3 Days to go: The Battle for mid-table obscurity
Just 3 days to go to the new season. Bristol Rovers at home for the Grecians, previewed by Jason here.
Here we look at who will finish in the middle of the table. Often referred to as the dash to mid-table mediocrity. Will clubs be disappointed to be here having fallen out of the promotion race, or relieved after escaping relegation?
- Portsmouth. A real prediction, how will they have recovered from relegation and new trust ownership? Plenty of optimism at Fratton Park with high season ticket sales. Guy Whittingham will have a tightly controlled budget, but will losing become too big of a habit?
- Northampton Town. Losing in the play off final to Bradford City will cause doubts to linger and motivation a key. No big changes to the squad, indicates that they maybe lacklustre this season. Aidy Boothroyd may be more shrewd on transfers than fans are giving him credit for.
- Mansfield Town. Will be delighted to be back in League Football. However, can that be turned in to success on the field this season, and repeat the feats of Exeter City and Crawley Town and get promotion at he first attempt? Paul Cox will have hoped that he has dealt well, but can they score goals? More likely to be looking at the top of the table than the bottom.
- Newport County. Its been a long time since the Newport have played league football. Their win over Welsh rivals Wrexham on the play off at Wembley will have given them a huge boost. Justin Edinburgh will hope to emulate the success of Swansea and Cardiff. City fans favourite opposition player Chris Zebroski has signed for the Exiles. Will struggle to find their feet initially.
- Scunthorpe United, Relegation from League 1 after a few seasons of struggle will have taken its toll. Some good and experienced signings by Brian Laws could make this prediction look poor.
- Rochdale. Back in League 2 as perennial strugglers? Keith Hill turned around their fortunes last season, but small
crowds and a small budget will make his wishes for a promotion chasing team will be too far stretched. - Southend United. Beset by financial problems and restrictions imposed by the league on Phil Brown will mean that mid-table will be quite an acheivement.
- Wycombe Wanderers. Another team where seeing who will score the goals is difficult. Add in a restricted budget for Gareth Ainsworth and stringing a good set of results together will be a tough task. Dallying with relegation is the likely outcome for the Wanderers.
Our prediction for the top 8 was published here.
The preview of the season for the Grecians has also been published today. Read it here.