Optimism

[The 3 United's]

It's a squad game and unfortunately for the first half of the season we have not had enough strength in depth, especially from the bench. Thank goodness injuries, suspensions and loss of form have not been worse. Looking at football stats the 'we have no money team of loanees ' down the A38 have had a very strong bench all season and they are top of the pile for grinding out results in the second half of games-squad game with a very strong bench.

The play offs are probably a pipe dream, but our results against teams above us is quite impressive and I feel we have nothing to fear from the April fixture list provided we are safe before then; could probably go a bit s**t or bust in those games with our new stronger team and bench.
Argyle, should have got a point at least; Sheffield Wednesday, should have won; Barnsley, won; Derby, drew; Posh, won; Bolton, didn't turn up in the first half and Sam on the bench; Ipswich, outplayed and outclassed; Wycombe, won and Shrewsbury, lost after being two up.
No reason that reasonable record cannot be improved on.

 

[Devon Red]

We were 18 behind FGR in January last season...

This is true, they did collapse.

The difference with this is that we not only need Barnsley to collapse, we need to better the results of 5 or 6 other sides.

 

[Colesman Ballz]

Barnsley play one of their games in hand tonight, away to Oxford. It will be interesting to see how it goes. On Saturday they visit Pompey.

 

[Grecian Max]

I'm optimistic about our chances medium term - particularly as we have brought in a couple of permanents to make the rebuild in the summer slightly less daunting, plus sending the right signals to those we want to keep.

Mid table/top half would be a fantastic achievement for us, especially given the change of managers. Comfortably stay up and hopefully build on that platform next season. Trouble with L1 is with 4 down it doesn't take much of a downturn to find yourselves in trouble.

If the impossible was achieved and Jevani signed a contract extension I could genuinely see us pushing for play offs next year.

 

[John William]

If the impossible was achieved and Jevani signed a contract extension I could genuinely see us pushing for play offs next year.

Yes, I was wondering how much we would have to offer him to persuade him to stay. It goes without saying that players mostly have to optimise their earnings during a short and risky career and what's best for their family, and we can't compete with the big clubs. But money is not always the *only* consideration, when players approach 30 length of contract also becomes salient, he'll be 29 this year. Making him a / the top earner and giving him a 3 year contract with a release clause acceptable to both parties might do it?

 

[Grecian Max]

Yes, I was wondering how much we would have to offer him to persuade him to stay. It goes without saying that players mostly have to optimise their earnings during a short and risky career and what's best for their family, and we can't compete with the big clubs. But money is not always the *only* consideration, when players approach 30 length of contract also becomes salient, he'll be 29 this year. Making him a / the top earner and giving him a 3 year contract with a release clause acceptable to both parties might do it?

He's this generation's Ryan Harley, absolutely vital to our success and we need to keep him for as long as possible.

 

[grecIAN Harris]

Optimism or expectancy depending on how you view it:
Dream scenario, we manage to sneak in the back door of the play offs having beaten The Scummers along the way this dropping them into the play offs leaving the semi final as us versus them. We dump them out over two legs and on to Wembley and then who cares.......... we don't do play off finals anyway.
Realistic Expectancy, beat The Scummers and finish comfortably in the top half of the table.
Disappointing, not managing either of the above but slightly tempered if we can beat the Scummers.

 

[Grecian Max]

Optimism or expectancy depending on how you view it:
Dream scenario, we manage to sneak in the back door of the play offs having beaten The Scummers along the way this dropping them into the play offs leaving the semi final as us versus them. We dump them out over two legs and on to Wembley and then who cares.......... we don't do play off finals anyway.
Realistic Expectancy, beat The Scummers and finish comfortably in the top half of the table.
Disappointing, not managing either of the above but slightly tempered if we can beat the Scummers.

For me, whilst beating Argyle is always important - if they are pretty much up by then it'll take all the shine of it. I'm desperate for them to fall away, and be in a scenario where if we beat them at SJP it really screws with their ambitions this season.

 

[The 3 United's]

Sorry, their loan squad is very strong and they'll go up automatically, probably as champions. Quite an achievement for a club that has recently been pleading poverty. Hope I'm wrong!!

 

[Red Bill]

Yes, I was wondering how much we would have to offer him to persuade him to stay. It goes without saying that players mostly have to optimise their earnings during a short and risky career and what's best for their family, and we can't compete with the big clubs. But money is not always the *only* consideration, when players approach 30 length of contract also becomes salient, he'll be 29 this year. Making him a / the top earner and giving him a 3 year contract with a release clause acceptable to both parties might do it?

Like every other City fan at present, i would love Jevani to stay and i hope the club will do all they can to try to make that happen and I'm sure they are. The problem is that he is currently in the form of his life and is well on course to finish the L1 season with 20+ goals and a similar number of assists to his name. I'm sure that this will mean that come the end of the season there will be a host of clubs willing to pay him double anything we can offer. Whilst i don't think moneys the only consideration, it has to be realised that so far his whole career has been in non league and at small L2 clubs, meaning that unlike some other players of his age, he won't have been on the kind of wages that will have seen him build up a stack of cash. He will be aware that approaching 29 he may only have 3 or 4 years left when he can attract big offers, so if someone comes in offering him a 3 year deal on £250-300k a year, he would be crazy to turn down that opportunity. Its not exactly set for life type earnings but if he he uses he money wisely, he could easily find himself with a mortgage free home by the time he retires, which will make his life after football a whole lot easier! I'd love him to stay but I think the chances are extremely thin.