Rival Watch

[morganb]

Boro down to 10 men

Peterborough and/or Middlesbrough

[AthleticoSpizz]

How many of our starting 11 / squad of players with game time on Saturday are still under contract for next season. I fear that may be our downfall.

Players only fight to survive relegation if they themselves don't want to play in the league below. Good proportion of our side literally have nothing riding on Saturday's game

Four of them - Yiadom, Holmes, Sarr, McIntyre. I can see us renewing the contracts of NGW, Hoilett and Long if we get relegated (if the club wants to); Lumley's contract at Middlesbrough expires in the summer, so I can see us signing him on a free too. It's not unrealistic most of that starting XI will still be with us next season.

I can see Holmes moving on, Lumley may want to stay in the Championship towards the bottom end but may end up sticking with us and I don't want us holding onto Long and Hoilett personally, ageing and going backwards. NGW I wouldn't be bothered by either way in a lower division.

(re, the aged) it still worked for Kevin Phillips (etc)

[NathStPaul]

Boro down to 10 men

Peterborough and/or Middlesbrough

Don't forget Eastbourne.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Four of them - Yiadom, Holmes, Sarr, McIntyre. I can see us renewing the contracts of NGW, Hoilett and Long if we get relegated (if the club wants to); Lumley's contract at Middlesbrough expires in the summer, so I can see us signing him on a free too. It's not unrealistic most of that starting XI will still be with us next season.

I can see Holmes moving on, Lumley may want to stay in the Championship towards the bottom end but may end up sticking with us and I don't want us holding onto Long and Hoilett personally, ageing and going backwards. NGW I wouldn't be bothered by either way in a lower division.

(re, the aged) it still worked for Kevin Phillips (etc)

To be fair, it's more to do with me wanting to move away from as many of these players as possible. Having as good a reset as we can and get rid of players who are here as stop gaps trying to keep ourselves up, which Hoilett and Long are really. Others like Dann and most/all of the loanees need to go and obviously Joao and Meite won't sign new deals in League One.

[NathStPaul]

Well its happened, I fully agree with Yorkshire Royal.

[Clyde1998]

Why is everyone assuming we are going to win loads of games and it will be great fun going to Fleetwood? We don’t even have a manager. We have a handful of players under contract most will be sold because we can’t afford there wages in this league. It’s going to be a miserable season if we finish in the top half it will be a miracle.

For next season, we'll only have one of the high earners left - Ejaria. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a stronger squad next season than we had this season, as we'll have more freedom in the transfer market than we've had in the previous couple of seasons. Players like Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas (assuming Genoa get promoted) leaving the club would free up a huge amount of wages, which would allow the club to get some players in. Selling Ince for £1m (and we could probably get more) would provide us more room to do that.

We could be going into next season with a base squad of (players in [square brackets] are players I could see us extending the contracts of):
GKs: Bouzanis, Andresson, Boyce-Clarke (U21)
DFs: Holmes, McIntyre, Sarr, Yiadom, Abrefa (U21), Abbey (U21), [NGW], [Mbengue]
MFs: Hutchinson, Ejaria, Camara (U21), [Tetek (U21)]
FWs: Azeez, Carroll, Clarke (U21), Ehibhatiomhan (U21), [Long], [Hoilett]

We're allowed five loanees in a matchday squad (eight in total) and twenty-two over 21 players to be in our squad (including all loanees regardless of age), with eight being home-grown (at an English or Welsh club for a total of 36 months prior to the end of the season during which he turns 21).

We'll have around ten players of our maximum twenty-two - allowing us to sign up to twelve players. We'll obviously need to bring in some central midfielders, but the core of the defence and attack is in place. We'd maybe need three central midfielders, perhaps a couple of defenders, maybe a winger or two and another striker - some of these could be on loan.

I think that squad (plus a couple more from the academy), before any signings, would be good enough for a top half finish at least. Once we've brought in some loanees and a couple of free signings, I can see us in a similar position to Derby this season. Any players from that squad we sell, such as Holmes or McIntyre, we'd get a fee for - which could allow us to bring in another couple of free transfers.

The point is, I think we'll be mid-table at the worst next season and maybe get into the play-offs with a good year.

[Clyde1998]

How many of our starting 11 / squad of players with game time on Saturday are still under contract for next season. I fear that may be our downfall.

