The not so impossible mission (6 Viewers)

LewSkyBlue said:

haha i really had hope we would get play-offs this year. im still optomistic we will be challenging (maybe top 10) but i seriously think if its not this season we go up it WILL be next season :claping hands:

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly

Just not sure what sort of squad we will have for this title challenge next season when our budget is dramatically reduced and we can't attract anyone decent to play for us.

I have no idea what sort of budget we will have but I'm expecting it to be at least half of this season and probably less than that.

Now I know we haven't exactly pulled anyone decent in with the money season but having no cash limits what Robins will be able to do and although I think he's doing okay I don't think he will make this team get out of this league without a major reshuffle and I don't know where the money is coming from for any sort of reshuffle

Black6Osprey said:

Just not sure what sort of squad we will have for this title challenge next season when our budget is dramatically reduced and we can't attract anyone decent to play for us.

I have no idea what sort of budget we will have but I'm expecting it to be at least half of this season and probably less than that.

Now I know we haven't exactly pulled anyone decent in with the money season but having no cash limits what Robins will be able to do and although I think he's doing okay I don't think he will make this team get out of this league without a major reshuffle and I don't know where the money is coming from for any sort of reshuffle

Click to expand...

im sure in the summer we will get rid of the players like wood taking up a lot of wages and get rid of the loan players we have and imo i think robins will be a genius in the summer and bring in some good free/loan players to fuel our flight up the league table :claping hands:

Black6Osprey said:

and drawing the rest

Click to expand...

And probably only losing about 3 or 4 games for the rest of the entire season.


When all these facts are put together it does make the whole notion look pretty daft doesn't it.

Let's get it all into perspective .......

We are a team in the bottom 4 with the 5th worse scoring record and 6th worse goals against record in the division, who has only won 3 games out of 15 and we are suddenly going to be be winning 15 out of the last 31, drawing 13 and only losing 3 games out of all those?

:facepalm:

Do that (win 15 out of 31, draw 13 and lose just 3) and we will have 72 points, which will almost certainly not be enough for 6th place.




Consolidate this season, re-group and start next season a better and stronger side. That is the common sense response.

And this has nothing to do with lack of ambition, cos you just go out to try and win every game anyway. No-one is saying don't try to win as many games as possible. It's just that everything is firmly stacked against us.

We now need an absolutely sensational rest of the season. With this team?

Mid Table at best, our only chance of glory this season is the JPT

I just don't want lots of us thinking that the play-offs are still on and then have us all enduring loads of wailing and gnashing of teeth when it doesn't happen. Rationality tells you it won't happen.

Miracles do occur of course. Well that's what we would be looking for now. A miracle upturn in our fortunes that goes right against the grain of year after year of struggle and ineptitude and the fact that we have won just 3 out of 15 this season.

We are a quarter of the way through the season and are in the bottom 4.

I just want Robins to make us a good League One team and get as high up the table as is humanly possible. It looks though unfortunately, that we have already blown our hopes of a play-off berth through a terrible start to the campaign.

So much for us 'hitting the ground running' as was predicted pre-season.

I have sad all along that starting at orient we can win all.our games through november which would leave us few points off playoffs by December let alone new year.

Is it gonna happen? I dunno , but its damn possible

Been doing some digging and have looked at teams in the bottom 4 after 15 games over the past few years, same as now. Pretty comparable points differential too between 4th from bottom and 6th from top over these same periods.

Here goes. ......

2004

After 15, bottom 4

Oldham
MK
Torquay
Stockport

No-one anywhere near 6th place come the end of the season.


2005

After 15, bottom 4

Tranmere
MK
Gillingham
Swindon

Not one of those teams anywhere near 6th place come the end of the season.

2006.

Millwall
Cheltenham
Rotherham
Leyton Orient

Again, no-one anywhere near 6th come the end of the campaign

2007

Millwall
Bournemouth
Port Vale
Cheltenham

Same again. No-one even close to play-off contention come the end of the season

2008

Cheltenham
Leyton Orient
Hereford
Crewe

Same yet again.

