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Some interesting results last night in L2.

FGR lost 1-0 at 3rd place Mansfield
Grimsby lost 1-0 at Harrogate dragging them deeper into the relegation fight
Colchester lost 2-1 at home to leaders Stockport

Doncaster won their 7th league game in a row setting a new record for them in the league beating Walsall 2-1 putting them 4 points off the play offs in 10th place now with a game in hand over 4 of teams above them in the table. When Gunning took over they were 5 places below us in the table and 6 points worse off!

2nd place Wrexham thrashed Crawley 4-1 only days after Crawley had the same size win at (then 2nd place) Mansfield.

Barrows game was called off for a waterlogged pitch.

Currently
Grimsby    P42 Pts 43 DLLDWL
Sutton      P43 pts 39 LWWWWL
-----------------------
Colchester P41 pts 38 DDWDLL
FGR          P43 pts 36 LLLWLL

In the relegation battle to join us next season from league 1.

Already relegated 24th placed Carlisle won at 22nd placed Cheltenham 1-0
23rd place Fleetwood lost 1-0 at near neighbours Blackpool
Burton currently occupy the remaining relegation slot on the same points at Port Vale but Vale have a game in hand and both sit 5 points behind Cambridge in 19th place.

Its possible that any club from Charlton in 14th place COULD go down its more likely between the bottom 7 teams as all are on pretty shocking runs of form.

(https://i.postimg.cc/wvgsjHXv/a-Untitled.png)

In the national league Chesterfield are already promoted as Champions and will be returning to League 2 and then its any one of Barnet, Bromley, Solihull, Althrincham, Gateshead, Halifax and Aldershot for the remaining 1 promotion place.

Haha you just beat me to it with this thread, I’ll merge my thread as a reply into this

Selfishly I'd like to ensure as few potentially strong/rich teams in L2 as possible next season. Luckily the four coming down from L1 seem very unlikely to be particularly rich sides, and we might get rid of Wrexham, Stockport and Mansfield automatically and FGR to relegation, which is is pretty ideal. Chesterfield coming up will be strong, but the playoff winners much less likely.

If we ended up with:

Leaving League Two: Stockport, Wrexham, Mansfield, MK, FGR, Colchester
Joining League Two: Chesterfield, Barnet, Carlisle, Fleetwood, Burton, Cheltenham

I suspect our budget might suddenly be quite a lot more competitive! The relatively rich sides would then be Chesterfield, Bradford, Gillingham, Notts County, Salford probably, but a lot of pretty small sides.

On the flip side, that is a properly shit line up of away days!

Putting aside all the obvious topics at the minute, the current LGE2 promotion/relegation, LGE1 relegation and National League promotion spots look interesting.

Looks like we could lose at least 3 if not all 4 of moneybags Stockport, Mansfield, Wrexham and FGR out of the division either through promotion or relegation, with Franchise also still fighting at the top.

Chesterfield are already promoted out of the National League. The playoff chasing pack have a few different names.

Carlisle are relegated already from League One.

Obviously very early days and there will be lots of twists and turns left but League Two looks a little less ridiculous from a financial strength point of view next season, not that I think that will put us any closer to properly competing. Expect there to still be a decent few teams with way more financial muscle than us like Gillingham, Salford, Notts County etc

Come on Vale, don't let us down  :D

Great minds? :D

Carlisle have a very wealthy owner and he has invested a lot into the team this season, they bought Luke Armstrong from Harrogate, gazumping Wrexham for a fee of between £300k and £500k including add ons.

They will spend big in the Summer for sure.

Lots of rumours going around Vale that they will indeed be bought out by Robbie Williams soon too (if they are relegated to our league).

Is that Stockport up?

Nobody will beat the Goal Difference.

Best Team that i saw, hope they win it and not the Taffy Mickey Mouse.

1 point needed now apparently, 6 for the title.

Effectively, yes

I have the maximums as:

Stock P42  - 95 ( now 83 +42)
Wrexham P43 - 88 (now 79 +27)
Mansfield P42 - 88 (now 76 + 38)
MKD P43  - 83 (now 74 +16)

Port Vale lost 3-0 at Peterborough last night dropping them into the relegation places below Burton on goal difference on the same number of games played.

Excellent!

Not directly relevant: I see Morecambe got docked 3 points for failing to pay players on time (they has 3 points suspended from last time and the breach invoked it):

https://www.morecambefc.com/news/2024/april/club-statement--independent-disciplinary-commission-hearing/#:~:text=The%20EFL%20have%20today%20released,terms%20of%20an%20Agreed%20Decision.

