Austadiums Forum

kilonewton wrote:I hope they reopen the top of the East Stand at Elland Road, I plan to head up there a few times after the new year.

One day in and I was there! 3-1 home loss, they seem to be following me around. Top of the East stand still closed (I was in the lower section), as was the rear section of the south stand. The Oldham fans took up the front section. Over 25k in today.

I really hope Leeds promote. And Bristol City.

CMON BRISTOL! GET UP YOU ROBINS!

Is the championship the most open league in the world at the moment? With 5/6 games to go, even Watford in 5th could snag the title, and Cardiff in 12th have (albeit slim) hopes of a playoff berth. And the division has provided 3 of the 4 FA Cup semi finalists. Will be a very exciting April & May, and can't wait for next season when Leeds are back up there.

All to play for tomorrow (today for most of you).
West Brom & Stoke are battling to be champions. Hull City has a chance at automatic promotion if Stoke slips up against Leicester, who need a win to guarantee safety. Bristol City are assured of a playoff place and any two of Watford, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Ipswich or Sheffield United to fill the other two spots. At the wrong end, Colchester & Scunthorpe are already down. The last spot could go to any one of Southampton, Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry, or Blackpool. Wednesday are the only ones playing a team that has nothing to play for.

In League 1, Swansea are champions, both officially & unofficially. Nottingham Forest have joined them in the Championship, and amongst Leeds fans that is popular, as Forest voted against the 15 point penalty that was handed to Leeds. Doncaster 3rd, Carlisle 4th, Leeds 5th (2nd without the penalty), Southend 6th. Dropping out are Luton (10 point penalty, administrators sold all the players ), Port Vale, Gillingham (consigned to the drop by Leeds in front of a sellout crowd of 38256 including yours truly. Very popular with many Leeds fans after Gillingham's chairman was very vocal in his support for the 15 point penalty) & Bournemouth (also a 10 point penalty, would have finished 15th without it).

League 2. Up go Franchise FC, sorry, Milton Keynes Dons, as champions, Peterborough & Hereford, who entered League 2 via the conference playoffs 2 seasons ago. Playoffs Stockport, Rochdale, Darlington & Wycombe. Dropping out of the league are Wrexham & Mansfield.

Rochdale have not left League 2/Division 3/Division 4 since it was nationalised. If they move, it will be something of a watershed.

Thanks for that. I'm too lazy to check it out for myself as I no longer have the fanatical interest in the English game like I once did.

What's the go in the Conference?

hot_dogma wrote:Thanks for that. I'm too lazy to check it out for myself as I no longer have the fanatical interest in the English game like I once did.

What's the go in the Conference?

I know what you mean by losing fanatical interest because the premiership is losing its lustre because of the insane amount of money held by the top clubs, but the lower tiers still have the atmosphere, local connections, but lack the prawn sandwich-eaters and plastics. Just wish fox had more than one game per week. The championship is also a pretty even league. Over 46 games, just 18 points separated a team from relegation and the promotion play-offs.

Oh and Stoke beat Leicester to earn promotion to the top flight.
Leicester have been relegated to the 3rd tier for the 1st time.
West Brom won the Championship championship.

Hull, Bristol City, Watford and Crystal Palace are in the play-offs.
I hope Hull or Bristols win it because I haven't seen them in the Premiership in my 14 years of watching.

Leicester, Scunthorpe and Colchester go down.

In the 3rd tier (League 1) Swansea finished 10 points clear of Forest to win the league. Both are promoted.

Doncaster, Carlisle, Leeds and Southend are in the promotion play-offs.

hot_dogma wrote:Thanks for that. I'm too lazy to check it out for myself as I no longer have the fanatical interest in the English game like I once did.

What's the go in the Conference?

Ask & you shall receive!
Aldershot Town are up, Exeter City have booked their place in the playoff final where they'll play either Cambridge United or Burton Albion.

AFC Wimbledon won the Isthmian League Playoff and will play in the Conference South next season. Not bad for a club only set up in May 2002. It would be great to see them get to the League.

Simmo79 wrote:

hot_dogma wrote:Thanks for that. I'm too lazy to check it out for myself as I no longer have the fanatical interest in the English game like I once did.

What's the go in the Conference?

I know what you mean by losing fanatical interest because the premiership is losing its lustre because of the insane amount of money held by the top clubs, but the lower tiers still have the atmosphere, local connections, but lack the prawn sandwich-eaters and plastics. Just wish fox had more than one game per week. The championship is also a pretty even league. Over 46 games, just 18 points separated a team from relegation and the promotion play-offs.

My interest was lost by a combination of the EPL being removed from FTA and the A-League starting around the same time.

I guess I could say my team getting relegated could be thrown into the equation but even in their last year of top flight football I didn't care as much because I couldn't see bugger all footage due to not having Foxtel. That's quite strange as in the past if they did play on Foxtel (or Optus ) I'd travel into the city (Melbourne), go to the Dickens and pull an all nighter. When they weren't on the box live the Monday highlights show did really sate my appetite.

kilonewton wrote:Ask & you shall receive!
Aldershot Town are up, Exeter City have booked their place in the playoff final where they'll play either Cambridge United or Burton Albion.

AFC Wimbledon won the Isthmian League Playoff and will play in the Conference South next season. Not bad for a club only set up in May 2002. It would be great to see them get to the League.

Nice.

That's one thing I like about the changed system is that you have the prospect of exotic teams coming up from the non-league pyramid rather than before when you had to be voted into the Football League.

That would be great news for Aldershot as the previous incarnation of the club was a football league member until 1992 when they folded and Aldershot Town was born from the ashes.

Same goes for AFC Wimbledon. I'm looking for the day when they play against MK Dons. That would be a match in a half!

Fair enough. My interest waned when SBS lost the highlights show but then I got fox so I could watch the A-League and got sucked back in fully to the Premiership.

Also, it's now two up-two down between League 2 and the *cough* "Blue Square Premier", which is even better.

Bristol City & Hull have made the playoff final Saturday week.

Leeds have made the League 1 playoff final after an injury time winner at Carlisle. Yours truly may have snaffled a ticket to Wembley for that one on Sunday week.....

Hull City's fans have been long suffering though since the magnificent KC Stadium has opened, both its tenants have had a great time of it. Promotion would be the icing on the cake and it could mean a second tier on the east side.

kilonewton, great news about Leeds hey! What sort of crowd would they be expecting for the League One Playoff Final? I remember seeing photos of some of the lower playoff finals at Wembley last year and it wasn't full, did the league one sell out last year? And if not would they expect it to this year because of Leeds involvement?
And does anyone know where/how we can watch the game live here in Aus?

Difficult to pick how big the crowds for play-off games because the size of the clubs involved can vary quite a lot. That said the play-off to get into the premier league is usually a sell-out. The big factor with the new wembley is how many Wembley "members" turn out for England, FA Cup ties, play-offs etc.

BTW, Exeter beat Cambridge to jump from the Conference to League 2 (5th to 4th tier) in front of about 42,511 this morning. The bottom bowl was pretty much full, 75% in the middle tier and the top tier blocked off. That ought to be the smallest of the play-off finals crowds.