2009

Southampton
Tranmere
Brighton
Wycombe

Southampton finished 7 points adrift of 6th place (if you recall this is when they got a takeover and massive influx of cash injection)

2010

Plymouth
Yeovil
Dagenham
Walsall

No-one even close to 6th

2011

Bournemouth
Chesterfield
Wycombe
Yeovil

No-one close.





So not only would we need to go completely and utterly against the grain, this is coming from a club that has known nothing but failure for at least 7 years and is likely to lose the only bloke scoring goals for us in January.

Coffee time.

Otis;292464[b said:

]I just don't want lots of us thinking that the play-offs are still on and then have us all enduring loads of wailing and gnashing of teeth when it doesn't happen. [/B]Rationality tells you it won't happen.

Miracles do occur of course. Well that's what we would be looking for now. A miracle upturn in our fortunes that goes right against the grain of year after year of struggle and ineptitude and the fact that we have won just 3 out of 15 this season.

We are a quarter of the way through the season and are in the bottom 4.

I just want Robins to make us a good League One team and get as high up the table as is humanly possible. It looks though unfortunately, that we have already blown our hopes of a play-off berth through a terrible start to the campaign.

So much for us 'hitting the ground running' as was predicted pre-season.

Click to expand...

Too right Otis, if people are still expecting play offs even now, then failure to finish in the top 6 will mean Robins is a failure.

stupot07 said:

Too right Otis, if people are still expecting play offs even now, then failure to finish in the top 6 will mean Robins is a failure.

Click to expand...

Yep. Forgot to mention that. If people think we can still make the play-offs, then MR is going to get it in the neck when it doesn't actually happen.

Otis said:

Yep. Forgot to mention that. If people think we can still make the play-offs, then MR is going to get it in the neck when it doesn't actually happen.

Click to expand...

So what will Sisus take on it be,when he's stated "Its going to take time ,I'll get the time if I get results",The talk of mediocrecy and failure will have been just platitudes,so why use them?

Getting results could just mean us becoming a winning side for once instead of a losing one.

Top half will have been 'getting the results.'

Winning more than 20% of the remaining games would be an improvement...

Otis said:

Been doing some digging and have looked at teams in the bottom 4 after 15 games over the past few years, same as now. Pretty comparable points differential too between 4th from bottom and 6th from top over these same periods.

Here goes. ......

2004

After 15, bottom 4

Oldham
MK
Torquay
Stockport

No-one anywhere near 6th place come the end of the season.


2005

After 15, bottom 4

Tranmere
MK
Gillingham
Swindon

Not one of those teams anywhere near 6th place come the end of the season.

2006.

Millwall
Cheltenham
Rotherham
Leyton Orient

Again, no-one anywhere near 6th come the end of the campaign

2007

Millwall
Bournemouth
Port Vale
Cheltenham

Same again. No-one even close to play-off contention come the end of the season

2008

Cheltenham
Leyton Orient
Hereford
Crewe

Same yet again.

2009

Southampton
Tranmere
Brighton
Wycombe

Southampton finished 7 points adrift of 6th place (if you recall this is when they got a takeover and massive influx of cash injection)

2010

Plymouth
Yeovil
Dagenham
Walsall

No-one even close to 6th

2011

Bournemouth
Chesterfield
Wycombe
Yeovil

No-one close.





So not only would we need to go completely and utterly against the grain, this is coming from a club that has known nothing but failure for at least 7 years and is likely to lose the only bloke scoring goals for us in January.

Coffee time.

Click to expand...

The most worrying thing in all that is in 8 years none of them teams are in the premiership (except for soton with their take-over), and even still, none of them teams are even "good" championship teams

So their raising of fan expectation gives them cover for sacking Thorn and the heat thats been on them for 18 months is transferred to the team.

