UpTheLatics Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Have we missed out chance to escape League 1? Now, I’ve been wondering about this, and the transfer of Robert Earnshaw from Derby to newly-promoted Nottingham Forest made me create this thread. Anyway, I’m one of those who believe football has been ruined by money. The whole ruthless chairman act is spreading, the competition is just out of control, and the toughness of the EPL is ridiculous now. That, too, is spreading, I think. Last year, Scunthorpe, Bristol City, and Blackpool all contested in the Championship, after winning promotion the season before. Sadly, only Scunthorpe returned to us. Instead, we were handed Colchester, who for some reason came down, and Leicester, a really big club. Season before last, we were given another mighty club, in the form of Leeds. What I’m getting at is Swansea, Forest and Donny all have the money and the facilities, proven by the fact that Forest, riddled with debt, still will spend money. They have the real ability to all survive this year, and we could be handed another 3 decent Championship sides, maybe another with a status like Leeds or Leicester. Hopefully, though, Bristol City, Blackpool and Donny get relegated, as that wouldn’t be that bad. League 1 is currently at its toughest, in my opinion. There’s money flying about, and for me it makes this division very unhealthy. Have we missed out chance to escape this division, when it was more open, didn’t have a load of big guns flying about, and was generally, well, easier. Obviously, we need the challenge, but there’s an obvious divide in the clubs now. Just like the EPL, you can say where teams are gonna finish. You know that the likes of Cheltenham, Crewe, and Hereford etc are gonna struggle, and you know that Leeds, Leicester etc will be up there, but the points gap won’t be exactly massive. We're not one of these big clubs who can spend their way to promotion. The likes of Doncaster and Forest did that. It's now so tough for us to get promoted. The only thing on our side, actually, is the fact that we now have a very good potential. Our side could be one of the brightest, and one of the youngest to break out of this division. It won’t be easy, it never will, I know that, but with the current state, it’s gonna be one of the toughest years, in my opinion. However, if Shez and the lads can break out of this division at last, as this division gets harder, does the Championship get harder? Just a little thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beag_teeets Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 The simple answer is - No, it is a funny old game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny punkster Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 in short,no we haven't.. its always tough...always will be. but i'm expecting a big push this year...the mistakes made last season have been learnt and action being taken. i'm looking forward to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleetwood Blue Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 In my opinion i believe there is only going to be Leeds stronger than ourselves this season , others fighting for promotion will be us, leicester, millwall, peterborough and Southend. I think there are a lot of mediocre teams in this division this season and this will be our greatest chance to escape it. Last season there was some big teams (sleeping giants) in our league (swansea and forest) and it was always going to be difficult for us to compete with those teams who have a lot of cash to chuck about, it could have been better for us with dirty leeds being promoted but we will have to make do by taking points off them again this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma06 Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Have we missed out chance to escape League 1? Now, I’ve been wondering about this, and the transfer of Robert Earnshaw from Derby to newly-promoted Nottingham Forest made me create this thread. Anyway, I’m one of those who believe football has been ruined by money. The whole ruthless chairman act is spreading, the competition is just out of control, and the toughness of the EPL is ridiculous now. That, too, is spreading, I think. Last year, Scunthorpe, Bristol City, and Blackpool all contested in the Championship, after winning promotion the season before. Sadly, only Scunthorpe returned to us. Instead, we were handed Colchester, who for some reason came down, and Leicester, a really big club. Season before last, we were given another mighty club, in the form of Leeds. What I’m getting at is Swansea, Forest and Donny all have the money and the facilities, proven by the fact that Forest, riddled with debt, still will spend money. They have the real ability to all survive this year, and we could be handed another 3 decent Championship sides, maybe another with a status like Leeds or Leicester. Hopefully, though, Bristol City, Blackpool and Donny get relegated, as that wouldn’t be that bad. League 1 is currently at its toughest, in my opinion. There’s money flying about, and for me it makes this division very unhealthy. Have we missed out chance to escape this division, when it was more open, didn’t have a load of big guns flying about, and was generally, well, easier. Obviously, we need the challenge, but there’s an obvious divide in the clubs now. Just like the EPL, you can say where teams are gonna finish. You know that the likes of Cheltenham, Crewe, and Hereford etc are gonna struggle, and you know that Leeds, Leicester etc will be up there, but the points gap won’t be exactly massive. We're not one of these big clubs who can spend their way to promotion. The likes of Doncaster and Forest did that. It's now so tough for us to get promoted. The only thing on our side, actually, is the fact that we now have a very good potential. Our side could be one of the brightest, and one of the youngest to break out of this division. It won’t be easy, it never will, I know that, but with the current state, it’s gonna be one of the toughest years, in my opinion. However, if Shez and the lads can break out of this division at last, as this division gets harder, does the Championship get harder? Just a little thought. The problem the big clubs like Leeds, Forest, City, Wednesday, Leicester have in this league is every game they play in is the other teams biggest game of the season, the players are all up for it and there is normally a bigger crowd that gets behind the them. It normally takes them a few years to get settled to the style of play in league 1 before they manage to get promoted. Our best chance was the Dowie season