Relegation

[Gary Baldi]

Totally agree. This is a game of opinions and we can't agree all of the time. But relegation- seriously?
It could still happen, but with the players that we have we have 35 points from 26 games. We have a decent record against the lower teams generally (in the last 9 league games, we have only lost to Wigan, Blackburn and Bradford).
We have in that time beaten Plymouth, Doncaster and MK (drawn away to Southern/ Rochdale and Gillingham).
So to me suggesting relegation was a kneejerk reaction.
To put into perspective we now need what 15 points from 20 games (so we could win 5 and lose 15 and probably not go down).
I don't disagree at all with the lack of direction at the club. But IF we were to beat Blackpool and sign 2-3 quality players (plus getting Gino/ Mehmeti/ Raglan and Pekalski fit) things may just start looking a little better again?

Agree. A few more vocal voices and some poor results have put some of the fanbase into a very deep funk. A few more open eyes would have realised that we got done by a good Wigan team and unless you are Citeh or whoever, the chances are that you'll be on the end of a bad beating once in a while.

Going forward, the focus has to be integrating the new players into the squad when they are signed and getting back to bossing games again. Club wide, I hope any takeover nonsense can, for the moment, be left into 2017 so any divisions or tensions can dissipate.

 

[Dubai Yellow]

Happy New Year everyone!. Just got back from a break in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka (highly recommended).

Basing it on our recent league performances alone (more so prior to yesterday), to suggest we might be involved in a relegation battle is not a knee-jerk reaction at all. Some people, including me, are genuinely concerned about what they are seeing and hearing at the moment. I guess one person's interpretation of "knee-jerk" is different to the next and its purely down to the perception of the reader in the end. But lets not forget the league is so tight, a short run of good or bad results can make a huge difference to your league position. For the record, as mentioned before, i'm still in the "give Pep a chance in the January transfer window" camp and lets see how we go from there. Who knows a win against Blackpool, some new faces in Jan and we will all be hoping for the playoffs (and some, maybe promotion). Call it knee-jerk If you like.

 

[tonyw]

We've been pretty hopeless against the runaway Top 5 in League One - not beaten any of them, and been drubbed by many.

But at the same time, we've been pretty solid against the bad teams in the division, and have now won seven games by at least two goals.
(in the context of the rest of the season, the Bury game is actually a real outlier rather than the norm).

W9 D8 L9, GD +2. To me, our season so far absolutely screams mid-table mediocrity.
Obviously it's possible we go on a horror run, but we've shown enough against the bad teams to suggest this isn't likely.
It's also possible that we sign a couple of players, go on a great run and sneak into sixth place. But our wild inconsistency and inability to compete against the Wigans and Blackburns suggests that's not all that likely either.

The middle third of League One seems to me to be a safe bet this year.

The big question is what's going to happen off the field, and does that give us hope to improve on this next season or are we going to be in a scrap to hold where we are?

 

[yellowbow]

I can only assume that come the ox Vox meeting on Jan 10th, and IF Darryl attends, then all the off-field issues will become a lot clearer and we’ll all know what the short to mid-term aspirations are. I’d be really surprised if he turned up only to sit back, arms folded, sneering ‘no comment’ to direct questions aimed at him. That would be a tad embarrassing.. ?

 

[Sarge]

'only' 15 more points to clock up for the magical 50..... 5 wins or 15 draws - or a combination of the two- should be attainable, shouldnt it?

 

[Lundinsponytail]

'only' 15 more points to clock up for the magical 50..... 5 wins or 15 draws - or a combination of the two- should be attainable, shouldnt it?

Don't think that 50 points is the magic number this time. Looks like being more like 54. There is a smaller gap between midtable and the top relegation place than usual. I think we will get there, but worth noting that we have only been averaging just over a point a game since the start of September. Repeat that form and we will only get to 52 points or so with 3 or 4 games left.
Makes the games against MK, Blackpool and Walsall important. One down; 4 points from the next two and hopefully the gap to Wimbledon (currently 8 points after a game more) should start to become more comfortable.
To the two posters who are claiming that getting beat 7-0 is something that happens to everyone other than City, for God's sake!!!!! Really???? It was our record ever defeat and Wigans record ever victory. That made it a game in 5000. Trying to brush it under the carpet as some sort of an inevitable slightly worse than average result beggars belief. Delusion, my friends! It was utterly horrific and indicative of bad stuff going on. Ask yourself what was going on at our club the only other time we received pastings like that.

 

[Sarge]

Don't think that 50 points is the magic number this time. Looks like being more like 54. There is a smaller gap between midtable and the top relegation place than usual. I think we will get there, but worth noting that we have only been averaging just over a point a game since the start of September. Repeat that form and we will only get to 52 points or so with 3 or 4 games left.
Makes the games against MK, Blackpool and Walsall important. One down; 4 points from the next two and hopefully the gap to Wimbledon (currently 8 points after a game more) should start to become more comfortable.
To the two posters who are claiming that getting beat 7-0 is something that happens to everyone other than City, for God's sake!!!!! Really???? It was our record ever defeat and Wigans record ever victory. That made it a game in 5000. Trying to brush it under the carpet as some sort of an inevitable slightly worse than average result beggars belief. Delusion, my friends! It was utterly horrific and indicative of bad stuff going on. Ask yourself what was going on at our club the only other time we received pastings like that.

