Ok, it's a bit premature to be considering promotion at this stage of the season. However, I was wondering what people thought our chances of survival in League 1 would be. There are a few things that concern me about the team that we have currently: 1. Lack of pace in with our central defenders (LJ excepted, though he seems strangely out of favour) 2. Ainsworth will be another year older. Not sure of his plans going forward 3. We lack an "out and out" goalscorer (as we did last season). 4. Will we have any funds to invest in the squad? 5. The gap between the "have's and have nots" seems to get wider. When we went up with MO'n you felt we could go all the way without too many squad additions. Today i don't feel we can compete with some clubs like Southampton / Sheffield Wednesday without serious investment. If we were to go up, mid table mediocrity would be success in my opinion
I'll go along with that. I also think your concerns are valid. Plus the salaries for players are higher in League 1. At present though I'm happy to see us performing well. I think we are capable of holding our own against any L1 side in a cup match, but in the league, week in week out, it's a different story.
morning slasher,i think we can survive,we will certainly have a better chance than last time,agreed we cant compete financially with some of the bigger clubs up there but we have a settled squad and a decent manager and would probably make a few additions to the squad and get rid of a few as well.green and westlake would go and i cant really see ainsworth playing that much football in a higher division although he could still play bit parts in games like he does now,but we all know he runs his heart out for the team and is knackered after 70 minutes,but he has brought so much to our team since he arrived maybe we can keep him here to coach the youngsters in the future.i think rendell will be a regular scorer for us next season,its a shame he got injured when he did and had a tragic death in his family to deal with just as he was hitting form for us we also have the beever ,what can i say his first touch is sublime and he is getting better and better my only fear is how long can we hold onto him before the scouts spot him and he is off to better and bigger times.i guess the main two things that will affect our chances if we go up are will steve hayes still be here and will waddock be poached by a bigger club.
Interesting thread Slasher. Personally I look back at some of our predictions before last season with embarrassment. Some of us, myself included, thought we had enough quality to pursue a play off challenge. How wrong we were! I think we have to approach next season with cautious optimism, IF we do go up. There will probably be one or two sides with a much larger budget and infrastructure but the rest will be on a similar level. However, you correctly address a number of concerns which will need to be resolved if promotion this season is achieved: I think the squad will need quite serious strengthening in the summer, particularly in the defensive positions and on the wings. I look at Foster, Westwood, Bennett, and even Johnson, and think that whilst they are good league two players, they will struggle in league one. I know people rate LJ, and don't get me wrong, he is a decent player, but I don't really agree that he has the pace necessary. I do feel that Winfield will improve with age, and could come into his own next year. There will perhaps be question marks over Sandell over his defending, but I personally think he can be a good, solid league one player. I think that the wings is another area we will need to improve. We seem to lack options wide right and left, apart from Betsy and Ainsworth, who are both ageing, especially the latter of course. I think a central midfielder will be needed as well. Regarding the forward line, I think Beavon, Rendell, and Pittman all have the potential to be excellent league one strikers. I'm sure there will be money in the summer, but remember that it will probably come in the form of more loan notes as Hayes increases the debt further. I agree with you: mid table mediocrity would be a success, but IMO so would 20th place and survival. However, what's most important to remember is that this is all speculative: it relies on us getting promoted first!
another positive for next season if we get promoted is bull in goal,i defended shearer last season when he was getting stick but i watched him home and away and the first half of the season he was good but then it all went pear shaped until tom heaton took over in goal and then he showed how bad shearer was playing.bully will save us points next season not cost us points
Interesting thread, but lets just make sure we get up first of all, our last ten games both times we got promoted proved that we can get nercous and edgy - I hope with the experience we have we will be ok, but it is just a note of cautious opitmism!
In my opinion, it is still to early to predict what will happen this season let alone next. We are a LG2 club at the moment no more, no less. It would only take a 6 game winless run to see us slip down into the playoffs. Dont want to be a doom merchant but it can happen. We certainly have the quality in our squad to go up. To talk about staying in LG1 when we have a squad for LG2 is pointless. I understand the want to speculate but IF we do go up, do we not trust that Waddock will make the nessescary adjustments that our squad will need. I do. The man's a genius and the one thing I do agree on is the area to be most concerned about - Namely, whether we go up or not, Waddock will have impressed many clubs higher than ours. So while some worry about the short term with regard to squad changes or long term with regard to the Steve Hayes saga, the medium term could see Waddock be tempted by a sleeping giant in LG1 (there are many of them). IMO this is the single worst thing that could happen to us in the next 6 months.
devon blue i posted the same thing earlier i fear waddock will be hunted by bigger clubs come the end of the season.
Hi all. I don,t want so start counting chickens but I think the current squad is strong enough to survive but who wants to just survive S H needs to put his money where his big mouth is and hope G W stays long enough to take us into the promised land that is the Championship. COYB
If we go up, and it is IF at the moment, then I trust Waddock to make the right choices over signings. He's not been too far wrong with many so far. Agree with Rocky though, bigger fish may come for him.
Aww Jenny, is the little green "envy" man overtaking your judgement again? If the Shrews manage to get up this year, don't be relying on the ginger lump to score you many in League 1
Yawn.. Fortunately, we have a lot of money (rubs hands). You lot on the other hand, are SKINT & have plenty of off-field problems. Shame..
