I think there may have been a thread on this a while back, but now that we have a new manager and pre-season is about to start, what are you expecting for the 2022/23 season?
I will lay me cards on the table: I am a season ticket holder and have already renewed for the coming season, even before Ben Garner was announced. As far as TS is concerned, I am undecided. I think he has the best intentions for the club (and is vastly better than Duchatelet), but I am not convinced he has the best advisors when it comes to running a football club. There is a massive difference between running a normal business and running a football club. The normal rules of business do not seem to apply to football, as I think Thomas has found out.
I admit I had never heard of Ben Garner, but having read and heard more about him now, I like the sound of him. I will be disappointed if he can't bring his coaches with him though. I think we need a complete change of approach with our coaching, and if Ben Garner is to be judged fairly, he needs to be given the proper tools.
It is just over a month until the first competitive game of the season and it doesn't feel as though we are likely to hit the ground running again. I really hope I am wrong, but I can see our pre-season being a bit chaotic (yet again) and I don't believe we will have completed most of our signings before the season starts. With a new manager, new playing style and a core of new players needed, I am expecting a slow start.
Overall for the season I will be pleasantly surprised if we are challenging for the play-offs throughout the season. There are too many other decent teams in the league, and that coupled with all our changes may be a bridge too far. I am expecting better than last season (it better be), but would predict a finish of 7th to 10th. I think we would need to sign 3 or 4 very decent players to improve on that.
However, if we can start to build a decent team that play the Ben Garner way, then the following year we should be challenging for automatic promotion. As long as the football is more entertaining this coming season I think I would be content with a comfortable top half finish.
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Pretty much exactly how I see it all at present.
Existing players on the whole look better than last year
Games are more entertaining
New signings look to have fit into the system well
Players look like a team
Less off-field drama at board level
Would be nice:
Challenging at the right end of the table
A couple of players that look like they would be promotion contenders
Improvement of some existing players to promotion level
Defensive improvements
Team looks greater than the sum of their parts
Injury issue improving
More goals from midfield
Anything else is a failure no matter how we spin it.
Far from ideal but am being realistic and pragmatic and am not expecting anything from the season. If Garner beds himself in and starts building something that moves in the right direction and looks like we will seriously challenge the following year then I think that is the best I can realistically hope for.
Getting us promoted as the squad stands now would be miraculous imo.
Renewed when they first went on sale so in it for the long haul again
If our first fixtures are
Exeter A
Ipswich A
Accrington H
….and we lose at home to Wycombe, then we must win at Exeter and Ipswich, and then if we don’t beat Accrington at home we fall below target.
That is how I look at the results. I don’t want to settle down, to bed in, to find our best eleven, to be a work in progress, to catch up, to hope for a run, to calculate points, measure distances behind.
Absolute imperative is home wins….if there was a way to dock wages or bonuses for a home defeat I would do it.
If we are attractive, exciting, nice and admirable that’s sweet and lovely pink and fluffy, but nothing compares to loads and loads of points.
Next season I expect us to be here on business.
One thing (out of the many faults) is that we didnt look like a team. So some cohesion with all player knowing there jobs would be nice!
We should still be competing around the play offs though 100%
... I want a team of players that I can warm to. A squad who I look forward to watching. Players who I can identify with. And, yes, even at my advanced age, I want a hero in the team.
Someone who gets me out of my seat and makes me proud to be a Charlton fan.
Farewell, Chris Gunter. Goodbye, Ben Watson. We've had enough of mediocrity. Fetch me youth and exuberance.
one manager the whole season and the owner backing him 100 percent.
Plus promotion.
Everyone should know by now what it takes to get out of this division?
Easy🫤
Until those questions get answered I dont think we can expect anything.
We may came good, but I'm not expecting it.
I'm not even confident enough to back us top half at the moment, but why would I be when we haven't signed a single player, that has been announced.
Anything less than the play offs is a failure for a club due to be in The Premier League in 3 years.
We might win the league, we might be relegated, we'll have to wait and see.
sign enough players to put out a decent 11 regularly (rather than the half decent 5 a side team we currently have)
sign them on a longer term basis - stop the churn
avoid relegation
temper expectations to limit disappointment and ruin my Saturdays
get set for another World Cup failure
enjoy my holiday
power wash my garden gates
Until we start seeing some decent transfer business, it's impossible to be more optimistic.
Of course that can all change, depending on what happens in the next few weeks.
I'm not falling for your pathetic attempt to gain some extra LOLs, and am hoping that this knock back is more successful
Imo, Sandgaard is not backing up his trap when he took over, this appointment could go badly wrong very quickly.
Having said that, last season at Swindon was good, but a season BELOW us.
If it all goes tits up my anger will be at Sandgaard and not Garner.