I think playoffs is overly optimistic. I just hope we can continue playing with this new found spirit and finish as strong as possible. Will put us in good stead for next season and it's much more enjoyable to watch in the interim.
I fear Leaburn will be gone in the summer (if not sooner) and I doubt Rak-Sakyi will be back so hopefully ownership is sorted soon and there are some funds available to replace them with suitable alternatives in the summer.
Reasons to be cautiously optimistic for 23/24 but too much to do this year and still too much uncertainty on ownership to be launching HMS Piss the League for the foreseeable!
I think playoffs is overly optimistic. I just hope we can continue playing with this new found spirit and finish as strong as possible. Will put us in good stead for next season and it's much more enjoyable to watch in the interim.
I fear Leaburn will be gone in the summer (if not sooner) and I doubt Rak-Sakyi will be back so hopefully ownership is sorted soon and there are some funds available to replace them with suitable alternatives in the summer.
Reasons to be cautiously optimistic for 23/24 but too much to do this year and still too much uncertainty on ownership to be launching HMS Piss the League for the foreseeable!
That's the problem, it will be half the squad that needs replacing.
Leaburn will probably go, then JRS, Sess and Kane will go back. A lot of the players (DJ, Kirk, Stockley, Morgan, Lavelle etc) are not good enough plus of course there's the Aneke issue and then suddenly we have a whole new rebuild required again.
I think playoffs is overly optimistic. I just hope we can continue playing with this new found spirit and finish as strong as possible. Will put us in good stead for next season and it's much more enjoyable to watch in the interim.
I fear Leaburn will be gone in the summer (if not sooner) and I doubt Rak-Sakyi will be back so hopefully ownership is sorted soon and there are some funds available to replace them with suitable alternatives in the summer.
Reasons to be cautiously optimistic for 23/24 but too much to do this year and still too much uncertainty on ownership to be launching HMS Piss the League for the foreseeable!
That's the problem, it will be half the squad that needs replacing.
Leaburn will probably go, then JRS, Sess and Kane will go back. A lot of the players (DJ, Kirk, Stockley, Morgan, Lavelle etc) are not good enough plus of course there's the Aneke issue and then suddenly we have a whole new rebuild required again.
I worked out a list of players that were under contract for next season, unlikely to be sold and were good enough and it had about 3 names on it!
I mean seriously lets look at the bigger picture - If this squad goes up, its going to require a miracle to survive, and that'll be combined with the need to overhaul the squad (We'll be the last team doing it), and hope we have a takeover (As Sandgaard cant be trusted with another squad overhaul).
Yes I'm bored of being in League One... But I'll be even more bored of going up to the Championship for a single season, before coming back down again because we didnt have the time or funds to take it seriously... and end up coming back down even weaker again because we lose our standout players.
In an ideal world, I'd prefer it if we stayed down one more year, its also a world where fairies and dragons exist.
Firstly need to grow some balls with the likes of Leaburn | Ness | Maynard-Brewer by refusing all interest, and making sure that the latter two are on longer Contracts beyond 2024, ensuring we dont have a repeat scenario of Grant | Aribo, as we wouldn't have been relegated in 19/20 with those two in the team.
We've got a small squad of players that we can rely on, but its the depth when there are injuries that is once again hurting us - Thats the issue that needs resolving in the summer... Build an actual squad, not a first eleven... Investigate why injuries are happening, and try to counter them with infrastructure / staff, and then give it a real good go. So we win promotion with a team that doesnt need much strengthening in the Championship, can carry confidence and momentum into that league, and be challengers rather than making up the numbers.
I mean seriously lets look at the bigger picture - If this squad goes up, its going to require a miracle to survive, and that'll be combined with the need to overhaul the squad (We'll be the last team doing it), and hope we have a takeover (As Sandgaard cant be trusted with another squad overhaul).
Yes I'm bored of being in League One... But I'll be even more bored of going up to the Championship for a single season, before coming back down again because we didnt have the time or funds to take it seriously... and end up coming back down even weaker again because we lose our standout players.
In an ideal world, I'd prefer it if we stayed down one more year, its also a world where fairies and dragons exist.
