2019/20 L2 Final League Table Predictions

[Saddlerrad]

I don’t think we will so much this season, simply because of the huge overhaul required. However, the news of Bonser selling up, is potentially buying our freehold back and having £440k naturally back into the budget each season will bring the ‘stayaways’ back in our fan base. Plenty of those who said they would never go to a home game until Bonser left have renewed season tickets or will be returning to home games. I can see a feel good factor and at least 500 fans returning at home each week.

We had sold 650 for Northampton until the news broke, I believe it’s 130 odd to go out of almost 1,500 now. Basically all based around the sale of the club.

Will be interesting to see how it unfolds, but I think we may have just increased our chances of doing well by a small margin.

 

[joethegill]

Another view here

 

[shoddycollins]

Another view here

Has Stevenage in 5th
Doesn't feel any need to explain why

 

[Agombar stool]

May as well put in my two-penneth

1. Bradford
2. Mansfield
3. Plymouth
4. FGR
5. Exeter
6. Swindon
7. Northampton
8. Newport
9. Scunthorpe
10. Grimsby
11. Port Vale
12 Colchester
13. Crewe
14. Salford
15. Stevenage
16. Orient
17. Walsall
18. Cheltenham
19. Oldham
20. Cambridge
21. Crawley
22. Morecambe
23. Carlisle
24. Macclesfield

 

[Tom_CUFC]

1. Bradford City
2. Plymouth Argyle
3. Northampton Town
4. Colchester United
5. Swindon Town
6. Salford City
7. Newport County
8. Stevenage
9. Mansfield Town
10. Scunthorpe United
11. Exeter City
12. Grimsby Town
13. Crewe Alexandra
14. Walsall
15. Forest Green Rovers
16. Cheltenham Town
17. Leyton Orient
18. Carlisle United
19. Port Vale
20. Oldham Athletic
21. Crawley Town
22. Morecambe
23. Cambridge United
24. Macclesfield Town

 

[Vanni]

A fellow United fan tipping us for relegation

This is only my opinion but I don't think any side with a class act like Wes Hoolahan in it is going to struggle. He may not have signed yet, but I'm led to believe it's only a matter of time before he does. A case of dotting the i's and crossing the t's or something like that anyway

 

[northstandexile]

Mansfield
Bradford City
Northampton
Salford City
Plymouth
Newport
Exeter
FGR
Scunthorpe
Stevenage
Colchester
Crewe
Walsall
Swindon
Port Vale
Grimsby
Leyton Orient
Cheltenham
Oldham
Carlisle
Cambridge
Morecambe
Crawley
Macclesfield

 

[Conker]

1. Colchester United
2. Bradford City
3. Mansfield Town*
------------------------------------
4. Plymouth
5. Exeter City
6. Stevenage
7. Forest Green Rovers
------------------------------------
8. Northampton Town
9. Grimsby Town
10. Walsall
11. Swindon Town
12. Crewe Alexander
13. Salford City
14. Cheltenham Town
15. Newport County
16. Scunthorpe United
17. Carlisle United
18. Leyton Orient
19. Port Vale
20. Cambridge United
21. Crawley Town
22. Oldham Athletic
-----------------------------------
23. Morecombe
24. Macclesfield Town


*Mansfield prediction purely on John Dempster being good, which even if that is the case he's going to make more mistakes than the average decent manager due to his inexperience.

8th to 16th is the most difficult, Grimsby could click quite easily with that decent strikeforce, Walsall have a good manager, Salford is one of the hardest to predict.

 

[Cas]

All these lazy predictions putting us in the autos. All gonna look silly when we finish 13th.

 

[Big Bird]

Might as well get mine in before I forget...

1. Bradford City
2. Mansfield Town
3. Swindon Town
-------------------------------------
4. Scunthorpe United
5. Northampton Town
6. Plymouth Argyle
7. Exeter City
-------------------------------------
8. Colchester United
9. Stevenage
10. Crewe Alexandra
11. Grimsby Town
12. Salford City
13. Leyton Orient
14. Newport County
15. Walsall
16. Port Vale
17. Forest Green Rovers
18. Cheltenham Town
19. Carlisle United
20. Crawley Town
21. Cambridge United
22. Morecambe
---------------------------------
23. Oldham Althletic
24. Macclesfield Town

 

[Richard Cranium]

1. Plymouth
2. Mansfield
3. Bradford
-----
4. Scunthorpe
5. Swindon
6. Northampton
7. Colchester
-----
8. Exeter
9. Crewe
10. Newport
11. Salford
12. FGR
13. Stevenage
14. Walsall
15. Carlisle
16. Cheltenham
17. Grimsby
18. Oldham
19. Orient
20. Vale
21. Cambridge
22. Crawley
23. Morecambe
24. Macclesfield

 

[hellogregory]

Morecambe will not go down.

