Promotion thread

[shoddycollins]

Our academy could compete in high L1/Champ themselves.

No they fucking couldn't, don't be an idiot.

 

[AdamStag]

No they fucking couldn't, don't be an idiot.

Some of the stuff this weekend?”!

 

[Conker]

I’d say that’s about right. Wins like the last couple Mansfield picked up are the kind that I expect a promotion team to get. They have us fifth favourite behind Northampton. Can maybe debate that one but I’d say it’s close enough between us two.

I’m not totally convinced Salford are dead and buried in this race either as much the thought of that makes me want to throw up.

Salford unbeaten in 9 now, we’ve yet to play them at their park too. FGR to play twice, and Northampton and Sutton at home too for Mansfield.

 

[Spanishstag]

Salford unbeaten in 9 now, we’ve yet to play them at their park too. FGR to play twice, and Northampton and Sutton at home too for Mansfield.

Home games not a problem fgr split the points either 2 draws or a home win then an away defeat Salford away gonna breeze it it's Tuesday night that's on my mind ,win and its party time draw okish lose then it's nervy ,nice to see the Burton duo getting some grief on stagsnet ,my god they are sooooo tiresome

 

[Devon_Lad]

Just my opinion, but you still can't rely on players coming through all the time, especially as you move up the leagues. Crewe had a few fallow years before they got promoted last time and then when they go up a level they just come straight back again.

I think in league 1/championship you've got to predominantly make good signings with maybe 1 or 2 youngsters, otherwise you're just bouncing back and forth. That's why it's so rare for clubs to rise from the bottom division up to the Premier league/championship without serious investment. You've just got to hope that you're one of the lucky ones like Burton or Accrington who have far exceeded their capabilities and then hope for huge investment like a Bournemouth or Brentford once you get there.

It happened with Stoke, they bounced around Championship/league 1 and then got back into the championship. Then one of the richest families in the UK became owner again and took them to the next level. Even they are now wary about how much they have put in.

I just don't think you can compare Crewe and ourselves which people keep doing. The conveyor belt for youngsters is never ending. We've already got players like Harry Lee & Sonny Cox that are wanted by the 'big 6'

We are still getting money regularly for Watkins, Ampadu we have a 20% sell on as well, Ben Chrisene who's now hitting Villa's bench. Once these players move on the money doesn't just stop then and the talent coming through just keeps getting better and better and more and more at once

 

[Devon_Lad]

On what basis can you say your academy players could compete in L1 and Champ? You’re not even running away with L2.

Your problem will be attracting quality players into the club. If you’re not paying silly salaries to attract them - a la Salford - nobody would want to sign.

Average L1 players recruited propped up by our academy. Easy pickings. Academy = cheap cheap cheap wages giving us a budget to easily buy average to better than average L1 players.

The problem we had up until this season is we were having to sell players, we had debt to pay & now we can, and are (like Key) rejecting mad bids most in this league wouldn't dream of turning down. We can now keep players for longer & that'll only increase in L1.

 

[Devon_Lad]

No they fucking couldn't, don't be an idiot.

Our academy has produced basically a Champ/Prem team in the last 5-7 years.

Storey, Watkins,Ampadu(Was Pym till his bust up), Grimes (okay slightly longer than 7 years buf not far off), Chrisene, Joel Randall, Jay Stansfield...we now have players like Key which L1/Champ are after, need I go on? The issue is we've had to sell due to poor finances. We now don't need to and can hold onto them for longer and utilise them more.

 

[Indian Dan]

That was then. This is now. There’s no guarantee at all the academy will continue to produce.

Almost every club can point to players show have left to go on to better things. Your academy dries up, you’re back to where you came from.

Sell a player for good money and you can’t attract a decent replacement because of wages/location.

And all that based on piss poor crowds.

 

[valefan16]

Crewe have the issue they get a player through and sell them on fair enough but they never invest in the team then, the money I assume goes back into the academy and the cycle starts again.

They hit the jackpot in the early 00s with Ashton, Hulse etc but at that point they spent like half a million on Dave Brammer for instance.

The difficulty now also is the big boys nicking much of the talent. We had four I think poached a couple of years ago by bigger clubs (made some money). No idea on the names or if they will disappear in the system but it’s only getting harder.

Exeter have done well with their academy and had a golden period but you don’t see them flashing big wages around still at this level so does rely on it not having a lean spell in terms of productivity.

Essentially the days of clubs like Vale, Crewe, Swindon and Grimsby being Championship regulars like in the 90s are probably long gone unless you have serious investment in the first team and living off an academy alone won’t see you sustain success higher up.

Our academy has been poor the last few seasons mind you. Pretty sure our kids took a walloping 6 or 7 by Carlisle the other week. Gibbons and Smith came through it who are first teamers and obviously the likes of Sam Morsy have gone onto good careers but before that your down to the early 00s and Chris Birchall and Billy Paynter!

Needs some sorting that really.

Did like the development squad idea we tried under Adams though.

 

[AdamStag]

That was then. This is now. There’s no guarantee at all the academy will continue to produce.

