Would we be ready for The Championship?

The financial outlook would be interesting considering what is going on in the world.
Player values & fee`s could crash.
Salaries could go the same way.
Some good players maybe available "cheap".
We have a good few who can certainly hold their own.
TV revenue may increase, some sort of tiered "pay per game" is not beyond the realms of possibility.
Match day revenue maybe greatly reduced.

Interesting times.

Moore and Dickie can cut it if we can keep them. Eastwood too. Brannagan. Taylor. It's something to build off.

Ruffels ain't a Championship LB, he'd get ruined every week. He's only just up to L1 standard- and it's just down to being too slow. Decent footballer but just not there.

Long, Henry (as he ages), Sykes, Agyei, Gorrin. All great at L1 but my gut says they are not up to Championship standard.

We could compete but I really do think it would be a huge ask to stay up. I'd love to be proved wrong and I'm desperate to be in that league- the best league in the world in my book. Great fun either way and I think we'd all just have to be realistic with any expectations...

Add Hanson, Woodburn etc. to the list of who would struggle in my book.

It's not a damning thing to say- just a reflection on how high the standard is in that league.

I think it would be an amazing season we will struggle but if we do it right sign the right players to add to the players we’ve got we could have a lot of fun I just hope we’re able to get to few games and they don’t lockdown all stadiums for next season

You’re never going to be totally ready for anything in life until you actually do it. You learn to drive more after you pass your test and you’re out on your own than you do being behind the wheel with an instructor. You learn more about your job role by doing it than you do by reading up on the description. You have it off more and more and eventually if you’re really good you can last a full three minutes before blowing your beans.

Don’t overspend, give it a go and if you come down again, you might be able to do so with a few better players than you went up with. Or at least with a few quid in your pocket to recruit back in L1 for another go at bobbing back up.

I simply cannot for the life of me understand anybody who thinks promotion should be avoided. What’s the bloody point in going to watch every week and hoping we lose just enough games to avoid success?

RyanioBirdio said:

You’re never going to be totally ready for anything in life until you actually do it. You learn to drive more after you pass your test and you’re out on your own than you do being behind the wheel with an instructor. You learn more about your job role by doing it than you do by reading up on the description. You have it off more and more and eventually if you’re really good you can last a full three minutes before blowing your beans.

Don’t overspend, give it a go and if you come down again, you might be able to do so with a few better players than you went up with. Or at least with a few quid in your pocket to recruit back in L1 for another go at bobbing back up.

I simply cannot for the life of me understand anybody who thinks promotion should be avoided. What’s the bloody point in going to watch every week and hoping we lose just enough games to avoid success?

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well put @RyanioBirdio

Charlton (last seasons play off winners) may well survive this year so there is no reason to fear being in the Champ. Our money men may also take more of an interest if they could sniff the prem riches.

Never a better time to find out.

As others have said, whenever and whatever the new season looks like, it's sure to be a great leveller.

You have to imagine that there would be a surfeit of decent footballers without a contract willing to play for whatever wage they can get in order to keep their hand in.

Perhaps my head is in the sand...but once again, it becomes a matter of good management, inspired recruitment and a wee bit of luck....just like football used to be.

RyanioBirdio said:

You have it off more and more and eventually if you’re really good you can last a full three minutes before blowing your beans.

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No one likes a boaster.

RyanioBirdio said:

You have it off more and more and eventually if you’re really good you can last a full three minutes before blowing your beans.

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...right up until someone like Matty Taylor comes along and ruins it all....and you're done in fifteen seconds all over again.

I'm gagging for it. Huge teams. Underdogs in every game.

Make them come to the K*ssam- which is funny and punishing in itself- then go to their lovely, massive grounds and turn them over. P**s every off basically.

Yes please.

Let’s get past Monday night first eh?

Why shouldnt we be able to stay up. For those of us who were there in the 80s, Division 3 Champions, Division 2 Champions. Nobody gave us a chance, look where that took us. Milk Cup Winners. With the right set up which we had then under Jim Smith ( Maurice Evans Cup Winners )., nothing is impossible if done right. with KR at the helm i think we would have a great chance of having a decent season. So lets be positive and fill the Kassam next season. With a bit of luck it may even wake up the South Stand.

A mate of mine is a Brentford fan - similar ground size and following to us, and until recently they were League One stalwarts. They've been in the Championship for a few years now and are currently in the playoffs places. So if they can do it, why can't we?

