Views from the Sieve

So who's involved and who will finish 23rd & 24th come May 2nd

I think every team up to and including Cambridge will remain involved.

14th Cambridge - Lost 2-3 in last meeting. Hopefully their cup game against Man U will make them take their eyes off the ball and drag them down towards us. No managerial change this season.

15th Oxford Utd - Only managed two draws against us. They looked bang average in both games. Can see any half decent team putting them away. Expect them to continue to plummet. No managerial change

16th Northampton - Comfortably beat us 2-0 and expect a similar result this coming Saturday. They usually manage to pull clear by the end of the season and will probably do the same again. No managerial change

17th Portsmouth - Smashed us 3-0 although that didnt tell the entire story of the game (a familiar theme). You would expect with their budget & resources (apparantly budgets win football matches) they will have more than enough to pull clear. No managerial change

18th Cheltenham - They scraped a 1-1 against us. Recently lost to whipping boys Hartlepool which suggests they must be fecking awful. Have changed manager

19th York - One of the teams we actually managed to beat this season & comfortably so too. Their form has remained pretty dire & are just 1 point clear of us. Have changed manager

20th Mansfield Another team we managed to beat - and again with some degree of comfort. Are again the 1 point clear of us with a worse goal difference by 1. Have changed manager

21st Dag & Red - Nothing left to say about us for the time being. Wayne 'unsackable' Burnett remains in charge

22nd Carlisle - We beat these in 1 of Burnett's 'make or break' games although I was busy jinxing Arsenal in their loss to Man U so cant comment on just how bad they were. To conceded 4 against us though must make them one of the real big contenders for relegation. Have changed manager

23rd Tranmere - Nicked a smash n grab 1-0 win against us which was all the more disappointing considering just how poor they appeared to be. Again, you would THINK they will have the resources to use the January window wisely and get out of trouble. Have changed manager

24th Hartlepool - As said, the obvious whipping boys of the division. Form of their last 5 games suggests they might not be going down with a Hyde-esque style whimper. 1 win / 2 draws / 2 losses with one of the losses a narrow 1-0 away to Wycombe. People mocked the decision to appoint Ronnie Moore and 7 points from safety is a big gap to make up. I still have a feeling they will sneak out of it though!! Have changed manager

So out of all that, I predict the teams to go down will be Carlisle & York.

As for us - the board may just get their wish and finish in the lofty heights of 22nd.

Having read views from all fans of these clubs. I'm pretty convinced it will be Hartlepool down with either us, Carlisle, Mansfield or Cheltenham joining them.

Carlisle's players have little fight and the new manager hasn't appeared to galvanise and is actively seeking replacements.
Mansfield have invested quite well in the window but goalscoring is a problem and they have an inexperienced manager.
Cheltenham are spiraling downhill. I don't see Buckle lasting the season. That part could actually save them.

I see Tranmere being fine under Micky Adams. York have actually improved under Wilcox from where they started from. Oxford are meh, will continue to be meh but won't be one of the worst two clubs. Northampton and Pompey have enough to pull away. Both will change manager and be fine if it gets to it. Their squads are strong enough to have bursts of form.

Hartlepool and......Carlisle (just ahead of Cheltenham).

My bottom 5 from here would be...

20 - Cheltenham
21 - Daggers
22 - Carlisle
............
23 - York
24 - Hartlepool

I have seen enough this season and with only missing two games either home and away to say as much as I hate to say it think were go down with Mansfield Town, teams like us who have been hovering around 18-22nd place most of the season have generally gone up the swanny at the end, and teams like Hartlepool will probably get out of it as I quite rate Ronnie Moore not only as present day manager but when he played was quite a handful! Please prove me wrong!

Backed Hartlepool to drop for a fairly long time now, and I still don't see that changing in spite of the weekend's result, as Cheltenham look as though they're dropping fast. Buckle was an awful appointment, definitely worse than Yates and there appears to be some unrest with some players, think he's getting rid of Byron Harrison who is the top scorer down there as well. Also backed Mansfield for quite a while now, but with the signings they've made I can see them gelling and getting out of it as long as it all clicks with their new manager. Also see Keith Curle getting Carlisle out of trouble, although fair difficulty. Tranmere should be fine, but I wouldn't rule Oxford out.