Almost every club can point to players show have left to go on to better things. Your academy dries up, you’re back to where you came from.

Sell a player for good money and you can’t attract a decent replacement because of wages/location.

And all that based on piss poor crowds.

you obviously must be wrong, evidently exeter will be in the champions league in 4 seasons

 

[shoddycollins]

Our academy has produced basically a Champ/Prem team in the last 5-7 years.

Storey, Watkins,Ampadu(Was Pym till his bust up), Grimes (okay slightly longer than 7 years buf not far off), Chrisene, Joel Randall, Jay Stansfield...we now have players like Key which L1/Champ are after, need I go on? The issue is we've had to sell due to poor finances. We now don't need to and can hold onto them for longer and utilise them more.

How many of those were in the academy at the same time though, ampadu left ages ago before his 18th birthday didn't he? You haven't got a team there. Have they not also improved since they left?

 

[shoddycollins]

Our academy has been poor the last few seasons mind you. Pretty sure our kids took a walloping 6 or 7 by Carlisle the other week.

Our academy has been decent recently but actually transforming that into players who can carry that form into senior careers is another thing, and most players who have a shot get poached. Only occasionally will someone like Branthwaite sneak through the gap and get a decent first team run so they can get a more lucrative move.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

Exeter being in League 2 must be the biggest failing in football, given all the talent at their disposal.

 

[masi51]

Our academy could compete in high L1/Champ themselves. Granted some we would sell and with that money other academy players will develop or we will use the monies to buy some ourselves. The difference is between us and Crewe is we have players coming through on a much more consistent basis and don't need to buy players when we sell a gem, we just produce another one. We can afford now to sell when we want rather than whenever someone comes in with an offer - see Key. Crewe aren't trust owned and the owner wants profit. It's not a like for like model. We will sell if we are struggling for money, which isn't going to be likely or if the offer is just too good to turn down, in which case we can use that to reinvest completely.

your Academy would finish bottom of lge 1 . Your first team as it stands would be in a group of 6/8 fighting relegation. Josh Key will NOT get in the PFA team of the year next season because he will be bang average at best. Massive gap between the top of Lge1 and 2 and unless you invest heavy you will return to lge 2 in the next couple of seasons.

 

[Sydney Posse]

Our academy has been decent recently but actually transforming that into players who can carry that form into senior careers is another thing, and most players who have a shot get poached. Only occasionally will someone like Branthwaite sneak through the gap and get a decent first team run so they can get a more lucrative move.

A big thing with ours is getting them out on loan in non league to get them experience of the reality of mens football. Almost all of ours have done this / are doing this. Ollie Watkins as an example went to Weston Super Mare for a season.

 

[FGR Stroud]

Remaining fixtures of the 10 promotion favourites:
View attachment 16948
View attachment 16949

Checking out the remaining fixtures it seems Mansfield will not win Championship but they could well be 'King maker' with two games v FGR and another v Northampton.
Earlier in season I had them as a strong auto-promoted possibility. And indeed with their games in hand it could well be the case.
Obviously Exeter are creating a clear gap from top two to rest of pack and must be a clear favourite for auto-promotion.
With the league so tight it will be another year that the Easter fixtures determine season's pecking order.

 

[Indian Dan]

I reckon FGR will have a massive say on who reaches the POs though. If we can beat them and they do the business against a host of other 6-pointers they have to play we may have a sniff.

 

[FGR Stroud]

Latest promotion odds: -

 

[AdamStag]

Checking out the remaining fixtures it seems Mansfield will not win Championship but they could well be 'King maker' with two games v FGR and another v Northampton.

Earlier in season I had them as a strong auto-promoted possibility. And indeed with their games in hand it could well be the case.
Obviously Exeter are creating a clear gap from top two to rest of pack and must be a clear favourite for auto-promotion.
With the league so tight it will be another year that the Easter fixtures determine season's pecking order.

I don’t particaularly recall anyone saying we were going to win the league.

Out of the 10 games left, weve FG twice, northampton and sutton at home. we’re away at inform hartlepool and carlisle.

Slightly more confident of the playoffs than this time last week after wins at rochdale and oldham but let’s see. If we can get 4 from hartlepool and northampton at home saturday id be delighted.

 

[FGR Stroud]

I don’t particularly recall anyone saying we were going to win the league.

I tend to agree with you. All the publicity thus far was for FGR, but of late Exeter are making claims to the title. I honestly believe it will be either of these two clubs to win league.

 

[EricSabin]

We seem to just be clinging on atm. 8th in the 5 game form table, keep nicking wins here and there to keep us in the hunt. Saturday at Mansfield is massive, if we can avoid defeat I’ll be over the moon.

 

[AdamStag]

We seem to just be clinging on atm. 8th in the 5 game form table, keep nicking wins here and there to keep us in the hunt. Saturday at Mansfield is massive, if we can avoid defeat I’ll be over the moon.

