• Welcome to the ShrimperZone forums.
    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which only gives you limited access.

    Existing Users:.
    Please log-in using your existing username and password. If you have any problems, please see below.

    New Users:
    Join our free community now and gain access to post topics, communicate privately with other members, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and free. Click here to join.

    Fans from other clubs
    We welcome and appreciate supporters from other clubs who wish to engage in sensible discussion. Please feel free to join as above but understand that this is a moderated site and those who cannot play nicely will be quickly removed.

    Assistance Required
    For help with the registration process or accessing your account, please send a note using the Contact us link in the footer, please include your account name. We can then provide you with a new password and verification to get you on the site.

Tommy2holes

Life President⭐
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
11,419
I know its relatively early days and we havent seen too much of our new side , but i got to thinking that in order for us to have a shout at the end of the season we just have to be in a position were there are not 7 teams that are better than us.

I think this is perfectly doable.

Providing we can keep granty and maybe sign simspon permanetly and avoid injuries to key players then i see no reason why we can finish top 7.

I dont think we are going to murder teams like we did when we climbed out of the basement before but we will grind out results and be hard to beat. Im sure if we'd had a full pre-season and been settled sooner then we would have beaten Stockport county in the first game.

I fully expected us to grind draws and the odd win away and comfortably beat certain teams at home. Im sure there will be the odd one or two blips along the way but im sure sturrock will want more from what he currently has and maybe one or two loanees will be coming in to improve the side.

All in all given where we were i am chuffed with what we have.

UTB
 
Before I went away people were talking of relegation to the Conference. I come back after a couple of weeks and we're going to win the league.
 
can i just add only a few Strange people thought a few bad results was us going into non league i think deep dpwn we all knew/though we could be up there i actualy beleive we win get promoted this year maybe even win the league so much so i put a few to many pounds on us to win the league at 25/1
 
yeah one win and people think we will win the the league, one loss very soon and people start slagging off the team and saying we just aint good enough and we will struggle, its all too early to say anything right now, start to judge the side after 10-12 games and we will start to see if we have what it takes to challenge in the top seven, at the moment i think we are more than capable of a top 10 finish.
 
I think automatic promotion should be the aim. I know it may sound a little over optimistic, but I get the impression that this is what the club is aiming for, even if the quality and potential of our squad is purposely being played down by the management.

The defence of Clohessy, Bilel, Barker and Gilbert, is excellent in this division - with Bilel having the potential to be an absolute star.

The midfield of Easton, Grant and Simpson is class - with Grant and Simpson in particular looking too good for this division. And we have a few wingers, Soares, Hall and Zaboub (when match fit) that can do a job in this division.

Strikers is an area in which we lack, but it's starting to show that with Sturrock/Corr up front linking play and allowing our excellent midfielders to push on and score, we are an effective side even without a born goalscorer.

If you have seen us play this season, I would seriously reccomend getting down to the Hall. Things are coming together really nicely - we have played some better football this season (on the floor) than we have done for a few years now. AND it's only getting better, game by game.

This could be an exciting season!
 
I never thought we were relegation fodder, not for a minute, but i also must say i doubted we would finish in the top 7, but on the evidence of the last three games that seems a real posibility, if our best players can stay injury free.
 
I think from what we've seen so far anything below top 10 would be an under-achievement. Playoffs look possible, automatic I think is a big ask given the number of decent established sides we're up against.

Personally I think we'll end up around 6th or 7th & scrape into the playoffs.
 
It's the first time we've won two league games in a row since the tailend of the 08/09 season. I don't blame anyone for enjoying it.
 
Lets be fair , this is a pony league and any number of teams can get out of this division , i feel that we should defo be looking to get in the top end of the table as there are so many poor sides out there . I would say on paper we have the best manager in the league and with a bit of luck on his side he could do a very decent job here and he has already identifed that Roots hall needs to be a Fortress at this level and he is saying all the right things IMO .

