Realistic ambitions for this season (3 Viewers)

[Magwitch]

The flaw in your logic is it assumes all the other teams remain the same as last season.

 

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[Paxman II]

Promoted.

 

[ccfc1234]

Robins is very confident that we have a much better squad than last year but I’m not sure we’ve improved at all. I suppose it depends on how good the 2 foreign wingers turn out to be. Currently I think we’ll finish between 10th - 15th but that might change if we sign a striker and number 10.

Pessimist or realistic I would say the former based on the signings. We do need Bright to make the top 2 a real possibility.

 

[CanadianCCFC]

The flaw in your logic is it assumes all the other teams remain the same as last season.

I get what you’re saying, but does the standard in league one ever really change very much on the whole? Some teams get better, some teams and some teams get worse but usually the standard of the division doesn’t change much.
If anything, this season the division will be weaker than last, with Bolton coming down with their troubles and Bury coming up with theirs.

 

[Kieranp96]

Big 4 losses are Willis, Sterling, Thomas and Bright (I know latter 3 were on loan).
McFazdean should be a fairly (if different) decent replacement for Willis, hopefully Dabo can replace Sterling (plus it's positive he's not a loan - unless he turns into a dud!) The big 2 unknowns for me are the tall wingers we have acquired. Could be anything or nothing. Will be happy if one of the 2 is a big success. Looking forward to see if we acquire either of MR's other 2 main targets. If we get one of the 2, I would be happy with at least as good a season as last. If we can replace Thomas' energy in the team I would be hopeful of a top 6, but not a given by any means. We will see!

Lol

Sterling was no better than grimmer and we signed much better players this season.

Thomas? Seriously what did he contribute.from the game today both wingers will be much better than him combined if they had only one leg between them.

Bright massive loss hopefully we can get him or someone similar

Willis top guy legend been playing well below his level for years but we have made a much better replacement in mcfadzen just not the pace of willis.

 

[kapowaz]

Therefore he is due a dud. Lots of changes in every part of the team means it is a bit of a lottery. Last season we won a lot of games by the odd goal, which could have easily gone the other way. There is often a fall back, the second season after promotion.

So I am going for really boring mid-table, with a few relegation scares during the season.

I think anything outside the playoffs would have to be considered a dud given how we narrowly missed out on them last season despite a couple of quite dodgy runs of form. If it’s bad enough to only be mid-table (let alone relegation form, god forbid) I’d consider that well beyond a dud: a lot of folks would be calling for his head.

If you assume that we’ve improved the squad relative to last season then I’d be looking to see fewer spells of inconsistency and maybe a few less goals conceded due to simple errors (Robins talked a bit about this in the Q&A, and I’m inclined to agree that height played a factor, which has improved).

Based on all of that I think the baseline has to be a similar finish to last season, with the target being challenging for automatic promotion slots. I don’t think we’ll get it because there’s been so many changes so there’s going to be a period of adjustment for all.

Thinking back to what happened the season we went down under Mowbray and Slade a big part of that was the squad disintegrating just before the season started. By contrast this is a second season in League One with an established manager who appears to have brought in a lot of the players he wanted. Last season seemed to have a slow start with nobody stepping into McNulty’s shoes, so I’ve got two predictions:

Scenario 1: we sign Bright, come out of the gates firing and have several really strong runs. Top three finish.
Scenario 2: we don’t sign Bright (or whoever we do doesn’t quite find the finishing form we need) and lack of goals means we end up losing points in much the same fashion as last season. Top 8 and possibly play-offs.

 

[stupot07]

Given we just missed out last season, a season of consolation, we're all looking for improvement. Therefore the realistic ambition has to be top 6, anything less would be a failure.

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[Sky Blue Harry H]

Rotherham, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Sunderland, Doncaster.
I would expect 4 out of those 5 to be up there, if not all.
Having watched the Leamington game, that Allen on a flat pitch, with 2 quick wingers should be fun. Hard to judge them accurately against lesser opposition, but certainly promising. You have to set out wanting promotion, and I'd be disappointed if we weren't challenging; not sure I'd call 8th failure, given what the club is having to go through at the moment. Let's give it the 'mythical 10 game judgment test' !

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

Playoffs should be the aim for this team, and not looking at scrapping into 6th either.

Hopefully, we can mount a real push for automatic promotion!

 

[Greggs]

Joy has thrown all her eggs into one basket this season, make or break i rekon

Well considering most signing's have been for 3 years, it's more of a building process - rather than gung ho make or break style.

 

[Warwickhunt]

We need to get off to a reasonable start and ensure that we are not in the bottom half of the table after 10 game! if we achieve this then i Believe Xmas period the players will all click into place and we will finish inside the top 6. A Wembley visit in the Checkatrade or Play off final would do me.

