2022/23 Relegation Thread

[BarraMatt]

Good luck Dale, enjoyed the two visits I've made in the last couple of seasons despite very average results. Get the right people in place and hopefully it'll act as a bit of a reset.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

When Rochdale bought Jordan Williams off us for £150k, I’d never imagined we’d be in the division above them just six years later. It was probably signings like that that started the downward spiral!

 

[BarraMatt]

It seems all Colchester ever do is slide down the table, think "bollocks" and win a couple of games.

 

[Salvador]

When Rochdale bought Jordan Williams off us for £150k, I’d never imagined we’d be in the division above them just six years later. It was probably signings like that that started the downward spiral!

You're not too far off the mark tbh. It's one of the causes of our decline.
We've spent decent money (for us) on supposedly highly rated / up and coming players from NL and NLN that have flopped. A deviation from our previous succesful tactic of developing our own players.

I'd argue only Mullarkey this season has worked our from that dumpster dive.

Biggest dissapointments problems being:

Jordan Williams. Signed when we were in league 1. Big jump up and looked like a fish out of water but he never really did owt on loan at then L2 Lincoln either. Unless you can convince me Cymru Premier is a decent standard then his career firmly NL since.

Luke Charman. Scored for fun in NLN. Never took with us. Rumours he preferred a weekend piss up to a career as a footballer. Flogged back down to NLN Fylde.

Tahvon Campbell. Decent scoring record at Woking. Seemed to get injured after every other appearance. Scored 2 in 20 odd and now back on loan at NL Aldershot where I think he's scored more in a handful of games for them than 20odd for us. Cheers Tahv.

James Ball. Apparently well rated, (captain?) of a good Solhiull side chasing promotion to L2. Another where reality hasn't met expectations. He just hasn't been good enough for league football. Also apparently fond of telling our fans to fook off.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

You're not too far off the mark tbh. It's one of the causes of our decline.
We've spent decent money (for us) on supposedly highly rated / up and coming players from NL and NLN that have flopped. A deviation from our previous succesful tactic of developing our own players.

I'd argue only Mullarkey this season has worked our from that dumpster dive.

Biggest dissapointments problems being:

Jordan Williams. Signed when we were in league 1. Big jump up and looked like a fish out of water but he never really did owt on loan at then L2 Lincoln either. Unless you can convince me Cymru Premier is a decent standard then his career firmly NL since.

Luke Charman. Scored for fun in NLN. Never took with us. Rumours he preferred a weekend piss up to a career as a footballer. Flogged back down to NLN Fylde.

Tahvon Campbell. Decent scoring record at Woking. Seemed to get injured after every other appearance. Scored 2 in 20 odd and now back on loan at NL Aldershot where I think he's scored more in a handful of games for them than 20odd for us. Cheers Tahv.

James Ball. Apparently well rated, (captain?) of a good Solhiull side chasing promotion to L2. Another where reality hasn't met expectations. He just hasn't been good enough for league football. Also apparently fond of telling our fans to fook off.

Part of that is the desperation of EFL clubs trying to find the next Vardy. And all that bollocks about National League being as good as League 2 etc.

Williams was never good enough - he just had hot streaks, and I guess that’s when your scouts were in!

 

[dedwardp]

It seems all Colchester ever do is slide down the table, think "bollocks" and win a couple of games.

2020/21 we slid down the table from being in the play-offs in December, but last season we were down there for the first half of the season before climbing to mid table and this season we've been at the bottom all season.

Prior to that we were usually at the other end of the table.

 

[Boz]

Part of that is the desperation of EFL clubs trying to find the next Vardy. And all that bollocks about National League being as good as League 2 etc.

It’s not that clearcut though. We went up from NL with Norwood Cook and Jennings, players who had little FL history but either with Rovers or elsewhere they all went on to show they are perfectly capable of performing at FL level. Suspect there are at least a few more playing NL at present who are capable of making the step up.

 

[Boz]

I’ll be sorry to see Rochdale drop out of the FL, which is looking almost certain, even if they do beat Rovers in the Tuesday game, as seems likely, to keep the survival flame flickering a bit longer.

 

[The Terminator]

I think this will go to the last day, Hartlepool were going to lose at least once under Askey.

Crawley are showing some fight.

Harrogate IMO have enough firepower to stay up and Colchester from what I saw of them also seemed to have enough about them.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

It’s not that clearcut though. We went up from NL with Norwood Cook and Jennings, players who had little FL history but either with Rovers or elsewhere they all went on to show they are perfectly capable of performing at FL level. Suspect there are at least a few more playing NL at present who are capable of making the step up.

Yeah, I wasn’t saying it was always the case - but a lot of players who are just ‘good’ at NL level get big moves because League teams think they’ve unearthed a gem, but it’s only really the handful of exceptional ones that go on to do anything a division or two higher.

 

[Casey]

Showed sod all fight v Barrow but did against Tranmere.

Edit: we Pools and Colchester (and Harrogate, Rochdale) are at the bottom of the table. If you can't get points from the teams around you then you don't deserve to stay up. Obviously winning or losing one game is fair enough, it happens, but as a rule you need to beat your rivals.

