What would the world be like if.....

[BWFC_Insane]

We'd surely have run away with the league with no problem at all?

After all, it was the squad Coyle 'always wanted'.

[Bijou Bob]

Had he buried that header, the only thing that would have changed is that the scum fans in my office would not have walked in with bowed heads and sat silently all day sulking. For me, that was worth being relegated for.

[bobo the clown]

Had he buried that header, the only thing that would have changed is that the scum fans in my office would not have walked in with bowed heads and sat silently all day sulking. For me, that was worth being relegated for.

I know you don't mean it BB, but read that again .... the Red Shite not winning the title " For me, that was worth being relegated for".

[Gail Platz]

Zaha would be leading our charge for another season in Europe

Zaha and Rivaldo on either wing supplying service to Carsten Jancker with Ferrie Bodde and Veloso bossing the midfield

[Bijou Bob]

Had he buried that header, the only thing that would have changed is that the scum fans in my office would not have walked in with bowed heads and sat silently all day sulking. For me, that was worth being relegated for.

I know you don't mean it BB, but read that again .... the Red Shite not winning the title " For me, that was worth being relegated for".

I meant every word Bobo. I'm loving the football this season for the first time in years. Relegation was no big thing for me whilst watching the Bandwaggon Jumpers cry pitifully into their tea every morning for a week or so was priceless.

[BWFC_Insane]

If Ream had scored at Stoke Man Utd would have won the title?

It's a pretty big jump is that.

And it amazes me how anyone would rather us be relegated than that happen. The damage it has done to the club is massive and could, end up being fatal.

We are further away from the prospect of "glory" than we have been for a long time. I'm not sure that should ever be a good thing. Just my humble opinion.

[thebish]

If Ream had scored at Stoke Man Utd would have won the title?

It's a pretty big jump is that.

And it amazes me how anyone would rather us be relegated than that happen. The damage it has done to the club is massive and could, end up being fatal.

We are further away from the prospect of "glory" than we have been for a long time. I'm not sure that should ever be a good thing. Just my humble opinion.

what "glory" specifically are we further away from than last season?

[BWFC_Insane]

If Ream had scored at Stoke Man Utd would have won the title?

It's a pretty big jump is that.

And it amazes me how anyone would rather us be relegated than that happen. The damage it has done to the club is massive and could, end up being fatal.

We are further away from the prospect of "glory" than we have been for a long time. I'm not sure that should ever be a good thing. Just my humble opinion.

what "glory" specifically are we further away from than last season?

Winning a major trophy, qualifying for Europe? Whilst we may have been in terms of the current squad ability, exactly as far from those thing IN the premiership as we are now, whilst in the premiership, the money always give you a chance to buy well and get nearer to achieving those. Might not be a massive chance, but it's bigger than we have now.

And even staying in the premiership.....I'm not sure I've been so happy ever, as when we beat Boro on the final day to stay up and send West Ham down. It was like a huge 6 month rollercoaster from staying off the very bottom of the table at Christmas to survival in May. Sure it was "scrapping to stay up" but it felt pretty glorious on that day in May!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

what "glory" specifically are we further away from than last season?

The Dubai Open Table Tennis Cup.

[Enoch]

It could be argued that we're closer to glory than we've been for some time. There is a realistic chance of us winning something in the next couple of years,

I doubt we ever had a chance in Dubai, the training camp was all snooker and head tennis!

[thebish]

If Ream had scored at Stoke Man Utd would have won the title?

It's a pretty big jump is that.

And it amazes me how anyone would rather us be relegated than that happen. The damage it has done to the club is massive and could, end up being fatal.

We are further away from the prospect of "glory" than we have been for a long time. I'm not sure that should ever be a good thing. Just my humble opinion.

what "glory" specifically are we further away from than last season?

Winning a major trophy, qualifying for Europe? Whilst we may have been in terms of the current squad ability, exactly as far from those thing IN the premiership as we are now, whilst in the premiership, the money always give you a chance to buy well and get nearer to achieving those. Might not be a massive chance, but it's bigger than we have now.

And even staying in the premiership.....I'm not sure I've been so happy ever, as when we beat Boro on the final day to stay up and send West Ham down. It was like a huge 6 month rollercoaster from staying off the very bottom of the table at Christmas to survival in May. Sure it was "scrapping to stay up" but it felt pretty glorious on that day in May!

i am very surprised to find you suggesting that we were closer to glory under Coyle in the premiership than we are now under freedman - even if in a different division!!

given that last season - the chances of us qualifying for Europe were (effectively) ZERO - we are no further away from that now

and - surely we are not less likely to win a cup under Freedman in the championship than we were under Coyle in the Prem?

[CAPSLOCK]

Seeing as you like your little games

Seeing as there are approx 7 European places available at the beginning of the season, but most of them are only open to the top league, our chances of 'glory' are reduced from last season

Last season there was always a hope Coyle would be fcuked off just in time to save us

[thebish]

if you think we were in with any chance of European qualification last season - then I congratulate you for your perky optimism! well done!

[BWFC_Insane]

If Ream had scored at Stoke Man Utd would have won the title?

It's a pretty big jump is that.

And it amazes me how anyone would rather us be relegated than that happen. The damage it has done to the club is massive and could, end up being fatal.

We are further away from the prospect of "glory" than we have been for a long time. I'm not sure that should ever be a good thing. Just my humble opinion.

what "glory" specifically are we further away from than last season?

