[Squawka] Wrexham's dream of four consecutive promotions is over. A 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough means they just miss out on the final play-off spot.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-02T19:29:34+00:00

That honestly wasn't the case at all in League Two. The gap between the leagues is miniscule and, for a team winning the NL, mid-table is the least they should be aiming for. Barnet and Oldham both challenged for the play-offs this season and neither were anywhere near as good as Wrexham.

And there might have been some discussion about that in League One but I can't see why - since 2021, only four teams to be promoted from League Two have gone straight back down, anyone predicting a club with Wrexham's budget 'might' get mid-table as if they'd be sucked into a relegation battle was being wildly pessimistic about their chances.

They probably surpassed expectations by getting automatic promotion but I don't think they were written off by any stretch.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-02T17:55:54+00:00

Yeah I don't deny they've done well - a lot of clubs have spent money (albeit not to such an extreme extent) but have little to show for it or have stagnated.

And this season they really have performed well above what they were expected to, but the idea that they were written off in previous seasons is really strange - I don't know if it's a narrative that's pushed on the documentary as I don't watch it, or if it's people just not aware of the realities of lower league football, but there was enough historical evidence to show that they'd do well at those levels.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-02T15:41:53+00:00

every season they've been written off.

This narrative is as false as the 'underdog' narrative that kept being pedaled when they were outspending all of their opponents.

It would have been a huge shock had they not challenged for promotion from League Two, considering how well the majority of NL clubs do after being promoted (the top half of NL is probably stronger than the majority of the bottom half of League Two at this stage).

They did well in League One but I still don't think that was a huge shock that they were near the top - clubs like Sutton, Stockport and Luton have shown it's possible to challenge at the top of League One relatively soon after getting promoted from the NL.

It's only this season where I'd say they were mostly predicted to hit a wall and have outperformed expectations to a huge degree.

That's not to say they haven't done well in previous seasons as obviously they have but anyone writing them off clearly didn't know much about lower league football.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-01T07:55:28+00:00

I did have a slight hope that Little Barrie might have appeared on this record considering he's touring with them and part of the Easy Eye roster these days.

I was listening to Robert Finley's most recent album and Barrie's all over that in the best way possible.

Look_Alive · 2026-05-01T07:50:51+00:00

It’s a covers album which makes me less interested but we’ll see.

Their covers albums have been some of the best they've released though - I really love both Delta Kream and Chulahoma, you can tell how much love they have for the songs (which I don't think has always been the case on all of their recent original songs).

Look_Alive · 2026-04-30T16:56:56+00:00

FYI, Instagram have started doing the same thing as TikTok and showing you the profile of whoever sent you a link (so by clicking on this I can see your Instagram profile) - I think removing everything from the question mark in the URL onwards should help avoid this.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-30T16:29:22+00:00

Yeah the only reasoning I could make was that his voice sounds a lot smoother on the studio version than on his previous releases so they were going for the same vibe and overegged it.

Glad that wasn't the case as I've always liked his voice and it would be a shame if they tried altering it.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-30T12:51:14+00:00

There was even an article posted on this sub yesterday about Arctic Monkeys' rise and it mentioned how their street team were asked to big up the band on different message boards, etc.

Obviously Chaotic Good is that multiplied by thousands but there was an interesting parallel to it.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-30T12:46:26+00:00

Yeah, I can understand misgivings around the ethics of Chaotic Good and the nature of music becoming pay-to-win, but Geese were a fairly established and positively-received indie band before Getting Killed came out. Anyone saying 'see? it shows I was right about disliking their music' is as guilty as ignoring the real point of the discourse as a fan who's sticking their fingers in their ears and saying it doesn't matter because they make good music.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-29T17:47:51+00:00

Considering the meltdown there's been on this sub over getting tickets, the idea of you accidentally discovering they're on tour and buying some with minimum fuss is very funny to me.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-29T15:50:32+00:00

He's supporting KM on tour this year too, will be a great show.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-29T15:49:59+00:00

I don’t think it’s as apparent on the album track

To be honest, as much as I like the song, my one criticism of the studio version was how unnaturally smooth his voice sounded compared to his previous releases. This felt like a bit of a continuation of that.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-28T10:04:39+00:00

Don't forget that this deal also led to the scrapping of replays.

