[jjamez]

I wonder if Rhodes turned Warnock down to join Sheffield Wednesday and he holds it against him?

Or he views him as a home only player

[Devongone]

You've got a manager who wants to win, has experience of doing it, knows the different ways to achieve the results he wants AND he's old enough and rich enough simply to put his feet and let the world pass him quietly by ..... if that was what he wanted.

He doesn't need you, but you did need someone like him. You won in the Lion's Den. Burnley or anyone else would be pleased to win 0-1 there. It isn't necessarily your best eleven on paper who are most likely to come up with a result down there now is it?

One excellent result doesn't mean you'll certainly stay up. Old Warnock doesn't bring miracles, but he does bring you hope. It's not tactical genius he relies on, it's getting inside players' heads .......... It's easy to surrender down there. You fought to win.

[Lord Snooty]

Two decent results on paper, but in reality it was poor finishing from the opposition. The last two games, three with Bristol City, could easily have gone the same way as Burnley and Coventry.

But they didn't, so we're still in it.

[Devongone]

There's almost always some poor finishing, and only sometimes good or excellent finishing. When your keeper makes saves it isn't luck or divine intervention - he's one of your team. On Saturday Chesterfield should have won 0-5 as a minimum, we missed chance after chance, as it was we won by a moderately-taken penalty.

When you were up top last season your keeper was rated best in the league, so were all your points slightly lucky then? Your players and manager EARNED your win on Saturday, just as you earned your position last season. There's a ball and twenty two blokes kicking it on grass - it isn't science, you don't just tip in a couple of chemicals and wait to go to the fume cupboard. You have to control what you can and applaud when it turns out to be enough.

By the way I've got a player for you. When you signed the giant Hudlin I told you he would never reach your level. Here is a 6'7" centre forward who will get there. His name is Marcus Dackers. He's just 20. He is a Salford player, his contract is up in July this year. They keep sending him out on loan. At the moment he is at Woking. They made a big mistake not starting him against us on Saturday. Anyway earlier in the season he was at Southend, they wanted to extend his loan because they were thrilled with him, but their financial problems prevented it. This boy is athletic and can move. He is also technically pretty good on the ball. I'd love him at Chesterfield but unless we make the EFL I don't think we'd get him. IMO that he's completely different class to Hudlin - a proper prospect.

[Lord Snooty]

Well to answers your question, Devon, yes a lot of our points were lucky and it was no surprise that our goalie was player of the season.

Second best player was Sorba Thomas for his assists from set pieces. This season his delivery wasn't up to the same standard which caused some "fans" to boo him and question his attitude. Nowt wrong with his attitude but with endless criticism, his confidence dropped as did his performance levels.

Then Nicholls got injured. Add to that the transfers out of O'Brien and Toffolo, that's the four lynchpins of last season gone.

[Devongone]

My point is luck is just part of the data. Later you remember only those incidents where luck played a part that were significant to you.

So you win 0-1, you remember the close shaves, you think you were lucky. Unless it's a San Marino versus Brazil scenario, there will always be a little luck and some crumbling of the cookie. That wasn't all you did over 90 minutes to win.

So Coventry hammered you, well they came out and hammered Blackpool who'd just knocked QPR for six. Here's Tuesday and you've already got Wigan assigned to relegation, you only need two more and you're home free!

[theo_luddite]

“The Harder I Practice, the Luckier I Get”

This quote is wrongly attributed to Gary Player, however, his usage of the saying made it popular. Arnold Palmer also used it.

It works in football too. You could say we were lucky to get to the play-off final with one of the lowest budgets in the division, however that was the 2nd time we did it in recent seasons and we know what happened the first time. We didn't do it by not training (often 2x per day), not going through drills, sitting in the snooker hall all day and in the bar playing cards and throwing darts all night. I'm not saying teams that get relegated do that either but there's a combination of reasons why a club drops from one end of the division to the other in one season, not one reason in isolation. You don't suddenly become unlucky, though you do notice all those decisions that go against you far more.

Sheffield Utd also got promoted with one of the lowest budgets in The Chumpionship. It's not luck over all 46 games plus 3 for the play-off's. Some might be considered luckier results than others, also some results have to go your way that you can't control. I'm sure those around the 3rd-10th places (except Millwall) were delighted with the luck that came their way on Saturday when we won, but it wasn't anything they had any control over.

[Devongone]

Never mind 46 games, 90 odd minutes is a long time to be ONLY lucky.

We often win and think we were lucky to get away with that, but a game is made up of lots of moments and different elements. So you didn't look as though you were the better team, how many games do we see won by the team we'd say that about? How often do we think the score line isn't a fair reflection? Certainly it is easier to do well if you consistently look better than your opponents, but if you never manage to win when you don't reach that level don't bother clearing space on the mantelpiece for your medals.

Theo's right, this season you collected together lots of reasons to become unlucky (or largely piss poor). There are many steps to take to reverse that trend and it is not easy to identify and prioritise which of the many problems you need completely to solve to enable you to win despite carrying a few remaining shortcomings. But all the teams in the Chumpionship do have weaknesses and shortcomings - even those that win every week.

The aim of the game is to win and 0-1 at Millwall would pretty much satisfy even Pep Guardiola.

[Lord Snooty]

Over the last two matches, we've had two shots on target and taken four points. Maybe our luck is changing or maybe it's just masking over the fact that we ain't creating any chances.

But......Colin knows what's he's doing, so we'll have to trust that he/they get it right.