[Archived] The Championship 2015-2016

[Mattyblue]

Read an interview in the Sunday Times today with the Palace chairman. It talked of the 'emerging middle class' of the top flight that contains clubs like Crystal Palace.

When the new mega TV deal kicks in, all 20 Premier League clubs will be in the top 30 of the world's richest clubs. Indeed Palace will have a bigger income than Bayern Munich.

That gives these clubs immense power in the league itself, as I believe you are beginning to see already if you look at the table and for attracting talent from abroad.

Also, it means when these clubs get relegated, they will have vast reserves to tap into, making the chances of clubs of our ilk making the promised land much slimmer.

All in all, things are moving rapidly and we threw our place at the table away, tragic.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Indeed Mattyblue,with every passing season we spend in this league you are left with the ever growing feeling...'we have had our day'.

That said,we achieved what most clubs can only dream about.The walker years were a truly golden period in our clubs history.

[Stuart]

Read an interview in the Sunday Times today with the Palace chairman. It talked of the 'emerging middle class' of the top flight that contains clubs like Crystal Palace.

When the new mega TV deal kicks in, all 20 Premier League clubs will be in the top 30 of the world's richest clubs. Indeed Palace will have a bigger income than Bayern Munich.

That gives these clubs immense power in the league itself, as I believe you are beginning to see already if you look at the table and for attracting talent from abroad.

Also, it means when these clubs get relegated, they will have vast reserves to tap into, making the chances of clubs of our ilk making the promised land much slimmer.

All in all, things are moving rapidly and we threw our place at the table away, tragic.

I've been saying this for some time. The WalkerTrust couldn't have sold us at a worse time. Even worse, Venkys couldn't have thrown away the gift they were given at any worse a time.

A perfect storm. Ignorant, stupid owners, get-rich-quick middlemen, protected, over-promoted charlatan coach, divided fanbase as a result.

The only consolation is that these so-called middle-class teams will never win the league.

[tomphil]

I think that middle class thing has existed for a while really, occasionally one knocks on the door of the top 6 and 1 fights against the drop. We are seeing things a little different at the moment for a change with the likes of Leicester etc doing well, Liverpool a midtable side and a few big uns struggling but it'll right itself again soon and take on the usual familiar look. All the new tv money will just reinforce this and wages, bleeding out schemes etc will just go up again to soak it up, nothing much will change,

We were one of those middle class ourselves for a long while until these lot and their associated scumbags arrived. The real danger is the championship will become more or less the same and the likes of us will now be stuck in lower middle class of that forever.

As for the Walker trust as time goes on I'm even more disappointed by them. They could have just left the club alone under the correct leadership with a better remit of focusing on younger players to increase in value and sell on and it wouldn't have cost them anything. All they were in the later years were just guarantors for the overdraft anyway. Yes there would have been tough times and choppy waters but there always was and always is in football even for the biggest.

We might not always have prospered but the great mans legacy would have remained intact and maybe with real focus on the academy Jacks original plan of a lot of home grown players keeping the core of the club going could have worked out.

[USABlue]

Read an interview in the Sunday Times today with the Palace chairman. It talked of the 'emerging middle class' of the top flight that contains clubs like Crystal Palace.

When the new mega TV deal kicks in, all 20 Premier League clubs will be in the top 30 of the world's richest clubs. Indeed Palace will have a bigger income than Bayern Munich.

That gives these clubs immense power in the league itself, as I believe you are beginning to see already if you look at the table and for attracting talent from abroad.

Also, it means when these clubs get relegated, they will have vast reserves to tap into, making the chances of clubs of our ilk making the promised land much slimmer.

All in all, things are moving rapidly and we threw our place at the table away, tragic.

Couple that with FFP and it stoppi g small clubs with rich owners from investing it is all lined up nicely for the bigger clubs to Monopolize. We simply have to break into that group soon or we are to be resigned to the lower levels forever, barring the emergence of a group of super good youth players. Dingles don't get back soon too they may lament for years not giving Dyke the funds to stay there.

[Ribble Rover]

.

Also, it means when these clubs get relegated, they will have vast reserves to tap into, making the chances of clubs of our ilk making the promised land much slimmer.

.

Evidence suggests that the opposite is happening in this case. Recently the relegated clubs are struggling even with large parachute payments. I'm actually encouraged, if we can get up it shows what can be achieved by small town clubs.

[JHRover]

Evidence suggests that the opposite is happening in this case. Recently the relegated clubs are struggling even with large parachute payments. I'm actually encouraged, if we can get up it shows what can be achieved by small town clubs.

