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Post by foxysgloves on Jul 27, 2023 16:42:45 GMT
While I rate the manager, it’s going to take Guardiola like genius to integrate this amount of players and nationalities and make us genuinely competitive this season. That said, if the fans get on board, and we get a solid mid table finish with clear signs of a new identity and evolution, then I think promotion could become a real possibility in a season or two’s time. Or am I being too negative? At what page of this debate did you change the title thread? Ha It was a terrible thread title that I shoehorned in as some weird homage to The Specials.
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Post by PotterLog on Jul 27, 2023 16:49:10 GMT
This thread is 6 weeks to early, we don't know what the final squad is yet Don’t think anyone outside the area has Stoke down for promotion candidates atm so talk of 'must deliver promotion' appears OTT Must deliver something much better that's for sure We can all take a view on what that looks like but 'promotion or else' seems daft Think we will be highly erratic for the first month or two I don't think anyone's saying promotion or else but we should at least expect to be in the fight until deep into the season imo
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Post by questionable on Jul 27, 2023 16:54:24 GMT
There’s some utter, utter dross in this league, admittedly ourselves included but cut out the glaring mistakes poor tactics week in week out and we should be easily top ten. Does this mean you've cheered up a bit then, given a couple of weeks ago the fact that various people were leaving was a sign of the apocalypse and Neil was a man who reeked of 'desperation' and was 'stuck in 1995'? Yes I have
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Post by turtlefox on Jul 27, 2023 17:08:18 GMT
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of realistic is: accepting things as they are in fact and not making decisions based on unlikely hopes for the future........so I think that's a NO.
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Post by hoofmagic on Jul 27, 2023 17:11:14 GMT
Expected average gate this season, 25,600 ?
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Post by hamsta2 on Jul 27, 2023 17:12:53 GMT
Expected average gate this season, 25,600 ? Ooh. A new prediction game. I’m good at these 😂 20,557
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Post by peterthornesboots on Jul 27, 2023 17:16:31 GMT
Well, I am certainly starting to feel more excited than I was a couple of weeks ago!
I still think that with such upheaval in the squad and the quality of the league this year that it will be incredibly tough to get anywhere near the play offs.
However, we can hope!
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Post by Clayton Wood on Jul 27, 2023 17:18:42 GMT
Open top bus parade or we've failed.
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Post by spoton on Jul 27, 2023 17:23:00 GMT
While I rate the manager, it’s going to take Guardiola like genius to integrate this amount of players and nationalities and make us genuinely competitive this season. That said, if the fans get on board, and we get a solid mid table finish with clear signs of a new identity and evolution, then I think promotion could become a real possibility in a season or two’s time. Or am I being too negative? YES
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Post by davejohnno1 on Jul 27, 2023 18:42:23 GMT
We do. Which makes my point even more relevant I think. We could quite easily be fielding a team with only 3 or 4 starters from last season. Exciting but massively challenging. It is but that's the job he signed up to. MON really fucked up with the squad. You could argue that the work MON did in aligning budgets and battling FFP successfully has actually helped to give Neil this blank canvass, with not insignificant financial backing. With the backing Neil has had, I'm pretty sure MON wouldn't have been shopping around in the Bonham, Fielding, Kilkenny market. He was definitely trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
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Post by Willoch on Jul 27, 2023 18:43:06 GMT
Nope.
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Post by neddy on Jul 27, 2023 18:43:18 GMT
Probably too soon….
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Post by bayernoatcake on Jul 27, 2023 18:56:22 GMT
It is but that's the job he signed up to. MON really fucked up with the squad. You could argue that the work MON did in aligning budgets and battling FFP successfully has actually helped to give Neil this blank canvass, with not insignificant financial backing. With the backing Neil has had, I'm pretty sure MON wouldn't have been shopping around in the Bonham, Fielding, Kilkenny market. He was definitely trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. He had to cut the cloth accordingly for sure but in the process had no plan on how to rebuild the squad and basically left one player worthy of starting games imo. You can downsize and still have a good team built for a plan. He didn’t do that.
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Post by independent on Jul 27, 2023 21:57:45 GMT
You could argue that the work MON did in aligning budgets and battling FFP successfully has actually helped to give Neil this blank canvass, with not insignificant financial backing. With the backing Neil has had, I'm pretty sure MON wouldn't have been shopping around in the Bonham, Fielding, Kilkenny market. He was definitely trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. He had to cut the cloth accordingly for sure but in the process had no plan on how to rebuild the squad and basically left one player worthy of starting games imo. You can downsize and still have a good team built for a plan. He didn’t do that. Boring. People are tired of rehashing this. Let's look forward.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Jul 27, 2023 22:08:47 GMT
He had to cut the cloth accordingly for sure but in the process had no plan on how to rebuild the squad and basically left one player worthy of starting games imo. You can downsize and still have a good team built for a plan. He didn’t do that. Boring. People are tired of rehashing this. Let's look forward. It’s true though and has context in this thread.
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Post by Pretty Little Boother on Jul 27, 2023 22:09:13 GMT
Automatic
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Post by jebbstuart on Jul 27, 2023 22:19:48 GMT
Lets see what these players can do as a team. If we win we will be at the top if it goes bad be will be at the bottom. Probably 75% of the teams in this league think its their season.
