The Much Awaited Return of Promotion Maths

[Ad@m]

Controversial... but is Birmingham a football town? I think the size of the city dilutes the effect, unlike somewhere Liverpool or Newcastle.

We've sort of had this discussion before. There's no doubt that West Midlands clubs get lower crowds as a proportion of the population than North West and North East clubs.

Is that down to the range of leisure activities on offer? I'd be surprised if we've got that much more than the North West. It could be cultural though - there's definitely a broader mix of cultures in the Midlands compared to the North.

[mr underhill]

far out man.

[brian green]

One of the best one liners ever on television was on Not The Nine O'Clock News.

"There now follows a message to our viewers in the North.    We are so sorry"

[DB]

Sky mentioning Stoke may go for Rowett. Hopefully they get him and de-rail their promotion push.

[OCD]

Or we could go for Rowett and boost our own push while hurting a rival's.

[Ads]

Why? He's just Bruce if Bruce was from Bromsgrove and without the promotions.

[cheltenhamlion]

Why? He's just Bruce if Bruce was from Bromsgrove and without the promotions.

He does a bit more on the training pitch but I take your point. Rowett is very much a safety first manager.

[SoccerHQ]

Controversial... but is Birmingham a football town? I think the size of the city dilutes the effect, unlike somewhere Liverpool or Newcastle.

We've sort of had this discussion before. There's no doubt that West Midlands clubs get lower crowds as a proportion of the population than North West and North East clubs.

Is that down to the range of leisure activities on offer? I'd be surprised if we've got that much more than the North West. It could be cultural though - there's definitely a broader mix of cultures in the Midlands compared to the North.

Thing for me is think back to your schooldays and how many gloryhunting football fans there were compared to local club supporters. Just wouldn't happen in Merseyside or the North east.

West Midlands is certainly mixed as a football area. Certainly plenty of football fans but plenty support non local teams.

[Pete]

Further (subjective examples):

Leeds isnt a football town (it’s a rugby league town)
Leicester isn’t a football town (it’s a rugby union town)
London isnt a football town
Paris isn’t a football town
Preston is a football town


Whereas
Derby is a football town
Sunderland is a football town
São Paulo is a football town
Wigan isn’t a football town

Etc

I get where you're coming from with Leeds. Rugby was the established winter sport there first. Same goes for Bradford and Huddersfield. See also Bristol. Football of course became more popular in all these places because that's what football does. However I can see the reasoning that these might not be football towns.

This is demonstrably not true about Nottingham though with football teams dating from the 1860s and a rugby team dating from the 1870s. Personally I'd say any town/city with a team in the original 12 is a football town.

I wouldn't agree about Huddersfield. I've been here nearly 20 years and the club are a huge deal, currently pulling in over 15% of the population. It would be more if they had capacity, they have about 20,000 season ticket holders. Even when I first arrived when they were in the third and fourth divisions they averaged over 10,000. Rugby league is pretty popular but it's always been in the shadow of the football club. Winning the league three years on the bounce in the 1920s, plus legends like Shankly and Law, has embedded them in the local culture.

[IFWaters]

Derby play Bristol City next Friday.

I cant see anything but a Derby win at the moment, althugh I can see us pukking away from the chasing pack and overtaking Cardiff in the next 2-3 weeks.

[Toronto Villa]

Derby play Bristol City next Friday.

I cant see anything but a Derby win at the moment, althugh I can see us pukking away from the chasing pack and overtaking Cardiff in the next 2-3 weeks.

a draw will be very nice

[SoccerHQ]

40 more points will get us second I reckon.

10 points from the next four would be lovely and very achievable given the fixtures. I get the feeling we'll grind out an away win in Sheffield but draw one of the winnable home games.

[Ads]

I've felt and said that the strength in depth from February on would be when the likes of Derby, Fulham and ourselves claw back the points on the surprise packages of the season.

I have 92 points down as the requirement for 2nd to guarantee it but you may well be right SHQ.

10 points from the next 4 would be very good. We need to ensure we knock over Barnsley to make it 4 from 4 in this quintet of games. Puts us 4 points over the 2 points per game mark too.

[olaftab]

40 more points will get us second I reckon.

You could be correct as other than Wolves no one has averaged 2 points per game. Derby are on an incredible run and that will end soon however Cardiff are a bigger danger as they are proving to be resilient so far this season. I think if we get 40 plus 1 points from 20 games we will nail second position.

[SoccerHQ]

40 more points will get us second I reckon.

You could be correct as other than Wolves no one has averaged 2 points per game. Derby are on an incredible run and that will end soon however Cardiff are a bigger danger as they are proving to be resilient so far this season. I think if we get 40 plus 1 points from 20 games we will nail second position.

Cardiff just lost four in a row before they had the freebie of Sunderland at home.

Not sure they'll even make top 6.

Derby don't concede many and have plenty of strikers. They're very similar to us in terms of style aswell so think they'll be fighting for second until the last day.