So, as we officially come to the end of a season with more ups than downs, ultimately ending with the usual cruel twist of fate at the final furlong, the preparation for next season has never been more crucial.
Championship it is then…
So, as we officially come to the end of a season with more ups than downs, ultimately ending with the usual cruel twist of fate at the final furlong, the preparation for next season has never been more crucial.
Whilst it may sound too soon to talk about it, a fourth successive Championship season lies around the corner, and I would rather spend more time thinking about that than what might have been at the end of last season.
Strangely, the idea of playing in the Championship next year crossed my mind at the time of seeing the release of the new home kit; which has a definite Coca Cola branding appeal to it, call me a pessimist, but I could see all the clichés and the headlines about the standard of football relating to shirts.
It’s certainly one of the more adventurous in terms of kit design and the shirt looks great but lets not mention the shorts or even the goalkeeper’s kit, but with that in place at least, where does the team go from here?
The expected sales of the likes of Bent and Davis, means there are obvious gaps to be filled, and given Joe’s track record in the transfer market I genuinely hope he uses any money given to him as wisely as possible.
If there is a weakness in Big Joe’s management of the club, I feel that this maybe it, as his desires of bringing in 30+ journeymen hardly suffice for the amount of youth talent that we may lose.
The urgency of the preparation for the new season also boils down to the fact that the heavily criticised transfer window applied to all of the top divisions in Europe, will now apply throughout the football league.
Joe has acted quickly in sorting out contracts for next year and it is just as well, because every league club will be chasing any available players, as there will be no more chances until January, when I can see panic buys galore, as teams desperately try to salvage their seasons, such is the impact of this system.
The same rules would have applied had we been promoted of course, but we all know that the Championship doesn’t work like other leagues and is notoriously difficult to get out of.
Like many Town fans I am looking forward to the arrival of the young Canadian Jamie Peters, purely from what I’ve heard about the player as I am yet to see him play; but if he is the next great thing to come out of Portman Road, I sincerely hope that the weight of expectation does not get to him. I remember hearing rave reviews about Nabil Abidallah, who went on to make only a few first team appearances and was later released.
But even with pre-season yet to get under way, I’m trying to look ahead and not behind at what might’ve been, so for that reason alone, I won’t be watching that particular final in Cardiff.