Rival Watch

[windermereROYAL]

Just took a look at our remaining games, still need to travel to the current top 4 , but our home fixtures look very decent with nobody higher than 9th.

Port vale 21st
Shrewsbury 19th
Wycombe 15th
Cambridge 17th
Northampton 12th
Lincoln 11th
Blackpool 9th.

Apart from the top 4 away we have.
Carlisle 24th
Bristol rovers 10th
Burton 18th

Those fixtures don`t scream relegation to me, but this is Reading , anything can happen.

What does scream relegation to you?

When we`re 4 points adrift with 1 to play.

HTH

[6ft Kerplunk]

We are essentially safe now, we can start looking up. Selles has stabilised the club.

I wouldn't be too confident about that. Another lot of unpaid wages or points deduction will quickly shatter that stability and that no fault of Selles or the players.

[Stranded]

We are essentially safe now, we can start looking up. Selles has stabilised the club.

I wouldn't be too confident about that. Another lot of unpaid wages or points deduction will quickly shatter that stability and that no fault of Selles or the players.

Agreed the risk of deduction remains - only 2 pay days left before the season ends though so hopefully we can get through those.

Until we hear from the independant commission on the tax thing, then a risk remains there but with the fixtures left we should get past 50 points comfortably -possibly even just from those home games - you can make the case for us winning each of the remaining home fixtures - we won't but it wouldn't be a surprise if we won each game - when taken individually.

[WestYorksRoyal]

This thread is "rival watch" and it's the state of our rivals that makes me feel better. Charlton have 3 of the hardest fixtures you could want coming up, meaning it could well be 1 or 2 points from Jones' first 5 games. No new manager bounce, malaise gets deeper, goodnight Charlton. Cheltenham pulling off a miracle is a bigger risk, like Fulham in 2008.

[Snowflake Royal]

We are essentially safe now, we can start looking up. Selles has stabilised the club.

I wouldn't be too confident about that. Another lot of unpaid wages or points deduction will quickly shatter that stability and that no fault of Selles or the players.

Agreed the risk of deduction remains - only 2 pay days left before the season ends though so hopefully we can get through those.

Until we hear from the independant commission on the tax thing, then a risk remains there but with the fixtures left we should get past 50 points comfortably -possibly even just from those home games - you can make the case for us winning each of the remaining home fixtures - we won't but it wouldn't be a surprise if we won each game - when taken individually.

A couple of critical injuries also sink us.

Dorsett and Holmes already look crocked for a while. With McIntyre, Abbey and NGW transfered the defence looks very sparse.

If Smith's down for any length of time our game plan is done unless Selles changes strategy and we all know he's very slow to adapt how we play to problems.

If Azeez breaks down you can kiss goodbye to our attacking threat.

Simular for Wing or Knibbs to Smith and Azeez but not quite as bad.

So basically if any one of Smith, Azeez, Bindon, Wing or Knibbs is out for an extended period we're in big trouble.

[Stranded]

I wouldn't be too confident about that. Another lot of unpaid wages or points deduction will quickly shatter that stability and that no fault of Selles or the players.

Agreed the risk of deduction remains - only 2 pay days left before the season ends though so hopefully we can get through those.

Until we hear from the independant commission on the tax thing, then a risk remains there but with the fixtures left we should get past 50 points comfortably -possibly even just from those home games - you can make the case for us winning each of the remaining home fixtures - we won't but it wouldn't be a surprise if we won each game - when taken individually.

A couple of critical injuries also sink us.

Dorsett and Holmes already look crocked for a while. With McIntyre, Abbey and NGW transfered the defence looks very sparse.

If Smith's down for any length of time our game plan is done unless Selles changes strategy and we all know he's very slow to adapt how we play to problems.

If Azeez breaks down you can kiss goodbye to our attacking threat.

Simular for Wing or Knibbs to Smith and Azeez but not quite as bad.

So basically if any one of Smith, Azeez, Bindon, Wing or Knibbs is out for an extended period we're in big trouble.

