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The Football League thread II

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Without exaggerating, all over the place. An experienced keeper is needed to protect the confidence of young Burge, the brittle back line needs sound company for Reda Johnson, tough tackling central midfielders, pacy wingers, a competent striker...with just 9 permanent players left in July reinforcements are needed in almost every position. Loans are once again likely to be heavily relied upon.

Even Johnson needs to become more reliable, though. He can't keep letting these injuries and poor fitness ruin his seasons. He was so injury prone at Wednesday it was borderline laughable.

Reply 3581

Midlander

Original post by Mackay

Even Johnson needs to become more reliable, though. He can't keep letting these injuries and poor fitness ruin his seasons. He was so injury prone at Wednesday it was borderline laughable.

When he is fit he makes such a difference. Problem is he's made of glass.

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Reply 3582

DarrenBCFC

Original post by sr90

A one club city with a huge supporter base right on their doorstep and a 32k stadium, yeh I don't see any potential there at all.

With barely any fans they couldnt fill their old stadium in the top flight

Reply 3583

Midlander

Original post by DarrenBCFC

With barely any fans they couldnt fill their old stadium in the top flight

Pot kettle black.

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Reply 3584

DarrenBCFC

We filled Standrews week in week out when in the top flight despite being held to ransom by sully and gold- tell me the last time you had an average of over 25,000 a week. I'd probably say both clubs have the fans whether they turn up or not is a different story i have boycotted since Dec 2011

Reply 3585

Stiff Little Fingers

Original post by sr90

A one club city with a huge supporter base right on their doorstep and a 32k stadium, yeh I don't see any potential there at all.

Too close to Birmingham to make use of that catchment area, what with the size of villa. L1 is never going to compete with established premiership for appeal. Add into that a stadium they don't own and would face a massive uphill battle to gain ownership of... The foundations at cov look good but on closer inspection they're made of rotting wood.

Reply 3586

Midlander

Original post by Stiff Little Fingers

A city of over 300,000 and the likes of Nuneaton/Leamington etc thrown in. That has never been the problem, the ground situation is. We can't all get a filthy rich Thai so must make do.

Reply 3587

Stiff Little Fingers

Original post by Midlander

A city of over 300,000 and the likes of Nuneaton/Leamington etc thrown in. That has never been the problem, the ground situation is. We can't all get a filthy rich Thai so must make do.

You'd have a point if your attendances hadn't been shocking prior to the stadium debacle.

At the end of Highfield Road you were pulling in 14.5k. A brief shot in the arm from the ricoh aside (20k+ in 05/06 and 06/07), you were down at 18458 (07/08 - 56.6%), 17406 (08/09 - 53.4%), 16612(09/10 - 50.9%), 16409 (10/11 - 50.3%) and 15118 (11/12 - 46.4%) - before even falling into league 1 and having the ground share with northampton or wasps taking the primary tenancy. Your fans have always been fair-weather ones, our consistently better attendances are not because of having more money - even when we were down there at the bottom of the championship and then in league 1 with barely a pot to piss in, we were pulling in 22,234 (05/06 - 68.9%), 23,206 (06/07 - 71.9%), 23509 (07/08 - 72.8%), 17983 (08/09 - 55.7%). Our attendances are better because we actually have fans, not the fairweathers going along because Villa are away this weekend.

Reply 3588

Midlander

Original post by Stiff Little Fingers

Every team's crowds go up when they're doing well, we are not unique in that regard. What I will say is that we have had no top 6 finish since 1970 and no trip to Wembley since 1987. We have also only had two top half finishes in the Football League and the last one in the top flight was I suspect before 1990. Factoring that in I don't think it's fair to slam the crowds when clubs like Leicester, Blues, WBA, Wolves etc have promotion seasons to boost the numbers.

The idea of a Cov fan being fair weather suggests there has been fair weather times in our recent history. There hasn't.

Reply 3589

Mackay

Original post by Stiff Little Fingers

You'd have a point if your attendances hadn't been shocking prior to the stadium debacle.

I completely agree. Growing up, Highfield Road was very rarely chock-a-block full in the Premiership era. The fanbase has never truly been there for the Sky Blues, in truth. That said, the club is shoddily run by SISU and there's now talk of the owners wanting to build a stadium on greenbelt land in Rugby. That club needs stability and respect.