 

[valefan16]

Morecambe will not go down.

Don’t know, they are one of them sides that will have one season when they don’t get out of it. Think like when Southampton used to survive in the Prem in the 90s on the last day and you knew sooner or later they’d go down.

Done a remarkable job to keep up as they have with their fan base and finances.

 

[hellogregory]

Don’t know, they are one of them sides that will have one season when they don’t get out of it. Think like when Southampton used to survive in the Prem in the 90s on the last day and you knew sooner or later they’d go down.

Done a remarkable job to keep up as they have with their fan base and finances.

I just think this season they’ve made some decent enough signings. Not signings that will get them anywhere close to challenging but decent experienced safe signings that will do enough to stay up.

 

[Son of Cod]

They did say something about improvement, but not sure it was the season as a whole they were talking about as they also said Grimsby were very inconsistent last season, and certainly ended it on atrocious form. Best listen to it yourself.

Have listened to it now. Another one that fails to pick up on any of the positives of last season for us, of which there are a few. Glad for that to slip under the radar though, I think we'll be comfortably midtable next season and will finish at least a few places higher than last season's 17th. Which will be punching above our weight budget wise.

One thing I completely disagreed on was their opinion that Northampton haven't signed anyone decent. They even mentioned McCormack and then were just like "nahhh". Nicky Adams was quality last season, how can they wax lyrical about Mayor and Maynard and ignore Adams? That Warburton is supposed to be class too.

Also FGR are gonna be in the playoffs because they were last season and we know that might sound silly but we're saying it anyway? Haha, not having that. Lazy af.

Most of our CM’s are wank so the chance of that happening, however unlikely, could happen, thankfully though the ball will only go up to Hanson’s 50p head so at least we’ll get it back soon after.

Hanson nailed onto score the winner now, cheers!

You’ll have to retain the ball for long periods for that to be a success.

Scannell, Vaughan, Donaldson and Doyle will penetrate your defence with relative ease.

In all seriousness, we are lacking a Gary Jones like figure in midfield; but I still believe Akpan and Anderson will come through well this season - not to mention Palmer, he’s class.

Our defence is fairly decent, to be fair. If you do get through it you still have to beat one of the best shot stoppers in the division too.

So lump on Grimsby 1 (Hanson) Bradford 5 (Scanell, Vaughan, Donaldson, Doyle McKeown OG).

 

[Chris FGR]

Also FGR are gonna be in the playoffs because they were last season and we know that might sound silly but we're saying it anyway? Haha, not having that. Lazy af

Was a bit confused by what they said about us, "the team they most disagreed on" when both seemed to have a similar opinion, plus also saying we'd punched above our weight and done well last season, but that we could do with a better manager or words to that effect. Not sure how that follows.

 

[shoddycollins]

I just think this season they’ve made some decent enough signings. Not signings that will get them anywhere close to challenging but decent experienced safe signings that will do enough to stay up.

Think Shaun Miller will do well for them this season. It's just one of those things where, even though he won't have Devitt supplying him, you think he's probably going to be quite happy there.

 

[Son of Cod]

Was a bit confused by what they said about us, "the team they most disagreed on" when both seemed to have a similar opinion, plus also saying we'd punched above our weight and done well last season, but that we could do with a better manager or words to that effect. Not sure how that follows.

Yeah, it wouldn't have bothered me if they could justify it. Did they even mention any new players? They mentioned Doidge and Brown a bit, but can't remember what else they said about your squad.

 

[Chris FGR]

Yeah, it wouldn't have bothered me if they could justify it. Did they even mention any new players? They mentioned Doidge and Brown a bit, but can't remember what else they said about your squad.

They said they liked our transfer policy without really saying why or expanding on it, just sounded a bit generic tbh.

