The 1 to 24 prediction competition

[E10rifle]

Good to see a lot of positivity around Orient from other fans. Moncur missed a penalty last night so he’s fitting in to the club perfectly already. Think we’ll flatter to deceive like last season; one of the best two or three sides in the division when we play to our potential, but chronically wasteful in front of goal and ultimately not good enough.

It all hinges on whether we can keep Paul Smyth fit or not. Guy is absolutely unplayable at this level but unfortunately made of glass.

 

[THE LAST WALTZ]

Good to see a lot of positivity around Orient from other fans. Moncur missed a penalty last night so he’s fitting in to the club perfectly already. Think we’ll flatter to deceive like last season; one of the best two or three sides in the division when we play to our potential, but chronically wasteful in front of goal and ultimately not good enough.

It all hinges on whether we can keep Paul Smyth fit or not. Guy is absolutely unplayable at this level but unfortunately made of glass.

You better not flatter to deceive.
I’ve backed you at 16/1

 

[BogDaddyO]

Good to see a lot of positivity around Orient from other fans. Moncur missed a penalty last night so he’s fitting in to the club perfectly already. Think we’ll flatter to deceive like last season; one of the best two or three sides in the division when we play to our potential, but chronically wasteful in front of goal and ultimately not good enough.

It all hinges on whether we can keep Paul Smyth fit or not. Guy is absolutely unplayable at this level but unfortunately made of glass.

I think I'd agree with that assessment more if we were taking about us ahead of last year - but I think consistency and cohesion are incredibly important in League 2 (and any league really).

Look at FGR, the season before last they finished 6th on 73 points, decent recent, but crucially they held on to all their best players, strengthened in a couple of areas and went up as champions the following season.
Not saying it always works but its a solid blueprint, and perhaps partially explains why $alfrod keep stumbling (long may it continue) - little to no consistency.

I think we're in a pretty good spot - we've got a settled squad, we've not lost a single important player from last season (maybe Kyp, but mehhh), we've extended some key contracts, secured Archi on a perm basis, and made a couple of good looking additions (Moncur in particular). Add onto that Richie Wellens and our incredibly strong end to the season and I'd be surprised if we failed to finish in the top 7.

But yeah, it's Orient, and we are more liable to bottle it than most teams. Except Mansfield.

 

[BlackHaddock]

OK, time to go for it!

1. Bradford
2. Northampton
3. Stockport
4. Salford
5. Grimsby
6. Leyton Orient
7. Tranmere
8. Swindon
9. Wimbledon
10. Mansfield
11. Walsall
12. Newport
13. Gillingham
14. Doncaster
15. Crewe
16. Hartlepool
17. Carlisle
18. Rochdale
19. Sutton
20. Harrogate
21. Barrow
22. Colchester
23. Crawley
24. Stevenage

The only Southern Gits in my top seven are Orient, the rest can do one.

I am desperate for Stevenage to disappear off the face of the earth and Crawley is just a pain to get too (add Gillingham to that 'get to pain' as well).

 

[shoddycollins]

OK, time to go for it!

1. Bradford
2. Northampton
3. Stockport
4. Salford
5. Grimsby
6. Leyton Orient
7. Tranmere
8. Swindon
9. Wimbledon
10. Mansfield
11. Walsall
12. Newport
13. Gillingham
14. Doncaster
15. Crewe
16. Hartlepool
17. Carlisle
18. Rochdale
19. Sutton
20. Harrogate
21. Barrow
22. Colchester
23. Crawley
24. Stevenage

The only Southern Gits in my top seven are Orient, the rest can do one.

I am desperate for Stevenage to disappear off the face of the earth and Crawley is just a pain to get too (add Gillingham to that 'get to pain' as well).

Isn't Northampton down south?

 

[BlackHaddock]

Isn't Northampton down south?

Everywhere is South of Carlisle, but I consider Northampton to be in 'the Midlands', the South starts with those franchised twats in Milton Keys, or whatever it's called.

 

[F!RTHY]

OK, time to go for it!

1. Bradford
2. Northampton
3. Stockport
4. Salford
5. Grimsby
6. Leyton Orient
7. Tranmere
8. Swindon
9. Wimbledon
10. Mansfield
11. Walsall
12. Newport
13. Gillingham
14. Doncaster
15. Crewe
16. Hartlepool
17. Carlisle
18. Rochdale
19. Sutton
20. Harrogate
21. Barrow
22. Colchester
23. Crawley
24. Stevenage

The only Southern Gits in my top seven are Orient, the rest can do one.

I am desperate for Stevenage to disappear off the face of the earth and Crawley is just a pain to get too (add Gillingham to that 'get to pain' as well).

There seems to be a great vibe around GTFC at the minute. Just out of interest, is the wave you’re currently riding as a club the main focal points for your prediction regarding GTFC, or is it something else.