Wish we could get a takeover and have a massive cash injection

LewSkyBlue said:

The most worrying thing in all that is in 8 years none of them teams are in the premiership (except for soton with their take-over), and even still, none of them teams are even "good" championship teams

Click to expand...

Many of those teams went on to be relegated those seasons.

Otis said:

Many of those teams went on to be relegated those seasons.

Click to expand...

On todays display so could we.

It is still very worrying. We don't score enough and let in too many goals.

Been back checking to 1973 now. That's 30 seasons.

No team in the bottom 4 after 15 games in this division in all those years has ever made the top 6 come the end of the season.

Please I ask now that people stop talking as if the play-offs could be on. You're looking for Roy of the Rovers stuff from a club that's been in decline for over a decade.

Add it all together and there is surely only the one conclusion we can all come to ........

We have been a poor team for many years, have had an awful start to this campaign, don't score enough, let in too many, only have one player truly scoring for us, and putting the final nail in the coffin,in over 30 years no team in the bottom 4 after 15 games has ever made the top 6.

It's okay to dream, but we need to be realists too. We would truly be looking for a total miracle. Something unheard of in recent history.

Pure fantasy stuff.

Let's just play each game in turn and see how high we can push up the league. If we got to top 10 come the end of the season then that would be excellent.

Not so impossible Don? You sure?

CONTEXT.......

David McGoldrick's goal has given Cov 7 points. Cov currently have 14 points. Bottom Team Bury have 9 points!

Basically without McGoldrick Cov would be rock bottom and 18 points from play off's

Its a no-brainer that SISU should buy McGoldrick. Sadly SISU have never shown that they own such an item!

Without McGoldrick and/or a total clear out of the dross Cov will be down by end of Jan.

SISU BUY McGOLDRICK!!!

If we put together a 15 game unbeaten run I might believe we're in with a shout.

As it stands though, scraping a win at Leyton Orient isn't enough to start believing that the play-off push is on.

Not saying it won't happen but we're only setting ourselves up for a fall if we start to expect it.

And as Stupot says, fans start believing we can make the play-offs when a complete and total miracle is needed, is only going to result in Robins getting stick when it doesn't happen.

There is no way we are going down though imo, making up 6 points on mid table teams is far easier than making up 11 points on promotion chasing side. To get close to the play off we are going to need auto form

If you consider 75 points to make the play offs we need 61 points from 31 games

That is 1.97 points a game and over a season that would give you 90-91 points

So pretty much we have to be the best side in the division from now till the end of the season, possible but would be a miracle.

The Brentford and Notts game screwed us for any play off ambitions this year, if we had got 4 points from those games we would have had an outside chance if we hit some form

11 points from the last 7 games and that includes the last 2 defeats from winning possitions. So in reality we are improving as we only had 3 points from the previous 8 games. We were bottom with Bury and have moved 5 points clear of them even with them now improving.
Not saying that we can make the play-offs but with the improved form shown above we can get top 10. Improve that form slightly again and maybe top 8. If we were top 8 then we would have to have a chance unless the top 6 or 7 had pulled away from the rest. Since Robins and McGoldrick have came together we are not far off that magical 2 points per game ratio.
Yes it is going to be an amazing turn aroung but that turn around has already started over the last 7 games.
PUSB

pitts head said:

Not a chance based on today's perfomance. Another woeful display. The team can't string 2 passes together. The midfield were dire. We only won because their keeper gifted us a goal and Orient's finishing was shocking.

Click to expand...

Agree totally, could have gone either way and oorient can't buy a win at the moment. I see a mid table finish at best and we are more likely to be in a relegation battle than pushing for playoffs. But you never know

psgm1 said:

CONTEXT.......

David McGoldrick's goal has given Cov 7 points. Cov currently have 14 points. Bottom Team Bury have 9 points!