Firstly need to grow some balls with the likes of Leaburn | Ness | Maynard-Brewer by refusing all interest, and making sure that the latter two are on longer Contracts beyond 2024, ensuring we dont have a repeat scenario of Grant | Aribo, as we wouldn't have been relegated in 19/20 with those two in the team.
We've got a small squad of players that we can rely on, but its the depth when there are injuries that is once again hurting us - Thats the issue that needs resolving in the summer... Build an actual squad, not a first eleven... Investigate why injuries are happening, and try to counter them with infrastructure / staff, and then give it a real good go. So we win promotion with a team that doesnt need much strengthening in the Championship, can carry confidence and momentum into that league, and be challengers rather than making up the numbers.
I totally get where your coming from but at least we would rebuild the squad in the championship.
The worst case scenario, for me, is if we get really close and don't go up. For that to happen we will have to have a storming second half of the season and are more likely to attract interest in our better players, renew more of the out of contract players contracts and potentially lose some of them upwards as well.
In that scenario we would need a blinding summer transfer window to get to where we are now. Which still isn't really good enough.
I mean seriously lets look at the bigger picture - If this squad goes up, its going to require a miracle to survive, and that'll be combined with the need to overhaul the squad (We'll be the last team doing it), and hope we have a takeover (As Sandgaard cant be trusted with another squad overhaul).
Yes I'm bored of being in League One... But I'll be even more bored of going up to the Championship for a single season, before coming back down again because we didnt have the time or funds to take it seriously... and end up coming back down even weaker again because we lose our standout players.
In an ideal world, I'd prefer it if we stayed down one more year, its also a world where fairies and dragons exist.
Firstly need to grow some balls with the likes of Leaburn | Ness | Maynard-Brewer by refusing all interest, and making sure that the latter two are on longer Contracts beyond 2024, ensuring we dont have a repeat scenario of Grant | Aribo, as we wouldn't have been relegated in 19/20 with those two in the team.
We've got a small squad of players that we can rely on, but its the depth when there are injuries that is once again hurting us - Thats the issue that needs resolving in the summer... Build an actual squad, not a first eleven... Investigate why injuries are happening, and try to counter them with infrastructure / staff, and then give it a real good go. So we win promotion with a team that doesnt need much strengthening in the Championship, can carry confidence and momentum into that league, and be challengers rather than making up the numbers.
I'd rather rebuild in the championship than rebuild in league one. For a start we could probably keep Sess and JRS again and would have an outside chance of keeping Leaburn for another 6-12 months. Would also get other better PL youngsters offered to us as well.
In league one we'd be practically ripping it up and starting again. As we seem to do every summer.
I mean seriously lets look at the bigger picture - If this squad goes up, its going to require a miracle to survive, and that'll be combined with the need to overhaul the squad (We'll be the last team doing it), and hope we have a takeover (As Sandgaard cant be trusted with another squad overhaul).
Yes I'm bored of being in League One... But I'll be even more bored of going up to the Championship for a single season, before coming back down again because we didnt have the time or funds to take it seriously... and end up coming back down even weaker again because we lose our standout players.
In an ideal world, I'd prefer it if we stayed down one more year, its also a world where fairies and dragons exist.
Firstly need to grow some balls with the likes of Leaburn | Ness | Maynard-Brewer by refusing all interest, and making sure that the latter two are on longer Contracts beyond 2024, ensuring we dont have a repeat scenario of Grant | Aribo, as we wouldn't have been relegated in 19/20 with those two in the team.
We've got a small squad of players that we can rely on, but its the depth when there are injuries that is once again hurting us - Thats the issue that needs resolving in the summer... Build an actual squad, not a first eleven... Investigatewhyinjuriesarehappening, andtrytocounterthemwithinfrastructure / staff, and then give it a real good go. So we win promotion with a team that doesnt need much strengthening in the Championship, can carry confidence and momentum into that league, and be challengers rather than making up the numbers.