Sure we'll have to improve our squad a bit, but by being in the Championship that means you can attract a higher quality of player.

boogaloo said:

A mate of mine is a Brentford fan - similar ground size and following to us, and until recently they were League One stalwarts. They've been in the Championship for a few years now and are currently in the playoffs places. So if they can do it, why can't we?

Sure we'll have to improve our squad a bit, but by being in the Championship that means you can attract a higher quality of player.

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Two players who regularly feature in Brentford's team without looking out of place? Baptiste and Fosu. So obviously we can attract and develop players good enough to play at that level - if we are in the Championship we can probably retain them for longer as well.

RyanioBirdio said:

You’re never going to be totally ready for anything in life until you actually do it. You learn to drive more after you pass your test and you’re out on your own than you do being behind the wheel with an instructor. You learn more about your job role by doing it than you do by reading up on the description. You have it off more and more and eventually if you’re really good you can last a full three minutes before blowing your beans.

Don’t overspend, give it a go and if you come down again, you might be able to do so with a few better players than you went up with. Or at least with a few quid in your pocket to recruit back in L1 for another go at bobbing back up.

I simply cannot for the life of me understand anybody who thinks promotion should be avoided. What’s the bloody point in going to watch every week and hoping we lose just enough games to avoid success?

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Who, anywhere, is saying that it should be avoided? I simply posed the question would we be ready not should we avoid it.

This is our best chance to go up and who knows when we might get into this position (promotion or play-offs) in L1 again.
The teams coming down from the Championship are likely to be strong, and there will still be Sunderland Ipswich Portsmouth Fleetwood Peterborough all going for it next year too.
The owners and managers and coaches here are now well established, so we aren't looking at a situation of a change of owner and then manager who wants a clean sweep of backroom staff and players.

So short of a new billionaire owner wanting to really splash the cash, there isn't a better time to go up. Also covid might mean some teams struggle next season in the Championship when ordinarily they would be OK.

Going up through the play-offs could a bit of a handicap as they are usually the last club to know which league they're going to be in come the start of the next season, which could hinder player recruitment. However, as our season finishes before the end of the Championship season, this might not be as bad.

That said, over the last 10 years only two teams who were promoted via the League One play-off went straight back down again (Yeovil 2013-14 & Rotherham 2018-19).

Oslernorth said:

With so many clubs having to tighten their belts because of the pandemic, this may be an ideal time to go up. It could be quite a leveller.

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I think this is absolutely true.

At the moment, there is a massive gulf in revenues in the Championship.
Looking at the figures from 2018 (the most recent I can get my hands on), the smallest clubs (your Burtons and Brentfords) had revenues in the 12-15m range.
The bulk of this was made up of TV revenue - which was 8m per year then, but I believe has since gone up by about a third with the new TV deal.

But the biggest established Championship clubs had revenues up to 40m.
Leeds, for example, were earning 17m in match day revenue, and another 17m in commercial revenue.
So basically Leeds are making 3-4x as much as some of their peers (and are thus able to spend accordingly).

If we have a 2020-21 season where no fans, or limited numbers of fans, are allowed into grounds - then those 'big' Championship clubs are going to be hit disproportionately hard. Their revenues, particularly match day but also commercial to an extent, are going to take a big hit, and they're going to have to cut costs accordingly.

The massive gap that currently exists is going to be reduced, and therefore I think that's going to give us or Wycombe a better chance than we would otherwise have had to compete. Despite Covid, Monday's winners revenues for next year are going to go up in a big way at the same time that a lot of Championship clubs' revenues are going to be seeing a big dip.


Of course, this doesn't mean that I think we would actually be able to fight for promotion.
What I didn't factor into the above equation is parachute payments, and those are going to tip the scales even more next season than they usually do.
Anyone who's been in the Premier League in the last three years is going to have a massive financial advantage over anyone else in next season's Championship, particularly whoever comes down this year who's going to be handed 40m+ out the gate.

I think the championship is a bloody good league. Taylor, Browne, Brannigan etc are top players in L1, but non of them are proven in the league above. The Champ is now largely seen as a clip on to the Prem. L1 and 2 are a fair way behind. I think we would have to invest considerably in the squad in order to stay up (if we are successful at Wembley of course). We wont have a better opportunity than this, but Wycombe are looking pretty good in my opinion. I hope we do it though...it would force a few hands as the Kassam Stadium could suddenly start to look unfit for purpose with the likes of Leeds, WBA, Birmingham in town.