18th - West Ham/ Saints (both have a nightmare fixture list. Game at the Olympic Stadium is huge.) Think Saints though.. Too many 6 pointers in March and tough home games... 19th - Huddersfield 20th - West Brom
TLL is correct you swine ! For my part I reckon it will be West Brom, Huddersfield and Brighton (cue winning streaks for all three sides please log in to view this image )
Don’t like Reed never have never will and he’s the reason why it’s been such a struggle for the last number of years. We’ve lost players because of him We’ve lost managers because of him We’ve employed cheap options when better we’re out there,he’s solely responsible for the position we are in. People keep blaming the manager but it’s only going to be the tools he’s been given. Why is it when a team are doing badly people call for the managers head,but no one asks for the players to be sacked or the people above them to be sacked.
I refuse to write it. Can't bring myself to. Last time there was a tight race like this a certain team had the odds in their favour going in to the last game. The odds lied. One of the bottom 3 going into the last game will finish 4th from bottom and many tears will be shed along with cries from half of the fanbase of "This would never have happened if Cortese was still here." The other half of the fanbase (allright 1%) will be saying in unison "Adkins would've kept us up." (allright half of that 1% will probably say Atkins")
Play-offs or automatic for the Imps, Imps? Lincoln City will do well to keep hold of their joint managers in the close season. I can see clubs such as Sunderland sniffing around.
Imagine having to win at home to Manchester City in the last game of the season. By then they will have won the PL, maybe the League Cup, and have booked a place in the both the FA Cup and CL finals. They would rest their best players, surely?
And this is exactly why trying to predict a relegation battle is so difficult. There are way too many variables and unexpected twists and turns. For example, on paper, our last 4/5 games look bloody difficult. However, apart from City, who you quite rightly pointed out should be resting players, all the other fixtures are against teams who will be safely mid-table and have nothing to play for. I wouldn't be at all surprised if come up short during our 'winnable' games in March, but then go and get 10 points from the last four.
Interesting Les Reed fact - managed Charlton (briefly and well not exactly successfully) in 2006 - replaced by Alan Pardew!
Autos are possible but I think we aren't consistent enough to get the points necessary. Good enough certainly but not consistent enough. Play offs are most definitely possible and in reality we should be looking at a play off place as a minimum target now. Have a feeling the Cowleys will stay until the end of their contract in 2021. They are at a club with a positive budget. Where they are in charge. Low expectations that can be beaten season upon season and I think they will want to stay until they think they can't take us further. They have a lot more patience here too so they can learn on the job. They are rumoured to be house shopping around Lincoln now. They have been commuting from Essex some days and living in a club rental until now so looks like they are looking to move their families up here. I know it might sound silly but any other club coming in from above (like Sunderland) will have high expectations, want almost instant results, be much closer on budget as their rivals etc and be much less competitive within their league as well as probably starting from being below standard in their league. Rumour is the buy-out in their contract is £1m. I think a club like Ipswich is much more likely than Sunderland if they were to jump early. Can't see them leaving early for any club in L1 or L2 though.
The depressing thing about this happening is that we wouldn’t be able to rest players for the FA Cup Final.
I will collate your predictions tomorrow (if I can trawl through all the comments!) and the winners will be mailed their prizes after the Man City game.
The Man-City game, it already has started a big cringe, every time I hear it. Damn this run in, and damn the run it that led to it.
please log in to view this image Have done a full prediction of the rest of the season, and have us staying up by 1 point. However I did generously give us a win v Bournemouth at home.... I can see that one being the sort of game we put too much pressure on ourselves and never get going in
