What will be the expectations for next season?

[Ian M]

20 hours ago, sunningdalered said:

I do think that next season we should start to see what NP can do, coaching-wise, with a squad of players that he trusts more to play in a particular way. Can he deliver a team that plays with greater general movement, is less predictable and is bloody hard to beat? Look at the teams who finished above us this season, especially in places 2 to 6. There is some very effective coaching, with a range of playing styles, in there. What they all had was bags of self belief. If he can send a side out each week that gives itself more than a 50:50 chance of winning it could make a big difference. 

Throughout Nigel's time here, we have had a counter-attacking team and had various degrees of success with it, often picking up better results in the tougher games than those we are more expected to pick up something from. As this season progressed we have been working on being able to be a possession based team, which I would argue we have never been good at in the 25+ years of me visiting AG. Solidity at the back is in my opinion a key component to possession based systems to if you are caught on the counter, you aren't punished so often and can spend longer trying to break down those park-the-bus teams, it's why I am pleased to see us linked with multiple players with a defensive aspect to their signing (even JB as a left midfielder).

26 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I was basically saying - I’m not playing this game!!!  I shouldn’t have posted really.  Shame on me!

I thought you were channeling SOD and claiming not to care about the league table 

[BigTone]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

I was basically saying - I’m not playing this game!!!  I shouldn’t have posted really.  Shame on me!

Okay

[Searles]

Looks like the toughest championship in years - literally no duds at all. Can see sides making a poor start to the season really struggling. Toughest league in years.

[chinapig]

12 hours ago, cidered abroad said:

It took him (AD) from 1967 until 1976 to get us in the First Division. Nine years. 

He started without a youth policy, a first team that had lost Atyeo a year before, several that were ready for replacing, Connor, Briggs, Ford, Bush, Low. And Dicks, himself, was a raw young manager.

Pearson has a big advantage as the young ones who he's been able to use in the first team were already here, and he's had twenty years management experience..

So Dicks nine years is reducible. We've had two and a half seasons with NP and in that time he is where AD was in 1972 with young ones in the first team, Merrick, Gow, Tainton, Ritchie etc.and able to recruit players who weren't already over the hill that AD had to cope with. 

My feeling is that we should be able to challenge for a play off next season and if that doesn't result positively, say a defeat at Wembley, a really good go in the next season.

By then, the club should have a good idea of the next manager to take us forward just as Ranieri took over Leicester from NP.

Thanks for correcting me on the timescale. Who knows where 11 years came from?!

I yield to no-one in my admiration for AD's achievements and I endorse everything you say about him.

I can see both differences and similarities between the situation he inherited and the one Nigel took on.

You have set out Dicks' challenge. In Nigel's case he had to deal with a financial disaster and a bloated squad. Initially just keeping us up was a major achievement, just as Dicks struggled against relegation until his plan bore fruit.

What is the same is that they both took a strategic view and had a medium term plan. Though Nigel is not going to get 9 years even if he wanted!

They also both focused on a unified management team (Dicks with Sillett and Collins, Nigel with Tinnion in particular). Of course the academy was already in place for Nigel but it was not aligned with the first team. Fixing that has delivered benefits for club and players alike. No more sending young players who are ready for the first team squad on perpetual loans!

As I implied, I think Nigel has a harder task because of FFP and the big financial gaps between clubs but I am optimistic because I can see similarities with the Dicks era.

[Davefevs]

11 minutes ago, BigTone said:

Okay

Condensed version: ok

[Lew-T]

18 minutes ago, Searles said:

Looks like the toughest championship in years - literally no duds at all. Can see sides making a poor start to the season really struggling. Toughest league in years.

To be fair we say that every year. 

[Negan]

19 hours ago, Percy Pig said:

I get what you're saying, however they're 3 or 4 seasons into their squad building exercise coming from a much more solid base than we had when Pearson came in. The mess of a squad left by Ashton cannot be underestimated. It defied all logic and coherence.

We have had about 5 days of the January window in which to actually start the process of building a squad. Otherwise we've had to rely solely on free transfers, rough diamonds and the academy.

The summer window is step 2 on a road to building a proper squad, 4 or 5 solid performers maybe a splash of flair. Then it's about bedding those players in and getting the team playing to a plan, whatever that might end up being. 

I anticipate that we will see how we envisage Mehmeti becoming integral through pre season. I'm hoping it will be more central or narrow off the left. Think he's got all the attributes to impact the game from there. I'm thinking along the lines of Knockheart in Nige's Leicester team. 

All really interesting stuff. So many different approaches to our playing style we could take. 

Excited to see it unfold.

