Who still thinks we'll walk the Championship?

[Vegas Claret]

No idea but I believe we are better placed than we were just around a week ago

interesting, does that suggest things were as bad behind the scenes as I've heard they were ?

[Darnhill Claret]

I am currently hopeful of another promotion but I could be more confident or less confident, depending on our transfer activity during this upcoming transfer window and of course with the managerial situation resolved.

[Shaggy]

If we can keep a hold of Berge, Cullen and Brownhill that midfield trio will absolutely dominate the championship.

I think we are strong in central defence, and have plenty of attacking options out wide. My 2 concerns are we are light up front and the full backs are weak currently.

Sort them out and we should be very strong in this league. Keep our midfield and we won’t be far away.

[Clive 1960]

I said before season finished we might struggle with how things stood with what at gone on but now with the right manager we might be in a better place all depends on who stays and goes and i would assume some player's might be a little more happy at the moment than they were 2 weeks ago..

[Stevie Morgan]

If we can keep a hold of Berge, Cullen and Brownhill that midfield trio will absolutely dominate the championship.

I think we are strong in central defence, and have plenty of attacking options out wide. My 2 concerns are we are light up front and the full backs are weak currently.

Sort them out and we should be very strong in this league. Keep our midfield and we won’t be far away.

I'm afraid I have no confidence we will keep Berge. He's too good and vultures will be circling. Just hope we get a good price as a result.

[1989_claret]

We'll absolutely walk the division. I thought the standard was poor in 22/23 and it hasn't improved since. A hell of a lot of mediocre and poor teams.

[Quickenthetempo]

If we can keep a hold of Berge, Cullen and Brownhill that midfield trio will absolutely dominate the championship.

I think we are strong in central defence, and have plenty of attacking options out wide. My 2 concerns are we are light up front and the full backs are weak currently.

Sort them out and we should be very strong in this league. Keep our midfield and we won’t be far away.

At the minute you would play 352 with how strong the central defence area is, especially with two left footed centre backs in Esteve and Delcroix.

[Goliath]

At the minute you would play 352 with how strong the central defence area is, especially with two left footed centre backs in Esteve and Delcroix.

And how weak we are at full back. The problem is ensuring it doesn't become pinned back too easily leading to a really negative 5 at the back. Never liked 3 at the back for that reason.

Koleosho is absolute ideal for that attacking wing back role though. Don't think there's many better suited than him. Lacks enough end product to be a really top winger but as a wing back he's rapid and works his balls off to do the defensive side.

If we could find a good wing back for the right (possibly a bit more defensively minded) we are perfectly suited to the system.

[quoonbeatz]

You can largely ignore the opinions of people who think the championship is "poor", "shocking" etc. It isn't. It's probably the hardest division to get out of and easily the highest standard 2nd division in Europe. We didn't walk it last time, it certainly wasn't plain sailing throughout but we were a very very good team for that level once we clicked. It's a real achievement to get 100 points in this league. We have to get the new manager right because whilst we'll still have some of the better players in the league, you have to get them playing together to be successful.

[Quicknick]

We'll absolutely walk the division. I thought the standard was poor in 22/23 and it hasn't improved since. A hell of a lot of mediocre and poor teams.

The standard is more or less the same as it has been since I've been going to football in the early '60s. Only on a handful of occasions have teams gone up from the second tier and excelled in the top division. I'm not going to list them here, but Ipswich and Forest were obviously the stand-out examples. The second tier has always been very competitive. We may win it again, but we may be in midtable or worse.

[Ric_C]

Put it this way, we are still in a really good position. Watched the play off final and didn't see anything to worry me tbh. But obviously there is a lot to sort out.

If we can get in a decent manager, trim the squad, and bring in some much needed options to give us more of a balance, then I'd say we would be one of the favourites.

But a lot could potentially go wrong between now and the start of the season, so let's keep our fingers crossed.

What I would say though having thought about it, is that I think any new manager would be given a bit more time than VK if we got off to a fairly iffy start. So in a way that is a positive. We are almost back to where we are 2 years ago in that respect, although we now have the opposite challenge in trying to trim a bloated squad rather than create a new one from scratch. For me the main challenge is creating a bit of unity within the squad again, and rebuilding the disconnect between players and fans.

