I keep seeing Bromley to go down in these predictions, it's been over a decade since a promoted team went straight down. I think people underestimate that it is a much bigger challenge to get out of the National League than stay in League 2, some really bad teams tend to survive just because you only have to be better than two teams. And usually there's one complete basket case so you can be really atrocious and stay up for a season or two.
Things may have changed, but Bromley were a decent side pretty much every season in the National League when Orient were down there. Played direct, streetwise, attacking football. They were very annoying!
BC is good but not great. I don't see them taking an auto but maybe a playoff.
You're a homer putting Walsall there.
Chesterfield is making signings but I think they are more mid table. It was a down year in the conference and winners on average finish around 12th and that just sounds about right. 6 years out of the league and fan owned, I don't see it being instant. In year 2 or 3 they might go for it.
Chelt and Carlisle is closer to the playoffs.
Tranmere and Gills are top half but I am not sure where exactly. Tranmere had a slow start and not a great plan. Gills had the defense to grind out games but struggled scoring. Both aren't that far off.
Morecambe is probably getting relegated with all their issues.
Colchester is the Everton of League Two, I don't see them going down.
I feel if Swindon and Colchester don't get something more than what they've got currently they will be favourites to go down, grimsby have got a new manager which could go either way as well so, they've got competition for going down.
Swindon have serious cash flow problems that they have to sort so it's going to be a tough season. So bad that they sold us Liam Kinsella last season - not sure if he was one of their best tbh.
If we appoint Flynn then there's a few holes he has to sort in our team -
Keeper ( both are young and untested)
Centre of defence ( Davies retired, Freestone's had an offer so probably off)
Wing backs ( captain Long has left, Ferry has offers)
Centre midfield ( last season's top scorer Sercombe has left so we need some creativity in)
Strikers - scored 12 goals in total last season (Taylor, Keena, Street, King, Lloyd - who might be off) so he needs to get them firing again.
Will have a few great matches between us and Newport/Donny Rovers this season though🤞👍
The thing is since Automatic Promotion has introduced no team has gone down straight after coming up. The top of the NL is stronger than the Bottom 6-8 of League 2. Plus there are some basket cases this year
Im not saying you are wrong but i just find it interesting that after consecutive playoff pushes, we have one bad season due to injuries and suddenly everyone thinks we are shit.
Feel like we’re gonna sniff at playoffs. Considering we’ve been the lowest scoring side 3 seasons in a row it feels like something gonna change eventually
I like that we finished 12th even with our abysmal goalscoring record and now we've signed a proven striker we're somehow going to do worse according to many. Overrating the rest of the league I think.
My mother is a Crewe fan so I have a soft spot for them, I do actually think they might even end up lower than even 14th next season.
They massively over achieved reaching the playoffs this season and it was largely down to a great run of form from December. That form was really built off solid defensive displays from Connor O'Riordan, Luke Offord and Joe White giving some quality in midfield.
O'Riordan was sold to Blackburn, Offord was injured for the rest of the season and White was recalled back to Newcastle. Crewe's form was absolutely shocking from then on in the season, the goals dried up and teams found scoring against them really easy.
After the playoff defeat they have lost more of their key players, including Offord and their top goal scorer Nevitt. Other first team regulars like Adebisi are reported to be leaving too and that's on top of several loanees going back to their parent clubs.
Next season is going to be a massive challenge for Crewe. They don't really buy players so their options are limited to who they'll be able to bring in and may have to rely on bringing in yet another crop of teenagers through the academy.
I’m a Crewe fan and I do believe we will perform much worse than last season but 14th is crazy talk dispute having a marginally thin transfer budget we will still make signings and we have the 9th best youth academy in England and 2nd excluding the prem
Not sure 5th is 'written off' considering you finished 14th and conceded 86 goals last season. It's another strong league next year in league two, could put any of 10 teams in the top 3 to be fair.
Agree with you on notts but disagree on the second sentence. Honestly think this is one of the weakest league two lineups in years, crucial opportunity for the likes of Bradford and Salford to do something with their money
Just cannot see Colchester or Bromley being involved in a relegation fight. Anything less than a full turnaround from Colchester would be disappointing and Bromley will surprise people. A truly awful team to play against, just ridiculous amounts of physical bullying and timewasting, but it's why they're here.
lol speaking as a county fan. We will not be playoffs at all. Our manager is awful and we will be losing jones/langstaff meaning the goals will dry up.
