Mid-table mediocrity

[bakajack]

More money is being thrown around in the Championship this season than any that I can ever remember.

A number of clubs have had big money takeovers and on top of that none of the three that came down are pulling any punches either in the transfer market. Considering that only three can go up it will undoubtedly have serious implications for some in a year or two but for this season the Championship is going to be tougher than any other in its history.

 

[cmajack]

That’s what it’s looking like to me anyway.
I completely understand balancing the books,we’ll always be a selling club but I’m not expecting much it’s beginning to look like another rebuild.

Seem to have these rebuilds every couple of seasons when either a new manager comes in , or several players depart or arrive at the club. Then the fans are asked to be patient while things will take time under the new personnel. Rinse and repeat after 18 months or 2 years.

 

[cadleigh]

I am not having a go at Darren because i know he has been around a long time but there is a generation of fans perhaps going back to as far as 2005/6 and the “Liberty era” who have generally only known good times. Fans who had never seen us play Darlington, Boston, Hartlepool, Chester and Kidderminster (our rivals from the borders). A large number of those clubs no longer exist or have had to reform as a new club, we were seconds away from being. In the same position, not once but on a number of occasions.

The PL era brought a generation of arrogance amongst certain of our fans who had forgotten where we had come from ( or were even aware of where we had come from). They thought that this was where we belonged, we did for a while but our lack of cash was always going to prevent us staying there.

I am sure i am not alone in dreaming of mid table mediocrity in the Championship, 1st games of the season back in the Championship where we played really well at Charlton and losing 2-0 with the original RM. Walking away thinking we are playing above ourselves, of feeling blessed to play amongst the big boys again.

To outplay teams with a brand of football others could only dream of to get to the promised land of the PL fully expecting to come straight back down but to have years of mid table entertainment, of being the 2nd team of every football loving fan.

To eventually sit there at the end of that period hoping to hang on for a point because we had sold our soul to the money machine that is the PL.

I just want that excitement back of being competitive of playing a nice style of football by passing quickly and effectively from back to front, of the next Darren Pratley covering every blade of grass to the next Leon cutting defences and opposition midfields apart Jason Scotland/Scot Sinclair/Wilfred Bony replacements scoring scorchers and the club board feeling that they are part of the solution not the problem.

If that’s mid table mediocrity it will do for me.

Excellent post! I enjoyed our first two seasons in the EPL (once I realised we weren‘t going to get slaughtered every game) but most of the time we were up there was pretty joyless, knowing that any player we grew or bought with any outstanding qualities would be hunted down by the ‘bigger clubs’ and calculating the number of points needed for safety. Not much fun really. Plus the cost of tickets and the atmosphere-free grounds like Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham. Mid table in the Championship suits me.

 

[JustJack]

Birmingham have been in this league for 13 years

Ipswich before their relegation did around 18

We'll be on 6 years next May? If we can go up again then great, but we could be in far worse positions than an established club in the 4th most watched league in the world, the club isnt going to die if we stay here for another 10 years.

 

[Swanjaxs]

If we become a mediocre mid-table side in league 1then we'll talk...

 

[Nocountryforoldjack]

I am not having a go at Darren because i know he has been around a long time but there is a generation of fans perhaps going back to as far as 2005/6 and the “Liberty era” who have generally only known good times. Fans who had never seen us play Darlington, Boston, Hartlepool, Chester and Kidderminster (our rivals from the borders). A large number of those clubs no longer exist or have had to reform as a new club, we were seconds away from being. In the same position, not once but on a number of occasions.

The PL era brought a generation of arrogance amongst certain of our fans who had forgotten where we had come from ( or were even aware of where we had come from). They thought that this was where we belonged, we did for a while but our lack of cash was always going to prevent us staying there.

I am sure i am not alone in dreaming of mid table mediocrity in the Championship, 1st games of the season back in the Championship where we played really well at Charlton and losing 2-0 with the original RM. Walking away thinking we are playing above ourselves, of feeling blessed to play amongst the big boys again.

To outplay teams with a brand of football others could only dream of to get to the promised land of the PL fully expecting to come straight back down but to have years of mid table entertainment, of being the 2nd team of every football loving fan.

To eventually sit there at the end of that period hoping to hang on for a point because we had sold our soul to the money machine that is the PL.

I just want that excitement back of being competitive of playing a nice style of football by passing quickly and effectively from back to front, of the next Darren Pratley covering every blade of grass to the next Leon cutting defences and opposition midfields apart Jason Scotland/Scot Sinclair/Wilfred Bony replacements scoring scorchers and the club board feeling that they are part of the solution not the problem.

If that’s mid table mediocrity it will do for me.

By that strange rationale then we should really be in league 1 or 2, it isn't a crime to want to head for the top otherwise what's the point. For me it's simple, I want to see my local team play the very best football it can whilst beating big teams and that tends to be in the premiership, if that's being spoilt then I'm guilty.

 

[cadleigh]

By that strange rationale then we should really be in league 1 or 2, it isn't a crime to want to head for the top otherwise what's the point. For me it's simple, I want to see my local team play the very best football it can whilst beating big teams and that tends to be in the premiership, if that's being spoilt then I'm guilty.

Fair points. Reminds me of a recent discussion on another Swans forum where a poster said he didn’t go to games to be entertained. All depends on what you find entertaining I guess. I go in the hope of seeing good football with a fair chance of the Swans being able to compete against the other team. That’s much less likely when the other side are bankrolled by oligarchs or sheikhs.