[Jakubclaret]

Far too variables at the circus in play to accurately predict anything. It all rests on some pretty important right decisions being made & I'm not brimming with the confidence that the decisions will be the best 1s. If we can offload some deadwood & bring some shrewd quality acquisitions into the arena & mostly importantly appoint the right sort of manager I think the playoffs is an achievable aim.

[Goliath]

The standard is poor and has deteriorated rapidly in the last 5 years as most clubs have had to drastically reduce spending.
There's now usually 3 or 4 teams with bigger budgets that are basically in a different league to the rest.
The season it should be us and maybe Sheff utd with Luton probably a bit lower down. If neither us or Sheff Utd get out houses in order in time then it could be a wide open division with Leeds, West Brom and Norwich possibly knocking around as well.

The rest range from bang average to poor.

[IPAclaret]

obviously it all depends on who comes in as our manager and then which players we keep and bring in

as said on another thread if we keep Muric / centre half we're more than ok / full back needs strengthening / midfield (MUST KEEP BERGE AND CULLEN) / out wide we're more than ok / striker needs strengthening

I just don't see how the spine of that side doesn't do very well

for me, Berge absolutely smashes this division. He glided through some games in the prem against very good side, he is a class act.

C'mon Mr pace, get the managerial appoint right and roll on August.

UTC

[CrosspoolClarets]

The bookies have us as 2nd favourites and odds against to go up. So no, we will not “walk it”. We may win it, we have probably the best squad, but there are too many unknowns especially who the manager will be and which of the squad will go.

If we get someone like Cooper and keep everyone we desire to, then I may upgrade to “walk it”.

[ecc]

I'm confident we have a squad, with a couple of additions that is more than capable of winning the Championship. How that squad will look at the end if the window is a different matter though.

Pick the right manager and we should still have the resources to win the league though.

How many actually thought we'd walk it?

Somewhat arrogant IMO.

[elwaclaret]

I have never assumed we would walk back up from the Championship, even before VK left but his leaving does not play too heavily on my constant belief that with care and good planning we should have too much quality for most other teams in this division.

[claretcarrot93]

No idea but I believe we are better placed than we were just around a week ago

Why?

[KRBFC]

No idea but I believe we are better placed than we were just around a week ago

Genuinely no idea how anyone can think this. We’ve just lost a manager whose last Championship season resulted in 101 points.

As bad as last season was, pretending Kompany wasn’t a good fit to get us promoted again just sounds awfully biased.

We don’t even have a manager employed never mind one who has won the title with 3 defeats all season. A squad full of players who signed to play for VK. Yet we are suddenly better placed now he’s gone…. Come off it Tony, you’re better than this.

[ClaretTony]

Genuinely no idea how anyone can think this. We’ve just lost a manager whose last Championship season resulted in 101 points.

As bad as last season was, pretending Kompany wasn’t a good fit to get us promoted again just sounds awfully biased.

We don’t even have a manager employed never mind one who has won the title with 3 defeats all season. A squad full of players who signed to play for VK. Yet we are suddenly better placed now he’s gone…. Come off it Tony, you’re better than this.

I honestly believe we'd have been nowhere near next season with Kompany in charge. He's got it horribly wrong this season in my view and left a right mess behind. So don't tell me to come off it and don't tell me I'm better than this. I am pleased he's gone and I think the club are better for it.

[KRBFC]

I honestly believe we'd have been nowhere near next season with Kompany in charge. He's got it horribly wrong this season in my view and left a right mess behind. So don't tell me to come off it and don't tell me I'm better than this. I am pleased he's gone and I think the club are better for it.

He definitely got it wrong last season, no doubt about that but what is the mess? I know the squad is bloated but it’s bloated with Championship quality, surely that’s a good thing? Money to recoup and quality to bounce back.

[lakedistrictclaret]

Kompany was fortunate in the Championship season in that nothing really went wrong, so he had nothing to fix.
Last season, virtually everything went wrong, and it soon became clear that he had little or no idea as to how to remedy it.
It remains to be seen whether or not his stubborn, " I know best " attitude will hold him back from being a top manager.
Our new manager will inherit a bloated squad that needs thinning out, with a few new players coming in. Nevertheless, it is a squad that has a realistic chance of immediate promotion.
If that happens, I believe that if the owners make the right choice now, the new man will have a much better go at keeping us there than Kompany did.