 

[covcity4life]

Agree with this squad a checkatrade run is possible too

 

[chiefdave]

Always hard to say as you need to see how the team gels but the way business has been done looks promising.

Given where we finished last year playoffs at a minimum has to be the aim.

 

[Ricketts]

I've updated my expectations after the Leamington game, and listening to MR at the kit launch.

I think we will go the whole season unbeaten, finish 10 points clear at the top. Best season in history. I cant wait for the season to start. The next month is going to drive me insane.

 

[Grendel]

The aim is clearly promotion - without a new forward we won’t achieve it - the team isn’t enough of a goal threat

 

[NorthernWisdom]

Given we just missed out last season, a season of consolation, we're all looking for improvement. Therefore the realistic ambition has to be top 6, anything less would be a failure.

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Given the upheaval around the club, I'd say midtable is success

 

[skyblueelephant76]

Rotherham, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Sunderland, Doncaster.
I would expect 4 out of those 5 to be up there, if not all.
Having watched the Leamington game, that Allen on a flat pitch, with 2 quick wingers should be fun. Hard to judge them accurately against lesser opposition, but certainly promising. You have to set out wanting promotion, and I'd be disappointed if we weren't challenging; not sure I'd call 8th failure, given what the club is having to go through at the moment. Let's give it the 'mythical 10 game judgment test' !

Doncaster have lost a number of key players already including their player of the season so I think they will do well to replicate last season.

To add to the other 4, Peterborough are going for it and will expect to be up there. Blackpool are starting to strengthen and spend money and were only three points behind us last season, Lincoln have just signed Jack Payne and Jorge Grant and will have momentum from last year.....

We were 26 points away from the automatics last season and whilst it looks like we have a stronger squad overall I haven't seen anything yet to make me think we'll threaten the top two. There will be 8/9 clubs capable of getting into the top six and I think we are in that mix, a lot will depend on who the other 2/3 players Robins brings in.

 

[skyblueinBaku]

Doncaster have lost a number of key players already including their player of the season so I think they will do well to replicate last season.

To add to the other 4, Peterborough are going for it and will expect to be up there. Blackpool are starting to strengthen and spend money and were only three points behind us last season, Lincoln have just signed Jack Payne and Jorge Grant and will have momentum from last year.....

We were 26 points away from the automatics last season and whilst it looks like we have a stronger squad overall I haven't seen anything yet to make me think we'll threaten the top two. There will be 8/9 clubs capable of getting into the top six and I think we are in that mix, a lot will depend on who the other 2/3 players Robins brings in.

26 points is an awful lot to make up.

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

Well considering most signing's have been for 3 years, it's more of a building process - rather than gung ho make or break style.

But with the three year contracts as devils advocate if the signings don't turn out well we're stuck with them for an extended period as I doubt anyone would sign them if they're unsuccessful. So that's the transfer kitty spent and lots of the wage budget tied up for a few years. Having said that at this moment in time there are potentially 18 out of contract at the end of the season.

On the other hand there is the fear it'll be like Dann, Fox etc if we do reasonably well but don't go up - will she look to cash in for the profit short-term - it's how they think.

 

[ccfcway]

But with the three year contracts as devils advocate if the signings don't turn out well we're stuck with them for an extended period as I doubt anyone would sign them if they're unsuccessful. .

like ogogo etc ?

we are signing youth, 3 years is a good strategy

 

[Sky_Blue_Dreamer]

I'm not saying I disagree with the policy, I'm just pointing out it can also backfire. I'd much rather this than one year deals and loans.

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

But with the three year contracts as devils advocate if the signings don't turn out well we're stuck with them for an extended period as I doubt anyone would sign them if they're unsuccessful. So that's the transfer kitty spent and lots of the wage budget tied up for a few years. Having said that at this moment in time there are potentially 18 out of contract at the end of the season.

On the other hand there is the fear it'll be like Dann, Fox etc if we do reasonably well but don't go up - will she look to cash in for the profit short-term - it's how they think.

You can’t win.

What if we sign these players on 2 year deals and they take the league by storm? We’re in a position where our players will go on the cheap if they’re in their contract year.

We’ve been flexible in the transfer market, when we wanted rid of Ogogo and JCH, we were able to do so with somewhat ease.

In short, the length of contract being 3 years long shouldn’t concern anyone.

 

[skyblue025]

Anything above 8th will be an improvement. I'm hoping we continue to play good football and score more goals. If that happens top 6 awaits.
A lot of the time last season Thomas looked our only creative attacking threat. With 2 wingers I hope we create a lot more chances in the box be it crosses or second balls. Having 2 attacking threats will also stretch defences. We do need a striker to score 20+.