What are your expectations for next season?

[jacobncfc]

Haven't Southend signed Rhys Murphy from Yeovil ?
Decent goal scorer. 38 (25) at Chelmsford, 58 (29) at Yeovil.

Murphy is good when fit, but very injury prone. Similar story with most of their signings. I think they might struggle, they’ve not been sold and are still a bit of a mess off the pitch, have kept a lot of the squad that’s been relegated twice in a row, a manager that doesn’t know the league.

Grimsby will be play-offs at worst though, I would think. Hurst knows what he’s doing. Probably not got the individual quality of Notts, Stockport or Chesterfield, but they’ll be tough to beat.

[ncfcog]

Murphy is good when fit, but very injury prone. Similar story with most of their signings. I think they might struggle, they’ve not been sold and are still a bit of a mess off the pitch, have kept a lot of the squad that’s been relegated twice in a row, a manager that doesn’t know the league.

Grimsby will be play-offs at worst though, I would think. Hurst knows what he’s doing. Probably not got the individual quality of Notts, Stockport or Chesterfield, but they’ll be tough to beat.

It really is shaping up to be one hell of a season. The competition for this level right now is just ridiculous.

[Kelton]

Fifth again for me

[BigFatPie]

People probably say this every year, but this looks a bogger of a league this season and I can see a) a very high points needed to win it and b) some right tonkings handed out to the less well off clubs.

My expectation is a minimum of third and a hope for top. Can’t see many boring games though. Except maybe against Solihull.

[laddo]

If it's more competitive than ever does that mean more teams will best each other and the points total to get promoted is less? Or will it need an average of basically 2 points a game to win the title?

[magpie_mania]

Exactly that 78.
You can probably expect 20 from Quigley, 10-15 Rooney, 10 - 15 Madden, 10 Reid - so about 60 goals just from the strikers.
Notts probably have 15-20 from Kyle, 10 Cal, 10-15 Ruben, about 45.

I think we need a goal scorer to add some fire power.

Like a few others have said, do we have enough grit and physical presence in midfield ?

My money would be on Stockport, maybe Wrexham if they add a couple of bigger names, with Notts in and around them.

Lewis Knight? Sam? You have included 4 from Stockport but only 3 from Notts.

A good start is important. Just a draw first game and a couple of losses and we could be 8 points behind after 3 games. I don't think we will though.

Absolute minimum - Play-offs
Desirable - Top 3
With the wind in the right direction - Champions

I see Wrexham made their marquee signing with last year's L2 player of the season, 32 goal Paul Mullin. Rumoured that Cambridge offered him £6k per week to stay in L1.

[SaltySeaDog]

Lewis Knight? Sam? You have included 4 from Stockport but only 3 from Notts.

A good start is important. Just a draw first game and a couple of losses and we could be 8 points behind after 3 games. I don't think we will though.

Absolute minimum - Play-offs
Desirable - Top 3
With the wind in the right direction - Champions

I see Wrexham made their marquee signing with last year's L2 player of the season, 32 goal Paul Mullin. Rumoured that Cambridge offered him £6k per week to stay in L1.

Yeah, I feel like Sam & Knight are wild cards for us at the moment.

IB did very well to get better performances out of Chicksen, Rodders & Miller last season. So I'm hoping he will find a way to integrate these two as an effective attacking threat for the team

[AllNottsAreWe]

I haven't been overly impressed by Sam. He obviously has the skill and decent pace but scoring 2 or 3 brilliant goals a season isn't going to get you a starting place most weeks.
The verdict is out on young Knight (for me anyway). He hasn't featured much so probably unfair to have an opinion on him yet. The few occasions I have seen him play, he has struggled to get into the game or make any impact. He was poor against Colaville.
With a bit more game time he may come good.
This is why I didn't include either player in my original post.

[the_anticlough]

Notts probably have 15-20 from Kyle, 10 Cal, 10-15 Ruben, about 45.

The good news there is that there's no way Rodrigues is on 10-15 goals.
Assuming he stays injury free, it'll be closer to the goal a game pace he was on once he was made the centrepiece of the team - put him down for 20-25

[AllNottsAreWe]

The good news there is that there's no way Rodrigues is on 10-15 goals.
Assuming he stays injury free, it'll be closer to the goal a game pace he was on once he was made the centrepiece of the team - put him down for 20-25

That would be fantastic so hope you are correct. I can't see it but let's hope he can do it.