We are good enough to go up

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

This league is there for the taking. It’s a very poor standard evidenced by both Blackburn and Preston being in the top 10.

[Long Time Lurker]

A warm up season would imply that we have a long term plan ...... which I'm dubious about.

Most of the players that we actually bought and signed up to long contracts don't appear to be very good. Bench fillers would be a fair assessment in my opinion.

Remove the loan signings, along with the remnants of the old squad, and we look a poor team. The problem is that we needed to buy players who could be expected to have a reasonable chance of increasing their value to protect our future. That was idea, buy players, develop them, use the cash to refresh the squad, rinse and repeat. As it stands, I don't think any of our paid for signings could be considered as cash generators.

We needed to buy players in the Summer who could set what is a fairly weak Championship ( based on previous years ) alight and I don't think we did that. Without a couple of our new players raising their transfer values we could struggle to safeguard our long term future. Our recruitment team also looks as useless as ever. Most of our Summer signings seem to have been scouted by VK himself. The two players that arrived prior to him signing could be found with a simple 5 minute search of " best league one players " of last season on a site like Sofascore. Had we not signed VK I shudder to think what they would have signed for us.

Making things worse is our debt ridden financial situation. I recall reading some speculations that we had repaid a substantial chunk of the Dell loan off. However, those ruminations failed to take into account the fact that the repayment of the loan was triggered early by our relegation, which probably brought forward all the outstanding interest payments. Three years at 6m could account for 18m in interest alone. If that is the case then a large part of the money that we paid out would not have gone towards lowering the principle sum.

So, how might things look if we don't get promoted this season.

Realistically, Taylor and Roberts could be sold in next Summers window. Kevin Long doesn't seem to be ideally suited the style of football that VK favours. I would also say that same about Luke McNally, who has yet to play much of a part.

That means we could require four new central defenders next season and any understanding that is developed this season could easily count for nothing because the players involved could all be gone next season. It is also fair to say that Lowton will probably be leaving us as well.

Looking at midfield, Cullen is a useful addition and Twine is a very good technical player with a sound footballing head on his shoulders. He might not be physically quick, but he is a quick thinker. I doubt that we will be giving new contracts to JBG, Westwood and Cork. Maybe one of them, possibly two, but all three seems a bit unlikely unless they play for peanuts.

Bastien is a player that doesn't strike me as having the full range of qualities to make any position his own. I watched him play at Standard Liege where he was pushed down the pecking order and onto the bench by better players. A jack of all trades and master of none is a fitting description in my view, a serviceable squad player. Anyone thinking that he can play a defensive midfield role needs to think again.

So if Brownhill is sold next Summer ( which is a realistic possibility in my opinion ) we will need a new central midfielder, possibly two. On top of that we could need another winger and we can't expect Barnes and Jay Rod to go on forever.

I read all the glowing assessments for our Summer business, but I didn't agree with them. My score would have been a 6.0. We spent a huge chunk of our limited funds on some risky players and then we papered over the cracks with a bundle of loan signings. We also got fairly low prices for all of the players we sold. Fortunately we kept some hold of the old guard to give us a smattering of seasoned quality.

By my ready reckoning, I don't think we have much left in the bank. Once all of our debts are settled we could be dancing on the break even line, which won't leave any money to buy more players. We got a glimpse of our finances towards the end of the window and I think our empty purse played a big part in why we couldn't buy a proven striker.

So, things are going well and we are in striking distance of ending the season in a play-off place. That would be nice, because with our veteran players set to leave in the next year or so and no big money on the horizon things could get grim.

Without a new investor or promotion I think our coffers will be close to empty in three years.

[KRBFC]

Poor league, we should be clear at the top based on performances. Top 2 there for the taking, we could win the playoffs or automatic, I still think we've got alot to figure out if we're gonna start winning games consistently though, subbing on a defender to see out the last 15 minutes was a step forward today. We needed small tweaks, that was probably one of them. VK will get it right.

[ClaretPete001]

If 13 games is not enough to warrant a judgement on the potential strength of a team then the OP is meaningless.

