Lampiao
Old Git
So we made it to the play-offs.
From reading the post on here and elsewhere I get there are two camps - those who seem to believe we will get promotion through the play-offs and that Nigel Clough is the best manager we've had for some time, and is taking the club forward, and has struggled with injuries and some unlucky circumstances. This group seem genuinely excited at the prospect of the next weeks offerings from the red and white.
Alternatively there are those who believe that Nigel Clough ranks only a tad above David Wier/Bryan Robson in their managerial affections. That he has failed in providing a team that should have sailed through the league to automatic promotion given the resources he had at his disposal, and that we are entering the play-offs with a snowflakes chance.
Where do I stand, difficult to say. I firmly believed, like many, that when we kicked off against Bristol last August that this season we would dominate this division. Up to Christmas I thought we were still in with a good chance of catching the top two, and that everything would be put right in the January transfer window.
I think we spent too much time in August chasing unobtainable targets (Coady, Brayford, O'Grady), eventually capturing Brayford in January for far too much money. We failed to sort out the well documented defensive problem and have also struggled to find any consistency from a goal scoring forward.
Since January in my view apart from a couple of performances we have struggled at home to show that we are anything but average in this division - of the top 6 teams in division we have the worst home record . The team has struggled to find any fluency in the attacking third, and is prone to losing goals from set pieces headed in by tall opposition players. On the obverse our away record is excellent, and we have performed well in the games against "better" opposition.
The chances are that we will be playing this division again next season. I'd love for us to go up but my expectations keep getting knocked back as this season as progressed. If we are still in League One next season with Nigel Clough in charge I would hope that he rethinks his view on how to play this league. Certainly we need a bit more height and strength at the back, and a system of play that is more positive in the final third.
But let's hope that we kick off next season playing Burnley and not Burton!
Up to Christmas I thought we were still in with a good chance of catching the top two
From reading the post on here and elsewhere I get there are two camps - those who seem to believe we will get promotion through the play-offs and that Nigel Clough is the best manager we've had for some time, and is taking the club forward, and has struggled with injuries and some unlucky circumstances. This group seem genuinely excited at the prospect of the next weeks offerings from the red and white.
Alternatively there are those who believe that Nigel Clough ranks only a tad above David Wier/Bryan Robson in their managerial affections. That he has failed in providing a team that should have sailed through the league to automatic promotion given the resources he had at his disposal, and that we are entering the play-offs with a snowflakes chance.
Where do I stand, difficult to say. I firmly believed, like many, that when we kicked off against Bristol last August that this season we would dominate this division. Up to Christmas I thought we were still in with a good chance of catching the top two, and that everything would be put right in the January transfer window.
I think we spent too much time in August chasing unobtainable targets (Coady, Brayford, O'Grady), eventually capturing Brayford in January for far too much money. We failed to sort out the well documented defensive problem and have also struggled to find any consistency from a goal scoring forward.
Since January in my view apart from a couple of performances we have struggled at home to show that we are anything but average in this division - of the top 6 teams in division we have the worst home record . The team has struggled to find any fluency in the attacking third, and is prone to losing goals from set pieces headed in by tall opposition players. On the obverse our away record is excellent, and we have performed well in the games against "better" opposition.
The chances are that we will be playing this division again next season. I'd love for us to go up but my expectations keep getting knocked back as this season as progressed. If we are still in League One next season with Nigel Clough in charge I would hope that he rethinks his view on how to play this league. Certainly we need a bit more height and strength at the back, and a system of play that is more positive in the final third.
But let's hope that we kick off next season playing Burnley and not Burton!
Up to Christmas I thought we were still in with a good chance of catching the top two