The Carlisle United f**ked it up Official Promotion Thread

[cufc17]

I'll wait and see who we bring in before predicting where we'll finish. Our injured players are close to returning too.

 

[Carver]

Anyone could do what Wimbledon did last season, they were outside the play offs for most of the season then hit top form towards the end and grabbed 7th place. People were also saying that whoever finished 7th would only be there to make up the numbers in the play offs because they were so far behind the others, but that obviously turned out to be a load of horseshit.

 

[Moomin]

It's too early to say if we will be in the mix for a playoff spot yet but if we are still up there at the end of February I will start to believe.

Tend to agree....

While I'm loving our current form, a couple of defeats could see us skip to mid table.

If we can come out with four wins from our next six then I will be confident of a proper challenge

 

[hellogregory]

It could be heavily biased by recent form. I think it must be to have us so low. We've not won in five games now and are very much mid-table in the form table, but I still think we're more likely to rise back up the form table than we are to remain mid-table or sink lower. It's probably now less than a 50% chance of taking the last automatic place but I think we'll still be in the battle for it to the end. HG will be along in a minute to tell you how I'm wrong and obviously haven't been watching the same games as him.

i'd take playoffs right now. But a few good signings over the coming days including an adequate replacement for Wyke could help to turn it round for us and get back to challenging for top 3. As I said further up I reckon Wednesday morning we'll be able to confidently predict whether we'll finish top 7 or not. The signings have to be good otherwise we will tumble down the league especially without our top goal scorer.

The main reasons that I think we will drop like a stone is because obviously we've played utterly shit for nearly 2 months now which has lead to a winless January, and as well as that our upcoming fixtures after Orient look horrendous on paper, we're playing all of the top or inform teams. Make no mistake about it if we carry on playing like this we'll be suffering a lot of defeats over February and March.

Big couple of days for us and a very important match on Saturday. With the fixtures we have after Saturday, we really need to stop the rot.

 

[shoddycollins]

i'd take playoffs right now. But a few good signings over the coming days including an adequate replacement for Wyke could help to turn it round for us and get back to challenging for top 3. As I said further up I reckon Wednesday morning we'll be able to confidently predict whether we'll finish top 7 or not. The signings have to be good otherwise we will tumble down the league especially without our top goal scorer.

The main reasons that I think we will drop like a stone is because obviously we've played utterly shit for nearly 2 months now which has lead to a winless January, and as well as that our upcoming fixtures after Orient look horrendous on paper, we're playing all of the top or inform teams. Make no mistake about it if we carry on playing like this we'll be suffering a lot of defeats over February and March.

Big couple of days for us and a very important match on Saturday. With the fixtures we have after Saturday, we really need to stop the rot.

Are you saying that hypothetically if you were offered a guaranteed playoff position now you'd take it?

 

[hellogregory]

Are you saying that hypothetically if you were offered a guaranteed playoff position now you'd take it?

Yeah I would. A month ago I wouldn't have but with our recent shit form, the tough run of fixtures coming up as well as losing our main source of goals, I would gladly take a guaranteed top 7 if offered and then take our chances in the playoffs.

 

[Habbinalan]

Final table prediction is interesting
http://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/leaguetwo/league/predicted
Doncaster, Plymouth and Luton for autos

At first sight, I thought that a 10th place finish with something approaching 30 more points from 19 games (taking us to 69 points) looked achievable, with a bit of luck on the injuries front, and a reasonable prediction. Even with the gaps in our squad and failings at home, I see us as top 10 - mainly because of the general lack of consistency across most of the league combined with at least 10 shit team/manager/owner combinations.

How we're supposed to get there (results predictions) looked a lot more questionable and even briefly suggested to me that scraping into the play-offs remains doable for another month at least. The prediction suggests another 9 draws to finish the season (mainly 1-1s). If the rest of the predictions are right (a very big IF) but we beat Yeovil, Cheltenham, Orient and Stevenage (or even 3 out of 4) instead of drawing, then it goes down to the wire - as the prediction has us losing at Wycombe on the last day.

I still think we'll finish around 8th on less than 70 points - but at least I don't expect to visit the "nothing to play for" thread for a little while.

 

[RampantRover]

Final table prediction is interesting
http://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/leaguetwo/league/predicted
Doncaster, Plymouth and Luton for autos

I have to agree with this!

 

[Trapdoor]

Whoever made that table up is having a laugh. No way we will finish 4th.

 

[AdamStag]

Lol.

Who made that up? With evans in charge and our new players, were more likely to finish 4th than 14th!!

As said by others, there are that many teams knocking around the playoffs ATM that anyone could feesibly make it. Anyone from 15th or so up should believe they can do it if they get some form together.

Donny are as good as up, and Plymouth look like for once they won't fuck up, other than that it's anyone's.

Even were only 9 points off 3rd! (Not for one second saying we'll do it obviously)

 

[Alan Partridge]

I still can't believe that we're still in the top three after being utter clart for what seems like an eternity - and we'll still be there even after the other teams below play catch up.

If we manage to keep Wyke and buy/loan well today then we'll be fine.

 

[ProfessorGreen]

Lol.

Donny are as good as up, and Plymouth look like for once they won't fuck up, other than that it's anyone's.

