StantonRam

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An announcement:
As of today, the artist formerly known as LondonRam2 wishes to be known as StantonRam because that's where I live now.
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Thanks for reading.

An announcement:
As of today, the artist formerly known as LondonRam2 wishes to be known as StantonRam because that's where I live now.
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Thanks for reading.

An announcement:
As of today, the artist formerly known as LondonRam2 wishes to be known as StantonRam because that's where I live now.
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An announcement:
As of today, the artist formerly known as LondonRam2 wishes to be known as StantonRam because that's where I live now.
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An announcement:
As of today, the artist formerly known as LondonRam2 wishes to be known as StantonRam because that's where I live now.
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Thanks for reading.

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As of today, the artist formerly known as LondonRam2 wishes to be known as StantonRam because that's where I live now.
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IMO the bottom line is that we must assume for now that Bolton are capable of getting 15 points from 7 games, whilst still hoping that they will slip up somewhere.
As I said before, that means that if we get 12 points from 6 games then we are finishing 2nd, especially if we can keep GD superiority over Bolton.
Update - good news about today is that NML and Collins might start for us, and Jordan Rhodes is injured and won't feature for Blackpool.  That might give us the edge over them going forward and creating chances.
Most teams around us are having end of season injury problems as well, which maybe evens things up a bit.
12 points is what we need, doesn't matter how we get them or against which opposition.  I really believe that 3 wins and 3 draws will be enough.
My strategy would be to go all out for the win every game, rack up the 12 points as soon as possible and by then hopefully it will be done and dusted.
Knowing us however, in reality we will probably get a surprise win against one of the teams around us and also a surprise loss in one of the last 3 games against the bottom half teams.
Looking forward to what might well turn out to be a season defining weekend!
 

Good game this, so here's my 2p worth.
Just for fun, I will assume that both Bolton and ourselves will draw against top 10 teams and win against the rest.  That gives us:
Rams - 3 draws (Blackpool, Pompey, Orient - next 3 games) followed by 3 wins - against bottom half teams, as our walking wounded start to return from injury/suspension, with Brown recalled from loan, and with other Academy discoveries stepping up, total 90 points
Trotters - 3 draws (Stevenage, Pompey, Posh) and 4 wins, total 89 points
On that arithmetic, we finish 2nd - BUT along the way, as we fail initially to get wins and Bolton creep up on us, and possibly even briefly snatch 2nd place (possibly in between the final whistle v Orient and the final whistle at Wycombe), then there shall be much wailing and gnashing of teeth, bums will be squeaky etc, BUT as we rack up those final 3 wins, each with 2-3 goal margins (thus reinforcing our GD advantage) their challenge will melt away and we are UP!
Believe, brothers and sisters, beliiiiiieeeeeve!
Hallelujah! etc...
LR2

Good game this, so here's my 2p worth.
Just for fun, I will assume that both Bolton and ourselves will draw against top 10 teams and win against the rest.  That gives us:
Rams - 3 draws (Blackpool, Pompey, Orient - next 3 games) followed by 3 wins - against bottom half teams, as our walking wounded start to return from injury/suspension, with Brown recalled from loan, and with other Academy discoveries stepping up, total 90 points
Trotters - 3 draws (Stevenage, Pompey, Posh) and 4 wins, total 89 points
On that arithmetic, we finish 2nd - BUT along the way, as we fail initially to get wins and Bolton creep up on us, and possibly even briefly snatch 2nd place (possibly in between the final whistle v Orient and the final whistle at Wycombe), then there shall be much wailing and gnashing of teeth, bums will be squeaky etc, BUT as we rack up those final 3 wins, each with 2-3 goal margins (thus reinforcing our GD advantage) their challenge will melt away and we are UP!
Believe, brothers and sisters, beliiiiiieeeeeve!
Hallelujah! etc...
LR2

