Paullow

I just can't see Everton dropping. It would still take an extraordinary turn of events for them to go. I think I'd prefer a draw here as I'd like Newcastle to finish around 12th, and Brentford are definitely one of the teams we're most likely to pass (if they didn't win here).

While not their natural level, Stockport were contending in the 2nd tier when I was a young lad, and had the odd cup run, but they had a stinking 15 years or so, before finally having an upturn these last few years. I'd like to see Notts County back, they are definitely a 'league' team as well, and have a couple of local (North East) lads playing for them, plus it will be shit for their fans if they stop down another season and Forest finally get back into the top flight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021–22_National_League#National_League_North Didn't realise York had made the playoff final after beating Brackley. I love the playoffs, although not so sure the 6 team format (although I guess it does favour the top 2, despite both flopping here), but I see it's 5th vs 7th in the final, and York and Boston finished 21 and 24 points respectively behind 2nd placed Brackley who pushed Gateshead all the way, before just falling short. I hope York go up. They get the final at home (3pm Saturday), but lost both league matches to Boston.

1-1. I'd be fine with this staying a draw tbh.

Yeah, same. They offer the league far more than Burnley, the Newcastle matches feel a lot bigger especially with it being 80 mins away on a direct train route, and their fixtures against the likes of Man Utd, and a few others always adds something to the calendar. You could say the same with Everton from that respect, but unlike Leeds, they haven't recently spent 17 years outside the top flight, there would have been the novelty factor with them going down with being in the top flight so long, and there's also the Sunderlandish connection. We also don't need concern ourselves with knowing Burnley are likely to be down there every season anymore.

Yeah, forget Everton, they were like 12/1 even before today's results. 2 points from their next 2 home games will see them safe with a game to spare, just need 2 points from final 3 matches, and to be honest, they may even stay up if they lost all 3, as it would mean Leeds having to beat Brentford, and Burnley getting 2 points from their final 2 matches. I've been wanting Burnley to win for weeks, but I'd probably rather Leeds stayed up, so in hindsight, I wish I hadn't

If they did have 3 matches then they would probably have the team who's hands survival is in, and Burnley could win 3-0 but could still be academic if they lose in midweek, so if Burnley lose in midweek I think Brentford vs Leeds will get priority, especially with Leeds being by far the biggest team of the two in contention (assuming Everton get at least 2 points in the coming days). If Liverpool don't beat Southampton in midweek then they could prioritise relegation more, and just have the City match and showing them taking the title.

It really is a huge goal for Leeds, but that said, I'm not sure who I would rather be between the two, probably 50/50 when the updated odds are out. Leeds have the point advantage (which may actually be enough), but Burnley have the game in hand, GD advantage, and a home game to play - think I'd possibly still rather be Burnley, but that Leeds goal makes it much more interesting and keeps it going to the final day.

Back in the tie 2-1. Matty went off about a minute ago (subbed). Was heavily involved for the 2nd goal. https://www.stagsnet.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=40154&start=75 It's not the most active of match threads, but a few don't seem too impressed with his performance.

Kick off times aren't ideal today. First of all, what's 4.45pm about for the FA Cup final? It just looks so random, but also the big Sheff U vs Forest playoff match starts at 3pm, so that won't finish until around 4.55pm, so a little bit of crossover there, and allows no build up for the cup final if you were wanting to watch both live.

Neil for me, marra.

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/premier-league-2022-23/winner Obviously mainly a case of bookies covering their backs and not taking any chances, plus expectation of anticipated money, but Newcastle are the clear 7th faves for the 2022/23 title, the same odds as Arsenal at Betway, and significantly shorter than the likes of West Ham and Leicester. It'll likely be at least 5 years until we are even in any kind of half realistic contention, but how good does that look to be pretty much the same odds as Arsenal to win the league next season, and not being the usual 4th to 6th favourites to go down like we have been for years? It must have been about 16/17 years since we were considered in amongst the top 7 faves.

Race for 4th doesn't get much closer than that: https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/top-4-finish You'd still just about rather be Arsenal with it in their hands, but certainly all to play for.

Leeds will be happy with the way this is going. Spurs should be fully motivated vs Burnley on Sunday and a chance for them to move into 4th before Arsenal play us.

All eyes on SJP on Monday then...

