League One 25/26 - the Runners and Riders, or Schumacher's First Strike

[The_Gun]

There's no way we shouldn't be top four. There were problems with the group. But also a year ago they were one game from the champo. It's not rip it up. I like SS profile. But there's no way of badging this as a several year job.

I'm not convinced so far, but it's June. But no excuse at all for not being up there. You get rid of goals but a profile you don't like... Fine but you need to be right.

That team were never going up in a million years. They came ‘close’ in a very weak league yet couldn’t finish above embargoed Derby or beat Oxford.

No matter they didn’t have the right stuff.

It clearly is a rebuild and Schumacher and Harkin have basically said so.

This team finished 8th last season so I think that’s a better metric than the season before. 8th shows how far off we are - and teams below us are splashing the cash.

I wouldn’t badge it as a several year job - but I’m not convinced you can inherit the useless mess SS did and turn it round completely in one window. For me play offs and we will be better placed within them. Who knows.

Other than Huddersfield, which of the teams that finished below us are spending big?

[BWFC_Insane]

There's no way we shouldn't be top four. There were problems with the group. But also a year ago they were one game from the champo. It's not rip it up. I like SS profile. But there's no way of badging this as a several year job.

I'm not convinced so far, but it's June. But no excuse at all for not being up there. You get rid of goals but a profile you don't like... Fine but you need to be right.

That team were never going up in a million years. They came ‘close’ in a very weak league yet couldn’t finish above embargoed Derby or beat Oxford.

No matter they didn’t have the right stuff.

It clearly is a rebuild and Schumacher and Harkin have basically said so.

This team finished 8th last season so I think that’s a better metric than the season before. 8th shows how far off we are - and teams below us are splashing the cash.

I wouldn’t badge it as a several year job - but I’m not convinced you can inherit the useless mess SS did and turn it round completely in one window. For me play offs and we will be better placed within them. Who knows.

Other than Huddersfield, which of the teams that finished below us are spending big?

I mean Hudds. We have 4 that finished above us last season. Plus one would assume on paper at least Hudds probably strengthen to be above us on last season. Thats 5. Plus the three coming down. Plymouth certainly seem to be spending. But fair to say all three on paper would start ahead of us.

So we need to make up ground on 8 as it stands. I think it should be expected to make some considerable headway into that but not sure we get as far as top two. We will see.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I mean Hudds. We have 4 that finished above us last season. Plus one would assume on paper at least Hudds probably strengthen to be above us on last season. Thats 5. Plus the three coming down. Plymouth certainly seem to be spending. But fair to say all three on paper would start ahead of us.

So we need to make up ground on 8 as it stands. I think it should be expected to make some considerable headway into that but not sure we get as far as top two. We will see.

We certainly will, in the end. Till then it's all guesswork, and it might depend on one's natural propensity toward the positive or negative...

From where I sit - and it's normally sunny - I suspect...
• Orient will find it a lot harder this season, having lost many of their key players.
• Stockport have had a much quieter summer than last year. It's possible they can kick on from semi-final failure, as we did, but it'll be interesting to see if they maintain momentum.
• Wycombe felt like they were running on fumes and with more key players leaving in summer, they'll have to regenerate again. Can they?
• Reading are recruiting some good players and are out of the woods. Ones to watch.
• Huddersfield are throwing money at it again. Didn't work for them last time. They're signing good players, but we said that in January.
• Plymouth have acquired but they're also losing key personnel - the gaffer, the best striker (Ryan Hardie), the best midfielder (Adam Randell). Their season hangs on how the replacements do.
• Cardiff are a basket-case club who'll be hoping Brian Barry Murphy does well. As with other relegated teams they have some players who are very good for this level, but they need organising. Literally could be another Birmingham or another Rotherham.
• Luton have suffered two successive relegations and I bet few of their fans thought last summe they were in for a relegation battle. Again, it's a huge job for the manager to turn that round, and while he's done well before elsewhere, I think he'll get much less rope at Kenilworth Road - the leaving of which, for a new stadium, is preoccupying the finances down there.
• Of the three teams coming up, Bradford might do well at home but they only won five away last season. Donny midtable, Vale bottom six.

