At end of which game did you believe we were down

I was saying we were down before Christmas, but after drawing against Luton I was sure of it. When I saw Struber’s emotion after we beat Brentford I felt a bit ashamed for not keeping faith with him and this bunch of lads many of whim were boxing well above their weight. Still can’t believe it. We fought to the very last kick of the ball.

 

Got to admit the Stoke games and the Preston games were men against boys so to speak. Both teams had worked out how to combat our pressing style and totally destroyed us. Especially Preston. Though I do think Stoke did have a little luck at Oakwell . The game was over before half time.

 

Wigan at home for me, we out played them and had to win but didn't. If we had won then if the rest of the season had played out as it did Birmingham would have been 3rd bottom I think as we would have had 52 points with them getting all the Wigan grief not us.

 

Leaving Oakwell after that Cardiff defeat i couldn’t see any way out of it ,Covid 19 definitely saved our season

 

talking to some old army mates ( boro, hudds, leeds supporters) and at the start of lockdown ( only be a couple of weeks if that ???) i said i would be prepared to not finish the season and take the hit now on condition we got championship money next season, that would give gs and extra long pre season to work with the team and have 12 months in a lower league to get things together. as it turned out he got the mega pre season with the lockdown and we came back a stronger, fitter unit, and with solly marshalling the back 3/4/5 this took a lot of pressure off the midfield who could then do what a midfield is supposed to do, we looked a totally different side, chasing everything for 90+ min, organised and playing football, so feb i thought we'd shot our bolt, when did i think "whoa we got something special going on here" after the leeds defeat, ok we lost but we absolutely mullered a team that were bound for the prem. i also think that playing in empty stadia helped us a lot as the youngsters were'nt getting constant abuse off people that once scored 3 tap ins at mapp park when they were 11yo. dont forget these kids are 10x better on their worst day than 99.9 of us were on our best

 

Stoke shattered what hope I had left and I think to my shame I posted on here that the rather large lady was tuning up....
Wigan also just about blew out the slowly extinguishing flame of belief ........mega happy to be proved wrong..

Funny though...being a long time Reds supporter there always seems to be a faint voice saying " it's not over till it's over" ( also a good song) so I suppose either there is a God or as many of us have been here before we shouldn't be surprised ..

 

I was that 'biggest optimist' and backed Barnsley to beat Fulham 3-0. !

Didn't for one minute think BFC would be relegated. Early April put bet on them surviving (crap odds 9/4)

 

Luton and Stoke at home were horrendous- I was sure we were going down after each of those.

Those two defeats below lockdown likewise. And that Charlton loss.

Then it was the draw with Wigan after the restart - I thought we were really done then.

Then it was the Leeds loss.

Then it was Brentford’s equaliser.

Then it was Wigan’s appeal day...

 

Sometime in January! We looked much better than a truly awful Huddersfield team, beat them, then slipped to three league defeats in a row including Charlton on feb 1st and we weren’t getting any luck, just felt it wasn’t going to be our year again....

 

Fixtures aren't out for next season yet...

There's still time....

 

tbh I always held on as long as it was still possible, it had happened before why not again.
I was more nervous waiting for the Wigan decision

 

I thought we'd be relegated before a ball had been kicked.

 

Have to admit that apart from one previous season throughout my time supporting the Reds,
I have always attempted to remain upbeat about our prospects of surviving in the Championship.
However that optimism was non existent under Steve Parkins custodianship in Season 2001-2002 and after
our failure to beat some of the teams in and around us that feeling of despair crept over me again this term.


The losses against Luton and Stoke were particularly hard to take as were the draws against Wigan
and Luton and I had given up all hope of survival. Despite the euphoria of the unlikely wins against
Forest and Brentford, we can't lose sight of the fact, that were it not for Wigans points deduction, we
would have deservedly been relegated.

My hope going forward, is that our Board have learned from this seasons experience and Struber is allowed
to add some experience to his young squad , to ensure that we are not involved in the end of season fight
to stay up going forward.

 

Not once did I think we were down.

Probably because I'd been assured that all of Wigan, Wednesday and Derby would be getting deductions affecting that season's table.

 

Not even a little bit when we were getting mullered at Home by Luton and Stoke last autumn?

 

Not as early as that.
But it was sometime in January when I resigned myself to relegation.
So I had no stress watching the games after the lockdown.

Consequently after the Brentford game I sat with a bottle of whiskey staring at the fireplace until 3 o’clock in the morning - trying to get my head around what I’d just watched.
I’m still trying to come to terms with it.

 

No. You could have used better examples there to be honest. But still no.

 

Charlton away remarkable escape by us and Luton.

 

I think that QPR win straight after lockdown gave everyone a massive boost of confidence and other than that first half against stoke away we never played like a relegation threatened team.

 

Do you want to be my friend we can be saddos together