while others seem genuinely convinced we'll struggle again.

 

Some teams come straight back, some take a couple of years, some struggle. Good manager is key. Doesn't take much to get a squad together capable of promotion in that league.

 

The trick is coming back up with a team that only needs minor improvement to stay up and prosper. The bottom half of the premier league is so poor now, it should be the aim. Cardiff will get up and struggle IMO. If you get up playing a bit of football with a few younger players, you're more likely to stay up.

 

You ask why people are banging on about it then bang on about it yourself?

[ChiefScummer]

Doubt we will do a Newcastle. We have no idea of our owners intentions or how he will react in the championship. Would he even care? Difficult to say.

 

How will we move forward from relegation? As others have said, players we can't shift on big wages will hinder us replacing the ones we do sell. I highly doubt we will do a Sunderland and there are plenty of sh!te teams in the championship. I think it's more likely we will hover around the top half for the next few years and miss out on the playoffs. No way of knowing until we see who leaves/stays. But hey we could still stay up right?

[ooh it's a corner]

I can't see us coming back at the first time of asking at all.

 

The best players we have will be sold, either to Premier league teams, or back to continental Europe.

 

We then have a wave of first team regulars who would not get into many premier league teams, but who would be useful squad players in the lower half squads. These guys are earning millions at Southampton and they will be the hardest to move on. We probably end up accepting minimal bids for these folks, just to get them off the payroll.

 

Thankfully the youngsters wont be on mega bucks, but I can't see us getting out of a very competitive division with a mixture of youth and average footballers, that we weren't able to move on in the transfer window....

 

depressing

[Faz]

Pretty sure Targett will be in the premier league with fulham.

 

That'll be the test. Yes, you let all the big players go for big fees, but Targett would be a top left back in that league. Fulham would want him, could pay a reasonable fee but I'd far rather keep him.

 

Last I’ve I checked, Targett was our player.

[doddisalegend]

Doubt we will do a Newcastle. We have no idea of our owners intentions or how he will react in the championship. Would he even care? Difficult to say.

How will we move forward from relegation? As others have said, players we can't shift on big wages will hinder us replacing the ones we do sell. I highly doubt we will do a Sunderland and there are plenty of sh!te teams in the championship. I think it's more likely we will hover around the top half for the next few years and miss out on the playoffs. No way of knowing until we see who leaves/stays. But hey we could still stay up right?

 

TBF Newcastle are owned by Mike Ashely hardly a paragon of the good club owner.

[JoeShmoe]

As long as we brought in an experienced centre back, I think we’d do pretty well.

 

I can see is getting rid of Cedric, Bertrand, Hoj, Lemina, Boufal, Tadic and Carrillo (if we get 7 figures for him I’ll be amazed). Rebuild the team around the core British players like Davis, Long and Austin and with the mix of youth, we should alright.

 

McCarthy

New right back (assuming Pied also leaves)

Yoshida

Stephens (although I’d prefer a new CB)

Targett

Reed

Romeu

Sims/Long

Hesketh

JWP/Davis

Austin/Gallagher

 

That’s a pretty decent first eleven. We’ll need some solid new signings to add depth and experience

 

Thats very realistic in my book, add in a new CB, Hojberg, another good young CM (McGinn at Hibs for example), Redmond and Mcqueen and thats a decent champ XI. Plus we weed out all the high wage crap who have to go whether we stay up or not (Tadic, Boufal, Carillo, Gabbiadini, Cedric, Lemina, Forster etc)

[Batman]

TBF Newcastle are owned by Mike Ashely hardly a paragon of the good club owner.

 

But they kept Rafa who is by a mile, too good for the championship and most of their players.

[spyinthesky]

Undoubtedly some of the more regular players will go either because they are 'saleable' or on big wages that can't be sustained in the Championship (it would be a real problem financially if Uncle Les has not been able to insert relegation clauses into the contracts)

 

There will then be a residue of this years fringe players possibly re-inforced (if that is the right word) by returning loanees (ie Reed, Gallagher and Targett (unless latter sold to Fulham if they go up) and some low cost purchases from Premier League squads (someone like Drew Surman comes to mind) and other loans from home and abroad as spewed out by the knackered Black Box.

 

The worrying thing is that we have played three lower league sides this season and fielded relatively 'strong' teams.

 

Wolves (with a more or less reserve team) comfortably beat us 2-0 at St Marys, then we scraped through at Fulham and Wigan.

 

However if we do actually replace our leaving 'stars' with players offering energy and commitment then possibly we could be in the mix for a play off place.

 

Unfortunately no one seems to know what how the financial side will pan out.

 

Worryingly the new Chief Exec of West Brom reckons the club is in a financial mess despite recording record profits last year

 

The Baggies are Chinese owned and you wonder if there could be a similar problem in store for us.

