So where will we finish this season?

[raul]

In what way was Bruce asking for the moon on a stick? He was told by one Chairman that he could re-invest half of what he sold then the other chairman would say he couldn't within 24hours. Invidious postition in the extreme and I don't (and didn't) hold it against him when he left. Remember also at that time his subsequent job-hopping hadn't started so we shouldn't really be factoring that into any judgement of his tenure.

 

[alcoblade]

What does that mean? He's employed to work within the constraints set by the board.

Are you expecting him to resign because his budget isn't what you'd like it to be? Or are you suggesting his managerial decisions are actually those of his superiors and he's actually just a puppet?

Bruce quit because he expected to be given the moon on a stick. Bassett never quit despite working for a succession of clowns. So was Bassett a "yes man"? Is Bruce the model to follow?

I know which I'd prefer.

Please don't make facts stand in the way of a good story.......


UTB

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

If my glass was half full I would say top 24 - if it was half empty I'd say bottom 24!

Mid table at the moment but hoping that improves with a a couple of decent signings

 

[beightonblade]

with cheap as chips at BDTBL and the squad we have today .........bottom half ...and thats optomistic !

 

[kop_blade9]

Who are all these teams that you all seem so frightened of?????
I am expecting playoffs at least, as long as the defense gets sorted.

 

[Ollessendro]

What does that mean?

It's pretty siimple, he does exactly what the board says without question.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Who are all these teams that you all seem so frightened of?????
I am expecting playoffs at least, as long as the defense gets sorted.

I don't think any of the teams in and around us last season have vastly improved their squads, Coppell may get Brizzle going although it took him a few years to get Reading sorted. No reason to believe why the likes of Ipswich, Swansea etc will be any better, Boro have virtually a new team so could be anything, I can't see Forest doing as well as last season so you're looking at the teams who are new to the division. I really can't see why Burnley are 2nd/3rd favs, Hull have had their time and Pompey could welll implode so it might welll be someone like Norwich who are the surprise team next season.

All in all, given Blackwell's track record of getting teams in and around the play-offs, I can't see why this season should be any different.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

Who are all these teams that you all seem so frightened of?????
I am expecting playoffs at least, as long as the defense gets sorted.

I think it's our team as it stands at the moment that we are frightened of!

 

[Ollessendro]

Oddschecker has us in 12th, which is technically top half and I recckon's probably about right. If you accept 13th as bottom half, you and I would be almost in agreement, though I realise 21st would suit you better.

Bookies are as good as rater as any. There is a reason why they make a lot of money. Randomness will of course play a role in where we finish, but I would not argue with their rating that we are the 12th best side in the Championship.

 

[Darthblade]

Who are all these teams that you all seem so frightened of?????
I am expecting playoffs at least, as long as the defense gets sorted.

Im not frightened of any of the teams in the Championship this year, in fact I would expect that this year will be another poor quality Championship division, like the last two.
What worries me is that McCabe and Birch have, predictably, retained the services of Hoofy and that Im afraid means we will not be getting promoted this season!!!
UTB

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Depends on what happens with loanings etc.
Current squad is bottom half which is where I'm guessing the bookies have got us.

You said we'd be fighting relegation Len, now you say we'll be ok because its a poor league?

Which teams have become considerably worse in the best couple of weeks?

 

[Linz]

8th was my initial feeling so I'll stick with that.

Will pop a poll up later so it's easier to see the results.

 

[BuryStEdmundsBlade]

Between 8th and 11th.

 

[Kenilworth]

Swansea of course, Sunday 8th May

 

[lenners]

You said we'd be fighting relegation Len, now you say we'll be ok because its a poor league?

Which teams have become considerably worse in the best couple of weeks?

You could argue being in the bottom half means we will be fighting relegation as it's likely to be the usual tight league.
I do think it's a shit league, the worst we've been in for years but sadly within that context we've got weaker over the last 12 months and we weren't good enough last year.
At the moment, it would be difficult to pick three teams definitely worse than us but I'm hoping they're out there.
Maybe Blackie will pull off a managerial miracle, Chedwyn will score 30 goals, Kozzy will win player of the year for 25 assists from long throws and we'll go up.
But we appear leaden, slow, no depth - in fact not even a full team less than three weeks from kick-off - and lacking drive from the top.
Difficult to see anything other than a season of wading through treacle.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Bookies are as good as rater as any. There is a reason why they make a lot of money. Randomness will of course play a role in where we finish, but I would not argue with their rating that we are the 12th best side in the Championship.

That 12th position is a bit misleading as we're pretty much the same price on average as the 6 or 7 teams above us in the list.

Most bookies have QPR as 4th favs between 10 and 12/1. Some have us as low as 14s so there isn't a great deal in it.

 

[Coily]

Just less than three weeks to go and we really need to sort out some key areas:

Keepers : Simonsen, Aksalu - Not a problem there.

Full Back : Taylor, Kozluk, Lowton - I'd hope we would be making one if not two signings more in this area, but if not I do hope Lowton gets a chance.

Centre Half : Morgan, Ertl - Two short here as well.