 

[shoddycollins]

Was a bit confused by what they said about us, "the team they most disagreed on" when both seemed to have a similar opinion, plus also saying we'd punched above our weight and done well last season, but that we could do with a better manager or words to that effect. Not sure how that follows.

Had to listen to that again.

Ali had you in 3rd, thinks Collins is an improvement on Doidge, commented on Mills as a good signing, just generally seems to believe in the FGR way of doing things, I think also assumed there would be good signings still to come.

George had you in 14th, admits he was a bit pessimistic, he was the one who felt Cooper was holding you back, and that the players you lost would be missed. Mentioned concerns about the underlying data from last season, and I guess based the idea you'd punched above your weight a bit on that. I think the implication with saying that you could do with a better manager and your stats weren't necessarily those of a good team were that Cooper was a lucky manager rather than a good manager last season.

It's a big difference to put down to just whether or not you've adequately replaced a player you only had for half a season and the data from last season. It sounds like there was a lot of blind faith involved in the FGR decision though. Ali has a good feeling about you, George doesn't. I think both of them may have push you up/down the table a bit based on a hunch.

 

[Chris FGR]

They differed on where we might finish, but agreed on every opinion, which for me seemed strange. Think they were wildly guessing tbh. You are right they did mention Collins, but to call him better then Doidge is a joke. He's a talented but lightweight support striker from what I've seen, potential yes but the amount of people that under estimate Doidge's ability/impact is ridiculous. He didn't look spectacular or have much pace, but was very effective and virtually all our play was centred around him. Was usually double marked as well.

I don't really get not having 'the stats of a good team' stuff either. Surely you can't be lucky over a whole season. So his point seemed to be that our stats suggested we over achieved, but at the same time we could have done better with a different manager, which sort of contradicts the whole over achieved thing imo. You can't over achieve and under achieve at the same time.

The whole thing was generic but you can't expect much more tbh, they can't be expected to know too much about every club, but they need to give an opinion on everyone. Much like Steve Claridge or Leroy Rosenior used to be like on the EFL show.

 

[Boz]

1. Bradford City
2. Mansfield
3. Plymouth
-------------------------
4. Swindon
5. Colchester
6. Scunthorpe
7. Salford
---------------------------
8. Newport County
9. Northampton
10. Exeter
11. Walsall
12. Crewe
13. Stevenage
14. Forest Green Rovers
15. Grimsby
16. Leyton Orient
17. Port Vale
18. Cambridge
19. Cheltenham
20. Morecambe
21. Crawley
22. Carlisle
---------------------------
23. Oldham
24. Macclesfield

Difficult league to call at the top end. Bradford with continuity of management edge it, though Mansfield and maybe Plymbury have better squads. Can see Salford chucking the money in January to bolster their play off prospects.

At the other end, most predictions have the same sides at or around the bottom end. Can't see much hope for Macc and the combination of unknown manager and meddling chairman secures the other drop spot for Oldham.

 

[Howzy]

I have Oldham being the surprise package this year and i think we will be top half, flirting with playoffs... I'm normally wrong.

 

[The Terminator]

1 Bradford City
2 Scunthorpe United
3 Exeter City
---------------------------------------------------------
4 Newport County
5 Salford City
6 Plymouth Argyle
7 Mansfield Town
----------------------------------------------------------
8 Colchester United
9 Forest Green Rovers
10 Northampton Town
11 Crewe Alexandra
12 Swindon Town
13 Stevenage
14 Walsall
15 Port Vale
16 Grimsby Town
17 Crawley Town
18 Cheltenham Town
19 Leyton Orient
20 Carlisle United
21 Cambridge United
22 Morecambe
-------------------------------------------------------------
23 Oldham Athletic
24 Macclesfield Town

Bradford have one of the best managers down here and the best squad depth, they should be there or thereabouts.

Mansfield too have a good squad on paper - One that should challenge for promotion, but they have a rookie manager, so god knows what to expect with them.

Exeter have made some smart signings IMO, Parkes is a steady defender and Ajose should do well down here.

Salford will do well, their squad was built last summer with this league in mind and they've added well IMO. Rooney and Gaffney will get goals in this league and Neville and Co have installed big belief in their club. Don't think they will be promoted though.

Difficult to see beyond Macclesfield, Oldham, Cambridge and Morecambe as to who is going to be fending off the drop.