The reason I ask is, I look at your squad and I don’t see any standout players - other than McAtee? Perhaps it’s just my lack of knowledge in the lower leagues?

Swindon, Mansfield and Tranmere are below where you have predicted GTFC to finish. Arguably, their squads look far superior to yours.

 

[E10rifle]

Everywhere is South of Carlisle, but I consider Northampton to be in 'the Midlands', the South starts with those franchised twats in Milton Keys, or whatever it's called.

Hard pass. They can go in the midlands along with Northampton, Walsall and all the other clubs neither of the two proper regions of the country want.

 

[RiftHouseLad]

There seems to be a great vibe around GTFC at the minute. Just out of interest, is the wave you’re currently riding as a club the main focal points for your prediction regarding GTFC, or is it something else.

The reason I ask is, I look at your squad and I don’t see any standout players - other than McAtee? Perhaps it’s just my lack of knowledge in the lower leagues?

Swindon, Mansfield and Tranmere are below where you have predicted GTFC to finish. Arguably, their squads look far superior to yours.

Is it possible to use the word Stronger rather than "Superior" otherwise Stocky will kickoff again.
Telling us all again how wonderful and great they are.

Only joking Stocky...............

 

[Conker]

There seems to be a great vibe around GTFC at the minute. Just out of interest, is the wave you’re currently riding as a club the main focal points for your prediction regarding GTFC, or is it something else.

The reason I ask is, I look at your squad and I don’t see any standout players - other than McAtee? Perhaps it’s just my lack of knowledge in the lower leagues?

Swindon, Mansfield and Tranmere are below where you have predicted GTFC to finish. Arguably, their squads look far superior to yours.

Not even a argument that those three clubs have superior squads, but funny things can happen in football.

 

[chipmunx]

Not even a argument that those three clubs have superior squads, but funny things can happen in football.

just look at the NL;- the last 6 teams to come up have been Barrow, Harrogate, Sutton, Pools, Stockport and Grimsby whilst Notts and Wrexham were arguably the biggest clubs in each of the 3 seasons - the only club to challenge that being Stockport. The Notts and Wrexham squads were probably better (on paper) and they were up at the top of the betting - but they're both still there - and at least 1 of them probably will be after next season.

 

[BlackHaddock]

There seems to be a great vibe around GTFC at the minute. Just out of interest, is the wave you’re currently riding as a club the main focal points for your prediction regarding GTFC, or is it something else.

The reason I ask is, I look at your squad and I don’t see any standout players - other than McAtee? Perhaps it’s just my lack of knowledge in the lower leagues?

Swindon, Mansfield and Tranmere are below where you have predicted GTFC to finish. Arguably, their squads look far superior to yours.

The whole town is buzzing and GTFC is definitely on the up. Our new masters are both local and proper supporters, not uber rich, but 'well off' and sensible in their respective professions. Losing Fox to Northampton is a blow in my opinion, but they offered a lot more than us, so you can't argue with that. Hurst is a decent manager and is very relaxed working with the new guys, who let him get on with it; really showed in our Play-Off games. Our squad seem to like playing for him and our recruitment may look 'low key', but we are building something again.

I think the new rule about more subs will also help Hurst and his tactical game planning, with this season being more about squad depth than just your best 11 players. With this in mind my prediction of 5th for us makes sense to me.

 

[Deepcut Cobbler]

and you've got rid of Danny Rose which must be almost as good as getting a new signing

We had to sign a new keeper though...

 

[Son of Cod]

There seems to be a great vibe around GTFC at the minute. Just out of interest, is the wave you’re currently riding as a club the main focal points for your prediction regarding GTFC, or is it something else.

The reason I ask is, I look at your squad and I don’t see any standout players - other than McAtee? Perhaps it’s just my lack of knowledge in the lower leagues?

Swindon, Mansfield and Tranmere are below where you have predicted GTFC to finish. Arguably, their squads look far superior to yours.

Little bit of column A, little bit of column B. The great vibe factor may well be inflating our expectations a bit but as we saw last season it can be a powerful tool in enabling us to overachieve. I think even you said yourself the other day something about how pulling together can be of great benefit? As BlackHaddock touches on, that combined with a squad of players that will run through walls for their boss isn't a bad starting off point.

You're right in that our squad has very few stars and we'll all be the first to admit that we were heavily reliant on McAtee last season so we need other plans and systems for when he is out or having a bad day. We'll be solid this season though. The defence was the first part of the squad sorted out and we come into this division with the National League Team of the Year CB pairing and a well balanced set of full backs. We definitely need to see a couple of quality signings coming in though further up the field for me. However, that's not a concern really as Hurst has proven time and time again that he can take a rough diamond and polish them into a gem and I have every confidence he'll assemble a decent squad. I think that will be a work in progress over the course of this season and we'll be looking to consolidate at this level before having a proper bash at it next season.