Oxvox members meeting jan 10th could be interesting

 

[MJB]

Don't think that 50 points is the magic number this time. Looks like being more like 54. There is a smaller gap between midtable and the top relegation place than usual. I think we will get there, but worth noting that we have only been averaging just over a point a game since the start of September. Repeat that form and we will only get to 52 points or so with 3 or 4 games left.
Makes the games against MK, Blackpool and Walsall important. One down; 4 points from the next two and hopefully the gap to Wimbledon (currently 8 points after a game more) should start to become more comfortable.
To the two posters who are claiming that getting beat 7-0 is something that happens to everyone other than City, for God's sake!!!!! Really???? It was our record ever defeat and Wigans record ever victory. That made it a game in 5000. Trying to brush it under the carpet as some sort of an inevitable slightly worse than average result beggars belief. Delusion, my friends! It was utterly horrific and indicative of bad stuff going on. Ask yourself what was going on at our club the only other time we received pastings like that.

One in 5,000 is a bit too far the other way to be fair. Seem to recall watching us ship seven twice in the late 90s. Pedantry over!

 

[Lundinsponytail]

One in 5,000 is a bit too far the other way to be fair. Seem to recall watching us ship seven twice in the late 90s. Pedantry over!

Yes, exactly. That is what I am referring to. Our last two results like this (and neither of them quite as bad) were when our club was teetering on the edge of a precipice, with chaos in the boardroom, Firoz on the horizon and idiots like Kemp in charge.
That is the kind of mess that a club needs to be in to lose 7-0 at home to a club in its own league. That result barely happens once every 2 seasons for all the 92 professional clubs put together. So to write it off as sort of to be expected is truly breathtaking.

 

[holdsteady]

The game against teams below us, out of form teams are the big ones for us, we haven’t done well against the top teams and I can’t see that changing, so we need to keep picking up points against the strugglers and our fellow also rans, that should keep us out of the relegation battle.

The games against Wigan, Blackburn away are free hits, great if we get something but we will have to keep some perspective if we lose as are real battle are with the dross not the elite, because we definitely ain’t getting in the play offs.

 

[Foley]

We've been pretty hopeless against the runaway Top 5 in League One - not beaten any of them, and been drubbed by many.

But at the same time, we've been pretty solid against the bad teams in the division, and have now won seven games by at least two goals.
(in the context of the rest of the season, the Bury game is actually a real outlier rather than the norm).

W9 D8 L9, GD +2. To me, our season so far absolutely screams mid-table mediocrity.
Obviously it's possible we go on a horror run, but we've shown enough against the bad teams to suggest this isn't likely.
It's also possible that we sign a couple of players, go on a great run and sneak into sixth place. But our wild inconsistency and inability to compete against the Wigans and Blackburns suggests that's not all that likely either.

The middle third of League One seems to me to be a safe bet this year.

The big question is what's going to happen off the field, and does that give us hope to improve on this next season or are we going to be in a scrap to hold where we are?

Totally agree Tony.

No way shouldl we be near relegation but noway should we reach the play offs. 8th to 14th in all likelihood.

We have been far too good against the bottom half to be relegated (even in out bad run we have beaten Donny and MK and also drawn at Gills, Southend and Rochdale(

 

[Foley]

Don't think that 50 points is the magic number this time. Looks like being more like 54. . Repeat that form and we will only get to 52 points or so with 3 or 4 games left.
Makes the games against MK, Blackpool and Walsall important. One down; 4 points from the next two and hopefully the gap to Wimbledon (currently 8 points after a game more) should start to become more comfortable.
To the two posters who are claiming that getting beat 7-0 is something that happens to everyone other than City, for God's sake!!!!! Really???? It was our record ever defeat and Wigans record ever victory. That made it a game in 5000. Trying to brush it under the carpet as some sort of an inevitable slightly worse than average result beggars belief. Delusion, my friends! It was utterly horrific and indicative of bad stuff going on. Ask yourself what was going on at our club the only other time we received pastings like that.

Not sure that I agree. The bottom 3 have significantly fewer points than games played. I can't see any of them get to 53 points. Oldham/ AFC/ MK will do very well to get to 53 points (doubtful if 2 or three will).
We have won 9 and lost 9. Even after the drubbing against Wigan we have 4 points from 3 games (mid table form) If we have 52 points with 4-5 games left I reckon we will be safe. And even that could mean us getting 60 points. It would take a HUGE collapse to get near relegation . We have been far too good against the bottom half to get there i n my view.
Incidentally I am not sure that anybody could defend the shocking performance against Wigan. It was truelly awful. But... the team have recovered pretty well since and did well on Saturday having got a good point at Gillingham.

 

[Corporate_Clive]

I was willing to give PC some benefit of the doubt in case what he said was true about young English players being over-priced, but if these rumours of ignoring the scouting staff are true, then any remote bit of sympathy I had has disappeared.

Makes sense why Head Of Recruitment exited to Leeds.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Yes, exactly. That is what I am referring to. Our last two results like this (and neither of them quite as bad) were when our club was teetering on the edge of a precipice, with chaos in the boardroom, Firoz on the horizon and idiots like Kemp in charge.
That is the kind of mess that a club needs to be in to lose 7-0 at home to a club in its own league. That result barely happens once every 2 seasons for all the 92 professional clubs put together. So to write it off as sort of to be expected is truly breathtaking.

Your writing style seems very familiar..

 

[Colin B]

Your writing style seems very familiar..

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