2024/25 League Two Promotion Thread

[Stocky]

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[Crewelad87]

Bloody hell that's a bit of a tasty end of season fixture. Some good ones lined up. We go to MK Dons on that same day, should ensure at least two bumper away followings if we're playing for something as well.

We're at Tranmere that day aswell so if we're in and around play offs aswell we should sell out whatever they give.

 

[jacobncfc]

We could be back - McGoldrick is alive again and we’ve wheeled him out for an interview after our worst performance of the season. Last time that happened we won about ten in a row. Our version of panic button.

 

[Kauto Star]

We could be back - McGoldrick is alive again and we’ve wheeled him out for an interview after our worst performance of the season. Last time that happened we won about ten in a row. Our version of panic button.

Still all to play for, for the autos. 3 from any of the top 6 very much on. It's going to be an exciting last 10 games or so for us all

 

[Grimsby Road]

Touching 8k sold for tomorrow night so the announced attendance should show the disparity and what damage sky is doing to a degree .

Worryingly confident if we can do what we have been doing lately we have a chance but also wouldn't be suprised of a reaction from Notts ; Mcgoldrick & Jones still give me nightmares so hope they are still injured tbh

 

[jacobncfc]

Touching 8k sold for tomorrow night so the announced attendance should show the disparity and what damage sky is doing to a degree .

Worryingly confident if we can do what we have been doing lately we have a chance but also wouldn't be suprised of a reaction from Notts ; Mcgoldrick & Jones still give me nightmares so hope they are still injured tbh

No chance of either starting I don’t think. Bench maybe.

We’ve been terrible recently but we are bizarrely streaky this season. Either in title winning or bottom third form at any given time. We were horrendous on Saturday, but last time we were that bad we suddenly went on a mad winning run, so who knows.

 

[PaulHaddock]

Still all to play for, for the autos. 3 from any of the top 6 very much on. It's going to be an exciting last 10 games or so for us all

Not to butt in but if we manage to somehow beat Notts tomorrow then we go above them and are only 3 points off Donny. That being said, I’m not confident as Notts seem to have our number and we’d have to be pretty much faultless until the end of the season to get close.

Of the top half, we’ve only failed to beat Notts, Crewe and Colchester, who I still feel are the biggest threat come the end of the season.

 

[gary]

Anyone down to Grimsby can still finish in the top 3. It's important that we beat Cheltenham tomorrow night. Every game is a cup final now .

 

[Meadow]

Anyone down to Grimsby can still finish in the top 3. It's important that we beat Cheltenham tomorrow night. Every game is a cup final now .

Thankfully our last weeknight match this season. I've used so much holiday this season.

 

[Si Robin]

Anyone down to Grimsby can still finish in the top 3. It's important that we beat Cheltenham tomorrow night. Every game is a cup final now .

The most obvious home win in the history of the game.

Most Cheltenham gamblers will be tied up in the races this week, if they weren't then they'd be getting their life-savings on a home win tonight.

 

[valefan16]

I have been away so only seen a couple of the last four on stream but injuries seem to be hampering us again and key players in Stockley and Garrity, we seem great against sides that will attack us, can probably defend with our eyes shut against top sides in that we are so well drilled under DM without the ball hence the good record playing with a man down but against the lower half sides where we need to be with the initiative we don't seem very fluid or creative hence a lot of draws. I don't recall ever following us and us losing only 6 games by mid March before but we've drawn so many of them its probably going to cost us.

If we make the play offs it might work in our favour that ability against your front foot, decent sides but our inability to really punish sides down the bottom will probably come back to bite us.

I caught the Harrogate game and we battered them for 30 minutes or so but then they had a chance and we went back into our shells and Moore needs to have us on the front foot more, we have the players in the squad but as I have said many times before it is like England under Southgate where we always seem to play with the handbrake not fully released.

 

[Grimsby Road]

I think with regards us we will know if it's a top 3 challenge , play-offs or dropping off in these next 3 games all at home and all winnable on the face of it . Notts tonight is probably the one that worries me most tbh buzzed for it and actually expect to win but we all know down here how quickly that buzz can bite you on the arse and end in a bit of a damp squid

 

[Cloudy]

I think with regards us we will know if it's a top 3 challenge , play-offs or dropping off in these next 3 games all at home and all winnable on the face of it . Notts tonight is probably the one that worries me most tbh buzzed for it and actually expect to win but we all know down here how quickly that buzz can bite you on the arse and end in a bit of a damp squid

Squib! But I get your drift!

 

[Kauto Star]

Squib! But I get your drift!

He's from Grimsby, it's a squid!