Correction :

I like what the Carlisle owners have said that they will back the manager and push for promotion next season

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68763289

And also the Stockport story - on the cusp of another promotion - on the back of a decent manager, a settled team, some investment and ambition by the owner

Great story Stockport...best team i saw at the CG.

Didn’t they lose something like £6m last season building this squad, and in crowds that are similar to ours. Just goes to show what we would need to do to try & compete

What about the other two games you attended ??.

This gets touted a lot, it’s bollocks. Barrow, Crewe, Crawley - all competing, all nowhere near that level of budget.

Last year, Stevenage and Northampton got promoted without paying mega bucks

I hate this narrative of ‘oh Wrexham and Stockport have loads of money so how can we even dream of being good too’ because it’s absolute horseshit and an excuse for failure

But we get complaints on here constantly that we are not spending enough & our budget is not competitive because of our level of attendance, yet Stockport who get similar crowd levels as us lost £6m.

We can't have it both ways, can we?

I'm not sure that's quite the point people are making. I don't think many of us expect us to match Stockport and Wrexham spending wise, but there are it seems ten other L2 clubs - including a lot who are not bankrolled to that silly extent and who get less than half our crowds - who are able to outspend us.
 
If we had the fourth or fifth biggest budget in the league, I don't think anyone would be complaining about under investment.

Spot on. Not expecting us to compete with Stockport’s and Wrexham’s with silly money, just don’t think we should be getting beaten out financially by 8-10 teams in this division, we’re punching below what we should be

Colchester v Grimsby on Tuesday. The pressure on Grimsby to win that one is immense...

Massive game in the relegation scrap that, I hope Grimsby can muster a win and put the horrible Cowleys deeper in trouble.

Me too …….   Can’t see being away to the creepies on Saturday is going to be easy for them.   Much rather Sutton survive than the Cowleys.

100% this.

Salford now safe from relegation and Grimsby as good as safe with a 10 goal difference advantage over Sutton.

So just between FGR (P44 pts 36 GD -36), Sutton (P44 pts 40 GD -25) and Colchester Utd (P42 pts 41 GD -19).

In L1 its still any 3 from 6 for the remaining relegation spots.

9 points seperate Fleetwood in 23rd place and Cambridge in 18th. So Cambridge and Shrewsbury both on 46 look the safest currently, Burton on 43, Port Vale on 40, Cheltenham on 38 and Fleetwood on 37.

All 6 of those sides losing today with only bottom club Carlisle winning, ironically.

All those 6 teams have 3 games left to play other than Cheltenham who have 4 left.

A Colchester win today at Notts County will relegate Sutton along with the already relegated FGR.

Any point for Grimsby against us today will see them mathematically safe even though they pretty much are anyway with a +8 goal difference on Sutton who would need to win both thier remaining fixtures (Crawley H and MKD A) and Grimsby losing both theirs (Swindon H and Crawley A).

In the play off hunt every team down to 12th place Harrogate still have an outside chance of making them, my money is on Doncaster though who are currently in 9th place with a game in hand and just 2 points behind 7th place Crawley, Doncaster set a club record 8th consecutive win last weekend and really are on a roll.

The relegation places from league 1 coming down from League 1 are....

Carlisle already relegated

Fleetwood will join them today if they fail to win at Orient

If Port Vale lose at home to Cambridge and Burton win then that will relegate Port Vale and save Cambridge from relegation.

Then its any one of Cambridge, Cheltenham and Burton for the other relegation spot.

Vale at the CG next season could be lively!

Would happily have Vale and 'Numb relegated but as a preference I would take Vale as 'Numb are a huge bogey side.

From the National league, Chesterfield are already promoted and its any 1 of Barnet, Bromley, Altrincham, Solihull, Gateshead and Halifax who all qualify for the play offs.

Sadly no Aldershot who beat us with ease :D

The odds would favour some new blood but Barnet would be a welcome trip to the capital. Bromley as well.
Gateshead it will be then.

Sutton as good as down now after only drawing with Crawley.

Port Vale and Fleetwood both relegated.

Cheltenham now 5 points from safety with 2 games left behind Burton (1 game left) and Cambridge (2 games left).

Will not be Gateshead - that much is certain.

I see, a shame for Gateshead, ground not up to EFL's exacting standards.