Agreed but probably the same for half the clubs in L1, there are 3 or 4 key players that if they lose them the drop off in quality for their replacement is so great as to railroad a season.

[Stranded]

This thread is "rival watch" and it's the state of our rivals that makes me feel better. Charlton have 3 of the hardest fixtures you could want coming up, meaning it could well be 1 or 2 points from Jones' first 5 games. No new manager bounce, malaise gets deeper, goodnight Charlton. Cheltenham pulling off a miracle is a bigger risk, like Fulham in 2008.

You talk about Cheltenham as if we weren't behind them 3 months ago.

[Sutekh]

Oxford getting yet another new stadium it seems...

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... dium-in-uk

[under the tin]

Oxford getting yet another new stadium it seems...

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... dium-in-uk

They've wired in to who, politically, runs Oxford. Will oil the wheels of the planning application

[windermereROYAL]

Just took a look at our remaining games, still need to travel to the current top 4 , but our home fixtures look very decent with nobody higher than 9th.

Port vale 21st
Shrewsbury 19th
Wycombe 15th
Cambridge 17th
Northampton 12th
Lincoln 11th
Blackpool 9th.

Apart from the top 4 away we have.
Carlisle 24th
Bristol rovers 10th
Burton 18th

Those fixtures don`t scream relegation to me, but this is Reading , anything can happen.

We're on 35. Let's make 52 the target, that's 5 wins, 2 draws, 7 losses. So let's put the top 4 away as 4 losses, that's 5 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses from those 10. Which is definitely achievable.

I`ve gone over the league 1 table for the last 20 years and just once as a team gone down on more then 50 points, Torquay in 2005 on 51, on about half a dozen occasions teams on 50 points have dropped, so historically 52 should be enough if we get there.
Will this season be an exception? possible, but I see no reason why it should be.
The 4 away games mentioned we are expected to lose, and we may well do, so that leaves us need 1.7 points a game to reach our target, 1.8 would almost certainly do it, 1.9 break out the champagne.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

4 aways against top 4 - 2 draws
3 other aways, Carlisle, Rovers & Burton - 1 win, 1 draw
7 homes - 4 wins, 2 draws

So 20 points - roughly our current whole season PPG.

We would then have enough in the bank for a 3 or 4 point deduction

[Stranded]

4 aways against top 4 - 2 draws
3 other aways, Carlisle, Rovers & Burton - 1 win, 1 draw
7 homes - 4 wins, 2 draws

So 20 points - roughly our current whole season PPG.

We would then have enough in the bank for a 3 or 4 point deduction

This season is basically turning into a tribute act for the 1999/00 season

In 99/00 we picked up 16 pts in our first 17 games to be languishing in the relegation zone before picking up form through the season to finish 10th.

This season, we picked up 11pts in our first 17 games (net 7) before picking up form to finish...

To finish off the season in a similar way - we would need to go W9 D2 L3 of our remaining games - so why not...

Our run in included wins against 2 play-off chasing sides (Stoke & Bristol Rovers twice) and a draw at a promoted Gillingham - our other 6 wins were all against mid-table or stuggling sides.

So yeah, we are going to W9 D2 L3 - pick up 29 points and finish on 64 in 10th place. or maybe 58 in 16th after another deduction.

[Sutekh]

4 aways against top 4 - 2 draws
3 other aways, Carlisle, Rovers & Burton - 1 win, 1 draw
7 homes - 4 wins, 2 draws

So 20 points - roughly our current whole season PPG.

We would then have enough in the bank for a 3 or 4 point deduction

This season is basically turning into a tribute act for the 1999/00 season

In 99/00 we picked up 16 pts in our first 17 games to be languishing in the relegation zone before picking up form through the season to finish 10th.

This season, we picked up 11pts in our first 17 games (net 7) before picking up form to finish...

To finish off the season in a similar way - we would need to go W9 D2 L3 of our remaining games - so why not...

Our run in included wins against 2 play-off chasing sides (Stoke & Bristol Rovers twice) and a draw at a promoted Gillingham - our other 6 wins were all against mid-table or stuggling sides.

