Championship season 2025/26

[sfc4prem]

Who has come out of the window with the strongest squad?

Surely Leicester?

[Football Special]

12 minutes ago, sfc4prem said:

Who has come out of the window with the strongest squad?

Surely Leicester?

How many players from last season have they lost? Looks a decent side still. 

Need that 12-15 point deduction to give us a chance to finish above them 

[goodymatt]

Interesting amount of change from the team that got Ipswich up last time.

[goodymatt]

51 minutes ago, sfc4prem said:

Who has come out of the window with the strongest squad?

Surely Leicester?

Depth wise I think it’s us and Ipswich.
Leicester do still have some great players though (and a pending points deduction).

[goodymatt]

42 minutes ago, Football Special said:

How many players from last season have they lost? Looks a decent side still. 

Need that 12-15 point deduction to give us a chance to finish above them 

They’ve lost Hermansen, McAteer, Justin, Ndidi, Coady, Vardy, Iversen (GK), Ward (GK), Coulibaly, El Khannouss.
Buonanotte and Eduard returned to parent clubs following PL loans.

[saintant]

1 hour ago, sfc4prem said:

Who has come out of the window with the strongest squad?

Surely Leicester?

They've sign an aging goalkeeper on a free in Begovic, Jordan James and Aaron Ramsey on season long loans (not exactly inspiring) plus Julian Carranza on a season long loan with option to buy. He scored goals in America but not many elsewhere. All pretty uninspiring to me but we'll see.

[Football Special]

Rough guide, but latest odds for winning the Championship, Ipswich still favourites 

[Patches O Houlihan]

3 hours ago, goodymatt said:

Interesting amount of change from the team that got Ipswich up last time.

It's worth clicking the link to have a read of Ipswich fan comments:

"The ownership have had a smell of the Premier League and will replace anyone to get back there and stay there no matter how much we love the player, how much the player loves the club and no matter how much that player has done for the club. Different game now, sad to see"

Chappers isn’t Premiership class that’s no doubt but if they want to get back there he’s just the sort of character we need at the club. 4 right backs no left back cover and no right sided CM cover is hugely concerning"It might turn out that we've played a blinder, but for a lot of us this was easily the best Town squad we've ever seen, and we've voluntarily torn it up in the space of three windows. Can only hope the newbies step up"

"When Norwich yo-yo’ed in 20/21, we kept the vast majority of those who got us promoted two years before, and only improved in a couple positions. Beyond the emotional element, are you lot worried about the effects of losing this core?"

"Some people say it’s progression, but unfortunately this isn’t we’ve got rid of a really good player fact we’ve got rid of lots of good players and not brought many better players in sad days"

 

[hypochondriac]

4 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

It's worth clicking the link to have a read of Ipswich fan comments:

"The ownership have had a smell of the Premier League and will replace anyone to get back there and stay there no matter how much we love the player, how much the player loves the club and no matter how much that player has done for the club. Different game now, sad to see"

Chappers isn’t Premiership class that’s no doubt but if they want to get back there he’s just the sort of character we need at the club. 4 right backs no left back cover and no right sided CM cover is hugely concerning"It might turn out that we've played a blinder, but for a lot of us this was easily the best Town squad we've ever seen, and we've voluntarily torn it up in the space of three windows. Can only hope the newbies step up"

"When Norwich yo-yo’ed in 20/21, we kept the vast majority of those who got us promoted two years before, and only improved in a couple positions. Beyond the emotional element, are you lot worried about the effects of losing this core?"

"Some people say it’s progression, but unfortunately this isn’t we’ve got rid of a really good player fact we’ve got rid of lots of good players and not brought many better players in sad days"

 

Interesting. Certainly compared to our shower where we didn't give much of a shit about losing anyone beyond about two players.

[Patches O Houlihan]

Imagine if Ricky, Adam, Jose et al had been relegated immediately - it sounds like that doesn't it

[goodymatt]

2 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Imagine if Ricky, Adam, Jose et al had been relegated immediately - it sounds like that doesn't it

Different gravy those three, what a time that was. 

[gurru991]

5 hours ago, Football Special said:

How many players from last season have they lost? Looks a decent side still. 

Need that 12-15 point deduction to give us a chance to finish above them 

We've cleared out a few of the higher earners but still have a few left. Our new manager doesn't have a problem with playing youngsters so it should be interesting 

Hopefully only a 2-3 point deduction.

[Patches O Houlihan]

6 minutes ago, gurru991 said:

We've cleared out a few of the higher earners but still have a few left. Our new manager doesn't have a problem with playing youngsters so it should be interesting 

Hopefully only a 2-3 point deduction.

Interested to hear what might indicate a 2-3 point deduction.

Would you say your squad is stronger or weaker now than the one that was promoted as Champions in 23/24?

[Andrew Watson]

We will not finish in the top 2 if we do not stop giving goals away,the centre backs and keeper are all  prone to making mistakes. I hope that Jander is a player who can put his foot in and protect the defence.

