Relegation Dogfight Thread

[valefan16]

Nothing to play for except to avenge you Denying us the title two seasons ago..some of us never forget

Your boys were not that fussed, listen to Ben Garrity's interview on the Paddy the Baddy podcast...

 

[folletto]

Only off the bench, bonne has hardly featured at all really, comes on for the last 10, runs around a bit, generally does very little and wastes an opportunity if he gets one.

I’m sure Taylor would love this game as he’d certainly use the abuse to up his game and on his day he’s a match winner but I just can’t stand him, he’s so self indulgent I don’t think he’d understand the meaning of the word team if he was on the pitch by himself!

As for the game, I personally think it’s about bloody time we beat you but with may up top(who always seems to score against us) I’m struggling to see it, we’ve improved a lot recently as have yourselves but I just think you’ll have to much, would take a draw although the 3pts is very needed, will jones be playing? will get a cracking reception from us lot, top player.

KTF.

That sounds like the Bonne I know and love. Taylor always struck me as the type of player you love if he plays for you but despise if he is against you. I guess when he isn't setting the world alight for you it's easy to dislike him when he is playing for you too. His decision to refuse to play the end of the season for us back in 19/20 probably single handedly sent us down given how important he was for us (and that we went down in the very last min of the season).

Jones is just returning from injury. He's struggled a bit for us but looked solid in the games he did play under Nathan Jones. We've been quite defensively sound recently so he may struggle to get in the side. There's 5 pretty good CBs fighting for 3 places.

On the topic of Jones did you see this

https://twitter.com/x/status/1775916341473456513

 

[Arbury]

That sounds like the Bonne I know and love. Taylor always struck me as the type of player you love if he plays for you but despise if he is against you. I guess when he isn't setting the world alight for you it's easy to dislike him when he is playing for you too. His decision to refuse to play the end of the season for us back in 19/20 probably single handedly sent us down given how important he was for us (and that we went down in the very last min of the season).

Jones is just returning from injury. He's struggled a bit for us but looked solid in the games he did play under Nathan Jones. We've been quite defensively sound recently so he may struggle to get in the side. There's 5 pretty good CBs fighting for 3 places.

On the topic of Jones did you see this

https://twitter.com/x/status/1775916341473456513

I did but safe to say I won’t be watching, pretty sure when he was us he was with some minor celeb who was desperate for some attention!

Looking at your squad it really is a good one, I’m struggling to see just how you’ve been so cack for so long, would have jones back here in a heartbeat.

KTF

 

[leedsvaliant]

How does Darrell Clarke seem? If he's still chipper then I think he might be the x factor to see Cheltenham over the line.

Think Cambridge will be fine but Shrewsbury might be in the mix. Tough last few fixtures and they've been pretty poor this season.

There'll undoubtedly be results that don't go how everyone thought they would. There's always silly results at this point in the season.

 

[Si Robin]

He sounds alright - wasn't too disappointed on Saturday when we were beaten by 3 worldies, but has come out all guns blazing today. He's pointing out that the players need to know how important tomorrow night is and that we have to be on it from the start.

He says what the fans want to hear, and you don't believe he's just saying it for effect.

He's undoubtedly our best chance of safety.

 

[Floreat Salopia]

How does Darrell Clarke seem? If he's still chipper then I think he might be the x factor to see Cheltenham over the line.

Think Cambridge will be fine but Shrewsbury might be in the mix. Tough last few fixtures and they've been pretty poor this season.

There'll undoubtedly be results that don't go how everyone thought they would. There's always silly results at this point in the season.

Myself personally and a few of my close mates who go, we aren’t stressed at this moment in time. We might have enough already but if not one more win or even two more draws will almost certainly get us over the line.

Minus Bolton away, our fixtures aren’t that bad. Wycombe at home on Saturday after they’ve just lost at Wembley and then playing on Wednesday, they’ll be both demoralised and knackered, think we’ll win that. If we don’t win that, the other two are Charlton away and Leyton Orient home. Charlton have improved massively under Jones, but they’re still only 4 points above us. Not like we’re going to the Nou Camp playing Barcelona. Then Orient last day will most likely rotate the squad and feature a few young lads as they’re on the beach and have nothing to play for. Think we’re fine and if not there’s a good chance come Saturday night we will be.

