Were we a bit unlucky last season?

[stainrodisalegend]

I know we made our own downfall but if you look at the bottom half of the Prem this year it looks really poor to me. Palace, Sunderland, Norwich, Fulham etc - if they were all in the Prem the season we were and playing as badly as they are now, I think it would have been a different story for us. Plus Hull are surely an accident waiting to happen, and Cardiff an unknown quantity. Ourselves and Wigan and even Reading on their day (OK, mainly against us...) looked a lot stronger than some of those teams. I mean, Palace with Gabbidon and Delaney, they might as well give up now. I know its all done and dusted and we are now playing Blackpool away so probably not worth worrying about but you see someone like Remy in a Newcastle shirt and Townsend in an England shirt and you do just wonder how Hughes AND Redknapp failed to keep us up, whatever the off-field issues.

I think the manner of our relegation still gets to me and is why I find I just can't get into this season like I have other ones, even though we are doing really well on and off the field. On the positive side if we do go up this season I think the board will be a lot more cautious about ripping the side to bits and will instead add just a few key players at first. Here's hoping, anyway.

[ZANNEYQPR]

I agree 100% still feel mugged off.

[12321]

After our back to back wins last season we had a real chance of survival and I really felt we would do it. Something happened to change Harry's resolve after that and he just have up and didn't summon up the resolve to fight on, he just resigned himself and the club to capitulation. Don't like revisiting those dark days but there I've gone and done it.

[Kevin Mcleod]

We just seemed to be so lacking in confidence and didnt believe we could win any game, no matter how poor the opposition (apart from the couple of times we were really up for it like chelsea). Dont think it would of been any different if the clubs there this season were there last. We would of still capitulated.

[Stanley]

Inferior quality players but with a strong and healthy team-spirit will always trump the reverse of that. If you compare our team spirit at the time to the teams currently struggling in the prem ours was probably the worst of the lot. That for me was the main reason for us going down; in that sense our relegation was deserved and nothing to do with bad luck. Too many bad apples and 'the wrong sort' etc having a detrimental effect on the dressing room. Harry realised this only too well, it was a nigh on impossible task to turn around with the amount of players involved which is why IMO he appeared resigned to our doom a couple of games before it was mathematically still possible to survive, especially after the last second Wigan equaliser which was probably the final nail in the coffin.

[Ramsgate Hoop]

Villa away - killed us for me. We win that and I think we would have survived.

[gator]

Inferior quality players but with a strong and healthy team-spirit will always trump the reverse of that. If you compare our team spirit at the time to the teams currently struggling in the prem ours was probably the worst of the lot. That for me was the main reason for us going down; in that sense our relegation was deserved and nothing to do with bad luck. Too many bad apples and 'the wrong sort' etc having a detrimental effect on the dressing room. Harry realised this only too well, it was a nigh on impossible task to turn around with the amount of players involved which is why IMO he appeared resigned to our doom a couple of games before it was mathematically still possible to survive, especially after the last second Wigan equaliser which was probably the final nail in the coffin.

This

[Ed the Ball]

Villa away - killed us for me. We win that and I think we would have survived.

Yep fully agree with that. When we let in the goal at the end of the first half was the end for us. Cesar standing there like a donut. Brazil my arris

[Johnnykc]

Inferior quality players but with a strong and healthy team-spirit will always trump the reverse of that. If you compare our team spirit at the time to the teams currently struggling in the prem ours was probably the worst of the lot. That for me was the main reason for us going down; in that sense our relegation was deserved and nothing to do with bad luck. Too many bad apples and 'the wrong sort' etc having a detrimental effect on the dressing room. Harry realised this only too well, it was a nigh on impossible task to turn around with the amount of players involved which is why IMO he appeared resigned to our doom a couple of games before it was mathematically still possible to survive, especially after the last second Wigan equaliser which was probably the final nail in the coffin.

Agree.....I was absolutely gutted after that....

[Stanley]

Yep fully agree with that. When we let in the goal at the end of the first half was the end for us. Cesar standing there like a donut. Brazil my arris

IIRC wasn't that more to do with Bosingwa leaving him exposed?

[stainrodisalegend]

Inferior quality players but with a strong and healthy team-spirit will always trump the reverse of that. If you compare our team spirit at the time to the teams currently struggling in the prem ours was probably the worst of the lot. That for me was the main reason for us going down; in that sense our relegation was deserved and nothing to do with bad luck. Too many bad apples and 'the wrong sort' etc having a detrimental effect on the dressing room. Harry realised this only too well, it was a nigh on impossible task to turn around with the amount of players involved which is why IMO he appeared resigned to our doom a couple of games before it was mathematically still possible to survive, especially after the last second Wigan equaliser which was probably the final nail in the coffin.

Don't disagree with much of that. I wd simply say that despite all that stuff such as lack of team morale etc I still think we wd be in with a shout of survival this year. We were better than Palace and Sunderland are now, and then you only have to look at Norwich being ripped apart 7-0 and think they cd completely implode which - despite everything - we never did.

[maverick69]

In a perverse sort of way I think we were lucky.

Old Pube Head and his sub-consortium of Mike Rigg and Kia Joorabchian had managed to construct an all consuming cancer of a team - one that was no way shape or form sustainable for a club like ours..... and the board knew it. Thus, getting religated was the best thing to happen to us as we have our club back in full remission.

Of course - we must go straight back up beacuse of the bounty on offer - and there is no way that we can sustain the team we have in the Champ for more than a couple of years...... So it's all a bit on edge.......

But I'd rather be in this situation than experiencing the trainwreck which was last season.

[godfrey]

i thought we wre just rubbish!

[Greg1882]

In a perverse sort of way I think we were lucky.

Old Pube Head and his sub-consortium of Mike Rigg and Kia Joorabchian had managed to construct an all consuming cancer of a team - one that was no way shape or form sustainable for a club like ours..... and the board knew it. Thus, getting religated was the best thing to happen to us as we have our club back in full remission.

Of course - we must go straight back up beacuse of the bounty on offer - and there is no way that we can sustain the team we have in the Champ for more than a couple of years...... So it's all a bit on edge.......

But I'd rather be in this situation than experiencing the trainwreck which was last season.

Spot on

[Ed the Ball]

IIRC wasn't that more to do with Bosingwa leaving him exposed?

As well as that! Also imo the Villa keeper won it for them that day, made three or four worldy saves. We stormed the first half.
Oh well we are where we are now, in a good position.