hypochondriac

Nice to see you Flyer mate, I reckon you're probably the longest serving opposition poster on here now. Well done to QPR btw.

Precisely! FWIW my views entirely mirror your own.

2914. Great effort. I donated a tenner.

Yep. MK are meant to be a completely new club yet they were quite happy to steal Wimbledon's league position. They should have started at the bottom and worked their way up, then they would have respect.

Yes I'm hugely bitter. You aren't worth debating with, you just say things to try and manufacture an argument (and have admitted as such in the past.) Had Pardew stayed and got second I would have been saying the exact same thing about him. My expectations of last season were significantly lower than this year. Excellence this season would have been running away with the league. Once again, it's a difference of opinion. Get over it.

Peterborough can easily score a hatful in the second leg. Huddersfield will win it if MK are in the final though.

I think Adkins has done a good job. My opinion of excellence is higher than yours. I have given him praise for this season but now I prefer to look forward to next season and what I believe will mean he has really done an excellent job (the playoffs.) If you actually look there are a fair few people on here (and offline) who also feel this way. It is a difference of opinion, get over it.

Why does this even matter? If you insist on going over old ground then Pardew had to contend with the psychological disadvantage of the minus ten points, stronger opponents on average than this season and had to allow for settling in of players both at the start of the season (where we had no pre season) and in January with Fonte etc. Adkins came in when players had had time to settle in, did not have minus ten points and the opponents on average were significantly weaker (in my opinion.) Yes he had to get the team playing for him but in my view this was an easier hurdle than what Pardew had to contend with. Had Pardew stayed, I believe we would be in a very similar situation to now (this is presuming that Pardew had not become disillusioned). Not sure why you are trying to have an argument over something where there are so many external factors involved that it is impossible to say definitively whose opinion is right or wrong.

Totally different circumstances. We were at a significant disadvantage last season for a number of reasons which you are fully aware of and in what I believe was a stronger league than this year. Oviously something like that is going to come down to opinions and that is mine.

I think he did a good job. Excellent would have been running away with the league playing fantastic football like Leicester and Norwich did.

I think he did an excellent job.

Would like to point out that I never said any of this.

I have never said I had little or no faith in him. He was brought in as a long term appointment and I was initially underwhelmed because while I felt he could get us up from league one, he was largely unproven further than that. We weren't looking like automatic promotion contenders until our brilliant run at the end of the season and once that happened, I was quick to praise both the team and Adkins for that brilliant run. At no point did I not think he was capable of getting us promotion so thus far he has not outdone any expectations I had of him and I have been consistent in what I have said throughout the season. The fact remains that we came second and so didn't do as well as we could have done. I also think we need to improve some of our performances for next season and I think that with a few decent buys (like we saw under Pardew) that that will happen. I've said more than once that Adkins has done well for gaining promotion (but also everyone realises that anything less than promotion would have been seen as a terrible underachievement.) The playoffs next season will have meant that Adkins has done really well and I will be one of the first to warmly congratulate him and the team if that is the case.

Do you want to offer an alternative opinion? Did you even bother to read my post before the one you quoted where I disagreed with saint lard and he conceded that he may have been slightly wrong in what he had stated? It speaks volumes that I am able to disagree with saint lard and yet have a sensible conversation with him whilst others on here who disagree with him just resort to insults.

Adkins deserves praise for getting us up. His task was made a lot easier however due to all the factors which meant we had by far the best squad and facilities in the league. By far. Adkins deserves praise for stopping the poor performances under the caretaker manager. If Adkins gets us playoffs next season then he deserves far more praise than he is getting at the moment. That's a long way off though.

I agree with this. I still think there is some question marks over his transfer record. Nguessen, Forte and Chaplow haven't had as much of an impact as some of the Pardew signings though they have had their moments. As you said, for me Adkins will be judged on his transfer policies and then his success in this league.

I think most people were objecting to you saying that this will cost us money WHEN it goes wrong. Fair enough you may not be confident that Adkins can carry on his success (though surely it is better to give him a chance.) but to assume that he is going to fail based on not a lot is a little silly. In quite a few areas I agree with you, but I also think that by getting us promoted, Adkins deserves a chance to see what he can do in the league above. It's really unknown territory for him as he's never been expected to go for promotion in this league so it should be interesting.

Way to generalise. I'm very happy that Adkins has achieved what e was brought in to do. I believe the real test for him will begin next season. This contract extension isn't really news because if he is underperforming he will be sacked so it means very little. I hope he is not sacked because if he isn't it will be because we are upper mid table which is were I expect us to be.

Great post (as always.) I hope he does well but is all about performance in the npc.

Lol

I have a feeling there will be a big hike in ticket prices. I hope not but we shall see.

Haha that video is amazing. Clearly they realise how important at least two games are going to be next season.

Exactly. They beat us with illegal players so I am not in any way bothered. The one in our final prem season really hurt but the last loss barely registered.

Not always the first consideration for some players.

Arsenal interested apparently.