Right now I'm most worried about Plymouth, Cardiff, Reading and Huddersfield - all with very inexperienced managers. Might work for some but it won't work for all.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Plymouth lose their key midfielder. https://x.com/BristolCity/status/1936104759569817631

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Cardiff lose their captain, plus someone else who played 30 league games for them last season in multiple positions.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/ar ... d2lv20p24o

[HMX]

Cardiff lose their captain, plus someone else who played 30 league games for them last season in multiple positions.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/ar ... d2lv20p24o

We could do with captain material, couldn’t we? But another midfielder coming into our overspilling squad – perhaps not.

[Prufrock]

There's no way we shouldn't be top four. There were problems with the group. But also a year ago they were one game from the champo. It's not rip it up. I like SS profile. But there's no way of badging this as a several year job.

I'm not convinced so far, but it's June. But no excuse at all for not being up there. You get rid of goals but a profile you don't like... Fine but you need to be right.

That team were never going up in a million years. They came ‘close’ in a very weak league yet couldn’t finish above embargoed Derby or beat Oxford.

No matter they didn’t have the right stuff.

It clearly is a rebuild and Schumacher and Harkin have basically said so.

This team finished 8th last season so I think that’s a better metric than the season before. 8th shows how far off we are - and teams below us are splashing the cash.

I wouldn’t badge it as a several year job - but I’m not convinced you can inherit the useless mess SS did and turn it round completely in one window. For me play offs and we will be better placed within them. Who knows.

You literally cannot get closer than third and losing the play off final. They obviously would have gone up "in a million years".

Evatt was sacked with us 9th and three points off the top six, and rightly so as that was clearly not good enough with the group of players we had. Prepared to give SS slack for the second half of last season as he got his feet under the table and we had injuries, but he's being backed again and there are no excuses not to be at least top six, and frankly we would be challenging the autos.

Also "we're BWFC, every year in this league is a disgrace, Parky got us promoted for three and six etc". Sauce for the goose, Captain Hindsight.

[BWFC_Insane]

There's no way we shouldn't be top four. There were problems with the group. But also a year ago they were one game from the champo. It's not rip it up. I like SS profile. But there's no way of badging this as a several year job.

I'm not convinced so far, but it's June. But no excuse at all for not being up there. You get rid of goals but a profile you don't like... Fine but you need to be right.

That team were never going up in a million years. They came ‘close’ in a very weak league yet couldn’t finish above embargoed Derby or beat Oxford.

No matter they didn’t have the right stuff.

It clearly is a rebuild and Schumacher and Harkin have basically said so.

This team finished 8th last season so I think that’s a better metric than the season before. 8th shows how far off we are - and teams below us are splashing the cash.

I wouldn’t badge it as a several year job - but I’m not convinced you can inherit the useless mess SS did and turn it round completely in one window. For me play offs and we will be better placed within them. Who knows.

You literally cannot get closer than third and losing the play off final. They obviously would have gone up "in a million years".

Evatt was sacked with us 9th and three points off the top six, and rightly so as that was clearly not good enough with the group of players we had. Prepared to give SS slack for the second half of last season as he got his feet under the table and we had injuries, but he's being backed again and there are no excuses not to be at least top six, and frankly we would be challenging the autos.

Also "we're BWFC, every year in this league is a disgrace, Parky got us promoted for three and six etc". Sauce for the goose, Captain Hindsight.

Evatt was sacked because he’d spent a fortune on inadequate players and that’s why we were 9th. No other reason. The squad assembled was absolute pish.

We’ve got to disassemble that squad as has been said by DoF and head coach and make a lot of changes.

If we can do that and go up automatically next season than great. Play offs is minimum and looking more competitive in them than we did previously. Which gives us a chance of promotion.