Basically without McGoldrick Cov would be rock bottom and 18 points from play off's

Its a no-brainer that SISU should buy McGoldrick. Sadly SISU have never shown that they own such an item!

Without McGoldrick and/or a total clear out of the dross Cov will be down by end of Jan.

SISU BUY McGOLDRICK!!!

Click to expand...

Flawed logic. You assume that whoever would have replaced mcgoldrick wouldnt have scored a single goal.

It's never ever happened in 30 years for a club to come from 4th from bottom to 6th place after 15 games. it wouldn't be an amazing turnaround. it would be a goddamn miracle.

Some questions need addressing here. This paints the true picture and I don't think anyone could argue with this.


1. Have we looked a good side at all this season? (and I am not talking about the odd spell in a game here) - NO

2. Do we score enough goals? - NO (5th worse side in the division)

3. Is the defence solid enough? NO (6th worse defence in the division)

4. Have we dominated any team this season? (apart from that first 45 mins against Bury) - NO

5. Have we any history at all of an sustained good run in the last 10 years (won 6 in a row, unbeaten in 12, that sort of thing) - NO

6. Have we shown any consistency at all as a side in the last 10 years? - NO

7. Is there enough pace in the team? - NO

8. Do we more often than not get outpaced by opposition teams and caught on the break? - YES

9. Have we curtailed this tendency to lose points from winning positions? - NO

10. Have we known any success whatsoever in the last 20 years? - NO



This is a club that has been in terminal decline for over 10 years, has shown no consistency whatsoever, has no money, has had no success, has only won 3 games out of 15 this campaign, has a manager who has said it is going to take time, has a manager who says many things are wrong at this club that he needs to put right ...... yet some still seem to feel we can do something no other club has ever done in the last 30 years and put in this superhuman effort unknown to mankind, with us almost certainly having to win about 15 out of 31 games and only being able to lose just about 3 more games all season.

It is delusional. It truly is.

We have shown nothing to suggest we even begin to do this. Nothing.

The only team who has ever got close is Southampton (7 points adrift come the end of the season). But they were in a false position. They were only in the bottom 4 because of a 10 point deduction.

So after 15 games, although in the bottom 4 they had already won 5 of their first 15 games and drawn a further 7, losing just 3! We've already lost 7 games this season after 15 games.

That season Southampton received a massive cash injection due to a takeover. Southampton spent £3m on players that season. Much more than any other club. And they still finished short of 6th place. And in doing that they won 4 games in a row on 3 occasions.

That shows what task lies ahead. As I say, not just a massive, massive ask, but a bloody miracle!

Oh come on it's October. Stop talking about next year.
We can do this

we could all try singing" come bye aah "at every match then maybe the miracle will happen

People talk about how were lucky to win vs orient andolOldham, but what about unlucky losses to Carlisle and Stevenage etc

If we can cluck we will climb up the table

covcity4life said:

People talk about how were lucky to win vs orient andolOldham, but what about unlucky losses to Carlisle and Stevenage etc

If we can cluck we will climb up the table

Click to expand...

No ones said we won't climb the table if it all clicks, what they have said that its highly improbable that we will finish in the top 6, which would require us to achieve and maintain title winning form between now and the end of the season, something no team has done in league one in the last 30 years.

covcity4life said:

If we can cluck we will climb up the table

Click to expand...

Do you mean that our chickens will come home to roost?

But in our favour with have fantastic players who are going to hit the ground running.

Don't see anything wrong with a bit optimism.
one thing we need at this club is a little positivity.
Who are any of us to tell a fellow fan that they should give up on promotion.

Maybe that's what's wrong at our club, losing mentality of some fans unbelievably giving up on the season in October.

I wonder if the Liverpool management team said to the players at half time when 3-0 down to AC Milian in the champions league final, no one has ever came back from 3-0 down at half time in this final, you won't win it now.... I'm just being a "realist"