If we'd lost at Wembley

[The Great Mass Debater]

OK, so this might be an early contender for most stupid question of the season award, but reading through peoples experiences of going to Wembley it is obviously nothing but positive.

But what if we'd lost?

Obviously a lot goes down to the manner in which you lose, so lets, for the sake of argument assume we played well, it was a fair game, there was no controversy, but on the day we simply lost out and we felt like the better team won on the day. What then?

Would the first visit to Wembley in 30 years still have been a good experience? Clearly anyone who went to the Millenium stadium in (2002?) will have experience to draw on here. Would what people are referring to as 'the greatest day of their lives' have become the worst day of their lives with a different outcome? Would attending only have amplified heartache and made losing out all the more painful? Would people have wished they hadnt gone?

Or was there something to be taken from the experience win or lose?

 

[Din]

It was a great day in general. Singing 'On the ball City' with 40,000 other Norwich fans before the game was something I've never experienced before and it was incredible, and Wembley is a brilliant stadium. Been to it a couple of times before but it was the first time I'd seen my team play there and it was special just for that.

The day though was made by the fact we won. If we lost it wouldn't be anywhere near the same obviously. The way we won it as well by scoring 2 goals in 3 minutes so early on in the game, it was unbelievable. And because it was so comfortable every Norwich fan was buzzing for the whole 90 minutes. I don't think there was a single moment when we stopped singing during the game. So yeah, it would've been a decent experience, but what made it an incredible experience was the win, because ultimately what everyone was there for was the game.

 

[Suffolk Canary]

It was always going to be a special day going to Wembley with my family for the first time watching City.  Even without the game, it was still a great day out. But it would've been pretty hard to look back on it positively if we had lost..  I admit I'm one of those fans who thinks the result it far superior to anything else

 

[Dubai Mark]

Its a good question, and all I can add, is that I remember very well just how crap we felt on that long drive back from Cardiff. We had actually played pretty well, but the feeling was horrendous......and would have been the same this time had we lost I'm sure. 

 

[It's Character Forming]

Back in 2002 we only made the playoffs after a late run got us to 6th on the final day of the season. Coming away from Cardiff I was gutted but not overly surprised, we struggled with penalties that season anyway. I remember it now as a high point in a long bleak period after relegation in 95.

Wembley is simply a more special experience than Cardiff for a fan, it's the Mecca of football, but losing would've been a major downer because with our squad I think we were good enough to go up automatically anyway.

So it would've still been a special experience if we'd played well but lost. But no way anything can compare to beating the scum over 2 legs and then cruising to victory in the final - and simply one of the best days of my life. How could it?

 

[Canaryboy]

If we'd lost that game we'd have all been truly gutted, and be in the middle of losing all of our best players, we'd all be feeling pretty glum and our transfer targets would probably be people like Jamie O'Hara and Stephen Quinn (targets for Fulham and Cardiff respectively). 

I don't remember Cardiff with any particular fondness, in fact I remember it mainly for the horrendous trip home.

 

[crabbycanary]

It was strange tbh

I had a very mellow experience from the moment we qualified for the Play offs.

I felt quite calm. I felt that if we played decently well then the Binners wouldn't be able to live with us, (that might be down to the AN factor, I don't know).

Yet I went far more  mental than normal , when we did score against them ,and even when Smith scored against us, I just felt we would get it together and take them out.

The lead up to Wembley was very similar, thinking that if AN got his game plan right then we would win, but even if we didn't beat Boro, then we would have another great season in the Chumps. I was at Cardiff, and remember the agony of defeat and the crap journey home, but somehow, I didn't fear the same happening this time. 

Mind you it was still amazing when we did score, and I went off the scale!

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

So it would've still been a special experience if we'd played well but lost. But no way anything can compare to beating the scum over 2 legs and then cruising to victory in the final - and simply one of the best days of my life. How could it?

I was thinking about this. In a really tight league where no team ran away with it and any one of 8 teams could have gone up, did we get the best experience?

Normally winning the league is the best feeling, and althought the play-offs is great if you win, its hear-ache if you lose so there is a lot of risk involved going down the route we did.

But, now its done, and its happened the way it did - would anyone have rather won the league?

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

It was strange tbh

I had a very mellow experience from the moment we qualified for the Play offs.

I felt quite calm. I felt that if we played decently well then the Binners wouldn't be able to live with us, (that might be down to the AN factor, I don't know).

Yet I went far more  mental than normal , when we did score against them ,and even when Smith scored against us, I just felt we would get it together and take them out.

The lead up to Wembley was very similar, thinking that if AN got his game plan right then we would win, but even if we didn't beat Boro, then we would have another great season in the Chumps. I was at Cardiff, and remember the agony of defeat and the crap journey home, but somehow, I didn't fear the same happening this time. 

Mind you it was still amazing when we did score, and I went off the scale!

The truth is, I never for one second even considered the idea Ipswich might beat us. In a one-legged game perhaps, because anything can happen, but over two games, having seen how little they'd worried us in the league, I never thought Ipswich would ever come close to defeating us. And Im rarely that assured.

In that respect, I wonder how we'd have faired against Boro over two legs?

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

If we hadnt have lost against Boro in that crucial match (Tettey own goal) - would we have learned the lessons necessary to beat them in the play-off final?

How important was that loss to Alex Neil's preparation?

(I know if we hadnt have lost we wouldnt have ended up playing them in the final - but just indulge me!)

 

[bloodwagon]

To be honest, I always thought we were going to win. As the teams in red, kept losing in the play-offs.

OK they beat us in the league twice, but this was different, a one off game, winner takes all.

So I know we were going to come away happy.

 

[Indy_Bones]

It would have been Cardiff all over again and that was bad enough, but for it to have happened at Wembley and after AN had made such a big difference coming in, I think it would have been even worse, and would easily go from one of the best days to one of the worst...

 

[It's Character Forming]

I was thinking about this. In a really tight league where no team ran away with it and any one of 8 teams could have gone up, did we get the best experience?

Normally winning the league is the best feeling, and althought the play-offs is great if you win, its hear-ache if you lose so there is a lot of risk involved going down the route we did.

But, now its done, and its happened the way it did - would anyone have rather won the league?

for me, it was better last season in the end than winning the division under Worthy .  You can't beat seeing City win at Wembley!

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

One season on loan to the Championship and a winning trip to Wembley at the end of it. Relegation, when it concludes like this aint so bad. The pain is the idea you're going to spend the next 10 years in decline