And then there were 22
Pen to paper
By David Sindall
May 26 2025
We now know who all but one of the clubs we will be facing next season are. League 2 is shaping up for the 25/26 season and for me it looks tougher than last term.
The four relegated teams from the third tier are Bristol Rovers, Cambridge United, Crawley and Shrewsbury Town. Whilst I think Shrewsbury might have problems I suspect Bristol Rovers and Cambridge will be pushing for a quick return.
Notts County, Chesterfield and Walsall remain in our Division and we say au revoir to Wimbledon. I am quite pleased about Wimbledon, a phoenix club that have risen from the ashes of the old team and now sit a division higher than the imposters from Milton Keynes. I suspect that Walsall may start the new season with a hang over and reckon Notts County will continue to challenge for promotion but wonder if that’s all they will do? It’s impossible to say at this stage.
In terms of other contenders I reckon Swindon look like they are in a good position. Ian Holloway built a strong unit last season and they should do well. Colchester United are the other team I would keep an eye on. Cowley will have learnt a lot from last season and is the kind of manager that will want to push on.
At this stage we don’t know who the second club will be to join us from National League. Barnet stormed to the title last season. They must be confident of their prospects next season. Oldham would likely be stronger contenders than Southend, but the play-off final is entirely unpredictable and it remains to be seen who will fill the remaining berth.
As for us, there are signs that Andy Crosby is putting careful thought into assembling a balanced squad. We need a bit more firepower upfront but there is plenty of time until the start of the new season. The early signs are promising, much will depend on what happens to the on-going saga of the club takeover.
I reckon it is a harder Division than next season but doubt that there is an absolute clear favourite at this stage. The fixture list is out in 5 weeks. Starting to look forward to planning the next season. It has to be better than the last.
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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2025:05:26:19:01:22 by hong kong rover.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2025:05:26:19:38:13 by hong kong rover.
As for Rovers we are on a downward spiral over the past few seasons : 5/7/16/20.
Its paramount that we arrest that slide and that Palios doesn't put his eggs in the takeover basket, because going off his update there are no offers on the table just some who have kicked tyres and had a test drive.
Top of mid table will be a result, without major investment in the squad promotion is a no hope for Rovers.
We need to get to 50 points as quick as possible and then take it from there
eg...don't waste time on giving some players pre-season trials when you know they ain't gonna be able to hack it...Don't sign injury prone players like Declan Drysdale ever again...Do much better in the Jan transfer window and don't take on Premiership kids on daft loans and say " We hope to aid with their development" when we are in a massive relegation scrap...and lets not have any of this Chairman - Manager being really good buddies, Adkins should have gone before Xmas and if Palios had kept hold of him for a moment longer then we would have been down, football is a business now and there ain't no friends in business.
Quote:hong kong rover
Adkins should have gone before Xmas and if Palios had kept hold of him for a moment longer then we would have been down, football is a business now and there ain't no friends in business.
Plausible but something that can never be proven.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
Quote:Matt34Quote:hong kong rover
Adkins should have gone before Xmas and if Palios had kept hold of him for a moment longer then we would have been down, football is a business now and there ain't no friends in business.
Plausible but something that can never be proven.
Adkins was taking us down, one million percent.
Quote:hong kong roverQuote:Matt34Quote:hong kong rover
Adkins should have gone before Xmas and if Palios had kept hold of him for a moment longer then we would have been down, football is a business now and there ain't no friends in business.
Plausible but something that can never be proven.
Adkins was taking us down, one million percent.
We were so bad we were getting relegated straight to NLN 🤣
Twists and turns. And probably more to come.
Quote:Zint
Nice that there are still Adkins apologists on here, makes me all nostalgic 🤦♂️
Look, if we’re not going to accept the polishing of turds, we’re supporting the wrong team.
I’m advocating for the distribution of pots of glitter at future home games to replace any Adkins-style post match analysis. Hopefully, the glitter will remain redundant.