Well that's that then. You've done it now!

 

[AdamStag]

Well that's that then. You've done it now!

Surely there must be a player or 2 for you today given the pennies made from Liverpool?

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Surely there must be a player or 2 for you today given the pennies made from Liverpool?

I suspect they have been put under a mattress somewhere. Though I suspect Adams is working on one or two still, hopefully a back-up left back now as we are thin there and ideally the mythical winger.

 

[Rob_of_the_green]

Surely there must be a player or 2 for you today given the pennies made from Liverpool?

As a club we've taken in well over 2 million quid of unexpected income this last season or so:

Joe Mason sell-on fee - about 450k
Playoffs and Wembley final - 300-500k
Curtis Nelson tribunal 200-280k
FA cup run and Liverpool games - about 1 million
Conor Hourihane sell-on clause - 200-250k
Ben Purrington sold - 300k

our attendances are also doing pretty well but apparently our budget for the season has already been set and as Boletus edulis says it's probably all under somebody's mattress somewhere... hopefully being put towards stadium development and preparing for league 1

 

[ProfessorGreen]

Yup, as above. It won't go onto the budget this year (maybe some extra money for wages in summer IF we get promoted).

I think we're all hoping it'll go to the grandstand development as the 5 million that has been promised to it, isn't gonna get it too far. To be fair there has been no confirmation that the grandstand will 'ONLY' be getting the 5mill makeover, only that this amount has been freed up for it so far.

Working in the construction industry estimating with budgets etc myself, I think we're gonna need 8-10mill to do it 'properly'. Fingers crossed this extra 2 million or so we've made is then added on to the 5 and we are almost there. Hopefully we still end up with something like:

even though they've promised to keep the 'shell' of the existing grandstand.

Anyway back on topic! A win tonight at Yeovil could see us 12 points clear of 4th. Going into February with that would take a monumental balls up even by our standards!

 

[stagparty]

Current form, recent signings ect I genuinly feel somone is going to have to move aside and make room for us in the playoffs, not felt this good to be stag since the 70's.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

As a club we've taken in well over 2 million quid of unexpected income this last season or so:

Joe Mason sell-on fee - about 450k
Playoffs and Wembley final - 300-500k
Curtis Nelson tribunal 200-280k
FA cup run and Liverpool games - about 1 million
Conor Hourihane sell-on clause - 200-250k
Ben Purrington sold - 300k

our attendances are also doing pretty well but apparently our budget for the season has already been set and as Boletus edulis says it's probably all under somebody's mattress somewhere... hopefully being put towards stadium development and preparing for league 1

Although I am pretty sure that some of that from last season would have gone to pay off the historic debts, so I doubt the piggy bank is quite £2 million up. But I agree I suspect most is put aside for contract negotiations/next year and the grandstand build.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Current form, recent signings ect I genuinly feel somone is going to have to move aside and make room for us in the playoffs, not felt this good to be stag since the 70's.

Barnet? They are the only one above you who has not got games in hand and a better goal difference. And that gets you to eighth. Not saying you cannot do it, because you can, but teams 4-9 are in reasonably good form and the one that it is not is 9 points ahead of you.

 

[BeesKnees]

Whoever made that table up is having a laugh. No way we will finish 4th.

It's a computer model based on current form and remaining fixtures.

 

[Vanni]

Not too sure about current form. Mansfield's record over the last 5 matches reads 4-1-0, and yet that table has them down in 14th. Same with Blackpool up in 6th when their current form is 1-3-1 having scored only three goals in those 5 matches. Not forgetting that the table also predicts Mansfield not to win another away game, and only getting two points from their remaining ten away games. An 0-2-8 prediction seems highly unlikely for a side like Mansfield.

 

[AdamStag]

There's certainly a case for Mansfield fans feeling optimistic with evans, and the new players, that's for sure.

In reality, as mentioned by others, were one of about 10 sides going for 5 spaces (on the assumption that Doncaster and Plymouth go up.

 

[shoddycollins]

Full times now please!!

 

[cufc17]

It'd be nice if the scores remain the same now...

 

[shoddycollins]

It'd be nice if the scores remain the same now...

Was just gonna say it would be nice if Wycombe equalised again, as Exeter go 3-1 up, ah well, can't have everything.

 

[Laker]

Exeter are on a ridiculous run, aren't they?!

 

[AdamStag]

Great result for all concerned with Cheltenham winning.

Keeps Luton within distance of the chasing pack and the win for Cheltenham can kick start their promotion charge

 

[shoddycollins]

Exeter are on a ridiculous run, aren't they?!

They're right behind us now. Doesn't seem that long ago we sent them to the bottom of the table.

 

[hellogregory]

Great win for Cheltenham tonight on their quest to league 1

 

[barnet_pls]

Barnet? They are the only one above you who has not got games in hand and a better goal difference. And that gets you to eighth. Not saying you cannot do it, because you can, but teams 4-9 are in reasonably good form and the one that it is not is 9 points ahead of you.

So let's see what happens Saturday ! Will be a good indicator whether our new signings can improve the number of goals and our home form, which will be needed if we're to mount a serious play off challenge. Clearly only 4 points off 4th, it's certainly possible.