Winning a major trophy, qualifying for Europe? Whilst we may have been in terms of the current squad ability, exactly as far from those thing IN the premiership as we are now, whilst in the premiership, the money always give you a chance to buy well and get nearer to achieving those. Might not be a massive chance, but it's bigger than we have now.

And even staying in the premiership.....I'm not sure I've been so happy ever, as when we beat Boro on the final day to stay up and send West Ham down. It was like a huge 6 month rollercoaster from staying off the very bottom of the table at Christmas to survival in May. Sure it was "scrapping to stay up" but it felt pretty glorious on that day in May!

i am very surprised to find you suggesting that we were closer to glory under Coyle in the premiership than we are now under freedman - even if in a different division!!

given that last season - the chances of us qualifying for Europe were (effectively) ZERO - we are no further away from that now

and - surely we are not less likely to win a cup under Freedman in the championship than we were under Coyle in the Prem?

I wasn't talking about managers. We could get really hypothetical, but ultimately we'd have a better chance of a better team with the millions of pounds extra income from the premiership than we do now.

And as I said in the premiership the money always give you a chance of attracting at some point the right manager and players (look at Swansea for example) to achieve something. It's much much harder from where we are now.

[thebish]

I wasn't talking about managers. We could get really hypothetical, but ultimately we'd have a better chance of a better team with the millions of pounds extra income from the premiership than we do now.

And as I said in the premiership the money always give you a chance of attracting at some point the right manager and players (look at Swansea for example) to achieve something. It's much much harder from where we are now.

I don't think we're really in disagreement... personally - other than on a purely theoretical basis - I don't feel ANY nearer glory now than last season, and had we stayed up, (presumably with Coyle at the helm for a significant number of games) I can't imagine I would have felt any closer to glory then either!

Personally i think we have attracted a decent manager in Dougie - too early to be adamant about that - but I've seen enough to give me some quite confidence that some kind of real rebuilding might actually happen. Would we have attracted someone better than dougie had we stayed up and been struggling at the bottom of the Premiership? I'm not so sure - and I think we have had this discussion before about what is more attractive to an ambitious manager - a prem-relegation candidate (which we'd surely have had to have been for Coyle to be sacked if we had stayed up), or a Championship team with at least some capacity to challenge for promotion.. often it's not even down to rational comparisons - it' who happens to be out of a job and where they want to work (north? south?)

bottom line though - as far as I feel - I don't feel further away from glory now than last season nor from an imagined season in a world where we had stayed up! I do feel, though, that glory is at least possible under Dougie in some guise or another, some time in the future - which is reason enough, for me, to be quietly optimistic.

[BWFC_Insane]

I wasn't talking about managers. We could get really hypothetical, but ultimately we'd have a better chance of a better team with the millions of pounds extra income from the premiership than we do now.

And as I said in the premiership the money always give you a chance of attracting at some point the right manager and players (look at Swansea for example) to achieve something. It's much much harder from where we are now.

I don't think we're really in disagreement... personally - other than on a purely theoretical basis - I don't feel ANY nearer glory now than last season, and had we stayed up, (presumably with Coyle at the helm for a significant number of games) I can't imagine I would have felt any closer to glory then either!

Personally i think we have attracted a decent manager in Dougie - too early to be adamant about that - but I've seen enough to give me some quite confidence that some kind of real rebuilding might actually happen. Would we have attracted someone better than dougie had we stayed up and been struggling at the bottom of the Premiership? I'm not so sure - and I think we have had this discussion before about what is more attractive to an ambitious manager - a prem-relegation candidate (which we'd surely have had to have been for Coyle to be sacked if we had stayed up), or a Championship team with at least some capacity to challenge for promotion.. often it's not even down to rational comparisons - it' who happens to be out of a job and where they want to work (north? south?)

bottom line though - as far as I feel - I don't feel further away from glory now than last season nor from an imagined season in a world where we had stayed up! I do feel, though, that glory is at least possible under Dougie in some guise or another, some time in the future - which is reason enough, for me, to be quietly optimistic.

Well we're bound to fecking lose tonight now.

Cheers for that.

[thebish]

Well we're bound to fecking lose tonight now.

Cheers for that.

we were bound to anyway!! you know as well as I do that there is no chance at all of us winning tonight or of Sordell and Ngog both scoring to add to a Dawson hat-trick...

(also - I am quietly optimistic for the vague and distant unquantifiable long-term - never the immediate/imminent short-term!!)

[bobo the clown]

Well we're bound to fecking lose tonight now.

Cheers for that.

we were bound to anyway!! you know as well as I do that there is no chance at all of us winning tonight or of Sordell and Ngog both scoring to add to a Dawson hat-trick...

(also - I am quietly optimistic for the vague and distant unquantifiable long-term - never the immediate/imminent short-term!!)

Domed. By the man who invented the Dome.

You should be forced from office.

[a1]

And it amazes me how anyone would rather us be relegated than that happen. The damage it has done to the club is massive and could, end up being fatal.

maybe, but consider that coyle wouldve stayed longer if we had, he seemed to have , erm- carte blanche to do what he wanted anyway from signing crap , pingpong, giving frees to the most expensively signed players , etc..

..so, it's kinda frightening to think what he wouldve got away with had bin here longer, i think in some way if we'dve stayed up last year we'dve gone down two seasons in a row after our premier league 2012/13 season. due to the leeway he'd be given and his mentalness.

he'd be buying up more ? burnley reserves for our first team. and employing even more of his family tree as "washing packet purchasers" or summat.

[officer_dibble]

The dissapearence of fat kit man says a lot!