The trouble with this is we've had 2 seasons in the premier league in the last 15 years. Both relegation seasons.
You've mentioned our decade in the top flight 97-09. Before that the next stint that matches your criteria is the eight years 74-82. Before that it's another eight years 1946-1954.
So you'd have our club only even trying to achieve the "sporting glory" of a cup win for what? ~25 years out of the last 80? That's a lifetime. It's more than a teesside mans expected life time. What would be the point? You're writing off two thirds of seasons before they even start.
I do get what you're saying Andy and if it was all on football manager then sure promotion one year, a cup the next, europe the next, all on a neat and tidy little conveyor belt would indeed be perfect.
But that's not real life for a club like ours. The reality is we might never win a trophy again in any of our life times. If we do, it may be that we're a top division side or it may not be. It definitely won't be because we've somehow become the best team in the country - if we're waiting for that it'll never happen.
We don't have the luxury of picking and choosing when we feel like winning it, the club need to throw everything they can at the cups every season and hope that this happens to be our lucky year.
Btw it's funny that this basically mirrors our views on politics. You're a 'jam tomorrow' gadge on everything eh? All about delayed gratification with you.
Yeah, so I suppose you could count trying in the cups where we had zero sniff of promotion or relegation in that too, so all of Strachan's time and the time Mobray had to recover from that. Not so much Woodgate, as we looked in trouble etc. Maybe even another couple of seasons. We've had 3 QF's in 28 attempts, it's not a good return.
The point I suppose is how you rank the quality of our 1st team squad (or what it supposedly will be) compared to the last 14 years we've played in the champo. I rank the 1st 11 quite high already, and it will be even higher once the window is done I'm sure, just like how Wilder believes. Also factoring in for the tiny amount of depth for key positions, which if we had a problem with, could hurt our chances from the off.
All I'm really saying is I rate our chances quite high this year (compared to other years), so I don't believe it's a year to be risking the cups, which are absolutely certain not to pay out in any finals or wins etc. I'm not saying this would apply to all seasons, as it shouldn't when there's less chance of promotion or more chance of relegation.
I suppose the key thing is do people believe on here that we can be one of the best three teams in the league this year, if we get our targets?
We might not win another trophy, but the best chance is with a better team and squad, and to do that we absolutely must get promoted. Don't try and claim some false equivalence that our odds are the same each year, they're not, they're proportional to our ability. We don't have to be the best team in the country, probability dictates we do need to be in the Premiership though, and not expecting a relegation fight (if we plan on staying in the Prem too).
I don't see the point in prioritising one or two days against big clubs, and likely losing, over playing them each week, with a better chance of winning, and we get to watch much better players.
I wouldn't risk everything on a 1 in 200 cup, when you have another option of 1 in 3 promotion (rough current bookies odds of FA Cup win V Championship Promotion)
I just believe in having a plan, and an eye on the bigger picture long term it will be better. Then in those later years, you get more achievable short-term goals. Like always, if you try and grab everything at the same time, you end up with nothing but false hope.