Championship 2020/2021

[SG90]

No idea why the weird looking creature felt the need to conpare them to us.

They were relegated from one of the crappest Premier leagues ever.

Last season at this time there was 10 points between 5th and 3rd with the top 3 practically guaranteed.

This season its 10 points between 9th and 3rd with 7th 8th and 9th all having games in hand over Leicester.

Norwich are a crap Premier league side playing in a Crap Championship.

Cant compare us to them we are far better.

The only think Norwich have that our Championship team didnt have was a clinical striker in Pukki and a special winger in Buendia.

As teams and styles we are far far better as our Premier league campaigns show.

They are an embarrassment. Everyone involved with their club is obsessed with us manager, players, Stuart Webber, fans. Very weird bunch. Not sure what we ever did to Norwich, but I guess they're still crying that we got more coverage than them in League One?

[Cjay]

They are an embarrassment. Everyone involved with their club is obsessed with us manager, players, Stuart Webber, fans. Very weird bunch. Not sure what we ever did to Norwich, but I guess they're still crying that we got more coverage than them in League One?

Probably jealous that we get all this attention when promoted and they get nothing.

They are irrelevant, outside of Norwich nobody cares whether they are promoted or relegated.

Yoyo club.

[Carrick Dave]

Barnsley are in the playoffs.

Fair play to them.

No idea how they play (hoof ball judging by the passing accuracy stats) but thats quite an achievement by the Barnsley manager.

Valerien Ismael is an absolute tank of a man, Barnsley players are probably to terrified to lose.

But 32 games 63 points, on a ppg basis thats 90points over a season.

Phenomenal record.

Watching Ismael interact with the players at full time on Quest last night I got the feeling of buy-in and a group dynamic. Great to see.

[Cjay]

Karma may finally catch up with the FFP cheats this season.

Sheffield Wednesday seem to have ran out of lives and will get the relegation they justly deserve for all their financial shenanigans.


Bottom of the form table with 1 win in the last 8 games, 3 points is there lot in those games, 6 defeats in a row, 7 points from safety.

They are gone in all probability.


However could Wayne Rooney's Derby County join them?

Interestingly the bloke who the Wednesday owner called a chancer effectively (how ironic) is close to buying Derby . . . . . .

Derby are 8 points clear of the bottom 3 but Rotherham have 4 games in hand. Both teams have roughly identical form and it seems likely Derby will survive but you never know.

[Cjay]

Brentford bottling it again?

Dropped points from a winning position again vs Forest today.

Over the last 10 games they are only 10th in the form table, only taken 14 points.

Will probably make the playoffs but doubt they will get top 2.

Weak Championship imo.

Norwich 10 points clear but officially one of the worst Premier league sides ever, says it all

[Smudge3920]

Brentford bottling it again?

Dropped points from a winning position again vs Forest today.

Over the last 10 games they are only 10th in the form table, only taken 14 points.

Will probably make the playoffs but doubt they will get top 2.

Weak Championship imo.

Norwich 10 points clear but officially one of the worst Premier league sides ever, says it all

Was Pontus playing ?

[Cjay]

Was Pontus playing ?

Yes.

[SG90]

Brentford bottling it again?

Dropped points from a winning position again vs Forest today.

Over the last 10 games they are only 10th in the form table, only taken 14 points.

Will probably make the playoffs but doubt they will get top 2.

Weak Championship imo.

Norwich 10 points clear but officially one of the worst Premier league sides ever, says it all

Yep it's a very poor league. Watford and Norwich going straight back up, then straight back down again. Although at least Watford will make an effort, unlike Norwich who will just whine and cry again.

WBA, Brentford, Swansea, Forest were all better last season. Barnsley and Reading are top 6, yet last season were fighting relegation. Says it all really!

[1964white]

Full fixture list today

Bournemouth v Middlesbrough
Bristol City v Stoke City
Cardiff City v Nottingham Forest
Derby County v Luton Town
Millwall v Rotherham United
Preston North End v Norwich City
Queens Park Rangers v Coventry City
Watford v Sheffield Wednesday
Wycombe Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers
Barnsley v Reading
Birmingham City v Swansea City

[Cjay]

Brentford and Swansea fluffing their lines and basically handing automatic to Watford and Norwich.

Poor old Coventry getting dragged closer and closer to the bottom 3.

Wednesday and Wycombe are gone imo.

[1964white]

Brentford and Swansea fluffing their lines and basically handing automatic to Watford and Norwich.

Poor old Coventry getting dragged closer and closer to the bottom 3.

Wednesday and Wycombe are gone imo.

I would think so

[SG90]

Brentford and Swansea fluffing their lines and basically handing automatic to Watford and Norwich.

Poor old Coventry getting dragged closer and closer to the bottom 3.

Wednesday and Wycombe are gone imo.

Great news They're the ones who started that whole "Leeds are falling apart" thing. Funny thing is we got to the PL before them.

[danhirons]

Say what you want about Farke but he's done an absolutely stellar job at Norwich getting them promoted twice on a shoestring budget. They're working on about an even budget, whereas we lost about 63 million the season we got promoted (obviously hit a bit by Corona).

Unquestionably done a better job than bielsa in the championship. Hope he gets a decent budget for the prem next season so we can properly compare the two in the Premier league next season

[Cjay]

Say what you want about Farke but he's done an absolutely stellar job at Norwich getting them promoted twice on a shoestring budget. They're working on about an even budget, whereas we lost about 63 million the season we got promoted (obviously hit a bit by Corona).

