Division one things to forward to……..

[Jackson Corner]

Papa Johns cup the only cup delivered by moped.
No goal line technology
Being knocked out in the first round of the cup by Maidenhead United
Carlisle away
One maybe two local derbies
Eamon Dolan stand closed down
Regular gates under 10k
Waiting till 10:30 at night to catch camcorder highlights on ITV 4

[SouthDownsRoyal]

Division one is either the league we are now or the league above us depending on your age.

Do you mean league one?

[Royal_jimmy]

Ian happy with us being midtable mediocrity and losing to many nothing clubs

[elrey]

The best thing to look forward to is the opportunity to rebuild as a team, come back as something better. It might not happen, but this fighting relegation every season in the Championship, rinse and repeat isn't fun either.

[Stranded]

If it happens and if we get recruitment right, it could be fun and crowds will come back.

Likelihood is we still won't have hit rock bottom if we do drop.

[Snowflake Royal]

Ian happy with us being midtable mediocrity and losing to many nothing clubs

It would be an improvement, yes.

[blythspartan]

The EFL is a competition we’re allowed to get relegated and we have no divine right to stay in the Championship.

If we go down and have to rebuild we could have further to fall or we could bounce back immediately. I am looking forward to trips to Pompey, Oxford, Wycombe and hopefully Swindon. Also, going to new places like Fleetwood. I think the quality of teams and facilities of clubs in Leagues one and two have improved since we last played at that level.

There have been some great times and many grim times watching us over the last 40+ years but the last few years have been oxf*rd terrible watching my team lose its identity and fall into decline. Even in the bad old days of division 4 we could be sh*te one season but winning promotion the next. At least I knew how we’d line up and there’d be a structure to how we played. Under Ince and Pauno that’s been non existent. Tbf I thought that Bowen had a plan and I felt that under him we’d at least win games and be hard to beat.

[Eaststandman]

A weekend away in Exeter

[Snowflake Royal]

A weekend away in Exeter

Oooo. Nice.

[Getthebeerens]

Obviously getting relegated would be a disaster, but I don’t fear League 1. We just have to face facts, that is the level we have been playing at.

I hope it gives us the opportunity to lead with more of our younger players in the squad & actually build something over a longer period.

[paddy20]

Clearly most of you have never experienced what its like in the lower divisions

[Sutekh]

Division one is either the league we are now or the league above us depending on your age.

Do you mean league one?

Division 3 sounds much better, as well as being the most accurate.

[Sutekh]

Obviously getting relegated would be a disaster, but I don’t fear League 1. We just have to face facts, that is the level we have been playing at.

I hope it gives us the opportunity to lead with more of our younger players in the squad & actually build something over a longer period.

Have to say that that is the upside and with being able to trade properly again the ability to mix those youngsters with 2/3 brighter lower division prospects experienced at those levels and hungry to get on might well make for something worth watching after a decade if utter ******* shyte. Have to find a manager with new ideas and ambition to go with it though - sort of another Alan Pardew.

Everything else about it both sucks and blows chunks at the same time though.

[Hound]

It really isn’t the end of the world

Be disappointing but end of the day we’ll still be able to to and watch a football match, hopefully with a far higher win percentage than the last decade or so

We’ve got all the high earners off the books, the EFL can hopefully leave us alone, got hopefully a bit of a structure again and some decent looking young players coming through

2 years or so ago it’d been an utter disaster with long expensive contracts on the books. Not so now

And actually the likes of Yiadom, Holmes, McIntyre, Fornah and Lumley if they stay, NGW are probably good div1 players rather than champ players

And I certainly won’t lose sleep over losing Moore, Joao, Meite, Hoilett, Dann, Loum etc in the summer

[blythspartan]

It really isn’t the end of the world

Be disappointing but end of the day we’ll still be able to to and watch a football match, hopefully with a far higher win percentage than the last decade or so

We’ve got all the high earners off the books, the EFL can hopefully leave us alone, got hopefully a bit of a structure again and some decent looking young players coming through

2 years or so ago it’d been an utter disaster with long expensive contracts on the books. Not so now

And actually the likes of Yiadom, Holmes, McIntyre, Fornah and Lumley if they stay, NGW are probably good div1 players rather than champ players

And I certainly won’t lose sleep over losing Moore, Joao, Meite, Hoilett, Dann, Loum etc in the summer

+1

[Snowflake Royal]

Clearly most of you have never experienced what its like in the lower divisions

Presumably aimed at the ones who say it'll be a disaster and we may get double relegated.