I agree. The likes of ourselves, Fulham and Bolton are prime examples of clubs that have spent a long time in the Premier League, been relegated and struggled to get back. All that experience and money in the top flight, over 30 years between the three of us, hasn't really done us any good. Bolton are broke and on their way down, ourselves and Fulham currently not much better off in the table. Infact, the minority of those who come down go immediately back up. This season Hull and Burnley have a chance, but its unlikely both will succeed, quite possibly neither will. QPR are miles off the promotion pace despite massive spending in comparison to the likes of Birmingham, Ipswich and Brentford who are all above them.

Teams that are thriving at present in the Premier League, of a similar stature to Rovers, like Swansea, Southampton, Leicester, Palace and Watford, have all been in dire straits in recent years, far worse than we are now, yet have overcome that to get up and then not looked back since. 5 years ago Palace were on the brink of liquidation. Then with local owners and similar gates to ours they got promoted and haven't looked back. Soton, Leicester, Bournemouth have all been in administration in the last 10 years or so, yet have overcome that.

I don't accept that the more time that goes by the more difficult it becomes to get promoted. A quick look at the current top six includes Middlesbrough, Derby, Ipswich and Brighton. None of those have had recent Premier League experience or finance from that to help them. Ipswich have been in this league for 13 years, Middlesbrough and Derby have been down longer than we have and have only recently started on an upward trajectory primarily due to spending more than others due to their wealthy owners, not Premier League money or legacy. Brighton were in League One recently and have never tasted the Premier League. Last season Watford and Bournemouth went up automatically. Neither of them big clubs with Premier League cash behind them.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Villa when they come down. They will be a 'big' club for this level but that reputation will mean nothing if they don't sort themselves out. When Newcastle came down they retained a good core of British players who understood the Championship like Barton and Nolan, and got lucky with unearthing Chris Hughton, and it took them straight back up. It might not be so easy for Villa with that squad.

As long as there remain 3 promotion and relegation places we will always have a chance.

[Mattyblue]

Evidence suggests that the opposite is happening in this case. Recently the relegated clubs are struggling even with large parachute payments. I'm actually encouraged, if we can get up it shows what can be achieved by small town clubs.

Yes, that has been the case in recent years.

However, people seem to underestimating just how vast the new TV deal will be.

There will still be terribly managed clubs in the future that get relegated, however clubs are also becoming cannier. What did the Dingles spend, what do Norwich spend? Bournemouth, Swansea? The days of clubs getting into enormous debt just to stay afloat are coming to an end. They keep their powder relatively dry, soak up the riches, still buy an odd player for 6/7 million, if they go down, they shrug it off and use their additional financial muscle to have another go.

If we can get up, tremendous, show us the money! However, getting up is to become harder.

[had.e.nuff]

Strange appointment at QPR

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35234938

[ffan]

1 win in 12 for us lot. Morale is depleted. Since Shahid Khan has taken over we have lost something like 50% of all games. Depressing.

I laugh at Villa fans who think relegation is a blessing in disguise. If your club is a mess and you don't have committed owners then you are goosed my friend.

[chaddyrovers]

1 win in 12 for us lot. Morale is depleted. Since Shahid Khan has taken over we have lost something like 50% of all games. Depressing.

I laugh at Villa fans who think relegation is a blessing in disguise. If your club is a mess and you don't have committed owners then you are goosed my friend.

What do you think of Jokanovic as your manager? Good Appointment?

[McClarky]

We've got 4 games in a row now against sides who are in terrible form, 3 of them at home. Surely this is the time to put some results together and get away from the bottom of the league. if we don't do it over these 4 games I'm afraid it's going to be tin hats time for the rest of the season as we play all the top teams after that and I doubt we'll get many points from those games. No excuses, we've had few injuries and have played less than everyone else recently.

[whatdial]

1 win in 12 for us lot. Morale is depleted. Since Shahid Khan has taken over we have lost something like 50% of all games. Depressing.

I laugh at Villa fans who think relegation is a blessing in disguise. If your club is a mess and you don't have committed owners then you are goosed my friend.

I just wish the owls could play Fulham every week! Wonder goals a plenty.

Cairney played well yesterday, he needs a run in the team doesn't he?