 

[Pacemaker]

My rationale was i want to get to the highest level we can but it must be sustainable, the PL earned us a lot of money but also left us struggling to clear wages and contracts we could not afford to service. We did use some of that money sensibly to build infrastructure, going forward it could be used for investment into the club. But the wages required to stay in the PL make it unlikely we could successfully repeat our last stay there.

If we are required to sit mid table Championship whilst we slowly build a team of players and coaches who can get us competitive at the top of the Championship or PL then i will accept that and it will never be mediocre being in the Championship for me.

 

[cadleigh]

My rationale was i want to get to the highest level we can but it must be sustainable, the PL earned us a lot of money but also left us struggling to clear wages and contracts we could not afford to service. We did use some of that money sensibly to build infrastructure, going forward it could be used for investment into the club. But the wages required to stay in the PL make it unlikely we could successfully repeat our last stay there.

If we are required to sit mid table Championship whilst we slowly build a team of players and coaches who can get us competitive at the top of the Championship or PL then i will accept that and it will never be mediocre being in the Championship for me.

Agree totally. Such a shame that we had to sell players who could have been this decade’s equivalent of Leon, Angel, Ash etc - players like Connor Roberts. Makes the rebuilding job harder. But that’s the financial world the Swans have to survive in.

 

[monmouth]

My view has recently become ridiculously simple. I just want us to beat whoever we play on the day in isolation of anything else, as if there is nothing else. If we do, fantastic, I feel great; if we don’t, it’s a bummer, but there’s always next time. I don’t give a toss anymore about promotion or the table. Just every game. I intend to get very worked up in match day threads and very unconcerned an hour after (although the feeling of great/bummer will no doubt last through the weekend). For me, there is never ‘nothing to play for’ any longer no matter where we sit. After Christmas I plan to attend again (when I get old man rates), and to take my new attitude with me. It’s how I used to watch when I was 11, totally immersed in the actual game and not caring about anything else.

So far it’s been a bit of a bummer

 

[J_B]

I'm a bit like Mon. Maybe it's an age thing having seen both our adventures into the top tier.
I just want to leave the Liberty (yeah, I know) saying "I really enjoyed that game" and it can even happen when we don't win. It didn't happen under Martin very often even when we did win.

 

[Longlostjack]

I reckon we’ll do OK this season. I know some posters get irritated and don’t like references to Crapdiff. I don’t care, it gives me a lot of pleasure. All clubs need a good scouting system, youth development etc. to make a profit and cover losses. We’ve got it and long may it continue.

 

[Andrew - North Hill]

This is a great thread.

As someone who did the Macclesfield, Kidderminster and Boston runs many a time over the years, then yes of course we should be grateful for what we've got now, and we should never ever forget that it's only 20 years since we nearly dumped into non-league. That's always a sobering thought.

But there's nothing wrong with a bit of ambition and having a vision, two key elements that our current owners completely lack.

When we got promoted in 2011 the board were all pulling together in the same direction, with a shared understanding of what sort of club we were and wanted to be.

That is sorely lacking with this current shower. They make it up as they go along. They want a footballing manager, then they don't. They want to run the club sensibly, yet it constantly runs at a loss. They're a mass of contradictions.

That is why we'll never be successful on the pitch as we were in 2011. A fish rots from the head.

In that context, mid table Championship will be the very best we can ever hope for.

 

[LeonWasTheDog's]

I am not having a go at Darren because i know he has been around a long time but there is a generation of fans perhaps going back to as far as 2005/6 and the “Liberty era” who have generally only known good times. Fans who had never seen us play Darlington, Boston, Hartlepool, Chester and Kidderminster (our rivals from the borders). A large number of those clubs no longer exist or have had to reform as a new club, we were seconds away from being. In the same position, not once but on a number of occasions.

The PL era brought a generation of arrogance amongst certain of our fans who had forgotten where we had come from ( or were even aware of where we had come from). They thought that this was where we belonged, we did for a while but our lack of cash was always going to prevent us staying there.

I am sure i am not alone in dreaming of mid table mediocrity in the Championship, 1st games of the season back in the Championship where we played really well at Charlton and losing 2-0 with the original RM. Walking away thinking we are playing above ourselves, of feeling blessed to play amongst the big boys again.

To outplay teams with a brand of football others could only dream of to get to the promised land of the PL fully expecting to come straight back down but to have years of mid table entertainment, of being the 2nd team of every football loving fan.

To eventually sit there at the end of that period hoping to hang on for a point because we had sold our soul to the money machine that is the PL.

I just want that excitement back of being competitive of playing a nice style of football by passing quickly and effectively from back to front, of the next Darren Pratley covering every blade of grass to the next Leon cutting defences and opposition midfields apart Jason Scotland/Scot Sinclair/Wilfred Bony replacements scoring scorchers and the club board feeling that they are part of the solution not the problem.

If that’s mid table mediocrity it will do for me.

None of what you described in the last paragraph was mid-table mediocrity. It was all when we were on the up in L1, the the Championship and then punching well above our weight in the PL. I’d certainly take any of that period. It was very different to where we are now, which is not really being competitive and not on the up. Sadly.

But it is what it is, and all that. Let’s see if Duff can give us a bit of a boost in time. Not the best start, but too early to judge.

 

[Baron Goblet]

Over 30 years in the top flight followed by over 20 years outside the top flight. Coventry City.