If you accept the premise of the thread then the fact we have only secured 3 points against top 12 teams from a potential 12 is relevant.

So, I think the only rational response to the premise of the thread is: yes, we are good enough to go up with the caveat that we haven’t proved ourselves against the better teams yet.

The argument that we are good enough to go up but we can’t judge our opponents based on 13 games is a fallacious proposition. The former precludes the latter.

My younger days spent in the company of Plato and Aristotle taught me a modicum of stats and philosophy. Sadly, my Greek didn’t improve much ; I was so lucky their English was so good.

[CrosspoolClarets]

The answer is no. But we wouldn't have the same team if we went up so it's a moot point.

Ok, true, and obviously the loans may not be here (though I think we would reacquire three or four), but strengthening will be harder given our finances in that league. Here, £2m goes a long way as we are seeing.

I do think we would make some signings, but I also think many of these guys will still be playing, They would have to improve a lot for the PL.

I’m optimistic though, hence why I’m pondering it.

[Hibsclaret]

It’s incredible that a team with our turnover of players has managed to lose only once all season. A good number of fans are unconvinced but I think we have been incredible so far. We should have at least 8 more points and probably more. All the while we look like there is plenty of scope for improvement.

People keep banging on about the fact that we haven’t played many of the top teams. However, I would argue that we haven’t played one better than us yet. I will be amazed if we don’t go up automatically tbh.

[Conroysleftfoot]

A warm up season would imply that we have a long term plan ...... which I'm dubious about.

Most of the players that we actually bought and signed up to long contracts don't appear to be very good. Bench fillers would be a fair assessment in my opinion.

Remove the loan signings, along with the remnants of the old squad, and we look a poor team. The problem is that we needed to buy players who could be expected to have a reasonable chance of increasing their value to protect our future. That was idea, buy players, develop them, use the cash to refresh the squad, rinse and repeat. As it stands, I don't think any of our paid for signings could be considered as cash generators.

We needed to buy players in the Summer who could set what is a fairly weak Championship ( based on previous years ) alight and I don't think we did that. Without a couple of our new players raising their transfer values we could struggle to safeguard our long term future. Our recruitment team also looks as useless as ever. Most of our Summer signings seem to have been scouted by VK himself. The two players that arrived prior to him signing could be found with a simple 5 minute search of " best league one players " of last season on a site like Sofascore. Had we not signed VK I shudder to think what they would have signed for us.

Making things worse is our debt ridden financial situation. I recall reading some speculations that we had repaid a substantial chunk of the Dell loan off. However, those ruminations failed to take into account the fact that the repayment of the loan was triggered early by our relegation, which probably brought forward all the outstanding interest payments. Three years at 6m could account for 18m in interest alone. If that is the case then a large part of the money that we paid out would not have gone towards lowering the principle sum.

So, how might things look if we don't get promoted this season.

Realistically, Taylor and Roberts could be sold in next Summers window. Kevin Long doesn't seem to be ideally suited the style of football that VK favours. I would also say that same about Luke McNally, who has yet to play much of a part.

That means we could require four new central defenders next season and any understanding that is developed this season could easily count for nothing because the players involved could all be gone next season. It is also fair to say that Lowton will probably be leaving us as well.

Looking at midfield, Cullen is a useful addition and Twine is a very good technical player with a sound footballing head on his shoulders. He might not be physically quick, but he is a quick thinker. I doubt that we will be giving new contracts to JBG, Westwood and Cork. Maybe one of them, possibly two, but all three seems a bit unlikely unless they play for peanuts.

Bastien is a player that doesn't strike me as having the full range of qualities to make any position his own. I watched him play at Standard Liege where he was pushed down the pecking order and onto the bench by better players. A jack of all trades and master of none is a fitting description in my view, a serviceable squad player. Anyone thinking that he can play a defensive midfield role needs to think again.

So if Brownhill is sold next Summer ( which is a realistic possibility in my opinion ) we will need a new central midfielder, possibly two. On top of that we could need another winger and we can't expect Barnes and Jay Rod to go on forever.