Hope Aldershot don't get a reprieve.

Doncaster winning at Colchester & Bradford winning at Barrow.

After Gav’s first game we were a point in front of Bradford & 9 points in front of Doncaster (who were in 22nd).

Now Doncaster are in 5th and are likely to make the playoffs & Bradford 9th with an outside chance of making them too.

It just goes to show what a missed opportunity this season has been

It shows with a bit more organisation and resilience we could have easily have  picked up more points to challenge higher up the table.

How many games have we lost 2-1 or 3-2 when in the game? You don't need to be winning by 3 or 4 every week as we saw with the Macari and Sturrock sides who got the ugly wins.

Or how many points have we thrown away after being in winning positions?.

So final Saturday of the season, we can still finish as high as the heady heights of 17th with a win tomorrow.

At the bottom the last relegation position will be between Sutton and Colchester with Colchester 3 points better off and +5 goal difference.

So Colchester have to lose in their home game vs Crewe (who need a win to guarantee a play off spot) and Sutton have to win in their away game at already PO bound MKD in order for Sutton to have a chance of survival and there has to be a 5 goal swing in Suttons favour in those results too.

Coming down from L1 will be Burton, Cheltenham or Cambridge.

Cambridge are 1 point clear of Burton and play away at already relegated Port Vale.
Burton are 2 points clear of Cheltenham and play at already relegated Fleetwood.
Cheltenham have to win away at 9th place Stevenage to stand any chance of survival.

In the National league tomorrow its part 2 of the PO's with Barnet v Solihull
On Sunday its Bromley vs Altrincham

Gateshead and Halifax are both already been knocked out (Halifax by Solihull and Gateshead by the EFL ground regulations).

The winners of those 2 games will play at Wembley on Sunday 5th May to see who is promoted alongside Chesterfield.

Bromley promoted.
Good. Much better trip than Solihull.

Painful for Shade.

At leas Shade won't be ripping us a new one in the league next season, might happen in the FA Cup  :( .

Crawley vs Franchise postponed. Waterlogged pitch.

So Bromley have joined the league for the very first time in their 130 year history.

Swindon have only ever played Bromley once back in 1976 in the 1st round of the FA cup, a game I remember being pretty lively that ended with us winnind 7-0 with goals from Ray McHale, Dave Syrett x2, Dave Moss x2 and Trevor Anderson x2 in front of 6,497 fans.

Bromley play at the Hayes Lane ground. The ground currently has a capacity of 5,150, with 1,606 seats and 2,500 of them is under covered.

That makes them the 5th smallest capacity ground in the EFL with only 5,108 - Moor Lane Salford : 5,057 - The Crown Ground Accrington : 5,000 - The EnviroVent Stadium Harrogate : 4,256 - Holker Street Barrow being lower.

This season they have averaged 1,470 with their 3 highest home attendances being against Ebbsfleet 4,031 - Chesterfield 3,889 - York 3,738.

They are owned by entrepreneur Robin James Stanton-Gleaves who owns/runs 19 companies with total current assets value of £375m and a total current net worth of £185m and who is willing to pump in a fair amount of money to the football club on and off the pitch but without spending huge amounts on transfer fees.

Thier side made up of many young rejects from bigger London based clubs and include Denis Bergkamps son Mitchel in their squad but bolstered by a few very expereinced lower league players too such as 37 year old ex Millwall CB Byron Webster and 32 year old ex Town target Michael Cheek up front a man with an average of more than 1 goal every 2 games in his career at national league level including 25 this season.

They are managed by 52 year old ex Oxford and Northampton goalkeeper Andy Woodman who has managed them for 3 seasons now with a 45% win rate and is best mates with Gareth Southgate.

Welcome to League 2.

And what they don't know is that they've got 6 points guaranteed to them ;)

I would like to think we can scrape a draw in one of the games ;)

Crawley v MK Dongs game postponed today.

Tinpotters

Would be some fall from our on previous meeting, a 7-0 FA Cup victory in the 70s

Can’t be (m)any season before that have had a season opener & play off game called off due to water logged pitch…

Global warming🤣

Modern grounds - just can’t cope with it.

More like modern players cant cope with a bit of wet.

Can you imagine the modern day Newcastle players actually agreeing to play on that Hereford pitch in 1972 these days?

Cup upsets like that will probably never ever happen again as the pitch was the great leveller that day.

Even less so with no cup replays from now on!

Moder players will be wearing waterproofs in the future :D

Is that the first ever play off game since inception that has been called off?