Did the Burns years. Its fine.

[South Coast Royal]

Obviously getting relegated would be a disaster, but I don’t fear League 1. We just have to face facts, that is the level we have been playing at.

I hope it gives us the opportunity to lead with more of our younger players in the squad & actually build something over a longer period.

Have to say that that is the upside and with being able to trade properly again the ability to mix those youngsters with 2/3 brighter lower division prospects experienced at those levels and hungry to get on might well make for something worth watching after a decade if utter ******* shyte. Have to find a manager with new ideas and ambition to go with it though - sort of another Alan Pardew.

Everything else about it both sucks and blows chunks at the same time though.

Alan Pardew had significant financial backing which won't be the case for next year's manager.
As paddy 20 says it will be fine for those that have never seen us at that level but for most others it is something to avoid if possible for so many reasons.

Clubs as big as us or bigger have often struggled to get back up again such as Pompey, Ipswich ,Charlton Plymouth ,Bradford and Sheffield Wednesday.
Yes it would be good to think that an away fixture might result in a win for a change but, dismal as it often is,I would prefer us to stay at our current level and build from there and don't see too many attractions in playing against Fleetwood or Port Vale home or away on a Tuesday night.

And when we finished just outside the European places in the Premier League who else dared to dream that we might spend longer at that level just like what we then thought of as similar clubs in Bournemouth, Brighton, Fulham and Brentford have done rather than too many seasons near the relegation zone in the Championship?

Time is not on my side so I am hoping for survival this season (that's me and RFC ) and the chance of better days ahead (if we are to believe Mr Bowen's lengthy statement of the other day).

[Snowflake Royal]

I'll say it again, we've got the base of a good, fairly cheap, L1 squad to build from with what we have left.

GK: ???, Andresson, CBC
RB: Yiadom, Abrefa
LB: Guiness-Walker, Clarke
CB: Holmes, ????, Dorsett
CB: McIntyre, Sarr, Abbey
CM: ????, Craig, Leavy
CM: ????, Osorio
RF: Azeez, ????
LF: Ince, Camara
ST: Carroll, Ehibhatiomhan, Clarke

6/7 decent L1 signings would do it.

Of those we might be able to extend Hoilett could offer something, Mbengue would be an asset, Long could be of value. A fit Hutchinson would be decent, not sure on his contract.

I'm ignoring Meite and Joao as they're too good and expensive to sign on for L1.

[windermereROYAL]

I have no worries about life on league 1, after 10 years of total dross and mostly relegation scraps it will be nice (potentially) to start winning a few games, make no mistake, if we are challenging for a play-off spot the crowds will come.
All we need is a manager after the constant conveyor belt of shit coming through the door that knows the meaning of dynamic attacking football.
My only issue would be if Dai pulled the plug, administration would put the very existence of our club in jeopardy.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I'd imagine that Holmes would have suitors in the Championship and there would probably be interest in Ince, McIntyre and Yiadom as well. Wouldn't be too disappointed to see them all leave to bring in some funds to be honest and we could just build again.

There will be a lot of players out of contract in the Championship that we could maybe call upon in League One as well as looking at those who youngsters who get released from PL clubs that would be good at this level.

One thing I'd 100% aim to do is bring in a direct, fast winger. I know Azeez has that, but someone else as well. Pace frightens to living daylights out of defenders and we've been missing that for a lot of years now, since Barrow left really.

Someone like Macauley Langstaff might be able to do a job at L1 level for us well, so would be a good coup from someone like Notts County if he was deemed good enough for this level.

Agree with the above, not the end of the world if we dropped, although I'd be bitterly disappointed and I think we "could" find it tough to get out of that division.