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by Stevenage fan7/2 18:44Sat Feb 7 18:44:43 2026
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Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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Says PW. And I agree.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx21n0v2yy4o
Win and we also finish with more points than we did in 2011/2012 when we last got L1 playoffs.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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After avoiding relegation under Evans “we made a decision never to end up down there again.”
I like Wallace, and it’s nice of him to look after our football club for us, but this is an odd statement. He’s made 2 good appointments out of umpteen for a start!
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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I hope whoever made the decision to finish bottom of League 2 and then try to repeat the trick was held accountable, because frankly I disagree with it entirely.
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Club Wembley hospitality
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Hopefully the club will be offering hospitality packages at Wembley for the final. Went for the Trophy game. It was brilliant.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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Think it depends how people are defining biggest.
FA Trophy final new Wembley might be biggest in terms of crowd and number of people involved, but no where near the most important.
In this context I think biggest is being used as a synonym for most significant/important match.
In that respect, getting out of non league and becoming a league club for the first time has got to be one of the biggest.
Similar promotion from League Two. And the playoff semi finals v Sheffield United would arguably be bigger than this game (you could argue as we weren't ready for Championship football back then we didn't truly believe and so wasn't such a big game)
Becoming a championship club or getting the opportunity to become one is the next step and therefore as PW one of the biggest. I don't personally think you can attribute that title to one single league game, as all the games leading up to this held the same weight of importance.
So whilst at this moment of time, if ignoring everything that came before to get here, then it's obviously a big game.
But then if we do win the two playoff semi final matches will be bigger matches.... And then the playoff final would actually be the biggest game in our history, if we got there.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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I'd agree with that, but if GW had stayed I think we may have been better prepared for the Championship than we are now - partly because the financial gap between us and some of the teams in the Championship wasn't so colossal as it is now, and we had serious momentum behind us, until Smith came in at least.
If we got promoted this season we'd be in a weird place where a lot of our fanbase don't fully back the manager (bizarrely) and I fear getting battered every week would do more harm than good in the long run, especially as a large part of our support seems fairly temperamental and willing to not attend when things aren't positive.
That's not to say I don't want us to get promoted, but it would be a serious challenge competing with Ipswich/Southampton/Middlesbrough, not to mention Spurs or West Ham - but then if we don't take the opportunity this season who knows how often we'll be in this position again. It's why appreciating this stage and how well we're doing at the moment is more important than dreaming of next season in my opinion
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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Westley's side had already thumped Newcastle and deservedly won at Reading. This team doesn't have the same arrogance about them, and more core players who are only a year or two from thinking of packing it in.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
Views: 590
Your middle paragraph is exactly where I'm at.
We all want to win promotion. To enjoy the ride and see if we can compete, and maybe we can. But the good days would likely be outnumbered by the hard ones.
I know where the bookies would set their relegation odds. And not many bookies lose money.
The fear of long losing streaks, a few thumpings, managerial sackings, shitty atmosphere from the home stands, falling home gates and the need to overspend to even try and stay in the league all make me wary.
Doing a Yeovil spiral scares me. Momentum is a factor on the way up but it can also be a big pull factor the other way.
But as I said, despite all that I still want us to have a go at The Championship.
Edited by BALDOCKBORO at 10:43:31 on 29th April 2026
Edited by BALDOCKBORO at 11:16:46 on 29th April 2026
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
Views: 387
We'd win some games though, and that would be so much fun on the odd occasion it happens!
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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Sheffield Wednesday have set us a target of two wins.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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In the interview I think Wallace used the word "authentic" (can't quite remember) to describe how we would have to be if we got to the Championship.
I took that to mean, we'd need to appreciate we can't compete and the likelihood is we would get relegated so we shouldn't be anything other than realistic about who we are.
So I'd like to think the fans would not come on here at half time during every game and suggest if we had a manager "who knew what he was doing" we could be much better.
But then again, that's probably wishful thinking.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
Views: 529
Trying to think of other 'kamikaze' promotions by teams that knew they didn't have a chance. Blackpool under Holloway, possibly Ipswich last time and Hull under Brown? Was a bit shocked when I found out the other day that Rushden & Diamonds made it all the way to the then-Second Division before they fell.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
Views: 535
Half of our fans are of below average intelligence.
(That's not opinion. It's counting)
They were calling for Rev's head on a spike a couple of months ago while we were still top 6-7.
They'll be burning effigies by 1st September if we are bottom third.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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I know you know this... percentage of fanbase who aren't behind Revs is *massively* higher on here than in the ground. At least on the ET we probably all know who the few anti-Revs folks are! Maybe we leave then to their own devices?!