[ClaretTony]

He definitely got it wrong last season, no doubt about that but what is the mess? I know the squad is bloated but it’s bloated with Championship quality, surely that’s a good thing? Money to recoup and quality to bounce back.

Take my word for it, there's a right mess there. This is what happens when you stick revolving doors on dressing rooms and deflate some of the players in there.

[CoolClaret]

Take my word for it, there's a right mess there. This is what happens when you stick revolving doors on dressing rooms and deflate some of the players in there.

It's not rocket science is it.

There's some things in football that are an unwritten rule and VK broke a hell of a lot of them last season.

[Carlos the Great]

It's not rocket science is it.

There's some things in football that are an unwritten rule and VK broke a hell of a lot of them last season.

He certainly did make a hash of a lot of things .::he must have had to paint his office door… with all the players knocking on it asking why they not playing ??

[Newcastleclaret93]

It's not rocket science is it.

There's some things in football that are an unwritten rule and VK broke a hell of a lot of them last season.

I really don’t understand how people can’t see the mess.

[RVclaret]

No mess, it’ll be reyt.

[NickBFC]

I have hope we'll be fine. Get somebody decent in charge, try and clear some of the deadwood and we are 1-2 players away from being a top, top side again at this level. Unhappy players quickly forget things when they're back playing under a different boss.

[Winstonswhite]

I really don’t understand how people can’t see the mess.

There’s a mess when any manager leaves. All it takes is a new guy to take the bull by the horns and and it’ll be sorted in a couple of weeks. It is actually a blessing for sooooo many players that VK has now gone. Clean slate n all that

[Roosterbooster]

I'd rather be in our position than others (for now)
It depends on who we appoint tbh, and how we sort the squad out
But as far as Championship squads go, it's immense (although a bit of an inflated mess)
And we don't HAVE to sell all our best players

Unlike Leeds. I understand they need to make £80m in less than 5 weeks to avoid administration. And that still leaves them with £100m of debt, and they're losing money season by season. They gambled. And lost. Big time

[ClaretPete001]

I'd rather be in our position than others (for now)
It depends on who we appoint tbh, and how we sort the squad out
But as far as Championship squads go, it's immense (although a bit of an inflated mess)
And we don't HAVE to sell all our best players

Unlike Leeds. I understand they need to make £80m in less than 5 weeks to avoid administration. And that still leaves them with £100m of debt, and they're losing money season by season. They gambled. And lost. Big time

As far as I can see - as bad as they are they don't carry an auditors warning on them....

[Claretitus]

Not me for a minute, especially if we get the incoming manager badly wrong. I e Lampard. Nothing against him, but he has demonstrated NOTHING to prove any doubters wrong, in ANY position he has held. ( including Derby County ). With the right man in, maybe, but won’t be easy.

[jlup1980]

He definitely got it wrong last season, no doubt about that but what is the mess? I know the squad is bloated but it’s bloated with Championship quality, surely that’s a good thing? Money to recoup and quality to bounce back.

But how many of those players wanted to leave? We have a squad of over 40 pro's and I suspect half of those would have been looking for a way out had VK stayed in charge. So many players were inexplicably thrown on the scrapheap last season - virtually our whole Championship winning team. Hopefully we can win a few of these lads around again and convince them to stay (Muric, Benson, Zaroury, Ekdal, Al Dakhil, Roberts, etc). Then there's all the loan players returning to the club. There's so much work to do this summer to trim the numbers and bring harmony back to the squad. There's no doubt a lot of quality in there but it's not a lot of use if a load of them want to leave!

[Hibsclaret]

Get the right manager and that squad is far too good for the Championship. A fully fit Koleosho and Odobert would destroy even the best teams in the league. A reference point is the 9 - 1 aggregate score against Sheff U and the 4 points that should have been 6 against Luton.

The main reason for our failure at the top level is the style of football against better players. When the style is applied against lesser players the other teams have the problem that we did in the premier league. We need the right man to play a possession based style and everything should be fine.