Top six predictions

Barnsley
Portsmouth
Charlton
Peterborough
Sunderland
Oxford

 

1. Sunderland
2. Barnsley
3. Peterborough
4. Charlton
5. Luton
6. Scunthorpe
————————

21. Rochdale
22. Wimbledon
23. Wycombe
24. Accrington Stanley

Without any strikers coming in, irrespective of what happens with Wyke, I can’t see us higher than 12th. Sign someone like Doyle (or Sharp) and I think that could make the difference between that and 6th. Let go of Wyke and not adequately replace him with League1 PROVEN quality, and we could ‘steal’ Rochdale’s place.

 

I would agree with what others have said in that this year its wide open. Giving us a good chance, I have even put my money where my mouth is for a cheeky 8/1 for promotion. That being said this is my list

1. Barnsley
2. City
3. Sunderland (P)
4. Plymouth
5. Scunthorpe
6. Portsmouth

 

Top 3 .........
Peterborough
Charlton
Portsmouth.

Next 3 .........
Sunderland
Barnsley
Luton

IF City can retain CW and ADD a further striker, then include us in that too.

 

Flog the awning and the van and you could buy Manningham?

 

I’ll admit he makes your Avatar look positively happy!

 

1. Barnsley
2. Pompey
3. City (if we keep/replace wyke with a proven striker)
4. Fleetwood
5. Peterborough
6. Accrington (Dark Horse)

7. Luton
8. Sunderland
9. Plymouth
10. Burton

 

Speaking of top 6, I've backed Peterborough to finish in the top 6 at 13/8 with Coral.

 

1.city
2.Barnsley
3.Charlton
4.pompey
5.peterfackinboro
6.mackems

 

Barnsley at evens looks a stand out bet to me.

 

Hey, MODS ............
Any chance of a 'sticky' on this, or better still, a 'sticky' POLL (each member has 6 votes) ?
It'll make for interesting reading come January, and especially in May.

 

Sunderland
Peterborough
Barnsley
City
Plymouth
Pompey

 

Barnsley
Portsmouth
Sunderland
Peterborough
Luton
Plymouth

I expect a better campaign than last year, not only in the league, but also in the cups.
I think the team is better right now with the arrival of Scannel, Akpan and Payne. But the squad looks short on quality and experience outside of the first 11.
Clearly, would be even better with another goalscorer, keeping Charlie + 1. Hope we'll have two more signings before the start of the season.
City has a superior first 11 to this time last year,but I predict a harder league this year than last season. The big unknown is the management/coaching team, and how they react when stuff goes against us in games, and if we go on a losing streak.
Prediction 7th to 10th.

 

...and Wyke will get 199 of them.

 

Keep Wyke and bring in one more striker and I think we’ll get top 6. I think getting Reeves and Jones fit would also be a major help.

If we don’t make it into the top 6 then you have to blame the management team rather than Edin/Stefan. They have invested in the club and built a very competitive squad. Any failure to achieve top 6 can’t be blamed on them. They’ve played their part.

 

Putting an untried manager in charge of top players, chairman definitely have to take part of the blame if it goes wrong.
Having said that, they should get credit if it works too.

 

At some point every manager is untried so I don’t teally buy this argument.

Grayson was a huge let down and look at his experience in management.

 

So, the fact that the owners COULD sell Wyke and leave the management team with no dec by striker isn’t the fault of the owners? If we accept an offer for Wyke and do not replace him, then I’m sorry, they are to blame.

If a builder offers to build me a 5-bedroom house but builds it on marsh lands and it quickly subsides, that would be my fault and not the builder’s?

That said, if we do sell Wyke and reinvest most of the fee on 1-2 forwards of a good quality, then yes, the owners wouldn’t be to blame.

One final point, you say all new managers start with no experience. Not true. They may have little or no experience in man-management, but usually have a good grounding in coaching. If Collins/Drury fail, is it really their fault that the owner fast-tracked rookies with little coaching experience?

 

I agree that if we don’t have a replacement lined up for Wyke then the owners need to shoulder the blame. We’ve known for long enough that he may be leaving. If we replace him with a good quality striker then once again, I would say they have done their bit.

With regards to the rookie coaches, I don’t know much about their backgrounds. I saw that Collins had been doing his badges from mid 20’s so he’s been on this track for a number of years. Drury was a youth coach prior to this promotion so they have some experience from what I understand. There are lots of managers that are thrown in the deep end though, not all come through a proper pathway. Gerrard and Lampard both spring to mind. They’ve done their badges and had a bit of experience with the youth teams. If we’d appointed either of them would the same criticism be levelled at the owners?

 

Ourselves and Barnsley will be the bottom two unless this ridiculous experiment with the German way is binned off before the end of September.