I'll take a top 10 finish and McAtee signing a new deal at the club.

 

[Koumas’Right-Boot]

I think we’re going under the radar a little because we’ve signed a lot of young players that people haven’t really seen much of.

But with all our best players retained from last season and then smart recruitment for specific roles (Lewis as a plan B off the bench) and some high potential like McAlear who was sought after by several SPL clubs, we seem to have the perfect blend.

A quality keeper and competition for Hawkes/Morris away from having an extremely strong squad.

 

[Boz]

I think we’re going under the radar a little because we’ve signed a lot of young players that people haven’t really seen much of.

But with all our best players retained from last season and then smart recruitment for specific roles (Lewis as a plan B off the bench) and some high potential like McAlear who was sought after by several SPL clubs, we seem to have the perfect blend.

A quality keeper and competition for Hawkes/Morris away from having an extremely strong squad.

It will be interesting to see who we get in as keeper, maybe Hewlet will be given a chance too. I’d say we need at least one forward or winger with some genuine pace and another central defender to add to the current squad. Unsure how we will fare, as L2 looks like it will be stronger than last season, with a lot of teams making good signings and no obvious basket cases like the last couple of seasons.

 

[Railway Blue]

The whole town is buzzing and GTFC is definitely on the up. Our new masters are both local and proper supporters, not uber rich, but 'well off' and sensible in their respective professions. Losing Fox to Northampton is a blow in my opinion, but they offered a lot more than us, so you can't argue with that. Hurst is a decent manager and is very relaxed working with the new guys, who let him get on with it; really showed in our Play-Off games. Our squad seem to like playing for him and our recruitment may look 'low key', but we are building something again.

I think the new rule about more subs will also help Hurst and his tactical game planning, with this season being more about squad depth than just your best 11 players. With this in mind my prediction of 5th for us makes sense to me.

Soft spot for Mariners, probably because we do moderately well travelling to Lincs (Lincoln City, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Gainsborough more recently). I remember in 2002 when I was in Aintree Hospital recovering from some serious shit and watching Grimsby v Blackburn (Championship) on the pay for tv over the bed. Lofty days those for Grimsby.

 

[Agombar stool]

I won't be doing my predictions until probably the day before the season begins, but I have to say i'm impressed with some of the players brought in by Northampton, Bradford, Orient, Stockport and Crawley who are likely to be up there in my top 10. Surprised people are tipping Stevenage to do badly, yes they are hideous but Steve Evans tends to know what he's doing at this level and whilst I don't think they will be involved in the promotion shake up, can't see them struggling. At the bottom as it stands I worry for Hartlepool which is horrible for me to write as Paul Hartley is one of my Jambo heroes. Their signings concern me, still early days but a season of struggle for them so far. We are padding the squad with inexperienced players and are still waiting for the Jack Payne contract decision which I fear is holding things up. As it stands I can only see us around 12-14th place.

 

[GTFCfish]

Soft spot for Mariners, probably because we do moderately well travelling to Lincs (Lincoln City, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Gainsborough more recently). I remember in 2002 when I was in Aintree Hospital recovering from some serious shit and watching Grimsby v Blackburn (Championship) on the pay for tv over the bed. Lofty days those for Grimsby.

Lofty days indeed although we’ve actually spent 55 seasons in the second tier plus another 11 in the top tier.
Hard to believe I know given the last 20 years of rubbish but half of our history has been at the top 2 levels.

 

[Cas]

1. Northampton
2. Leyton Orient
3. Mansfield


4. Tranmere
5. Salford
6. Stockport
7. Doncaster


23. Colchester
24. Harrogate

 

[chipmunx]

1. Northampton
2. Leyton Orient
3. Mansfield


4. Tranmere
5. Salford
6. Stockport
7. Doncaster


23. Colchester
24. Harrogate

wait - you missed Bradford out?

 

[WilsdenBantam]

wait - you missed Bradford out?

Anything above relegation from Cas is progress

 

[Kauto Star]

I'm surprised so many have us in top 3, given that we finished 14th last season and we have lost 3 key players in Watt, O'Connor and Vernam

Granted we have also binned off some right shite such as Robinson and Lavery and brought in better.

Recruitment does appear better planned than the last few years and we will certainly finish higher than last season, but we are 2 or 3 more decent players off being a top 3 side.

 

[Son of Cod]

Something that I'd say about Cobblers is that they were direct last season from what I saw and seemed to lack a plan B in the playoffs. I was only partly paying attention to both matches vs Mansfield as had them on in the background, so forgive me if I'm calling that wrong. Is Curle whoever their manager is branching out from that this season? If he is then Hylton makes sense, but if his plan is to lump it up to Hylton then I think it could prove to be a bit of a dud of a marquee signing.