Casey

 

[Chief Rocka]

Showed sod all fight v Barrow but did against Tranmere.

Edit: we Pools and Colchester (and Harrogate, Rochdale) are at the bottom of the table. If you can't get points from the teams around you then you don't deserve to stay up. Obviously winning or losing one game is fair enough, it happens, but as a rule you need to beat your rivals.

Casey

These next two set of fixtures will cement one of us in the sticky, could both argue we have survival in our own hands with having to face each other.

Just hope we're still within three points going into Saturday, think a gap of 5 will be too much.

 

[chipmunx]

Showed sod all fight v Barrow but did against Tranmere.

Edit: we Pools and Colchester (and Harrogate, Rochdale) are at the bottom of the table. If you can't get points from the teams around you then you don't deserve to stay up. Obviously winning or losing one game is fair enough, it happens, but as a rule you need to beat your rivals.

Casey

not always though - when Grimsby and Southend went down we finished in 21st or 22nd - but both of them did the double over us...

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

I'm gutted for Rochdale. They're a proper club and when Chris Beech was there behind the scenes, they were running the club brilliantly. They were unearthing young gems from the Academy and getting them to play good football in League One far better than our lot were in the mid 2010s. Cup games vs Spurs, Newcastle and Man United in recent years too and decent sales. Where has it all gone wrong and so quickly too?

The fact the three lower league clubs North East of Manchester survived in the EFL for so long was incredible, especially as gates dwindled at all three clubs every season. But to lose all 3 of them in a 4 year spell is pretty sad. Sure, Bury overspent their way to oblivion and Oldham were horrifically mismanaged by an awful owner, but I never saw this coming with Rochdale until perhaps their League One relegation 2 seasons back. I didn't think they'd be in a position to bounce back then they seemed to sell half their squad for peanuts last season and didn't replace them well enough at all.

The good news is the National League looks weaker next season (especially if Notts and Wrexham both go up) and there's plenty of North West non league talent in those levels who'll jump at the chance to play for Rochdale. Being within an hour of 3 major cities always helps at that level. You can see why the likes of Scunthorpe, Yeovil and Torquay have found it much harder at that level given they're in the arse end of nowhere and you can see why the likes of Barrow moved their training base to around Manchester in order to attract better talent. I think they'll consolidate just like Oldham did but the first few months may be grim.

Hope Hartlepool stay up and we get them on a Saturday at their place for once next season, got a lot of time for them as a club. I won't lose much sleep about losing Crawley or Harrogate to non league. Both have absolutely abysmal RBs with very high opinions of themselves that once played for us (Travis Johnson and Kayne Ramsay) and I'd especially laugh at the former making an arse of himself in non league as he's the most brain dead footballer I've ever seen. Although, I do fear for Crawley if they were to go down that WAGMI may well pull the plug.

 

[Casey]

Wagmi are already saying they overspent this season.

30 odd players on a trip to Spain and paying off players and managers to leave will have that effect.

For a bunch of people who were saying they had great business sense they made some odd decisions. For instance, we have a recruitment director, appointed after the summer transfer window had closed!

If we manage to stay up (I still don't think we will) it will be in spite of our owners.

Casey

 

[Salvador]

I'm gutted for Rochdale. They're a proper club and when Chris Beech was there behind the scenes, they were running the club brilliantly. They were unearthing young gems from the Academy and getting them to play good football in League One far better than our lot were in the mid 2010s. Cup games vs Spurs, Newcastle and Man United in recent years too and decent sales. Where has it all gone wrong and so quickly too?

The fact the three lower league clubs North East of Manchester survived in the EFL for so long was incredible, especially as gates dwindled at all three clubs every season. But to lose all 3 of them in a 4 year spell is pretty sad. Sure, Bury overspent their way to oblivion and Oldham were horrifically mismanaged by an awful owner, but I never saw this coming with Rochdale until perhaps their League One relegation 2 seasons back. I didn't think they'd be in a position to bounce back then they seemed to sell half their squad for peanuts last season and didn't replace them well enough at all.

The good news is the National League looks weaker next season (especially if Notts and Wrexham both go up) and there's plenty of North West non league talent in those levels who'll jump at the chance to play for Rochdale. Being within an hour of 3 major cities always helps at that level. You can see why the likes of Scunthorpe, Yeovil and Torquay have found it much harder at that level given they're in the arse end of nowhere and you can see why the likes of Barrow moved their training base to around Manchester in order to attract better talent. I think they'll consolidate just like Oldham did but the first few months may be grim.

Hope Hartlepool stay up and we get them on a Saturday at their place for once next season, got a lot of time for them as a club. I won't lose much sleep about losing Crawley or Harrogate to non league. Both have absolutely abysmal RBs with very high opinions of themselves that once played for us (Travis Johnson and Kayne Ramsay) and I'd especially laugh at the former making an arse of himself in non league as he's the most brain dead footballer I've ever seen. Although, I do fear for Crawley if they were to go down that WAGMI may well pull the plug.

