Is mid table good enough

G

Greennutmegsmoore

Well-known member
When Simon Sadler took over i think he said his ambition was to establish Blackpool as a solid championship side. At the time this seemed a long way off and suitably ambitious. Now we are almost there. So much so some posters are referring to the risk of being only mid table again next season as though this would be failure. Personally while a play off run would be great i would be quite happy next year with being safe by Easter, hopefully with an improved ground, strengthened academy and concrete plans for the training ground. It wouldn't take much for us to be dragged into a relegation battle. However i also wonder if you are not going forward results wise like Luton you end up going backwards/stagnating like PNE. Interested in other's views, what would be progress next year and what would you settle for?
 
I’d be over the moon with keeping Critchley at the club for another season. 16th place would do me as we continue to move forward on and off the pitch
 
With the lowest budget in the championship, mid table is more than good enough, surely. Our expectations probably need to be realistic. Obviously it doesn't mean we can't over achieve, and we have been promoted before out of this league. But I don't expect it. I hope for it. Just keep aiming to improve with the resources you've got, I reckon.
 
Greennutmegsmoore said:
When Simon Sadler took over i think he said his ambition was to establish Blackpool as a solid championship side. At the time this seemed a long way off and suitably ambitious. Now we are almost there. So much so some posters are referring to the risk of being only mid table again next season as though this would be failure. Personally while a play off run would be great i would be quite happy next year with being safe by Easter, hopefully with an improved ground, strengthened academy and concrete plans for the training ground. It wouldn't take much for us to be dragged into a relegation battle. However i also wonder if you are not going forward results wise like Luton you end up going backwards/stagnating like PNE. Interested in other's views, what would be progress next year and what would you settle for?
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We were realistically safe in January, so our major target was achieved with ease, and that was after a poor start. I don't know how many seasons constitutes being an established championship side, but to answer the o/p, I'd be happy with mid table again next season. We've punched way above our weight this season, and some sides suffer from 2nd season problems after enjoying success when they first come up.

East stand completion in 24/25 season (I think ?), so continued progress including 2 or 3 quality additions in the summer would be great. Its good to be looking forward to a transfer window rather than worrying about who we're going to lose (first time for a long time)
 
voyeur said:
With the lowest budget in the championship, mid table is more than good enough, surely. Our expectations probably need to be realistic. Obviously it doesn't mean we can't over achieve, and we have been promoted before out of this league. But I don't expect it. I hope for it. Just keep aiming to improve with the resources you've got, I reckon.
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Is that statement correct though, are we the lowest? Can't use the figures Maguire released as we were in league 1.
 
We simply don't have the financial muscle that half the teams in this division have. On the back of that, our reality has to be spending wisely to cement our position in the league and hoping that once in a while we stumble on the kind of alchemy that saw us promoted under Holloway (or akin to Luton's performance this season).

Sometimes a group of players just click and become so much more than the sum of their parts.

First objective will always be to stay up. R8ght now, the Championship is probably the best we could realistically sustain.
 
Greennutmegsmoore said:
When Simon Sadler took over i think he said his ambition was to establish Blackpool as a solid championship side. At the time this seemed a long way off and suitably ambitious. Now we are almost there. So much so some posters are referring to the risk of being only mid table again next season as though this would be failure. Personally while a play off run would be great i would be quite happy next year with being safe by Easter, hopefully with an improved ground, strengthened academy and concrete plans for the training ground. It wouldn't take much for us to be dragged into a relegation battle. However i also wonder if you are not going forward results wise like Luton you end up going backwards/stagnating like PNE. Interested in other's views, what would be progress next year and what would you settle for?
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The same people saying settling for mid table lacks ambition are the same ones who said we weren't good enough for promotion last season and would be relegated this season.
 
GeminiPool said:
We simply don't have the financial muscle that half the teams in this division have. On the back of that, our reality has to be spending wisely to cement our position in the league and hoping that once in a while we stumble on the kind of alchemy that saw us promoted under Holloway (or akin to Luton's performance this season).

Sometimes a group of players just click and become so much more than the sum of their parts.

First objective will always be to stay up. R8ght now, the Championship is probably the best we could realistically sustain.
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Totally agree. Progress has to be measured. Proven championship quality doesn’t come cheap and with that comes wages to match. Before you know it you can have a squad of players on £15-20k per week and your finances are screwed.
The model we have is working well. I look at the finances of a lot of clubs in our league and think thank god that’s not us.
 
