Next 5 - Make or Break?

[saintant]

2 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

The drop off next season if we fail will be enormous. The following won't be here -

THB, Bednarek, KWP, Sulemana, Fraser, Brooks, Adams, S.Armstrong, Rothwell, Downes - and we'll probably get bids which will be hard to turn down for Adam Armstrong (as he will only have a year left).  Core of the team next year if we fail will be built around Stephens, Charles, Manning, Mara, Bree, Smallbone, Dibling, SAA - things of nightmares tbh.

Of course we'll reinvest and rejuvenate the squad, but there won't be a like for like replacement quality wise. The drop off will be quite steep, but hopefully the league won't be as ridiculous next season standard wise so a playoff push should still be a genuine target.

If I'm honest I can probably live without the weekly disappointments of being a struggling side in the Premier league. I get that we'll lose a lot of players and go through another rebuilding stage but is that worse than the constant losses we'll face if we get promoted? At least in the Championship you get the chance to build a side and nurture some young prospects and hopefully win some games regularly. As long as we don't drop any lower (which I guess is the danger) I'm happy to bob along in the Championship for a few more seasons and see if we can build a side with more chance to hold our own if and when we eventually reach the 'promised land'. Not in any particular rush to become cannon fodder for the big boys again and put up with VAR.  It's kind of catch-22 because the aim is obviously to get promotion but maybe it's a case of 'be careful what you wish for'. Look at Burnley and Sheff Utd as examples. Don't expect to be overly gutted if we miss out this season but maybe the realty will be different. It's going to be an exciting run-in that's for sure.

Edited February 21 by saintant

[SNSUN]

2 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

The drop off next season if we fail will be enormous. The following won't be here -

THB, Bednarek, KWP, Sulemana, Fraser, Brooks, Adams, S.Armstrong, Rothwell, Downes - and we'll probably get bids which will be hard to turn down for Adam Armstrong (as he will only have a year left).  Core of the team next year if we fail will be built around Stephens, Charles, Manning, Mara, Bree, Smallbone, Dibling, SAA - things of nightmares tbh.

Of course we'll reinvest and rejuvenate the squad, but there won't be a like for like replacement quality wise. The drop off will be quite steep, but hopefully the league won't be as ridiculous next season standard wise so a playoff push should still be a genuine target.

I think we'd keep SArm (he seems happier this season under Russ) and Fraser (seems to want to be here permanently) but I agree with most of the others. Not sure if we couldn't keep Bednarek too, he'd probably have suitors though. I also think Baz has been courted by other teams and could be signed by someone.

So our squad (sans signings for now) would most likely be Lumley/Liz, Bree/Abu, Stephens/Awe, Lawrence/Simeu, Manning/Meghoma/Larios, Charles/Bragg, Smallbone/Edwards, Stu/Aribo, Edozie/Dibling, Fraser/SAA, Stewart/Mara/Ballard. Not terrible but it would definitely need a lot of rebuilding, there is a big drop off of quality from this season and a heavier reliance on youth.

Let's hope it doesn't happen.

[Dman]

Broken. Very, very broken.

[trousers]

On 12/02/2024 at 10:38, trousers said:

I'm inclined to disagree (all subjective of course). My gut feel is that we'll stay undeafeated during these 5 games. My concern is more about how many of those will be draws rather than the wins we need to secure automatic promotion.

Oopsie

😂😂😂