I read all the glowing assessments for our Summer business, but I didn't agree with them. My score would have been a 6.0. We spent a huge chunk of our limited funds on some risky players and then we papered over the cracks with a bundle of loan signings. We also got fairly low prices for all of the players we sold. Fortunately we kept some hold of the old guard to give us a smattering of seasoned quality.

By my ready reckoning, I don't think we have much left in the bank. Once all of our debts are settled we could be dancing on the break even line, which won't leave any money to buy more players. We got a glimpse of our finances towards the end of the window and I think our empty purse played a big part in why we couldn't buy a proven striker.

So, things are going well and we are in striking distance of ending the season in a play-off place. That would be nice, because with our veteran players set to leave in the next year or so and no big money on the horizon things could get grim.

Without a new investor or promotion I think our coffers will be close to empty in three years.

Bloody hell, I was enjoying the season until this post, should I slash my wrists now?

[MancunianClaret]

A warm up season would imply that we have a long term plan ...... which I'm dubious about.

Most of the players that we actually bought and signed up to long contracts don't appear to be very good. Bench fillers would be a fair assessment in my opinion.

Which players, specifically, are you bucking into good/not very good, when you say this?

You made mention of specific players later in your post, but wanted to be clear.

[jen1066]

No offence Long Time Lurker but all I had to do was read the very last sentence, to save me 5 minutes.

[Socrates]

Not even on the bench today :-

Twine
Churlinov
Westwood
McNally
Dervisoglu
Lowton

This team is 13 games old.

We don’t know our best back four yet. Don’t know our best front three yet.

But we’re two points off top. Second top scorers. Lost once.

There is way, way, way more to come from this team. I’m very confident of going up as Champions again.

[quoonbeatz]

"Remove half the team and we look a poor team" is one of the dumbest takes I've seen yet.

[RVclaret]

"Remove half the team and we look a poor team" is one of the dumbest takes I've seen yet.

It’s gone above ‘this team would get battered in the Prem’ for sure

[Big Vinny K]

Making things worse is our debt ridden financial situation. I recall reading some speculations that we had repaid a substantial chunk of the Dell loan off. However, those ruminations failed to take into account the fact that the repayment of the loan was triggered early by our relegation, which probably brought forward all the outstanding interest payments. Three years at 6m could account for 18m in interest alone. If that is the case then a large part of the money that we paid out would not have gone towards lowering the principle sum.

By my ready reckoning, I don't think we have much left in the bank. Once all of our debts are settled we could be dancing on the break even line, which won't leave any money to buy more players. We got a glimpse of our finances towards the end of the window and I think our empty purse played a big part in why we couldn't buy a proven striker.

What are you talking about ?
Where are you getting this nonsense from ?

[alf_resco]

FAO Long Time Lurker:
Don't start drinking at 10.00am.

[jedi_master]

It was nice to see us defend a lead for the last ten, and stroll through it as a task after the last couple of games. It’s results like today that you need to be able to grind out if you want to be in the mix.

[Culmclaret]

Given that some on here had us relegated after the parallel friendlies against Newcastle, which they didn’t even see, we aren’t looking too shabby. The evidence strongly suggests that we won’t lose many this year and given the strength in depth we have, we’ve got a very good chance of automatic promotion.

[KRBFC]

What are you talking about ?
Where are you getting this nonsense from ?

Why are you always so angry?

[Pickles]

Given that some on here had us relegated after the parallel friendlies against Newcastle, which they didn’t even see, we aren’t looking too shabby. The evidence strongly suggests that we won’t lose many this year and given the strength in depth we have, we’ve got a very good chance of automatic promotion.

I'd forgotten about some of the hilarious reactions to those "parallel friendlies against Newcastle", thanks for reminding me.

[Long Time Lurker]

"Remove half the team and we look a poor team" is one of the dumbest takes I've seen yet.

I merely voiced the opinion that I think we need to win promotion in the next three years, this year would be nice.

What I consider to be a dumb take is people who make value judgements based on how things are going now and fail to look further than the end of their nose.

The reason we got relegated and the reason we needed to replace almost the entire team is because nobody looked ahead to the future.

