Would not getting promotion be a bad thing?

[Tals-biggest-fan]

Let me start off by saying I would love to see us get promoted.

But the point of my post is that today was a prime example of how far we are from being the team we would need to compete in the premiership, i think if we went up this season we'd struggle and be fighting relegation again, I think staying in the championship isn't the worst outcome for us it gives Dougie an entire season to work with the team, bring in his own team during the summer and really gives us a chance to push on and show some sort of class next season, I know we'd suffer with the money side and the lack of tv exposure but isn't that what we were dealing with in premiership aswell.

[BWFC_Insane]

Yes it would be a bad thing. It's going to be a bad thing.

Not much we can do about it though.

We've needed a rebuild for a while now. Should have done it in the premiership when we had the money but we kept bottling it.

Then Coyle further hamstrung us by keeping KD, Knight, Ricketts Petrov etc on relegation.

Next season is going to be absolutely massive. If we don't go up we are in trouble. Big big trouble.

[gizmothevoomer]

Getting into the Premiership next year will be a much bigger ask, when you look at the teams likely to come down and the Budgets they will have available Reading and QPR owners have already said they are committed to supporting the clubs if relegated as is increasingly likely.

I would expect two of the clubs coming down to be very competitive and hit the ground running next weekend, we already know how competitive and close this league is. Realistically if we don't go up this year I see us being in this league for 4 or 5 years, although competitive in the league on the fringes of play offs and maybe making them.

Even if promoted I suspect we won't see the likes of Djorkieff, Campo, Hierro or Jay Jay at the Reebok next year, I am thinking I would rather be competitive in all gamesthe championship than a relegation dogfight in the premiership with some real drubbings along the way.

[SmokinFrazier]

Yes, it's a bad thing. Who wants to be in a league with such little exposure, smaller gates, playing against lesser opposition, nowhere near the TV money and without the chance to sign decent players?

I'd rather be a poor team in an excellent league than be a good side in a poor league. It's better for the side to be up there, even if you get relegated the next year.

Saying you'd rather be in this league is incredibly defeatist. Not only that, but how many Premier League sides get relegated and go up after the second year? There's a worrying tendency for sides to go down, miss out on promotion and then fall into mediocrity the next year.

We need to be up there for many reasons and every fan should have the ambition to be back up there as soon as possible.

[TKIZ!]

Yes, it's a bad thing. Who wants to be in a league with such little exposure, smaller gates, playing against lesser opposition, nowhere near the TV money and without the chance to sign decent players?

I'd rather be a poor team in an excellent league than be a good side in a poor league. It's better for the side to be up there, even if you get relegated the next year.

Saying you'd rather be in this league is incredibly defeatist. Not only that, but how many Premier League sides get relegated and go up after the second year? There's a worrying tendency for sides to go down, miss out on promotion and then fall into mediocrity the next year.

We need to be up there for many reasons and every fan should have the ambition to be back up there as soon as possible.

Oh dear

[gizmothevoomer]

Yes, it's a bad thing. Who wants to be in a league with such little exposure, smaller gates, playing against lesser opposition, nowhere near the TV money and without the chance to sign decent players?

I'd rather be a poor team in an excellent league than be a good side in a poor league. It's better for the side to be up there, even if you get relegated the next year.

Saying you'd rather be in this league is incredibly defeatist. Not only that, but how many Premier League sides get relegated and go up after the second year? There's a worrying tendency for sides to go down, miss out on promotion and then fall into mediocrity the next year.

We need to be up there for many reasons and every fan should have the ambition to be back up there as soon as possible.

The potential problem is this league has shown we have a lot of players who are struggling in this league, and if we were to win promotion. To even have a remote chance of staying in the Premiership we would need massive investment, whilst I know there is a huge hike in TV money next year, players will want more money than ever, clubs will want more money for transfers so anyone we sign will cost more.

I do want Bolton to be in the highest league but I also want a Bolton to be around in fifty years to support, I don't want us to be a Portsmouth, a Coventry, a Bradford or an Oldham all who have played premier League. Leeds nearly went bankrupt, Chelsea were a week from Bankruptcy before Roman came in.

Summing up I want Bolton to play the highest sustainable level we can.

[SmokinFrazier]

Yes, it's a bad thing. Who wants to be in a league with such little exposure, smaller gates, playing against lesser opposition, nowhere near the TV money and without the chance to sign decent players?

