Shut the Gate, our horse has bolted - Bristol C (A) 19/03/16

[BWFC_Insane]

Also relegated teams from the premiership would almost always shit out on that logic as mostly they will have few players who made a difference to their team that last season.

I wouldn't quite go that far, but the list of teams who have struggled to get back into the premier league is somewhat longer than those who have "successfully" rebounded within a season or two. I'm at work so won't be digging up stats but off the top of my head QPR, Wolves, Leeds, Blackburn, Cardiff, Birmingham, Reading, Fulham have all struggled to re-establish themselves following relegation. And there's those who outright imploded in Bradford, Coventry and Portsmouth. Your Norwichs, Southamptons and West Hams are more the exception. So I'd say that a "premier league" level side isn't necessarily cut out for the Championship, which is why you get the old belief that it's a very tough league to get out of. Also as a slight tangent, is it just me or are there far fewer "yo-yo" sides than there used to be in the 90s and early 00s?

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I think it is especially hard financially if you've been well established in the premiership to come down. You have to shed your wages but often lose the players you'd rather keep.

Also there is the mental scarring from relegation. Burnley I guess are the archetypal yo-yo side now. Used to be West Brom. They both have in common that they didn't overstretch in the premiership and almost tried to continually build a stronger side for the next championship season for a while.

The championship is tough right now because as well as being very physically and mentally challenging week on week (there aren't many easy games, unless you're playing BWFC...) there is a gulf in spending power being established. I suppose the difference to the premiership is that the big spenders there tend to keep spending whereas, what will Middlesbrough do if they don't go up? Splash yet more cash?

Based on nowt particularly concrete, for some reason, I still think with decent management, the squad we had at the start of this season shouldn't be in a "cut adrift" position. The signings we did make in summer were generally fcking awful. I have some sympathy with Lennon - I'm not at all convinced any fcker on the board clearly identified his overall spending/transfer budget so he's gone out and got squad fillers and every "big" signing got stretched to deadline day, then knocked back, leaving just the squad fillers in all but a couple of cases (like Amos). Those signing who weren't squad fillers ain't set the world alight though.

That said our wage bill currently, which is allegedly near £10m (ish) is one of the smallest in the division - bottom quarter - and it's clear it's weighted in all the wrong places.

I agree. Mismanagement at a few levels leads us where we are. But I still think we are better than the position we're in. Relegation fight yes, but bottom and gone with games remaining, I think we could have done far better.

[Worthy4England]

Quite like Pratley's quote...

“What happened at Bristol City can never happen again. There are ways of getting beat and that was unacceptable

Right on, Dazza - what we need here are acceptable ways of getting beat...Made me giggle anyhow...

[Jugs]

Pratley's attempts at not using relying cliches for the first time in his life failed dramatically, then.

[officer_dibble]

Pratley is a born loser. Him as captain sums it up for me.

[Prufrock]

Quite like Pratley's quote...

“What happened at Bristol City can never happen again. There are ways of getting beat and that was unacceptable

Right on, Dazza - what we need here are acceptable ways of getting beat...Made me giggle anyhow...

this club has a proud tradition of getting beaten in the right way.

On where we should be, to argue the players we have are better than cut adrift at the bottom is not to say we should be winning the thing. But, as examples, Rob Hall and Jermaine Beckford, two players who rightly couldn't get in our side, are star players for teams miles ahead of us.

It's rare that teams with a proper goalscorer go down, yet we wasted all our money on a bang average goalkeeper, full backs he never played, Heskey, Dobbie and Gary f*cking Nadine. If Nadine was even competent we'd still be in touch, the number of absolute sitters the useless bastard has missed.

[irie Cee Bee]

We got relegated from the Premier League because our players were not at a standard good enough for that league...Ngog etc. We then sold the better of those players eg. LCY... We will be relegated from the Championship because our players are not good enough for this League collectively.

Individually the likes of MDavies, Wheater, Amos, Spearing may be good enough to play in a Championship Team with very good individual players around them. However, they themselves are not good enough to be "stars" on those teams but more support players.

We are asking them to be "stars" on our team which says a lot about our team because they are not THAT good nor leaders. They are average Championship players.