The team we are currently sending out consists of loan signings, veterans who will be leaving in the next couple of years and players who might be sold to fund next seasons spending.

Our Summer spending could have set us up for the future and I don't think it did. On that basis if we promote great, but if we don't then we might be facing problems sooner rather than later.

Like a lot of others I think we need a striker, let's see if we have enough money for one in the Winter window.

Fingers crossed we will win promotion this season, but if we fail to achieve that then don't be surprised if we have to sign another 10+ players next Summer because we only have half a team.

[Long Time Lurker]

Which players, specifically, are you bucking into good/not very good, when you say this?

You made mention of specific players later in your post, but wanted to be clear.

Pretty much all of them.

Cullen and Twine are the best of the bunch. The rest are reasonably okay for this level, but I don't think that will be good enough to guarantee us a long term future.

Which of our new players do you see as future 5m or 10m players ?

Which of our new players do you see as future Premier League players ?

If we do win promotion it will improve our financial outlook. However, in terms of being a team with a decent chance of staying up I sadly can't see it. Then again, I don't think that is the objective. What I see is a plan to turn us into Norwich 2.0.

We do well in the Championship and then we get massacred in the Premier League, but relegation is okay because a big chunk of money goes in the till. The way that VK has us set up to play works well in the Championship ( Norwich storm this league ), they go up and they get pummelled, because you can't beat the cash rich PL teams by playing them at their own game. Our plan for the future looks to be the same.

Yes, we will sign new players if we are promoted and we may play differently ( but I doubt that ). I suspect the plan is to play attractive football, hopefully go up, bank the cash, drop back down to the land of lower overheads and the possibility of consistent wins and keep on doing that up until the FA change the parachute payment system.

Some people are still looking at Burnley as a football club and I don't think that fully encapsulates what the club now is. I think ALK see it as an entertainment vehicle with profitable aspirations.

However, as I said, if we don't win promotion in the next couple of years I can't see the money that we have lasting. I suspect that we will be a team whose seasonal performance expectations will be determined by the quality of our loan signings.

[jen1066]

Fingers crossed we will win promotion this season, but if we fail to achieve that then don't be surprised if we have to sign another 10+ players next Summer because we only have half a team.

Even Bellamy himself has strongly hinted that they are planning for promotion next season. He said they would of course never turn down a promotion this season, but their plan in no way relies on it.

[LTUK89]

I’m looking forward to us playing some of the teams near the top. It’s tedious playing against 5 at the back every other week. When we play the likes of Shef Utd, Norwich and dare I say Rovers I think the games being more open will suit us.

[quoonbeatz]

I merely voiced the opinion that I think we need to win promotion in the next three years, this year would be nice.

There was no 'merely' about that post.

[Bosscat]

What are you talking about ?
Where are you getting this nonsense from ?

Back of a fag packet methinks ... I took one look at the 1st sentence and scrolled past it bVK ... hopefully most will

[Elizabeth]

We have put ourselves in a good position and have a well knitted squad that is deep and being utilised well.
I’m as confident as I can be that we’ll be there or thereabouts. I can’t see a team at the moment that is consistently good enough to pull away. If there is one , I think we have as good a chance as anyone to be that team.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

It was nice to see us defend a lead for the last ten, and stroll through it as a task after the last couple of games. It’s results like today that you need to be able to grind out if you want to be in the mix.

Yep hopefully we’ll look back at this game as a big win.

[Shaggy]

Of course we are good enough to go up. We have been the best team in every game we’ve played this season apart from the WBA game.

[Big Vinny K]

Back of a fag packet methinks ... I took one look at the 1st sentence and scrolled past it bVK ... hopefully most will

Literally making things up about our loan interest obligations.
And then says something about evidence that we have no money left at the end of the transfer window even though I am pretty sure we made 3 bids for Obafemi which were reported as nearing £10m !!

[Bosscat]

Literally making things up about our loan interest obligations.
And then says something about evidence that we have no money left at the end of the transfer window even though I am pretty sure we made 3 bids for Obafemi which were reported as nearing £10m !!

[fatboy47]

Which of our new players do you see as future Premier League players ?

