The Championship 2018/19 - Play-off final

So happy with Norwich this season. Took the director of football from Huddersfield when they were getting promoted and they've built a very exciting team. The two young fullbacks, Aarons and Lewis, could be a revelation in the PL.

Always a full stadium, well supported and a well managed club that plays good football. I don't get why so many brush them off as a nothing club. They were one of the better PL clubs in the early 90's.

Farke is an exciting manager that can keep them in the PL. Definately need a new keeper though, Tim Krul is making too many mistakes this season.
 
drdoityourself said:
So happy with Norwich this season. Took the director of football from Huddersfield when they were getting promoted and they've built a very exciting team. The two young fullbacks, Aarons and Lewis, could be a revelation in the PL.

Always a full stadium, well supported and a well managed club that plays good football. I don't get why so many brush them off as a nothing club. They were one of the better PL clubs in the early 90's.

Farke is an exciting manager that can keep them in the PL. Definately need a new keeper though, Tim Krul is making too many mistakes this season.
Click to expand...
Completely agree, I went to uni in Norwich and went to a few games there and there is always a terrific atmosphere at the ground. Just because you don’t know much about a club doesn’t automatically mean it’s a “ nothing” club. Also, the team this season plays the most attractive football I have seen in the championship for at least 10 years.

Not to mention how horribly biased Sky Sports are towards Leeds over them.
 
GeorgieBoy said:
They really are!
Sort of don't want them to come up though. They are a bit of a nothing club.
Click to expand...

I feel the same. I just find them boring as a club and they usually come up just to go back down.
 
drdoityourself said:
So happy with Norwich this season. Took the director of football from Huddersfield when they were getting promoted and they've built a very exciting team. The two young fullbacks, Aarons and Lewis, could be a revelation in the PL.

Always a full stadium, well supported and a well managed club that plays good football. I don't get why so many brush them off as a nothing club. They were one of the better PL clubs in the early 90's.

Farke is an exciting manager that can keep them in the PL. Definately need a new keeper though, Tim Krul is making too many mistakes this season.
Click to expand...
They're not a nothing club but you just know they won't do anything in the Premier League and inevitably be relegated in their first season, or second one at a stretch. Seems like it's happened three or four times in the last decade, or at least that's how it feels.

I wouldn't mind them as they usually shit the bed against Liverpool, but wouldn't mind some new names like Sheffield Utd or Leeds either - teams with great history who've been out of the PL for more than a decade, and both as far as League One.
 
drdoityourself said:
So happy with Norwich this season. Took the director of football from Huddersfield when they were getting promoted and they've built a very exciting team. The two young fullbacks, Aarons and Lewis, could be a revelation in the PL.

Always a full stadium, well supported and a well managed club that plays good football. I don't get why so many brush them off as a nothing club. They were one of the better PL clubs in the early 90's.

Farke is an exciting manager that can keep them in the PL. Definately need a new keeper though, Tim Krul is making too many mistakes this season.
Click to expand...

I have a tiny little soft spot for them too because of that early 90s side. They were a decent watch and because they're not a giant club they never seemed too threatening or menacing. Could watch them as somewhat plucky underdogs without being that scared of them.

They also tended to get beat by a lot of the good sides, taking thrashings along the way which is how they ended up 3rd with a negative goal difference. Then came putting Bayern Munich out of the UEFA cup the following season in a huge shock.

A little United connection too as far as transfers went. We sold them Mark Robins who was top scorer in that great season of theirs and bought Bruce and Phelan from them a few years prior. Going under the radar a little bit is that that they had a 4th and a 5th place finish in the second half of the 80s. Phelan was there for both, Bruce helped them to 5th in 86/87. I was watching football at the time but I was young and it didn't really register.

Don't really mind Norwich.
 
BBC said:
Bolton Wanderers' next two Championship home games against Ipswich and Middlesbrough are in doubt after they were issued with an order preventing fans entering the ground.

The area's Safety Advisory Group met on Tuesday and said it "was not prepared to put the public at risk".

Players went on strike on Monday after staff were not paid on time for the second month in a row.

The EFL said they hoped the fixtures would take place as planned.

One option could be to play the matches behind closed doors.

"We will work with the club and offer them any practical assistance that is available to us in an attempt to find a successful and timely resolution to the issue," an EFL statement said.

'Deeply regrettable'
Bolton, who are up for sale and battling relegation, said they would be unable to meet the obligations of their safety certificate until after Wednesday's High Court appearance over unpaid debts.

Staff will not be paid their March wages until Wednesday at the earliest, with owner Ken Anderson claiming talks are ongoing with buyers.