In the short term yes, in the long term no. I say that because I don't feel we've realised our potential as a football club yet, and I think there's much more to come from us. We've never had a decent training ground, we've never had a highly regarded and competitive youth academy, we've never had a completed stadium with spare capacity to develop the fanbase via an innovative marketing strategy. We've never had an owner willing to invest properly before in all aspects of the club.
You look at the clubs we're competing with (successfully) now, and even the one's on the smaller end of the scale like Millwall, Reading, Swansea, PNE, Blackburn, Bournemouth, they've all been enjoying some, if not all, of the above for years now.
We haven't even started yet.
 
Mid table is great for blackpool for next couple of seasons whilst glstadium and training ground are dorted and youth come through
 
Blackpool fc will eventually help in the re-invention of Blackpool and the Gold Coast
As the town gets its mojo back after decades of decline so I hope the club will become another catalyst in the regeneration . All ready It has the youngest fanbase I have seen @BFCin 20 years. Don’t you just love the “young muckers”?
If Mr S and Mr C work their magic who knows? We could well become the flagship footy club of Lancashire something I believe we were in the 50/60,s.
My ol man told me about it. Happy days ,the Pool are Back!!
 
voyeur said:
With the lowest budget in the championship, mid table is more than good enough, surely. Our expectations probably need to be realistic. Obviously it doesn't mean we can't over achieve, and we have been promoted before out of this league. But I don't expect it. I hope for it. Just keep aiming to improve with the resources you've got, I reckon.
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Lowest budget? I’m not sure about lowest. (Sorry to be a bit pedantic there.) I doubt that Posh spend more. Even higher up the league, Luton don’t seem to have higher attendances than us. Do Barnsley throw money about?
One certain statement about us is that Simon feeds as much as he can spare into the player fund.
We will make ‘progress’ (top half) again next season, even if we lose the likes of Josh B.
 
Our only dangers are top players leaving AND a big club tempting NC.
Another good season/better and others will realise NC and crew are not flukes!
 
with more awareness in front of the goal, we could have been higher and even competing for a playoff place. Hopefully, any of those shortcomings will be corrected. But for a first season back in the Championship with a manager in his first senior job, I'm reasonably happy.
 
Again, it depends on context.
If we stay middle table again next season paying silly wages to journeymans and ex-stars that add little to no value then yes, it's worryng. I don't see that happening though
If it happens with an established young side and the odd experienced player with 2+ years of contract then I would sense hope and reliefe seeing a project that's being executed, and an identity developing. Maybe some of our own young seasiders making appearences for the first team (Bange, Trusty, Mariette seem the more prepared for this)
Then there's the middle point when we scout for some gems and maybe we get a Carey/Grimmy/Lavery gem, or we take some punts at posible coachable players that don't make the grade, like TJJ.

For me there's not too much to add to the team in terms of skill, but maybe some quality in certain areas, and the proper assesment of young development. And obviously spot-on replacements if one of our key players get transfered out.
I loved the phrase "football is a simple thing made difficult by the oposition". Same thing with transfer windows
 
Stony Hill said:
Our only dangers are top players leaving AND a big club tempting NC.
Another good season/better and others will realise NC and crew are not flukes!
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Players leaving isn't exactly a negative providing they are sold well and that money reinvested.

Look at Brentford.
 
I think I want to see our club not end up tens of millions in debt like others seem to do whilst ideally staying in the Championship. For me, spending so much less than other clubs whilst still beating them provides much greater satisfaction as it emphasises sporting achievement over and above just buying power.
 
Bollocks to mid table security, I hope we will be pushing for a top 6 place next season, we need to get rid of the little old Blackpool mindset. The club is progressing so much on and off the pitch I would think Critch and the players will be wanting to start playing to get into the PL, not just staying up. SS has ambition and he will want us to be in or around the play offs next season. Take Luton as an example, last season they were similar to us position wise, this season they are going to be in the play offs. You're not telling me they have more money than we do?

We need 5 or 6 really good signings this summer and we will then be much higher than we are now.
 
Burnley are the standard that can be achieved for a ( smaii club ) , so in time I believe we can emulate them

We have the infrastructure now and a Club that will be run properly.