when we got into the playoffs, with the players we had and the money he had to spend we should have gone up automatically, unnfortunately it didn't work out. We have a decent chance next season of getting in the playoffs, we have some excellent young players coming through who gained experience last season and we also have the likes of Chalmers, Black and even younger kids like Bembo-Leto coming through as well. If Shez finds the right players to compliment what we already have then who knows next season could be our year. We've already signed 3 young players who will be fighting for a place in the starting 11 a couple more players and we have a strong squad next season The Championship has got much stronger the last few years and now with all the money the teams relegated from the premiership get it is going to make it even harder to compete. If we do go up i think we will struggle to stay there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macca Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 To get into the Championship anyways we would be one of the smallest clubs there so it would be a lot tougher. At the moment we are at our level for the size of our club but having a look at the teams in our league next season the league should be weaker. For once since Andy Ritchie we have had stability at the club. It seems like Shez is learning from his errors from the last couple of seasons, plans are being put into place earlier. There won't be many changes in personnel over the summer, the squad we had at the end of the season wasn't too far off a play-off spot, the additions so far seem to be well thought out. Don't think it was any coincidence last season the teams at the top either had the resources to get up there or had managers who had been given time to assemble a squad capable of challenging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean 1984 Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 i believe leeds will win it i origionally though posh would be up there but im not at all convinced depends if they sell mclean challengers will be us leeds leicester hudders brighton millwall im doubting tranny- coz they play hoofball southend- major squad rebuild never works as we know col u- mid table after relegation scunny- same posh- depends who they sign/dont sell mk- ince will go leicester Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BESASTIAN11 Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 We have not missed our chance. The league had always been tough. Yes there are seasons which have panned out easier than others but when you look at the league at the start of the season they always look hard. I know some people beleive we can go up this years but with the squad we have at them moment we will need a lot of luck. However i am very happy with the way the club is going and think that if we a decent LW, LB and CM in before the start of the season then we can seriously challenge. Leicter will find it harder than they will expect and Leeds may suffer after they just missed out last season. If we can get the right players in then i think we will have one of the best squads in the league and if the consistency is there then we will go up. New stand on the way, good young team, a decent manager who is learning all the time, and the stability that TTA have brought can only be a good thing for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markoasis Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 we were handed Colchester, who for some reason came down, Now my flat mate is a Colcester fan. They brought in Teddy for 7.5K a week, their other senior players (who had got them promoted and put them in the play-offs in the Championship for a large part of the season) who were on around 2K asked for more ££ on the back of this. The club said no and off they went .. Funny enough two landed at Hull and look at the season they had. Now Scunny are an example of a club with the same resources/crowd figures comparable to ourselves. They got themselves promoted and unfortunately, as they are a selling club much the same as us, they lost the main player who got them promoted in Sharp and never managed to replace him. Although they still took the gamble at xmas and sold Keogh to Wolves .... selling Billy was one to many. He, like many other Colcester fans he said, was happy with the previous two years of promotion and a decent run in the Championship and they were hitting above their weight ..... it was seen as a couple of bonus years. Not something I personally would settle for. Now promotion in Shez's first year would have been great, but I never felt we would have been ready to sustain a presence in the Championship for years to come. Better players would have had to be bought and therefore players would have had to be sold to free up wages and quite frankly the fringe players / youth were not / or made the step up at the time to fill out the squad. People like Smalley, Alessandra were a few years away for first team. A year or so on I feel we he have the makings of having a big enough squad not only to challenge for promotion but to start us on the task to keep us there. We have a great blend of old heads, youth and players heading into their 3/4 season of pro football. One or two we may loose along the way (I really can't see both Taylor / Eards here all season) because simply we still have to sell, although with promotion comes the crowds (both home / away), sponsor money…….. generally more revenue. The only worry for me would that our home crowds would not raise the significant short term, certainly your can add an extra 1K to 11/2K average away fans on though. Yep the bigger clubs can in effect buy there way out of the league ........ but not always the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy_Fent Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 I thought it was much worse back at the turn of the century (I know seems like yesterday), when we had the likes of Wigan, Reading, Stoke, Bristol City, Cardiff and Millwall splashing the cash on players and dominating the league. I don't see teams breaking the back on players in the same way teams did back then (remember Wigan signing Neil Roberts for 1 million?). I think the collapse of ITV digital despite screwing a few clubs over, helped balance the compteition in this division more fairly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlossopLatic Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 (edited) Absolutely not. The past is just that the past and this league has always had a few clubs with bigger budgets than the rest and their is always the one or two smaller clubs who surprise everyone who make it to the top six and beyond. Its not easy by any stretch but it can be done. Next season will be no diferent Awaits Corporal Jones post... Edited May 30, 2008 by GlossopLatic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macca_is_GOD2 Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Good thing come to those who wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlossopLatic Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Good thing come to those who wait. Try telling that to Rochdale fans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring Back Ronnie Moore Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 (edited) Nah, with the squad we're building I think we'll be prepared next season and mount a serious promotion challenge. Edited May 30, 2008 by Bring Back Pukka Pies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeDahRover Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 As an outsider looking in, Oldham as a club is one for me that is a top half league 1 side than can make it into the Championship. GIven the stadium upgrade and you'll be challenging the likes of Blackpool, Donny and Swansea in all areas. You're a club with potential no doubt and you'll get out of league 1 soon, that I don't doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudemedic Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Leicester are definately not a massive club. Ok so they were in the Premiership not that long ago but Leeds and Forest (plus Wednesday and City) are much bigger than Leicester. They are below where they should be for a club of there size but there's a reason clubs go down, no one is ever too big/good to go down and they are certainly not as low down relative to their size as the likes of Leeds, Forest and City. Their chairman will demand instant results and if Leicester are not going up from start to finish I'd be surprised if they don't have two mangers this season. They don't have the fan support of Leeds nor do they have the prestige of Forest I can see it being harder for them to sign players of good quality and I think they may well loose some players in the close season. They will be challengers for sure but I think it may take them a few years (much like Forest and Wednesday) to escape this division. Colchester might be a force this season but they are going down after hitting their peak, if they don't do anything this season I can see them struggling the year after. The same with Scunthorpe who did well on the back of two quality players up front whom they knew would get them a goal but when they sold them they struggled and their defense although looking quite solid a few years ago has some obvious weaknesses. Neither Scunthorpe nor Colchester have a fan base as big as ours and although we have lost a side Scunny's ground (and Colchester's old one but I'm guessing not the new one) are still smaller. When we played Scunny 18 months ago in a top of the table clash their ground was full with about 7,500 fans of which 1500+ were supporting Oldham, there's no way we won't beat that if we were at home in a top of the table clash. As for the teams coming up I think Peterbrough and Franchise might cancel each other out in the transfer market as they are both clubs with a little bit of money who are playing at probably their right level in terms if size plus they are very close to each other so will often be competiting for the same sort of player. This is of particular importance to loan signings who I think are vital for clubs at this level. Hereford won't set this league alight but no-one will like going there and they might not struggle as much as people think. Stockport however won't do a lot and unless they get in some good players I can see them going straight back down. Although I don't think it will be a contender history seems to indicate that someone will go into administration next year and this may be good for Latics as well. Being a Yo-Yo team between the Championship and League 1 won't do us any good in the long run as although we might get extra fans in we'd surely have a higher wage bill and I think if we came down we'd still have the bigger wage bill but not necessarily the fans. Last season showed that we'd have struggled in the Championship if we had gone up 12 months ago and if we had gone up this season I don't think our squad (not the first team but the squad) could have coped in the Championship despite some good transfer activity. However with maybe one or two signings in fairly obvious areas I think we will do well next year and if we get promoted I think our squad (especially the younger players) will be developed enough with the prospect of few more signings (in 2009) to survive longer than one year in the Championship. So in summary I certainly don't think we've missed out on promotion for the forseeable future and in many ways not getting promoted in the last few years may have done us better in the long run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corporal_Jones Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Awaits Corporal Jones post... Here it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
footy68 Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 No, get your money on us to win the League. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardlelatic Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 No, get your money on us to win the League. I got 20-1 ... with bet365 .. it was worth a tenner ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazzman07 Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 im not a betting man myself but even im tempted to have a flutter on latics next season just hope we are abit luckier with injurys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railwayman Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 League 1 is currently at its toughest, in my opinion. There’s money flying about, and for me it makes this division very unhealthy. Have we missed out chance to escape this division, when it was more open, didn’t have a load of big guns flying about, and was generally, well, easier. Obviously, we need the challenge, but there’s an obvious divide in the clubs now. Just like the EPL, you can say where teams are gonna finish. You know that the likes of Cheltenham, Crewe, and Hereford etc are gonna struggle, and you know that Leeds, Leicester etc will be up there, but the points gap won’t be exactly massive. crewe to struggle! serious promotion contenders this year! although in all fairness, if maynard goes from us, we go from league 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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