Centre Mid : Monty, Williamson, Britton, Quinn - Some good players, but what worries me is that they could be physically dominated plus they aren't the tallest. Hopefully Williamson can get himself fit this time out.

Wide Mid : Yeates, Ward, France - No problem with the first two, but we've no cover at all after that.

Forwards : Henderson, Bogdanovic, Evans, Cresswell - There is enough competition there, and I'd hope Ched can show more of what he can do this time out. Fair to say though that we aren't blessed with pace.


In short, with no additions then we'll be mid-table, but if we can strengthen the back and out wide then we should challenge for the play offs.

 

[Grecian2000]

Who are all these teams that you all seem so frightened of?????

Only team that remotely frightens me is us!

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Speaking of odds and the bookies generally knowing what they're talking about, top goalscorer is interesting;

33/1 Boggy
40/1 Cressy
50/1 Hendo
66/1 Chedders
80/1 Wardy

I shall certainly be keeping the faith with Chedwyn and have a dabble at those odds.

 

[lenners]

Speaking of odds and the bookies generally knowing what they're talking about, top goalscorer is interesting;

33/1 Boggy
40/1 Cressy
50/1 Hendo
66/1 Chedders
80/1 Wardy

I shall certainly be keeping the faith with Chedwyn and have a dabble at those odds.

In the remarkably unlikely situation that Chedwyn is top or nearly top scorer in January, he will be sold.

 

[JohnDenver]

It's pretty siimple, he does exactly what the board says without question.

Help me out a little... What you describe could be a good or bad thing. Can you give me examples of what worries you?

 

[super_pig]

tenth. utter groundhog day rerun of last season.. form never 'quite' bad enough to sack hoofy

 

[munksyb]

So last season when we were sh*te we finished 8th,
Have we lost any really crucial players since then ?
Kenny / Naysmith
Have we signed any better players since then?
Simonsen cancels out Kenny ( more or less )
Boogy / Britton / Ertl

Assuming we do re-sign Nossy & Bartley , apart from Back-up squad I think we are slightly better.

And I do expect at least 2 more positive signings defensively ( please let one be Kyle Walker )

So who should we fear ,as being massively better than last season ?

Hull , Portsmouth ( dont think so )

Burnley ( Probably )

Forest / Leicester / Reading / Swansea - cant see that they've improved

QPR - yes by the looks of it

Leeds - probably not
Norwich - possibly

Any of the others who were worse than us last season, none stand out as having recruited really well

Bookies odds, are also dependant on just how many bets are placed on one particular club,

for instance if everyone in Plymouth had placed bets on Argyle to win the league, their odds would have been boosted to make them one of the favourites regardless of how good they actually were.

As things stand my forcast would be one place better than last year i.e. 7th.

I think our attack looks better than last year & better than most other squads.

Our defense looks comparitive with most others but as it stands , it looks the weak link.

with Nossy / Bartley & Walker Job sorted , prediction top 4

Come on you Red & White Wizards

 

[BV]

I think we're a defender or two away from a top 6 finish and a run of form away from a strong season. If we get Nosworthy or like in quickly we're stronger in almost every position than we finished last season. We played poorly at times but it was only our away form that kept us out of the playoffs.

I only get pessimistic after the first league game.

 

[lenners]

That's two people now who've predicted a top four finish.
We're stronger than last season, despite having even less players than we started last year with, and are going to finish above 20 other teams.
If Blackie manages that without significant reinforcements he'll deserve manager of the year.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Depends what happens between now and the close of the window, but at the moment I reckon anywhere from 4th-12th.

 

[alcoblade]

Depends what happens between now and the close of the window, but at the moment I reckon anywhere from 4th-12th.

Ditto, with more emphasis on the 12th. The next 2 weeks are really important to our season.

UTB

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

That's two people now who've predicted a top four finish.
We're stronger than last season, despite having even less players than we started last year with, and are going to finish above 20 other teams.
If Blackie manages that without significant reinforcements he'll deserve manager of the year.

Most people who have predicted play-offs or better have said it's based on bringing these 2 or 3 defenders in. If we do, it's difficult to argue that the squad is worse than last season overall.

 

[lenners]

Most people who have predicted play-offs or better have said it's based on bringing these 2 or 3 defenders in. If we do, it's difficult to argue that the squad is worse than last season overall.

If we get two defenders as good as Walker and Kilgallon, I'll be amazed.
Although Naysmith was injured, last season we had a back four of Walker, Morgan, Kilgallon and Naysmith on our books at the start of the season.
You really think we're going to approach that?

 

[alcoblade]

If we get two defenders as good as Walker and Kilgallon, I'll be amazed.
Although Naysmith was injured, last season we had a back four of Walker, Morgan, Kilgallon and Naysmith on our books at the start of the season.
You really think we're going to approach that?

Naysmith's irrelevent as he didn't feature at all. We may see Walker back. Nosworthy would be a decentr signing. That said, it looks like we'll be weaker at the back. Then again, we could be stronger in midfield / going forward, and I really hope Blackwell has learned some lessons and uses this a bit more.

UTB