Something tells me 70pts will be enough this season to get 7th. I'm basing it on how tight the points are at the "just-over-halfway" stage. I'm quite prepared to have this come back and bite me on the bum, even if it ends up being 71/72pts required.
I did say I'd revisit this "how are we shaping up" element in another 10 games. 1 more to go, my claim at the time was something like "if our form continues we should be around mid table battling with teams like Oldham and a chance at pushing for POs". That isn't far off but we've still one game to play.
The prospect of potentially being 10/11th come tomorrow afternoon and close the gap to 4pts on Exeter/FGR & Bury should be one to get us and the players motivated after several midnight Vermouths (us, not the players hopefully) and a new frontier of space reached by New Horizons to 2014 MU69. So New Year, New Horizons; maybe the Town can be inspired by their new managers way of playing and take 3pts off Exeter. It won't be easy but there seems to be unsettling activity at Exeter and that could affect the squad. Every little helps.
If we manage 3pts against Exeter that will leave us on 36pts with 60pts available. Okay we likely won't win all 20 but I would say on current form (and new additions) 10 is respectable and achievable. Add in 4 or 5 draws would put us on 70/71pts. That gives scope to lose 5 or 6 matches. It's going to be tight, hell we could just miss out on GD but it would be positive to take into the following season.
I don't want to get too far ahead though and will take another look when we hit 36 games. This should give us a more realistic idea of what is mathematically possible at that stage as well as combining other factors (such as current form, new signing impact, etc).
It's clear our recruitment in January is vital to whether we end up just above the dotted line or possibly even higher, and no Reg not the one between numbers 22 and 21
Happy New Year, hope it brings the Town 3pts and you all whatever you desire.