[seteefeet]

Ok, so we've gone again and it's predominantly doom and gloom but, as a 40 odd year supporter, I for one will shed no tears and am glad that we are now in a league where we can actually compete and aspire to something. To the extent that I would rather be sitting at the top of League 1 than begging for scraps at the bottom of the greed league.
Just wondered if I'm just being fickle as I prefer it when we're winning.

A couple of stats to bear in mind:
We have NEVER won more than we've lost in a Prem season
NOR have we scored more than we've conceded.

There's just no fun in that!!!
And,
That's under different owners and multiple DoF's and managers.
The sad truth is, when it comes to the greed league, we are priced out of it and, with no sign of that changing, I'm happy to take their money and get the hell outta there.

What's everybody else think?

[TheJacko2000]

To be top of League 1 we would need to have been bottom 3 of the Championship. No thanks.

And no offence I sincerely hope yours is the only vote for that outcome. Small-time would be an understatement if that standpoint gained any traction among Albion supporters.

[skyclad99]

Agree with you seteefeet, it was no fun at all was it? Painful to watch men against boys.

[Atomic]

To be top of League 1 we would need to have been bottom 3 of the Championship. No thanks.

And no offence I sincerely hope yours is the only vote for that outcome. Small-time would be an understatement if that standpoint gained any traction among Albion supporters.

We'd all want to be pushing for Europe and winning trophies but for a club like ours, currently, without enormous investment (which is totally out of control of any supporter) it just isnt possible.

So as a fan you have to ask yourself what you prefer.

A) Losing all the time in the PL
B) Watching your team being competitive and successful at a lesser level.

I prefer the second option.

Either way, my mindset these days is, I love my club and want to watch them and cheer them on game by game. It's more pleasurable when you're competitive. Everything else is out of my control.

[gazberg]

17th in the Prem!!! Who wants to be top of league 1?!?

We should be aiming to be the best we can be with what we've got. If it's 17th in the PL so be it. The players we would be watching play for us week in week out would be streets ahead of league 1 leaders.

[PartisanBaggie]

17th in the Premier League all day long.

I hate VAR, but the officiating lower down is absolutely disgraceful at times.

[TheJacko2000]

We'd all want to be pushing for Europe and winning trophies but for a club like ours, currently, without enormous investment (which is totally out of control of any supporter) it just isnt possible.

So as a fan you have to ask yourself what you prefer.

A) Losing all the time in the PL
B) Watching your team being competitive and successful at a lesser level.

I prefer the second option.

Either way, my mindset these days is, I love my club and want to watch them and cheer them on game by game. It's more pleasurable when you're competitive. Everything else is out of my control.

So the solution is a Championship relegation battle as opposed to a Premier League one? Leave that to the likes of Peterborough United thanks.

[seteefeet]

To be top of League 1 we would need to have been bottom 3 of the Championship. No thanks.

And no offence I sincerely hope yours is the only vote for that outcome. Small-time would be an understatement if that standpoint gained any traction among Albion supporters.

I'm speaking purely as a supporter of 40 odd years and I would just rather see us winning.

The reason I put League 1 instead of the Championship was to illicit your first line response and to stress that relegation is never the end, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

As for being small time, I have no control over that, as it all boils down to money and my standpoint has no effect on that whatsoever. I could want us to win the Champions League, it won't make it happen.

[Atomic]

So the solution is a Championship relegation battle as opposed to a Premier League one? Leave that to the likes of Peterborough United thanks.

I've banged on about lack of ambition at this club for decades mate. Nothing we can do about it literally so I dont worry about it anymore. I just enjoy following the team whenever I can home and away. Life is for enjoying and I enjoy that.

[TheJacko2000]

Small wonder we're ridiculed by the likes of Vile and the d1ngle5. I'll leave it there.

Presumably you guys find this cathartic, I think it's utter ********, and an embarrassment to the history and foundations of our great club...

[wba_1996]

Honestly I don’t get why our fanbase is so small time. This club should be pushing for top 10-12 in the PL, where we historically should be. Any other club our size would be demanding more from those in charge, yet we’ve decided rather get relegated to a league we’ve basically never been in just to win a few games?

Owners need to go. DoF needs to go. Half the squad need to go. We need better. I’d rather we finish 10th in the Premier League, League 1 shouldn’t even be something this club thinks about.

[wba_1996]

Small wonder we're ridiculed by the likes of Vile and the d1ngle5. I'll leave it there.

Presumably you guys find this cathartic, I think it's utter ********, and an embarrassment to the history and foundations of our great club...

Spot on.

[Atomic]

Small wonder we're ridiculed by the likes of Vile and the d1ngle5. I'll leave it there.

Presumably you guys find this cathartic, I think it's utter ********, and an embarrassment to the history and foundations of our great club...

It may be, I don't really disagree.

But we can cry about it all we like. We cant change anything.

[seteefeet]

So the solution is a Championship relegation battle as opposed to a Premier League one? Leave that to the likes of Peterborough United thanks.

I'm not suggesting it as a solution, of course I don't want us relegated again, it's more a case of, in which scenario would you, hand on heart, be happier?

For me it's about the club and my connection to it, through thick and thin, and I'm just happier when we are winning, regardless of the opposition.

Promotion from Division 2 is still one of my greatest memories and will likely remain so until I pop my clogs and I wouldn't have had that without the relegation that preceded it.