 

[womble76]

When we miss out on the automatics and likely fail in the playoffs the answer is obvious.
4 strikers. Omar Bugiel 3 goals and generally poor compared to last season, Josh kelly tries hard but not really good enough 2 goals, Joe Pigott 2 goals and pretty much given up. We are carrying 3 of our four strikers.
We have best defence in league and a decent enough midfield with great wingers. Sadly we are light up top.

 

[Grimsby Road]

Whichever teams go up are going to find it seriously tough a league up aren't they ?

 

[kieran_vale]

Whichever teams go up are going to find it seriously tough a league up aren't they ?

Without question. Best hope anybody will have is if they can ride some momentum through from winning promotion. We just about got away with it our first season up there.

Three home games now for us and have to be winning all of them. MK, Morecambe and Barrow the opponents, nothing is guaranteed but a promotion winning team wins them. Personally I’m out on autos now though might just be a reaction to last night. More about sealing playoffs right now for me.

 

[FiRTHYY]

Whichever teams go up are going to find it seriously tough a league up aren't they ?

Why?

 

[Grimsby Road]

Why?

No one has the resource of a Wrexham or Stockport and no one looks as good as Mansfield ; at best most teams are inconsistent at worst just not very good . Bradford have the fanbase no doubt but I'm not sure running close to break even will work well a league up if you make it what are they all shelling average 4 million+ loss or something daft unless you are a bankrolled team seems a tough ask now it's almost becoming a championship 2

 

[loz]

No one has the resource of a Wrexham or Stockport and no one looks as good as Mansfield ; at best most teams are inconsistent at worst just not very good . Bradford have the fanbase no doubt but I'm not sure running close to break even will work well a league up if you make it what are they all shelling average 4 million+ loss or something daft unless you are a bankrolled team seems a tough ask now it's almost becoming a championship 2

Pointless taking the attitude "no point in trying for promotion". Promotion itself requires planning, not just for promotion but how to follow it on. No different to a successful business planning expansion.

 

[Grimsby Road]

Pointless taking the attitude "no point in trying for promotion". Promotion itself requires planning, not just for promotion but how to follow it on. No different to a successful business planning expansion.

Ohh no I'm not saying don't try . It's just a tough ask isn't it unless you have a shed load of capital behind you I'm not seeing many outliers a league up I would think the bottom 3 have the 3 lowest budgets in the league

 

[kieran_vale]

Ohh no I'm not saying don't try . It's just a tough ask isn't it unless you have a shed load of capital behind you I'm not seeing many outliers a league up I would think the bottom 3 have the 3 lowest budgets in the league

Yeah you’re probably not far wrong there. Probably Exeter on a par with them for budget. It’s a very different league to how it was even 5 years ago as some money clubs from the Championship find themselves stuck down there some of the budgets you’re up against are frightening. Not to say it’s impossible to compete/survive but it does seem a glass ceiling as to what can achieve without risking bankruptcy.

 

[FiRTHYY]

No one has the resource of a Wrexham or Stockport and no one looks as good as Mansfield ; at best most teams are inconsistent at worst just not very good . Bradford have the fanbase no doubt but I'm not sure running close to break even will work well a league up if you make it what are they all shelling average 4 million+ loss or something daft unless you are a bankrolled team seems a tough ask now it's almost becoming a championship 2

I’m not sure what Wrexham, Mansfield and Stockport have to do with our chances in L1?

All I know is, we’ll shift 18,000+ season tickets again. Our rent actually goes DOWN the higher we climb the ladder and I understand FinPlay Protocol is lenient in comparison to L2.

The likes of Vale and the others who have recently played at L1 level and subsequently been relegated will likely agree with you. But the reality is, Bradford City is a completely different kettle of fish to Port Vale, Cheltenham, MK Dons and whoever else who have flopped in the league above recently.

Are we just pretending that when we were fighting for promotion in L1 (on numerous occasions) there wasn’t any big fish spending copious amounts on wages?

Wolves, Sheff Utd, Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan, Millwall, Barnsley, Rotherham all had massive budgets - £10m+ every season.

 

[Si Robin]

Not sure you can say we flopped - we spent 3 seasons in League 1 and were only relegated on the final day of our third season despite having either the lowest or second lowest budget in each of our three seasons.

 

[valefan16]

I’m not sure what Wrexham, Mansfield and Stockport have to do with our chances in L1?

All I know is, we’ll shift 18,000+ season tickets again. Our rent actually goes DOWN the higher we climb the ladder and I understand FinPlay Protocol is lenient in comparison to L2.

The likes of Vale and the others who have recently played at L1 level and subsequently been relegated will likely agree with you. But the reality is, Bradford City is a completely different kettle of fish to Port Vale, Cheltenham, MK Dons and whoever else who have flopped in the league above recently.

