Can we find 3 teams worse than us next season?

[windermereROYAL]

In 3 of the last 6 seasons since the play-off defeat we have found 4 teams twice and 2 this season to save us from the drop, but I`m struggling with our restraints next season to find 3 that I would be confident of finishing above.
Of course we always look at promoted teams, Wigan appear to have something about them Rotherham will very probably join them, they have been a bit of a yo-yo team recently but they look useful, of the 5 teams vying for a play-off spot you have 2 large teams in Sunderland and Sheffield wednesday who you wouldn`t expect to struggle given their resources MK Dons Wycombe and Plymouth who you would expect to be in the lower half of the table.
Of the teams already in our league you can look at Birmingham and Hull city once Lewis-Potter moves on.

Unless we have decent recruitment or by some miracle some of our better players sign new deals I can`t look forward to 2022/23 wit a great deal of confidence.

[Singing Defective]

I think Brum are shouting “Me me me”…

[Franchise FC]

I think I’ll reserve my doom and gloom for the end of July when we’ll know who the competition are, what players we’ve got and, indeed, who the manager is.

In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Escape_(film)

[Stranded]

I'm just looking forward to the summer and how that pans out and what the team looks like on 30th July.

We could end up with a car crash side or something passable, until then no idea.

[The Royal Forester]

Will we need to find three teams worse than us? Hopefully, the EFL will dock points from half a dozen clubs due to FFP issues. Make our season a bit easier.

[Snowflake Royal]

Way too early to say, but Birmingham and Hull are likely to be contenders. Most of the League One candidates are also possibilities, but you'd expect one or two of the three to be ok.

Any of Luton, Millwall, Cardiff, Blackburn, Coventry, Blackpool, Preston or Bristol could have a particularly bad season.

Stoke are in danger of financial issues and could flop similarly

Forest or Huddersfield could have a similar collapse to us or Barnsley from a Play Off failure...

But then we could have a good summer, or a disastrous summer.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Obvious ones at this early stage are Rotherham (if they make it up) and Brum, who have similar off field issues to us.

There are also a few clubs about a year behind us in terms of possible FFP sanctions so that could also come into play again.

[Rea Ding]

Far too early to say, but there are quite a few teams who could flop next season. Alot that has to happen before then anyway

[Zip]

Bristol City may well be in breach of FFP. A points deduction for them would see them struggle.

[Nameless]

Several months too early to be asking the question.
We have no idea what ‘restraints’ we might be working under. Even with our current limitations we’ve brought in 5 internationals !
We have no idea which players will leave.
We have no idea which other clubs will get hit by FFP related issues or which clubs that have had good seasons will be the new Barnsley.
We could easily finish above Birmingham, Hull, Cardiff, Bristol none of whom are far ahead of us on the pitch.
It’s a question to think about in a couple of months....

[AthleticoSpizz]

Will we need to find three teams worse than us? Hopefully, the EFL will dock points from half a dozen clubs due to FFP issues. Make our season a bit easier.

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[SCIAG]

We’ve been extremely unlucky with injuries this season, and it’s reasonable to expect that we will be less unlucky next season. The same could be said for form.

That said, as it stands out squad will probably look something like…

Southwood (Nyland?)
Yiadom
Dann, McIntyre, Holmes (Thomas?)
(Nobody)
Rinomhota, Laurent
Meite, Ejaria, Hoilett, Azeez (Barker?)
Joao

I’m optimistic that Laurent and Rinomhota will renew. I’m not sure it is worth persisting with the three in brackets. But that gives us twelve senior players, who would just about make a credible XI but no slack for injuries.

At the very least, we will need a left back, an attacking midfielder, and a striker. Halilovic might be an option but I don’t think TInce would be value for money. We probably also need cover for midfield, centre back, and right back, and maybe an upgrade on Southwood. Very tough to get all those players on our budget.

[andrew1957]

I think it is fair to say that given the financial constraints we will be working under, that we will need to make some very good decisions in the next transfer market this summer and we will also need to have far less injuries next season or else we will likely go down.

I find it very hard other than to see yet another season of struggling to avoid relegation ahead.

[Snowflake Royal]

Let's face it, it would be almost as Reading to go down the year we finally clear the final stupid contracts and get finances close to a reasonable budget, so we could start anew, as it would have been to go down in our 150th season.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

We’ve been extremely unlucky with injuries this season, and it’s reasonable to expect that we will be less unlucky next season. The same could be said for form.

That said, as it stands out squad will probably look something like…

Southwood (Nyland?)
Yiadom
Dann, McIntyre, Holmes (Thomas?)
(Nobody)
Rinomhota, Laurent
Meite, Ejaria, Hoilett, Azeez (Barker?)
Joao

I’m optimistic that Laurent and Rinomhota will renew. I’m not sure it is worth persisting with the three in brackets. But that gives us twelve senior players, who would just about make a credible XI but no slack for injuries.

At the very least, we will need a left back, an attacking midfielder, and a striker. Halilovic might be an option but I don’t think TInce would be value for money. We probably also need cover for midfield, centre back, and right back, and maybe an upgrade on Southwood. Very tough to get all those players on our budget.

I think it's very optimistic thinking Yiadom, Laurent and Rino will stay. If one stayed that would be good in my view.

I know Laurent made positive noises last week but that was likely adrenalin after the game.

[From Despair To Where?]

Rotherham, Brum, Wigan and Bristol City and Stoke due to FFP.

I'd fancy our chances compared to any of the potential play off sides with maybe the exception of Sheffield Wednesday.

[Franchise FC]

Rotherham, Brum, Wigan and Bristol City and Stoke due to FFP.

I'd fancy our chances compared to any of the potential play off sides with maybe the exception of Sheffield Wednesday.

I don't get the issue with Sheff Wed.

They're not tearing up League One

It sounds like we're falling into the 'big' name trap

[Crowbar6753]

We’ve been extremely unlucky with injuries this season, and it’s reasonable to expect that we will be less unlucky next season. The same could be said for form.

That said, as it stands out squad will probably look something like…

Southwood (Nyland?)
Yiadom
Dann, McIntyre, Holmes (Thomas?)
(Nobody)
Rinomhota, Laurent
Meite, Ejaria, Hoilett, Azeez (Barker?)
Joao

I’m optimistic that Laurent and Rinomhota will renew. I’m not sure it is worth persisting with the three in brackets. But that gives us twelve senior players, who would just about make a credible XI but no slack for injuries.

At the very least, we will need a left back, an attacking midfielder, and a striker. Halilovic might be an option but I don’t think TInce would be value for money. We probably also need cover for midfield, centre back, and right back, and maybe an upgrade on Southwood. Very tough to get all those players on our budget.

Lets not forget the likes of Tetek, Camara, Clarke, Bristow, Ashcroft and Abrefa who all have the potential to jump up to the senior squad. So with a few clever loan/free signings we should be ok to compete with most teams. Would like to try and get Drinkwater and T.Ince back again on loan.

[From Despair To Where?]

Rotherham, Brum, Wigan and Bristol City and Stoke due to FFP.

I'd fancy our chances compared to any of the potential play off sides with maybe the exception of Sheffield Wednesday.

I don't get the issue with Sheff Wed.

They're not tearing up League One

It sounds like we're falling into the 'big' name trap

Because they do still have some decent players with Championship experience and haven't been mired in League 1 for 2+ seasons unlike other "We're too big for this league" candidates we could mention.

[tidus_mi2]

Speaking of Brizzle, guys on their forum think they should go for Laurent, Yiadom and Holmes

I guarantee they'd rather stay here if there isn't already better offers on the table.