Luton and Coventry didn’t really have a “squad building process” to be fair. All built on the back of promotions and momentum. Millwall are probably more similar to us in terms of building a team. However our process started the minute Nige walked in, yes Ashton left it in a mess but those days are behind us now and it can’t be used any longer as an excuse if things don’t go right.
 

Assuming we don’t have a bad injury hit season, this window needs to be seen as an opportunity to build for a promotion push, top 6 HAS to be the aim this season. If we stayed up by the skin of our teeth then I’d say it’s more important we focus on maybe a mid table finish but we have a mid table team right now. We finished 10 points off the play offs, it’s really not as big of a gap as some may think. 3 wins and a draw more would of had us there or at least fighting for it. I think if we looked over the season there was plenty of loses which could of gone in our favour with a bit more quality in the team. 

 

For the first time in a long while I’m excited for the upcoming season as there’s been something there which we’ve not had for ages, hope. The last few years the pure focus was survival, we know we’ve got the squad capable of keeping us in the league now and the potential is there for play offs. If we finished anywhere from 7th-10th I’d be somewhat happy, but only if that’s where we’ve been throughout the season. I very much doubt 69 points gets you a play off spot next season, 21/22 that was 9th/10th spot. Truly believe that Nige and the boys can do it though. 

[Searles]

24 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

To be fair we say that every year. 

Didn’t say it this year!!! Dross!!

[BigTone]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Condensed version: ok

Beat me to it !!!

[sunningdalered]

2 hours ago, Ian M said:

Throughout Nigel's time here, we have had a counter-attacking team and had various degrees of success with it, often picking up better results in the tougher games than those we are more expected to pick up something from. As this season progressed we have been working on being able to be a possession based team, which I would argue we have never been good at in the 25+ years of me visiting AG. Solidity at the back is in my opinion a key component to possession based systems to if you are caught on the counter, you aren't punished so often and can spend longer trying to break down those park-the-bus teams, it's why I am pleased to see us linked with multiple players with a defensive aspect to their signing (even JB as a left midfielder). 

I'm with you on this. Keeping a good defensive shape when in possession and going forward is, IMO, as important as getting back into an effective shape quickly if you turn the ball over higher up the pitch. I don't see that from us at the moment, and wonder if it's something that can be coached into the players we have, or whether we need to have this more defensively-aware mindset bought in. Either way, it's on NP to find the answer! And preferably before 1/3 of the season has got away from us. 

[David Brent]

On 13/05/2023 at 10:15, Top Robin said:

Whilst it would be great for us to get in the Prem.....next 3 years will mean that will mean Nige has has 6 years and I'm not sure I can wait that long.

You’ve managed so far 

[Numero Uno]

2 hours ago, Searles said:

Looks like the toughest championship in years - literally no duds at all. Can see sides making a poor start to the season really struggling. Toughest league in years.

As always it depends on transfers. Teams losing five or six loanees needing to rebuild, others coming down will lose their best players eg can’t see Ward Prowse or Adams hanging around at our level, teams coming up will need to strengthen more than they might think and then there will be clubs close to FFFP trouble who will need to do the same job we did last season. One thing guaranteed is it will remain the league where anyone can beat anyone on a given day. That’s what makes it such a tough league.

[Numero Uno]

59 minutes ago, sunningdalered said:

I'm with you on this. Keeping a good defensive shape when in possession and going forward is, IMO, as important as getting back into an effective shape quickly if you turn the ball over higher up the pitch. I don't see that from us at the moment, and wonder if it's something that can be coached into the players we have, or whether we need to have this more defensively-aware mindset bought in. Either way, it's on NP to find the answer! And preferably before 1/3 of the season has got away from us. 

I think it’s a given that being more solid in the defensive end of the pitch is what will take us to the next level. We’ve got enough goals in us to be at the right end of the league but it’s the 10-15% improvement in conceding that will earn us the 10-15 or so points we need to be right up there that will need to be addressed.

Nige is going about it the right way imo, you have to be able to control the ball more in certain games to get the extra points and the last third of the season definitely saw us improve on that front. The gradual improvement from the shit show we have been for far too long  is there to see even in some of the games we lost at the latter end of the season.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Numero Uno

[Spudgun]

For me it will depend on recruitment this summer.

I would presume we will be adding four or five possibly so it seems we'll be looking at more quality rather than quantity.

If we can strengthen in the key areas needed and we have a bit more luck with injuries and joke refereeing decisions, I genuinely think we have a chance of top half at least and possibly challenging the play offs.

Our existing squad has a healthy blend of experience and youngsters who have some decent numbers in terms of Championship appearances under their belts, add in that strength in depth and I don't think were far off.