Reply 3590

Midlander

Original post by Mackay

That is because we were fighting to stay up most years. Not a crowd drawer I am sure you will agree.

Reply 3591

Mackay

Can't see anything other than a Preston and Sheffield United victory tomorrow night. Great stuff to see Ipswich-Norwich played on Saturday, probably due to police concerns surrounding playing the game on a Friday night. It's a shame it's an early kick-off, but it'll be one of the biggest derbies ever between those two sides.

Reply 3592

TornadoGR4

Winning games get fans, that's just fact. Why should I spend £50 to watch my team dogged by instability drop points to loiter in the lower half of the table?

I say that as Leeds fan who has only been to 2 games this season: a 0-2 defeat to Wigan & a 1-2 defeat to Cardiff, and those two games cost me £90.

Reply 3593

Midlander

Original post by TornadoGR4

Including travel it cost me more like £70 to watch us lose at Crewe this season.

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Reply 3594

Mackay

Original post by Midlander

Including travel it cost me more like £70 to watch us lose at Crewe this season.

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Original post by TornadoGR4

Cost me £150 to see us lose to Villa at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final.

Reply 3595

TornadoGR4

Original post by Mackay

Cost me £150 to see us lose to Villa at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final.

What's a semi-final?

Reply 3596

DarrenBCFC

Original post by Stiff Little Fingers

Villa are all over the Midlands and are bigger then blues but from the Birmingham area blues have more fans then villa from within the City

Reply 3597

Mackay

Original post by TornadoGR4

What's a semi-final?

Touche.

Reply 3598

TornadoGR4

Leeds United:

2014/15 position: 15th Championship
2015/16 target: Top half finish. 5th round of FA cup or League cup.

Forecast for next season:

It may be slightly optimistic for me to aim for a top half finish in all honesty, we're still plagued with ownership issues and dodgy finances. However, we have proved this season we have the ability to outperform the best, we beat Middlesbrough & Bournemouth home and away, beat Derby & Ipswich at Elland Road, and took a point at Carrow Road. Our inconsistencies get the better of us and dropping points to teams like Wigan, Blackpool & Rotherham ultimately drags us down the table. I'd just want a solid season of building, iron out the club, and attack for promotion for the 2016/2017 season. But who knows what will happen before then?

Where could it go wrong:

Ownership. What is Massimo Cellino's ambition with Leeds? He's said countless times that he wants to restore Leeds to top tier football once again, but he's never going to achieve that without buying some proper tried and tested players instead of Serie B rejects. We also can't afford to let out crux of academy kids go. The emerging quartet of Byram, Mowatt, Taylor and 18 year old Lewis Cook have been one of the rare bright points of this season. However, all 4 have been linked with moves away with Premier League clubs sniffing around. We need to avoid the Norwich raid from a few seasons back and make our academy the heart of the team.

Who to watch:

As already mentioned, we have a few shining stars that have come through the academy. Charlie Taylor really stepped up after Warnock's departure to Derby, and seems to be relishing his advanced role on the left wing, similar to Sam Byram. Lewis Cook is arguably the brightest prospect, the 18 year old England U19 International became a regular in our starting XI this season and has been linked to Aston Villa & Newcastle. Kalvin Phillips also made a late burst on to the scene towards the end of the season and could be a nice replacement should Cook or Rudy Austin depart in the Summer

Positions of need:

RB - Scott Wooton is a bit of a liability. Decent player all round, but not one that could challenge from promotion. If we can keep hold of Sol Bamba (which is unlikely now given his criticism of the running of the club) we should be fine for CB & Berardi has been ver solid at LB. I'm fine with our midfield, and would be happy to see that remain untouched in the Summer unless some PL teams raid us.

Our strike force is virtually non-existent. Antenucci is hardly prolific, and Billy Sharp has popped up with some goals this season late on, but isn't a first team regular. We need another Beckford, another McCormack. We need a 20+ goal striker with a second striker to support him. I'd love to take Becchio back but Cellino isn't keen. We'll get a poverty Serie B striker.

Looks like Adryan isn't sticking around either. Couldn't cut it at a poor Championship team, and he had Man Utd enquiring about him too.