I am beginning to worry more about next season than this one. There seems to be a total expectation that we will be promoted back into the PL when it is just as likely that league one beckons.
There are hardly any redeeming features that suggest that the weaknesses in the team and management that are so obvious now will be eliminated with the current set up.

I hope we have good relegation clauses

claret59 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 24, 2024 11:33 pm

I am beginning to worry more about next season than this one. There seems to be a total expectation that we will be promoted back into the PL when it is just as likely that league one beckons.
There are hardly any redeeming features that suggest that the weaknesses in the team and management that are so obvious now will be eliminated with the current set up.

Brilliant.
I'm more worried about the state of the economy, the destruction of the NHS, Ukraine vs Russia developing into WW3, viruses getting ahead of medical science, going bald, age related problems..
but crack on if that's all you've got to worry about

claret59 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 24, 2024 11:33 pm

I am beginning to worry more about next season than this one. There seems to be a total expectation that we will be promoted back into the PL when it is just as likely that league one beckons.
There are hardly any redeeming features that suggest that the weaknesses in the team and management that are so obvious now will be eliminated with the current set up.

Is it your opinion based on the last two seasons that Kompany has no chance of success in the Championship? He's made a mess of things now, but we could sell half the squad and still have a team capable of succeeding in the Championship. Yes, even under the current management.

we are done for if Berge and Foster are the best we have ...Not one player would get in the Leicester side ..

What worries me the most is, can VK mend the broken relationship with some of his players and the fans? Can he evolve his tactics? Is he going to show he can learn from his stubborn mistakes? I'm not so sure anymore

Last season we thought he was a genius, but it's looking more and more likely now that his contacts in the game and positive selling of the club gave him a head start over others.

The Trafford situation is really irking me now, along with his reluctance to give three of our mainstays from last season a go.

I feel like he is looking like an average manager with excellent contacts. I'm starting to worry about his man management and overall judgement. His ratio of good signings is getting worse.

If he was sacked tomorrow I wouldn't lose any sleep, and I'd never thought I'd have said that even a few months ago

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus

boatshed bill wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 24, 2024 11:52 pm

Brilliant.
I'm more worried about the state of the economy, the destruction of the NHS, Ukraine vs Russia developing into WW3, viruses getting ahead of medical science, going bald, age related problems..
but crack on if that's all you've got to worry about

In all fairness to the OP, he wast’t stating that is all he’s worried about in life. More to do with the damage this season may do to next seasons squad.

Who knows what others are going through and their worries in life, but to come on a football forum and talk about football, may be a coping mechanism for other things.

But you crack on playing the smart card

We’ll have a completely new team again by August. No idea if they’ll be any good this time.

Il be amazed if we are not promoted next season.

We will have by a country mile the most expensive squad. Anything but promotion will be a catastrophic failure

Newcastleclaret93 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 7:15 am

Il be amazed if we are not promoted next season.

We will have by a country mile the most expensive squad. Anything but promotion will be a catastrophic failure

Getting your ducks in a row for next season - good planning.

taio wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 7:18 am

Getting your ducks in a row for next season - good planning.

????

Last year we had three players (two of whom are now rated 20 million+) who would walk into this team.

THB, Maatsen and Tella.

We will need to find another three players of similar stature. They could come from within the current squad or on loan.

We won a lot of games at the death last year.

We had two tactics that we no longer use. Firstly Muric would play the long diagonal for Bella/Benson/Zaroury to run onto over the defence. Secondly the cross from the edge of the box with players running in towards the back post.

We often lost the ball in our own half but got away with as the strikers aren't quite as good as this year.

In our favour Sheff Utd have no money, Luton will be a good team again but may lose players, Southamptton (looking most likely to stay down) will be strong. Not many other championship sides have a lot of money.

I too don't believe all this "we will bounce back" stuff, it will be difficult and a defeat in the playoffs would be a disaster.

I think it’ll be all about who goes and who comes in. For those who think we’ll walk the league again I don’t think that will be the case, there are still some very good teams in the Championship.

wbfc wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 12:02 am

we are done for if Berge and Foster are the best we have ...Not one player would get in the Leicester side ..

That Leicester team isn’t very good, they would be in position if they were in the premier league this season

claret59 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 24, 2024 11:33 pm

I am beginning to worry more about next season than this one. There seems to be a total expectation that we will be promoted back into the PL when it is just as likely that league one beckons.
There are hardly any redeeming features that suggest that the weaknesses in the team and management that are so obvious now will be eliminated with the current set up.

Not from me there isn't, with a fair wind blowing we might make the playoffs considering the current state of the club

TBH I'm slowly getting yo the dotage where I don't really care that much anymore, I've bever felt so disassociated from the club. It just isn't what it used to be.

I've watched a fair bit of the Championship this season- the gap in quality has never been so apparent.

My main concern is that they aren't fighting for him.

They must realise the pressure he is under, but the majority are not showing any signs of wanting to save him.

Even without new signings we could lineup next season something like this:

....................................Trafford...............................

..Vitinho*..........Beyer..............O'Shea............Taylor....

