• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

The *WHEN* we go down thread

If I was still living in London I’d take a punt on not renewing and just buying a ticket to games I fancied going to. General sale tickets will be £20-£50 depending on where you sit. Go to 3/4 of the games and your better off.
For me it’s not just about next season, it’s more about the long term. It’s the fear of ending up at the back of the waiting list and potentially not getting a season ticket again for years. Conversely, if I were an OH+ member and offered one I’d snap it up regardless of the price next season for the long term benefit.
 
[
If I was still living in London I’d take a punt on not renewing and just buying a ticket to games I fancied going to. General sale tickets will be £20-£50 depending on where you sit. Go to 3/4 of the games and your better off.

If I didn't have Loyalty Points to worry about it'd be very tempting to bin the ST off. Can't really throwaway 500+ points

For a couple of seasons back towards the end of WHL I split my ST with a mate, i still ended up picking up spares and going to most/all the games - for better or for worse it's in my blood.
 
I’ve been thinking about this, too.

My ST is £1100. Roughly £60 per game. I would t expect to pay more than £35 per game for Championship football.

My thought is that the club will enact a tiny price reduction and then point out that we are getting more games for less money.

I’ll be walking at that point. I’d say £700 is my absolute top whack. It hasn’t been enjoyable for years, after all.
Coventry are charging £45, Leicester £50 for Cat A games.
£35 seems optimistic. Unless our lot are smart enough to understand that a cheaper ticket equals more footfall, which equals more beer and food sold and club shop visits.
Our lot are not smart...
 
One knock on isn’t selling the overpaid shisters you got us there
It’s gonna be when we get back up but suddenly have to sell Moore or lankshear as they are club trained and we need ro meet PSR
 
One knock on isn’t selling the overpaid shisters you got us there
It’s gonna be when we get back up but suddenly have to sell Moore or lankshear as they are club trained and we need ro meet PSR

Erm no. That’s just fear mongering. We will have plenty in the tank to keep who we want should we go up the first time of asking.
 
I cannot wait for the end of season letter to the fans. I’m genuinely intrigued as to what spin they’ll put on the reason for this mess relegation or not
Vinai already had a thinly veiled pop at Levy at one of the fan meetings so I expect more of the same. That seemed a weasel move to me but you tend to see that when failure happens.

Levy has some responsibility here. No doubt. As does Ange IMO. However, neither of them had an opportunity really to influence this season when things started to go really wrong. Vinai, Lange and Frank did and failed miserably repeatedly and that’s the reason why, for me, they should take most of the responsibility for where we are. They won’t though.
 
Vinai already had a thinly veiled pop at Levy at one of the fan meetings so I expect more of the same. That seemed a weasel move to me but you tend to see that when failure happens.

Levy has some responsibility here. No doubt. As does Ange IMO. However, neither of them had an opportunity really to influence this season when things started to go really wrong. Vinai, Lange and Frank did and failed miserably repeatedly and that’s the reason why, for me, they should take most of the responsibility for where we are. They won’t though.

If VV and Lange are still here when the end of season letter is written then that is a dereliction of duty.
The letter should start,
"now that we have got rid of those two muppets...."
 
There is clearly no financial scenario where we would ever find a positive from going down.

Is there a football one though? Despite the cultural issues above him, is there an opportunity for RDZ to build his own dynasty at the club and remove all the weak mentality from the senior players? Make it a winning culture based on a group of mostly young players. In Phillips, Devine and Lankshear, we have young players who would have had excellent seasons in the Championship. Moore has done well up in the SPL and will only get better. Souza would also fast track in this league.

Also, would we need to use the loan system as extensively as we have done? Example, would LWB just turn some early season cameo's into some full on master classes at that level. Could we keep a couple of older guys like Porro and Danso to steady the ship? Even Gallagher? Even Solanke? Saying that, if we have Gray, Bergval, Sarr, Abbott, Hall, Olusesi, Devine is that 6 enough to be nurtured by RDZ into a Championship winning midfield.

It's a great question how good our younger generation looks at that level

Kinsky, Gunter
Phillips, Byfield, Takai, Vuskovic, Souza,
Gray, Bergval, Sarr, Abbott, Hall, Olusesis, Devine, Donley
Lanks, Tel, Odobert, Yang, Moore, LWB, Melia

That's over 20 players and if you manage to keep Madds and Kulu on the basis that after a season out it would be great for them to play again. Add Danso, Porro and Austin and I'm thinking there would a lot to be optimistic about.

I'd be interested to see a changing room shorn of all the guys that just want to coast through or cannot dig deep. Having a young competitive changing room where every player wants to be in the first team and crawl off the pitch after 90 mins would be amazing.

The bigger question is if we stay up, how do we still remove the poor mentality around the place and still go down this journey with the youngsters under RDZ?
 
This is how much I've spent this season, on games that I've been to, with all but Sheffield United being adult pricing:

  • Birmingham £36
  • Preston £31.50
  • Blackburn £31.50
  • Middlesboro £33.50
  • QPR £34.50
  • Leicester £33.50
  • Millwall £37.50
  • Portsmouth £33.50
  • Sheffield United (Student pricing) £24.50
  • Derby £31.50
  • Watford £38.50
  • Norwich £42.50
  • Charlton £23.50
  • West Brom £33.50
  • Bromley (Carabao Cup) £25
Seems the away support are going to find it will cost more to follow the team in the EFL than the PL, also remember the away allocation in the Championship is 2,000 , some may offer more suppose it depends on how their security is set up at their stadiums.