Every team need star players to "scare" the other teams and the only player we currently have who can fit that bill is Clough, but he is still a baby to football at this moment and cannot yet take on the role to lead this team. Nothing wrong with looking to the youth, but as a strategy, the youths need experienced players with leadership qualities to play with next season else we will go down again.

[BWFC_Insane]

We got relegated from the Premier League because our players were not at a standard good enough for that league...Ngog etc. We then sold the better of those players eg. LCY... We will be relegated from the Championship because our players are not good enough for this League collectively.

Individually the likes of MDavies, Wheater, Amos, Spearing may be good enough to play in a Championship Team with very good individual players around them. However, they themselves are not good enough to be "stars" on those teams but more support players.

We are asking them to be "stars" on our team which says a lot about our team because they are not THAT good nor leaders. They are average Championship players.

Every team need star players to "scare" the other teams and the only player we currently have who can fit that bill is Clough, but he is still a baby to football at this moment and cannot yet take on the role to lead this team. Nothing wrong with looking to the youth, but as a strategy, the youths need experienced players with leadership qualities to play with next season else we will go down again.

Who are Preston or Rotherham or MK Dons stars?

[thebish]

Quite like Pratley's quote...

“What happened at Bristol City can never happen again. There are ways of getting beat and that was unacceptable

Right on, Dazza - what we need here are acceptable ways of getting beat...Made me giggle anyhow...

no, what he meant was that his use of the phrase "ways of getting beat" was unacceptable - and he was right! beaten arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

[irie Cee Bee]

We got relegated from the Premier League because our players were not at a standard good enough for that league...Ngog etc. We then sold the better of those players eg. LCY... We will be relegated from the Championship because our players are not good enough for this League collectively.

Individually the likes of MDavies, Wheater, Amos, Spearing may be good enough to play in a Championship Team with very good individual players around them. However, they themselves are not good enough to be "stars" on those teams but more support players.

We are asking them to be "stars" on our team which says a lot about our team because they are not THAT good nor leaders. They are average Championship players.

Every team need star players to "scare" the other teams and the only player we currently have who can fit that bill is Clough, but he is still a baby to football at this moment and cannot yet take on the role to lead this team. Nothing wrong with looking to the youth, but as a strategy, the youths need experienced players with leadership qualities to play with next season else we will go down again.

Who are Preston or Rotherham or MK Dons stars?

They have none, and that's why I suggest they are nearer the bottom than the top.

[Tombwfc]

Quite like Pratley's quote...

“What happened at Bristol City can never happen again. There are ways of getting beat and that was unacceptable

Right on, Dazza - what we need here are acceptable ways of getting beat...Made me giggle anyhow...

this club has a proud tradition of getting beaten in the right way.

On where we should be, to argue the players we have are better than cut adrift at the bottom is not to say we should be winning the thing. But, as examples, Rob Hall and Jermaine Beckford, two players who rightly couldn't get in our side, are star players for teams miles ahead of us.

It's rare that teams with a proper goalscorer go down, yet we wasted all our money on a bang average goalkeeper, full backs he never played, Heskey, Dobbie and Gary f*cking Nadine. If Nadine was even competent we'd still be in touch, the number of absolute sitters the useless bastard has missed.

I think calling them star players might be stretching things a little, even compared to our shit. Rob Hall has started 18 of 38 for MK Dons this season, with two goals and one assist. Beckford played two games at the start of the season (no goals), did his knee in September and I don't think he's been seen since.

[bobo the clown]

^^ Compared with his performances for us that made him a fckg superstar.

There's a great deal wrong with us but I'd still hold that we should have been clear of the bottom 3. The full-back mystery is up there with Coyle's £4m purchase of a striker he never played or Freedman's mysterious inclusion of Hall & complete formation change v Blackpool.

But Madine ... Pru's correct. Even moderate competence would have had us another 10 points+.

.... & Lennon. Well, maybe the club moved the goalposts. Maybe dealt a poor hand but there's no explaining how poorly he played what he was dealt.

[TANGODANCER]

I'd really love to see just one or two ( okay, make that three or four) players prepared to run at defences with intent rather than "how many passes is that sideways and backward's we've put together. Is it a record?"