Players only fight to survive relegation if they themselves don't want to play in the league below. Good proportion of our side literally have nothing riding on Saturday's game

Four of them - Yiadom, Holmes, Sarr, McIntyre. I can see us renewing the contracts of NGW, Hoilett and Long if we get relegated (if the club wants to); Lumley's contract at Middlesbrough expires in the summer, so I can see us signing him on a free too. It's not unrealistic most of that starting XI will still be with us next season.

I can see Holmes moving on, Lumley may want to stay in the Championship towards the bottom end but may end up sticking with us and I don't want us holding onto Long and Hoilett personally, ageing and going backwards. NGW I wouldn't be bothered by either way in a lower division.

Holmes could well move on, but we'll get a fee for him. Long and Hoilett would be dependant on what players are avaliable - I'd rather we got in some younger players who'll develop into Championship players; they'd do a job for a season in League One if we wanted to keep them.

[genome]

Boro down to 10 men

Peterborough and/or Middlesbrough

Don't forget Eastbourne.

Stevenage next year.

[Jackson Corner]

Why is everyone assuming we are going to win loads of games and it will be great fun going to Fleetwood? We don’t even have a manager. We have a handful of players under contract most will be sold because we can’t afford there wages in this league. It’s going to be a miserable season if we finish in the top half it will be a miracle.

For next season, we'll only have one of the high earners left - Ejaria. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a stronger squad next season than we had this season, as we'll have more freedom in the transfer market than we've had in the previous couple of seasons. Players like Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas (assuming Genoa get promoted) leaving the club would free up a huge amount of wages, which would allow the club to get some players in. Selling Ince for £1m (and we could probably get more) would provide us more room to do that.

We could be going into next season with a base squad of (players in [square brackets] are players I could see us extending the contracts of):
GKs: Bouzanis, Andresson, Boyce-Clarke (U21)
DFs: Holmes, McIntyre, Sarr, Yiadom, Abrefa (U21), Abbey (U21), [NGW], [Mbengue]
MFs: Hutchinson, Ejaria, Camara (U21), [Tetek (U21)]
FWs: Azeez, Carroll, Clarke (U21), Ehibhatiomhan (U21), [Long], [Hoilett]

We're allowed five loanees in a matchday squad (eight in total) and twenty-two over 21 players to be in our squad (including all loanees regardless of age), with eight being home-grown (at an English or Welsh club for a total of 36 months prior to the end of the season during which he turns 21).

We'll have around ten players of our maximum twenty-two - allowing us to sign up to twelve players. We'll obviously need to bring in some central midfielders, but the core of the defence and attack is in place. We'd maybe need three central midfielders, perhaps a couple of defenders, maybe a winger or two and another striker - some of these could be on loan.

I think that squad (plus a couple more from the academy), before any signings, would be good enough for a top half finish at least. Once we've brought in some loanees and a couple of free signings, I can see us in a similar position to Derby this season. Any players from that squad we sell, such as Holmes or McIntyre, we'd get a fee for - which could allow us to bring in another couple of free transfers.

The point is, I think we'll be mid-table at the worst next season and maybe get into the play-offs with a good year.

I’m sorry and I hope am wrong but you are in cuckoo land. For a start we need a decent driven manager who knows the bottom two divisions inside out. At best he is likely to be here in June assuming he’s not on holiday. He then has July to somehow sort the mess out of who to keep who is available on free transfers. That takes till the end of July pre season. And the season starts in August with virtually 11 players who have never played together before and till the end of September till the transfer window closes. And that is assuming the owners haven’t pulled the plug left us in administration and a transfer embargo.

[Snowflake Royal]

Not aiming for but accepting one. And reasons I think that above

And we really should have the most possession etc when we are at home against a team who are both rubbish and already relegated basically. We still only ended up with 57% and allowed them 11 shots at goal

I do think if that selection and performance took place under ince he’d have been crucified

Our average possession is 42%. 57% is oxf*rd enormous for us.

YEs but we were playing the bottom side, read the post

Makes no difference. Its a huge leap in possession and more than you'd expect for us even against a bottom side. As shown by our home performance against other bottom sides.

48% possession at home v Brum under Ince. 12 shots.
38.5% possession at home v Hull under Ince. 11 shots.
42% possession at home v Blackpool under Ince. 8 shots.

