So what happens now?

[Shugs]

Expectation is the key thing here. If folks think we should be light years ahead of the likes of Saints/Gloucester/Sale/Irish and be pretty much nailed on top 4 my question would be - why? What enables us to expect that. We don’t have a bigger budget, we’re not cheating and we don’t have a regional based esprit de corp. So for me we are where I expect us to be - that being a member of the clutch of teams that will fill the slots 3-10. Whereabouts in that 3-10 really does depend on the bounce of a ball/a mistake or two etc etc. Tigers are having “their” season this year. We had years recently where we nearly won it. Outside of Sarries and Exeter everyone else is exchanging blows and hoping for a spark , a bit of good fortune or a run that means this season could be the one where they register a 3rd rather than say a 7th.

[Hymenoptera]

Expectation is the key thing here. If folks think we should be light years ahead of the likes of Saints/Gloucester/Sale/Irish and be pretty much nailed on top 4 my question would be - why? What enables us to expect that. We don’t have a bigger budget, we’re not cheating and we don’t have a regional based esprit de corp. So for me we are where I expect us to be - that being a member of the clutch of teams that will fill the slots 3-10. Whereabouts in that 3-10 really does depend on the bounce of a ball/a mistake or two etc etc. Tigers are having “their” season this year. We had years recently where we nearly won it. Outside of Sarries and Exeter everyone else is exchanging blows and hoping for a spark , a bit of good fortune or a run that means this season could be the one where they register a 3rd rather than say a 7th.

You're one of the voices nailing us on as a top 4 side, so you can answer your own question as to Why? Or have you now flipped your own script?
There's a place for you on Lee's coaching team, requiring good fortune to support the teams progress rather than good foundations or coaching. Of the things you list there, the same applies to the other teams, same money, not cheating etc..the differentiator appears to be what they do Mon-Fri to prepare for the weekend, with that showing on the field.
I'll take a loss any day of the week, no issue with that, but the quality of our loss is appalling and it shows in the footfall.
 As for expectations, if you don't expect to win, why even bother turning up, and your clutching at straws by ad-libbing, no one has said we should be light years ahead of anyone...not looking like Old Pisspoorians every week would be a start.

[Shugs]

Yeah, if you read what I wrote it was if folks think we should be ahead of other teams then why? It’s irrelevant what I think about us being able to be a top 4 side as the way others feel is based on what expectation they went in with. The fan that went in thinking we might be bottom two fodder (you may count yourself in that category as you often state it) ought to be delighted with our current position. It seems any good result we get is lucky, ill deserved or down to some other factor outside of just being the better team on the day. Losses are the true reflection - they are the real barometers. I concede we’ve been poor in the last three games and that has cost us a shot at the top 4 this year but I stand by the fact that there is a fag paper between teams 3 and 10.