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I think watching us win promotion with Keegan at the helm, and the following season back in the premier league were my two favourite seasons to watch us as a whole. We played superbly and it was such a joy to watch. This season we haven't always been great, the start was pretty poor and their was plenty of talk that Howe could be in trouble before we went on the run starting with the Chelsea cup game. But come on, we've won a fucking trophy. Regardless of where we finish now, this will be my favourite season possibly ever. If we win the league or champions league in the years to come, I don't think it will ever mean more to me than winning the league cup after waiting so long. When I lost my dad a few years ago, he died still thinking we getting relegated and missed the end to that season, the improvements since and the win at Wembley. The emotion of that is, I think, very similar to what a lot of our other supporters felt and I don't think it will ever be beaten. Champions league qualification clearly means a lot to the club to help in the goals moving forward but for me it's only the cherry on top of the icing on massive cake that this season has been.

Haven't you got a dismembered rabbit to deal with?

Craig setting eyes on Phil Craig's linuxdriven setup.

Conversely he's considered on of the best strikers in Europe and is coveted by several of the leading clubs. If we can't provide him with CL football and the likes of Barcelona go on the hunt for him, I'd expect his exit would be inevitable. I said back in March before the Cup Final that if you asked me what was more important, winning silverware or qualifying for the CL, I'd struggle to answer. Winning the cup was such an emotional experience, it was important in terms of the decades this club have been devoid of success. But most important for the future, is definitely CL qualification. The Partizan Belgrade penalty shoot-out failure in 2003 is seared into memory. We went on a hell of a run in the UEFA Cup that year, but ultimately we lost ground on those teams around us. We need to avoid that happening again.

You've all got @PaddockLad to thank for me being here since 2009 I think(?) so I'm still a newcomer by TT standards.

This, he doesn't strike me as a down tools/hissy-fit sort of lad tbh, certainly seems quite reserved with little ego. He's still young, well paid (likely to get more in the summer from us) and he's got 3 years on his contract.

The EULA for this place includes a clause that you self-identify as a 'silly cunt'. Were you unaware of this?

I'll be 48 this July. My eldest isn't far off the age I was when I first set eyes on Phil Craig's version of this board - wasn't it on 'linuxdriven' or something like that? Horrendously unstable at times.

🙂

Rules to live by: If you're disagreeing with me, you're probably a silly cunt.

We lost the fight for youth when Kevin walked out.

Toms a year older than me iirc. I think you're probably right though.

I’m 34. 35 in August. Think Tom might be the same age or slightly older? Genuinely think I might be the youngest regular

👍

Also agree, CL qualification makes a big difference for us and falling into the Europa League gives us all the burdens of European competition with a fraction of the financial benefits. The only caveat is I could see us winning the EL, which would be pretty special.

I'm in the CL is very very important boat too. The difference between getting CL and not getting CL could be and very likely would be enormous. As OTF mentions it makes Mitch's hot summer extravaganza what we all hope it will be. Also qualifying for the CL next season is likely to be much more difficult with the added burden of more games regardless of which European competition we're in. If we're missing CL this season, we're odds on to miss it next too. But with CL we can potentially recruit more players to help ease the burden of the extra games. I think everything points to CL qualification being an enormously important boost to the club's progress relative to the EL (unless we win it which isn't anywhere near as easy as it sounds).

I was introduced by LM. Another nut job. 🙂

Villa v Spurs has been brought forward 2 days on account Spurs want to avoid it being so close to the Europa League final. Getting ahead of themselves - come on Bodo/Glimt!!

And within seconds, I'm agreeing with him on a different thread! Humans man, there's no logic

This is my position as well. I'd console myself by affirming that at the start of the season I'd have snapped your hand off for winning a major trophy and qualifying for Europa, but there no denying that qualifying for the CL is the only way we can truly resume our team building momentum and enable the hot Mitch summer.

Agree with this, and for all the reasons you state. I'm not CT levels of shitting myself about us having to win every game, but missing out on the CL will be more than a passing disappointment. Especially as it's highly likely that one of Spurs or Man Utd seem set to be in it next season. Having got ahead of both those fuckers at last, we don't need to be giving them the opportunity to get past us again.

i think we can compete for the title while isak is with but it does depend on finishing in the the CL places. We won't be a million miles away from the teams around us if we have a good summer transfer window, boosted by CL money, keep our star players and sign 3-4 new ones who improve the first team.

Based on this evidence, I've amended my opinion to completely agree with Craig. Not that I agreed with Gemmers, but it was close which can't be a good thing.