I'd rather be a poor team in an excellent league than be a good side in a poor league. It's better for the side to be up there, even if you get relegated the next year.

Saying you'd rather be in this league is incredibly defeatist. Not only that, but how many Premier League sides get relegated and go up after the second year? There's a worrying tendency for sides to go down, miss out on promotion and then fall into mediocrity the next year.

We need to be up there for many reasons and every fan should have the ambition to be back up there as soon as possible.

Oh dear

What?

[Prufrock]

Yes, it's a bad thing. Who wants to be in a league with such little exposure, smaller gates, playing against lesser opposition, nowhere near the TV money and without the chance to sign decent players?

I'd rather be a poor team in an excellent league than be a good side in a poor league. It's better for the side to be up there, even if you get relegated the next year.

Saying you'd rather be in this league is incredibly defeatist. Not only that, but how many Premier League sides get relegated and go up after the second year? There's a worrying tendency for sides to go down, miss out on promotion and then fall into mediocrity the next year.

We need to be up there for many reasons and every fan should have the ambition to be back up there as soon as possible.

Oh dear

I don't get it. (S)He's right.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Yes, it's a bad thing. Who wants to be in a league with such little exposure, smaller gates, playing against lesser opposition, nowhere near the TV money and without the chance to sign decent players?

I'd rather be a poor team in an excellent league than be a good side in a poor league. It's better for the side to be up there, even if you get relegated the next year.

Saying you'd rather be in this league is incredibly defeatist. Not only that, but how many Premier League sides get relegated and go up after the second year? There's a worrying tendency for sides to go down, miss out on promotion and then fall into mediocrity the next year.

We need to be up there for many reasons and every fan should have the ambition to be back up there as soon as possible.

Oh dear

I don't get it. (S)He's right.

The only ones from that list I could give a shit about are in bold. I don't give a shit about waving your dick around because you have bigger crowds and whether Guardian Football deign to write anything about us. Money would only be pissed away on more mediocrity. Of course you want to play against the best teams, but if that is your motivation then Sky Sports is perfect for you. As for the better players, we haven't seen many of those for quite some time, Premiership or not.

Fact is it gets more difficult to go up the longer we're down. Being on the Championship not a disaster. To be honest, if by some miracle we went up we'd be lucky to win a match. We need to rebuild and that is going to take a couple of seasons. If we go up great, but I aint arsed if we don't. In the long term going up this season could be just as damaging as some think staying down will.

[boltonboris]

The standard of football week in week out is absolutely dreadful. It's even worse than I thought it would be.

I'd love to get back up to the Prem

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

The standard of football week in week out is absolutely dreadful. It's even worse than I thought it would be.

I'd love to get back up to the Prem

I only have to read about it though

[thebish]

The standard of football week in week out is absolutely dreadful. It's even worse than I thought it would be.

I'd love to get back up to the Prem

so that you can watch other teams playing great football??

[boltonboris]

I'd rather see one good team than 2 shit teams.

[thebish]

I'd rather see one good team than 2 shit teams.

it'd be cheaper to get Sky if that's your bag!

[gizmothevoomer]

I don't think there is a lot of difference between the top of the Championship and the bottom of the Premiership. If there was then the relegated teams would invariably dominate the Championship the following year especially given the parachute payments.

Given the new TV deal next year, which will ensure the difference between the haves and the have nots in the Premier league becomes greater. I think we need to look at a way of restructuring the Premiership and Championship into three smaller leagues, there is no doubt the Championship suffers for the need to play two games a week for most of the season.

The Premiership needs to evolve if it is to remain the best league in Europe, at least 6 clubs at the start of the season have only the ambition to remain in the league and part of the gravy train.

Football in this country has a deep rooted sense of being the working peoples game, the core fan base of a dad and lad going on Saturday afternoon is gone. If football is to remain the peoples game it must change, to ensure clubs take all competitions seriously. Look how we treated the Europa league as secondary to Premiership survival. Surely watching your team in Europe should be the highlight not an inconvenience?

[Enoch]

An interesting subject to me this one.

At the risk of sounding one dimensional, what I've seen of us since October hasn't been a complete surprise and I do see progression. When we keep the ball on the ground I have liked what I've seen, at times we look like quite a good side. Where it goes sour is when it's hoofed about.

