| Well done Rs — we’re top of the ‘league’ 16:25 - Jan 14 with 2697 views | loftus77 |
Well done to Ian Holloway and the team for yesterday (massive win; our single most important victory since relegation in 2015 — probably (maybe alongside Forest Home last season)?).
And the result got me thinking — always dangerous.
What we’re seeing in football (and have seen increasingly for some time) is the league structure not reflecting the real gap between teams. Now some would say that’s been bleeding obvious in the Premier League for years. With the Leicester ‘flash’ title excepted, 7th place and above is off limits for most clubs. But I think this now goes further down the league structure too.
IMHO what we are now seeing is a merging of 10th place and below in the Premier League with the top half of the Championship — on-the-field at least. For example, if you swapped Watford, Bourmenouth, Huddersfield and Brighton with Derby, Bristol City, Leeds and Forest would you really notice much difference in terms of on-field quality?
This is where the title of my (not so rambling) post (stay with me a bit) comes in. I think we are beginning to see the Championship change from being a League of Hell, where everyone beats up everyone else, to a league that has split in half as surely as the Premier League has done - as ‘big clubs’ like Wolves, Leeds and ‘Boro force up prices in chasing top flight dreams.
For teams like Rangers, we may have to accept, in the short and medium-term, that the top half of the Championship will be a ‘foreign land’ to us — our recent historical blunders, FFP and the parachute payment losses (I think all fans will agree) mean that we won’t be in this ‘club’ for some time to come while we sort ourselves out.
Viewed through this prism, you cans say that sitting today in 14th place in the Championship is effectively being ‘top’ of a third tier that stretches from us, in our lofty position, all the way down to the depths of League One (to include teams like MK Dons — they would never challenge us as at home, would they?).
This probably means that, for now, we honestly can’t compete off the field with teams like Fulham and Brentford — hate to say it, but Millwall are arguably our big rivals - which is probably why the recent defeat at the New Den hurt particularly badly.
So the upshot of all this, in the glow of yesterday, is actually positive. We’re 'top of the League'; the highest position of where we could hope to be right now. Don’t get me wrong; if we lose the next 6 on the bounce, I’ll be moaning about Ollie’s tactics with the best of them. But if we finish the season in 14th that would be some achievement; a big improvement on last season despite a real trimming of the squad.
If Ollie, the team and the club get things right on and off the field, of course we’ll hope to challenge the top half of the Championship again and go from there. But let’s hope all our fans see the need to have patience and appreciate what is actually being achieved at our club under massive financial pressure — as evidenced through results like yesterday.
[Post edited 14 Jan 2018 16:26]
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| Well done Rs — we’re top of the ‘league’ on 18:41 - Jan 14 with 2338 views | peejaybee |
Just about sums it up. |  |
| If at first you dont succeed, pack up and f**k off home. |
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| Well done Rs — we’re top of the ‘league’ on 19:14 - Jan 14 with 2248 views | Stanisgod |
Correct. The parachute money will only go up. FFP is a joke. |  |
| It's being so happy that keeps me going. |
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| Well done Rs — we’re top of the ‘league’ on 22:21 - Jan 14 with 1839 views | connell10 |
I agree with a lot of that apart from the Brentford bit, we are and always will be a much bigger club than them .... FACT! |  |
| AND WHEN I DREAM , I DREAM ABOUT YOU AND WHEN I SCREAM I SCREAM ABOUT YOU!!!!! | | Poll: | best number 10 ever? |
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| Well done Rs — we’re top of the ‘league’ on 06:38 - Jan 15 with 1707 views | derbyhoop |
Even If you accept Leicester winning the PL as an anomaly, it still doesn't explain how Huddersfield and Burnley are PL clubs, when they don't have resources. And Brentford are above us because they are well run and punching above their (traditional) weight.
In the grand scheme of things we are a lower half Championship side, except when we get virtually every aspect of the club, correct. The loss ofmparachure payments will hamper us in the short term, so it's even more important that we get scouting, transfers and youth development right. |  |
| Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one’s lifetime. (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop |
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| Well done Rs — we’re top of the ‘league’ on 07:08 - Jan 15 with 1692 views | daveB |
I think for this season I am content to be around mid table and think thats the best we can do at the moment but no reason why we can't push on and be in the top half next season if we get the transfer business right in the summer.
A lot of money now in the championship but despite how much the likes of Wolves, Villa, Boro, Sheff Wed etc have spent I don't think they are that much better than the rest and clubs like Bristol City, Cardiff and Brentford have shown it's not impossible to still challenge |  | | |
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