The summary for us is
1)Covid buggered finances
2)BBM relegated us with a squad too good to go down from L1
3)We lost all our better players and had to fend off a hostile takeover attempt by the wankers involved in ruining Charlton, Swindon and Birmingham City. (i think there was some connection to the sheisters Orient had too?)
4) we now have a really in-experienced BoD who have made 2 disastrous managerial appointments and far too late decisions to sack Stockdale and Bentley.

 

[RiftHouseLad]

Wagmi are already saying they overspent this season.

30 odd players on a trip to Spain and paying off players and managers to leave will have that effect.

For a bunch of people who were saying they had great business sense they made some odd decisions. For instance, we have a recruitment director, appointed after the summer transfer window had closed!

If we manage to stay up (I still don't think we will) it will be in spite of our owners.

Casey

I think yous will, stay up that is.
we have no chance on Tuesday, that’s a banker.
and struggle to win at home all season.

 

[GTFCfish]

It seems all Colchester ever do is slide down the table, think "bollocks" and win a couple of games.

I was thinking this the other day, the year we went down Colchester got dragged right into it from nowhere and they were the team I was thinking we had the best chance of catching then you suddenly get within shooting distance of them and then they go and win 2 or 3 games in a row and drag themselves out of it.

 

[Gills4years]

I think yous will, stay up that is.
we have no chance on Tuesday, that’s a banker.
and struggle to win at home all season.

Are either of those second and third statements really true since Askey took charge?

I thought Saturday was your first setback. Kemp, Umerah and even Jennings seem to have been stepping up so that result really surprised me.

 

[Optimistic Poolie]

Are either of those second and third statements really true since Askey took charge?

I thought Saturday was your first setback. Kemp, Umerah and even Jennings seem to have been stepping up so that result really surprised me.

It’s not so much the result that surprised us, as much as it was the performance.

Miles of what we’ve seen under Askey. We were flat, created absolutely nothing and got bullied at the back.

I worry that Crawley picking up a win, and the fact their fixtures are more favourable for the remainder of the season might just take the wind out of our sails.

Tuesday is now HUGE, If it’s still within 3 points going into Saturday’s six pointer I still think we will get out of it.

If it’s 5 then i think our race is run

 

[Soup Ladle]

Askey made a big call changing to a 433 which we've only been going to when chasing the game. I know it's his preferred setup but we don't have the players to make up an effective back 4 and he got the midfield picks wrong as well. It's his first brain fart since he came in but we don't have any margin for that. How much the Stevenage game took out of the players is maybe another factor.

The weekend was a real downer but we're not done yet. Match Crawley's result Tuesday and beat them on Saturday swings it back in our favour. We might need Crawley to lose Tuesday because there's no way we are beating Salford but realistically I think we might have to. Can't see Salford losing 2 on the trot at home to strugglers. It's looking bleak all of a sudden but we have to keep hoping.

 

[BlackHaddock]

I don't want Rochdale or Hartlepool to go down, but sadly I think it's going to happen. Two old clubs that might struggle to get back into the league once they go.

 

[Salvador]

I don't want Rochdale or Hartlepool to go down, but sadly I think it's going to happen. Two old clubs that might struggle to get back into the league once they go.

I really do think Hartlepool will challenge if they join us. Askey is a good manager and proven at that level.
Crawley, Harrogate. Not so sure.
Nowt against any side but being selfish the weaker option to join us is preferred.

 

[RiftHouseLad]

I really do think Hartlepool will challenge if they join us. Askey is a good manager and proven at that level.
Crawley, Harrogate. Not so sure.
Nowt against any side but being selfish the weaker option to join us is preferred.

Think Harra would manage down there as would we (If Raj doesn,t sack Askey)
With regard to yous, I,ll state the obvious you need someine like Darrell Clarke
He would have yous challenging no doubt.

Crawley i would really worry about, Seems they are being run by NON football people.

 

[Shrimper92]

It seems all Colchester ever do is slide down the table, think "bollocks" and win a couple of games.

They do it every year. About time they had non-league football to go with their non-league stadium

 

[GFCSludge]

Bidding this thread farewell seemed unthinkable in January, but here we are with three games still to play.

Sorry Rochdale and good luck Hartlepool!

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Hartlepool vs Crawley is possibly one of the biggest relegation 6 pointers for years...

 

[Carver]

I hope Hartlepool go down now, deserve to really and nowadays they're more of a non-league club than a football league club anyway.

You'll have better days where you belong so don't be so disheartened about going down, again.

 

[Chief Rocka]

Hartlepool vs Crawley is possibly one of the biggest relegation 6 pointers for years...

Not far off a home sellout, should be a great atmosphere, just hope we don’t wilt under the expectation, Crawley would be over the moon with a point here, keep us at arms length with a home game against pulseless Walsall to come.

 

[PuB]

Can finally bid this thread farewell, it’s been a ride and a half having 12 points and 6 goals scored after 23 games. To be safe with 3 to play is a fantastic effort.

Consideration to Dale and hope you get back here quickly, good luck to everyone else still involved (except Colchester).