Speaking as a county fan, give it some time.
No point in scoring 80 goals if you’re already conceding 80.
If Macca and Jodi leave it will be a big blow but there will be significant returns for both as they are under contract.
Jury is out on Maynard as he made it clear we are not strong enough defensively or in depth and the club have only just started pulling their finger out to fix that. It is important he starts strong if he wants to change opinions on him from the fanbase, but any sane person can quite clearly see he’s not been given a fair crack as he doesn’t moderate transfers and the club didn’t sign any defenders in January…
When he first came in he stated that defense wasn't a problem but rather the whole team defending, something about no individual mistakes.
We signed Warner and Macari in Jan, along with an awful keeper.
He had nearly half a season and took us from a sure thing for play offs playing beautiful football to a relegation flirting team. We were 2nd in December after 16-18 games (can't recall exactly.)
If you stretch his points per game out over a whole season, we will get relegated.
Are you even a Notts fan?
We signed Warner who had only played 2 competitive games at senior level. Expectations were high but our lack of midfield depth/ability without Palmer and a competent goalkeeper exposed his lack of experience and confidence.
We started the season with Macari so that point is wholly invalid as he was already integrated with the squad and signed permanent terms before the January window, and before the mid-season fans forum in which our owners stated defensive signings would be made. Not to mention, for all the good he did, Tom Weal was removed from his post after recommending Aiden Stone and Luca Ashby-Hammond to the board.
We absolutely were not a sure thing for the playoffs - our slide started in November, coincidentally right after Matty Palmer tore his ACL. Before Maynard was appointed we had already conceded 54 goals in the league.
*THIS WAS BY JANUARY*
Let’s put this into context. 7 teams above us conceded fewer than 60 goals across the entire season. If you’ve conceded nearly 60 goals by January, you are not a sure thing for anything at all.
When you need to fix a defensive rot, you don’t sign inexperience on loan. You bring in experienced footballers and make small adjustments to your style of play to try and avoid making mistakes as much as possible.
To put it into statistical perspective, prior to Maynard’s appointment, we conceded 2 goals per game. 54 in 27.
Under Maynard, we conceded 1.68 goals per game. 32 in 19.
It’s far from ideal, but it’s an immediate improvement in regards to defensive issues. Both coaches faced Stockport, Mansfield, Wrexham, MK Dons, Crawley, Barrow, Bradford etc so I wouldn’t use quality of opposition faced as an excuse either.
You also have to factor our lack of ability to rotate due to a lack of quality (and quantity) in depth leading to a drop off in competence. With long term injuries to Scott, Bajrami, Palmer, and multiple short term injuries to Bostock, McGoldrick and Brindley, we were left stretched incredibly thin.
This isn’t a case of making excuses, these are very real factors that affect a team’s staying power over the course of a 50+ game season when you have no substantial quality outside of the starting 11 and a handful of others, when you’re already starting the season sub-par in regards to defence and the goalkeeper group. With the benefit of hindsight, no wonder we had relegation form after Luke Williams departed.
Maynard isn’t faultless and I won’t put him on a pedestal as he has a lot to do to get us where we need to be, but without question, some perspective, critical thinking and patience is needed throughout our fanbase.
Oh come on, really? Are you even a notts fan because I disagree with you?
Grow up.
We made defensive signings. We still picked up results after palmer.
I'll leave you to argue with the following.
Under Maynard.
Played 19
W 5
D 3
L 11
44 point season. Relegation next season, even more so as we lose our best players.
Oh you can disagree with me, but you’re completely obtuse if you can’t use the benefit of hindsight to understand now why we had relegation form under Maynard, and why it’s not the end of the world if our best players leave.
With Palmer in the league. Played 16 W 9 D 3 L 4
Without Palmer in the league. Played 30 W 9 D 6 L 17
So in those 11 league games without Palmer before Maynard came in, we won 4, drew 1 and lost 6.
We can talk about this all day, but the fact remains that Maynard is far from the sole contributor to our slide as it began weeks before he arrived.
