Predictions, predictions, predictions...

8th.

I wouldn't be surprised to be flirting with or in play offs, however fleetingly.

If we do, that's the Rovers I remember. A strong third division team with aspirations of promotion.

Add a cup run to that and I wont be complaining.

Huh so pessimistic! What's wrong with championies?!

16th

Mid table, but I don't call it mediocrity! After 2 promotions a comfortable mid table will be just fine thank you.
UTG!

I can understand anyone thinking that. After all we won't be that different from the Conference. I just think the squad is a very good squad and with Taylor, Bodin and perhaps Easter we have goals and a solid defence. If they signed a keeper and a central midfielder of quality, not just squad, I wouldn't complain. I hope you're not right but....
UTG!

Man for man, could we be similar to the Burton team that went up

“Man for man, could we be similar to the Burton team that went up”.

That struck me as an interesting statement, so I decided to investigate further.

It turns out that Burton Albion made very few changes indeed to their League Two promotion-winning side for their successful League One campaign last year. And the players that appeared regularly had solid non-League / lower League CV’s. Ringing some bells?
[Warning! - I’m not claiming that this shows Rovers will get promoted in 2017!]

Keeping the Side That Got Promotion from League Two

On 2nd May 2015, Burton won 3:2 at Cambridge, having already secured promotion in the previous game. The following August, Burton kicked off in League One with a 2:1 win at home to Scunthorpe. Comparing the two sides, NINE players retained their place in the starting line-up. (It probably would have been ten, but goalkeeper McLoughlin had been sent-off in the game at Cambridge, so his suspension carried over to the season in the higher division!).

The nine players were: Edwards, Cansdell-Sherriff, McRory, Naylor, Mousinho, Akins, Beavon, Weir and El Khayati. The only other player missing from the game against Cambridge was McGurk, who was replaced by Duffy.

Winning Promotion from League One

In December 2015, Nigel Clough took over as manager, when Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink left Burton for QPR. But that change had little impact on the make-up of the playing side.

Burton clinched automatic promotion with a goalless draw at Doncaster Rovers on 8th May 2016.

Of the starting XI there was only ONE new face! Choudhury had come into the side, to replace Weir. (Palmer, who had been on the subs’ bench in the earlier games, also came in for El Khayati).

Journeymen?

The table below shows the previous experience of the players that made up the Burton team. (Clubs and number of appearances). Not so very different from the Rovers squad.



Choudhury and Duffy were on loan to Burton, from Leicester and Birmingham, respectively.

Championship - time for changes?

Perhaps that tight-knit team has taken the club far enough? The BBC reports Burton captain John Mousinho's view that “recruiting players who have played in the Championship will be key to their prospects this season”.

Link to BBC Sport article on Burton Recruitment for Championship

Thanks for that Gas Macc. Really interesting to read and the stats you give are very close to Rovers IMO. I sometimes think lots of fans have been brainwashed into thinking that teams have to spend money, and lots of it, to have success. They've seen what happens in the PL and think that teams in lower leagues have to copy that whereas a team with a good manager and training schedule can make players better players. Over the last three years we have seen plenty of evidence of that with DC. Our defence now was largely that which was relegated to the conference and much of our team was in the conference in Autumn 2014 save 1 or 2 players. (Of the 11 on the pitch at the end of the D/R match, 10 had been in Conference with us.) A good attitude with proper coaching has enabled players to improve, get better and achieve success. Whether we do what Burton did remains to be seen but I hope DC is given patience and time to enable this club to grow and evolve in a sensible way.
UTG!
ps I wonder what fans would have made of Bert Tann's transfer policy in the late 50s and early 60s? It was a "no buy no sell policy" and corresponded with the best of times for BRFC in those years. In other words they scouted for the best local players and improved them. Just a couple of wins away from promotion to Division 1 in one season in late 50s from what is now the Championship!