Was this not meant to be Thomas’s area of expertise and something he was going to sort out? He apparently installed an isokinetic dynamometer just after he took over to detect muscle strength to remedy, amongst other things, a spate of hamstring injuries. I wonder if we’ve actually turned it on 🤔
No. Six points behind sixth (Barnsley) who have two games in hand. 10 points behind fifth (Bolton). Five other teams between us and Barnsley, two of whom also have two games in hand.
We would need to have an unbelievable run from now until the end of the season to haul back that lot.
I think we will have a good second half of the season and win more than we lose, and probably end up 8th to 12th.
We were 6/5 to finish in the top half before Saturday's game. It's reduced down to 5/6 but I'm still not confident enough that we will even finish above half way to lump on at what might seem to be generous odds to those thinking we may well make the top 6!?
No. Six points behind sixth (Barnsley) who have two games in hand. 10 points behind fifth (Bolton). Five other teams between us and Barnsley, two of whom also have two games in hand.
We would need to have an unbelievable run from now until the end of the season to haul back that lot.
I think we will have a good second half of the season and win more than we lose, and probably end up 8th to 12th.
Barnsley are the only team above us we have played twice. If we went on a run that could get us in the play offs we would have to beat most, if not all, of the teams currently 4th-11th.
Winning those games would put us at least 8th and only 4 points off 5th. So hauling them in wouldn't be the problem.
I mean seriously lets look at the bigger picture - If this squad goes up, its going to require a miracle to survive, and that'll be combined with the need to overhaul the squad (We'll be the last team doing it), and hope we have a takeover (As Sandgaard cant be trusted with another squad overhaul).
Yes I'm bored of being in League One... But I'll be even more bored of going up to the Championship for a single season, before coming back down again because we didnt have the time or funds to take it seriously... and end up coming back down even weaker again because we lose our standout players.
In an ideal world, I'd prefer it if we stayed down one more year, its also a world where fairies and dragons exist.
Firstly need to grow some balls with the likes of Leaburn | Ness | Maynard-Brewer by refusing all interest, and making sure that the latter two are on longer Contracts beyond 2024, ensuring we dont have a repeat scenario of Grant | Aribo, as we wouldn't have been relegated in 19/20 with those two in the team.
We've got a small squad of players that we can rely on, but its the depth when there are injuries that is once again hurting us - Thats the issue that needs resolving in the summer... Build an actual squad, not a first eleven... Investigate why injuries are happening, and try to counter them with infrastructure / staff, and then give it a real good go. So we win promotion with a team that doesnt need much strengthening in the Championship, can carry confidence and momentum into that league, and be challengers rather than making up the numbers.
I take your point that you would like to prepare proper squad for a promotion to the Championship. But on the other side is that with the number of loanees returning and out -of -contract players we will have to have rebuild anyway. Whichever division we are in . I'd rather do that in the light of a promotion and in the Championship. Anyway its highly unlikely. Most likely is 60-70 points mid table. And a total rebuild (thats a certainty). Worst scenario is we miss out on playoffs by point/ goal difference like under Adkins.
Have to laugh. 3 wins and suddenly everything that is wrong with the club becomes background noise.
Lets be realistic, couple more injuries to key players and we are back to square pegs in round holes and probably defeats.
We could have been 2/3 down before we scored against Barnsley and we aren't going to consistently get the good fortune we had in that game.
There is also still time for Sandgaard to do something stupid and sell Dobson and Leaburn.
IMO we are too far behind and would need too many teams who have been strong for half a season to go on horrendous runs.
Another season wasted and my gut feeling is we could be in the shit big time come the summer. Best players sold, academy scaled back, Sandergaard still running around in Texas with his begging cap out and a complete squad overhaul needed and no money to do it.
Also think Holden will be gone if a Take Over doesn't happen and he isn't given assurances around budget and his contract.
If anyone within the clubs starts getting hopes up at any point too early...it won't help.