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

I'm neither pro nor anti Warne per se, and I do get the Clough analogies, but the plain fact is that, however bad things were (except for during the mid 1980s), this is the lowest, in league table terms, that we have ever been.
This would be acceptable had we still been in extremely dire financial straits, lucky to survive (OK we were), plummeting down the leagues, having to play half of the U21s each week (as we did for a while under NC and others), and with an inexperienced manager.  In those circumstances it's blind loyalty that counts, and we have collectively shown plenty of that in recent years, myself included.
Fortunately, none of the above are true now.  As I understand it, finances are now at least stable at this level, some good players have been brought in, and the home grown talent that we didn't have to sell is still here and still performing well for us at this level.  Plus we have a manager who supposedly knows this league like the back of his hand.
My point is that, given all those advantages, plus large home and away attendances, the PL standard infrastructure etc etc, I believe that we should be more competitive than we are.  I believe this is because, for whatever reason, the whole is still less than the sum of the parts, whereas for many of the frankly ordinary sides we encounter the reverse is true.
To return to my central point.  If PW, supposedly knowing this league and the teams in it, and with the advantage of a superior squad, can't at least scrape an away point at Shrewsbury and get 3 points at Cheltenham, then what exactly is all that knowledge achieving on the pitch, and where is the evidence of that knowledge being applied on the pitch - where it counts?
It does seem that many opposing teams, other than the most naive or unlucky, have sussed out how to contain us and/or beat us.  So, a manager with PW's alleged knowledge and nous should have a solution, at least sometimes.
I don't expect to win every game, even at this level, and despite the irritating verbally incontinent interviews I do still believe that PW is capable of getting us out of this swamp of mediocrity.  However, the signs are that once that has been achieved his days will be numbered.  I would love for him to prove me wrong, starting today.

I'm neither pro nor anti Warne per se, and I do get the Clough analogies, but the plain fact is that, however bad things were (except for during the mid 1980s), this is the lowest, in league table terms, that we have ever been.
This would be acceptable had we still been in extremely dire financial straits, lucky to survive (OK we were), plummeting down the leagues, having to play half of the U21s each week (as we did for a while under NC and others), and with an inexperienced manager.  In those circumstances it's blind loyalty that counts, and we have collectively shown plenty of that in recent years, myself included.
Fortunately, none of the above are true now.  As I understand it, finances are now at least stable at this level, some good players have been brought in, and the home grown talent that we didn't have to sell is still here and still performing well for us at this level.  Plus we have a manager who supposedly knows this league like the back of his hand.
My point is that, given all those advantages, plus large home and away attendances, the PL standard infrastructure etc etc, I believe that we should be more competitive than we are.  I believe this is because, for whatever reason, the whole is still less than the sum of the parts, whereas for many of the frankly ordinary sides we encounter the reverse is true.
To return to my central point.  If PW, supposedly knowing this league and the teams in it, and with the advantage of a superior squad, can't at least scrape an away point at Shrewsbury and get 3 points at Cheltenham, then what exactly is all that knowledge achieving on the pitch, and where is the evidence of that knowledge being applied on the pitch - where it counts?
It does seem that many opposing teams, other than the most naive or unlucky, have sussed out how to contain us and/or beat us.  So, a manager with PW's alleged knowledge and nous should have a solution, at least sometimes.
I don't expect to win every game, even at this level, and despite the irritating verbally incontinent interviews I do still believe that PW is capable of getting us out of this swamp of mediocrity.  However, the signs are that once that has been achieved his days will be numbered.  I would love for him to prove me wrong, starting today.

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?

Congrats to PW and the team for saving his job on Tuesday...this time.
However, it's a measure of just how far we have fallen that we celebrate beating Exeter as if it were winning the FA Cup, and would apparently regard a point away at Stevenage (STEVENAGE!!!???!!!) as a good result.
I know that football, like most things, is a kind of pyramid, that the lower leagues are necessary for discovering and developing home grown talent etc, and I'm not averse to a bit of National League action myself, or lower, on a good day it has it's own magic for sure, especially in the FA Cup.  We accept local non league footie for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is.
However, when it comes to DCFC I'm of the generation whose expectations were raised (spoiled perhaps) at an impressionable age by the success of the 1970s, enjoyed the 1990s hugely, and now find it hard to adjust to current realities.  The many false dawns of recent times (the 2007-8 debacle, getting so close recently under Lampard) can induce a kind of existential ennui that's difficult to shake.  
Please PW, however you do it, get us out of this awful league, with its c**p grounds, cynical fouls, time wasting, hoofball, physicality at the expense of skill - and FAR too many games, leading players to burn out or get injured - players who need more time in training, skills development & physical maintenance than those in the PL, not less.  A PL team without cup runs or Europe plays 40 games a season, our bunch will end up playing maybe 60 if we have a couple of cup runs and end up competing in the playoffs.  In which case, even if we do go up we'll arrive in the Championship knackered before we even start.
We might deserve to be here morally, but in footballing terms we should not be here.  PW does seem to know how to compete at this level on its own terms (see above), but once back in the Championship we will need someone who has worked and succeeded at a higher level than this.
But who?