................Brownhill...........Cullen..............Berge........

......Benson............................................Koleosho.......

.....................................Foster......................................

I'd be quite confident with that lot.

*hopefully someone else

We have to keep Cullen, we have to keep Muric, and if we can keep hold of Benson, Zaroury, Odobert, Koleosho, Foster and Berge then that's a good base for next season. Esteve and O'Shea (Beyer, Ekdal) is more than enough at CB

Full backs are where we need to invest plus a decent striker or two

The rest not really bothered about tbh

To renew,or not to renew? that’s the Question.

bfcjg wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 10:34 am

TBH I'm slowly getting yo the dotage where I don't really care that much anymore, I've bever felt so disassociated from the club. It just isn't what it used to be.

You are not on your own. I sensed this widespread yesterday with our away support , who were happy to sing cynical songs all match. The care is disappearing rapidly

Fulham came up, spents £millions, went down, came up better.

The Championship is not riddled with World Class players nor Internationals at most Clubs.

If you really wanted to consume yourself with worry it's the season after next that you might want to be petrified about.

I can’t stop worrying about the 2028/29 season.

Don't worry be happy.

JohnMac wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 11:35 am

Fulham came up, spents £millions, went down, came up better.

The Championship is not riddled with World Class players nor Internationals at most Clubs.

Thats right but Marco Silva appears to be a manager who has learned from his mistakes. I see it going the other way with VK

When we made no effort really to sign Tella I was amazed .. and ****** off at the same time .. but thought VK knows what he’s doing .. but now we are getting hammered every week and Tella playing for the top team in Bundesliga it’s becoming apparent VK has a lot to learn as a manager

Ric_C wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 11:24 am

We have to keep Cullen, we have to keep Muric, and if we can keep hold of Benson, Zaroury, Odobert, Koleosho, Foster and Berge then that's a good base for next season. Esteve and O'Shea (Beyer, Ekdal) is more than enough at CB

Full backs are where we need to invest plus a decent striker or two

The rest not really bothered about tbh

You're hoping a lot of those players who grafted last season and have been absolutely sold down the river by Kompany this season will be up for the fight again given what's happened to them, a notion that's questionable imo

warksclaret wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 11:52 am

Thats right but Marco Silva appears to be a manager who has learned from his mistakes. I see it going the other way with VK

Vinny is obviously an intelligent guy, intelligent people learn and continuously educate themselves, I'd be intrigued to see him have another go at the Premier League but under different circumstances next time, he's been almost untouchable this season that's not healthy he needs that jeopardy behind him which will be there next time around.

The saying goes about being able to play on Turf Moor on a wet and windy November night ,and although there were some horrendous conditions last winter our lads came through it ,can’t imagine many of the present squad busting a gut next season when it’s bucketing down.

Positives

A strong or “very strong” champ side where players like Foster,Benson, Berge , Taylor,Brownhill,Odobert , Zaroury ,Steve, Ekdal , Muric ,Kolo , Beyer, etc tear it up .

Concerns -
Big clear out ( understandable) where 50%+ of the above are sold and a rebuild of sorts is needed without the elite quality of loans or prem exp players we had/got last time .

A possibly stronger championship if say Leeds/ Soton don’t get promoted along with maybe Everton , Luton

Fiscal belt tightening from the pint sized puritan .

Not really worried about next season. I have no idea what sort of squad the third reinvention will bring. All I know is that we will start with 0 points and that we will need around 90 points for automatic promotion.

The Leicester comps are hilarious.

We're terrible, one of the worst ever to play in the PL. Expecting it to magically click again and everything to fall into place again is naive.

Honestly, if anyone is worried about any formation of this squad (we sell our entire summer signings - which we won’t) being competitive in the championship they really do not understand football. The gap is enormous.

That is not to say “we will walk it”. Nobody has ever said that, or at least not that I have seen. So that’s another nonsense myth dreamt up by some Burnley fans. But we’ll be very competitive.

The biggest risks now are Forest and Everton both getting further points deductions and going down with us. That’d make it a lot harder. Although you’d expect their excessive spending that got them the deductions in the first place to also be a big hindrance for either and both would have to sell a lot of players. More than us.

Whichever of Southampton and Leeds don’t go up (assuming they both don’t go up - one via the playoffs) will need to make further cut backs and sell players too, so neither will be quite the force they are this year.

West Brom have only won 16 of their THIRTY FOUR games, losing ten times. They’re 5th. We may not repeat last season, we may be better or worse but we’ll be in and amongst it.

NewClaret wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 4:00 pm

Honestly, if anyone is worried about any formation of this squad (we could sell our entire summer signings - which we won’t - and still have a very competitive Champ side) they really do not understand football. The gap is enormous.

That is not to say “we will walk it”. Nobody has ever said that, or at least not that I have seen. So that’s another nonsense myth dreamt up by some Burnley fans. But we’ll be very competitive.

The biggest risks now are Forest and Everton both getting further points deductions and going down with us. That’d make it a lot harder. Although you’d expect their excessive spending that got them the deductions in the first place to also be a big hindrance for either and both would have to sell a lot of players. More than us.

