I don’t want to see us get smashed every week but seeing us play the likes of Reading, potentially Everton, Blackburn, Forest, Cardiff etc would be great. Also our objectives would change, certainly in the first season, so just avoiding relegation and getting to build and invest would be nice.
So just to belabour the point a little more......
.....and again, before I start, I want to reiterate that I
do want us to get promoted. Because it will help the club kick on financially, and it will be exciting to test ourselves in a higher league......
......but compare what's left for us for the remainder of the 2021/22 season, and what's left for Blackpool - our playoff conquerors last year, who've had the sort of season that we would hope for next year.
We've got seven massive games coming up, including Cup Final-style six pointers against Plymouth, MK and Sunderland in front of full houses.
Then, if all goes well, we'll have an epic playoff semi-final, which could see us playing in front of 40,000 at Hillsborough or 50,000 at the SoL; and then a trip to Wembley to play in front of a packed house. It's a bloody exciting end to the season.
Blackpool, meanwhile, have nothing more to play for. They're not going up, they're not going down, they're just going to have a nice, relaxed final nine games of the season playing out the string. And it's not even all that glamorous - trips to Barnsley, Luton, Peterborough & Blackburn......all places we've been in the league in the past few years. Sure, home games against Forest, Birmingham & Derby are nice.....but they're not going to bring any more fans or passion than the likes of Pompey, Wednesday, Ipswich & Sunderland (and whoever is in League One is going to get to play Derby next year anyway).
And Blackpool are what we would aspire to! The worst case scenario is Peterborough.......
(To get pretentious to finish) I suppose I'm just channelling Robert Louis Stevenson - "
Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive"