end of season expectations?

[chillic]

assuming we don't sign anymore players, I was curious as to what this 'ere board of good folk felt would be a "likely" expectation for the club in their first season in the prem.

avoiding relegation is kinda obvious. but do people seriously think we have a decent chance of this? bearing in mind some of the teams we are going to be up against?

looking at the league table, i'd like to think we could get hoe wins against Barrow, Lewes, Kettering, Northwich, Salisbury and Weymouth. But even some of those will be tough and that would only earn us 18pts if we pulled it off.

am I being pessimistic or a view shared by most? i don't want to bring a downer on the season, i've seen my old club Reading come eighth in their first season in the barclays premiership which I could never believe was imaginable with the squad they had, which shows its not always about the skill of the individuals but how they play as a unit.

i'm hoping the boro do a reading in their first season.

[weeli]

Yes we will stay up. I think we will finish between 14th and 18th. Which of course will be a success.

[crawleytown]

You'll be down at christmas.

[hailshamjay]

Jul 14, 2008 6:49:13 GMT crawleytown said:

You'll be down at christmas.

Dare to wager on that ?

[davidb]

It's rather stating the obvious but we need not to be over-awed and to get off to a good start, as indeed newly promoted clubs often do. In short, we need to have a 'honeymoon period' before reality dawns, bearing in mind of course that we have never beaten a Conference side in a competitive fixture! Hopefully we will end that unenviable record sooner rather than later.

If we can get a few early results on the board and get a bit of confidence then I feel we are capable of finishing above the relegation zone, which would be quite an achievement for our first season and something to build on.

However, if things don't go well then of course confidence goes, we start picking up bookings (and suspensions) and it gets tough.

It's great that season ticket sales are up, but I just hope these new supporters aren't expecting too much. More than ever, this season the club will need the true supporters to get behind it when things aren't going well, and treat it as an 'adventure'.

One thing in our favour may well be the fact that every season 1-2 clubs seem to get themselves into serious financial difficulties, so even if we were to finish in a relegation place, we might not necessarily go down ... not that that's something to plan for!

[davidb]

Jul 14, 2008 6:49:13 GMT crawleytown said:

You'll be down at christmas.

At least we'll be financially sound if we do go down

[sportspool]

Jul 14, 2008 10:29:23 GMT davidb said:

At least we'll be financially sound if we do go down

;D ;D

[vern]

Jul 14, 2008 6:49:13 GMT crawleytown said:

You'll be down at christmas.

".....certainly will be....

...........down at the Broadfield Stadium on the 28th December giving Crawley a tonking..!"

[boroblade]

Got to gain at least 3 points from the first 3 games in order to promote some degree of confidence. Can't imagine picking anything up from our mid-week trip to Stevenage.......& the Oxford tie will not be a "gimme".So, its a home win on the first day of the season and Borough sit proudly on top of the Conference!!

[irishdiamond]

Hiya, Rushden fan here.

I think that you have been dealt a poor card by the fixture computer...Rushden, Oxford, Stevenage, Cambridge as you're first four games, with FGR, Mansfield and Torquay before September is out.

I really can't see you getting many points from any of the mentioned games (apart from the odd draw, perhaps). The gap in quality between the BSP and the rest of the non-league pyramid cannot be stressed enough. I know that you won't be complacent, and you will need no extra incentive to stick it to us on opening day, but ultimately it's the players on the field that make the difference.

Having said this, I really don't know what to expect from either teams on August 9th. We've signed 8 new players this summer, with another two apparently on the way. We can expect either the non-league equivilant of "sexy-football", or an un-gelled team in dissary, maybe even a mixture of the two. There are RDFC fans predicting a heavy opening win for us, and I like to believe that with all our new players we should more than be capable of taking on Eastbourne Borough, but you have every change of raining on out (expensive) parade, and showing us up on day 1.

Cheers,
ID.

[chillic]

Hey ID.

Well, as I said earlier, I saw Reading defy the odds with a team made up of old Div 2 players. Granted the 2nd season was too much for them, but if Reading can do it then Eastbourne can do it.

Weymouth stayed up there, Histon did it too. I appreciate theres a gulf between the two levels, but sometimes players you think can't hack it actually raise their game and prove people wrong, I just hope some of our players are of this similar mould.

looking forward to welcoming Rushden down. S'going to be interesting.

[Jim "Convertedeagle" Stewart]

Jul 15, 2008 0:38:33 GMT irishdiamond said:

Hiya, Rushden fan here.

I think that you have been dealt a poor card by the fixture computer...Rushden, Oxford, Stevenage, Cambridge as you're first four games, .

I'll be happy with 12 points by end of those matches!!! ;D

[lastonthecoach]

Oh how the mighty are&D have fallen. ;D From playing the mighty Leeds in the FA cup 3rd round(98-99), to playing the boro in a league match.

[irishdiamond]

Jul 15, 2008 18:16:39 GMT lastonthecoach said:

Oh how the mighty are&D have fallen. ;D From playing the mighty Leeds in the FA cup 3rd round(98-99), to playing the boro in a league match.

*Ahem*... drawing with the mighty Leeds... 10 years ago, wow...

Yeah, we've fallen on hard times of late, it hasn't been fun, I won't try to butter it up. BUT, things finally seem to be turning around: we've just made our 9th and 10th pre-season signing, our chairman seems to have solid, long-term ideals in mind... and now that Kettering have been promoted we have a 6 pt. head start on the rest of the league ;D

Having said that - and despite all the hype - I don't think we will p!ss the league as everyone is predicting. Once again we've become the hated club - Ru$hden etc. - and it's become ''the thing'' to hype us up to things we can't possibly achieve, at least not in the way predicted. If we have a good season we might reach the play-offs - maybe! - but we've had a turbulent few years, and a top-10 finish, and further improvements over next summer, would do me just fine.

Cheers, all.

(Also, I see you've got Jean M-S, a player from our championship winning year - I'm sure he'll get a great reception from the travelling RDFC fans in August.)