57% possession at home v Wigan under Hunt. 21 shots.

The numbers are stark and they don’t lie.

[Elm Park Kid]

snip.

I’m sorry and I hope am wrong but you are in cuckoo land. For a start we need a decent driven manager who knows the bottom two divisions inside out. At best he is likely to be here in June assuming he’s not on holiday. He then has July to somehow sort the mess out of who to keep who is available on free transfers. That takes till the end of July pre season. And the season starts in August with virtually 11 players who have never played together before and till the end of September till the transfer window closes. And that is assuming the owners haven’t pulled the plug left us in administration and a transfer embargo.

In addition to this - the club has to operate according to the financial rules of League One. Going from what I've quickly googled - it looks like our wage bill would have to be limited to 60% of our turnover [Edit - after further Googling I see this is 75% for relegated clubs].

The club's turnover last season was about £16.5m. I believe that our tv rights money will drop by around 6 million. It's likely we'll see drops in match day income and some sponsorship revenue. But let's be optimistic and say that we'll have £10m of revenue (I believe there is some 'parachute' money for relegated teams. That means we can spend a maximum of £6m [Edit - 7.5m] on our wage budget.

I reckon that our current wage bill is around the £16-17m mark. Just going on last seasons finances and our dealings. Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas are probably accountable for like £4-5m of that. Maybe a bit more. So, with those 4 gone we are still at around double of what we're allowed to spend [Edit - like 150% of what we're allowed to spend].

I don't know about you but I don't feel that optimistic here about how we're going to build a squad better than our current one with these restrictions? I mean, maybe League One isn't 'policed' as tightly as the Championship. Maybe there are less strict rules for relegated teams [Edit - There are]?

[tmesis]

Our average possession is 42%. 57% is oxf*rd enormous for us.

YEs but we were playing the bottom side, read the post

Makes no difference. Its a huge leap in possession and more than you'd expect for us even against a bottom side. As shown by our home performance against other bottom sides.

48% possession at home v Brum under Ince. 12 shots.
38.5% possession at home v Hull under Ince. 11 shots.
42% possession at home v Blackpool under Ince. 8 shots.

57% possession at home v Wigan under Hunt. 21 shots.

The numbers are stark and they don’t lie.

They might not "lie" but they don't necessarily tell the story you want them to either.

We might have had 21 shots by Wigan, but how many were even halfway decent? How many were good chances. The paltry 8 v Blackpool produced three goals, and they are worth rather more than speculative pot-shots.

Since Hunt took over the work-rate increased hugely, just as it did when Ince took over. That really is it. We still look rubbish.

[Royal_jimmy]

Our supporters are way too tolerant of the shit football we've played the past few years. Other clubs would be protest and confronting the players

Have you protested? How many players have you personally confronted? Not saying you haven't btw, just interested to hear about all you have done personally.

Don't think one fan doing it will make a difference tbh

[Royal_jimmy]

How many of our starting 11 / squad of players with game time on Saturday are still under contract for next season. I fear that may be our downfall.

Players only fight to survive relegation if they themselves don't want to play in the league below. Good proportion of our side literally have nothing riding on Saturday's game

Four of them - Yiadom, Holmes, Sarr, McIntyre. I can see us renewing the contracts of NGW, Hoilett and Long if we get relegated (if the club wants to); Lumley's contract at Middlesbrough expires in the summer, so I can see us signing him on a free too. It's not unrealistic most of that starting XI will still be with us next season.

Not sure I'd want Lumley unless he drops his wage demands. He's not exactly an amazing keeper and probably not one of the best in league one.

[Royal_jimmy]

I’m sorry and I hope am wrong but you are in cuckoo land. For a start we need a decent driven manager who knows the bottom two divisions inside out. At best he is likely to be here in June assuming he’s not on holiday. He then has July to somehow sort the mess out of who to keep who is available on free transfers. That takes till the end of July pre season. And the season starts in August with virtually 11 players who have never played together before and till the end of September till the transfer window closes. And that is assuming the owners haven’t pulled the plug left us in administration and a transfer embargo.

In addition to this - the club has to operate according to the financial rules of League One. Going from what I've quickly googled - it looks like our wage bill would have to be limited to 60% of our turnover [Edit - after further Googling I see this is 75% for relegated clubs].

