I don't know if this has been discussed on here after Monday's win but looking back to the dissatisfaction, mine included, with Parker's team selection at PNE for the cup game and the subsequent lame performance, is it now time to give the bloke due credit for prioritising promotion?

Financially an absolute no brainer and, although progression to the business end of the FA Cup would have been brilliant, there was a real chance, with margins having proved to be so tight, that we could have messed up.

We'll never know but I'd take this over a game v Villa any day.

So would PNE....

The promotion is vindication of Parker's season-long approach to the league.

The defeat at PNE is proof that we got it wrong on the day.

The former is not contingent on the latter.

If you see comments from Preston fans they want the owners gone, some want the manager gone, some want most the players gone all within a few weeks of what they labelled the best result of their lives beating us in the FA Cup.

So they 100% agree with you, sadly in their eyes they seem to be forever the only one of the 4 main clubs in the county to never go up.

claretonthecoast1882 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 11:30 am

If you see comments from Preston fans they want the owners gone, some want the manager gone, some want most the players gone...

Lose their last two games and their Championship
status might be gone.

100% vindication.

ElectroClaret wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 11:36 am

Lose their last two games and their Championship
status might be gone.

Only won once since they played us, with two difficult games coming up, last away at Bristol.

Now that would be, sweet, sweet vindication if they got relegated and took the racist thug down with them.

3-0 in their biggest game in years This was as good as it gets for one of our opponents. After that performances at PNE were awful.
It's reality of the Championship no promotion succes equals no money equals a downward decline .All to look forward to is a local derby against that other busted flush from Deadwood

We’ll never know. He may have picked a full strength team and still lost or he may have picked a full strength and we’d be looking forward to a Wembley trip.

The only time I’ve criticised SP this season was after this game.
I’m now convinced I was wrong and he was right.
We’ve been superb since then- just look at all the points we’ve made up on DL and, especially, SU.

Last time we made the quarter finals we won the division and got more points doing so. No reason it had to be one or the other.

I actually think we've got a good enough team and squad that we would have got promoted without throwing an FA Cup tie against a team that's loads worse than ours

I didn't think so on the way back from Deepdale, but these games are useful every now and again, to remind us - and indeed the players.. why some are 1st team starters and some are squad players and bench warmers.

The sub keeper was never going to be involved again anyway barring injury, but how many games did Sonne, Shelvey, Sarmiento, Benson, Koleosho or Worrall start after that?

I’m delighted (and relieved due to our financial state) about getting promotion but I don’t see why we couldn’t play a stronger team in the cup at Preston. Why couldn’t we have both? It was disappointing to get so far and have a real chance to progress to a significant stage of the competition to essentially cast the opportunity to one side.

Whenever we are pushing for promotion, or when our main aim is to avoid relegation I couldn't give a rat's arse about any cup comp.

The one thing I noticed was on the FA Cup weekend when Preston played Villa we won our league game. Had we been playing in the FA Cup we would have been heaps of points behind and playing catchup with a midweek game. Turned out to be a blessing.

The game against Villa was certainly no blessing for Preston. Made a few quid on the day but are now very close to being relegated!
Great call Scott Parker

SydneyClaret wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 2:22 pm

The one thing I noticed was on the FA Cup weekend when Preston played Villa we won our league game. Had we been playing in the FA Cup we would have been heaps of points behind and playing catchup with a midweek game. Turned out to be a blessing.

Often overlooked this.... points pressure is massive. We could have been on the inverse of it, and crumbled like Sunderland did, and then Sheff Utd did.

Jakubs Tash wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 1:22 pm

I’m delighted (and relieved due to our financial state) about getting promotion but I don’t see why we couldn’t play a stronger team in the cup at Preston. Why couldn’t we have both? It was disappointing to get so far and have a real chance to progress to a significant stage of the competition to essentially cast the opportunity to one side.

We had 4 games in the following 12 days after PNE, including a long midweek trip to Cardiff. It’s fairly obvious why rotating a team and keeping some key players fresh would be beneficial, along with reducing the chances of injury. We won 3 and drew 1 of those next 4 games, which proved critical.

RVclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 2:38 pm

We had 4 games in the following 12 days after PNE, including a long midweek trip to Cardiff. It’s fairly obvious why rotating a team and keeping some key players fresh would be beneficial, along with reducing the chances of injury. We won 3 and drew 1 of those next 4 games, which proved critical.