We aint going down but we will be in or around the dogfight for a little while yet. Its not too late for Hartlepool either,though they gotta be favourites to go right now.The real battle starts March. I reckon we'll blag 18th or 19th.

If I had my own money riding on this then York and Hartlepool would be my selections... if Hartlepool can 'do a West Brom' however and stage a miraculous recovery, I'd like to see Mansfield go down... horrible team full of Sunday League players (quality and size) and were awful when they played us

There are a number of teams that will come back to us before the seasons end.

Morecambe and Wimbledon are two that I think will have a poorer second half of the season and only being 7 points adrift think they are more then catchable

15 goal Tubbs has gone to the Skates and Wimbledon do not look that solid at the back.

Morecambe always seem to start well but drop away.

Andy Awfull has gone from the messiah to Brian in a matter of months. Those Fickle inbreeds have lost all faith in him and allegedly has two games to save his job starting with Burton Saturday. They will no doubt pour money that they were not supposed to have when it came to ripping off local tradesmen and Charities to save themselves. Weather it will be under the bloke who failed at Bognor remains to be seen. Awfull is a dead man walking as they have fans like ours who think they have a divine right to be doing better.

Was told that Carlisle were the worst team seen by the Skates in four seasons and when they rocked up here looked even worse. Nothing seems to have improved despite the odd result giving an indication they were

There was rumblings at Cheltenham at end last season of a divided dressing room ,the local rag was all over a story about Players accusing other players of not trying since they were safe the week we played them. That situation does not appear to have been sorted and look a team in free fall.

Nothing better illustrates that then that they managed to lose to Hartlepool last weekend. Ronnie Moore is not a magician ,in fact he is not very good and a bloke with the brains of my kids rocking horse is not going to save them. When you lose a job over a £2 bet i is bad enough but to go a trump that by saying you want to sign Ched Evans then Hartlepool are in the hands of either a desperate Man or a complete .Barn Pot

Mansfields sugar Daddy with that Cloths horse of a Wife is no longer keen to chuck the Wonga at it. Their first priority is to pay the rent and it remains to be seen if the collection of freebees and loans thrown together in desperation does the trick.

York will continue to make sure nobody will get rich playing the football pools,Vernons coupons have already been amended to read 7 out of 10 with York. Will draws be enough tho.

Tranmere will get out of it under Adams and next Season will be this seasons Wycombe

My Predictions

15t or 16th Daggers/Tranmere
17th Oxford
18th Wimbledon
19th Morecambe
20th York
21st Carlisle
22nd Mansfield
23rd Cheltenham
24th Hartlepool

Agree with most of that.. but then people seemed to think Tranmere would be up there this season... certainly the same for Portsmouth... expectation is nothing without the results to back it up... Pompey are only as high as they are because teams like us managed to make them look like world beaters

Sussex, come on!!
You're suffering delusions of grandeur if you think we are going to finish 15th/16th. What you haven't allowed for is we have to BEAT these teams when they visit the LBBD cemetery! Fortress Viccy road it is not.

We will avoid relegation by two points and finish 21st/22nd!!

Remit for Burnett achieved and another two year deal!! Another two years of negativity before someone actually realises he can't manage an FM team, let alone a real one!!

Almost hope we do drop to the Conference, and get rid of the driftwood (playing and non playing) that has dragged our beloved club down.

I thine will end up 18th or 19th, and a few points clear.

Thats not to say I am enjoying the spectacle these days, but I think we will have enough to be a few clear by the last day of the season.

Tight as a nuns' down there now!!

Another good win for Hartlepool sees them close the gap to 6 points, although their goal difference is horrific.

Old Ronnie Moore is doing a good job though by every account!

Still think every team up and including Cambridge are well involved. Northampton probably out of danger needing just 10 points from the final 16 games.

Gonna be a bumpy ride thats for sure!!

If we play with the spirit we showed last night we have no fears.Mid table possibly even 9th again.

If you put a gun to my head......14th.

I think the current bottom 4, will finish bottom 4

Think cheltenham could be in shite street,manager not doing it,too many loan players.They have rapidly come down the table.