League one relegation watch

[darren1810]

Cambridge losing. 

Keeps them in the pot .

Obviously we've got to beat them at home. As well as win other games 🤣

[ollyandpatch]

All over.

[lydiatevaliant]

Charlton have Derby next but then play Northampton, Cheltenham, Carlisle and Fleetwood in their following four matches. 

Cheltenham play Wycombe, Burton and Charlton in their next three.

Surely only a matter of time before we're well and truly adrift.

Edited February 24 by lydiatevaliant

[JoeB2]

On 19/02/2024 at 08:58, JoeB2 said:

Optimism post as I cannot hack the despair:

There is a route to safety for us.

We still have to play: 

Reading away

Burton away

Fleetwood home

Shrewsbury home

Exeter home

Cambridge home

 

There is a route out for us. We need 19 points from 16 games. 5 wins and a few draws. 

 

Priorities:

- sort the back line out. 1 clean sheet in 10 is absolutely horrendous. Tighten things up. Clark at RWB over Massey is a huge upgrade. We need a fairly rapid improvement in this respect. It really needs a back to basics approach. Lopata, Smith, Debrah, Yak, Lowe - there has to be a competent combination somewhere. Pick one and don't chop and change.

- Garrity back in the middle. Garrity and Chislett are our only goal threat. Having them together actually gives us some hope going forward.

- Take a punt on a free agent forward. We have no one who can hold the ball up. Just pay the going rate and pray they can plunder 5 by May. It'll cost more to go down.

- Start playing Mighten. We don't have any pace. He's the only player. Figure out a system that gets him the ball.

- Get Gore fit. We haven't seen him but he's the exact profile we're missing - energy and battle in the middle.

The point total we need is really not outlandish - it's mid-table form and would play out as 54 points over a 46 game season. Moore needs to transform a very, very poor side (the worst in the league by a considerable margin since Christmas) into a fairly competent mid-table one - which is pretty much the job DC has done at Cheltenham. Martin Paterson similarly at Burton. Harris at Cambridge. You'd assume a manager who last put up 96 points at this level could handle that - otherwise, why appoint him?

Even with how awful we've been, the Fleetwood result was the only aberration since New Year - a draw with Charlton, a very narrow loss via a penalty to the champions-elect, Fleetwood, a loss to in-form Orient with a youth team manager on a half hour's notice, a draw with top 6 Stevenage, a 1 goal loss to a very, very decent Cheltenham side under DC. Pompey, Orient, Stevenage, and Cheltenham were all in excellent form when we played them. Fleetwood and Carlisle are the only disasters since Shrews away in November. 

I don't think it's a miracle great escape job. We only have 4 games against the top 6, and one of those is Oxford who are not the same side under Buckingham that they were under Manning. We've got a load of games against mid-table teams like Wigan, Northampton, Lincoln, Cambridge, Exeter, Burton, Rovers, and Orient - teams we have taken points from under Crosby.

Moore's basically got to make us a mid-table side. He has Garrity and Clark fit very soon. Gore and Plant soon thereafter. If he tightens up the backline, we get a forward in, and these players get back in the starting lineup, we have a fixture-list which isn't overly tricky. 19 points is very doable. 

Carlisle and Fleetwood are probably gone. It's 2 more of us, Charlton, Cheltenham, Reading (watch out for more points deductions), Shrewsbury, and imo Burton. I think Cheltenham will be fine. Shrews and Burton are both pretty poor teams with some of the worst underlying numbers in the league. Nathan Jones is known for either being brilliant at Luton or truly apocalyptic everywhere else. He hasn't won yet and the atmosphere is toxic.

I know how dismal it has been recently, but we're really not down and out yet. We have to start winning games very soon at a mid-table rate, but I don't think it's overly harsh to say that is what is expected from a manager like Moore. He has key players returning, a fairly achievable points target, and a reasonable fixture list.

Very doable job, this. It will genuinely be disappointing if Moore can't put up 19 points. Into these.

Yep, ignore this.

The chances of us staying up are very, very slim at this point.

2 of us, Cheltenham, Charlton, and Shrewsbury will join Fleetwood and Carlisle. We will be one of them.

[Guppys left peg]

Another points deduction for Reading drags them a bit closer back in. You’d hope it would he to our benefit but then we have to actually win some ourselves which is the problem.

Reading set for fresh points deduction for HMRC-related issues after hearing

WWW.READINGCHRONICLE.CO.UK

 

[Doha]

8 minutes ago, Guppys left peg said:

Another points deduction for Reading drags them a bit closer back in. You’d hope it would he to our benefit but then we have to actually win some ourselves which is the problem.

Reading set for fresh points deduction for HMRC-related issues after hearing

WWW.READINGCHRONICLE.CO.UK

 

L1 Relegation spots reduced to 3 if HMRC wind them up

[Phil]

8 minutes ago, Doha said:

L1 Relegation spots reduced to 3 if HMRC wind them up

And we would lose three points for beating them

[Wrex]

13 minutes ago, Doha said:

L1 Relegation spots reduced to 3 if HMRC wind them up

no matter what happens they aren't going to be liquidated within eight weeks

[valefan16]

14 minutes ago, Wrex said:

no matter what happens they aren't going to be liquidated within eight weeks

If it happened over the summer before the fixtures you'd get bumped back up like Stevenage possibly.

[TEXAS]

48 minutes ago, Guppys left peg said:

Another points deduction for Reading drags them a bit closer back in. You’d hope it would he to our benefit but then we have to actually win some ourselves which is the problem.

Reading set for fresh points deduction for HMRC-related issues after hearing

WWW.READINGCHRONICLE.CO.UK

 

Talksport news just said they could get two points deducted.

[JoeB2]

Two points deducted.

Challenge remains to win 5 and draw 4, or win 6 and draw 2, of our last 14.

[sheffield61]

I read they could get ANOTHER two points deducted IF they don't pay a fine within a set period of time in the very near future.....

 

Reading were 4/1 for the drop this morning, just 2/1 NOW'S......

[bobbymanc]

Imagine if they got another 3 points due to a mass pitch invasion before the end of the season? Might be worth Carol putting on 10 free coaches from VP to one of their home games in March....

[smithie]

22 minutes ago, bobbymanc said:

Imagine if they got another 3 points due to a mass pitch invasion before the end of the season? Might be worth Carol putting on 10 free coaches from VP to one of their home games in March....

Some of our fans would want oysters and champagne on-board and an overnight stay before even considering it.

[leedsvaliant]

If Reading escape the drop, I'd still be going nuts with the league over allowing them to sign players like Smith and Knibbs. They should NEVER have been allowed to assemble the squad they have given what's happened. It's basically cheating someone else out of a league one place. Relegation minimum punishment is what they should get.