Championship Playoffs

Pull for whoever is playing against QPR. My stance anyway...

Cheers,

Steve

 

Rooting against QPHa works on multiple levels. Seeing 'Arry & Fernandes fail would make me smile. It would insure 2 incredibly intense derby matches next season. Also tend to root for the clubs who have not made the top flight in the time I've been following. Brighton & Hove is the little engine who is trying to get to the top of the hill.

 

Feel the same way Joe, root for the guy who hasn't been there before. Hopefully Brighton & Hove can do it.

 

Saw a little of the match, including Derby's second goal. Chris Martin (not of Coldplay fame) with a cracker off the bar that ricocheted in off the B&H''s keepers back. Technically an own goal, but nothing he could have done.

 

I concur. COME ON YOU.....SEAGULLS!!!

 

Brighton lose 2-1 via a penalty and an own goal. Hopefully they can turn it around in the second leg at Derby County.

Though I wouldn't mind seeing if Derby County can redeem themselves after their last stint in the Premiership. Either way, I'm rooting for the winner of this match to beat QPR or Wigan.

 

Guess I'm alone in coming at this from the opposite perspective. Since we'll be in the Championship next year, I want the best team gone. For me, that's Wigan. They took a while to come together under a new manager after losing Martinez to Everton but they came on like gangbusters in the 2nd half of the season. I've seen them play 3-4 times, and from what I've seen, they'd have blown this year's Fulham team off the pitch.

To that end, I don't know who is in charge of finding and hiring managers for Wigan, but he's one sharp customer. They have a really good track record in that area in recent years. They've also been good at finding players. Maybe we should be looking at the prospect of stealing someone from that front office?

 

I don't either, but their chief executive is one Jonathan Jackson, a lifelong Latics fan. His father is supposedly the one who convinced Dave Whelan to buy the club back whenever. I don't know how much say Whelan has in finding and hiring their managers, but you're right, somebody, somewhere, is doing something right over there, and we should find out who it is and steal them, fair and square.

 

Derby and the Haha's advance to Wembley. The former easily as Steve McCleran is a step away from a long-awaited return to the Prem, while the latter comeback from an early 0-1 deficit to break Wigan's heart. The final should be intense.

 

COME ON YOU RAMS!

 

If so Don, then so much for that idea.

Guess I'm rooting for Derby now. I'd rather have the additional derby matches for FFC next year, plus I think QPR v Fulham is more likely to wind up on tv.

 

Big weekend at Wembley. Saturday sees the Derby v QPR match for millions of Premier League television dollars. Think we are all in agreement that the Haha's losing would be good for Fulham for multiple reasons. 2 Derby matches are already guaranteed as Brentford earned promotion from League 1. Derby winning would double that number and give the fans some big matches to look forward to despite the drop.

On Sunday we will know the last team on next year's Championship schedule as Leyton Orient and Rotherham play in the League 1 playoff final. I'm guessing Fulham supporters will be rooting for Orient since they are a London club (from the map it looked like they are located halfway between Spurs and West Ham). Besides just saying the name Leyton Orient is cool. Wikied Orient's opponents and that club is way up near Sheffield, an interesting fact about the team nicknamed the Millers is they play in New York Stadium.

 

What a finish at Wembley. QPR goes down to 10 men at the 60-minute mark and hunkers down for the onslaught. Derby absolutely dominates possession and territory, pouring in crosses and corners, but can't find the finish. And then, in the 90th, on one of QPR's very few forays into the final third, a substitute by the name of Bobby Zamora nets the winner.

 

Bobby Z. Wow.