NEXT SEASON

If I was a betting man, I would have a small wager on QPR getting promoted next season. They've become difficult to beat and are playing some decent football. They gave themselves too much to do to drag themselves into contention this season but next season could be a different matter if they get off to a good start.

As for us ? By the time the loanees have returned to their parent clubs and we get rid of those players out of contract or not deemed good enough, MM will do well to mould a team capable of mounting a sustainable promotion challenge next season. Even a top 10 finish may be slightly beyond us. Still, there is always hope.

Id go for West Brom and Fulham if i was betting.

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Originally Posted by Hilts

Id go for West Brom and Fulham if i was betting.

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Cheating Fulham won’t have all their loanees next season

We currently lose 7-8 players from this group at the end of this season but lose 9-10 players from group at the end of next year (transfermarket says Mark Harris' contact is til end of 2022 but I thought it was this year?).

I'm extremely happy next year if we i) don't fear relegation at any point and ii) plan for promotion push in 2022-2023 on back of a team who can successfully step up to the premier league in a similar manner to Leeds, even if we're not replicating their style of play.

If next season is 'another' Covid season - by which I mean the way the pandemic has impacted on club incomes and fees/salaries - is an extension of 2020-21, then the relegated teams will probably have a massive advantage again.

It is interesting to look at the 2020-21 final table predictions from last summer (after most transfer dealings) when the Covid football economy was well in place. Most bookies and media sites (FourFourTwo through to national press online) had Bournemouth and Swansea well out of the top 6, and Reading and Barnsley near the relegation places. Most had Derby in the top 6, with Forest and Cardiff around 6th/7th place.

Difficult league to predict - even when money talks louder than ever.

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Originally Posted by BLUETIT

Cheating Fulham won’t have all their loanees next season

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They will still have a far superior squad to most teams in the championship. Their returning loanees are decent players as well.

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Originally Posted by Der Kaiser

They will still have a far superior squad to most teams in the championship. Their returning loanees are decent players as well.

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Ya, they were all cracking players at the beginning of this season :hehe::hehe:

It's got to be worth a gamble on the same three who come down from the Premier, going back up again, nine months later.

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Originally Posted by tforturton

It's got to be worth a gamble on the same three who come down from the Premier, going back up again, nine months later.

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Pregnant are they:hehe::hehe:

I await Mick's close season preparation with anticipation , and have a good feel about it .

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Originally Posted by jon1959

Difficult league to predict - even when money talks louder than ever.

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Under normal circumstances I’d agree with you, but this season has turned out a little different. The four pre-season favourites with the bookmakers for promotion are currently first, second, third and fifth in the table, while the three favourites for relegation are 22nd, 23rd and 24th.

City , champions

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Originally Posted by Hilts

Id go for West Brom and Fulham if i was betting.

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This. Add Bournemouth if they're still in the division.

It's pitiful that we can't make having been recently in the PL work for us like other clubs do.

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Originally Posted by NYCBlue

It's pitiful that we can't make having been recently in the PL work for us like other clubs do.

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It’s a massive opportunity missed, instead of gradually adding quality we’ve added mediocrity to the point where the core of the squad is a lower half Championship team. We’re sliding away from the top not moving towards it.

I see that the ‘love in’ with Fulham is already starting again and they haven't even arrived in the Championship yet. I just don't get it. They are patently not good enough for the Premier League. In their last two ‘attempts’ their record is worse than ours was in 2018/2019. Their scoring and goals conceded record this year is abysmal (again)- 25 goals scored in 33 games so far. If they were half as good as people make out on here, they would be at least in for Champions League qualification. All this on the back of spending fortunes in the transfer market each year. They were lucky to go up last season as well and achieved it on the back of some of the worst general cheating, diving and screaming that I have seen, far worse than Swansea this season. Their manager is obviously out of his depth in the Prem as well. If our squad is ‘lower mid table quality’ how on earth did we manage to get into play offs last season and finish around 8th or 9th this season.

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Originally Posted by life on mars

I await Mick's close season preparation with anticipation , and have a good feel about it .

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I await it with trepidation. For all that has been good about McCarthy's reign (and there are definitely positives) the one big question mark remains over transfer market activity. When he joined we tried to sign 3 players and managed to get one of them. The three were Jonny Williams, Cameron Jerome and Jordan Rhodes.

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Originally Posted by dml1954

I see that the ‘love in’ with Fulham is already starting again and they haven't even arrived in the Championship yet. I just don't get it. They are patently not good enough for the Premier League. In their last two ‘attempts’ their record is worse than ours was in 2018/2019. Their scoring and goals conceded record this year is abysmal (again)- 25 goals scored in 33 games so far. If they were half as good as people make out on here, they would be at least in for Champions League qualification. All this on the back of spending fortunes in the transfer market each year. They were lucky to go up last season as well and achieved it on the back of some of the worst general cheating, diving and screaming that I have seen, far worse than Swansea this season. Their manager is obviously out of his depth in the Prem as well. If our squad is ‘lower mid table quality’ how on earth did we manage to get into play offs last season and finish around 8th or 9th this season.

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We scraped into the playoffs last time with a very good run, then this time many of our key players are a season older. 8th or 9th this year isn't a big change from last year we could easily have finished 8th or 9th last season.

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Originally Posted by Rjk

We scraped into the playoffs last time with a very good run, then this time many of our key players are a season older. 8th or 9th this year isn't a big change from last year we could easily have finished 8th or 9th last season.

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Don't disagree with you but at worst we are an upper mid table team.

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Originally Posted by dml1954

Don't disagree with you but at worst we are an upper mid table team.

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How much does league placing matter if you're not promoted and not relegated compared to building for future? If we assume that Huddersfield are slightly ahead of us in changing style of play, and accept the assumption that greater capability on the ball is needed to survive in premier league, then us being an upper mid table team over past two years and them just about staying in the league has less meaning. Of course, being more attractive to Sky cameras and season ticket buyers is important and last years league position does influence.

Regarding any new signing/contract extensions, they should be assessed on: i) can they help secure results in championship and help bring young players through? ii) are they going to help us get promoted in 2022-2023? and iii) are they players who can help us stay in premier league in 2023-2024 and beyond?

Cameron Jerome on 6 months deal fits us much better than a Jordan Rhodes on 2 year deal even if neither is a young, exciting prospect.