I'll just be happy when this season is over, we should have enough to stay out of trouble.

 

[Blue Lion]

1 Mansfield
2 Bradford
3 Plymouth
4 Scunthorpe
5 Northampton
6 Exeter
7 Salford
8 Swindon
9 Crewe
10 Walsall
11 Colchester
12 Forest Green
13 Newport
14 Grimsby
15 Stevenage
16 Port Vale
17 Crawley
18 Cheltenham
19 Carlisle
20 Morecambe
21 Orient
22 Macclesfield
23 Cambridge
24 Oldham

No real logic behind it, putting us in 22nd is more in hope than expectation.

 

[SELatic]

1. Plymouth
2. Bradford
3. Mansfield
4. Swindon
5. Northampton
6. Newport
7. Crewe
8. Scunthorpe
9. FGR
10. Exeter
11. Colchester
12. Salford
13. Walsall
14. Grimsby
15. Port Vale
16. Stevenage
17. Cheltenham
18. Cambridge
19. Leyton O
20. Crawley
21. Oldham
22. Carlisle
23. Morecambe
24. Macclesfield

Plymouth and Bradford have had the best transfer window whilst mansfield haven’t got the hinderance of Flitcroft.

Northampton, Swindon and Crewe all to improve.

Salford haven’t done enough to justify a promotion prediction.

David Wheater to keep Latics up. If Lang were to come back I’d have us in mid table.

Bottom two speak for themselves really.

 

[GodsGift]

1. Salford
2. Scunthorpe
3. Bradford
-------------------------
4. Mansfield
5. Walsall
6. Forest Green
7. Plymouth
-------------------------
8. Colchester
9. Exeter
10. Swindon
11. Northampton
12. Leyton Orient
13. Newport
14. Carlisle
15. Crewe
16. Oldham
17. Port Vale
18. Stevenage
19. Cambridge
20. Crawley
21. Grimsby
22. Morecambe
-------------------------
23. Cheltenham
24. Macclesfield

My updated version:

1. Bradford
2. Mansfield
3. Plymouth
-------------------------
4. Scunthorpe
5. Salford
6. Colchester
7. Walsall
-------------------------
8. FGR
9. Exeter
10. Swindon
11. Northampton
12. Newport
13. Crewe
14. Leyton Orient
15. Port Vale
16. Grimsby
17. Oldham
18. Stevenage
19. Cambridge
20. Carlisle
21. Morecambe
22. Crawley
-------------------------
23. Cheltenham
24. Macclesfield

 

[Railway Blue]

Based on not much at all

1. Bradford
2. Scunthorpe
3. Northampton
4. Swindon
5. Plymouth
6. Mansfield
7. FGR
8. Port Vale
9. Newport
10. Exeter
11. Salford
12. Grimsby
13. Crewe
14. Crawley
15. Latics
16. Stevenage
17. Walsall
18. Colchester
19. Cheltenham
20. Cambridge
21. Orient
22. Carlisle
23. Morecambe
24. Macclesfield

Macclesfield won't finish bottom. They'll continue to punch above their weight.

 

[Railway Blue]

1. Plymouth
2. Bradford
3. Mansfield
4. Swindon
5. Northampton
6. Newport
7. Crewe
8. Scunthorpe
9. FGR
10. Exeter
11. Colchester
12. Salford
13. Walsall
14. Grimsby
15. Port Vale
16. Stevenage
17. Cheltenham
18. Cambridge
19. Leyton O
20. Crawley
21. Oldham
22. Carlisle
23. Morecambe
24. Macclesfield

Plymouth and Bradford have had the best transfer window whilst mansfield haven’t got the hinderance of Flitcroft.

Northampton, Swindon and Crewe all to improve.

Salford haven’t done enough to justify a promotion prediction.

David Wheater to keep Latics up. If Lang were to come back I’d have us in mid table.

Bottom two speak for themselves really.

He played a lot of games for us back in the 90s (I think) and he was an absolute donkey, but for some reason the fans loved him. I suspect he's not much cop as a manager either.

 

[Blue Lion]

Macclesfield won't finish bottom. They'll continue to punch above their weight.

There were signs yesterday that suggest you might be right. Still lacking a goalscorer which makes a relegation scrap inevitable, but other than that this new team looks better than last season's.