What if...

[wolfman999]

Assuming we are playing in the Championship next year, which for some unfathomable reason appears to be Lerner's plan (so it will cost less to run the club maybe), what if we have a great year and look like getting promoted back.

Is he going to scupper any promotion push?

Sounds crazy but no more so than the decisions of the last three years.

Opinions please.

[not3bad]

So assuming he wants us in the championship and assuming we go down and then assuming we do well in the championship then guess why he'd would possibly want to do something.  Can we include a few more what ifs in that question?

[wolfman999]

IF IF IF IF IF IF IF  There are you happy now

[supertom]

I'm looking forward to being a mid-table club again next season. At least will win as many as we'll lose.

[N'Zimidy]

I was just going to make this topic. In all honesty we NEED to get rid of the deadwood and have a proper clear-out. If we chuck £50k a week on two or three players each January to make sure we stay up, the cycle of depressing seasons would continue and continue. If we can pull off a Newcastle by getting rid of the deadwood and having a young squad start afresh in the Championship then, with some astute foreign signings, we could be in the same position we were 3 years ago with a much cheaper, younger squad.

You never know, this squad of ours might still cling onto survival and we would have done so without bringing in any overpriced rubbish like Parker / SWP / Palacios who would command wages of 60k+. Making us much healthier in the summer and able to invest in some quality like Vlaar / Lowton / Benteke all over again for very little wages.

If we were to go down then all of these players would be off the books almost immediately:

Given (50k), Vlaar (30k), Dunne (50k), Ireland (75k), N'Zogbia (50k), Makoun (35k), Petrov (40k), Bent (80k) and Benteke (25k).

Might leave:

Agbonlahor, El Ahmadi, Guzan, Holman

So we will probably end up with a squad looking like:

Guzan, Lowton, Baker, Clark, Bennett, Stephens, Sylla, Westwood, Delph, Bannan, Herd, El Ahmadi, Gardner, Carruthers, Dawkins, Weimann, Agbonlahor, Holman, Bowery

In all honesty, that squad isn't god awful. Our midfield / defence would be the same as it is now, we'd only really lose Benteke and Vlaar from the starting line-up and we would have most of our wages cut from the wage bill. A bit of investment from selling players or even from Lerner and we would be in a very strong position to finish top of the Championship. We do have to be smart about our wage situation from now on in and I think a manager like Lambert would do very well with a clean slate and an opportunity to have free reign over the wage bill rather than having to work to lower it considerably.

Relegation would be awful but it wouldn't kill us. I don't welcome it but I think it might be good for us in the long run.

[supertom]

Think we'd need a couple of older, reliable heads in. West Ham did great business signing Nolan when they went down. It's paid dividends in getting them back up and keeping them there. A signing or two of that ilk would not only have helped us this season, but next season could be invaluable in jumping straight back up and having someone to help keep us up.

[atticus snood]

I'm sure Forest, Leeds, Sheffield (Wednesday and  United) Blackburn, Leeds, Leicester, Derby and Wimbledon all thought it might make them stronger if they were relegated.

[wolfman999]

I can understand the logic of saying a year out to re-group etc. but that takes no account of the TV money on offer next year. £60M to the team finishing 20th has been quoted.

The potential for those clubs in the Premiership to strengthen their squads surely means it will be much more difficult for promoted teams to compete and get established.

It's tough enough as it is, and if you look at the last few years, often the relegation places are filled with sides that only came up the year before.

[supertom]

I'm sure Forest, Leeds, Sheffield (Wednesday and  United) Blackburn, Leeds, Leicester, Derby and Wimbledon all thought it might make them stronger if they were relegated.

We haven't put ourselves in the financial mess some of those clubs have. And if we can make a decent appointment in the summer we should be able to put ourselves in the Newcastle bracket and come back up.

Of course our finances could suddenly look troublesome come Sept and if Randy is still here, the chances of the right appointment would be slim.
I think we should come straight up. Mid-table at worst. I don't see a Leeds style implosion.

[N'Zimidy]

I can understand the logic of saying a year out to re-group etc. but that takes no account of the TV money on offer next year. £60M to the team finishing 20th has been quoted.

The potential for those clubs in the Premiership to strengthen their squads surely means it will be much more difficult for promoted teams to compete and get established.

It's tough enough as it is, and if you look at the last few years, often the relegation places are filled with sides that only came up the year before.

The teams around us like QPR are spending beyond their means to try and scrape together a rescue attempt. Even with the new TV deal they can't afford the wages they're putting out. We spend £150k a week on three news players this January and the new TV deal still wouldn't cover that expenditure. We are simply spending too much right now.

However, if we go down, we will keep our first team together and when we get promoted the year after, with the new TV money, we will be able to have a field day in the transfer market and really establish ourselves as a top half side.

[supertom]

I can understand the logic of saying a year out to re-group etc. but that takes no account of the TV money on offer next year. £60M to the team finishing 20th has been quoted.

The potential for those clubs in the Premiership to strengthen their squads surely means it will be much more difficult for promoted teams to compete and get established.

It's tough enough as it is, and if you look at the last few years, often the relegation places are filled with sides that only came up the year before.

The teams around us like QPR are spending beyond their means to try and scrape together a rescue attempt. Even with the new TV deal they can't afford the wages they're putting out. We spend £150k a week on three news players this January and the new TV deal still wouldn't cover that expenditure. We are simply spending too much right now.

However, if we go down, we will keep our first team together and when we get promoted the year after, with the new TV money, we will be able to have a field day in the transfer market and really establish ourselves as a top half side.

Randy is that you? Where the hell have you been!?

[Rip Van We Go Again]

When we go down, we won't be coming up anytime soon with Retard Lerner and Skidmark Faulkner pulling the strings.

[IronDukeVillain]

Who is going to take all those players off our hands? i did read somewhere that it would cost us £17 million in wages as we have not included relegation clauses in contracts? A Friend of mine was a Derby fan and he always said at least we will win matches when we get relegated and play in the Championship. Not an easy league to play in at all.

[Mortimer's Bear]

McGrath was one of us?

[tomd2103]

I was just going to make this topic. In all honesty we NEED to get rid of the deadwood and have a proper clear-out. If we were to go down then all of these players would be off the books almost immediately:

Given (50k), Vlaar (30k), Dunne (50k), Ireland (75k), N'Zogbia (50k), Makoun (35k), Petrov (40k), Bent (80k) and Benteke (25k).

Absolutely no guarantee we would be able to get rid of all of those.  Why would Given and Ireland go anywhere when they are unlikely to get the kind of money we are paying them?