2024/25 League Two Relegation Thread

[BigDaveCUFC]

I agree and I think the big killer is the stupid short-term planning from owners and short term success demanded by fans when a big takeover happens.

If I had huge masses of cash with a L2 club scouting would be where I’d put the big advantage, scout non league and scout Scotland.

There isn’t loads but there is a handful of cone north and south players could do well at this level, there is a handful of Scottish players can do well at this lecvel (Moxon 2 years ago at Carlisle from Scottish doc 3 to one of the best in L2) there will be a decent number in conf national can.

But you got to scout them leagues like mad, check check and double check, those leagues get a very bad reputation here because a few clubs in past appoint a non league or Scottish manager and flood their squad from that market and large chunks fail.

But if you have the cash you can scout them well and buy the best.

Carlisle just seem to have absolutely zero planning or scouting and has just been fully connections to the current manager, old friends, current mates and backhanders to ex stalwarts…….if that is transfer position what is point of a DOF or scout network??

 

[RavenBish]

Maybe we were just hilariously bad and I’m conscious they not won since 1978 but Tranmere looked ‘too good to go down’ yesterday compared to what I’ve seen of the 4/5 teams around them

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

You said that about Carlisle also!!

Someone on our forum posted our record the last 30 competitive home matches….

Won 2, drew 6, lost 22……ouch

Although I still think the last week was first steps, Walsall home next seen many a relegation battle and would not shock me if this was a random home win, remember in 2000 and we were atrocious and played champions elect Swansea at home and win 3-0

 

[leedsvaliant]

Me, the wife and kids and the mother in law are going to the lake district at Easter. I said to the wife, tongue in cheek, that we're going to need 2 cars (we have a dog too). I said, in a joking sort of way, that I could drive up the day before and watch Vale at Carlisle, stop over and then arrive early at the accommodation so that everything is set up and I can take some of the stuff. Unbelievably she thought that was a great idea! My first visit to Brunton park, at which point Carlisle will no doubt be flying having turned their fortunes around.

 

[gary]

I agree and I think the big killer is the stupid short-term planning from owners and short term success demanded by fans when a big takeover happens.

If I had huge masses of cash with a L2 club scouting would be where I’d put the big advantage, scout non league and scout Scotland.

There isn’t loads but there is a handful of cone north and south players could do well at this level, there is a handful of Scottish players can do well at this lecvel (Moxon 2 years ago at Carlisle from Scottish doc 3 to one of the best in L2) there will be a decent number in conf national can.

But you got to scout them leagues like mad, check check and double check, those leagues get a very bad reputation here because a few clubs in past appoint a non league or Scottish manager and flood their squad from that market and large chunks fail.

But if you have the cash you can scout them well and buy the best.

Carlisle just seem to have absolutely zero planning or scouting and has just been fully connections to the current manager, old friends, current mates and backhanders to ex stalwarts…….if that is transfer position what is point of a DOF or scout network??

At this level it's not all about money. We have been successful at Wimbledon this season because we have a very good DOF. He joined us around 18 months ago and the majority of player's he has brought in have been a success. I would say all the player's we sign have a point to prove one way or another. That's how it is because we simply can't afford to sign the supposed better player's. If teams at this level are paying player's 5 plus grand a week are they really that motivated.

 

[Grimsby Road]

As I've repeatedly kept on saying time and time again, I'm not surprised three clubs who spent huge wages on bang average fourth tier footballers on long term contracts are doing shite. Almost like there's no incentive for these players to improve, no repercussions if they underperform and almost like they're in the fourth tier because they're not consistent enough to play at a higher level. They can coast, pick up a wage, pay their mortgages off faster and, worst case scenario, they get a fat pay off if a new manager comes in and wants to offload them elsewhere.

The foreign owners in this league are incredibly naive if I'm honest. They just think they can throw money at it like Al Fayed did years ago. The game has changed since then considerably. It works when you're higher up and can entice international standard players from other countries into the league but you can't do that at this level. Post-Brexit, your player pool in L2 is limited to the UK and Ireland pretty much. Throwing money at it and chopping and changing managers who expect to be given vast sums of money to bring their own players in will only end one way and that's badly. You're also trying to compete with L1 clubs with big chequebooks for star players and a significant amount of L1 clubs which are bigger, have better resources and infrastructure anyway which makes them a far more appealing option. Huddersfield, Bolton or Birmingham or MK Dons, Carlisle and Gillingham? It really is a no brainer isn't it?

Carlisle will pay a heavy price for this with their league status barring a miracle. I can see Gillingham and MK making the same mistakes again next season quite easily too.

Hoping some of the more well resourced but reckless clubs come in for 1 or 2 of our better players in the summer 300k-500k would mean we can keep reinvesting in these more out the box signings from weird leagues ; the icelandic lad is far better than some of these 'name' players as will the new Faroe lad probably but he will be next season .

 

[Ainsty]

Based on our performance at Bromley, we deserve to be relegated. Since Thompson got injured, no one willing or able to score. While Morris and Fox appear solid, the other players we brought in during January have been disappointing. Weaver has reverted to using the old guard, which has led to predictable outcomes. If we keep playing like that our only hope is that at least two teams below us are worse than we are. This situation reminds me of the 2022/23 season when I was constantly checking the results of Hartlepool, Rochdale, and Crawley, hoping they had lost. I hate having to hope for another team's failure, it doesn't sit right with me or I suspect the majority of fans.

 

[chipmunx]

Bad result for Gillingham, awful result for Tranmere and Brilliant one for Accrington last night.
Based on their points already and the fact that they can at least score i'd say Gillingham's fans shouldn't be too worried at present though.
Big game tomorrow and one that we'd love to win and break our winless league run against Carlisle since our return. We gifted them what was i think their 1st win of the season in the reverse fixture. We've won 3 of our last 4 home games scoring 9 and conceding 4. Unless Carlisle find their shooting boots 2 goals should be enough here. It will be odd knowing that the fans of about half a dozen other clubs will probably be rooting for us...

 

[hellogregory]

As I put in the manager thread, Tranmere sacking Adkins could make things interesting.

I really was leaning towards Tranmere for the final relegation spot due to Morecambe having Derek Adams, but if Tranmere can get any sort of new manager bounce it really could become a battle.