The club's turnover last season was about £16.5m. I believe that our tv rights money will drop by around 6 million. It's likely we'll see drops in match day income and some sponsorship revenue. But let's be optimistic and say that we'll have £10m of revenue (I believe there is some 'parachute' money for relegated teams. That means we can spend a maximum of £6m [Edit - 7.5m] on our wage budget.

I reckon that our current wage bill is around the £16-17m mark. Just going on last seasons finances and our dealings. Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas are probably accountable for like £4-5m of that. Maybe a bit more. So, with those 4 gone we are still at around double of what we're allowed to spend [Edit - like 150% of what we're allowed to spend].

I don't know about you but I don't feel that optimistic here about how we're going to build a squad better than our current one with these restrictions? I mean, maybe League One isn't 'policed' as tightly as the Championship. Maybe there are less strict rules for relegated teams [Edit - There are]?

I mean I hope we have relegation clauses in Ejaria and the other players contracts who aren't out of contract but we'll be releasing a lot more players than those 4 so we should see a sub £10m wage bill easily. Getting it to 75% turnover won't be easy and depends on us offloading Ejaria.

I wouldn't be surprised if our wage bill for players still in contract is about £6-7m a year. We would just need to offload Ejaria and maybe Ince (although I heard he's on only £6k a week).

[Clyde1998]

I’m sorry and I hope am wrong but you are in cuckoo land. For a start we need a decent driven manager who knows the bottom two divisions inside out. At best he is likely to be here in June assuming he’s not on holiday. He then has July to somehow sort the mess out of who to keep who is available on free transfers. That takes till the end of July pre season. And the season starts in August with virtually 11 players who have never played together before and till the end of September till the transfer window closes. And that is assuming the owners haven’t pulled the plug left us in administration and a transfer embargo.

In addition to this - the club has to operate according to the financial rules of League One. Going from what I've quickly googled - it looks like our wage bill would have to be limited to 60% of our turnover [Edit - after further Googling I see this is 75% for relegated clubs].

The club's turnover last season was about £16.5m. I believe that our tv rights money will drop by around 6 million. It's likely we'll see drops in match day income and some sponsorship revenue. But let's be optimistic and say that we'll have £10m of revenue (I believe there is some 'parachute' money for relegated teams. That means we can spend a maximum of £6m [Edit - 7.5m] on our wage budget.

I reckon that our current wage bill is around the £16-17m mark. Just going on last seasons finances and our dealings. Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas are probably accountable for like £4-5m of that. Maybe a bit more. So, with those 4 gone we are still at around double of what we're allowed to spend [Edit - like 150% of what we're allowed to spend].

I don't know about you but I don't feel that optimistic here about how we're going to build a squad better than our current one with these restrictions? I mean, maybe League One isn't 'policed' as tightly as the Championship. Maybe there are less strict rules for relegated teams [Edit - There are]?

Injections of equity and donations from the owner count towards revenue in League One and Two (loans from the owner do not), as do recieved transfer fees. The both facts are important here. Players under the age of 20 don't count towards the salary cap either; nor does salaries to general staff.

Say we use the £10m revenue above, the sale of Puscas (for ~€3m) would increase our revenue to £12.6m (giving us £9.5m for the wage budget). Additionally, it's normal for a Championship club to have 40% relegation wage drop clauses in their contracts (so assuming we haven't ballsed that up, which may be a bold assumption, that's another important factor to consider). If our current wage bill is around £16m and we release/sell £4m worth of wages, then applying a 40% wage drop means £7.2m on wages (within the League One salary cap). You sell Ince for £1m, as in my example, that's revenue to £13.6m (giving us a £10.2m wage budget) and another salary off the wage bill.

Apparently a typical high League One salary is ~£5k p/w (I believe the average is around ~£2.5k). Using the figure after selling Puscas (£9.5m budget, with £7.2m wages), we could afford 8-9 high League One salaries on these estimates.

Incidently, the only possible penalty from breaching the FFP rules in League One and Two is a transfer embargo.

[Clyde1998]

How many of our starting 11 / squad of players with game time on Saturday are still under contract for next season. I fear that may be our downfall.