Yes, I know all of that….

My point is that everyone is talking about how it was clearly the right decision but nobody actually knows how it might have worked out had we taken the cup more seriously. Parker didn’t have to make the wholesale changes he did.

But, as I said, we’ll never know.

Yes, completely vindicated, even though I wasn’t happy about it at the time.

No excuses for tossing away a cup comp in the last 16. Like Dyche putting Mee n the stands in Athens to be spat at whilst the team crumbled then we got stuffed at Fulham to make the whole thing pointless.

It isn’t vindication, but he got us up so has our full support and a clean slate. Football is about chasing glory, we don’t throw away the chance of it, but luckily he has got us that by the end this season.

p.s. at the time we didn’t know it was Villa at home next. Could have been easier.

Jakubs Tash wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 4:28 pm

Yes, I know all of that….

My point is that everyone is talking about how it was clearly the right decision but nobody actually knows how it might have worked out had we taken the cup more seriously. Parker didn’t have to make the wholesale changes he did.

But, as I said, we’ll never know.

Even had we beaten PNE, would we have got past a very good AV side?
And as already been mentioned, then we are playing catch up with the problems that brings. After the season we’ve had, I trust our manager to make the right calls and he certainly did in this.

ElectroClaret wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 11:36 am

[quote=claretonthecoast1882 post_id=2544407 time=<a href="tel:1745577050">1745577050</a> user_id=4404]
If you see comments from Preston fans they want the owners gone, some want the manager gone, some want most the players gone...

Lose their last two games and their Championship
status might be gone.
[/quote]

We can but hope. I’m keeping everything crossed.

dandeclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 2:26 pm

Often overlooked this.... points pressure is massive. We could have been on the inverse of it, and crumbled like Sunderland did, and then Sheff Utd did.

An excellent point.

dandeclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 2:26 pm

Often overlooked this.... points pressure is massive. We could have been on the inverse of it, and crumbled like Sunderland did, and then Sheff Utd did.

Exactly this ...

Picture this board had we beaten PNE (everyone would be cock-a-hoop) then lose to Villa

Then dropping points in the league like Sund and Sheff U did ... look how well PNE have done after beating us ... It would be a miserable place ...

Give me Promotion any day of the week

CrosspoolClarets wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 4:57 pm

No excuses for tossing away a cup comp in the last 16. Like Dyche putting Mee n the stands in Athens to be spat at whilst the team crumbled then we got stuffed at Fulham to make the whole thing pointless.

It isn’t vindication, but he got us up so has our full support and a clean slate. Football is about chasing glory, we don’t throw away the chance of it, but luckily he has got us that by the end this season.

p.s. at the time we didn’t know it was Villa at home next. Could have been easier.

Could have been harder..... could have got injuries..... could have lost form and been behind on points.

Too many on here want their cake and to eat it - Dyche surely taught us that a season is judged in it's entirity, not in individual moments. He said it often enough. And if you're going to throw in that it could have been easier, at least acknowledge it could also have been harder, or had other downsides.

Bosscat wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 5:30 pm

Exactly this ...

Picture this board had we beaten PNE (everyone would be cock-a-hoop) then lose to Villa

Then dropping points in the league like Sund and Sheff U did ... look how well PNE have done after beating us ... It would be a miserable place ...

Give me Promotion any day of the week

Just as an aside, if we'd have beaten PNE we wouldn't necessarily have drawn Villa as the balls would have been numbered differently

Selby Claret wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 5:44 pm

Just as an aside, IF we'd have beaten PNE we wouldn't necessarily have drawn Villa as the balls would have been numbered differently

If "ifs and ands were pots and pans, there would be no work for Tinkers hands"

Never a truer phrase than this.

HurstGrangeClaret wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 25, 2025 5:00 pm

Even had we beaten PNE, would we have got past a very good AV side?
And as already been mentioned, then we are playing catch up with the problems that brings. After the season we’ve had, I trust our manager to make the right calls and he certainly did in this.

Exactly my point. We’ll never know.

So it’s ok going “Parker was definitely right to do what he did” but we’ll never know.

Maybe we could’ve made it to an FA Cup semi final and had the same league form. Maybe an FA Cup run would’ve galvanised us further. We might not even got drawn v Aston Villa.

We’ll never know….

What it did show was that our 2nd string weren’t up to it.