[Archived] The Relegation Thread

[thenodrog]

Given the choice between relegation to the third tier and an immediate implosion; or surviving in the second tier for a while and dying a slow lingering death ... I would take the former every single time.

After 2 and a half years, I've really had enough, I'd rather burn out than rust away.

I fully expect us to go down now. If it means the Indians @#/? off I'd take that deal right now.

All this was said by various people same time last year. Obviously things don't work like you two assume.

[davulsukur]

When i read Bryans post, the first thing that came into my head was this.

Quality.

[broadsword]

All this was said by various people same time last year. Obviously things don't work like you two assume.

I think another year of mismanagement could make quite a difference, no? And the financial outlook in League 1 also quite different to being in the championship.

What I said doesn't necessarily imply we will implode in League 1, but you have to say it's more likely than 1 year ago. You've intimated yourself that the way the club is going it's living on borrowed time, so have you changed your mind?

[OJRovers]

We're going to be the most expensive team of journeymen League 1 has ever seen.

I can't see Murphy and Etuhu walking away from their 30-40k a week.

[davulsukur]

More of Venkys amazing payoffs will be heading their way.

[Howler]

The record amount of points a team has got in the Championship and been relegated is 50. In most seasons our present total of 47 would have kept us up. Usually teams go down with between 40-46.

It will be just our luck to break the record for most points accrued while being relegated.

What's just as galling is that this year, despite all that has gone wrong and our recent wretched run, is that we are 13 points off the play-offs. A half-decent run after the Arsenal game would have seen us in the mix for sixth spot.

[DE.]

We're going to be the most expensive team of journeymen League 1 has ever seen.

I can't see Murphy and Etuhu walking away from their 30-40k a week.

And we'll still play terribly.

[McClarky]

Does anyone know what the position is with some of the "disappeared" players? I was thinking about who we could play in the run in but there's a few who haven't been seen much recently but I'm not sure if they are dropped or injured.

I was thinking of:

Olsson twins

Nunes

Gomes

Etuhu

Goodwillie

Robinson

Just shows how ridiculously large our squad is and how badly managed we have been considering the amount of investment on the playing side for a Div 2 team. With a half decent manager installed from day 1 we should have walked this league and yet look at us now. Bad decisions followed by bad decisions by all parties involved in the club but Venkys are mainly at fault for overseeing it all.

[davulsukur]

Jake Kean out for the rest of the season.

Means our polish lad will be between the sticks for the run in as Robbo has vanished off the face of the earth.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Waht we saw yesterday was, in my view, proof that a majority of the players want to see us relegated. I used to believe they would want to fight to stay up, even just for professional pride, but I now think that is not the case.

No-one would enjoy working in an environment where there were six bosses in the same year, but normal employees believe that, to some extent, their own fate is tied in with the fate of their employer. If Dev's corner shop had had six owners this season, I'm sure Sophie Webster would be looking to get a new job, but she wouldn't actively be looking to get the shop closed down in order to facilitate her career progression.

This is clearly not the case at BRFC. There exists such an asymmetry of interests between the players and everyone else that their best interests - getting away from the club - are now best served by getting relegated and being sold on in the inevitable fire sale. Clowns like Shebby will get the blame for relegation, not the players, who believe they will walk away with their reputations such as they are intact and their bank balances improved. In contrast, the players of Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday will believe their own fates are somewhat linked to their club's fates, so will fight to stay up as their interests are aligned.

[Plastic Head]

Does anyone know what the position is with some of the "disappeared" players? I was thinking about who we could play in the run in but there's a few who haven't been seen much recently but I'm not sure if they are dropped or injured.

I was thinking of:

Olsson twins

Nunes

Gomes

Etuhu

Goodwillie

Robinson

Just shows how ridiculously large our squad is and how badly managed we have been considering the amount of investment on the playing side for a Div 2 team. With a half decent manager installed from day 1 we should have walked this league and yet look at us now. Bad decisions followed by bad decisions by all parties involved in the club but Venkys are mainly at fault for overseeing it all.