Sky will probably be hoping Arsenal don't win. It will of course be two well supported clubs, and therefore the views will probably be fine, but if Arsenal are guaranteed 4th, and we're playing for like 12th-14th then it's a bit of a wasted TV match. I'm not sure when it was picked, but about a month ago it didn't look like it would be a dead rubber.

They're 17th in the all time PL table, which is probably more realistic, and I guess the longer they stay out of it, the lower their stock will fall. Obviously the PL isn't the be all and end all, and 'football existed before 1992' etc. but at the same time, while the Sunderland fan mentioned they have had 3 top 10 finishes since the PL began (7th, 7th, 10th), they've also only had those three top 12 finishes since 1955, which needs to be taken into account as well, because if you're 73, and pretty old, then you've still only seen 3 top 10 finishes. I guess age will be a factor and if you're 35-40 then you'll probably have a higher opinion of Newcastle than you would if you were 60, and definitely under 20 and only saw the Ashley years, same with Everton, those over 40 will have a higher opinion as those under 40, and that will apply to most clubs, but in Sunderlands case, bar that FA Cup and one subsequent European campaign, most people still alive won't have seen them challenge for anything, or do anything of real note. I'd say 14th-17th like the Mackem said is fair, probably towards the lower side of that the longer they are down there. There's about 12 or 13 clubs that most would put ahead of them when taking everything into account, but you could probably say anything from 14th to 20th was fairly realistic.

Yeah, there is daylight between their respective achievements, and I don't think many will think Howe has a realistic chance of actually winning it, although it should also be considered that Trippier and Bruno have only been on the pitch together for those 22 minutes when 3-0 down vs Man City, so while both are genuine top 6 standard players, at most we've only ever had one of them at our disposal at any given time, sometimes 0 when Bruno was still finding his fight post Tripps injury, and while the other 3 are improvements on what we had (which wouldn't be difficult), they are generally bottom half standard (Targett not good enough for mid table Villa, Burn 4th choice CB for BHA when all fit, Wood an entire career of pretty much 17th in the PL or in the Championship), so Howe has still done wonders to turn it around in 2022 and have European form with only one genuine quality addition to his XI, and the other 3.

Thought you meant Lampard at first, ha, but aye, definitely in the conversation. They were the 11/10 3rd favourites to go down at the start of the season, and bar a little nervy period after the turn of the year, they have largely had a great season, and to finish in and around 12th in their first ever season in the PL would be some achievement.

Unless there's other awards, I think it's just based on their Premier League results, although maybe subconsciously, if something was very tight, external competitions could provide a little weight. Just looking over the years, Pardew won it here after the 5th place finish, Redknapp won it after guiding Spurs to 4th, Burley for taking Ipswich to 5th, but most relevant to Howe, Pulis won it at Palace in 2014. There were definitely comparisons between the two, Pulis, like Howe, came in after 11 games when they were on 4 points (Howe 5 from 11), they were 20th, Newcastle 19th, Pulis ended the season in 11th with 45 points, which will be similar to Howe, if we can one of the last 2 games, but two things in Pulis' favour were that they were a newly promoted club, and I guess the '100 odd million' narrative will be out in full force as well, even though a lot of the teams we have beaten recently arguably still have a better squad / team, even with that outlay. I don't think he will, or should, win it, but it's good that he at least appears to be in the conversation / picture, although if we were to end the season in 14th / 15th on the back of 4 straight defeats, that would take a little bit of the gloss off the incredible job he has done.

You could say the same with promotion and League 2. You could get promotion by finishing 7th, and the playoffs are pretty much universally seen as positive, both in terms of providing end of season excitement, but more importantly to keep the league competitive for as long as possible. I'm sure they have European playoffs in overseas domestic leagues, well at least they did on CM / FM anyway

Sounds like perfect timing to me . Maybe 2025/26 would be a bit realistic, but it would be nice to have half realistic hopes of a top 5 finish, or at least be in contention somewhat, the season after next.

I was just going to say I can see this ending 0-0, but aye, wouldn't be too surprised if Sunderland hit them on the break later on the second half when Sheff Wed get more desperate.

Favourites for the match, circa evens, but not the tie. 'To qualify' is generally 1/2 Sunderland, 6/4 Sheff Wed.