Pretty much like Wembley in 1969 !!.

Wigan away in 87 was muddy😁

Especially on the bank behind the goal :D

A steep grass bank with a shed at the back!

Worthing Braintree on tnt sports is a cracker, 3-3 with 20 minutes left

Watching Doncaster. They seem like the perfect recipe for success at this level. They can play tidy football but more than happy to hit Ironside with a long ball if necessary, and it actually sticks!

They take goal kicks short, Crewe send 4-5 to press to stop them getting out, Doncaster don't mind as they just play the percentage ball to the big man and get runners off him.

Such simple stuff but we could never dream of mixing it like this.

It makes you wonder why they were so poor earlier in the season.

Crewe on the other hand, not so good. Been found out over the last couple of months.

Maybe they changed their mindset?

…then why is it still so fucking cold - in May.
We are clearly not doing global warming right, it’s getting bloody colder.

York Vs Fleetwood 10 years ago

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/football/york-city/york-city-v-fleetwood-minstermen-get-their-way-over-waterlogged-semi-final-1841783

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect some warm sunny days in early May like the good old days😁

You may well be right and changing the mindset could be the reason. Without looking back I don’t know if they had a decent January window which may also be a factor.

Crawley 2 up

Sounds better when you say dongs 2 down  :)

Or even 3 down

Well done to Creepy I had them down as relegation favourites pre season.

I personally never warmed to Lindsey but hes doing a great job there, fair play to him.

To be 3-0 up at half time in the tie is great against a strong MK Dongs team, I think we all would prefer Creepy to gain promotion than the club stealers, or at least beat them to a Wembley visit.

My money would be on Doncaster though to win over all.

Dongs only had 500 fans there last night. Woeful support.

MK were dreadful.

League 1 I know, but Posh have only lost 5 in 23 at home this season. Come on fellas get a win tonight  :)

They have only sold 5,000 tickets for the 2nd leg too.

Shocking......

Just like America football has never caught on in Milton Keynes😁

I wouldn't be so sure Jimmy, about America.  Atlanta get 45k crowds for their games, which is essentially Championship level football when you average out the talent level in a team, and it's growing at Youth level quite rapidly.  A lot of first and second generation Hispanic children from families that now call themselves American has added to that and the World Cup in 2026 is being hyped quite a bit.  The USA National team has just broken ground on a near half billion dollar HQ near me (when it is fully completed) and a lot of the newer MLS teams are building football grounds in the 20k-40k range and filling them.

Franchise on the other hand, are a waste of space.

For a moment I even entertained the idea that we would have beaten them. Then I remembered just how bad we have been.

I'm pleased for Crawley, almost entirely down to the fact that Steve Hale is on the coaching staff. BUT, how sickening was it to see so many players and staff with a recent STFC link involved in a play off game

I will say well done Crawley for smashing the fake dons at their place yesterday 5-1, thats absolutely brilliant considering they were favourites to go down pre season.

It didnt work for Lindsey here but hes obviously got the formula right there.

Take your 3,000 fans to Wembley to face Crewe for a nice day out in front of possibly the lowest ever EFL play off attendance.

I still can't believe we smashed them 6-0 earlier in the season.

Also MKD only had 8,400 home fans in attendance for a play off thats pathetic.

There's not a club I'd like to see rot more than Milton Keynes FC. Maybe some of their locals have values.

We can certainly agree on that on MG, ignore our rivalries and we can combine our mutual hatred of that club stealing club.

As for MK people having values? highly doubtful as they will go if theres a big team in town.

 the 3000 or so mentioned above could be enjoying a level of football currently out of our reach .  if next season goes how many fear, we may not be seeing them again for some time .

Indeed, I fully expect us to be worse next season than last if Gunning is the manager to start the season.
Non league is a real possibility, especially if Morecambe can sort themselves out.

That is indeed possible, its good to have forward thinking owners that will invest a little and get a team with spirit, rather than broken talented individuals thats cannot play as a team. Irrelivant of crowd size.

Sounds like some issues over at our parent club Franchise with angst against their owner.

Hopefully they can recover with their 30k capacity stadium, exciting young manager and stacked squad so that they can still send us their castoffs next season to develop into saleable assets for them. Thoughts with them at this time.

All jokes aside, another one to potentially add to the one to watch list for next season but they’ll probably still be light years ahead of us next season in terms of squad, manager and league positions even in their worst moments.