In the six decades I have been fortunate to watch OUR Club I have never been more optimistic for our future and already we have come so far under Simon Sadlers ownership and .Custodianship.
 
We’ve seen how weak this league is, we have the lowest budget, according to the starts out this week, and we can easily compete.

So there is no reason to accept mid table is there.

With Critchley and Phil the only way is up 👆🏻
 
fcblackpool said:
Brentford are some £120m in debt, half to the owner.

A club who will eventually be polishing the buckets and ironing the banners.
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I doubt it.

The majority of that money is the cost of the stadium build. Factor in the unrealised assets of the players they would have sold had they not achieved promotion and that doesn't look bad at all (Toney would have been at a premier league club this season regardless of what Brentford did in the playoffs).

The other factor to note there is that Brentford successfully executed the switch from developing players for sale, to building for their own success. That will cost money but was based upon the foundations they had been building for half a decade or more.
 
Brentford is an interesting one. They spent 270% of income the season they got promoted, 167% before promotion bonuses, so despite a lot of player sales, were still spending way above what they could afford. It is looking like they will stay up but obviously their costs have shot up too this season. Their owner is described as a professional sports gambler. Will be interesting to see in the long term how this one pans out. Boom and bust or calculated risk?
 
BFC59 said:
Burnley are the standard that can be achieved for a ( smaii club ) , so in time I believe we can emulate them

We have the infrastructure now and a Club that will be run properly.

In the six decades I have been fortunate to watch OUR Club I have never been more optimistic for our future and already we have come so far under Simon Sadlers ownership and .Custodianship.
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Burnley may prove to be closer to another Oyston situation than anyone likes to think, particularly with their new owners.

They have been purchased as a leveraged buyout (the same way the Glazers got United) and when it was sold there was between £40m to £60m cash at the bank. That has disappeared immediately as shareholder dividends.

Their playing staff has very little in the way of saleable assets.

Club infrastructure has barely been touched.

6 years in the Premier League should have done a lot more for that club than its owners have allowed.
 
Good thread.
We should be ambitious but also mindful that the pressure was somewhat lifted this season by the Derby and Reading points deductions. I think next season will be tough but i expect us to be up to it. Top half and pushing the playoff would be outstanding.
 
GeminiPool said:
Their playing staff has very little in the way of saleable assets.

Club infrastructure has barely been touched.

6 years in the Premier League should have done a lot more for that club than its owners have allowed.
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They have a spanking new training ground and academy at Gawthorpe. Player assets not amazing but Cornet is worth a few bob, and McNeil probably. Weghorst. Collins and Tarkowski perhaps.

The ownership is obviously a problem though, potentially at least.
 
voyeur said:
They have a spanking new training ground and academy at Gawthorpe. Player assets not amazing but Cornet is worth a few bob, and McNeil probably. Weghorst. Collins and Tarkowski perhaps.

The ownership is obviously a problem though, potentially at least.
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Tarkowski is out of contract this summer so worth £0 to Burnley now.
 
voyeur said:
They have a spanking new training ground and academy at Gawthorpe. Player assets not amazing but Cornet is worth a few bob, and McNeil probably. Weghorst. Collins and Tarkowski perhaps.

The ownership is obviously a problem though, potentially at least.
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I stand corrected on the training ground. I know little has happened with Turf Moor itself. Away end has had a slight tarting up since we were last there and a few new electronic boards, but that's it I think.
 
GeminiPool said:
I stand corrected on the training ground. I know little has happened with Turf Moor itself. Away end has had a slight tarting up since we were last there and a few new electronic boards, but that's it I think.
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I'd say the ground is ok though. For a club of its size.
 
voyeur said:
I'd say the ground is ok though. For a club of its size.
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OK... just.

I've been in the big stand on the side with a friend and it's not too bad. Similar to the upper away section at villa.

That cricket field end was a proper throwback though. Damp, dingy, moldy walls; and a trough against a wall to piss in. Wooden seats!

Almost as bad as Goodison.
 
GeminiPool said:
OK... just.

I've been in the big stand on the side with a friend and it's not too bad. Similar to the upper away section at villa.

That cricket field end was a proper throwback though. Damp, dingy, moldy walls; and a trough against a wall to piss in. Wooden seats!

Almost as bad as Goodison.
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Cricket end doesn't have wooden seats now.
 
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