SAG members agreed it "would be a challenging timeframe" to put an "adequate operation in place to protect the safety of spectators" for the games against Ipswich on Saturday and Boro next Tuesday.

"We recognise that Bolton Wanderers is at the heart of our community and this is a deeply regrettable situation," a spokesperson for SAG said.

"We have done everything we can over recent weeks to support the club at this difficult time.

"Every effort has been made to give the club enough time to put adequate matchday operation standards in place, but regrettably the law gives us no alternative but to issue a prohibition notice.

"Safety and security remain our primary concern and while we recognise that spectators may be disappointed, we are not prepared to put the public at risk."

It is the second time in as many months the SAG has highlighted concerns over safety at the University of Bolton stadium, with the game against Millwall on 9 March eventually given the green light to go ahead three days before.
Click to expand...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47787062
 
Watching Blackburn slide down the table during the past couple of months with our terrible form, has been very frustrating. The lack of fitness and concentration at key moments in game (resulting in us conceding so many late goals) has been clear to see.

So Bristol City are back in the playoff spots after a couple of big away wins over the past few days. I would be happy to see them getting promoted, as they haven’t been in the top flight since 1980 before suffering 3 consecutive relegations, so this would be something new and different. Plus it would be nice of one of the largest cities in the country to finally have a Premier League team.

I’m happy to see Middlesbrough falling out of the top 6. As you’d expect from a Tony Pulis team, they are truly dire to watch, and they average less than 1 goal a game at home. It’s only right that managers like Pulis face more criticism when the results are coming, as poor results and negative football is the worst possible combination. Plus thanks to Steve Gibson (they spent a lot of money to get promoted in 2016), and the parachute payments, they have among the best financial resources in the division.
 
To be fair, from what I've seen in the game (light watching while doing something else), QPR were dreadful before and after the red.

Still, Norwich do feel like a sure Premier League bound team.
 
Very comfortable win. Next two games are Reading at home and Wigan away. Need 6 points there, the four remaining games after that are tricky.
 
Mrs Smoker said:
To be fair, from what I've seen in the game (light watching while doing something else), QPR were dreadful before and after the red.

Still, Norwich do feel like a sure Premier League bound team.
Click to expand...
QPR were terrible. It could have been a cricket score for Norwich. Lucky it was only four.
 
4Ks3SN7.png


I reckon even Hull and Swansea have a tiny bit of hope for Premier League. Quite a competitive league.
 
Ex-Watford owner Laurence Bassini has said he is "very close" to taking over Championship side Bolton Wanderers.

The club appeared in the High Court on Wednesday over an unpaid tax bill and Bassini was reported to be present.

Bolton have endured a torrid time, with staff and players sometimes paid late.

"Two or three things need to be checked, but we're very close in this coming week," Bassini told Talksport, adding that Wanderers fans could "feel safe" with him as the club's owner.

"Bolton are a great, great club. I looked at them a couple of years ago - they're just a great club, they deserve more. They have the potential to return to the top.

"I don't know whether we'll survive this season - if we do go down we'll be putting a large sum of money in to take them straight back up.

"If they go down it's a three-year plan, if they stay up it's a two-year plan to get in the Premier League."

Bassini, who took over at Vicarage Road in 2011 before selling to the Pozzo family a year later, was previously given a three-year ban from being involved in a position of authority with any English Football League club in 2013.

The punishment came after he was found guilty of misconduct and dishonesty over financial dealings during his time with the Hornets.

"I think the Bolton fans deserve more and they need to feel safe. I think they can feel safe with me," added Bassini, who also confirmed that he attended Bolton's win at Queens Park Rangers last Saturday.

Bassini's planned takeover has capped another eventful week for the club, whose players refused to train for 48 hours when staff were not paid their salaries on time for the second month in a row.

As well as their appearance in the High Court, which resulted in a second adjournment until 8 May, Bolton's home game against Ipswich on Saturday was thrown into doubt when the club were given a prohibition orderpreventing supporters from entering the University of Bolton Stadium.

The Ipswich game, as well as next week's fixture against Middlesbrough, was eventually given the go-ahead following a meeting of the region's Safety Advisory Group, and staff later received their salaries but March's wages to playing and coaching personnel have still not been paid.
Click to expand...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47827066
 
Leeds hit the post from 2 yards out and 30 seconds later Birmingham score, nice!
 
Excellent. Leeds no longer in the automatic places.

 
Was bitching about this before, but, very silly to have stoppage time in darkish red colour, on dark blue background. If no HD, no way to properly see time remaining.

Stupid!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.