VillaChris

Without Benteke? That worked well first half of last season.

Double relegation happened to none of them....Wigan made the play offs first season they were down as did Leeds. Both went down the following season. Blackpool also made the play off final the first season aswell. Only team to have a double relegation is Wolves amusingly who were actually in good financial state when they came down but made some idiotic managerial appointments and kept faith with a losing squad....no chance of that happening here...oh!!! More I look at it more we need to come up straight away otherwise I'd worry...other teams like Boro (o.k looking good this season), Fulham, Blackburn, Bolton were in prem for years and years, went down, couldn't come straight up and then the whole club stagnates, squad starts to get worse and crowds drop and now those teams look more likely to get relegated than get promoted.

I think he'll be here until next January at least. How many teams spend big money on players who are crocked, I know we did with Downing but we knew what he could do in the premier league. Teams won't be spending 10m + until he proves his fitness after injury. If he still has the speed he had pre ACL he'll do very well in the championship.

Lambert's already getting a kicking from Blackburn fans I see (they were all so giddy when he was appointed). Somehow lost to Bolton and can't score, sounds familiar. Lambert to me was miles worse than Sherwood, he brought some proper embarrassment to this club on a regular basis Didn't help his reign seemed to go on forever, at least Sherwood was put out of his misery relatively quickly. Edit: 4 games without a goal for Blackburn and that's with Rhodes upfront.

Yeah Roma signed him for something crazy like 16m didn't they, wanted him to go to Watford so Iturbe and Ibarbo could unite again.

Well we won't be premier league anymore so can't be picky about ways of doing things, it's been good enough for other clubs e.g. Brighton and James Wilson currently, Boro had Bamford banging in 20 + last season. Who knows what the state of our finances will be either.

Not a huge shock, 2 games in 48 hours would've been a big ask with his injury record. I think he'll be one of our most important players next season, I rate him and he should be fine in the championship.

Probably the best we had in recent times was Houllier and believe me I was no fan of him as I believed him well past his sell by date when he turned up. The crowd reaction to him was also very harsh compared to the managers who turned up after him (even McLeish got more patience) as he followed MON so expectations were still sky high. At least there was some joined up thinking from the board there, someone who could implement a more possession based game, continental recruitment etc, just the wrong man to do it. And then the blew it by appointing McLeish and since that day we've ceased to be a premier league force and very shortly will be a premier league team no longer.

Comfort me by confirming he signed a 2 year deal when he joined. At least he's an easy one to get shot of in the summer.

Suspended for Sunderland now, fook me. I've never seen so many signs in a season a team is getting relegated, even when I walk into the pub to watch away games now I usually walk in just as the opposition team is scoring as happened for Chelsea and Spurs away!

He'd be one of the first I'd get out of the door in the summer. Yes he did very well for Swansea when he was last down there but back then he wasn't quite a multi-millionaire unless Chelsea or the million loan clubs he was at were paying him 40k a week. He wasn't married to Helen Flanagan back then either. What I'm trying to say is no chance he'll be as motivated to play well in the championship as last time he was down there, he is set for life with little to prove. I think his "performances" since August tell you all you need to know about his ambitions in Football.

You can use the loan market a lot when you go down...when West Ham came up in 2012 they had 3-4 loan players in their team, Watford aswell a couple of years back made the play off final with half their team on loan.

Ultimately the loss of Benteke has been too much, too much for Sherwood so early in his managerial career and too much for us long term. If we still had Benteke we wouldn't be bottom that's for sure. The logical thing when you sell a big talent is to spend that money on improving other areas of the team. Well it didn't improve Liverpool or Spurs so not quite sure why people thought we'd magically fly up from 17th. Fudging the Benteke replacement wouldn't have been so bad if we had midfield players who could score but we don't so if Ayew dosen't score no one else can. That's the crux of it for me, I'd love to know the full story of what happened once Adebayor did his disappearing act. There were still 4 weeks left in the window. That's the main reason we're going down.

I did check Bunn's stats thinking he was one of those keepers who'd only played 5 games in 5 years....he did actually play a lot for Norwich in 12/13 and also played for Blackburn when they won at Old Trafford 3-2 and also 1-1 at Liverpool in 11/12. http://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=27223&season_id=142 I think we'll be seeing a new keeper in January regardless.

QPR aren't coming up. Be interested to see where he does end up next season, I'm really surprised Palace or West Ham haven't taken him given their issues upfront particularly Palace.

Andre Gray isn't even that good imo, there are better strikers in that division than him, Clayton Donaldson is better than him, Abel Hernandez etc. I would be looking at Michael Keane though, strikes me as a solid no nonense CB. Maybe Chester aswell seeing as he's not playing at West Brom.

Can only think Richards has a clause in his deal saying he plays at CB when fit. He is a much better RB than Hutton.

Nice little 9 quid on West Ham to win at 40/1 when they were 1 down to Southampton. Just whacked 50 quid on the draw as insurance.

If you look at the teams challenging this season Brighton are up there with freebies and loans like James Wilson, Hull kept most of their spine from last season...McGregor, Curtis Davies, Dawson, Livermore, Thuddlestone, Abel Hernandez and added a couple of signings. Derby and Boro have spent a bit but they had decent sides already. You can challeng with freebies and loan signings, I have no idea who'll even own the club next season. To me the mentality of the signings is more important than the quality.

I think the most important and realistic player to keep is Okore. I think he'd be a really good player for us in the championship so find a no nonsense centre half alongside him (maybe someone like Michael Keane at Burnley if they don't go up). I think Amavi will stay until January purely with the injury, can't see anyone paying what we'd want until he starts playing regularly again. I'd love to think Ayew would stay but can't see it especially if he scores another 10 goals this season.

Probably a decent amount given he's contracted for another 4 years and will probably be a starter in Euro 2016.

I thought Richards and Clark might be a decent combo at start of season but looks more like a comedy act with each passing week. Really when you deeply look at it the other centre half Clark has consistantly shown good form alongside is Okore in all his time here. Just shows me we really need to keep Okore for next season.

We'd need some battlers and scrapers down there. Our team is too lightweight and has been for years. We need players to battle it out midweek to the likes of Rotherham and Huddersfield. Then whatever flair players you have left can shine. It will be interesting going down as it will be the first season I can remember in my lifetime where you don't have to spend 20-30m to be competitive in the league we're in. A team like Brighton are challenging for promotion with freebies and loan players like James Wilson. Hull didn't sign that many players but kept their spine from the prem...McGregor, Curtis Davies, Dawson, Elmohamady, Thuddlestone, Livermore, Abel Hernandez. Be interesting to see which route we go but we need to get the mentality right for that level.

Encourage Adama.

We are done. We can't score more than 1 goal a game and can't keep clean sheets. If safety was 20 points I wouldn't fancy us. In a perverse sort of way I hope the bottom 3 stays as it is. The promoted teams have been brilliant this season and deserve the cash bonanza next year, shambolically run clubs like ourselves and the North east two don't. Yes it will make next season much more difficult but let's try to assemble a decent championship team and take it from there, at least in the championship you don't need to spend 50m to be competitive.