Given that the squad is still for the most part Coyle's and we haven't yet acquired a real attacking edge, I'm not too unhappy. With a summer window plus a full pre season looming, I remain optimistic (I'm always optimistic!).

As to next season, would I prefer to see Bolton being picked off week after week by Premiership opposition, or a strong Bolton, regularly dominating games against workmanlike Championship sides? Both options have their attractions and it's hard to argue against any opportunity to play in the top division. That however is unlikely to happen, so I'm looking forward to being the big fish in a small pond we were tipped to be this season.

[TANGODANCER]

I don't think there is a lot of difference between the top of the Championship and the bottom of the Premiership. If there was then the relegated teams would invariably dominate the Championship the following year especially given the parachute payments.

Given the new TV deal next year, which will ensure the difference between the haves and the have nots in the Premier league becomes greater. I think we need to look at a way of restructuring the Premiership and Championship into three smaller leagues, there is no doubt the Championship suffers for the need to play two games a week for most of the season.

The Premiership needs to evolve if it is to remain the best league in Europe, at least 6 clubs at the start of the season have only the ambition to remain in the league and part of the gravy train.

Football in this country has a deep rooted sense of being the working peoples game, the core fan base of a dad and lad going on Saturday afternoon is gone. If football is to remain the peoples game it must change, to ensure clubs take all competitions seriously. Look how we treated the Europa league as secondary to Premiership survival. Surely watching your team in Europe should be the highlight not an inconvenience?

Wake up lad, it's 2013 not 1953.

[gizmothevoomer]

I don't think there is a lot of difference between the top of the Championship and the bottom of the Premiership. If there was then the relegated teams would invariably dominate the Championship the following year especially given the parachute payments.

Given the new TV deal next year, which will ensure the difference between the haves and the have nots in the Premier league becomes greater. I think we need to look at a way of restructuring the Premiership and Championship into three smaller leagues, there is no doubt the Championship suffers for the need to play two games a week for most of the season.

The Premiership needs to evolve if it is to remain the best league in Europe, at least 6 clubs at the start of the season have only the ambition to remain in the league and part of the gravy train.

Football in this country has a deep rooted sense of being the working peoples game, the core fan base of a dad and lad going on Saturday afternoon is gone. If football is to remain the peoples game it must change, to ensure clubs take all competitions seriously. Look how we treated the Europa league as secondary to Premiership survival. Surely watching your team in Europe should be the highlight not an inconvenience?

Wake up lad, it's 2013 not 1953.

How many teams have gone into liquidation in the last five years? I can name three of the top of my head that have played in the premiership and a fourth no longer in existence as its heritage was ripped apart and moved 70 miles north. There will be more in the next few years and that needs to be addressed.

[TANGODANCER]

I don't think there is a lot of difference between the top of the Championship and the bottom of the Premiership. If there was then the relegated teams would invariably dominate the Championship the following year especially given the parachute payments.

Given the new TV deal next year, which will ensure the difference between the haves and the have nots in the Premier league becomes greater. I think we need to look at a way of restructuring the Premiership and Championship into three smaller leagues, there is no doubt the Championship suffers for the need to play two games a week for most of the season.

The Premiership needs to evolve if it is to remain the best league in Europe, at least 6 clubs at the start of the season have only the ambition to remain in the league and part of the gravy train.

Football in this country has a deep rooted sense of being the working peoples game, the core fan base of a dad and lad going on Saturday afternoon is gone. If football is to remain the peoples game it must change, to ensure clubs take all competitions seriously. Look how we treated the Europa league as secondary to Premiership survival. Surely watching your team in Europe should be the highlight not an inconvenience?

Wake up lad, it's 2013 not 1953.

How many teams have gone into liquidation in the last five years? I can name three of the top of my head that have played in the premiership and a fourth no longer in existence as its heritage was ripped apart and moved 70 miles north. There will be more in the next few years and that needs to be addressed.

My point was, there's what should be, and what is. Changing it ....how?

[Bruce Rioja]

How many teams have gone into liquidation in the last five years? I can name three of the top of my head that have played in the premiership and a fourth no longer in existence as its heritage was ripped apart and moved 70 miles north. There will be more in the next few years and that needs to be addressed.

So, let me get this right, we remove corporate funding and hand out discounted tickets to men and their offspring? Is that right?