so long,farewell,auf Wiedersehen,good night...in other words...the relegation thread

[That Fat Centre Half]

Pretty sure ive had years taken off my life with that. The moment I let the "we are actually going to see this out comfortably" thought into my head at 3-1 they scored and was fully backs agains the wall. When Barnsley scored I thought its just going to be one of those things but amazing to hold on.

Blackburn definitely didnt give us an easy ride, even brought the keeper up for the corner right at the end!

Amazing achievement from everyone to stay up in this league.

Same again next season I guess ha!

 

[CCFC_Charlie]

Glad Luton have stayed up so we'll actually have someone to talk to on here next season!

 

[Kenneth E End]

Really, really have to congratulate Barnsley. Arguably a bigger comeback than us and having those last three games. Two injury time winners since Sunday. What a way to do it.

I really feel sorry for Wigan’s fans and players. They don’t deserve to go down in the way they’ve played in 2020, but those are the breaks. Unfortunately the club needs to be punished to send a message to everyone else that finances are integral in such a basket case of a league.

Charlton likewise: I guess they may be heading into administration themselves in the coming days? What might have been if Lyle Taylor had stayed!?

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

I have a little bit of Schadenfreude with Charlton I have to say. Mid March Bowyer was writing us off saying that us and Barnsley were gone and it was just the 1 relegation spot to be decided. Glad that little piece of hubris came and bit him in the end.

I do feel for anyone being relegated though. All 3 sides are going to be so far behind preparation wise for next season and the financial cliff will be a steep one. In his post game interview NJ said something about knowing what the budget would have been if we had got relegated tonight and he wouldn’t have even played for what we would be able to offer!

 

[Kenneth E End]

Charlton were looking pretty good a few weeks ago, but as has proven, this league has a real habit of biting you on the arse if you turn your back too quick. Bowyer has done an unbelievable job in some of the toughest circumstances you can imagine, with the bunch of morons that have attempted to "run" their club in recent years. Their time will come again - maybe this is an opportunity to reset somewhat.

You cannot overestimate how massive last night was for Luton. I've just listened to Gary Sweet describe League One as a disaster zone and per the above, there would've needed to be horrendous cuts to the squad and club in general. Relegation wouldn't have meant administration considering the circumstances, but that extra £6m and the profile of being a Championship club is so vital. We will now be in such a strong position financially in comparison to the competition.

We can now push on - I look at Bristol City. Their first season back in the Championship in 2016 they finished 18th and struggled; defensively they had a terrible GD, much like themselves. Whilst we won't have the same financial muscle as them, they improved positions every season apart from the current one.

I believe that with our new stadium we can become a Premier League club. We have had our academy upgraded to Category 2 subject to the infrastructure being put in place. Our training ground is second to none. This club is not built on sand like others. If you compare to what 2020 took over in January 2008, it is unrecognisable.

This is a real team effort, but not just on the pitch. You look at Paul Benson, now a youth team coach at the club - a player that got us out of the Conference and a real model professional for so many lower league clubs. A month ago, he was cleaning the stands, fixing cardboard cutouts to seats, acting as ballboy in the Kenny End and acting as media steward. What a guy. There are so many stories like this - people who may / are furloughed / may not have a future. Everyone pitching it for the common cause. The fans themselves have probably saved the club several hundreds of thousands in refunds and with nearly 5,000 season ticket renewals despite the situation provided the club with undoubted crucial cash flow.

A month ago, the players were forced into a significant pay deferral due to coronavirus. They didn't have to take it and it could've easily had the opposite effect. But the players were galvanised. Relegation would've meant that player sales would've been inevitable and this tremendous group broken up.

I was extremely sceptical about taking back Nathan Jones - but after the last month... he's been gone too long.

 

[BelizeHatter]

Trust him tho? Sing his name? I dont think ill ever be able to. I still cant watch an interview with him

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

You should watch the interviews with him Belize. They are quite noticeably different to his first stint. Much more measured and not chest beating kind of stuff from his first stint.

The stoke experience has definitely had an impact on him. I mentioned Bowyers hubris in my comment above and NJ definitely had a bit of that in him. It’s noticeably reduced this time around

 

[Kenneth E End]

Trust him tho? Sing his name? I dont think ill ever be able to. I still cant watch an interview with him

Not asking for you to shag the guy - his Mrs probably had a good rodgering last night.
But you have to give the guy credit for what he has done in the last couple of months.