As for being pretty poor, yes we have hence why we’re 18th. Most clubs have been poor this season, the worst League One I’ve ever known and I’ve watched this division more than majority of other fans on here in recent years minus Fleetwood. So it’s a valid opinion that’s it’s a terrible league this year. Next year can only get better!

 

[BRFC_Gas]

He sounds alright - wasn't too disappointed on Saturday when we were beaten by 3 worldies, but has come out all guns blazing today. He's pointing out that the players need to know how important tomorrow night is and that we have to be on it from the start.

He says what the fans want to hear, and you don't believe he's just saying it for effect.

He's undoubtedly our best chance of safety.

He is the type of guy players will WANT to do well for and put in that extra x%.
It still may not be enough, but I dont think there is anyone better to have in charge to try and escape the drop. Then again if you did theres probably not many better around to get you back up. We should have stuck with him he had earned it with the double promotion and highest L1 finish in many years.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Myself personally and a few of my close mates who go, we aren’t stressed at this moment in time. We might have enough already but if not one more win or even two more draws will almost certainly get us over the line.

Minus Bolton away, our fixtures aren’t that bad. Wycombe at home on Saturday after they’ve just lost at Wembley and then playing on Wednesday, they’ll be both demoralised and knackered, think we’ll win that. If we don’t win that, the other two are Charlton away and Leyton Orient home. Charlton have improved massively under Jones, but they’re still only 4 points above us. Not like we’re going to the Nou Camp playing Barcelona. Then Orient last day will most likely rotate the squad and feature a few young lads as they’re on the beach and have nothing to play for. Think we’re fine and if not there’s a good chance come Saturday night we will be.

As for being pretty poor, yes we have hence why we’re 18th. Most clubs have been poor this season, the worst League One I’ve ever known and I’ve watched this division more than majority of other fans on here in recent years minus Fleetwood. So it’s a valid opinion that’s it’s a terrible league this year. Next year can only get better!

Actually, when I think about it, you probably only need 1 win in 4, which you're probably likely to get.

The fact that we're still in with a shout of being safe after achieving a grand total of 7 points from Carlisle, Fleetwood, Burton, Cheltenham and you guys says everything you need to know about this league 1.

 

[leedsvaliant]

He is the type of guy player will WANT to do well for and put in that extra x%.
It still may not be enough, but I dont think there is anyone better to have in charge to try and escape the drop. Then again if you did theres probably not many better around to get you back up. We should have stuck with him he had earned it with the double promotion and highest L1 finish in many years.

I'm certain if we'd have stuck with him, we'd be pushing for the top half this year rather than another relegation scrap. Yes, we were on a terrible run, but there was an horrific injury list, where we had no strikers for weeks. Also, Darrell's head was a bit messed up. They should have asked someone like Crosby to step up and see us through to the end of the season, to give Darrell more time to get himself sorted.

He fitted our club perfectly, just as Micky Adams did before him. Heart on sleeve managers seem to unite with our fans.

 

[K-Win]

Most clubs have been poor this season, the worst League One I’ve ever known and I’ve watched this division more than majority of other fans on here in recent years minus Fleetwood. So it’s a valid opinion that’s it’s a terrible league this year. Next year can only get better!

The fact that we're still in with a shout of being safe after achieving a grand total of 7 points from Carlisle, Fleetwood, Burton, Cheltenham and you guys says everything you need to know about this league 1.

I'm starting to hope we don't go up. The huge jump in quality next season is something not to be missed!

 

[folletto]

Yep this is definitely the poorest league one season in my memory of being down here. We went 20 games without a win and have ended up pretty comfortably midtable. I do think it will be a lot stronger next season with the teams coming up/going down.

We have been really really poor and I don't think I've actually looked at any team we've played and been impressed barring maybe Bolton at the Valley, Pompey at Fratton and surprisingly Vale at Vale Park.

 

[folletto]

I'm starting to hope we don't go up. The huge jump in quality next season is something not to be missed!