And also on that note, I think the George Moncur praise has been somewhat lavish. Yep, on his day he'll be unplayable. However, he's a player who has been called lazy by supporters of previous clubs.

Law of averages state that at least one or two of these big signings will flop. I think Smallwood is perhaps the most likely to be a hit and will prove to be a real coup for Bradford.

I'm more interested in seeing which of the many understated signings in the division will emerge as top players in their positions, as that'll be how the surprise package teams will be in with a whiff of promotion.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

I'm waiting until the final week. I'll also be assessing what's been posted on here and then taking out my spread positions on Sporting Index. Made a packet on Scunthorpe - sold at a ridiculously high 54 point, but lost most of it on Swindon, who got their act together rather quicker than I expected, and buying Bradford (what the feck happened there?) Made a bit on Sutton - always worth punting on the NL winners - such tough league to top (relatively). Waiting to see the opening price for Stockport, thinking about going in big...(that's £10 a point for me), and do I try recoup my Bradford loss? I have history of chasing losses with Bristol Rovers always seemed to be about a season out on their ups and downs - backing them a season before they do really well and selling them a season before they get relegated...

 

[T.A]

Something that I'd say about Cobblers is that they were direct last season from what I saw and seemed to lack a plan B in the playoffs. I was only partly paying attention to both matches vs Mansfield as had them on in the background, so forgive me if I'm calling that wrong. Is Curle branching out from that this season? If he is then Hylton makes sense, but if his plan is to lump it up to Hylton then I think it could prove to be a bit of a dud of a marquee signing.

And also on that note, I think the George Moncur praise has been somewhat lavish. Yep, on his day he'll be unplayable. However, he's a player who has been called lazy by supporters of previous clubs.

Law of averages state that at least one or two of these big signings will flop. I think Smallwood is perhaps the most likely to be a bit and will prove to be a real coup for Bradford.

I'm more interested in seeing which of the many understated signings in the division will emerge as top players in their positions, as that'll be how the surprise package teams will be in with a whiff of promotion.

You must have been paying no attention to Northampton because you have the wrong manager.

 

[Casey]

I'm pretty sure of the top ten but I'm having trouble with who to put in the bottom five. I don't actually see any real basket cases so it's going to come down to squad size, manager falling out with club/players and injuries (imho).

I can see Colchester and Hartlepool in the bottom half but I don't fancy them for relegation. Barrow would do better than last season, Simpson should be able to recruit well enough to keep Carlilse out of trouble. Evans at Stevanage will do the same.

There is Crawley. We have made some decent signings but we are poor down the flanks and our midfield looks full of holes but Wagmi keep saying they are going to spend.

To be honest, I'm stuck. Two guesses but I wouldn't put a penny on it.

Grimsby will go through a tough patch in November/December and their fans will implode on here. Bad vibes will spread and they could find themselves in trouble.

Harrogate seem to be very quite. Thing is I can see a cheque book being flashed in January that might save them.

Casey

 

[Son of Cod]

You must have been paying no attention to Northampton because you have the wrong manager.

Oh yeah, my mistake. Thought Curle was still their manager. What was that comment about me being drunk last time you replied to me about btw?

 

[Son of Cod]

I'm pretty sure of the top ten but I'm having trouble with who to put in the bottom five. I don't actually see any real basket cases so it's going to come down to squad size, manager falling out with club/players and injuries (imho).

I can see Colchester and Hartlepool in the bottom half but I don't fancy them for relegation. Barrow would do better than last season, Simpson should be able to recruit well enough to keep Carlilse out of trouble. Evans at Stevanage will do the same.

There is Crawley. We have made some decent signings but we are poor down the flanks and our midfield looks full of holes but Wagmi keep saying they are going to spend.

To be honest, I'm stuck. Two guesses but I wouldn't put a penny on it.

Grimsby will go through a tough patch in November/December and their fans will implode on here. Bad vibes will spread and they could find themselves in trouble.

Harrogate seem to be very quite. Thing is I can see a cheque book being flashed in January that might save them.

Casey

Said it before but no chance we're off back down. We had a terrible run last winter and there were absolutely no bad vibes. The bad vibes have left our club.

 

[Fedora Dale]

1. L'Oreal
2. Gillian
3. Dale
*********
4. Wombles
5. Trannies
6. Stags
7. Stocky (the club)
**********
8. Bratfud
9. Swindon
10. Donny
11. Warsaw
12. Grimsby
13. Classless of '92
14. Col Ewe
15. Newport
16. Northampthoof
17. Suttonhoof
18. Barra
19. Carlisle
20. Monkeyhangers
21. Croo
22. Satanage
23. Harrogant
24. AFC Bitcoin.