My biggest fear is, we will finish 7th or 8th...we feel optimistic about next season and then GUESS WHAT
Charlton have no useful budget for the summer transfer window, Holden and TS have a falling out the club doesn't get sold, holden can't bring in the players he wants. The squad doesn't have enough depth
He either moves to another club or hits a sack worthy bad form
Assuming the top 5 are out of reach, then if just one of Barnsley, Wycombe, Bristol Rovers, Peterborough or Exeter does as well as, or better than us over the rest of the season, then we don’t reach the playoffs. The real problem we have is that there are so many clubs above us in the table.
Three of those clubs have two games in hand on us, all of them have more points than us. Seems highly unlikely than none of them will stay above us until the end of the season, unfortunately.
Forget where we are in relation to other teams, with 2 games left to play (including games against those teams), doing that is almost pointless at this stage.
Two points per game over the next 20 games is being made to seem a lot harder than it is.
When you compare it to the 46 game season and see that every year, only one or two teams at the very top make it, it looks impossible.
But how many teams over the course of a 46 game season have a 20-game streak of 40 points? It’s a lot easier to put that run together over a shorter period of time.
Take it to extremes, we’ve won three games in a row. That’s 3 points per game achieved over a short period. But no team has ever managed 3 points per game over 46 games.
Without being too much of a Debbie Downer, we've been here before. I remember when it finally clicked; we smashed up Exeter, living the proper let goals in because we're so busy scoring style we were promised under Garner with a 4-2 battering. Then we stuffed Pompey 3-0 and won a tight 1-0 against Shrewsbury. We'd finally arrived. Except then the bottom club came to ours next and beat us 2-0. Then it was the Ipswich 4-4 which to be honest we should have lost. This was October and we didn't win again in the league until the start of this current run in January. Different manager, mostly the same players. It remains to be seen if things have changed fundamentally. If we win 5 or 6 in a row then things will feel very different, but so far this season every time we've felt like we're on the cusp of something reality has struck. If we beat Peterborough and Bolton I'm willing to start secretly believing a bit. Maybe.
Forget where we are in relation to other teams, with 2 games left to play (including games against those teams), doing that is almost pointless at this stage.
Two points per game over the next 20 games is being made to seem a lot harder than it is.
When you compare it to the 46 game season and see that every year, only one or two teams at the very top make it, it looks impossible.
But how many teams over the course of a 46 game season have a 20-game streak of 40 points? It’s a lot easier to put that run together over a shorter period of time.
Take it to extremes, we’ve won three games in a row. That’s 3 points per game achieved over a short period. But no team has ever managed 3 points per game over 46 games.
Doesn’t mean it’s easy but it is attainable.
It’s also attainable for the teams above us. That’s why it actually does matter how many teams are above us imho.
We'll finish 7th by a point after a brilliant second half of the season and people will tell us how shite we are.
Doing that relies on either Leaburn or Bonne going on a hot streak, guaranteeing they won't be here next season. Probably Dobson, one of the keepers, Innis or Ness and CBT or Campbell or Fraser being some of the best players in the division for 4 or 5 months. Good luck keeping them all...
Not getting the contracts of the out of contract sorted, one way or another, until its too late because "we don't know what division we will be in".
We are actually better off missing out by miles than even losing the play off final.
Forget where we are in relation to other teams, with 2 games left to play (including games against those teams), doing that is almost pointless at this stage.
Two points per game over the next 20 games is being made to seem a lot harder than it is.
When you compare it to the 46 game season and see that every year, only one or two teams at the very top make it, it looks impossible.
But how many teams over the course of a 46 game season have a 20-game streak of 40 points? It’s a lot easier to put that run together over a shorter period of time.
Take it to extremes, we’ve won three games in a row. That’s 3 points per game achieved over a short period. But no team has ever managed 3 points per game over 46 games.
Doesn’t mean it’s easy but it is attainable.
It’s also attainable for the teams above us. That’s why it actually does matter how many teams are above us imho.
Obviously but not everyone can do it. That’s why IMO you focus on points targets instead, take care of your own business. Last season was a freak season and 7th not getting in with 80 is absolutely bizarre.
95% of the time 75 points is enough, two points per game from here is a good target and stops us wondering week to week about whether Exeter beat Lincoln or Wycombe got a draw away at Derby…
Comments
I fear Leaburn will be gone in the summer (if not sooner) and I doubt Rak-Sakyi will be back so hopefully ownership is sorted soon and there are some funds available to replace them with suitable alternatives in the summer.