I think it’ll be the 1st time the ground has sold out in some while, even in the playoffs against newport it was lower as they didn’t bring masses (short notice in fairness) wrexham took like 50 to us when we we won the conference and the ground had capacity restrictions on when liverpool came to us in the cup.

There were 6,300 home fans on a friday night against exeter and defying our own fans expectations were still in the hunt so it could be fun saturday. I assume you’ve sold out/will sell out the away end?

 

[ExeterDan]

As a lifetime Exeter fan I've learned not to get ahead of myself, but I'm starting to believe we might just do it this season. I think the next 2 matches are key (away to Newport and Carlisle). If we're still in the autos after those then I'll be pretty confident we're staying there as the run-in looks a lot gentler. I'd be delighted with 2 draws.

My worry is our struggle to score goals, which is going to be the thing that costs us if anything. We've been mainly getting wins by single goals against bottom of the table teams, despite overall dominance.

As for who else might be going up, I still can't see Forest Green doing so badly as to throw away the title. For the third spot I'm predicting Port Vale, based on nothing more than a feeling. Mansfield to jump in if we balls it up.

 

[leedsvaliant]

ExWe seem to just be clinging on atm. 8th in the 5 game form table, keep nicking wins here and there to keep us in the hunt. Saturday at Mansfield is massive, if we can avoid defeat I’ll be over the moon.

You had a good run earlier in the season which stood you in good stead and like you say, you keep picking up wins here and there which just about keeps you in the hunt. Defensively good which always helps.

With Mansfield's remaining fixtures, that 3rd place is up for grabs. Can't see Forest Green or Exeter slipping up now. I'm convinced that there'll be 2 or 3 teams on the same points in 3rd going into the final game......I just hope Exeter are promoted with no chance of being champions by then!

 

[denzel ecfc]

.I just hope Exeter are promoted with no chance of being champions by then!

I'll take that!

 

[AdamStag]

You had a good run earlier in the season which stood you in good stead and like you say, you keep picking up wins here and there which just about keeps you in the hunt. Defensively good which always helps.

With Mansfield's remaining fixtures, that 3rd place is up for grabs. Can't see Forest Green or Exeter slipping up now. I'm convinced that there'll be 2 or 3 teams on the same points in 3rd going into the final game......I just hope Exeter are promoted with no chance of being champions by then!

we’re hoping the same for forest green.

 

[SVH]

your Academy would finish bottom of lge 1 . Your first team as it stands would be in a group of 6/8 fighting relegation. Josh Key will NOT get in the PFA team of the year next season because he will be bang average at best. Massive gap between the top of Lge1 and 2 and unless you invest heavy you will return to lge 2 in the next couple of seasons.

I wouldn't say you have to invest BIG to stay up. Look what us and Cheltenham have done this season. That's despite us losing a 34 goal a season striker and not investing BIG.

We've not been in the bottom 6 once all season and have stayed up comfortably in the end. It's all about getting the balance of your squad right. Bonner has got a great spirit within the group who will roll their sleeves up and fight toe to toe for points. If we can add a bit of quality over the summer I think we'll be fighting for a top 10 finish but without troubling the play off's.

 

[Devon_Lad]

How many of those were in the academy at the same time though, ampadu left ages ago before his 18th birthday didn't he? You haven't got a team there. Have they not also improved since they left?

I said etc. Was the missed on purpose or by mistake? Improving or cemented on those leagues? Different questions.

your Academy would finish bottom of lge 1 . Your first team as it stands would be in a group of 6/8 fighting relegation. Josh Key will NOT get in the PFA team of the year next season because he will be bang average at best. Massive gap between the top of Lge1 and 2 and unless you invest heavy you will return to lge 2 in the next couple of seasons.

You seem to think the difference in L2 & L1 is bigger than it is. You just have to look at cup games this season between the two to realise that's crap. You have no idea of the talent in our academy so I won't comment on your nonsense on that front. We have about 4 players under 18 currently that Bolton would wish they could snap up. Unfortunately they can't compete with the top 6 in the PL when it comes to grabbing our gems.

I see a lot of jealousy on these boards about how good our academy is and the difference in comparing us with Crewe is obviously a comparison lots make on the face of it without understanding the situation. Its a lazy and silly comparison. But I see why people do it, it's just stupid though.

 

[Devon_Lad]

Exeter being in League 2 must be the biggest failing in football, given all the talent at their disposal.

Academys don't shine through overnight. We started investing heavily over the last 10-15 years. We've had gems come through already, which has made us enhance our academy further, training facilities and clear our debt. For the first time in my lifetime we are financially comfortable. It's only now we can afford to keep our talent for an extra 6-12 months, with a conveyor belt of talent steadily coming through. Its no coincidence that we are now going to win the league, get things right off the pitch first, then the rest happens. We've only been in this position the last 12 months and turning down £1m bids. Before we had to let them go earlier than we'd like. Cox & Lee are the names to look for now.

 

[Indian Dan]

I’d imagine he knows a bit more than you seeing Bolton were in L2 last season and L1 this season. Your recent experience has been non league and L2.

Cup games have zero relevance when it comes to judging league games.