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Post by independent on Jul 28, 2023 0:01:12 GMT
Boring. People are tired of rehashing this. Let's look forward. It’s true though and has context in this thread. Aren't you the guy who said "I'm happy with our midfield but I'm not sure about the rest." this time last year. Then this year you say that our midfield was shit. Give it up, we've heard it all before. What do you think of how our team is shaping up for this season?
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Post by bayernoatcake on Jul 28, 2023 0:10:14 GMT
It’s true though and has context in this thread. Aren't you the guy who said "I'm happy with our midfield but I'm not sure about the rest." this time last year. Then this year you say that our midfield was shit. Give it up, we've heard it all before. What do you think of how our team is shaping up for this season? And the rest was shit. And Baker was a flash in the pan. And Laurent didn’t live up to his Reading billing and was wank. Ultimately I wanted MoN sacked because of his dereliction of duty throughout the back end of the season before and that summer. Which was correct. Some decent signings. Not enough to get to the top half yet though. We need a new back 4, 2 new midfielders and a new striker.
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Post by independent on Jul 28, 2023 1:04:07 GMT
It will be interesting to see if we sign another 7 players. I must admit that I am not that impressed with our signings so far.They all appear to be run of the mill players who are adequate squad members, but none of them seem to be the the gamechangers that we need. Maybe those type will be in the new signings.
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Post by fazza90 on Jul 28, 2023 1:32:32 GMT
It will be interesting to see if we sign another 7 players. I must admit that I am not that impressed with our signings so far.They all appear to be run of the mill players who are adequate squad members, but none of them seem to be the the gamechangers that we need. Maybe those type will be in the new signings. Hoever - a right back who scored almost 1 goal every 4 games for us last season. Travers - first choice goalkeeper for Bournemouth when they got promoted. Pearson - a fiesty midfielder than we've been missing for years & got 26 appearances in Bournemouth promotion season. Describing those 3 as run of the mill adequate squad members is bold.
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Post by independent on Jul 28, 2023 2:27:35 GMT
Let's wait and see. I have a feeling that Travers may get plenty of practice. Hoever may be called on to defend. And hopefully Pearson has shed a few pounds.
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Post by lordb on Jul 28, 2023 5:40:58 GMT
This thread is 6 weeks to early, we don't know what the final squad is yet Don’t think anyone outside the area has Stoke down for promotion candidates atm so talk of 'must deliver promotion' appears OTT Must deliver something much better that's for sure We can all take a view on what that looks like but 'promotion or else' seems daft Think we will be highly erratic for the first month or two I don't think anyone's saying promotion or else but we should at least expect to be in the fight until deep into the season imo There's posts on this very thread 'must deliver' That to me is just ridiculous whereas expecting to fight deep into the season is perfectly reasonable
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Post by bayernoatcake on Jul 28, 2023 6:53:11 GMT
It will be interesting to see if we sign another 7 players. I must admit that I am not that impressed with our signings so far.They all appear to be run of the mill players who are adequate squad members, but none of them seem to be the the gamechangers that we need. Maybe those type will be in the new signings. I don’t think you’re far off tbh. Bar I have no idea what the two Portuguese lads are tbh. Never heard of them until last week so won’t judge past they seem like the sort of attackers we need. Johnson is an upgrade on Smallbone but we need better still. Rose is a good back but we definitely need a starting CB who’s very good. We need two still I think. I hope we sign Onomah, he’s much better than Laurent.
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Post by bayernoatcake on Jul 28, 2023 6:55:25 GMT
It will be interesting to see if we sign another 7 players. I must admit that I am not that impressed with our signings so far.They all appear to be run of the mill players who are adequate squad members, but none of them seem to be the the gamechangers that we need. Maybe those type will be in the new signings. Hoever - a right back who scored almost 1 goal every 4 games for us last season. Travers - first choice goalkeeper for Bournemouth when they got promoted. Pearson - a fiesty midfielder than we've been missing for years & got 26 appearances in Bournemouth promotion season. Describing those 3 as run of the mill adequate squad members is bold. The goals cloud views on Hoever. He’s a pish defender. Until that changes then he should be rightly questioned. Agree with the other two. But they’re the only two starters we’ve signed imo. Hoever will start but is imo a squad player.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2023 6:59:15 GMT
Top 10 is a good season.
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Post by Gods on Jul 28, 2023 6:59:47 GMT
This is the 'let's dare to dream' thread we always have a week before the start of the season.
We're 7-1 for promotion. That feels about right to me. They are could happen if the planets align odds, but really you know it won't.
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Post by Clayton Wood on Jul 28, 2023 7:18:45 GMT
This is the 'let's dare to dream' thread we always have a week before the start of the season. We're 7-1 for promotion. That feels about right to me. They are could happen if the planets align odds, but really you know it won't. Mars in Uranus?
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Post by potterpaul on Jul 28, 2023 7:34:02 GMT
We've got a better chance than having someone like Rowett in charge, he won't get promoted while I've got a hole in my arse. The 2 subsequent managers were just shots in the dark.
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Post by Pugsley on Jul 28, 2023 7:38:26 GMT
If by top 10 is between 1st and 6th then I agree. Anything less is bad season.
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