 

[Topper 123]

It’s a innit together season coming up and by that I mean Big nig / players and Fans all have to play their part NP has no excuses left ,injures , it’s not my squad or any of that shit , it’s now time to be counted - players 110% every 90 minutes that’s all we as fans ask and us the fans need to be more vociferous and supporting of team , cut out the booing of players for mistakes and such . We need to make the SOUTH STAND our own RED WALL and the club need to play there part allowing flags and such to hung in support of the team 

Together and as 1 we can push this club to the top 6 COYR 

 

[Alan Dicks]

13th

[NOTBLUE]

On 14/05/2023 at 09:35, ZiderMeUp said:

Anything less than champions will be a massive failure.

I could just about handle finishing second.

[Alessandro]

I still think we have a mid-table championship squad. 

I think, bar Scott, the academy players coming through are not at top 6 levels, yet. Some may never be.

Still too many key players that are inconsistent, despite glimpses of real quality. Can a core of our players improve that consistency week in week out to the level required for a play-off push? Wells, James, Weimann, Williams, Atkinson, Cornick? To be seen. They will need to.

Recruitment? We will need 4 or 5 'ready to go' signings - not just signings like Tanner, Wilson, Mehmeti where they need time to get to the level. Even then, with say Cornick, who came from this level, there are no guarantees of immediate impact - so we need to spend very, very well. 

I will remain cautiously optimistic - the pieces may just fall into place if we spend well - as with Semenyo leaving, Scott leaving will be huge, levels wise IMO - but I look at the core of the squad and for me, we need to see improvements from a lot of them if you want to talk top 6, can enough of them do that? We'll see.

"On his day...X is a top 6 player" isn't really good enough. We need consistency.

[Davefevs]

30 minutes ago, Alessandro said:

I still think we have a mid-table championship squad. 

I think, bar Scott, the academy players coming through are not at top 6 levels, yet. Some may never be.

Still too many key players that are inconsistent, despite glimpses of real quality. Can a core of our players improve that consistency week in week out to the level required for a play-off push? Wells, James, Weimann, Williams, Atkinson, Cornick? To be seen. They will need to.

Recruitment? We will need 4 or 5 'ready to go' signings - not just signings like Tanner, Wilson, Mehmeti where they need time to get to the level. Even then, with say Cornick, who came from this level, there are no guarantees of immediate impact - so we need to spend very, very well. 

I will remain cautiously optimistic - the pieces may just fall into place if we spend well - as with Semenyo leaving, Scott leaving will be huge, levels wise IMO - but I look at the core of the squad and for me, we need to see improvements from a lot of them if you want to talk top 6, can enough of them do that? We'll see.

"On his day...X is a top 6 player" isn't really good enough. We need consistency.

Yep, pretty much every team in this division has “good players on their day”…what sets one club aside from another is how consistently they are “on their day”.

Couple inconsistency with lack of depth…and you get City!

[bcfc01]

1 hour ago, Alessandro said:

I still think we have a mid-table championship squad. 

I think, bar Scott, the academy players coming through are not at top 6 levels, yet. Some may never be.

Still too many key players that are inconsistent, despite glimpses of real quality. Can a core of our players improve that consistency week in week out to the level required for a play-off push? Wells, James, Weimann, Williams, Atkinson, Cornick? To be seen. They will need to.

Recruitment? We will need 4 or 5 'ready to go' signings - not just signings like Tanner, Wilson, Mehmeti where they need time to get to the level. Even then, with say Cornick, who came from this level, there are no guarantees of immediate impact - so we need to spend very, very well. 

I will remain cautiously optimistic - the pieces may just fall into place if we spend well - as with Semenyo leaving, Scott leaving will be huge, levels wise IMO - but I look at the core of the squad and for me, we need to see improvements from a lot of them if you want to talk top 6, can enough of them do that? We'll see.

"On his day...X is a top 6 player" isn't really good enough. We need consistency.

I agree, we have a mid-table squad with not enough depth and if we are to see a push into the top half, we'll need four or five good quality and proven championship players.

For me, based on whats here and what we've been linked with (other than Joe Bryan), it'll be much the same. If we can add those four or five with proven quality, then we could push on to the top half. No more players with "potential" please, we have enough.

Top 6 ? Not for me, too many established squads in front of us imo, even if we add those 4 or 5 proven players we are still playing catch up and 12th would be a good finish imo. I hope I am wildly wrong and we end up top 6, but I just can't see it at the moment. Maybe that will change as we get players through the door.

Mid-table won't be good enough for SL and JL even though they're the architects of where we are now. The best they could do is just support the manager, let him get on with it, and give him some encouragement, instead of "we should be doing better" - which applies more to them than NP.

[Red Skin]

On 12/05/2023 at 17:25, cidered abroad said:

I'm approaching my 80th birthday and my hopes for next season and many more to follow are that I'm still physically able to get to home matches.

