So with the season starting saturday and i imagine around 1k reds making the massive journey to Plymouth to watch the reds what are peoples expectations? Someone did a thread on this the other week and a few posters saying top 2 minimum some expecting top 6. Well for me looking at it Plymouth have sold 8500 season tickets so far so thats wednesday,derby,bolton,charlton,Portsmouth and plymouth who have sold more season tickets than us. We have sold woodrow morris and brittain to plug the financial gap and all of our signings have been free transfers (dont get me wrong some i like the look of) for me where still a rb and 1 possibly 2 strikers short. I cant see the strikers we have scoring many in this league. My prediction with the current squad is mid table i think duff has a big rebuild job on his hands with little/no money for players. My prediction 9th place finish and thats been optimistic
I think the picture is going to be a lot clearer at the end of the transfer window, but looking at the current squad, I'm also thinking somewhere from 8th to 12th is about right.
A Struggle for the new manager and players mid table at best and that would be a good achievement after last season
I think Duff might be worth a few points this season. I'm going top two now Benson has scored all be it in a friendly. I like the look of Aitchison too.
About 7th-12th as it stands now squad wise. Add 2 strikers, a RWB & possibly a box2box midfielder then a top 6 finish isn’t impossible.
I've genuinely no idea where we're going to finish, moreso than any recent season. We've plenty of changes still to come and it's still early days for Duff to get his ideas into the squad. What I'd love is for a win on opening day and a fairly solid first month of the season which looks pretty tough given all the changes we've had. With so many youngsters, and plenty of which that have yet to taste much of a winning feeling at oakwell, an injection of confidence coupled with a bit of discipline and structure from Duff could make a world of difference. Given whats gone before, I'd take mid table gladly though i'd hope we're better than that and at least flirt with the top 6 at some point.
I can't see what season ticket sales has to do with performances on the pitch, so I'm going for another trip to Oakwell South ending with a 2-1 (last minute goal) victory over some Massive team or other....
I’m going for a top ten finish with maybe an outside chance of a playoff place. Anything better than that and I’ll be very pleasantly surprised .
There's a lot still to happen before things settle down and a final assessment can be made I reckon but I'm pessimistic at the moment, despite being positive about the coaching appointments. By the end of the transfer window I can't see either Styles or Helik being with us. There is the added uncertainty around the Kane injury and length of absence and then our two potentially most influential signings so far, Norwood and Cadden, are some distance from full match fitness. We have a number of players I've only ever seen live in friendlies so far and I only want to judge them after 5-6 competitive games so that will also influence the final assessment. But, for me, as we stand we also need an absolute minimum of a right wing-back, experienced central midfield leader and two athletic, ideally pacy, strikers. I think some of the youngsters need to be loaned out and residual 'dead wood' sold/loaned too. The problem is that our start is tough - the only two potentially 'easier' games in the first 8 are made less so by one being against the Gaffer's former club and the other being against arch-villain Barton on his return to the scene of the crime! And a bad start sets the tone and is often difficult to recover from. Just my view but as things stand I think we are underestimating this league and unless recruitment falls quickly into place I can see us near to or in the bottom 4 (unless Duff is an absolute magician).
Similarly to others, I’ll go around 10th. A slight look at the playoffs, with the league being tight. I think Duff will be good for us but there’s still been a lot of change and there’s still some gaps in the squad. Could be a tough start.
Mid table at best with squad as it stands hopefully with about 4 more recruits by the end of August things could look better.
I think SWFC and Derby will be automatically promoted, although I find it morally reprehensible. There will be another 10 teams that will flirt with the top 6 over the season, which may include Barnsley on occasion. I don't think Barnsley will lose many games but possibly draw too many to really challenge the play offs. I don't think they are in danger of being relegated, but I thought that last season. So to sum up,no promotion or relegation, more happy match days for supporters than sad. My usual disclaimer, I don't know anything about football really.
We don't seem to do mid table stabilization and security at Oakwell so my guess is either spectacular success with promotion or dismal failure with relegation that just seems to be the way Barnsley FC roll at this moment in time.
Hoping we become hard to beat very quickly but wonder if we`ve got the capability to edge close games. I`d be disappointed with lower that 10th.
Somewhere between 8th and 16th. If we sign a couple of decent strikers we'll be top half with a an outside chance of play offs. If we don't we'll be somewhere in the bottom 10. There are very few goals in the squad as it stands. Simple as.......
It's difficult to judge, because there is some real dross in this league,but the top 10 looks super competitive - I think with the current squad 10th is probably realistic, if we sign a striker who can score 10-15 goals at this level we might scrape top 6 - but with the current strike force I just don't see us scoring enough goals - I would dearly love Aitchinson or Marsh to make the step up, but that is asking an awful lot and the former isn't really a striker. The less said about Cole the better.