Muric. Prob
Vitinho.. Prob
Cullen.. Poss
Maatsen.. Prob
THB... Def
Beyer...strong poss
Tella.. Prob
Twine.. Maybe.
Benson.. Poss

There's not a single one of the new crop that I'd be ruling out at this point. They're all still on the upward side of the curve atm.

[ClaretLoup]

The simple fact is that we are not winning enough games to say that we are good enough to go up, except via the play off lottery.

In the last two promotion seasons we won 26 out 46 games which means now we need to win 21 out of the remaining 33 games to equal that, quite a big ask.

OK maybe the other teams are not as strong in and around the top but as other posters have pointed out we haven't played any of our rivals yet. I think we need to wait and see what happens when we come up against those sides to see how we compare, starting with Swansea next week.

[Boss Hogg]

A warm up season would imply that we have a long term plan ...... which I'm dubious about.

Most of the players that we actually bought and signed up to long contracts don't appear to be very good. Bench fillers would be a fair assessment in my opinion.

Remove the loan signings, along with the remnants of the old squad, and we look a poor team. The problem is that we needed to buy players who could be expected to have a reasonable chance of increasing their value to protect our future. That was idea, buy players, develop them, use the cash to refresh the squad, rinse and repeat. As it stands, I don't think any of our paid for signings could be considered as cash generators.

We needed to buy players in the Summer who could set what is a fairly weak Championship ( based on previous years ) alight and I don't think we did that. Without a couple of our new players raising their transfer values we could struggle to safeguard our long term future. Our recruitment team also looks as useless as ever. Most of our Summer signings seem to have been scouted by VK himself. The two players that arrived prior to him signing could be found with a simple 5 minute search of " best league one players " of last season on a site like Sofascore. Had we not signed VK I shudder to think what they would have signed for us.

Making things worse is our debt ridden financial situation. I recall reading some speculations that we had repaid a substantial chunk of the Dell loan off. However, those ruminations failed to take into account the fact that the repayment of the loan was triggered early by our relegation, which probably brought forward all the outstanding interest payments. Three years at 6m could account for 18m in interest alone. If that is the case then a large part of the money that we paid out would not have gone towards lowering the principle sum.

So, how might things look if we don't get promoted this season.

Realistically, Taylor and Roberts could be sold in next Summers window. Kevin Long doesn't seem to be ideally suited the style of football that VK favours. I would also say that same about Luke McNally, who has yet to play much of a part.

That means we could require four new central defenders next season and any understanding that is developed this season could easily count for nothing because the players involved could all be gone next season. It is also fair to say that Lowton will probably be leaving us as well.

Looking at midfield, Cullen is a useful addition and Twine is a very good technical player with a sound footballing head on his shoulders. He might not be physically quick, but he is a quick thinker. I doubt that we will be giving new contracts to JBG, Westwood and Cork. Maybe one of them, possibly two, but all three seems a bit unlikely unless they play for peanuts.

Bastien is a player that doesn't strike me as having the full range of qualities to make any position his own. I watched him play at Standard Liege where he was pushed down the pecking order and onto the bench by better players. A jack of all trades and master of none is a fitting description in my view, a serviceable squad player. Anyone thinking that he can play a defensive midfield role needs to think again.

So if Brownhill is sold next Summer ( which is a realistic possibility in my opinion ) we will need a new central midfielder, possibly two. On top of that we could need another winger and we can't expect Barnes and Jay Rod to go on forever.

I read all the glowing assessments for our Summer business, but I didn't agree with them. My score would have been a 6.0. We spent a huge chunk of our limited funds on some risky players and then we papered over the cracks with a bundle of loan signings. We also got fairly low prices for all of the players we sold. Fortunately we kept some hold of the old guard to give us a smattering of seasoned quality.

By my ready reckoning, I don't think we have much left in the bank. Once all of our debts are settled we could be dancing on the break even line, which won't leave any money to buy more players. We got a glimpse of our finances towards the end of the window and I think our empty purse played a big part in why we couldn't buy a proven striker.

So, things are going well and we are in striking distance of ending the season in a play-off place. That would be nice, because with our veteran players set to leave in the next year or so and no big money on the horizon things could get grim.