Reasons to be cautiously optimistic for 23/24 but too much to do this year and still too much uncertainty on ownership to be launching HMS Piss the League for the foreseeable!
Leaburn will probably go, then JRS, Sess and Kane will go back. A lot of the players (DJ, Kirk, Stockley, Morgan, Lavelle etc) are not good enough plus of course there's the Aneke issue and then suddenly we have a whole new rebuild required again.
I mean seriously lets look at the bigger picture - If this squad goes up, its going to require a miracle to survive, and that'll be combined with the need to overhaul the squad (We'll be the last team doing it), and hope we have a takeover (As Sandgaard cant be trusted with another squad overhaul).
Yes I'm bored of being in League One... But I'll be even more bored of going up to the Championship for a single season, before coming back down again because we didnt have the time or funds to take it seriously... and end up coming back down even weaker again because we lose our standout players.
In an ideal world, I'd prefer it if we stayed down one more year, its also a world where fairies and dragons exist.
Firstly need to grow some balls with the likes of Leaburn | Ness | Maynard-Brewer by refusing all interest, and making sure that the latter two are on longer Contracts beyond 2024, ensuring we dont have a repeat scenario of Grant | Aribo, as we wouldn't have been relegated in 19/20 with those two in the team.
We've got a small squad of players that we can rely on, but its the depth when there are injuries that is once again hurting us - Thats the issue that needs resolving in the summer... Build an actual squad, not a first eleven... Investigate why injuries are happening, and try to counter them with infrastructure / staff, and then give it a real good go. So we win promotion with a team that doesnt need much strengthening in the Championship, can carry confidence and momentum into that league, and be challengers rather than making up the numbers.
The worst case scenario, for me, is if we get really close and don't go up. For that to happen we will have to have a storming second half of the season and are more likely to attract interest in our better players, renew more of the out of contract players contracts and potentially lose some of them upwards as well.
In that scenario we would need a blinding summer transfer window to get to where we are now. Which still isn't really good enough.
In league one we'd be practically ripping it up and starting again. As we seem to do every summer.
We would need to have an unbelievable run from now until the end of the season to haul back that lot.
I think we will have a good second half of the season and win more than we lose, and probably end up 8th to 12th.
Winning those games would put us at least 8th and only 4 points off 5th. So hauling them in wouldn't be the problem.
Then another one.
Rinse and repeat.
Last 5 games form of the teams above us from 6th down:
Barnsley 7 from 15
Wycombe 9 from 15
Bristol Rovers 6 from 15
Posh 4 from 15
Exeter 8 from 15
Vale 9 from 15
We've taken 10 from 15
It aint over until the rotund female starts belting out Red Red Robin.
If anyone within the clubs starts getting hopes up at any point too early...it won't help.
My biggest fear is, we will finish 7th or 8th...we feel optimistic about next season and then GUESS WHAT
Charlton have no useful budget for the summer transfer window, Holden and TS have a falling out the club doesn't get sold, holden can't bring in the players he wants. The squad doesn't have enough depth
He either moves to another club or hits a sack worthy bad form
And then Charlton normal services resumed...
Seems highly unlikely than none of them will stay above us until the end of the season, unfortunately.
When you compare it to the 46 game season and see that every year, only one or two teams at the very top make it, it looks impossible.
But how many teams over the course of a 46 game season have a 20-game streak of 40 points? It’s a lot easier to put that run together over a shorter period of time.
Take it to extremes, we’ve won three games in a row. That’s 3 points per game achieved over a short period. But no team has ever managed 3 points per game over 46 games.
Doesn’t mean it’s easy but it is attainable.
Not getting the contracts of the out of contract sorted, one way or another, until its too late because "we don't know what division we will be in".
We are actually better off missing out by miles than even losing the play off final.
The problems we had with the club 4 matches ago are still largely there.
Nice to aim higher up the table, but in 2 weeks time we're just as likely to be looking over our shoulder again.