Great to hear @cidered abroad and isn't that just what it's about. Being there.

Probably, the 16th year I've taken my disabled son, and going to the football and feeling involved with City is just about the best thing in his life.  His brother and sister have both been season ticket holder too, but have now moved away.

It makes it more enjoyable if we are winning, but being with my son at the game and meeting with friends for a pre-match cider is what counts.

Hopefully, the academy kids flourish and some decent football and to be in with a shout of the playoffs would do me.  

 

[Simon bristol]

On 14/05/2023 at 14:44, Spudgun said:

For me it will depend on recruitment this summer.

I would presume we will be adding four or five possibly so it seems we'll be looking at more quality rather than quantity.

If we can strengthen in the key areas needed and we have a bit more luck with injuries and joke refereeing decisions, I genuinely think we have a chance of top half at least and possibly challenging the play offs.

Our existing squad has a healthy blend of experience and youngsters who have some decent numbers in terms of Championship appearances under their belts, add in that strength in depth and I don't think were far off.

 

Totally agree re recruitment,, but when we lose a once a generation youth player like scott, assuming that does happen, its tough to see how we will also pull in an extra 15 points this season… 

if can get in those 4/5 playoff level new signings, like bryan would be, that ought to give us a big lift!?

[TommyD68]

It’s going to be extremely competitive next season, with the likes of Southampton, two of Leeds, Forest, Everton or Leicester joining them.. West Brom, Norwich, Watford etc. Teams with big budgets that we will struggle to compete with. Top half finish would be punching above our weight in my opinion, either way I’m intrigued to see what happens! Saying that Luton have punched well above their weight for the last two seasons, so who knows  

[cidered abroad]

25 minutes ago, Red Skin said:

Great to hear @cidered abroad and isn't that just what it's about. Being there.

Probably, the 16th year I've taken my disabled son, and going to the football and feeling involved with City is just about the best thing in his life.  His brother and sister have both been season ticket holder too, but have now moved away.

It makes it more enjoyable if we are winning, but being with my son at the game and meeting with friends for a pre-match cider is what counts.

Hopefully, the academy kids flourish and some decent football and to be in with a shout of the playoffs would do me.  

 

Well done @Red Skin. My father said to me just before I got married about a hundred years ago, that the greatest thing you can do for your children is to give them your time. He was the only father in our street who did not go to the pub after the meal that they had as soon as they arrived home. We talked, listened to music and read the daily papers. Later when floodlit football arrived, an evening bonus game. Saturdays was for football or rugby and in the summer cricket.

Best wishes to you and your children.

Edited May 15, 2023 by cidered abroad

[Dredd]

I think we need to know the amount of changes to the squad first. If we lost Scott Conway and Pring and only replace those players then top 10 is a success for me. If we lose a couple but embark on a high quality refresh of some key positions then we have to be at least challenging for the playoffs come the last few games. I think that'll be SLs view too. If Nige spends 10-15m (assuming money in from AS) and we don't even look like we are pushing on then it'll be deemed a failure and that'll be it for NP I reckon

[steviestevieneville]

On 13/05/2023 at 10:15, Top Robin said:

Whilst it would be great for us to get in the Prem.....next 3 years will mean that will mean Nige has has 6 years and I'm not sure I can wait that long.

Perhaps you should  “support” a plastic prem club then if you can’t wait. Pathetic really . You properly support a club for life . As for you’re expectations would be the same no matter who we sign. Well that’s just complete rubbish . 

[OldlandReddies]

I have faith in our manager who says no reason why we shouldn't be pushing for promotion so that's good enough for me . 

[roddy-d]

Promotion to the promise land to hear the biggest sleeping giants roar. 

[Rocking Red Cyril]

On 12/05/2023 at 18:08, 22A said:

Priority 1 - avoid relegation.

Priority 2 - promotion (through P/O if needed)

3 - Upper half finish

4 - FA Cup

5 - League Cup

As long as we don't go down. That's a fine season for me. Yes we expecting new players in,  does Scott go, a more settled NP team of players, more involvement from the young player route. So it might be a better season than a while. It's the hope of day one every season that keeps us going and gets killed off when the realisation some time during the season that we just not there yet. But one year we will get it right I sure of that. Just which  year 

[pillred]

26 minutes ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

As long as we don't go down. That's a fine season for me. Yes we expecting new players in,  does Scott go, a more settled NP team of players, more involvement from the young player route. So it might be a better season than a while. It's the hope of day one every season that keeps us going and gets killed off when the realisation some time during the season that we just not there yet. But one year we will get it right I sure of that. Just which  year 

As long as we don't go down, a fine season? Christ, you're easily pleased.