Are we just pretending that when we were fighting for promotion in L1 (on numerous occasions) there wasn’t any big fish spending copious amounts on wages?

Wolves, Sheff Utd, Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan, Millwall, Barnsley, Rotherham all had massive budgets - £10m+ every season.

How are we a different kettle of fish? You've been in L1-2 for 20 plus years like we have.

If we went up we'd probably spend again and have a bigger budget than you, but it is a tricky one, we've spent most of my time following Vale in L1 and can safely say the last spell last season and before it felt a far tougher prospect than in previous stints we'd had in 2013-17 and 2000-2008.

Look at this season, you have Birmingham spending more than you're full budget and ours combined on one player, we had Ipswich spending millions in one January window.

Issue is some traditional lower clubs like Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton, even Luton etc now compete in the Prem/Champ so you get more "fallen giants" pushed out so the third tier, plus the big spenders from non league like Wrexham/Stockport, other mid sized clubs then have to spend big to compete and it becomes a big demand.

We'd probably do better if we went up than last time purely because of finance now Carol had that sale of the business but it felt more a case of surviving in L1 rather than trying to push on when we got there which wasn't the case previously.

 

[FiRTHYY]

How are we a different kettle of fish? You've been in L1-2 for 20 plus years like we have.

If we went up we'd probably spend again and have a bigger budget than you, but it is a tricky one, we've spent most of my time following Vale in L1 and can safely say the last spell last season and before it felt a far tougher prospect than in previous stints we'd had in 2013-17 and 2000-2008.

Look at this season, you have Birmingham spending more than you're full budget and ours combined on one player, we had Ipswich spending millions in one January window.

Issue is some traditional lower clubs like Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton, even Luton etc now compete in the Prem/Champ so you get more "fallen giants" pushed out so the third tier, plus the big spenders from non league like Wrexham/Stockport, other mid sized clubs then have to spend big to compete and it becomes a big demand.

We'd probably do better if we went up than last time purely because of finance now Carol had that sale of the business but it felt more a case of surviving in L1 rather than trying to push on when we got there which wasn't the case previously.

Everything about our club is set up for L1 football - Vale, isn’t.

Take a look at our league positions throughout 2014-2017 and who we came up against. One man and his mission (Edin Rahic) is the reason why we’re in L2.

Furthermore, there is absolutely no way you’re outspending us in L1. What was your turnover/budget last season?

Again, I don’t get the relevance of naming clubs like Birmingham and Ipswich. Ones in the Prem and the other won’t be in L1 next season.

Going on about L1 being the new 2.Bundesliga or something.

It’s weird.

 

[Coalite]

I look forward to Bradford tearing L1 a new one next season.

 

[FiRTHYY]

I look forward to Bradford holding their own next season.

Amended this for you.

 

[valefan16]

Everything about our club is set up for L1 football - Vale, isn’t.

Take a look at our league positions throughout 2014-2017 and who we came up against. One man and his mission (Edin Rahic) is the reason why we’re in L2.

Furthermore, there is absolutely no way you’re outspending us in L1. What was your turnover/budget last season?

Again, I don’t get the relevance of naming clubs like Birmingham and Ipswich. Ones in the Prem and the other won’t be in L1 next season.

Going on about L1 being the new 2.Bundesliga or something.

It’s weird.

What do you mean Vale isn't set up for L1, we've spent most of our history there and invested millions in the last 4 seasons on being "Championship Ready" (hate that term btw) in terms of facilities for the players, about to embark on a mega project "Vale Campus" to further progress too. Carol has focused largely on the long term investments to make us that way. They spent £10 million in the first 4 years on that side of it.

£12 million Spend on £8 million turnover this past season with Carol now a rumoured £180 million better off which is why we've started spending big.

 

[FiRTHYY]

What do you mean Vale isn't set up for L1, we've spent most of our history there and invested millions in the last 4 seasons on being "Championship Ready" (hate that term btw) in terms of facilities for the players, about to embark on a mega project "Vale Campus" to further progress too. Carol has focused largely on the long term investments to make us that way. They spent £10 million in the first 4 years on that side of it.

£12 million Spend on £8 million turnover this past season with Carol now a rumoured £180 million better off which is why we've started spending big.

Hang on a minute, you can’t suggest Bradford City might struggle in L1 now it’s apparently become a Championship 2, and then refer to past history where it wasn’t deemed comparable to a so-called “Champ 2” - as if this somehow supports your point, it doesn’t.

If we’re applying the logic that L1 all of a sudden is this lower league powerhouse, then let’s look at finances and what clubs spend/generate here and now - not historically.

The difference between City and Vale is, we won’t need an owner like ‘Carol’ to pump in millions just to be competitive in L1. We’ll do this purely through what we generate - of which, our turnover in L2 is higher than yours in L1.