Unquestionably done a better job than bielsa in the championship. Hope he gets a decent budget for the prem next season so we can properly compare the two in the Premier league next season

Disagree mate.

Bielsa never dropped out of the playoffs in the Championship.

Think we only dropped below top 3 for a few weeks.

In his 1st season Norwich finished 14th.

He has had a budget but they posted a £40mil loss when they were promoted which adjusted for covid probably wouldn't be a million miles from the loss we posted.

Has done a very good job but his team has been carried by Buendia and Pukki. They exceeded their xG by a mile when promoted (doing it again this season).

That suggests to me a couple of outstanding individuals rather than an outstanding team.

[SG90]

Disagree mate.

Bielsa never dropped out of the playoffs in the Championship.

Think we only dropped below top 3 for a few weeks.

In his 1st season Norwich finished 14th.

He has had a budget but they posted a £40mil loss when they were promoted which adjusted for covid probably wouldn't be a million miles from the loss we posted.

Has done a very good job but his team has been carried by Buendia and Pukki. They exceeded their xG by a mile when promoted (doing it again this season).

That suggests to me a couple of outstanding individuals rather than an outstanding team.

Spot on. "Shoestring budget" is laughable considering they've had parachute payments both times, giving an unfair advantage.

[weasel]

He has had a budget but they posted a £40mil loss when they were promoted which adjusted for covid probably wouldn't be a million miles from the loss we posted.

We posted £62m loss of which at least £20m (Costa and Messlier fees) wouldn't have been counted normally. Straightaway that takes it down to £40m. If Norwich posted a £40m loss then that actually would equate to about an £80m loss comparatively as they would have had about £40m of parachute payments that we didn't have. Additionally when you look at the covid losses we would have had too then Norwich probably spent £50m+ more than us in their promotion season.

[danhirons]

Disagree mate.

Bielsa never dropped out of the playoffs in the Championship.

Think we only dropped below top 3 for a few weeks.

In his 1st season Norwich finished 14th.

He has had a budget but they posted a £40mil loss when they were promoted which adjusted for covid probably wouldn't be a million miles from the loss we posted.

Has done a very good job but his team has been carried by Buendia and Pukki. They exceeded their xG by a mile when promoted (doing it again this season).

That suggests to me a couple of outstanding individuals rather than an outstanding team.

I don't think dropping out of the playoffs at a stage in the season means anything. Bielsa failed to get us promoted in his first season, just like Farke.

Whether they made a loss or profit is irrelevant in assessing what Farke has done in my opinion since a lot of that money will have been spent on historic transfers and wages etc.

Looking at the finances they made a profit of 30 million in the first year they got promoted and more than 30 million this year. Therefore Farke has got them promoted twice despite both seasons them selling a number of their best players. In comparison bielsa got us promoted with quite a considerable outlay on players (albeit potentially deferred a bit like the Costa deal)and with an enormous wage budget.

But saying that he's obviously had luck with the club finding pukki and buendia...and young talent coming through like max aarons, but still done a better job in the championship than bielsa imo although the point is a bit mute and will be interested to see how they do in the prem next year if they spend some money

[1964white]

Norwich thrash Coberon's Terriers 7-0 to go eight points clear at the top from Watford with automatic promotion almost sealed.

A hattrick & an assist for Pukki & a goal plus three assists for Buendia, these two canaries excel in the championship. Meanwhile after a decent start to the season Huddersfield have dropped down the table like a stone.

Brentford surprisingly held to a goalless draw at home.

[Chilli D]

I hope Brentford don't go up and they get rid of that long haired twat of a manager. There's something about him that really irritates me.

[weasel]

I don't think dropping out of the playoffs at a stage in the season means anything. Bielsa failed to get us promoted in his first season, just like Farke.

Whether they made a loss or profit is irrelevant in assessing what Farke has done in my opinion since a lot of that money will have been spent on historic transfers and wages etc.

Looking at the finances they made a profit of 30 million in the first year they got promoted and more than 30 million this year. Therefore Farke has got them promoted twice despite both seasons them selling a number of their best players. In comparison bielsa got us promoted with quite a considerable outlay on players (albeit potentially deferred a bit like the Costa deal)and with an enormous wage budget.

But saying that he's obviously had luck with the club finding pukki and buendia...and young talent coming through like max aarons, but still done a better job in the championship than bielsa imo although the point is a bit mute and will be interested to see how they do in the prem next year if they spend some money

Farke has done a superb job championship wise. However you just have to look at managers like Warnock who have consistently done well at Championship level yet fail abysmally in the premiership. I think there is a huge difference in assembling a team that can get out of the championship and a team that can then mix it in the premiership and for me that is where Bielsa has excelled as he didn't just build a team to do well in the championship but a team that would continue to develop and I do think would have stayed up comfortably without any new signings (if you look at it Raphinha has been the only regular anyway). Norwich are a flat track bully, excellent (better than us) at exploiting the weaknesses of a lot of championship teams but then falling flat in the premiership when the same tactics aren't as effective.

The financial side of things doesn't really make a difference. It wasn't like Bielsa signed a load of new expensive players when he took over at Leeds. He simply made the best out of players that were probably being paid far more than they should have been given their previous performances.