Random Thoughts

[zequist]

Just a few thoughts and observations popping around in my head right now, with only one more round of games (and lower division playoffs) to go.

 

*How would you like to be Newcastle if Derby lose again next week, knowing that the "1" in Derby's win column this season came at your expense?

 

*Leeds and Nottingham Forest - One's already headed back up to the Championship, the other has a good chance to join them. Could a push for a joint Premiership return from these two former powerhouses be in the cards sometime in the near-future?

 

*League Two playoff note - Rochdale and Darlington, the two longest-tenured teams in this tier (34 years and 18 years, respectively) are facing each other in the first playoff round. Someone's going to get a shot at escaping purgatory...

 

*Some things never change: Charlton finished between 9th and 15th five times during their seven-year run in the Premiership. For their first season in the Championship, they currently sit in 12th place with one game remaining.

 

*Strange bedfellows: Only two teams scored wins against both Liverpool and Chelsea this year - Man U, who look like they're going to win the Premiership, and Barnsley, who were in danger of being relegated from the Championship all the way up until last weekend.

 

*Game of the week next week - 18th-place Reading at Derby. The Royals couldn't have picked a better opponent for a must-win survival game, but if they lose this one nobody will ever let them live it down.

 

*Welcome back!: Aldershot Town, back in the Football League for the first time since the original club went bankrupt in 1992.

 

*Happy Trails to: Wrexham, out of the Football League for the first time since 1921, and Mansfield Town, out of the League for the first time since 1931.

Edited May 4, 2008 by JD in DC