Is relegation a possibility?

This alarming slide down the league is starting to worry me, 1 win in the last 5, 4 convincing defeats, we've conceded 14 in those games.

NL is yet another manager unable to correct our away form and has zero experience in a relegation dogfight.

I think we are goners.

I can't see us getting relegated but I feel we will still finish somewhere in the bottom half though.

same here KP. I can't see us going down but a lower mid table finish looks likely.

Relegation is a distinct possibility, but after the start to the season we had (again...), it always has been.

We've no money to sign new (and better) players, we're being crippled by injuries and we've got a manager who has never been in this situation before so the threat of getting dragged back into the bottom three is very real.

But should we be surprised?

The writing was on the wall when Lennon brought Gudjohnsen and Heskey in.

Would a club with any any sort of disposable income available for transfers even consider signing either of those two?

Would they bollocks!

Let's not lose sight of the big picture here: Finishing fourth from the bottom is success, given where we are financially and the start that we had under Freedman. (Remember the Fulham game?)

Will we go down? 

Possibly, possibly not.

Should we all be annoyed that Lennon hasn't been able to mould the existing squad into promotion contenders?

Get real........it was never going to happen.

I only hope that Gartside and Davies either make some money available for three or four permanent signings in the summer or ED sells the club to someone who will.

But I fear that neither of those things will happen and it'll be more of the same next year.

And the year after that......

Until Lennon gets fed up and walks or we inevitably go down.

This is where we are now, people, and The Prem is a distant memory - get used to it.

well thats cheered me up no end Breaders thanks very much!

I don't think we're goners by any means but we're in trouble again, thankfully Millwall haven't been able to close the gap otherwise we'd be in real shit. Looks like Wigan and Blackpool are all but gone at this point. 

NL needs a couple of big performances at home coming up to cement us in mediocrity and plan for next season. Otherwise yes relegation will be staring us in the face.

Norpig wrote:well thats cheered me up no end Breaders thanks very much!

Just call it "own back" for your picture of a semi-naked Randy. 

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I don't think we're goners by any means but we're in trouble again, thankfully Millwall haven't been able to close the gap otherwise we'd be in real shit. Looks like Wigan and Blackpool are all but gone at this point. 

NL needs a couple of big performances at home coming up to cement us in mediocrity and plan for next season. Otherwise yes relegation will be staring us in the face.

The comment about us being goners was me fishing.

I am worried about us though

I had us as dead certs to go down under Doogie.  Now it's still a possibility but I think we will end up around 15th or so.  Although a couple more home losses will make things exciting. We still have one of the worst away records of anybody so I usually just write those off.  So home games are vital...starting with tomorrow.

Boggersbelief wrote:

Hipster_Nebula wrote:I don't think we're goners by any means but we're in trouble again, thankfully Millwall haven't been able to close the gap otherwise we'd be in real shit. Looks like Wigan and Blackpool are all but gone at this point. 

NL needs a couple of big performances at home coming up to cement us in mediocrity and plan for next season. Otherwise yes relegation will be staring us in the face.

The comment about us being goners was me fishing.

I am worried about us though

I am too. We're definitely not safe.

I'm pretty confident in saying we won't go down. Our home form and the form of the others below should ensure we live to fight another day in the championship but we certainly won't be tearing up any trees in the foreseeable future. The new manager effect has worn off and it's back down to grafting for results with a distinctly average team. I still think with a few additions and a decent start to next season we can look to an outside chance of the playoffs and a top half finish at worst. My glass is always half full. I live in hope and optimism. I still think lennon was the right appointment and hopefully he'll come good in the end.

Having been pilloried for even suggesting we could be in a relegation fight months ago during the Lennon bounce and believing that our poor start was more to do with the squad than the manager it's refreshing to see a dose of realism on here.
Always thought that the squad was good enough to improve from rock bottom regardless of who the manager was but never anywhere near good enough to challenge for promotion so I think we've found our level and should survive comfortably unless there's another meltdown.
Recent games have been tough and TBH I didn't expect many points but we only need a handful of wins to pull away and we can hopefully start that by stuffing Brighton.

We need continuity to rebuild instead of all these short term signings., managerial changes and unrealistic expectations so hopefully Mr. Lennon will keep us safe and then take the challenge of rebuilding on.

We have some really tough away fixtures, but on the others side most of our home fixtures look like we should get enough points, if the injury situation doesn't improve it will depend on enough points from our home form. plus we only really need to be better than Millwall if we beat them we should be fine.

wessy wrote:We have some really tough away fixtures, but on the others side most of our home fixtures look like we should get enough points, if the injury situation doesn't improve it will depend on enough points from our home form. plus we only really need to be better than Millwall if we beat them we should be fine.

Last time I was confident Wigan were going down they suddenly won a shedload of games to prove me wrong, the barstewards. Fingers crossed they sink this time.

If Lennon continues to throw games away then we'll lose to the teams below us and will be joining Wigan, or at worst replacing them.

scottjames30 wrote:If Lennon continues to throw games away then we'll lose to the teams below us and will be joining Wigan, or at worst replacing them.

Your optimism v pessimism level is up and down like a bride's nightie Scott.

I think we will get enough points at home to see us safe. 3 away at Wigan would also come in handy.

Hello all. I think we'll stay up and be comfortable (eg finish around 17th) but that's all. A downturn in form was inevitable at some point after Lennon came in with a sting of results that were good to excellent because the reality was always that the players simply aren't good enough to make a sustained charge up the table. 

Or rather, our best 11 might have been able to do it but injuries and suspensions meant we'd always have to go to the back ups and we simply don't have any strength in depth whatsoever. 

We simply have to accept that this season was effectively over by October and that all Neil could be reasonably expected to do this term was keep us up and steady the ship. Our home form is much better than it was but our away form remains dire and no side can be serious contenders for promotion when that's the case. 

Will things improve next season? It's all about the money. Right now we don't have any so I don't think the squad will get much better if at all BUT even if I'm right I expect we'll do better overall. I can't see us starting the season the way we have done for the last two years and as a result we shouldn't have to worry about the drop the way we have done this term.

Less likely after scraping that home win.

Our home form is too good to see us go down.