Gone the same way as:

Diouf

Salgado

Roberts

Samba

Emerton

Nelsen

Nzonzi

Simon

Kalinic

Rochina

All seeming left out for non-football reasons.

Good innit.

[Mr. E]

If Kean is out, it's over.

[MrT]

KeanOut !!

oops sorry................flashback

[windymiller7]

Jake Kean out for the rest of the season.

Means our polish lad will be between the sticks for the run in as Robbo has vanished off the face of the earth.

As I posted in the Cardiff game thread -

And who's waiting in the wings........ a man who's so good, even the picture on his wikipedia page is of him trudging back towards goal to pick the ball out of the net!! Brilliant, just keaning brilliant!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grzegorz_Sandomierski

[McClarky]

I'd take it as well ..but the problem is will they go ? the last parachute payment isn't till summer 2014 they'll hang around till then...what pieces will be left to pick up after that is anyones guess

I don't think these payments are the main factor here. Vwenkys have splurged far more on bad signings and paying off managers than we will ever get from parachute payments and aren't showing any signs of getting things under control.

The record amount of points a team has got in the Championship and been relegated is 50. In most seasons our present total of 47 would have kept us up. Usually teams go down with between 40-46.

It will be just our luck to break the record for most points accrued while being relegated.

What's just as galling is that this year, despite all that has gone wrong and our recent wretched run, is that we are 13 points off the play-offs. A half-decent run after the Arsenal game would have seen us in the mix for sixth spot.

I think this shows what a poor league this is and makes it all the more incredible that we are struggling to stay up. I think Leicester got 52 and went down a few years ago which we could well do this year if we get that many.

[philipl]

The odds are massively against us because we have no fight in the squad (except Dunny who is being treated abysmally by the ignorant ignoramuses), the mismanagement team is utterly disfunctional and the other clubs have winning momentum.

We are already on our knees praying for favours from other teams which simply are not coming. Will Notlob kindly give Huddersfield a thrashing tonight?

A simple numeric extrapolation of the table sets safety at a horrific 56 points this season (simple 47 points divide by 39 games times 46 games)

On the basis that any club on less than 56 is potentially vulnerable making games against

Sheff Wed, Huddersfield, Millwall and Birmingham MUST NOT LOSE fixtures. Assume 3 draws, and pray for a fluke win somewhere ...

That means games against play-off chasing Derby, Watford and Palace need to yield 3 points to get to 56.

We are going to have an improbable win somewhere in this run in to stay up AND not lose to any other travellers in distress.

[rovers11]

The odds are massively against us because we have no fight in the squad (except Dunny who is being treated abysmally by the ignorant ignoramuses), the mismanagement team is utterly disfunctional and the other clubs have winning momentum.

We are already on our knees praying for favours from other teams which simply are not coming. Will Notlob kindly give Huddersfield a thrashing tonight?

A simple numeric extrapolation of the table sets safety at a horrific 56 points this season (simple 47 points divide by 39 games times 46 games)

On the basis that any club on less than 56 is potentially vulnerable making games against

Sheff Wed, Huddersfield, Millwall and Birmingham MUST NOT LOSE fixtures. Assume 3 draws, and pray for a fluke win somewhere ...

That means games against play-off chasing Derby, Watford and Palace need to yield 3 points to get to 56.

We are going to have an improbable win somewhere in this run in to stay up AND not lose to any other travellers in distress.

For me, Derby is our most winnable game. Realistically, they are not getting relegated or promoted and are poor away from home. By the time we play Palace they will probably have the play offs sewn up so may take their foot off the gas. Brum will be mid table and have nothing to play for by the time we play them.

Sheff W and Hudds will be incredibly tough as they will have more fight than us. Derby, Palace, Millwall, Brum may have just taken their foot off the gas by the time we play them. Our only hope.