Players only fight to survive relegation if they themselves don't want to play in the league below. Good proportion of our side literally have nothing riding on Saturday's game

Four of them - Yiadom, Holmes, Sarr, McIntyre. I can see us renewing the contracts of NGW, Hoilett and Long if we get relegated (if the club wants to); Lumley's contract at Middlesbrough expires in the summer, so I can see us signing him on a free too. It's not unrealistic most of that starting XI will still be with us next season.

Not sure I'd want Lumley unless he drops his wage demands. He's not exactly an amazing keeper and probably not one of the best in league one.

I don't know what his wage demands are, but obviously signing him would be dependant on reasonable wages for a player of his ability.

If the club believe Andresson and/or Boyce-Clarke are good enough to be back-ups behind Bouzanis (or good enough to start in League One), then we might not even need to sign a keeper anyway.

[Elm Park Kid]

In addition to this - the club has to operate according to the financial rules of League One. Going from what I've quickly googled - it looks like our wage bill would have to be limited to 60% of our turnover [Edit - after further Googling I see this is 75% for relegated clubs].

The club's turnover last season was about £16.5m. I believe that our tv rights money will drop by around 6 million. It's likely we'll see drops in match day income and some sponsorship revenue. But let's be optimistic and say that we'll have £10m of revenue (I believe there is some 'parachute' money for relegated teams. That means we can spend a maximum of £6m [Edit - 7.5m] on our wage budget.

I reckon that our current wage bill is around the £16-17m mark. Just going on last seasons finances and our dealings. Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas are probably accountable for like £4-5m of that. Maybe a bit more. So, with those 4 gone we are still at around double of what we're allowed to spend [Edit - like 150% of what we're allowed to spend].

I don't know about you but I don't feel that optimistic here about how we're going to build a squad better than our current one with these restrictions? I mean, maybe League One isn't 'policed' as tightly as the Championship. Maybe there are less strict rules for relegated teams [Edit - There are]?

Injections of equity and donations from the owner count towards revenue in League One and Two (loans from the owner do not), as do recieved transfer fees. The both facts are important here. Players under the age of 20 don't count towards the salary cap either; nor does salaries to general staff.

Say we use the £10m revenue above, the sale of Puscas (for ~€3m) would increase our revenue to £12.6m (giving us £9.5m for the wage budget). Additionally, it's normal for a Championship club to have 40% relegation wage drop clauses in their contracts (so assuming we haven't ballsed that up, which may be a bold assumption, that's another important factor to consider). If our current wage bill is around £16m and we release/sell £4m worth of wages, then applying a 40% wage drop means £7.2m on wages (within the League One salary cap). You sell Ince for £1m, as in my example, that's revenue to £13.6m (giving us a £10.2m wage budget) and another salary off the wage bill.

Apparently a typical high League One salary is ~£5k p/w (I believe the average is around ~£2.5k). Using the figure after selling Puscas (£9.5m budget, with £7.2m wages), we could afford 8-9 high League One salaries on these estimates.

Incidently, the only possible penalty from breaching the FFP rules in League One and Two is a transfer embargo.

Thanks for the additional info - I did go through some of it but I didn't realise that owner injections count as turnover. If that's the case then that might sort most of the issue out itself.

If we are dealing with the kind of situation as you suggest above though, I think it would be optimistic to imagine that the sub £5k a week players we bring in would be better than our current squad. It might end up with a more rounded, hungrier squad, but I guess that all comes down the quality of recruitment.

[TiagoIlori]

Why is everyone assuming we are going to win loads of games and it will be great fun going to Fleetwood? We don’t even have a manager. We have a handful of players under contract most will be sold because we can’t afford there wages in this league. It’s going to be a miserable season if we finish in the top half it will be a miracle.

For next season, we'll only have one of the high earners left - Ejaria. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a stronger squad next season than we had this season, as we'll have more freedom in the transfer market than we've had in the previous couple of seasons. Players like Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas (assuming Genoa get promoted) leaving the club would free up a huge amount of wages, which would allow the club to get some players in. Selling Ince for £1m (and we could probably get more) would provide us more room to do that.

We could be going into next season with a base squad of (players in [square brackets] are players I could see us extending the contracts of):
GKs: Bouzanis, Andresson, Boyce-Clarke (U21)
DFs: Holmes, McIntyre, Sarr, Yiadom, Abrefa (U21), Abbey (U21), [NGW], [Mbengue]
MFs: Hutchinson, Ejaria, Camara (U21), [Tetek (U21)]
FWs: Azeez, Carroll, Clarke (U21), Ehibhatiomhan (U21), [Long], [Hoilett]

We're allowed five loanees in a matchday squad (eight in total) and twenty-two over 21 players to be in our squad (including all loanees regardless of age), with eight being home-grown (at an English or Welsh club for a total of 36 months prior to the end of the season during which he turns 21).