If you are still under the misapprehension that was a good group of players then I don’t know what to say but it was not. And a rebuild is needed and thankfully is what is happening.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

From the host of The Second Tier podcast.
https://twitter.com/RyanDilks1/status/1 ... 9019914394

Screenshot 2025-06-21 at 17.23.27.png (164.4 KiB) Viewed 259 times

[The_Gun]

They’re also potentially going to be taken over by a consortium led by Welsh icon Gareth Bale, which would of course mean they’d be simultaneously ridding themselves of troublesome incumbent Vincent Tan.

[BWFC_Insane]

From the host of The Second Tier podcast.
https://twitter.com/RyanDilks1/status/1 ... 9019914394
Screenshot 2025-06-21 at 17.23.27.png

Ralls would definitely fit the bill here for experience and add to midfield. Good area for experience too.

[TonyDomingos]

From the host of The Second Tier podcast.
https://twitter.com/RyanDilks1/status/1 ... 9019914394
Screenshot 2025-06-21 at 17.23.27.png

Ralls would definitely fit the bill here for experience and add to midfield. Good area for experience too.

He played under two hours' football in the final third of the season due to injury. Would fit the bill if Evatt was still here.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Ralls would definitely fit the bill here for experience and add to midfield. Good area for experience too.

He would, but reading Cardiff forums plenty of their fans saw him as a weak link. Also worth noting that he fell short of an extension-triggering appearance number due to increasing absence through injury - he only started 15 league games (+6 sub) and had five separate spells out of the squad. As WalesOnline put it: "Ralls features in the top 10 of all-time appearance-makers for Cardiff City. He would have climbed higher in that list, too, were it not for his injury record over recent seasons."

He ticks the box for leadership and promotion, but I'm afraid the robustness one is a spoiled ballot.

They’re also potentially going to be taken over by a consortium led by Welsh icon Gareth Bale, which would of course mean they’d be simultaneously ridding themselves of troublesome incumbent Vincent Tan.

True, and if they get a rich consortium it could nudge the needle away from "Rotherham" towards "Birmingham".

However, these things are rarely straightforward, and I see the consortium's first bid has been knocked back. (BBC: "The offer was rejected, with the Malaysian businessman thought to have little interest in selling at the moment.")

There was a time Vincent Tan was the incoming hero, and we can ask Reading fans (and Wednesday fans) about knights in shining armour. Then again, if we did ask them, they might say "didn't it happen to you too?"

[Worthy4England]

The central midfielder we're missing is called Stan. Work from there.

[TonyDomingos]

The central midfielder we're missing is called Stan. Work from there.

Mortensen?
Bowles?
The Man?
By Me?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

The central midfielder we're missing is called Stan. Work from there.

Mortensen?
Bowles?
The Man?
By Me?

Stan Dalone. He can do it all by himself.

[Worthy4England]

The central midfielder we're missing is called Stan. Work from there.

Mortensen?
Bowles?
The Man?
By Me?

All of the above.

[HMX]

Stephen Humphrys has joined newly promoted Bradford. So more of him next season

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Stephen Humphrys has joined newly promoted Bradford. So more of him next season

Yeah, they've also signed Ibou Touray, the Stockport left-back. Decent third-tier stock, but I don't think Bratfurt will be a contender. (FYI I'm only really pasting in confirmed entries/exits at contender clubs - y'all don't need to know when Stevenage sign someone.)

[BWFC_Insane]

Stephen Humphrys has joined newly promoted Bradford. So more of him next season

Yeah, they've also signed Ibou Touray, the Stockport left-back. Decent third-tier stock, but I don't think Bratfurt will be a contender. (FYI I'm only really pasting in confirmed entries/exits at contender clubs - y'all don't need to know when Stevenage sign someone.)

Bradford could be one of those surprise teams. Pressure off - big home crowds - look like they are investing a bit. Wouldn’t shock me. Not unlike Stockport this season.