MC's son & his friends were apparently in the away end at Ewood Park on Friday evening:
@exmil don't get me wrong. There is nothing like the elixir of success and regardless of next season, as a fan I live in the present and will be over the moon if we do get promoted.
That said, I recall the feeling of excited anticipation of going to see Boro, my Boro, our Boro play in the First Division for the first time in mine and may other thousands' lifetimes. I was going to get to see all those top clubs with their top players in the flesh, not just 7 minute highlights on MOTD. You know, my abiding memory is of thinking to myself on many occasions, 'What was all the fuss about?' The big difference was that these teams and these players could cheat better than anything I was used to seeing in the 2nd Division and that by and large the football was more entertaining and definitely more honest in the lower tier.
We did quite well back then, was it 6th or 7th we finished the season.
Well, should we make it this season ( and of course I want us to ) it is extremely unlikely we will have anything like that level of success and the cheating will be in a class above that from the First Division in the 70s and we will endure watching Boro, my Boro, our Boro get caned more times than not.
And there's the rub. We want the success, but if we have that we also know we will have to face the reality of the gulf between the top three of the Championship and almost any team in the Premier League.
In many ways the thinking is right, it might be better from an entertainment point of view to be in the mix for promotion every year, but just missing put each time.
Ah, but the elixir...
Martin Bellamy, Powmill-Naemore, I do understand the point you are making about the likelihood of defeat most weeks, as I know the feelings I have had walking home after a disappointing result at the Riverside. The way I look at it financially is the amount of money the club will get coming 20th in the Premiership as opposed to a losing finalist in the playoff final (including the money for finishing 3rd to 6th) to be able to buy better players for the coming season, I think we are talking about more than £100m.
The real secret is not overextended the club with outrageous purchases on long expensive contracts such as Ravanelli, Gascogne, Merson and many more. It seems to me that MFC have at last got their recruitment strategy in order, we seem to have some real prospects coming through the age groups, so much so that some premiership teams are looking to poach a couple of our under 18’s or maybe younger.
Come on BORO.
@Martin-bellamy and @Exmil.
I don’t want to see us get thrashed every week and wait for the inevitable relegation but would much prefer that we were strong enough to stay out of the bottom three and then build from that point; we might then just emulate the likes of Brighton, Bournemouth, Wolves and Forest.
To do that we need to be able to challenge for automatic promotion which we are currently well short of being able to do. The gap between the top of the Championship and the rest of the league seems to have grown over the years and it is highly debatable if it can be bridged, apart from the occasional “one of” such as Ipswich.
The reality is that we may have to accept, initially, a one season promotion to fill the coffers and perhaps a couple of yo yo seasons which may allow us to survive longer team in the PL but at the moment it remains a dream with the reality still some way off. 😎
@k-p-in-spain Not wrong KP. The reality is that we will just [have to] accept whatever it is the gods will ordain for us. However all of the cookies will inevitable crumble, each season we all want the best possible outcome for our team.