 

We used to get good financial info from Redslo but he seems to have gone to ground recently

[SKD]

Cortese with out millions to spend would make no difference.

 

True and not true... he did create a very good ‘feel factor’ around the playing squad.

[SKD]

I can’t see anything other than us going down now, so the board have a number of months to prepare for it.

 

Hopefully we can persuade the likes of Austin, Romeu, Yoshida and McCarthy to stay and ship out pretty much the rest of the first team. The new manager will be crucial, we need someone who has experience in the championship and knows exactly who and what they want (someone suggest Warnock, which wouldn’t be terrible if I’m honest)

 

With all our sales and payments from dropping out of the PL we should have the financial clout to attract the best at that level (and we should have a pretty decent reputation as well).

 

Dependent on who goes up, I’d like to see a squad something like this:

 

GK: McCarthy / new (back up)

 

Def: new RB / Yoshida / New CB / Jones / Targett / McQueen

 

Mid: Romeu / Reed / JWP / Aron Gunnarsson (Cardiff) / Davis

 

Forwards: Sims / Hesketh / Austin / Redmond / new RW / James

Maddison (Norwich) or Vydra (Derby)

 

For me, next year will be about making sure we don’t ‘do a Sunderland’ And then push for promotion the following season.

[labibs]

I can’t see anything other than us going down now, so the board have a number of months to prepare for it.

 

Hopefully we can persuade the likes of Austin, Romeu, Yoshida and McCarthy to stay and ship out pretty much the rest of the first team. The new manager will be crucial, we need someone who has experience in the championship and knows exactly who and what they want (someone suggest Warnock, which wouldn’t be terrible if I’m honest)

 

With all our sales and payments from dropping out of the PL we should have the financial clout to attract the best at that level (and we should have a pretty decent reputation as well).

 

Dependent on who goes up, I’d like to see a squad something like this:

 

GK: McCarthy / new (back up)

 

Def: new RB / Yoshida / New CB / Jones / Targett / McQueen

 

Mid: Romeu / Reed / JWP / Aron Gunnarsson (Cardiff) / Davis

 

Forwards: Sims / Hesketh / Austin / Redmond / new RW / James

Maddison (Norwich) or Vydra (Derby)

 

For me, next year will be about making sure we don’t ‘do a Sunderland’ And then push for promotion the following season.

 

Why stop at Maddison mate? Let’s sign sessegnon, Aiden Flint, Cairney etc. Not a chance

[Cabrone]

Can't see us bouncing back straight away, the current trajectory is still very much down and it would take a while to adjust the culture back to winning. Best we could hope for is at least 1 season of stability and then an attack on promotion if we had righted the ship by then.

 

It's much easier to stay up than get out of the champ but then you'd need players that actually give a damn......

[SKD]

Why stop at Maddison mate? Let’s sign sessegnon, Aiden Flint, Cairney etc. Not a chance

 

Is Maddison really that unrealistic though? As I’ve pointed out, financially we will be one of the strongest (if not the strongest when you consider player sells) in that division. Flint isn’t a bad shout, again one we could potentially attract and one who would improve our starting 11. Sessegnon and Cairney, you’re right, no chance.

[labibs]

Is Maddison really that unrealistic though? As I’ve pointed out, financially we will be one of the strongest (if not the strongest when you consider player sells) in that division. Flint isn’t a bad shout, again one we could potentially attract and one who would improve our starting 11. Sessegnon and Cairney, you’re right, no chance.

 

Yes, as I think there will be a lot of premier league clubs interested. Can’t remember last time

Player moved from champo to champo, when there was serious prem interest? Maddison will go the prem. flint is quite old and they would want a big fee as he has just signed a new contract. Would be a massive change of approach from us make that kind of signing, although he would be what we need in that league.

 

 

As for finances, yes we will in terms of revenue. We will also have a very high wage bill if we can’t shift our high earners (even with relegation wage cut clauses) and other clubs might just overspend and run up a debt to chase the league. We will have a good chance for 2 years, assuming we don’t have a hangover, it I doubt we will walk that league.

[doddisalegend]

But they kept Rafa who is by a mile, too good for the championship and most of their players.

 

but we could keep Hughes and most of our players (whether we actually want to keep the useless bottlers is another matter) at the moment we have no idea how the summer will pan out.

[aintforever]

Is Maddison really that unrealistic though? As I’ve pointed out, financially we will be one of the strongest (if not the strongest when you consider player sells) in that division. Flint isn’t a bad shout, again one we could potentially attract and one who would improve our starting 11. Sessegnon and Cairney, you’re right, no chance.

 

In theory we should be one of the strongest but it will depend on wether the owner wants to invest to try and get back up or just asset strip to pay of his loan.

 

If Gao has any sense he will look at what Newcastle did and try and do something similar. With the right manager and a bit of investment we should stand a decent chance - wether he will fancy throwing more money at it, god knows.