Whichever of Southampton and Leeds don’t go up (assuming they both don’t go up - one via the playoffs) will need to make further cut backs and sell players too, so neither will be quite the force they are this year.

West Brom have only won 16 of their THIRTY FOUR games, losing ten times. They’re 5th. We may not repeat last season, we may be better or worse but we’ll be in and amongst it.

There's a big summer coming up with a lot of big decisions to be made.

I'm worried about the rot of a historically bad season setting in and continuing and I think that's a valid point of contention; you and others may reference Southampton, Leicester, Leeds etc but they all brought in some freshness with a change of manager, the situations aren't the same.

It'd be the making of our young (talented) players, a year in the Championship.

Last season was a very different situation to what we will walk into next season. Everyone was excited about the Kompany appointment. Players seemed to be queuing around the block to sign for him. Everything was positive. It won't be like that in the summer. The epic failure of this season will have ramifications. We'll have one group of players desperate to get away from the club as they'll have no intention of playing in the Championship, and another group desperate to get away from the club after being completely shunned by management this season. It's going to be a hell of a mess.

jlup1980 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 4:27 pm

Last season was a very different situation to what we will walk into next season. Everyone was excited about the Kompany appointment. Players seemed to be queuing around the block to sign for him. Everything was positive. It won't be like that in the summer. The epic failure of this season will have ramifications. We'll have one group of players desperate to get away from the club as they'll have no intention of playing in the Championship, and another group desperate to get away from the club after being completely shunned by management this season. It's going to be a hell of a mess.

Let's start with the group of players who'll have no intention of playing in the Championship then: fire away

jlup1980 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 4:27 pm

Last season was a very different situation to what we will walk into next season. Everyone was excited about the Kompany appointment. Players seemed to be queuing around the block to sign for him. Everything was positive. It won't be like that in the summer. The epic failure of this season will have ramifications. We'll have one group of players desperate to get away from the club as they'll have no intention of playing in the Championship, and another group desperate to get away from the club after being completely shunned by management this season. It's going to be a hell of a mess.

It's a completely different kettle of fish;

One saving grace is if players get decent moves again, we can at least say that come to Burnley play for Vinnie and get a good move...

but...

That was mine (and others) criticisms in summer, if you foster an ethos where it's stay for a season or two and get a move then don't be surprised when we see utterly abject performances and sadly that has been as apparent as anything this season.

Not to mention we'd also be in that pickle maybe again of loaning players to go up which is a problem in and of itself.

jlup1980 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 4:27 pm

Last season was a very different situation to what we will walk into next season. Everyone was excited about the Kompany appointment. Players seemed to be queuing around the block to sign for him. Everything was positive. It won't be like that in the summer. The epic failure of this season will have ramifications. We'll have one group of players desperate to get away from the club as they'll have no intention of playing in the Championship, and another group desperate to get away from the club after being completely shunned by management this season. It's going to be a hell of a mess.

Some points:

- We still had a pretty good January window when rock bottom of the league and signed Esteve, who is very highly regarded in France.

- We’ll still be able to pay more than other leagues all over the world. Players go where they get decent money (all of them, even all our players from the Dyche era - Hendrick, Pope, Wood, Tarks, Mee - they all look after their own self interest). There will be no problem signing better players whatsoever.

- Players sign contracts and are professionals. Theres been no signs of anyone behaving unprofessionally because they’ve been left out. A good example being Cullen. Did you read his interview last week? They’ll come back in if asked and perform well.

- All players will earn more in the Premier League than the Championship so they’ll have plenty of incentive to do well.

- Some might feel they owe the club and fans. The ones that have played should because they do. But in any event none should feel that they are above the Championship because none have earned the right to feel that. And I doubt they’ll have queues of other teams lining up for their services, so might not have much choice.

equinox wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 25, 2024 4:31 pm

Let's start with the group of players who'll have no intention of playing in the Championship then: fire away

Amdouni and Tresor for starters. They'll be gone as soon as their agents can get them out.
For different reasons I don't expect either Berge or Odobert to drop down with us as they've both looked vaguely competent at times this season.
Obviously we're going to lose Assignon and Fofana at the end of their loans. I highly doubt JBL will become a permanent fixture (not a real loss though).
Do you think Muric, Roberts, Zaroury and Benson are going to come running when Kompany asks them to get us back out of the Championship again?!
Taylor, Cork and Jay are out of contract. Great servants but unlikely they'll be offered and / or accept new deals.
Will we choose to extend JBG and Brownhill contracts?
We have several others scattered across Europe on loan too. Egan-Riley, Churlinov, Obafemi, Bastien, McNally, Twine, Weghorst, Peacock-Farrell (option to extend his deal beyond this summer if we wish). How many of these will return to play a part?

That's 24 players without even thinking about it. I'll be amazed if more than half a dozen of them are still at the club in August. I accept that a lot of them are already squad players, but eight of them started yesterday so it's significant. It'll be another rebuild, even bigger than the previous two years.