Without a new investor or promotion I think our coffers will be close to empty in three years.

Can’t be bothered to read all this as it’s far too long. I’ve read the first three paragraphs which are nonsense. Plenty of growth in value in our permanent signings. Some will be worth more already.

[jen1066]

We are good enough to go up.

[quoonbeatz]

The simple fact is that we are not winning enough games to say that we are good enough to go up, except via the play off lottery.

In the last two promotion seasons we won 26 out 46 games which means now we need to win 21 out of the remaining 33 games to equal that, quite a big ask.

It's about how many points you have in May, not how many games you've won by early October. The 3 teams above us have won 2 more games than us but only have 2 more points.

[Bosscat]

It's about how many points you have in May, not how many games you've won by early October. The 3 teams above us have won 2 more games than us but only have 2 more points.

this

[ClaretLoup]

QB So can you see this team upping the number of games won that are needed to gain promotion by the time May comes round ?

The first season we went up we had that QPR moment when we played one of our main rivals off the park and it looked possible, the next promo season we signed Gray and Barton and then switched Ben to centre half and that was possibly the key moment.

The Tella signing has been good, maybe Westy coming back will be the Barton moment, but for me we look too wonky at the back to feel certain that promotion is a cast iron possibility. Also not too sure that rotating the back four is a good idea, VK seems to think it necessary with the volume of games etc.

However I have to say that we are doing better than I thought we would pre season and after the Luton & Blackpool games.

[quoonbeatz]

I think we will start to win more games, yes. You have to take into account the upheaval in the summer. New manager, new players, new way of playing. Many of the players are new to this level and I don't think we've fully clicked yet.

I think we're on a steep learning curve but we're ahead of where we should be and that there is much more to come from this team.

Agree on the back 4 though. It's the one area of the pitch you want things to be settled, where the understanding between players is most important, as we showed throughout our time in the PL.

We're by no means the finished article but we're 2 points off the top of the league. Whilst I wouldn't say we'll definitely get promoted, because so many things can happen between now and then, I'm massively positive about it.

[warksclaret]

What has surprised me this season is the standard of teams in the Championship.The standard of football is far below what I was envisaging-lots of teams can beat each other which will make it interesting. Whilst we have allowed several teams back into the game, particularly recently, its fair to say we could have easily beaten all the teams we have played including WBA and Watford, who gave us two of the strongest games.Would not surprise me in the next window if we are back in for a goal scorer like Michael Obefami of Swansea.Today we played Tella and Zarourry very wide and Jay was coming deep so did not really challenge their two CH's. We did not have too many clear goal attempts

[jen1066]

QB So can you see this team upping the number of games won that are needed to gain promotion by the time May comes round ?

Let's spin that - do you think we should have won more games now than we have done?

Because even VK mentioned something like 4-5 points bad. I'd say it's more like 8-10.

There's nothing wrong with being a glass-half-empty person, it just gets a bit tiresome here, especially after we've just won.

[NewClaret]

Obviously this thread is a response to mine after Cardiff. Just wrote a long post about why I’ve not changed my mind, and lost it

You’ll be glad to know I cba to retype, so I’ll summarise: Some positives from today, still plenty of negatives. Need to create and score more than one goal per game, especially against weaker opponents. Hoping everyone is right that we’ll “click”, gears to go up, etc.

[Bin Ont Turf]

I was very concerned at the beginning with all the upheaval, but the first 45 minutes on the first day at Huddersfield told me that we'd be alright.

I do think it is a bit boring at times, but it was a bit boring at times with Dyche in this league.

We are plenty good enough to go up though.

[ClaretLoup]

Let's spin that - do you think we should have won more games now than we have done?

There's nothing wrong with being a glass-half-empty person, it just gets a bit tiresome here, especially after we've just won.

Glass half empty/full is too black and white. 13 games in, it's all grey. So far the evidence suggests that we lack the capability to go from one to two nil up or keep the back door shut. OTOH, there are 33 games to go to change that.