Don;t forget that you can lose around 12 or so games in this league and still get promoted , so anything is possible , do feel its a little early to be building our selfs up as potential champion's though
 
I'm generally the optimistic sort, but I think people are getting carried away with a couple of wins. The fact is the team are still gelling and need to be given time without OTT expectations. Personally I think top half but outside the playoffs is most likely and given what we've been through over the last year I'd be pretty pleased with that.
 
No we need more than a couple of good games to win promotion, you need consistency and a team that loses home games wont get promoted so we need to stop losing to the likes of Port Vale.

I think we have a chance of a top 6 finish though as looking at the league theres not 6 teams Id be scared of, we just need to see how things go the next few games.
 
No we need more than a couple of good games to win promotion, you need consistency and a team that loses home games wont get promoted so we need to stop losing to the likes of Port Vale.

I think we have a chance of a top 6 finish though as looking at the league theres not 6 teams Id be scared of, we just need to see how things go the next few games.

You are right, but, Port Vale are tipped to win the league this year, so If we did beat the likes of Port Vale that means we'd win the league, which I am fine with though!
 
I am all for aiming high BUT should we not consolidate first? We went up twice before and did not have the plans in place to sustain it. It is not just on the field where we have to be solid we need secure finance to be able to move on and up. I will be happy with top half then aim for promotion next year, BUT if we can make it to league 1 then lets consolidate there before we try to go to far too quick.

I will await the comments about being negative, but I am not I am just trying to be realistic as I don't want another summer like the last one!!
 
I am all for aiming high BUT should we not consolidate first? We went up twice before and did not have the plans in place to sustain it. It is not just on the field where we have to be solid we need secure finance to be able to move on and up. I will be happy with top half then aim for promotion next year, BUT if we can make it to league 1 then lets consolidate there before we try to go to far too quick.

I will await the comments about being negative, but I am not I am just trying to be realistic as I don't want another summer like the last one!!

I understand what you're saying and if we were talking League One to the Championship I'd probably agree with you however I think now we have got our house in order (somewhat) with regards to significantly trimming the wage bill to a more sensible figure promotion back into League One should be good for the club if it should happen this season.
 
Last edited:
can i just add only a few Strange people thought a few bad results was us going into non league i think deep dpwn we all knew/though we could be up there i actualy beleive we win get promoted this year maybe even win the league so much so i put a few to many pounds on us to win the league at 25/1

I had £25 on us at 33/1 to win the division before a ball was kicked, call it blind faith in my club I guess! Granted it's still very unlikely but with Sturrock in charge you never know.....

;)
 
Play-offs are definitely acheiveable this season IMHO. January will be a telling time, but assuming we keep our best players and perhaps bring in one or two then top three finish could be on the cards.

Before the season started Stan James had Southend to win the division at 22/1...they have recently lengthened the odds quite considerably to 40/1...which, as an EW (top 3 finish), I find to be a pretty decent bet.
 
My expectations are now mid-table. Although my heart dreams about playoffs and for some reason I keep thinking the top 3 are our competition. But mid-table is still a reasonable success.
 
If we enter a season in normal circumstances then any season spent in league 2 which does not end in promotion is a failure, as I consider our natural level to be league 1. However clearly there weren't normal circumstances this time and with the mess we were in, then survival would be some sort of success but midtable would be perfectly acceptable. You just try to win every game and finish as high as possible.

With 5 games gone it is far,far too early to speculate what will happen (we only had 2 points at this stage 6 years ago). It is also ridiculous to say whether there are 3,7 or 12 teams better than us, we have only seen 5 of them so far!!! All I can say is that we look to have improved within the last 2 weeks but musn't get carried away with just 2 wins.
 
On what we have seen so far it looks at least that we won't be relegated which was a genuine worry a few weeks ago. Still think we need more firepower but it is encouraging that Granty has started to score and that Josh Simpson seems to be a goalscoring midfielder which we have been lacking (he scored 10 last season).
It is still annoying that we are plying our trade in this division thanks to Ron but at least the future looks a touch better than it did 3/4 weeks ago.
 
Back
Top