The gap and financial gap between league one and the championship is ridiculous now, it's a real battle to go up and stay up as Plymouth and Sheff W are finding. Ipswich are proof it can be done but are a bit of an anomaly as they were miles better than everyone else last season and have been able to play the same football they did in League one, most teams have to revert to being much more defensive.

 

[valefan16]

The fact we'd had an 11 game winless streak and a 14 game winless streak so 25 games combined and are still in contention to survive shows how bad it is really, Cheltenham talk about their bad start but we've give teams over half a season to chalk up a big lead on us!

DC was a tough one, you cant argue with the record second half of last season, its comparable to this post January but not helped by poor recruitment (note the theme) and he needed a break, could we have not let him have another break from April until the new season and had Crosby in caretaker again until, all hindsight I guess.

Imagine what DC would have done with the quality we had in the squad first half of the season that was badly mismanaged... as bad as it is now Vale fans were rightly raving about Arblaster (note him dominating Chelsea's midfield at the weekend!) but him in charge of Arblaster and Devine would have been far more productive I am sure.

 

[thewwfc]

Yep this is definitely the poorest league one season in my memory of being down here. We went 20 games without a win and have ended up pretty comfortably midtable. I do think it will be a lot stronger next season with the teams coming up/going down.

Yeah, you were shite for ages, as were we…I think Exeter had a terrible start too.

But there’s also a glut of mediocrity in the Championship too - 5 points separating 15th from 23rd.

I think provided Portsmouth strengthen sensibly and don’t have off the pitch problems they should be fine. I feel like the Championship is worse for basket case clubs, QPR and Birmingham being two of the dodgier ones.

 

[folletto]

Yeah, you were shite for ages, as were we…I think Exeter had a terrible start too.

But there’s also a glut of mediocrity in the Championship too - 5 points separating 15th from 23rd.

I think provided Portsmouth strengthen sensibly and don’t have off the pitch problems they should be fine. I feel like the Championship is worse for basket case clubs, QPR and Birmingham being two of the dodgier ones.

Yeah definitely, the reward of overspending means potential Premiership football but the risk is even higher. It's part of the reason the league has been so poor this year, Reading and Wigan coming down in complete financial disarray.

 

[Bar Carousel]

Yeah, you were shite for ages, as were we…I think Exeter had a terrible start too.

But there’s also a glut of mediocrity in the Championship too - 5 points separating 15th from 23rd.

I think provided Portsmouth strengthen sensibly and don’t have off the pitch problems they should be fine. I feel like the Championship is worse for basket case clubs, QPR and Birmingham being two of the dodgier ones.

There's no way we'll be checking silly money at it*.

Our weapon will be Richard Hughes unearthing rough diamonds for little money, and upcoming premier league youngsters, and hoping they work out much like this season on the whole. I'm sure we'll add some proven experience, but we'll have one of the lowest budgets in the division.

Talk of Championship interest in Colby Bishop. If we sold him for a significant fee then we would have some decent money to reinvest.

I'd imagine we will model ourselves on Plymouth, but hope our manager doesn't get poached midway through the season to destabilise the whole thing.

*Assuming we don't fuck things up from here.

 

[Luke Imp]

Feels like Burton have potentially left it too late with Patterson with Vale having a game in hand, Cheltenham having two (and having to play them) and already in the bottom four.

 

[valefan16]

Feels like Burton have potentially left it too late with Patterson with Vale having a game in hand, Cheltenham having two (and having to play them) and already in the bottom four.

They were absolutely dreadful a couple of weeks ago when we played them... and we aren't exactly up to much, when Ryan Loft scores a winner against you then you probably deserve relegation!

That said, they still have Cheltenham and Fleetwood (both in poor form) in their last four games so win those two and they've a decent chance, we've probably got to get 6-7 points and they will likely have to come in 3 home games... we've won 1 home game this year.

Hopefully we are this years Cambridge but all three are in it, if Fleetwood win tonight and Cheltenham slip up you'd consider them back in contention as well with that Burton fixutre in mind.

 

[Pompeyblueboy]

I'm starting to hope we don't go up. The huge jump in quality next season is something not to be missed!

Pull yourself together man

 

[Pompeyblueboy]

There's no way we'll be checking silly money at it*.