 

[oakroader]

to quote.."he's not the messiah..he's a very naughty boy"

i can forgive ...i wont forget!!!

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

If 2020 and Gary Sweet can forgive him, as well as the players, we can too.

2020 swallowed a huge amount of pride to bring him back and he delivered for them. He’s come back, apologised the people who had the most cause to feel aggrieved have forgoven him and he’s come back and delivered on the pitch. The players all clearly love him too.

What’s done is done, let’s get behind him - what he has achieved at this club is remarkable and it was done in no small part because we had everyone pulling in the same direction. Be a shame if we lost that over something that happened over a year ago and didn’t actually have a great deal of impact on where we are right now in any case.

 

[Luke Imp]

Well done to Luton, great effort. Likewise Barnsley and Wigan.

I must admit, I'm not too fussed to not be hearing Nathan Jones post-match whinges next season!

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

He doesn’t really whinge too much now. His manner with the media at least seems to have changed with what happened at Stoke. I was expecting full NJ fireworks after some of our results like last night and Hull. But both times he was quite measured. After we got beat 5-0 off Reading he was almost ambivalent to the whole thing!

Still totally mad as a box of frogs on the side of the pitch though. Even almost had a fight last night with one of there assistants!

 

[Vanni]

Congrats Luton and Barnsley. Well done chaps. I do feel for the Wigan fans though, one decent side that didn't deserve to go down.

BTW, I think I did underestimate QPR when Luton failed to beat them the other week. They snuffed out Millwall's play offs hopes and they did draw at Boro last night so they can't be a poor side.

 

[Vanni]

He doesn’t really whinge too much now. His manner with the media at least seems to have changed with what happened at Stoke. I was expecting full NJ fireworks after some of our results like last night and Hull. But both times he was quite measured. After we got beat 5-0 off Reading he was almost ambivalent to the whole thing!

Still totally mad as a box of frogs on the side of the pitch though. Even almost had a fight last night with one of there assistants!

Going bonkers on the touchline is only natural and I don't see anything wrong with it. In fact I think it's a positive trait to have in a manager. All within limits of course.

What's not acceptable in my book is ordering your goalkeeper to feign injury so that you can have a little team talk with the outfield players.

**Cough...cough...Danny C...cough**

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Going bonkers on the touchline is only natural and I don't see anything wrong with it. In fact I think it's a positive trait to have in a manager. All within limits of course.

What's not acceptable in my book is ordering your goalkeeper to feign injury so that you can have a little team talk with the outfield players.

**Cough...cough...Danny C...cough**

Agreed don’t mind it. In the press I always think it’s better to keep cards close unless it’s a specific issue you want to use to motivate. Had a little look at the Blackburn forum and they were complaining that Mowbray looked like he was waiting for a delayed train on the sideline and I could totally get where they were coming from! Graeme Jones was very similar in that regard.

 

[BelizeHatter]

I support Judas in as much as Ill be objective and would never be vocal against him if i was luxky enough to attend again ......please please Golden Shower, away, next season, 10,000 mile road trip.....

He has done an amazing job keeping us up. We'd def be gone if it wasnt for him....... but even more so for the real heros 2020.

You see 2020 had to remove emotion and make a very courageous and brilliant business decision to bring him back.

I dont have to remove emotion. Luton Town IS emotion for me. He shit all over us when he fucked off quick smart to a real shit job. Id have been ok with it by now if it wasnt for all that chest thumping this is my club ahit... . and that Manager of the Month award. These i will never forget. Nor should he. I would never for one second let these feelings cast a shadow or cause Luton Town disharmony.

Our togetherness is our greatest asset as a Club and i think he realises that now. We are Luton Town

 

[Craig]

Yes lads!

 

[Kenneth E End]

Anyone who may be thinking that Blackburn went easy on us (heck, if the boot is on the other foot and I saw the goals that we scored, I might be thinking that!), they certainly didn’t. Even at the end, their goalkeeper Christian Walton came up for a last ditch corner to try and salvage a point for them when we were one goal away from relegation.