[NJS]

Seems a bit of a loaded choice.  What about being in the top 7 in the championship and playing attractive football with a fair contingent of homegrown players?

[wba_1996]

It may be, I don't really disagree.

But we can cry about it all we like. We cant change anything.

The club shows barely any ambition as it is. Setting our expectations even lower than what they’re currently delivering isn’t helpful in any way.

If I’m a potential owner gauging our fanbase I’m thinking I can come in and asset strip the club, as long as they’re winning a few games in League 1 they’ll be happy.

[seteefeet]

Seems a bit of a loaded choice.  What about being in the top 7 in the championship and playing attractive football with a fair contingent of homegrown players?

I went for extremes to promote debate and it's clearly worked!

Perhaps the title was misleading though. It's not about what we want for the club but instead, what makes us happier.

[skyclad99]

Small wonder we're ridiculed by the likes of Vile and the d1ngle5. I'll leave it there.

Presumably you guys find this cathartic, I think it's utter ********, and an embarrassment to the history and foundations of our great club...

Nothing carthartic about it Jacko, we used to be a proud club with great history, now we are a small time club with a small time mentality owned by someone who doesn’t understand the game. To say I am cross is an understatement. Of course I wanted us to stay up, but I wanted to see a plan or indication that we had ambition, but I doubt we had one.
If it takes a relegation to flush out the blockage in the U bend then so be it but I certainly did not want another season of being the total laughing stock of the Premier league

[SmethDan]

I appreciate the rationale of not wanting to be amongst the worst of the best. It's a largely thankless and un enjoyable task.

I don't understand the aspiration for becoming the shiniest piece of dung at the top of a pile of dung. Especially not for a club with our traditions.

That's not arrogance or disrespect to those further down the football pyramid. It's acknowledging where we've been and where I aspire for us to be again.

That wouldn't get any easier by playing in the lower leagues unless such a fall from grace meant we could attract new wealthy and indulgent ownership.

Falls are funny things which generally happen in un funny and painful ways though. And there's no guarantee of a knight in shining armour riding along to our rescue.

[Atomic]

I went for extremes to promote debate and it's clearly worked!

Perhaps the title was misleading though. It's not about what we want for the club but instead, what makes us happier.

I get you mate. I'm thinking from the fan experience point of view same as you clearly are.

[MarkW]

I'd absolutely rather be at the top of Ligue 1 than 17th in the Championsh...

Oh, League One, not Ligue 1...that changes things.

17th in that case

[wbasoprano]

I went for extremes to promote debate and it's clearly worked!

Perhaps the title was misleading though. It's not about what we want for the club but instead, what makes us happier.

I can't remember being much happier than when we finished 17th under Robson.

[seteefeet]

Small wonder we're ridiculed by the likes of Vile and the d1ngle5. I'll leave it there.

Presumably you guys find this cathartic, I think it's utter ********, and an embarrassment to the history and foundations of our great club...

Who cares about them? We laugh at them and their delusions of grandeur. Yet, if we are realistic about our chances we are smalltime?
They've spent money we could only dream of and for what?

The history and foundations of the club contain many failures and successes and any fan surely accepts that you can't have one without accepting the other.

It's certainly not an embarrassment to see us want to succeed and challenge rather than just existing as whipping boys for others simply because they have more money.

[Albionic]

To be top of League 1 we would need to have been bottom 3 of the Championship. No thanks.

And no offence I sincerely hope yours is the only vote for that outcome. Small-time would be an understatement if that standpoint gained any traction among Albion supporters.

I'm thinking (and hoping) the OP meant Championship not league 1 !

which having read the rest of the thread shows he wasn't, wow, we should never ever think that the 3rd division (as was) is our level, we are comfortably in the top 30 clubs historically and even now, so thats the minimum objective for me.

Combined Totals of English Men's Clubs
FIFA and UEFA   FA, EFL and PL (top-qualifying)   TotalClub   Cups   Super Cup         Total   League   Cups   Super Cups   Total   League   Cups   Super Cups   Total

Manchester United   6   2   8   20   17   21   58   20   23   23   66
Liverpool                 10   4   14   19   16[a]16   51   19   26   20   65
Arsenal                   2   â€”   2   13   17   16   46   13   19   16   48
Chelsea                   5   1   6   6   15   4   25   6   20   5   31
Manchester City           1   â€”   1   6   14   6   26   6   15   6   27
Tottenham Hotspur   3   â€”   3   2   12   9   23   2   15   9   26
Aston Villa                   2   1   3   7   12   3[c]   22   7   14   4   25
Everton                   1   â€”   1   9   5   9   23   9   6   9   24
Newcastle United   2   â€”   2   4   6   2   12   4   8   2   14
Nottingham Forest   2   1   3   1   8   1   10   1   10   2   13
Wolverhampton    â€”   â€”   â€”   3   6   4   13   3   6   4   13
Blackburn Rovers   â€”   â€”   â€”   3   8   1   12   3   8   1   12
Sheffield Wednesday   â€”   â€”   â€”   4   4   2   10   4   4   2   10
Sunderland           —   â€”   â€”   6   2   2[d]   10   6   2   2   10
Leeds United           2   â€”   2   3   2   2   7   3   4   2   9
West Bromwich     â€”   â€”   â€”   1   6   2   9   1   6   2   9

[Dexy]

I've always said one Premier win equals about three 2nd tier wins , I don't like struggling like this season anymore than anybody else but if you are not careful the league below soon becomes a grave yard for clubs like us .