A look back at 2007-8 Predictions - part one
Tuesday, 6th May 2008 19:36

Back in Summer 2007, we did our annual tips for each team in League Two. It's now time to face the music as we re-examine our predictions and see how we did. Today we look at teams we predicted for the bottom half. Top half sides on Wednesday.

Click on any of the team's names to read the full predictions which we did before the start of the 2007-8 season.

Pred	Team	Real Pos	How many out
13th	Lincoln City	15th	2
A season in League Two just wouldn't be the same if Lincoln were to miss out on the Play Offs, having seemingly made them for the past ten years without success. But we tipped them for a disappointing season, and so it proved to be. They showed signs of recovery late on but it was too little to late, and despite plenty of ability in their camp, they were big underachievers, and it was no surprise that a change in manager, even though he'd recently signed a three year deal.
14th	Dagenham and Redbridge	20th	6
In hindsight, I think we made the mistake of thinking that the Conference champions were actually a better side than they are. We'd been bitten the year before with our tips on Accy and Hereford who both did much better than our tips, so we anticipated something similar from Dagenham. However, our trip there showed that they're even some way behind those. That said, they survived without much of a hint of relegation, so all in all, they'll be pleased with that first season in League football.
15th	Brentford	14th	1
Our tip for Brentford will no doubt be one we're proud of. We had mixed feelings about their fortunes for this season. We'd seen their previous season in this division, in which they threw their money about like they had their very own Russian benefactor. This time was always going to be different. They were in decline, financial worries still circling and a manager in Terry Butcher who wouldn't be able to even turn to that blood stained England shirt to help him, as he was miles out of his depth. We half thought that the Bees could see a battle at the bottom
16th	Grimsby Town	16th	0
Back in our prediction for Grimsby's season, we had them down as one of the toughest teams to predict. We talked about their extreme shifts in form in 2006-7, and said anything could happen. Well pretty much the same happened, and based on that, we got our tip spot on for Alan Buckley's men. Their JPT run may have took some of their focus off their League form, and I'm sure they'd have took a Wembley trip back at the start of the season, but you have to say that Grimsby are starting to take up long term residence of this division.
17th	Bury	13th	4
Gotta feel pretty smug about this prediction, as we had them down to an absolute tee. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that our season prediction for Bury shows that we probably can recognise what's happening at their club better than they can. Sometimes, it pays to take off the blinkers and look at something from the outside. We had the Alexander / Casper friction nailed on, and we were spot on in saying that they were too good to go down for a number of reasons, and the only thing which could possible endanger that was KACC not working out. We were right.
18th	Morecambe	11th	7
Aside from the more obvious bad predictions such as Hereford and Rotherham, this was perhaps one of the tips that we were the furthest out on. 7 league places might not seem that much, but Morecambe were much better than their 11th place suggested and had it not been for what was almost a declaration once they hit fifty points, then they could have finished even higher, as they threatened the play offs for most of the season. A very good season indeed.
19th	Accrington Stanley	17th	2
I don't know what sort of odds you'd have got on Accrington staying up this year, but they've managed it again. I've no idea how they manage it. They seem to get by on crowds of 1500, they seem to lose every week, they are one of the worst sides that we play, and they went into the season having lost most of the Conference winning momentum. Even their big summer signing of the return of Lee McEvilly failed to have an impact. Yet despite all of that, they've ended up comfortable in mid table without any real fears about relegation at all.
20th	Hereford United	3rd	17
Okay, okay, this season has shown that without doubt this was our worst prediction of the season, but hands up, I doubt there was anyone out there, a few overly optimistic Hereford fans aside, who would have had the Bulls down for a top three place - I bet them same overly optimistic Bulls fans were looking at a play off push. But it's hard to predict the impact that loan players can have, as you've no idea who's coming in. They paid off handsomely for Hereford, as proved by their fantastic performance at Spotland earlier this year.
21st	Barnet	12th	9
We should have known better. Barnet are one of those sides, not altogether unlike ourselves, who are tipped for eternal doom year after year, but continue to surprise people. The worries about their ground getting them booted out the league never happened, and Barnet proved to be a very tidy side on the day as they always seem to be. We tipped Birchall to be a key player and so that proved to be. No doubt next season will be a mirror image again for Barnet, proving all the doubters wrong.
22nd	Mansfield Town	23rd	1
We called it too well for Mansfield, thinking they were better than they actually are. It was a horrible season for Mansfield, and I can't see things getting any better for them in the next few years. It seems whilst the attention at Mansfield remains off the pitch with an eye towards boardroom level, they just slumped their way to the bottom without even a whimper. Crowds of 2500 for key matches against fairly localish sides would suggest that their fans had given up a long time ago. Even getting a striker to be one of the leading scorers in the division couldn't help them.
23rd	Rotherham United	9th	14
Looking back, I suspect there may have been a bit of wishful thinking with this prediction. I had a gut feeling that one of the sides dropping down might produce the double relegation, and I suspected Rotherham would do so. Obviously was way out. Interesting that the ten points penalty that they faced only cost them one league place, but I guess the knock that their momentum took would have contributed to a lot more points lost in the closing stages of the season.
24th	Macclesfield Town	19th	5
Well this one got them Cheshire lot restless. You'd have thought I'd have tipped them for a long stretch at Strangeways due to the reaction this prediction incurred. For the record, it wasn't a fishing exercise, just a genuine idea on how I thought their season would go. But we were proved right about Brightwell, and had it not been for the introduction of Keith Alexander, then we might have been a bit closer with our tips as they lingered perilously close to the drop. But we did invite them to come on to the board at the end of the season, and tell me I was wrong. So feel free to do so Maccies - I was a full five places out with my prediction.