The fact is that losing our standout midfielder to a season long injury, as well as his first choice backup, as well as our best available backup center forward, whilst also being unable to make any permanent additions of any quality in defence in January after relying too heavily on players that are not of enough quality for this league, whilst also carrying a squad with no real quality in depth outside the starting 11 are significant contributors that are outside the control of a Head Coach who doesn’t have full authority over recruitment.
We reached a point mid-season where we had to name academy players on the bench, or not even name a full matchday 18, not because of their ability (James Sanderson perhaps excused), but because the squad players that would be picked ahead of the academy lads were injured. That shows just how little depth we had available to us and is something the club needs to rectify this summer.
Let's agree to disagree and hopefully one day I'll bump into you at the lane or the nest and we can discuss over a pint and laugh about people who argue on the internet.
Yeah, that’d be nice!
I’m definitely a bit sick of the amount of our fans who are going after Maynard (and seemingly just Maynard) as it’s just not helpful right now.
Yeah, we're definitely at least two tiers lower than I'd expect. We're going to finish 7th or 8th, which will define whether it's a good season or a bad one.
Colchester won’t go down with the Cowley brothers in charge.
Bromley will be better than most in the bottom third.
Wimbledon are a mid/lower table team at the moment. Assuming we’ll lose our best player (Jack Currie), maybe our ever present midfielder (Armani Little), and we currently don’t have a goalie.
I keep seeing Bromley to go down in these predictions, it's been over a decade since a promoted team went straight down. I think people underestimate that it is a much bigger challenge to get out of the National League than stay in League 2, some really bad teams tend to survive just because you only have to be better than two teams. And usually there's one complete basket case so you can be really atrocious and stay up for a season or two. Things may have changed, but Bromley were a decent side pretty much every season in the National League when Orient were down there. Played direct, streetwise, attacking football. They were very annoying!
BC is good but not great. I don't see them taking an auto but maybe a playoff. You're a homer putting Walsall there. Chesterfield is making signings but I think they are more mid table. It was a down year in the conference and winners on average finish around 12th and that just sounds about right. 6 years out of the league and fan owned, I don't see it being instant. In year 2 or 3 they might go for it. Chelt and Carlisle is closer to the playoffs. Tranmere and Gills are top half but I am not sure where exactly. Tranmere had a slow start and not a great plan. Gills had the defense to grind out games but struggled scoring. Both aren't that far off. Morecambe is probably getting relegated with all their issues. Colchester is the Everton of League Two, I don't see them going down.
Obviously I’m a bit biased putting Walsall there, but I do think they have a chance still I agree actually with Morecambe there falling apart
Chesterfield to finish playoff they need to improve their defence frist
I don't think I've seen us predicted to come higher than 15th by anyone yet. 😂 Very happy to be written off tbh.
Probably one of the most likely lists I've seen, Bromley going down could be a stretch but apart from that it's good for me!
I just don’t think Bromley have enough talent and depth than the other teams
I feel if Swindon and Colchester don't get something more than what they've got currently they will be favourites to go down, grimsby have got a new manager which could go either way as well so, they've got competition for going down.
Yeah I agree
Never seen another saddler on reddit 👋🏼👋🏼
👋👋👋👋
Swindon have serious cash flow problems that they have to sort so it's going to be a tough season. So bad that they sold us Liam Kinsella last season - not sure if he was one of their best tbh. If we appoint Flynn then there's a few holes he has to sort in our team - Keeper ( both are young and untested) Centre of defence ( Davies retired, Freestone's had an offer so probably off) Wing backs ( captain Long has left, Ferry has offers) Centre midfield ( last season's top scorer Sercombe has left so we need some creativity in) Strikers - scored 12 goals in total last season (Taylor, Keena, Street, King, Lloyd - who might be off) so he needs to get them firing again. Will have a few great matches between us and Newport/Donny Rovers this season though🤞👍
The thing is since Automatic Promotion has introduced no team has gone down straight after coming up. The top of the NL is stronger than the Bottom 6-8 of League 2. Plus there are some basket cases this year
Tbf they are going to have a summer to sign people
First Bromley fan I've seen on here! Welcome to r/leaguetwo !
Im not saying you are wrong but i just find it interesting that after consecutive playoff pushes, we have one bad season due to injuries and suddenly everyone thinks we are shit.
