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.
|
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