What are we looking for?

Anything yellow and blue
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GodalmingYellow
Senile
Posts: 5178
Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 10:22 am

What are we looking for?

Post by GodalmingYellow »

Well its been a few weeks, the glory is still shining bright, and the internal glow of happiness and success is still strong. But the realisation of a new dawn is just beginning to appear on the horizon.

Where does everyone think we should aim for next season, what final position in the table would you be happy with and what do you expect us to achieve?

I think the step up from L2 to L1 is quite a bit greater than Conference to L2. So we are going to need some high quality signings. As is often the case after the released list has been announced, the squad is looking a bit on the thin side, especially with Hylton leaving too.

I think the aim should always be to push a bit further than previously. L1 will be a very tough league. We won't dominate so many teams in L1 as compared to L2. Aims need to be realistically achievable or you just end up with a sense of failure, but they also have to be demanding to prevent under-achievement.

I would suggest OUFC should be aiming for the play offs next season. If we end up with a season of consolidation and a decent mid-table finish, I'll be satisfied with that. No flirting with relegation though and finishing above Swinedown is a must.

I suspect we'll end up in the top 10 in the division judging by our performances against higher level opposition last term. Much depends on new signings though.
ty cobb
Middle-Aged Spread
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Joined: Sun May 14, 2006 6:55 pm

Re: What are we looking for?

Post by ty cobb »

I agree Play Offs should be the target. We gave Barnsley more of a game at Wembely than Millwall who we beat over two legs and as we should be able to better play our football and not have quite so many physical teams who just come for a battle we should be aiming high. I would also argue we are bigger than most the teams in the league above so should be able to compete support wise and hopefully resource wise.

If we lose Roofe and CoD though the equation may change somewhat and also depends massively on what strikers we bring in.
Kernow Yellow
Grumpy old git
Posts: 3075
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 5:16 pm

Re: What are we looking for?

Post by Kernow Yellow »

GodalmingYellow wrote:I would suggest OUFC should be aiming for the play offs next season. If we end up with a season of consolidation and a decent mid-table finish, I'll be satisfied with that. No flirting with relegation though and finishing above Swinedown is a must.
Agree with all that. We're competing at a level we haven't been at for 15 years, and the fans musn't be too greedy. We did give Barnsley a decent game but were very fairly beaten on the day, and also lost at home to Millwall after taking advantage of a woeful 45 minutes by them at their place (and a fluke goal).

Play-offs or better - brilliant. Competitive performances, attractive football and nowhere near the relegation zone - fine by me.

Obviously I want to finish above Sw*nd*n, but for once I'm not particularly excited by the prospect of playing them. Maybe that will change once the fixtures come out, or maybe I'm just getting old. That irrational hatred I once felt has dissipated into a 'meh', although I still allow myself a little chuckle when they lose.

As always, the real key to our long-term success will lie off the pitch, with the need to acquire the (or a) stadium for ourselves increasing as we climb the leagues...
GodalmingYellow
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Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 10:22 am

Re: What are we looking for?

Post by GodalmingYellow »

Kernow Yellow wrote:
GodalmingYellow wrote:I would suggest OUFC should be aiming for the play offs next season. If we end up with a season of consolidation and a decent mid-table finish, I'll be satisfied with that. No flirting with relegation though and finishing above Swinedown is a must.
Agree with all that. We're competing at a level we haven't been at for 15 years, and the fans musn't be too greedy. We did give Barnsley a decent game but were very fairly beaten on the day, and also lost at home to Millwall after taking advantage of a woeful 45 minutes by them at their place (and a fluke goal).

Play-offs or better - brilliant. Competitive performances, attractive football and nowhere near the relegation zone - fine by me.

Obviously I want to finish above Sw*nd*n, but for once I'm not particularly excited by the prospect of playing them. Maybe that will change once the fixtures come out, or maybe I'm just getting old. That irrational hatred I once felt has dissipated into a 'meh', although I still allow myself a little chuckle when they lose.

As always, the real key to our long-term success will lie off the pitch, with the need to acquire the (or a) stadium for ourselves increasing as we climb the leagues...
I agree that owning our own stadium is now something that the club need to put a lot of focus on.

My recollection of the license is that rent for L1 is the same as L2, but for Championship there is a hike in the rent. Also there are now just 10 years of the license remaining. Given the lead time to build a replacement stadium, negotiations to buy the KasStad need to begin sooner rather than later.

L1 is much less of a footballing backwater than L2, and Championship is obviously pretty high profile now, so non-ticketing revenue would be expected to rise significantly in future.
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