Throwing Bad Money After Good - the EFL and Beyond 2017-18

I'm starting to think there was never a serious intention to get another striker in

Perhaps, but Locadia sure thought he was well on his way to youse; he's been p sour about how it all fell through in September. All water under the bridge now bcz things are crescendo.

Do you feel Wolves are the 'team to hate and beat' this season with the Mendes link? I don't see it that way, but could see other teams scoff at the Premiership level players you brought in. (I don't know if Wolves get more sympathy or scorn from neutrals tbh).

Wish I could see more of it; it's not streaming here (anymore), miss the highlights since the Beeb got rid of them.

i think we definitely started the season a bit below the radar of the insular English football media - most of the signings/loans are youngsters and not yet established international names. i feel like even Neves was relatively unknown since the Prem's big dogs lost interest in him. the Mendes stuff seems to have died down but i don't read the gutter press so i dunno. i feel like we're ignored quite a lot by the media and i've no idea what neutrals think about the club, probably not much, yet. if we're still top 3 come March i think the "bought promotion" shit might ramp up.

I kind of hate Lee Johnson/Bristol City

The Kennedy Assasination

I don't want to interrupt that thread with ILF talk but I wanted to note it.

Clint Hill gets booked for climbing, is the gist.

haaa

mentioning him is a v quick way to make me sad that nakh and rtc are no longer among us tho

indeed, this thread has been a bit of a graveyard this year. maybe i will spice things up by (in an act of calculated hubris) predicting blandford's boys to go down by four tomorrow

Exeter are being weird, as usual, all up and down, but I never want to post when we're doing well - who wants to read about some nothing lower league team on a good run? - and I never want to post when we're doing badly, because in order to remain a decent human being and not make my lovely wife's life a misery when we lose, I try not to think about football.

I love Reuben Reid as much, I think, as I've ever loved a footballer. And that's even with him being ex-Argyle. But it was when the interviewer asked why he doesn't celebrate when he scores, and he thought about it and said (something to the effect of) "if I score I don't feel like celebrating because I'm mostly relieved". Man alive.

lol! I'm sure if mark was into football he would have found some way to introduce a Neil Warnock joke to the JFK thread or something.

I might put on Radio Leeds for a laugh tonight.

who wants to read about some nothing lower league team on a good run?

goddamit man this could've been the thread title

http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/cwclp.gif

excited to sheffield united to get bad around xmas then make the playoffs then lose

could replace Sheff U with about 12 other clubs in that sentence

also i could say that sentence most years since 1997

anyway, as long as Cardiff, Derby and Leeds fail i'm good

Leeds still up there with the cushion of a good start, but have lost 4 out of the last 5 in the league ;-;

for the benefit of my non-Facebook pals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9AC00fs6hI

tbh a dignified silence would be the most fitting accompaniment to this promotion purchase :P

fcuk that i've been dignified long enough

also FUCKING COME ON BRISTOL YOU MOANING CUNTS

Clarke (53' minutes, 76' minutes, 80' minutes, 88' minutes)

great scott!

the Championship results today are insane haha :D

Birmingham in the relegation zone. No club deserves relegation more

some of those ILE big-club snobs disparage it, but what a fucking league!

SECOND ROUND HERE WE COME

fuck's sake City, we could've been 4 clear

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DN3evyKX0AMLa7W.jpg

Shame that sentiment extended to the pitch. We really only scraped past them, bless their hearts. Their keeper made a terrible mistake for our third, just when they looked like they might get back into it, I’d have felt bad for him if he’d had a better haircut.

Wild blades game

Clarke is a bit of an enigma wrapped up in piddle. He goes on these incredible goalscoring runs which usually result in a sideways or upwards move in the next transfer window, and then he's shit again. I think by now he'll know this will be his last big gig, and his last chance to get into the bigtime.