Depending on how Peterb and Hudds get on tonight, the points tally could be anywhere between 52 and 56. I think we will get 52/53 points it's a case of hoping the form of other teams slows down starting with tonight.

Just put a shed load of money on Rovers going down. Hopefully that will put a curse on our slide. If not, at least I can drown my sorrows somewhere exotic!

[Rover_Shaun]

Do we even have enough to beat a side that has taken it's foot totally off the gas? I don't think we do

[rovers11]

Do we even have enough to beat a side that has taken it's foot totally off the gas? I don't think we do

That's the problem. I don't think we have either which is why I think we'll come up short. Perhaps the players will prove us wrong.

I feel far happier when the likes of Williamson, Lowe, Dunn, Rhodes are in the side compared with Murphy, Bentley and Pedersen. Those players have far more bottle and give it their all. King will also be back for the Sheff W who I think can be a real match winner on his day and gives us some pace. Hopefully Martin Olsson will be back as well.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

For me, Derby is our most winnable game. Realistically, they are not getting relegated or promoted and are poor away from home. By the time we play Palace they will probably have the play offs sewn up so may take their foot off the gas. Brum will be mid table and have nothing to play for by the time we play them.

There's a chance but often it's the form team that gets promoted through the playoffs so I can't really see them doing it. They've got dangerous players as well.

The mid-table teams will probably be the easiest games.

[USABlue]

Best plan for us to stay up is have some one convince bitch D that parachute payments only continue if we are in the Championship.

For me, Derby is our most winnable game. Realistically, they are not getting relegated or promoted and are poor away from home. By the time we play Palace they will probably have the play offs sewn up so may take their foot off the gas. Brum will be mid table and have nothing to play for by the time we play them.

Sheff W and Hudds will be incredibly tough as they will have more fight than us. Derby, Palace, Millwall, Brum may have just taken their foot off the gas by the time we play them. Our only hope.

Depending on how Peterb and Hudds get on tonight, the points tally could be anywhere between 52 and 56. I think we will get 52/53 points it's a case of hoping the form of other teams slows down starting with tonight.

Just put a shed load of money on Rovers going down. Hopefully that will put a curse on our slide. If not, at least I can drown my sorrows somewhere exotic!

Aren't Derby within touching distance of the playoffs?

[DE.]

I feel far happier when the likes of Williamson, Lowe, Dunn, Rhodes are in the side compared with Murphy, Bentley and Pedersen.

Which is quite worrying when you consider Williamson's an injury prone journeyman nobody else wanted, Lowe is an academy player playing above his station, Dunn can and does get injured in the blink of an eye and Rhodes is isolated in most games to the point of becoming redundant.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Do we even have enough to beat a side that has taken it's foot totally off the gas? I don't think we do

We'd be hard pressed to win if all eleven opponents just sat down on the pitch. We'd beat Treasure Island but Transylvania would be too good for us.

[Tom]

We could do with a couple of favours in games tonight

[rovermagic]

relegation looms, this sorry bunch of primadonnas, managed by a novice will take us down

And that is the weird thing. The problem. If we had young players managed by a novice it wouldn't be so bad. But to have experienced overpaid ex-Prem players managed by a novice just doesn't work. Freedman at Bolton ok 'cause of Palace success. But Kean, Appleton, Berg no success anywhere. I think Shebby will bring in a 'hero' as Mercer predicts. But it will take a lot to shake our overpaid layabouts into any kind of action.

And that is the weird thing. The problem. If we had young players managed by a novice it wouldn't be so bad. But to have experienced overpaid ex-Prem players managed by a novice just doesn't work. Freedman at Bolton ok 'cause of Palace success. But Kean, Appleton, Berg no success anywhere. I think Shebby will bring in a 'hero' as Mercer predicts. But it will take a lot to shake our overpaid layabouts into any kind of action.