Facilities for visiting supporters
35.7.1 Each Club must make provision for at least 2,000 visiting supporters at every home match

Going on the figures charged by other clubs above can't see Spurs going below £40 for the cheapest adult ticket.

PS Using this season as a guide the points needed for away matches if the allocation is 2,000 will be more than required at Brentford or Crystal Palace
 
Last edited:
If they both need a point to ensure safety then I won’t blame them.
Lets just hope that Sky/PGMOL understands that a meaningless game is bad for their product and narrative, and make sure both Leeds, West Ham and us can go down depending on the outcomes of our respective matches.

We'll know if we suddenly start to get poor ref calls in our favour, and maybe even penalties.
 
There is clearly no financial scenario where we would ever find a positive from going down.

Is there a football one though? Despite the cultural issues above him, is there an opportunity for RDZ to build his own dynasty at the club and remove all the weak mentality from the senior players? Make it a winning culture based on a group of mostly young players. In Phillips, Devine and Lankshear, we have young players who would have had excellent seasons in the Championship. Moore has done well up in the SPL and will only get better. Souza would also fast track in this league.

Also, would we need to use the loan system as extensively as we have done? Example, would LWB just turn some early season cameo's into some full on master classes at that level. Could we keep a couple of older guys like Porro and Danso to steady the ship? Even Gallagher? Even Solanke? Saying that, if we have Gray, Bergval, Sarr, Abbott, Hall, Olusesi, Devine is that 6 enough to be nurtured by RDZ into a Championship winning midfield.

It's a great question how good our younger generation looks at that level

Kinsky, Gunter
Phillips, Byfield, Takai, Vuskovic, Souza,
Gray, Bergval, Sarr, Abbott, Hall, Olusesis, Devine, Donley
Lanks, Tel, Odobert, Yang, Moore, LWB, Melia

That's over 20 players and if you manage to keep Madds and Kulu on the basis that after a season out it would be great for them to play again. Add Danso, Porro and Austin and I'm thinking there would a lot to be optimistic about.

I'd be interested to see a changing room shorn of all the guys that just want to coast through or cannot dig deep. Having a young competitive changing room where every player wants to be in the first team and crawl off the pitch after 90 mins would be amazing.

The bigger question is if we stay up, how do we still remove the poor mentality around the place and still go down this journey with the youngsters under RDZ?
I have serious doubts about RDZ if we go down to be honest. He’s a very highly rated manager. Will he ply his trade in the second tier with a squad that will likely be gutted? I have my doubts.

I also think it’s fiscally reckless of the club to have committed to paying him 12m a year if we’re in the Championship where the average manager wage is 1.2 - 1.5m. For a club who will have their revenues slashed, lay off ordinary working people, that commitment is reckless.

To me, getting RDZ in only works if he keeps us up. If we go down, I see more turmoil on that front.
 
Who
If VV and Lange are still here when the end of season letter is written then that is a dereliction of duty.
The letter should start,
"now that we have got rid of those two muppets...."
Who is qualified to pick the next 2? It’s going to take time. World Cup summer and Championship starting early August!? It’s probably something that should be getting worked on now - particularly as they should both be out the door whether we stay up or not.
 
On the financial front have to remember that this current season we have prize money from PL and CL to come in at the end of the season also we are likely to sell a minimum of VDV , Vic & Richy going by all the rumours and there are parachute payments .
Don't know what the current wage bill is as the last accounts covered 24/25 season and coming off the current wage bill will be Davies, Muani, Biss and Palhinha ,add in the concerts/ NFL etc which is bringing in at least £50 million or so, even more if we can sign up more concerts , so for one season at least we should be financially O.K. even with lower gate money and smaller crowds.
RDZ answered all the relegation questions in his first press conference , he knew our fragile position and he won't be bringing in a full squad of assistants until the season has ended, he is prepared if we get relegated.
It's debateable who else might leave if we go down but if Deki recovers could we see a midfield with Deki and Madders next season to help guide us through it.

PS If you are going to pick a season to get relegated choose a World Cup year , if the WC was next year every player with International aspirations would be off like a shot.
 
Last edited:
One thing that people rarely talk about is that the Championship is a 46-game season. I haven't watched a Championship game in ages, but it used to be a rough league. Rough league means... injuries. Injuries means backup players. We already have a lot of injuries, which means we'd need a lot of backup players too.

As we've seen this season, you also need leaders on the pitch. Players who can rally their team-mates, but also players who can put their foot on the ball and help the team through a difficult time on the pitch (something we've been sorely lacking this season too). That means senior/experienced players.

Planning for a season in the Championship with a team of youngsters is madness in my opinion. We should have given more time and opportunities to our younger players over the past couple of seasons but, as usual, going from one extreme to the other is suicidal. Also, Maddison and Kulusevski - should they stay at the club - can be considered as injury-prone.

All that, to me, points to the team needing major investment, even in a lower league. Our problem isn't that the opposition is better than us; our problem is structural: the squad is unbalanced, with some profiles sorely lacking. Going down won't change that. Quite frankly, I'm not even sure that problem could be fixed in one window.
 
Who

Who is qualified to pick the next 2? It’s going to take time. World Cup summer and Championship starting early August!? It’s probably something that should be getting worked on now - particularly as they should both be out the door whether we stay up or not.

I'd be looking at Ben Davies tbh.
Knows the club, the PL, football and business.
He's clever, hard working, solid and isn't going to get involved in the media circus.
He's a nice, no one can find any reason to object to him.
Feels like an obvious fit to me.
 
Back