1990 Liverpool win the league, Leeds won the second division, Luton stay up 3-2 on the last day.

2020...

 

[BelizeHatter]

Yeah i had kittens when Walton came up for that corner........ . ’Here we go.......’

Blackburn had plenty of opportunities to lay down and say oh fuck it we tried lets leave it. They started bright scored early and were in control, we come back score twice they regroup and still come at us. We weather that score again they still come at us, score and try hard to score again.

It did seem at the end of the game they looked pretty magnanimous and pleased for our boys but this veiw may be obscured by the fact I was running around my flat like a loon at the time.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Thought Walton looked very shaky for Blackburn, not the keeper I remember him being for us a few years ago now (admittedly that was League2!). Thought he could have done better with the first OG.

He even let a simply header back dribble through his legs at one point in the second half. Tough night for him, 1 shot on target goals conceded!

 

[oakroader]

Yeah i had kittens when Walton came up for that corner........ . ’Here we go.......’

he would have caught it anyway !!

 

[Craig]

Statement from Barnsley.

Club Statement

The 2019/2020 season has been fraught with tribulation on and off the field. Through it all, our staff, players, supporters and community have continued to believe and fight, side by side.

www.barnsleyfc.co.uk

Agree with every word. Extremely frustrating when we’re trying to be competitive by running the club the right way.

Also good to see they acknowledge naivety with how they headed into last season, hopefully this means they’ll be bringing in some experience to benefit the talented young lads we already have. Looking forward to next season.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Can't disagree with what Barnsley said there, but remember you're run by one of the wealthiest owners in the EFL. We had to ask our players to take deferrals because we are run by genuine fans who are not billionaires - we would've been comfortable without Covid in terms of money.

Who is the club that is delinquent?

It underlines that there needs to be stronger financial regulation for sure. This league would be even more fun if the wealth was distributed more fairly.

Even if PL clubs reduced their share by £15-20m apiece, it would double the income of every EFL club overnight.

 

[Craig]

I agree with that Kenny, and I do appreciate that we’re in a privileged position to have wealthy owners. They might not flash the cash transfer wise but with regards to the running of the club at least we’re secure.

 

[BelizeHatter]

I hope we stand up behind that statement. Its time for change. Be surpised and a little dissapointed if we dont, knowing our ownerships integrity and feeling on the FA and EFL

 

[Millwall_Matt]

I hope we stand up behind that statement. Its time for change. Be surpised and a little dissapointed if we dont, knowing our ownerships integrity and feeling on the FA and EFL

the issue really is that whilst 4 or 5 of the smaller clubs Who try to live within our means like ourselves will generally agree, similar sized clubs like reading who are spending vastly beyond their means and not being punished have no incentive.
I don’t really mind Leeds, Villa, etc spending more, they’ve got the revenue to support it.

 

[Kenneth E End]

When you give the likes of Reading the same share of the vote as Barnsley, you're going to get self interest taking over.

It should be management by ExCo, not by membership.

 

[BelizeHatter]

the issue really is that whilst 4 or 5 of the smaller clubs Who try to live within our means like ourselves will generally agree, similar sized clubs like reading who are spending vastly beyond their means and not being punished have no incentive.
I don’t really mind Leeds, Villa, etc spending more, they’ve got the revenue to support it.

Theres always been big clubs with more clout and dosh. It wasnt always the be all and end all. Twenty years ago one of them could still do badly and be almost relegated if they were managed poorly or several players went off form. Theres just too much money now at the Top and it doesnt filter down.

Its a World and esp European Football issue. UEFA and FIFA have to do somthing across the board or our big clubs wint comply as they'd get left behind.

I have more of a problem with the greed in the game to keep it at the top. We need to spread it more to the lower leagues. Get these scummy agents out of the game. If a player wants one to negotiate contracts for them let them pay it out their wages. You cant blame the Clubs or the players. You can the administrators. If the big boys throw their toys out the pram let them fuck off and form a superleague. Theyll soon come back with their tail between their legs when their fans hate it. We can then have a real football league without the Prawn Sandwiches.

Move more money down the ladder limit player wages in a way thats fair. Everyone can see a true superstar deserves more than a journeyman and will get it even more so with image rights and advertising etc. But for every superstar theres a hundred pretty shit players making a shit ton more than they should.