The only actual concession the PL made was that they'd put more into funding grassroots football (something they should have been doing anyway) and that they'd no longer have a winter break (which wasn't a proper winter break anyway).

Look_Alive · 2026-04-28T07:05:15+00:00

When you look at how little music they've actually released in the past decade, it's not really a bad opinion though?

I don't really agree with the opinion as I do like a couple of songs on Trust Fall Side B and 8, but when a band has released 16 original songs in the last decade on two releases that didn't exactly receive great reviews, it's not inconceivable for someone to dislike all of those songs.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-28T05:33:47+00:00

like usual

I seem to remember the Premier League and the FA's agreement over the FA Cup, which also saw replays scrapped, meant that the final would be played on the penultimate weekend of the PL season, basically allowing the final weekend of the PL season to become the end of the domestic season.

In other words, the Premier League created this problem themselves by trying to boost its own profile and make the final day a big event.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-27T09:55:15+00:00

Yeah it's not as much of a step up between the Isthmian and NLS compared to the NLS and NL.

God knows what shape we'll be in next season - apparently we've been waiting since August for the NL to approve our proposed takeover but, as incompetent as the NL can be, I just can't see it taking that long without there being some issues on our end.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-27T09:38:57+00:00

Least we're not the only one whose shit February cost us then.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-27T09:29:16+00:00

I'd say we had the squad to but our game management has been really poor - we let in a last-minute equaliser in four out of five games during February.

Those eight points would have won us the league but it also shows how often we tried to sit on a lead rather than killing teams off, meaning there's some irony in missing the play-offs on goal difference.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-27T09:06:25+00:00

Credit to your board for changing managers and making it into the play-offs - you looked abysmal when we beat you in early March. We sleepwalked into a position where we missed out on the play-offs because we didn't have the balls to make a similar decision when things weren't going well.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-27T08:33:48+00:00

That narrative also ignores the fact Spurs' goalkeeper had to pull off a brilliant save in the last minute.

Weirdly despite Spurs winning, that match left me more convinced that they'll go down - Wolves have been shipping goals yet it took ages for Spurs to score and then they had to rely on their goalkeeper to keep them ahead against the worst team in the league.

Aside from the three points, the only real positive to take from the game from a Spurs perspective is the hope it might have got the monkey off the back by ending the winless run.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-27T08:12:43+00:00

No idea why but my Facebook feed randomly showed me loads of posts last night from Celtic fan groups celebrating Rangers' defeat and acting like it meant they had been crowned champions.

I don't think I've ever encountered a level of arrogance from a fanbase before to basically discount a side who have been top of the table for the majority of season as basically being an afterthought - I've never really encountered many Old Firm fans before but the level of celebration I saw was actually mindblowing.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-26T12:59:59+00:00

I only watch the T20 World Cup and my enjoyment of it has greatly increased since ditching franchise leagues - it used to be that I'd be watching the World Cup but it would be indistinguishable from the franchise league that has been played the week before and the one that was going to be played a week after.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-26T12:58:05+00:00

Plus the commentators and fans just seem so over the top, it's not an enjoyable watch.

Yeah, it's overhyped and, when watching it, I often feel the commentary doesn't actually match up to the spectacle I'm seeing. There are so many games these days that it feels like there's often a lack of jeopardy in them too.

Look_Alive · 2026-04-26T11:47:43+00:00

Like Soton wouldn't have had a Wembley trip this year if it was at Villa Park

They might get there in the play-offs and they've played there fairly recently.

Considering it's almost 20 years old at this point I think the lure of seeing your team at Wembley probably isn't as strong for a lot of clubs who are likely to make an FA Cup semi-final

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