Our weapon will be Richard Hughes unearthing rough diamonds for little money, and upcoming premier league youngsters, and hoping they work out much like this season on the whole. I'm sure we'll add some proven experience, but we'll have one of the lowest budgets in the division.

Talk of Championship interest in Colby Bishop. If we sold him for a significant fee then we would have some decent money to reinvest.

I'd imagine we will model ourselves on Plymouth, but hope our manager doesn't get poached midway through the season to destabilise the whole thing.

*Assuming we don't fuck things up from here.

Are you really a Pompey fan? Have a listen to Cullen on youtube. He reckons we'll have the 10th highest budget. If we go up

Keep the faith mate

 

[CTFCfan99]

You wouldn't know we belong in this thread the way our players were strolling around the majority of this evening

 

[kieran_vale]

No doubt about it Carlisle have done everyone else in the scrap a huge favour tonight. Credit to them for not mailing it in, would have been really easy to. A scabby draw or win for us tomorrow would pretty much condemn Fleetwood and swing the pendulum in our favour for survival. More likely we’ll lose the game in which case it may just be the case of stick up a white wall to keep the score down like we did at Ipswich last season. GD will undoubtedly be a factor.

Can’t believe this relegation battle has got me in the situation will be cheering on fatty to do a number on Saturday against Burton. Needs must.

 

[valefan16]

No doubt about it Carlisle have done everyone else in the scrap a huge favour tonight. Credit to them for not mailing it in, would have been really easy to. A scabby draw or win for us tomorrow would pretty much condemn Fleetwood and swing the pendulum in our favour for survival. More likely we’ll lose the game in which case it may just be the case of stick up a white wall to keep the score down like we did at Ipswich last season. GD will undoubtedly be a factor.

Can’t believe this relegation battle has got me in the situation will be cheering on fatty to do a number on Saturday against Burton. Needs must.

Stevenage winning helps as it puts them right back in the mixer, 2 more wins might just about be enough for us, 7 surely would be.

 

[Luke Imp]

What a missed opportunity for Cheltenham. The fairly even GD at the bottom makes it a bit more interesting.

Fleetwood's mini revival seems to be over, they're gone.

 

[Throbber_for_Dunk]

Got a Carlisle fan near me I bump into walking the dog, and this morning he enquired why I hadn't yet dropped him of a bottle of something nice!

Didn't expect that, but I more than welcome it.

 

[Bartonyellow]

This season could be the lowest points tally to stay up given what we were all serving up.
We are out of the bottom 4 which is scandalous given our form. The fans have finally snapped which is good. Might improve the atmosphere Tuesday.
He has to go but Ben is been stubborn and won’t sack him. Ironically he has no contract so it’s a cheap option. Put Gary mills back in charge for 4 games and go shit or bust.
As it is - captain smith has hit the iceberg and we are going down.

 

[valefan16]

This season could be the lowest points tally to stay up given what we were all serving up.
We are out of the bottom 4 which is scandalous given our form. The fans have finally snapped which is good. Might improve the atmosphere Tuesday.
He has to go but Ben is been stubborn and won’t sack him. Ironically he has no contract so it’s a cheap option. Put Gary mills back in charge for 4 games and go shit or bust.
As it is - captain smith has hit the iceberg and we are going down.

You play Cheltenham so the minimum to survive is 41 (on GD) thats possible, 2 years ago 40 was enough.

 

[leedsvaliant]

I'm thinking 45/46 to be safe, given the relative form of those down at the bottom. I can't see any of us suddenly getting 3 wins.

 

[Bartonyellow]

You play Cheltenham so the minimum to survive is 41 (on GD) thats possible, 2 years ago 40 was enough.

That is an interesting stat.
40 is incredibly low.

 

[valefan16]

That is an interesting stat.
40 is incredibly low.

20	Fleetwood Town	46	8	16	22	62	82	−20	40
21	Gillingham (R)	46	8	16	22	35	69	−34	40	Relegation to EFL League Two
22	Doncaster Rovers (R)	46	10	8	28	37	82	−45	38
23	AFC Wimbledon (R)	46	6	19	21	49	75	−26	37
24	Crewe Alexandra (R)	46	7	8	31	37	83	−46	29