Whatever happens it's been a great season !

[Riversider]

Is the biggest defeatist load of bo**ocks that I've ever heard, and I'm sick of hearing it, if we don't get promoted this month, then this season has been a failure,
In the last month of the season we faced QPR, Brentford at home and Birmingham away 2 extra points from those games and were in The Premier League !
I really don't think we will ever get a better chance than this season,  so if we get hammered by Derby next week please don't come on here after trying to tell us that it's been a "great season" because it just won't wash.
The stakes have been raised , it's now win or bust, time to really see how good our manager and this group of players really are, let the games begin.
Come on you super whites ⚽️⚪⚫⚪⚫⚪⚫⚪⚫

[Andy S]

It doesn't matter how good they are it has still been a good season. It looked all over in December yet we missed automatic promotion by a couple of points after a 23 game unbeaten run. Sorry it's been a good season and the next three matches have nothing to do with it. It has been exciting to the end and that's it. There are only two clubs promoted automatically. This year it was wolves and Cardiff. We Finnish two points behind them and miss out in the last game. Who is to say we cannot squeeze something out of the play off games. Margins will be tight and success or failure cannot be judged now it is in the years to come it will be

[Woolly Mammoth]

Good points I feel from all three posts, and all constructive.
But there are two words, amongst many sentences of wisdom, that actually sums it all up for me that stood out amongst all others.
UNDER PERFORMING !!
That appears to be the key to open the door to the English Premier League.
Resolve that issue and we have a great deal more chance of promotion.

[gezkc]

How can you say we're underperforming? We've lost one game in 24! I know it was a hugely important game, and we're all very disappointed, but let's have some perspective here.

We've been the best performing team in the Championship during 2018. We've now got 3 play off matches and I'm sure we'll be well up for them.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Because yesterday a lot of players performed less well than they could and should have done, that's under performing.
Play like that again in the play offs and we will be turned over.
We are as strong as our weakest link, and there were too many weak links yesterday.
Birmingham beat us all over the pitch, that's because we under performed.
We can win and draw matches and still under perform, which is what happened in the unbeaten run, and also in the first half of the season.
That is why we failed to make an automatic place, and Cardiff did, because they punched their weight and over performed.

[toshes mate]

Failure on the premise of "whatever it takes"; on the follies of a warped recruitment policy allowed to flourish for far too long before remedy; on the back of a poor pre-season and the mountain such a start left the Club to climb up before achieving form effective enough to offer a chance of success; of the announcement of an intention to purchase Wembley Stadium just before, arguably, the most important game the Club would play this season?  None of that should have had an effect on yesterday's game but, in essence, and just beneath the surface, perhaps the muddled thinking that comes from not having a clear head will always render us a little more likely to pull up short of success.   I am optimistic we can dispense with Derby.  They've done well over the last few games but it'll be a very different story for them on Friday night, as it will for us.   The slate has been cleaned and we start again.  I believe we will win both games.

A match at Wembley is something else, though. and I do hope our owner's bad business timing doesn't come back to bite us.   

[the nutflush]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMY1uKMpiRI

Joka needs to take a leaf out of Terry Wallace's book.  This is one of the most famous post game coaches speeches ever given in Australian Rules football.  Still makes me pi55 myself laughing but it is very apt given our situation.  Failure to get promoted = failure in my book.

Speech starts at about 2 mins 30.  Brilliant.

[Lighthouse]

As a negative, depressive I am astounded how many so called positive fans are willing to chalk the season up as a failure if we don't get promotion. A record number of undefeated games is not to be sneezed at. The fact it took so long to find a decent target player and a decent replacement at left back is worth debate. The fact we still don't have a decent centre half is something worth commenting on. But that was the problem and we never got over it.

What is worth debate is the odd performance yesterday. We certainly dominated the stats in most areas. But one on ones we were second best all the game. If the game had been important to Brum and not us I think teams would have had every right to complain about our attitude. But that simply wasn't the case.

The style of defeat is tough. No doubt the failure to go up if we do fail will be felt. TC seems eager to make clear he wants to move. But overall reaching the play offs is a success. A good season it has eventually been. Promotion with sides like Wolves and Villa spending huge amounts on fees and wages is always hard to cope with. Cardiff too had a bigger net transfer than we did. So it has been a good season whatever happens. Next season when we do a Reading or Sheffield Wednesday we will have plenty to complain about then.

[Woolly Mammoth]

If by not going up on this occasion would guarantee we would keep our manager and our best players, and know that we will add key players to the squad, I may be able to swallow the huge disappointment if we FAIL to achieve promotion.
But the reality is that by FAILING to achieve our target of promotion, then we will most probably lose our best players and how many loans will stay, and will the Manager stay.
So if we FAIL to go up, and if we FAIL to hang on to key players, and we FAIL to convince the Manager to stay, then that to me signifies FAILURE, and dire consequences, on the playing side and off the pitch financially, due to this FAILURE.

[Burt]

I can understand the disappointment.

For me, it wasn't so much about failing to get automatic promotion (I had accepted that Cardiff would not slip up against Reading, so even before yesterday I was resigned to having to get promotion via the playoffs) so to that extent my expectations were met.

What was disappointing was the fact that we really didn't fight for it. Had we lost on the back of a stronger performance then OK, that would be easier to swallow, but the tepid display was not good to see and has got people worried that right after a 23-match unbeaten run whether we will now see a 2-match winless run against Derby.

Who knows?

All I know is:
1. After that defeat at Sunderland, it was a privilege to see a record breaking run that nearly took us up.
2. A great side doesn't become rubbish overnight.
3. The gaffer won't allow the team to do anything other than pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and fight for promotion.

Keep the faith. We've got a shocking playoff record that needs putting to bed once and for all!

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[bill taylors apprentice]

Great Season or failure (so far)?
It is and it isn't IMO.

I like Statto's analogy but I'm in my sixties and can't help remembering how football used to be.

Even bigger clubs than ours would have enjoyed the games and gone again the following season but now nowadays if you fail in the objective its more than just back to the drawing board. 

Not only are the failures moved on asap the quality is snapped up and your in a worse state than before!
We all know this, its the modern way.

The biggest failure was the player recruitment pre season but I've enjoyed the season overall, I somehow knew we would get better as the season progressed.

My biggest disappointment will be not failing to win promotion but the state the club will be in after the bones have been picked, maybe that's the same thing and the subtle difference I'm talking about is not an option anymore? 

[Chutney]

If we don't go up the season has been a failure, promotion was the aim.

If we go up via the play offs we've achieved the bare minimum expected.

[Whitesideup]

I don't know by what measure 3rd place and 88 points is a failure. I don't know what makes people think that we have a better claim than bigger clubs than ourselves to automatic promotion, and that anything short of this is failure. Yes, I am disappointed. Yes, I think we could and should have done better in our last game, but we had brilliant games along the way  eg Cardiff away, Villa and Wolves at home. 

Is there a danger that the players will not be able to pick themselves up after the disappointment of losing out? Yes, and that will be failure of a kind, but losing in the play-offs can happen to any team, and being the better team does always get the right result (eg Derby v QPR a few years ago).

No matter what, I will look back on the positives of the season. My glass is definitely half-full, so COYW !!