(That is not to say Revs is not fair game for criticism when merited! But full-on anti-Revs is somewhat hard to fathom given the *frankly incredible* job he's done in following on from Evans, and that our club is basically at our historic high water mark!)
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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I disnt want him to get the job when Steve left. I thought he was way too cosy with the squad, tactically naive & negative in his setup.
Not an unpopular view at the time.
I wouldn't listen to me on matters football. Some stuff I know lots about. Football is clearly not in that bracket.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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I think Revs has proven how what we see on a match day is only a portion of what goes into a successful season.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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Championship would be a very nice problem to have!
Think someone said before, there's no point bankrupting ourselves. Extend contracts where necessary. A few low-cost signings, free agents and loanees. Sensible contracts: people who want to be here for reasons other than a wage. Give it a good go, but set us up for success if we don't stay up.
And we can all enjoy away days that we may never experience again!
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
Views: 358
I might even buy my first season ticket since 96/97 if we go up 👍
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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That’s exactly it for me - an incredible opportunity to go to exciting away games. To have the chance to see us play at St Mary’s, The Hawthorns, Carrow Road, Tottenham/West Ham, etc would be amazing.
Yes, we’d probably come back down & yes, we may get regularly battered but it would be a hell of a ride.
Personally I don’t think it would be as bad as people are thinking anyway. I think the team would raise their game to be competitive.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
Views: 646
I don't think they're bigger, but I don't know why people never mention the playoff finals against Carlisle (which we lost) and Torquay (which we won) in these conversations about our biggest ever matches.
Do they just get forgotten? The Torquay final was our jump straight into League One, so it does feel a little odd to forget or write it off completely.
I think the FA Trophy Final against Kidderminster has to be the biggest game for me. 52k attendance, first final to be played at the new Wembley, a win after being 2 down at half-time, and our first major(ish) trophy as a club.
The Conference win in 2009/10 was starting to feel a bit inevitable. We did finish 11 points above 2nd, so while it was a significant game that didn't strike me as a cup final sort of game. It wasn't the last game of the season.
Definitely the most significant moment in our history, but I'm not sure about "biggest"
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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Non-league to league and for a club our size, promotion into the Championship, both seem much bigger leaps than League 2 into League 1.
As I alluded to in another post, the actually most significant games can be different to the ones with the most hype at the time. Kiddy away was probably the biggest game in our history but at the time it wasn't known in advance it would be decisive since if we failed to win there'd be other chances, whereas a final at Wembley is a final at Wembley. Home vs. Oldham was a must win to retain our league status until it turned out it wasn't.
Even if we make the play-off final you could argue Kiddy away and at Wembley and the first Cup game against Newcastle were bigger for establishing our mythos as a club.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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Totally agree, and I think there's very much a difference between assessments of game significance in the immediate and looking back. As you said, the Kidderminster away game was significant, but became so much more important after the result.
The only exception to that rule, for me, is certain cup games and cup finals.
I've only (I say only, but suddenly realise it's been 21 years. Where does the time go!) supported Boro since the 2005 run to that playoff final against Carlisle (I was 13 at the time). Unfortunately, I couldn't get to Kidderminster away as I'd moved out and started a job up in Norfolk.
I think if we're going for the biggest versus significant games, at least in the time I've been supporting Boro, it would be as follows.
Biggest
5 - Carlisle playoff final 2005
4 - Villa FA Cup away win 2023
3 - Newcastle FA Cup win 2011
2 - Kidderminster Away, sealing promotion
1 - Kidderminster FA Trophy Final
Significant
5 - This Saturday v Wigan
4 - Newcastle FA Cup win 2011
3 - Villa FA Cup away win 2023
2 - Torquay playoff final 2011
1 - Kidderminster Away, sealing promotion to the FL
Obviously, looking further back, there would be others on these lists, but I'm going on my own time as a Boro fan.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
Views: 565
Looking at Neil's list of matches of this season has made me realise even if we go one better than 2012, there hasn't been a game this season as statement-making as trouncing Wednesday 5-1. But we then went on to lose our next four league matches!
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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Kiddy away was and always will be our biggest game for me.
Until we have a chance to win the PL anyway.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
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And me. The realisation of a dream that I had talked about since the 1970s. The other days that stand out in the memory are Kiddy at Wembley (turnarounds like that are things that happen to you, not for you), beasting Reading away in the FA Cup and mullering Sheffield Wednesday 5-1. That same season, watching us go toe-to-toe with Spurs at White Hart Lane (Defoe was the only difference between the teams) made me immensely proud of how far the club had come since 1976.
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Re: Biggest game in our history on Saturday?
Views: 787
That will always be my biggest game too...that, and coincidentally, beating Kiddy in the Trophy final at Wembley.
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