We'll have around ten players of our maximum twenty-two - allowing us to sign up to twelve players. We'll obviously need to bring in some central midfielders, but the core of the defence and attack is in place. We'd maybe need three central midfielders, perhaps a couple of defenders, maybe a winger or two and another striker - some of these could be on loan.

I think that squad (plus a couple more from the academy), before any signings, would be good enough for a top half finish at least. Once we've brought in some loanees and a couple of free signings, I can see us in a similar position to Derby this season. Any players from that squad we sell, such as Holmes or McIntyre, we'd get a fee for - which could allow us to bring in another couple of free transfers.

The point is, I think we'll be mid-table at the worst next season and maybe get into the play-offs with a good year.

I’m sorry and I hope am wrong but you are in cuckoo land. For a start we need a decent driven manager who knows the bottom two divisions inside out. At best he is likely to be here in June assuming he’s not on holiday. He then has July to somehow sort the mess out of who to keep who is available on free transfers. That takes till the end of July pre season. And the season starts in August with virtually 11 players who have never played together before and till the end of September till the transfer window closes. And that is assuming the owners haven’t pulled the plug left us in administration and a transfer embargo.

Ditto your point, I agree it’s unlikely we will get a manager in until the end of May. Although I would like to think any self respecting manager would be cutting short his holiday so he can start looking immediately. If he waits until July he’s missing out on a host of signings.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Why is everyone assuming we are going to win loads of games and it will be great fun going to Fleetwood? We don’t even have a manager. We have a handful of players under contract most will be sold because we can’t afford there wages in this league. It’s going to be a miserable season if we finish in the top half it will be a miracle.

For next season, we'll only have one of the high earners left - Ejaria. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with a stronger squad next season than we had this season, as we'll have more freedom in the transfer market than we've had in the previous couple of seasons. Players like Moore, Joao, Meite and Puscas (assuming Genoa get promoted) leaving the club would free up a huge amount of wages, which would allow the club to get some players in. Selling Ince for £1m (and we could probably get more) would provide us more room to do that.

We could be going into next season with a base squad of (players in [square brackets] are players I could see us extending the contracts of):
GKs: Bouzanis, Andresson, Boyce-Clarke (U21)
DFs: Holmes, McIntyre, Sarr, Yiadom, Abrefa (U21), Abbey (U21), [NGW], [Mbengue]
MFs: Hutchinson, Ejaria, Camara (U21), [Tetek (U21)]
FWs: Azeez, Carroll, Clarke (U21), Ehibhatiomhan (U21), [Long], [Hoilett]

We're allowed five loanees in a matchday squad (eight in total) and twenty-two over 21 players to be in our squad (including all loanees regardless of age), with eight being home-grown (at an English or Welsh club for a total of 36 months prior to the end of the season during which he turns 21).

We'll have around ten players of our maximum twenty-two - allowing us to sign up to twelve players. We'll obviously need to bring in some central midfielders, but the core of the defence and attack is in place. We'd maybe need three central midfielders, perhaps a couple of defenders, maybe a winger or two and another striker - some of these could be on loan.

I think that squad (plus a couple more from the academy), before any signings, would be good enough for a top half finish at least. Once we've brought in some loanees and a couple of free signings, I can see us in a similar position to Derby this season. Any players from that squad we sell, such as Holmes or McIntyre, we'd get a fee for - which could allow us to bring in another couple of free transfers.

The point is, I think we'll be mid-table at the worst next season and maybe get into the play-offs with a good year.

I’m sorry and I hope am wrong but you are in cuckoo land. For a start we need a decent driven manager who knows the bottom two divisions inside out. At best he is likely to be here in June assuming he’s not on holiday. He then has July to somehow sort the mess out of who to keep who is available on free transfers. That takes till the end of July pre season. And the season starts in August with virtually 11 players who have never played together before and till the end of September till the transfer window closes. And that is assuming the owners haven’t pulled the plug left us in administration and a transfer embargo.

Spot on, administration beckons