[sfc4prem]

1 minute ago, Andrew Watson said:

I hope that Jander is a player who can put his foot in and protect the defence.

Doesn't look like that's his game, really. 

[Doctoroncall]

3 hours ago, gurru991 said:

We've cleared out a few of the higher earners but still have a few left. Our new manager doesn't have a problem with playing youngsters so it should be interesting 

Hopefully only a 2-3 point deduction.

Not really a punishment then. I’d be happy to take that from being promoted. 

[trousers]

1 minute ago, Doctoroncall said:

Not really a punishment then. I’d be happy to take that from being promoted. 

Yep, this. What's the point of playing by the rules if the punishment is that meaningless?

[gurru991]

7 hours ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Interested to hear what might indicate a 2-3 point deduction.

Would you say your squad is stronger or weaker now than the one that was promoted as Champions in 23/24?

This squad does not have the talent of the promoted squad but I like this squad a lot more. We will lose  more games probably but will work a lot harder

 

[Patrick Bateman]

57 minutes ago, gurru991 said:

This squad does not have the talent of the promoted squad but I like this squad a lot more. We will lose  more games probably but will work a lot harder

 

Exactly how I feel about Saints. I couldn't stand most of the squad for years now, especially last year. Far too many going through the motions, doing the bare minimum, a few who weren't bothered at all, no connection between players and fans, dead.

Now, already I feel more connection, majority of the old squad been moved on and I feel excited for this season - I genuinely think Saints will win or be top 2 AND I'll like the squad again, is that too much to ask? 😂

 

Edited September 2 by Patrick Bateman

[goodymatt]

 

[goodymatt]

This guy is unbelievable at free kicks! Only cost Watford €3m from Bayern but they did retain a 50% sell on clause.

[Doctoroncall]

Not for this season but could be the following one… 

The English Football League is in talks over adding an eliminator round to the Championship playoffs and increasing the number of participants from four to six.

The proposal is a similar format to the one used by the National League. In the Championship the team that finish fifth would play the eighth-placed team and sixth would meet seventh in one-off ties at the higher-ranked team’s home stadium.

[LiberalCommunist]

Sixth place getting the opportunity to knock out the 3rd placed team, whilst finishing some 20 points behind feels somewhat cheeky, so lets just stretch that back to 8th and say no more.........

[trousers]

29 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

Not for this season but could be the following one… 

The English Football League is in talks over adding an eliminator round to the Championship playoffs and increasing the number of participants from four to six.

The proposal is a similar format to the one used by the National League. In the Championship the team that finish fifth would play the eighth-placed team and sixth would meet seventh in one-off ties at the higher-ranked team’s home stadium.

How this for an idea... Have a league of 24 teams.... Everyone plays eachother twice... and the best 3 teams get promoted... Bit too radical maybe...?

Edited 19 hours ago by trousers

[Hayling Saint]

40 minutes ago, trousers said:

How this for an idea... Have a league of 24 teams.... Everyone plays eachother twice... and the best 3 teams get promoted... Bit too radical maybe...?

Sounds good to me.

[LiberalCommunist]

The play offs as a concept, is a great way to keep the league competitive right up until the final weekend of the season. But that format certainly does not need tampering with. But, I'm sure they will. 

[Turkish]

I see Baz even managed to drop his middle name 

[CB Fry]

12 hours ago, trousers said:

How this for an idea... Have a league of 24 teams.... Everyone plays eachother twice... and the best 3 teams get promoted... Bit too radical maybe...?

1989 called and it wants its sparkling observations back.

[SNSUN]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

I see Baz even managed to drop his middle name 

I didn't realise Aribo's name was double barrelled. That puts us up to 3 again, 5 if you include Joe O'Brien-Whitmarsh and Thierry Rohart-Brown, and a spurious 6 if we include Bella-Kotchap.

We are kings at what we do.

[Sheaf Saint]

12 hours ago, LiberalCommunist said:

The play offs as a concept, is a great way to keep the league competitive right up until the final weekend of the season. But that format certainly does not need tampering with. But, I'm sure they will. 

I've often wondered if it would be possible to change it so that if the 3rd place team finishes let's say at least 10 points ahead of the team in 4th then they should go up automatically, and the playoffs only become a thing if it's closer than that.

It would make it fairer, but I expect the EFL wouldn't want to lose out on the money spinner of the playoffs so I doubt they would consider it.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

13 hours ago, trousers said:

How this for an idea... Have a league of 24 teams.... Everyone plays eachother twice... and the best 3 teams get promoted... Bit too radical maybe...?

But still with a week where a win counts double and one where the mascots play up front (a bit of a bonus for us that one)? 🙂

[Doctoroncall]

14 hours ago, LiberalCommunist said:

The play offs as a concept, is a great way to keep the league competitive right up until the final weekend of the season. But that format certainly does not need tampering with. But, I'm sure they will. 

If they want to change anything then increasing the number of promotions/relegation places would be an interesting idea.