The English Lower League thread

[koyvoo]

Sounds like I missed an absorbing match

 

[Blender]

Like 10 seconds to try and get another one.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Mitrovic of all people to show great sportsmanship after the match, that was nice.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Scummy from the Fulham keeper, if I were a Brentford player I woulda struggled not to sock him.

Incredible extra time period, really fantastic stuff. Both goals from Bryan were absolute f***ing quality

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Brentford finishes the bottle job. All you had to do was beat Stoke. Welcome back FFC

They're 0-9 all time in these. Never been promoted to the PL.

 

[Blender]

I was hoping for Brentford, but congrats Fulham.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Mitrovic of all people to show great sportsmanship after the match, that was nice.

...then whatever he said to Parker got him to cry......heh, Mitrovic.

 

[These Are The Days]

Mitrovic > Pukki

 

[BKIslandersFan]

What a complete waste of time that was. Fulham should be banned from Football league for being complete waste of time.

 

[robertmac43]

So true:

 

[HoseEmDown]

Brentford finishes the bottle job. All you had to do was beat Stoke. Welcome back FFC

How was it a bottle job though? West Brom was 12 points up with 10 games to go and Brentford made a run on them. Sure they had a chance for automatic promotion at the end but they lost the last two. WBA were the ones bottling it but were lucky enough to escape.

 

[HoseEmDown]

So true:

I don't believe it's that true. They have sold good players before and have bounced back. This season it was Konsa and Maupay, before that they sold Mepham, Egan and Jota. Obviously it's not a recipe you like repeating but they do well in recruitment, they have a good academy and now with a new stadium should be able to compete with the bigger Championship clubs to get promoted soon.

 

[robertmac43]

I don't believe it's that true. They have sold good players before and have bounced back. This season it was Konsa and Maupay, before that they sold Mepham, Egan and Jota. Obviously it's not a recipe you like repeating but they do well in recruitment, they have a good academy and now with a new stadium should be able to compete with the bigger Championship clubs to get promoted soon.

They have sold good players, however those players never got them one game away from promotion. The guys they lose this year are going to be hard to replace and with how competitive the Championship was this season and is in general, there are no guarantees they are back here in a years.

Losing in the playoff finals is also just going to exasperate things that much more.

 

[Fulham]

I don't believe it's that true. They have sold good players before and have bounced back. This season it was Konsa and Maupay, before that they sold Mepham, Egan and Jota. Obviously it's not a recipe you like repeating but they do well in recruitment, they have a good academy and now with a new stadium should be able to compete with the bigger Championship clubs to get promoted soon.

They actually closed their academy a few years back. Huge win for Fulham. This year is more vital than most. As the Championship is still largely a gate driven league.

Will be interesting too see what recruitment looks like. As fulham has serious ambition(aka $$$$) and has a manager who I feel like will be able to attract talent.

 

[S E P H]

Fulham is the original elevator club, I would've much rather seen Brentford even though Craven Cottage is a magical place.

 

[Venkman]

Bit late but I'll go for West Brom, Fulham and Leeds to get promoted. Forest, Derby and Brentford in the playoffs.

3/3 for promotion. 4 out of the top 6, would have been 5/6 but Forest choked.

 

[PanniniClaus]

So true:

The Bees can't sell any more than 2... No need to gut the team. Sell 5 and your first season in the new stadium could be ugly.

 

[robertmac43]

The Bees can't sell any more than 2... No need to gut the team. Sell 5 and your first season in the new stadium could be ugly.

I don't know what choices they will be left with. Pandemic has already hurt clubs and paying for a new stadium on top of that cannot be a great recipe for success!

 

[Chimaera]

Salary cap in League 1 and 2. I’m a bit unsure what I think about it. On the one hand, cap sports can bring more even playing fields and a better opportunity to see some parity. But it also artificially helps depress salaries in exchange for increasing profits for owners.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Salary cap in League 1 and 2. I’m a bit unsure what I think about it. On the one hand, cap sports can bring more even playing fields and a better opportunity to see some parity. But it also artificially helps depress salaries in exchange for increasing profits for owners.

Salary caps are fully about the latter, and owners use 'parity' and 'greedy players' to manufacture fan buy-in. The PFA is pissed as hell and taking this to arbitration, and they are correct to do so.

 

[Chimaera]

The trouble is, if I’m a player in those leagues, I’m gonna go elsewhere. But with the sport probably contracting after Covid, it might not be as easy.

 

[GabeTravels]

The salary cap really annoys me. I'm all for policies that lead to sustainable football clubs.

But why should Sunderland (average attendance 30,000) be constrained to spend as much money as Fleetwood Town (average attendance 3000)? As long as they're not outspending their incomes, there shouldn't be anything wrong with it.

This will widen the gap between the Championship and League 1.

This will over time effectively turn the lower clubs into farm teams in the Premier League.

Not only that, it could easily lead to smaller clubs not bringing in gate revenue from big away fan bases. Why would fans of Portsmouth and Sunderland travel to Fleetwood or Northampton and give those clubs money when they've voted for this?

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Is the cap supposed to be for this Covid transition year or will this be moving forward?

 

[GabeTravels]

Is the cap supposed to be for this Covid transition year or will this be moving forward?

Moving forward.

 

[Chimaera]

To be fair, Sunderland haven’t exactly spent wisely either, bigger budget or not. So this might be a way of having them avoid some of the stupid moves, just because they won’t have cap space to do it.

I understand it’s completely against the players, but for what it’s worth, there’s a number of clubs who are going to struggle to exist without tickets being sold. Maybe this is a way to avoid some of that damage, and keep a number of the smaller clubs alive. Sure, in the long run players will lose out, but maybe more clubs will stay alive to pay wages and keep guys employed. But Sunderland can’t play six or seven other teams, and all of them need other places developing players and bringing in talent.