So yeah, we are going to W9 D2 L3 - pick up 29 points and finish on 64 in 10th place. or maybe 58 in 16th after another deduction.

Wasn't there also a draw at to be promoted Preston in THAT game?

Perhaps Selles was sacked just before xmas to make way for his clone.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

4 aways against top 4 - 2 draws
3 other aways, Carlisle, Rovers & Burton - 1 win, 1 draw
7 homes - 4 wins, 2 draws

So 20 points - roughly our current whole season PPG.

We would then have enough in the bank for a 3 or 4 point deduction

This season is basically turning into a tribute act for the 1999/00 season

In 99/00 we picked up 16 pts in our first 17 games to be languishing in the relegation zone before picking up form through the season to finish 10th.

This season, we picked up 11pts in our first 17 games (net 7) before picking up form to finish...

To finish off the season in a similar way - we would need to go W9 D2 L3 of our remaining games - so why not...

Our run in included wins against 2 play-off chasing sides (Stoke & Bristol Rovers twice) and a draw at a promoted Gillingham - our other 6 wins were all against mid-table or stuggling sides.

So yeah, we are going to W9 D2 L3 - pick up 29 points and finish on 64 in 10th place. or maybe 58 in 16th after another deduction.

Wasn't there also a draw at to be promoted Preston in THAT game?

Perhaps Selles was sacked just before xmas to make way for his clone.

We basically got going when Forster finally got fit (Burns signed him in the previous summer) and we signed Martin Butler from Cambridge for £750k which was big money back then for third tier. That combination up front basically guaranteed goals at that level and Butler scored on his debut in that game at Preston.

[leon]

This season is basically turning into a tribute act for the 1999/00 season

In 99/00 we picked up 16 pts in our first 17 games to be languishing in the relegation zone before picking up form through the season to finish 10th.

This season, we picked up 11pts in our first 17 games (net 7) before picking up form to finish...

To finish off the season in a similar way - we would need to go W9 D2 L3 of our remaining games - so why not...

Our run in included wins against 2 play-off chasing sides (Stoke & Bristol Rovers twice) and a draw at a promoted Gillingham - our other 6 wins were all against mid-table or stuggling sides.

So yeah, we are going to W9 D2 L3 - pick up 29 points and finish on 64 in 10th place. or maybe 58 in 16th after another deduction.

Wasn't there also a draw at to be promoted Preston in THAT game?

Perhaps Selles was sacked just before xmas to make way for his clone.

We basically got going when Forster finally got fit (Burns signed him in the previous summer) and we signed Martin Butler from Cambridge for £750k which was big money back then for third tier. That combination up front basically guaranteed goals at that level and Butler scored on his debut in that game at Preston.

And Matt Robinson. Him and Butler really made a difference to the team.

[Sutekh]

Wasn't there also a draw at to be promoted Preston in THAT game?

Perhaps Selles was sacked just before xmas to make way for his clone.

We basically got going when Forster finally got fit (Burns signed him in the previous summer) and we signed Martin Butler from Cambridge for £750k which was big money back then for third tier. That combination up front basically guaranteed goals at that level and Butler scored on his debut in that game at Preston.

And Matt Robinson. Him and Butler really made a difference to the team.

Shame we never saw (James) Lamber and (Martin) Butler play together, that would have been a really smokin' partnership.

[Pepe the Horseman]

We've absolutely fcuked Port Vale's season. 1 point from 6 games since we got the game abandoned.

[Singing Defective]

We've absolutely fcuked Port Vale's season. 1 point from 6 games since we got the game abandoned.

I certainly do not wish them ill, but barring tennis balls, would they really have won then?

[Pepe the Horseman]

We've absolutely fcuked Port Vale's season. 1 point from 6 games since we got the game abandoned.

I certainly do not wish them ill, but barring tennis balls, would they really have won then?

Probably not. But seems to have sucked out any momentum they had. Could just be an unfortunate coincidence.

[Royal_jimmy]

They didn't play a game for almost 3 weeks I think which didn't help. Remembered when we had that in the premier league and it killed any momentum we had.