Must admit to being quite impressed at the standard of football in Lge 1 this season.

Even some of the chaff at the bottom ie Crewe, Doncaster etc at least try and play football, we’ve not seen much hoofball at all.

Having said that, it seems to be the direct, physical sides with a decent striker and a hefty dose of shithousery that succeed, like Wigan & RovRum.

Overall what’s been your verdict on Lge1 and do you think IE’s brand of football can see us promoted next season?

Edited April 11, 20224 yr by Burndens Bogs

Providing the recruitment is right this Summer, I see no reason why we can’t be challenging for the top 6 next season however we need to be prepared to mix it up a bit.

Like you’ve mentioned, I know Evatt has his footballing philosophy and seems quite religiously stuck to it however it’s no coincidence that the more workman like, well drilled units (Wigan and Rotherham for instance) are challenging for the top spots. 

There’s only one or two teams that have rocked up at the UniBol and have looked like absolute tripe (Burton spring to mind).

40 minutes ago, matty2094 said:

There’s only one or two teams that have rocked up at the UniBol and have looked like absolute tripe (Burton spring to mind).

Wimbledon were probably the worst side we’ve seen imo…. Oh and Sun’lun obvs.

Edited April 11, 20224 yr by Burndens Bogs

Loved it.

Possibly my favourite season ever.

My lad coming to an age where he loves going coupled with doing plenty of aways.

Its been ace.  Cant wait for next season

 

22 minutes ago, barryk32 said:

Loved it.

Possibly my favourite season ever.

My lad coming to an age where he loves going coupled with doing plenty of aways.

Its been ace.  Cant wait for next season

 

That’s exactly where i’m at to be honest.

if we had picked up more points and got into the play-offs and then somehow managed to get promoted to the Championship, i don’t think i’d be looking forward to next season as much.

Good season overall considering injuries and the Sarce affair think IE needs to decide his preferred team formation for next season and recruit the right players for the system.

I agree we need to get a bit more savvy and get stuck in a bit more and if we do we have a good chance of promotion next season.

Big gulf In quality from L2 imo 

I don't think we can football our way out of the division - there are too many shit pitches in winter and teams who will be physical. We do need to be able to stand up to that aspect better than we currently do.

That said, i've really enjoyed it and think we've handled the division quite well over all. L1 is not as bad as the ignorants who watch prem football seem to think. sure, the strikers are much sharper the higher up the pyramid you go but the actual football is enjoyable

Really enjoyed this season.

Seen some good games where both teams have played good football. 

Some of our stuff at times has been out of the top drawer, shows what we are capable of.

Tighten up/organise defence a bit better (think this is where thevwell drilled bit applies) and I think we have a great chance of being in the mix next season.

COYWM

14 minutes ago, Biggish Dave said:

I don't think we can football our way out of the division - there are too many shit pitches in winter and teams who will be physical. We do need to be able to stand up to that aspect better than we currently do.

That said, i've really enjoyed it and think we've handled the division quite well over all. L1 is not as bad as the ignorants who watch prem football seem to think. sure, the strikers are much sharper the higher up the pyramid you go but the actual football is enjoyable

Aye Rotherham/Wigan very physical

we struggled with our style at fleetwood/ Accrington/Burton/ stockport & morecambe, the football has been good but at times we need to mix it 

1 hour ago, barryk32 said:

Loved it.

Possibly my favourite season ever.

My lad coming to an age where he loves going coupled with doing plenty of aways.

Its been ace.  Cant wait for next season

 

 

26 minutes ago, radcliffe white said:

Aye Rotherham/Wigan very physical

we struggled with our style at fleetwood/ Accrington/Burton/ stockport & morecambe, the football has been good but at times we need to mix it 

I agree with both of these posts. 

Having various strings to our bow is something Evatt needs to, and IMO has started to address. Having the bigger/physical players like Bod up top gives us a great alternative and we’ve even started to see some variety in our set pieces. 

Bringing in natural leaders like Dempsey was a great move, one or two more of this Ilk and the recruitment of Fossey will be essential. 

But I’m not getting carried away there are going to be another 8/9 teams we are competing with for promotion next year. 

But all in all what a season! I’ve done more aways than I have done for over 15 years. The youth coming on board and being as passionate as I am is a massive factor along with the obvious wave of enthusiasm and great brand of football, led by people I love and have faith in.

Holiday (thanks @Traf 😉) is booked for July so we’re back ready for the start of what I’m hoping will be just as good if not better than this season.

Bring it on! COYFWM 👏

League 1 is a better standard this year than in any of our previous spells in the third tier in my opinion. Part of the reason for that has to be the queue of bigger clubs who would consider their rightful position in the football league pyramid to be one or even two divisions above this.

Sunderland, Sheff Weds, Ipswich, Charlton, Portsmouth and ourselves would always be looking to be dominant at this level. Rotherham, Wycombe and Oxford are also clubs who would have aspirations at higher levels and/or have spent time in the second tier etc. Meanwhile MK Dons are clearly well managed and looking up not down (Wigan pointedly not included in this paragraph). 

I would like Sunderland or Sheff Weds up through the plays offs to get them out of the way. Barnsley and Derby post-takeover will join the ranks and the queue of aspirants at the top end. We therefore have our work cut out next year, there's no question. It's going to be every bit as tough a league as this year. A top two finish would be a serious achievement and will require some intelligent transfer activity this summer.

I think we should be looking at play offs as a minimum next year. Anything less will mean we've stagnated. 

We've had big problems with injuries this year - but the squad looks like it's padding out a bit now.

I think we're a couple of signings away from being a competitive side near the top of the division. I'm less concerned about the style of play, I think a very good footballing side beats a very good physical side. I don't think watering us down and trying to be both is the right idea. 