He's an absolute wasteman ffs

I have some pretty low standards of "absolute wasteman" in my old memory bank, as in players like Eddie Youds, Malvin Kamara, Simon Baldry, Danny Adams, Kwami Houdoto etc.. that made you wish you'd taken up a heroin addiction habit rather a season ticket. But Clarke when he is "on it" is quite a formidable presence in a team, the rest of the time he is a wasteman.

always thought he was a tryer, just not actually any good. and yet

shall we just drink this in

2003–2007 Wolverhampton Wanderers 74 (13)
2004 → Kidderminster Harriers (loan) 4 (0)
2006 → Queens Park Rangers (loan) 1 (0)
2006 → Plymouth Argyle (loan) 5 (0)
2007–2010 Sheffield Wednesday 83 (18)
2007 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 5 (3)
2007–2008 → Southend United (loan) 16 (8)
2010–2011 Queens Park Rangers 13 (0)
2011 → Preston North End (loan) 6 (1)
2011–2012 Swindon Town 2 (0)
2011 → Chesterfield (loan) 14 (9)
2012–2013 Charlton Athletic 7 (0)
2012 → Crawley Town (loan) 4 (1)
2012 → Scunthorpe United (loan) 15 (11)
2013 → Coventry City (loan) 1 (0)
2013–2014 Coventry City 34 (23)
2014–2015 Wolverhampton Wanderers 29 (3)
2015 → Wigan Athletic (loan) 10 (1)
2015–2016 Bury 32 (15)
2016– Sheffield United 36 (15)

who knows what that could extend to by the time he's 37

oh yes
13/14 was the season we had leon clarke and callum wilson up front :)

That is 189 (79) since the start of this decade, and of course decent goalscoring stats can paper over a multitude of deficiencies (The entire career of Micheal Owen for starters) but still he has been a far better striker than Lee Novak, for starters!

why are we just listing charlton wastemen now, lemme guess you'll want to talk about andy gray next

Anyone you'd particularly like to draw in the second round, Caek? Shrews at your place would sound tasty? Second round really is just something I desperately hope to get through, though, all second round draws make me nervous.

MAtt Oakley (who took charge of our lot for yesterdays game actually did say "It was a banana skin waiting to happen."

Someone to knock us out tbh. Too many season ms ruined by cup runs

That's kind of how I feel too. Didn't really want to get through to the next round of the Trophy either.

We're ball 13. Unlucky for us.

That was pretty much the worst conceivable draw.

Not so bad if your objective was to get knocked out? Could've done with a team who drew better crowds, obv.

We're away at Forest stupid Green, where we've already won this season, but they've gained some form and we've lost some since then. Would take the draw and replay right now if it was offered.

we have boreham wood at home which hopefully means a chance of a tv game

also, hope they smash us

from what i've heard (from other charlton fans), fleetwood is actually a very pleasant place to watch football - friendly stewards, decent food and a good atmosphere. getting there being the problem

I suppose not so bad in terms of getting knocked out, but a pain to get to and their attendance not setting the world on fire (about the same as ours). Might make a weekend in Blackpool out of it.

I would have liked to have been in with a shout of tv, but doubt they'll be on again. I am just being grumpy about it tbh.

On the other hand, when the last eight balls were still in I was sure it was going to be Carlisle away. That would have been worse.

at least you're not having to play a team you played two weeks ago, in possibly the dullest match you've had for two or three years, except now at their place, which is a sunken pit they nicked off another club

(sorry blandford)

xp Fair enough. Although Carlisle away is always a pleasure.

I was looking down the list and it just made me clearer that there'd be no good away draw in the second round for us, none of the bigger clubs would be excited enough about us to mean a bumper payday, everyone else is a source of fear. Just gotta hope we get through with a chance of a glory day out / big payday (recognising that it's far more likely that we get drawn away to0 Burton and have neither, no disrespect to Burton etc).

For the first time in ages, however, we're not looking at the cup thinking it makes the difference between financial comfort for another year and financial ruin. We've had a really good run of selling players on and it seems like things are steady just now. That's before the fee for Ethan Ampadu is agreed with Chelsea (rumour has it we've asked for £3m, which doesn't seem like very much for a player who's already getting into their matchday squads at 17), they won't go north of £1.5m.)

Rumours beginning to circulate we're a Sunday kickoff, which makes the weekend away look like the best bet.

I don't know why I'm so miserable about it to be honest, it'll be a great day out and we've made a good amount of money out of the cup so far. I reckon our away form is better than home in any case so we probably have a very outside chance* (although they looked far too strong for us last night).

* if we can solve the fact we still don't have a left back (currently playing a right back on the wrong side of the pitch) and all our central midfielders are injured (currently playing a left winger as DM - ignoring the fact it means we are then missing a left winger - and Bobby Purdie, zimmer frame and all, as AM).

It seems like a long way to go and a lot of money to pay to watch us get spanked, then again, Wembley two years ago.