If we lose on Friday... (2 Viewers)

As most of MR signings are on a two year deal I suspect they have given it two year's to get up to league 1.It will be disappointing if we get beat Friday but we can get automatic next season and I think we will keep.most of our current squad.

Gazolba said:

That's what usually happens.
Based on that, I would expect McNulty, Bayliss, Jones, and possibly Ponticelli to be gone next season.
There's more chance of players staying if we get promoted.

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y on earth would PontIcelli be gone? He's not done anything yet and is still very raw. I'm not slagging him, I like him but i think he'll stay put and develop.
I expect his minutes on the pitch to increase significantly next season.

The majority of us probably think 2, but there are always some emotionally unbalanced people throwing their toys out of the pram on here, so chances are it'll end up with a dozen Robins out posts, a few people blaming SISU, a handful blaming Wasps, and someone claiming it was because we let Julian Gray go.

Preparing myself for the worst but hoping for the best be a great day if we get to and win at Wembley I think I will just crumble on the floor with emotion

I’d be incredibly disappointed and see it as a missed opportunity. However I’d be optimistic for next season, depending on who we keep. For me Bayliss and McNulty are key as I’d expect them to be even better next season after a full season under their belts. I’m not as worried about losing Jones as the questions over his fitness/form would hold potential buyers off for six months at least.

I still think we have one of the best technical squads in the league, when we’ve played football it’s been evident, which is where the missed opportunity comes into it. For me we’ve set up too defensively on too many occasions. If it ultimately gets us promoted you can argue it’s justified, but I feel we could have been better.

Equally, and as always with us, we’ve been incredibly unlucky with injuries. Jones and Andreu were obviously due to be pivotal, yet both suffered season ending injuries. Plus Stokes has been half the player he was.

ajsccfc said:

Bob Latchford was such a prick.

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I've got his shirt.

I think they are taking it for granted that Friday is just a formality for them,but we can surprise them,everyone working for each other, with plenty of passion,drive and determination and belief and of course the 12th man and we will do it..Faith..

I'd love another Wembley day out but if we were to lose that I'd find that much worse than losing on Friday, so if we're going out let's get it over with.
Anyway , it ain't going to happen . Hopefully.

Our biggest issue which has been ever-present since we were relegated from the Premier League is that we rarely adequately replace our top players. So this will be Robins' biggest challenge next season (IF we fail at promotion). McNulty, Bayliss and Willis are the likely players to be sold. Given the quality of each player I'm confident we could bring in at least £2 million worth of transfer income in from those 3 sales so failing to replace them is inexcusable really. Especially if Maddison is sold as well.

If we leave that pitch on Friday after giving evetything but lose,i could except the defeat a little better, however if we hand the game to them without even a fight what a sh't weekend we are going to have.
I just hope we have a good ref too.

sylus said:

If we leave that pitch on Friday after giving evetything but lose,i could except the defeat a little better, however if we hand the game to them without even a fight what a sh't weekend we are going to have.
I just hope we have a good ref too.

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How can we have a good ref! I think they should have a premiership ref as that would dort the wheat from the chaff on the fields and football wins the day

Why does everyone think there'll be an exodus of players sold in the summer if we don't go up? Bayliss maybe but I can't see McNulty or Willis going.

As others have said, if we don't go up, we have a good nucleus of a squad for next season. Jones and Andreu will be like two new signings, get a new GK (or two), new LB and another striker and we likely won't be too far from the top next season.

I have faith in MR, even if we don't go up. Big season for him next season though if we're still in L2, he keeps most of his squad, adds well and has Jones/Andreu back. Then, he'd really need to earn his pennies.

If we lose, then it's a couple of beers once I get home and move on.

Anyway, it's the cricket season now!

I always believe that the best chance of promotion is the season after relegation. The only real time we looked like we were returning to the Premier League was in the first season down, although the wheels came off at the end. This is a massive opportunity for us.
When we dropped into the 4th tier it was devastating to hit such a low level, and not bouncing back to the 3rd tier would be a massive blow. Reaching the playoffs actually means nothing if you don't end up winning them, so failing to be promoted would mean that the season is ultimately a failure.

6-1 win at Cheltenham managed to make me pissed off that we hadn’t walked this league so I’d imagine I’ll be cheesed off if we don’t go thru/up.

Also if we don’t go up we will lose our best players this season and start all over again.

MusicDating said:

Interesting looking back at our pre-season predictions - So , what do we all reckon for 2017/18 season ?

Let's hope Torch getting a letter back from Robins...

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Once again I was spot on:

Genuinely don't know. Take each game as it comes

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Monners said:

If we lose, then it's a couple of beers once I get home and move on.

Anyway, it's the cricket season now!

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What about the World Cup? Has Gareth made his announcement yet?

You’re bound to be disappointed losing in the playoffs, it’s knock out football and all teams in it to win it.

Finishing 6th is not a bad season by anyone’s standards. I don’t think we deserved to be in the automatics, and I think we’re missing that bit extra to be an automatic promotion contender. With a full strength team, I think autos is doable, but, losing Jodi Jones for 27 games, and finished 9pts off 3rd... He probably makes that deficit up on this own. He dominated our games v Exeter, Lincoln and Notts County before his injury, then we lost all 3 return fixtures without him. Hypothetically, if we could only keep Jones or Bayliss, I’d chose Jones without hesitation.

There’s obvious areas to improve on going into next season. Most importantly, addressing how we can comeback into games where we take the lead - our record is terrible when conceding first. Secondly, we need to score more goals elsewhere from McNulty - I think Andreu and Jones will be crucial in addressing this need. Thirdly, we need to be better from set pieces, 1 league goal from our defenders is not good enough at all, that needs to be between 5-10 goals at least.

fernandopartridge said:

Once again I was spot on:

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As was I

hill83 said:

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