Championship 2018-19

[DE.]

It is indeed 61 years. Ipswich have been in the Championship for the last 17 seasons so it'll be strange for them not to be there next year, and personally disappointing for me as with Norwich likely going up and Ipswich going down that's two easy-travel away days I won't be able to attend next season. 

Difficult for me to have any sympathy with the Ipswich fans as they had no understanding of the position they were in whilst McCarthy was at the helm. He was doing a remarkable job there and played the only football he could to keep their heads above water. A lot of people outside of Ipswich foresaw a very difficult season for them this season, but I don't think many believed it would be this bad. Just shows how the wrong managerial appointment can very quickly torpedo a season beyond all repair. Even Coyle didn't do to us what Hurst did to Ipswich, although both awful appointments contributed hugely to relegation. 

Honestly I thought Lambert would do slightly better at Ipswich than he has. No real improvement on Hurst, in fact I think his record might be worse, so even though he came into an incredibly difficult job I don't think he's covered himself in any glory. Most of the fans are still with him primarily because he isn't Paul Hurst and he's a master of PR. He knows the right things to say to get the fans on his side, but the proof is in the pudding and he hasn't come close to doing enough to give them a fighting chance of staying up. 

I've seen Ipswich fans compare themselves to us, but for me those comparisons are wide of the mark. We went down on a very high number of points and also had a number of players who were far too good for League 1. We kept all of them and we saw that even when performances weren't there, the quality of our team was usually enough to get the results needed. I don't see that same quality at Ipswich, nor do I see Evans releasing the money to bring in a Bradley Dack to act as the talisman that is needed for promotion campaigns. Ipswich have gone down after a miserable season and unlike us there won't be the belief that they should still be in the Championship. They know they deserved to go down, changing manager didn't help, and that's a tough position to be in. The infrastructure is there for the club to come back up, but they'll need to start next season well. If they start similar to how we did then I'm not sure they'll have the belief to turn it around.

[bazza]

Ipswich were a nothing club until Alf Ramsay became their manager. He took them to greatness. Bobby Robson did the same for them.  I quite like the tractor boys. 

But, every dog has its day; as we well know down here at Ewood. Nothing lasts.

[47er]

6 hours ago, Waggy76 said:

Norwich to win tomorrow and plunge Wigan into real trouble !!

Fingers crossed! What comes around goes around!

Another great point at Stoke for Rotherham after going 2-0 down.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

11 hours ago, 47er said:

Fingers crossed! What comes around goes around!

Another great point at Stoke for Rotherham after going 2-0 down.

Yeah, Rotherham have been there and done it before. That always helps in a crisis. I'm just glad we weren't in a relegation battle with them.

[Waggy76]

Just turned TV on and Wigan have  bloody  scored !!

[Bigdoggsteel]

Norwich are the masters of late goals. I see a 1-2 turnaround here 

[Waggy76]

Can't see it but it is a funny old game !

Norwich shocking up to now !

[47er]

Jordan Rhodes on! Desperate times and all that!

[Bigdoggsteel]

They will get one and Wigan will collapse. Have faith lads. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Although it is the Wigan of last season. Physical and fighting for everything 

[Waggy76]

I know nothing !

[Bigdoggsteel]

Imagine we were in Wigan position now. 

They are relying on Rotherham not winning. I think Wigan have Leeds next as well. 

 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Shocking offside call against Wigan there lol 

[Waggy76]

Very lucky Norwich..

[Bigdoggsteel]

They were, but they had a great chance at the end. 

Wigan still in big trouble 

[blueboy3333]

Alex Neil has signed a new 3 year deal with PNE. 

[JHRover]

Think Wigan will be ok. Their home form is decent and they don't lose often so they should scrape the win that will probably do it. Rotherham's fixture list is tough. Wigan have PNE and Millwall at home to come, i expect they'll win one of those.

[Mattyblue]

Done a cracking PR job has Lambert...

 

It's been a difficult season, nobody can deny that," said supporters' club chairman Mark Ramsay.

"But the fans are optimistic. We're looking to the future and moving forward, not backwards.

"The football's been far better this season, far more attractive to watch.

"We like Paul Lambert, he likes us and we want him to become the modern-day Bobby Robson and move forward with a young squad coming out of the academy."

[JacknOry]

They keep harping on about 'the football'

The footballs better but we're now going down as the worst team in the division. We lose most games but the footballs better. 

Deluded lot - MM got the maximum that he could out of a poor team. No chance they'd have been relegated this season with him at the helm.

[JHRover]

Lambert is coming out with all the same sort of stuff that he was doing here.

This is a great club. Fantastic.

The supporters have been great.

This summer will be a big rebuild.

Too many mistakes have been made before I arrived.

Supporters love to hear it and he knows it. O'Neill is coming out with all the same stuff at Forest only expectations there are higher and the fans harder to please. it will only wash for so long. Lambert is getting away with it because blame for their demise is heaped on Evans, McCarthy and Hurst rather than Lambert. They all expect him to come good. He'll get some stick if they're struggling in League One next season.

Lambert's at a crossroads now. Having gone down with Stoke and Ipswich in consecutive seasons and only been in each of his last four jobs for about 6 months, he simply has to do a good job somewhere.

Don't know whether his ego will be able to take being in League One but that's probably as good as it will get.

[Don Said]

Pointless fact of the day:

With the current points total & the remaining fixtures other teams have, Rovers are the only team in the Championship that can't get either relegated or promoted.

 

[JHRover]

Just now, Don Said said:

Pointless fact of the day:

With the current points total & the remaining fixtures other teams have, Rovers are the only team in the Championship that can't get either relegated or promoted.

 

Us and Grimsby are the only clubs in the leagues who are guaranteed to still be in the same league next year.

 

[Mattyblue]

A lot of evenly matched sides in the Football League, in contrast to the top flight. 

[Vinjay]

On 12/04/2019 at 13:01, JHRover said:

That really hurts.

Wouldn't surprise me if the WFIT turned down several good offers out of spite. FUP would have ruined it for time being anyway or at least limited impact. 

[K-Hod]

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jack-grealish-attacker-says-prison-14338159 

The absolute state of this turbo cretin.