Be interesting next year!

I'd give this one 7/10

52 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

League 1 is a better standard this year than in any of our previous spells in the third tier in my opinion. Part of the reason for that has to be the queue of bigger clubs who would consider their rightful position in the football league pyramid to be one or even two divisions above this.

Sunderland, Sheff Weds, Ipswich, Charlton, Portsmouth and ourselves would always be looking to be dominant at this level. Rotherham, Wycombe and Oxford are also clubs who would have aspirations at higher levels and/or have spent time in the second tier etc. Meanwhile MK Dons are clearly well managed and looking up not down (Wigan pointedly not included in this paragraph). 

I would like Sunderland or Sheff Weds up through the plays offs to get them out of the way. Barnsley and Derby post-takeover will join the ranks and the queue of aspirants at the top end. We therefore have our work cut out next year, there's no question. It's going to be every bit as tough a league as this year. A top two finish would be a serious achievement and will require some intelligent transfer activity this summer.

Totally agree with all of this. There's only 20 spaces in the PL with about 40 clubs who are already there or who believe they should be and are aspiring/spending their way towards trying to achieve that. 

Bottom end of the championship used to be the bin for clubs who had failed in that regard, now its the top end of L1. (And coming from behind are high spending teams from NL but that's another story)

The quality and strength of competition across most of the league has been good this season and even more so next I expect. We'll be better and do better next season, but can't be expecting to be top 2 without an almighty battle from start to finish.

Personally this has been one of my favourite seasons probably ever. Some great trips, some great experiences and more than our fair share of absolute scenes from the first day of the season onwards. Loved it.

if we can add Fossey to our ranks we have a strong starting XI that we know can perform well at this level

so with a few more additions to the squad and a full pre season going into next season fully fit, then our aim has to be top 6 next season 

with this squad, we can't be waiting till January again to get onto a decent run of form

Enjoyed this season. Need to be more consistent next time or questions need to be asked on why we drop the face of a cliff for 3rd season running.

Have to go for promotion next season. I don’t want to stick around here for too long as it will get dull shortly.

 

Enjoyed it. Great always, enjoyable home games

Its not a foregone conclusion that we are going up next season. There’s a lot of work to be done and we won’t be the only team strengthening in the summer. 
 

Standard of this league is excellent not as big of a gap to the lower half of the championship that I seemed to remember 

We actually look like we have our own identity as a club and a team. 
 

3 hours ago, Biggish Dave said:

I don't think we can football our way out of the division - there are too many shit pitches in winter and teams who will be physical. We do need to be able to stand up to that aspect better than we currently do.

That said, i've really enjoyed it and think we've handled the division quite well over all. L1 is not as bad as the ignorants who watch prem football seem to think. sure, the strikers are much sharper the higher up the pyramid you go but the actual football is enjoyable

Agree with all of that.  I think we can "football" our way to winning plenty of our home games.  Some away games may as well be a different sport, as you say the pitches, the tightness of the grounds, the weather that seems worse at the smaller grounds!  If we approach these games as we have this season with what seems like a naive reliance on our football being enough, we will continue to drop points in those circumstances.  IE will know that and he'll be working on it (eg Iredale would be an upgrade defensively).

But agreed, overall very enjoyable (if we can just take out that middle bit around the Stockport ties), some great entertainment and the knowledge that we have players in the squad that we want to get behind, there are none that I don't like as footballers and blokes and its been many years since that's been the case.

1 hour ago, Marc505 said:

Totally agree with all of this. There's only 20 spaces in the PL with about 40 clubs who are already there or who believe they should be and are aspiring/spending their way towards trying to achieve that. 

Bottom end of the championship used to be the bin for clubs who had failed in that regard, now its the top end of L1. (And coming from behind are high spending teams from NL but that's another story)

The quality and strength of competition across most of the league has been good this season and even more so next I expect. We'll be better and do better next season, but can't be expecting to be top 2 without an almighty battle from start to finish.

Personally this has been one of my favourite seasons probably ever. Some great trips, some great experiences and more than our fair share of absolute scenes from the first day of the season onwards. Loved it.

Apart from the obvious answer of being eight places higher the only thing that would have added to this season would have been some derby wins. We've not had a single one in the league. Maybe we can partially rectify that record this year by beating Accy and Fleetwood at home.

I've really enjoyed it.

Ideally a new defence bar Jones will see us battle for promotion next season.

6 minutes ago, L/H White said:

I've really enjoyed it.

Ideally a new defence bar Jones will see us battle for promotion next season.

So no Santos,???

3 minutes ago, waffer cup 07 said:

So no Santos,???

he isnt for me no

I've really enjoyed this season too and attended more away games and travelled further than ever before.

Lots to do next season but the football has largely been entertaining and a huge improvement on previous seasons at this level.

Great season IMO. Jnr got to several new grounds and on some new pitches 😉

Nice to see a few away wins and some positivity in the stands.

A top half finish is a good result IMO.

21 minutes ago, L/H White said:

he isnt for me no

You won't get better while we're in League 1.

This is before I've read others opinions.

The standard of football is, as expected much better, and with our new signing and confident approach we've acquitted ourselves very well. There have been a few downs but I'm pleased at how we've coped. The 'stuffings' we've taken have been as much to do with the opposition wanting to beat Bolton more than outclassing us (I'm thinking Stockport and Wigan).

Our reputation has gone before us, so I think it's fair to say we're not the popular side in the division.

FV have not (until recently) blotted their copybook apart from NeilCEO and his grassline.

The standard of refereeing hasn't improved in the slightest.