However for me it is too early to say that we are good enough to go up, and yes perhaps Burnley could have won more games than they have done, but the table shows they didn't and that's a weakness that needs to be eliminated.

[jen1066]

Glass half empty/full is too black and white. 13 games in, it's all grey. So far the evidence suggests that we lack the capability to go from one to two nil up or keep the back door shut. OTOH, there are 33 games to go to change that.

However for me it is too early to say that we are good enough to go up, and yes perhaps Burnley could have won more games than they have done, but the table shows they didn't and that's a weakness that needs to be eliminated.

I appreciate what you are saying, but I do think it's being very very pessimistic and with this side, I'm exactly the opposite.

[Goody1975]

So since throwing two points away at home to Blackpool, we have played eight league games.

In those eight games we have won four and drawn four, in the four draws we were leading in all the games and conceded late equalisers in three of those.

Glass half full say we are in promotion form and putting ourselves in a position to win games, carry on like this and we should be one a favourites for an automatic slot.

Glass half empty say we don't finish teams off, have a soft underbelly and teams have sussed our weakness, especially late in games and we'll fall short.

I know which one I think.

We have eight more games before the break, with five of them at home, if we stay unbeaten though that run of games we will be very close indeed.

[KRBFC]

Literally making things up about our loan interest obligations.
And then says something about evidence that we have no money left at the end of the transfer window even though I am pretty sure we made 3 bids for Obafemi which were reported as nearing £10m !!

Making bids for Obafemi doesn't indicate we have money, it was also reported the bids were turned down because there wasn't enough being offered upfront. Stacked with potential add ons (maybe money) and promised future money.

[KRBFC]

So since throwing two points away at home to Blackpool, we have played eight league games.

In those eight games we have won four and drawn four, in the four draws we were leading in all the games and conceded late equalisers in three of those.

Glass half full say we are in promotion form and putting ourselves in a position to win games, carry on like this and we should be one a favourites for an automatic slot.

Glass half empty say we don't finish teams off, have a soft underbelly and teams have sussed our weakness, especially late in games and we'll fall short.

I know which one I think.

We have eight more games before the break, with five of them at home, if we stay unbeaten though that run of games we will be very close indeed.

The good thing is, we've thrown away late points in the same fashion, it's easier to tweak and fix. Holding out like today for more 1-0 wins will breed confidence and ease future nerves at 1-0 up with 5-10 to play.

[KRBFC]

Muric. Prob
Vitinho.. Prob
Cullen.. Poss
Maatsen.. Prob
THB... Def
Beyer...strong poss
Tella.. Prob
Twine.. Maybe.
Benson.. Poss

There's not a single one of the new crop that I'd be ruling out at this point. They're all still on the upward side of the curve atm.

4 of those are not our players, which I think was LTL's entire point. They are also our better players, not sure what position we'll be in next season without those 4 if we don't gain promotion, which is why LTL mentioned the long term plan etc.

[boatshed bill]

Even Bellamy himself has strongly hinted that they are planning for promotion next season. He said they would of course never turn down a promotion this season, but their plan in no way relies on it.

Next season would give us time to complete the reshaping of the squad.
From today's performance the team out there would be total cannon fodder in the PL next season.

[tiger76]

Next season would give us time to complete the reshaping of the squad.
From today's performance the team out there would be total cannon fodder in the PL next season.

I appreciate your point, however if we don't go up this season then you have to take into account there will be 3 sides relegated from the Prem who will be able to compete strongly next season in terms of budgets and having strength in depth.

Ideally, we'd use this next 2 seasons to allow VK to build a sustainable squad to cope with the challenges of the PL when we get there again, but equally if promotion is within our grasp, and judging by the 13 games we've played already it certainly is, then we' aren't going to reject going up are we.

I'm surprised at the negativity on here, we ground out a good win yesterday at a tricky venue and are now a mere 2 points shy of top spot, all while still in the process of building a new team and a manager who's still learning the ropes at this level, my biggest fear was we'd start slow as players bedded in, so to be right on the tail of the leaders is beyond my expectations at this stage of the season.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Not only are we just two points off the top spot, we've only lost one game, the lowest in the league so far.