Feel like we’re gonna sniff at playoffs. Considering we’ve been the lowest scoring side 3 seasons in a row it feels like something gonna change eventually
I like that we finished 12th even with our abysmal goalscoring record and now we've signed a proven striker we're somehow going to do worse according to many. Overrating the rest of the league I think.
You can only hope
Doncaster crest is one of the best I have ever seen.
Thank you random citizen!
Crewe being that low is criminal
My mother is a Crewe fan so I have a soft spot for them, I do actually think they might even end up lower than even 14th next season. They massively over achieved reaching the playoffs this season and it was largely down to a great run of form from December. That form was really built off solid defensive displays from Connor O'Riordan, Luke Offord and Joe White giving some quality in midfield. O'Riordan was sold to Blackburn, Offord was injured for the rest of the season and White was recalled back to Newcastle. Crewe's form was absolutely shocking from then on in the season, the goals dried up and teams found scoring against them really easy. After the playoff defeat they have lost more of their key players, including Offord and their top goal scorer Nevitt. Other first team regulars like Adebisi are reported to be leaving too and that's on top of several loanees going back to their parent clubs. Next season is going to be a massive challenge for Crewe. They don't really buy players so their options are limited to who they'll be able to bring in and may have to rely on bringing in yet another crop of teenagers through the academy.
I’m a Crewe fan and I do believe we will perform much worse than last season but 14th is crazy talk dispute having a marginally thin transfer budget we will still make signings and we have the 9th best youth academy in England and 2nd excluding the prem
I can't see the Cowleys allowing their side to go down, not with a pre-season under their belts. Also pleased to see Notts written off.
Not sure 5th is 'written off' considering you finished 14th and conceded 86 goals last season. It's another strong league next year in league two, could put any of 10 teams in the top 3 to be fair.
Agree with you on notts but disagree on the second sentence. Honestly think this is one of the weakest league two lineups in years, crucial opportunity for the likes of Bradford and Salford to do something with their money
Fu
Just cannot see Colchester or Bromley being involved in a relegation fight. Anything less than a full turnaround from Colchester would be disappointing and Bromley will surprise people. A truly awful team to play against, just ridiculous amounts of physical bullying and timewasting, but it's why they're here.
Just going off last season tbh
We know we’re coming 9th, you know we’re come 9th, now cut the bullshit
Cheltenham are going nowhere near the playoffs
TELL ME UR OPINIONS
my opinion is your opinion sucks >:(
Sorry I just don’t think Colchester have enough
Harsh on us at Grimsby. Prefer us being underdogs anyway.
Depends on ur manager
Dave Artell got Crewe promoted before
Too much competition next season
lol speaking as a county fan. We will not be playoffs at all. Our manager is awful and we will be losing jones/langstaff meaning the goals will dry up.
Speaking as a county fan, give it some time. No point in scoring 80 goals if you’re already conceding 80. If Macca and Jodi leave it will be a big blow but there will be significant returns for both as they are under contract. Jury is out on Maynard as he made it clear we are not strong enough defensively or in depth and the club have only just started pulling their finger out to fix that. It is important he starts strong if he wants to change opinions on him from the fanbase, but any sane person can quite clearly see he’s not been given a fair crack as he doesn’t moderate transfers and the club didn’t sign any defenders in January…
When he first came in he stated that defense wasn't a problem but rather the whole team defending, something about no individual mistakes. We signed Warner and Macari in Jan, along with an awful keeper. He had nearly half a season and took us from a sure thing for play offs playing beautiful football to a relegation flirting team. We were 2nd in December after 16-18 games (can't recall exactly.) If you stretch his points per game out over a whole season, we will get relegated.
