The Fish
Winger
I mentioned 14 years because Ashley's reign has been 14 years. And the decline from that to where we find ourselves now is noteworthy.Logon or register to see this image
I should just ignore this but I just can't help myself so can't resist replying to this!
You finished bottom half 7 of 15 seasons with 2 separate spells of 4 seasons and 3 seasons at the top and then a single season. Instead of looking at the 'false' position of those years due to big spending in a blossoming Premier League money monster, why not look at the 14 years prior to Hall. You spent most of that in Division 2 but had 5 seasons in a row in Division 1, finishing 14th, 11th, 17th, 8th and 20th so just the 1 top half finish.
You mention Leicester but I reckon they will soon revert back in time as they simply won't have the finances to keep up. Look here at Leicester as they look similar to how you did in the late 2000's. They lost last night and if they get booted out of the Europa League then where will the money come from to substain it as they're not looking as good this season on the pitch.
https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threa...r-2021-edition.1557357/page-283#post-34624014
As for Brighton, come back end of season as I don't think they'll maintain that position but they weren't too bad last season. Leeds are having a bit of 2nd season syndrome but should settle. Non big 6 teams have spells anyway as they get players in that click and have a great season so this is why they go up and down the league season after season.
The problem is players move on or get older and the replacement players aren't as good or fit in as well. You had 2 decent spells and it wasn't continous as between it you spent 4 seasons lower half.
Yet some of you wonder why we call the Mags deluded. It's because you 'bought' that brief period of 2 good spells with big transfer fees and wages yet expect 'way' more than what you have now because of those spells. The days of teams spending willy nilly on big transfers/wages in the Premier League have long gone. The revenue wasn't coming in for Hall & Shepherd to maintain the level of spending but they pocketed well over £100m between them so they moved on and left Ashley to pick up the pieces.
I think Leicester are in a good place, with a decent manager, a good squad and good decision makers behind the scenes. They recruit well, on the whole and while they've started this season poorly they'll still end up top half. Because of the solid foundations I don't think they're going to falter as badly as we have, unless they change owner.
I don't think it's deluded to want more from the owners than 'ticking along'. There's no hope for more, no ambition beyond survival. There are endless mistakes and missteps off the pitch, which exacerbate the mistakes and missteps on it. The facilities have been neglected for over a decade, there's still a dead pigeon in the netting ffs. Newcastle United are the only top flight team for 100 miles and yet we're losing young lads to other academies. Might be wrong, but I think your academy is a higher grade than ours? Why, when you and Boro were out of the top flight didn't the owner spend a bit of money, make our academy the best in the region and hoover up any talented kid from the Humber to the borders?
For me, it's less about throwing tens of millions around on players and more about a bit of joined up thinking. We're a selling club? Fine, then lets bring players through a quality youth system and play them or sell them. We can only spend what we make? Fine, lets maximise our commercial revenue and sell stakes in the club to investors. It's not f***ing rocket science. You can't run a football club the same way as a high street tat store, it doesn't work like that.
All time top flight table has us 9th Premier League + 1. Division - All-time league table (you're 10th)I believe you stand 14th since the start of the League. And not 1992 when you think football was invented.
Premier League era has us 8th (you're 17th)
Div 1 has us 9th (you're 6th)
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