[LewisF]

Indeed. Although it's inevitable that JFH's first win will come on Tuesday

[Iceman]

I agree. The likes of ourselves, Fulham and Bolton are prime examples of clubs that have spent a long time in the Premier League, been relegated and struggled to get back. All that experience and money in the top flight, over 30 years between the three of us, hasn't really done us any good. Bolton are broke and on their way down, ourselves and Fulham currently not much better off in the table. Infact, the minority of those who come down go immediately back up. This season Hull and Burnley have a chance, but its unlikely both will succeed, quite possibly neither will. QPR are miles off the promotion pace despite massive spending in comparison to the likes of Birmingham, Ipswich and Brentford who are all above them.

Teams that are thriving at present in the Premier League, of a similar stature to Rovers, like Swansea, Southampton, Leicester, Palace and Watford, have all been in dire straits in recent years, far worse than we are now, yet have overcome that to get up and then not looked back since. 5 years ago Palace were on the brink of liquidation. Then with local owners and similar gates to ours they got promoted and haven't looked back. Soton, Leicester, Bournemouth have all been in administration in the last 10 years or so, yet have overcome that.

I don't accept that the more time that goes by the more difficult it becomes to get promoted. A quick look at the current top six includes Middlesbrough, Derby, Ipswich and Brighton. None of those have had recent Premier League experience or finance from that to help them. Ipswich have been in this league for 13 years, Middlesbrough and Derby have been down longer than we have and have only recently started on an upward trajectory primarily due to spending more than others due to their wealthy owners, not Premier League money or legacy. Brighton were in League One recently and have never tasted the Premier League. Last season Watford and Bournemouth went up automatically. Neither of them big clubs with Premier League cash behind them.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Villa when they come down. They will be a 'big' club for this level but that reputation will mean nothing if they don't sort themselves out. When Newcastle came down they retained a good core of British players who understood the Championship like Barton and Nolan, and got lucky with unearthing Chris Hughton, and it took them straight back up. It might not be so easy for Villa with that squad.

As long as there remain 3 promotion and relegation places we will always have a chance.

Don't forget about Wigan

We've got 4 games in a row now against sides who are in terrible form, 3 of them at home. Surely this is the time to put some results together and get away from the bottom of the league. if we don't do it over these 4 games I'm afraid it's going to be tin hats time for the rest of the season as we play all the top teams after that and I doubt we'll get many points from those games. No excuses, we've had few injuries and have played less than everyone else recently.

It's the clubs that are struggling which is the problem. Rather play clubs at the top, than those struggling for form. It's as if we feel sorry for them, and say here, take a win

[G Somerset Rover]

Absolutely Lewis. No win in 8 isn't it for JFH? Roll on Blackburn Rovers then.

[McClarky]

Our record against top 6 teams over the last couple of years has been shocking. Not sure why anyone would rather play them when we lose just about every time.

[tomphil]

Well Huddersfield seem to be shaping up under their new guy, can't say their squad is better than ours apart from in that key area up front. They have several who can notch at this level.

[Neal]

Tell you what, Hudersfield are looking decent under their new manager, playing some great stuff.

[Husky]

http://www.bbc.com/s...otball/35300704

I heard if they lose to The Mighty Rovers on 23rd they're gonna pay for all the fans season tickets next season.

[JHRover]

Sounds like Steve Cotterill might have been sacked at Bristol City.

Could go either way for them. Either continue as they are and they'll be back in League One or if they throw some money at it might get a few decent players in to keep them up.

Either way we have to finish above them or we are in trouble.

[chaddyrovers]

Jose Riga been appointed as Charlton head coach

Sounds like Steve Cotterill might have been sacked at Bristol City.

Could go either way for them. Either continue as they are and they'll be back in League One or if they throw some money at it might get a few decent players in to keep them up.

Either way we have to finish above them or we are in trouble.

Very surprised that he has been sacked.

He has done a very good job there

who next there?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Jose Riga been appointed as Charlton head coach

Very surprised that he has been sacked.

He has done a very good job there

who next there?

Bowyer ?

[JHRover]

I'd like Bowyer to get that job. Think he would do a good job there at a club of that size with limited ambitions other than to stay in the Championship.

Possibly Redknapp or Warnock until the end of the season as both live fairly nearby.

Otherwise someone like Steve Clarke or Malky Mackay might be high on their list.

[yoda]

I'd like Bowyer to get that job. Think he would do a good job there at a club of that size with limited ambitions other than to stay in the Championship.

Possibly Redknapp or Warnock until the end of the season as both live fairly nearby.

Otherwise someone like Steve Clarke or Malky Mackay might be high on their list.

Their chairman has said on the BBC that they want PL football