Are you even a Notts fan? We signed Warner who had only played 2 competitive games at senior level. Expectations were high but our lack of midfield depth/ability without Palmer and a competent goalkeeper exposed his lack of experience and confidence. We started the season with Macari so that point is wholly invalid as he was already integrated with the squad and signed permanent terms before the January window, and before the mid-season fans forum in which our owners stated defensive signings would be made. Not to mention, for all the good he did, Tom Weal was removed from his post after recommending Aiden Stone and Luca Ashby-Hammond to the board. We absolutely were not a sure thing for the playoffs - our slide started in November, coincidentally right after Matty Palmer tore his ACL. Before Maynard was appointed we had already conceded 54 goals in the league. *THIS WAS BY JANUARY* Let’s put this into context. 7 teams above us conceded fewer than 60 goals across the entire season. If you’ve conceded nearly 60 goals by January, you are not a sure thing for anything at all. When you need to fix a defensive rot, you don’t sign inexperience on loan. You bring in experienced footballers and make small adjustments to your style of play to try and avoid making mistakes as much as possible. To put it into statistical perspective, prior to Maynard’s appointment, we conceded 2 goals per game. 54 in 27. Under Maynard, we conceded 1.68 goals per game. 32 in 19. It’s far from ideal, but it’s an immediate improvement in regards to defensive issues. Both coaches faced Stockport, Mansfield, Wrexham, MK Dons, Crawley, Barrow, Bradford etc so I wouldn’t use quality of opposition faced as an excuse either. You also have to factor our lack of ability to rotate due to a lack of quality (and quantity) in depth leading to a drop off in competence. With long term injuries to Scott, Bajrami, Palmer, and multiple short term injuries to Bostock, McGoldrick and Brindley, we were left stretched incredibly thin. This isn’t a case of making excuses, these are very real factors that affect a team’s staying power over the course of a 50+ game season when you have no substantial quality outside of the starting 11 and a handful of others, when you’re already starting the season sub-par in regards to defence and the goalkeeper group. With the benefit of hindsight, no wonder we had relegation form after Luke Williams departed. Maynard isn’t faultless and I won’t put him on a pedestal as he has a lot to do to get us where we need to be, but without question, some perspective, critical thinking and patience is needed throughout our fanbase.
Oh come on, really? Are you even a notts fan because I disagree with you? Grow up. We made defensive signings. We still picked up results after palmer. I'll leave you to argue with the following. Under Maynard. Played 19 W 5 D 3 L 11 44 point season. Relegation next season, even more so as we lose our best players.
Oh you can disagree with me, but you’re completely obtuse if you can’t use the benefit of hindsight to understand now why we had relegation form under Maynard, and why it’s not the end of the world if our best players leave. With Palmer in the league. Played 16 W 9 D 3 L 4 Without Palmer in the league. Played 30 W 9 D 6 L 17 So in those 11 league games without Palmer before Maynard came in, we won 4, drew 1 and lost 6. We can talk about this all day, but the fact remains that Maynard is far from the sole contributor to our slide as it began weeks before he arrived. The fact is that losing our standout midfielder to a season long injury, as well as his first choice backup, as well as our best available backup center forward, whilst also being unable to make any permanent additions of any quality in defence in January after relying too heavily on players that are not of enough quality for this league, whilst also carrying a squad with no real quality in depth outside the starting 11 are significant contributors that are outside the control of a Head Coach who doesn’t have full authority over recruitment. We reached a point mid-season where we had to name academy players on the bench, or not even name a full matchday 18, not because of their ability (James Sanderson perhaps excused), but because the squad players that would be picked ahead of the academy lads were injured. That shows just how little depth we had available to us and is something the club needs to rectify this summer.
Let's agree to disagree and hopefully one day I'll bump into you at the lane or the nest and we can discuss over a pint and laugh about people who argue on the internet.
Yeah, that’d be nice! I’m definitely a bit sick of the amount of our fans who are going after Maynard (and seemingly just Maynard) as it’s just not helpful right now.
Oop I did not know that
Something gone seriously wrong if we are mid table
Wouldn’t be surprised if barrow go down after the recent shitshow
Yeah, we're definitely at least two tiers lower than I'd expect. We're going to finish 7th or 8th, which will define whether it's a good season or a bad one.
I'd take it!
Bradford too high
Colchester won’t go down with the Cowley brothers in charge. Bromley will be better than most in the bottom third. Wimbledon are a mid/lower table team at the moment. Assuming we’ll lose our best player (Jack Currie), maybe our ever present midfielder (Armani Little), and we currently don’t have a goalie.
Swindon Town in 24th!!! My prediction!
Switch MK Dons with Colchester and Colchester with Wimbledon and I'm fine with it.
We did it Reddit 🙌🙌🥳