League One

[ClaphamFox]

23 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

These projections just seem to be getting us relegated earlier/by a bigger margin! 

Yet the bookies have Portsmouth and Oxford favourites to go down ahead of us. We're on 11/8 with Blackburn on 13/8. West Brom are 6/1.

[Les-TA-Jon]

1 hour ago, LCFCJohn said:

These projections just seem to be getting us relegated earlier/by a bigger margin! 

 

45 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

Yet the bookies have Portsmouth and Oxford favourites to go down ahead of us. We're on 11/8 with Blackburn on 13/8. West Brom are 6/1.

They're very rudimentary projections. They're not predictive and only based on what's happened to date (on 3 different timelines). 

 

They just give a general idea, nothing more. Because for them to be prophetic 6 teams need to all maintain the same form - which itself seems unlikely. 

 

@LCFCJohn as I say, it being 'tight' is the only thing in our favour since, a tiny swing here or there could be enough for safety. 

 

The real wildcards at the moment are:  1) The outstanding appeal (will the deduction go up, down or stay the same; will the timing of it help/hinder?); 2) Oxford's form which 'feels' unsustainable and; 3) Portsmouth's game in hand 

[LCFCJohn]

1 hour ago, ClaphamFox said:

Yet the bookies have Portsmouth and Oxford favourites to go down ahead of us. We're on 11/8 with Blackburn on 13/8. West Brom are 6/1.

Oh yeah I know. And the remaining fixtures are what decides it and what bookies will go on (I.e Portsmouth have a tough run, we have games we should be winning).

 

Obviously the projections posted are from past form, even recently over 5/10 games. But as we know, Oxford have had a very good run that might be curtailing with getting pegged back against Charlton last weekend and losing to Southampton this weekend gone. But their 5 game form will still reflect quite well. West Brom have back to back wins, Blackburn have had some good results in that time too.

[LCFCJohn]

14 minutes ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

 

They're very rudimentary projections. They're not predictive and only based on what's happened to date (on 3 different timelines). 

 

They just give a general idea, nothing more. Because for them to be prophetic 6 teams need to all maintain the same form - which itself seems unlikely. 

 

@LCFCJohn as I say, it being 'tight' is the only thing in our favour since, a tiny swing here or there could be enough for safety. 

 

The real wildcards at the moment are:  1) The outstanding appeal (will the deduction go up, down or stay the same; will the timing of it help/hinder?); 2) Oxford's form which 'feels' unsustainable and; 3) Portsmouth's game in hand 

I agree re Oxford. It feels they might have peaked too soon. Or rather peaked and not clear of danger. 
 

Our hope has to be Oxford’s form continues to drop back after their few wins. And Portsmouth continue to drop. Hopefully Ipswich are still well on for autos when they play Portsmouth!

[hinkfox21]

I really do think we are going down. 

 

Its guaranteed. Coventry are the best team in the league and do all these records, and we get relegated!

[Fox92]

We're still staying up. Not seen anything otherwise to change my mind, In Rowett I believe. 

[David Guiza II]

1 hour ago, Blue ROI said:

We've been here between 2 of the last 3 seasons and we are constantly let down when we need something 

 

We look even worse now if that were possible.  Why will this end differently?

Nothing in particular, but I suspect West Brom fans were saying similar a couple of weeks ago after zero wins in 2026 - and they were a few seconds away from 9/9 points from the past three games. 

I'm naturally pessimistic and remain convinced that we'll go down, but form can change overnight in this division. I was speaking to a Derby fan yesterday who was telling me that they went from being winless between Boxing Day and early/mid-March to winning 6 and drawing 3 of their final 11 games last season. I think Eustace came in from mid-Feb and lost his first 3 games before turning it around. 

 

[FoxesTalker]

There’s been so many games this season which have pointed towards relegation. One win in eight under Rowett so far.

[STEVIE B]

1 minute ago, FoxesTalker said:

There’s been so many games this season which have pointed towards relegation. One win in eight under Rowett so far.

Obviously Rowett takes some of the flak, but l can't think of anyone that gets a tune out our squad. The mess at the top has just filtered down. 

[suffolk fox]

It's easy to blame Rowett however, I have actually seen an improvement in out attacking prowess since he became manager.  When, we go down, it's because of our poor defence and goalkeeper.

 

Tactically too, set piece coach and ideaology needs looking at.

 

God knows why we pull everyone back for corners and then only zonal mark.  It hasn't worked all season, we are very poor at it yet we persist in trying to play this way.  Why?  Madness, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

 

We only  have ourselves to blame.  We can't buy a win.  We tend to  draw away games but it's our home form that will get us relegated.  It's truly shocking.

 

Defence has to improve in the last six games.

 

Unfortunately, I can't see it.

[Guppys Love Child]

13 minutes ago, STEVIE B said:

Obviously Rowett takes some of the flak, but l can't think of anyone that gets a tune out our squad. The mess at the top has just filtered down. 

I know what you are saying and agree with your final point, but a lot of others have used a similar phrase to "l can't think of anyone that gets a tune out our squad"

 

Now you may be 100% correct  but if you look at who we have appointed since Enzo (yes our current situation and horrendous incompetent club hierarchy doesn't help matters) they all seem to be similar and have all pretty much;

 

A - adopted 99% of the same starting 11 (even King did)

B - persisted with the same old "repeat offenders or liabilities" Daka, Ayew, Thomas,  Ricardo etc. when showing a bit of bravery and radical out of the box thinking,  a few curve ball player inclusions might have had a positive affect.

C - never really tried to erase the goto 'Enzoball esq"  play out from the back when under pressure or lacking ideas, instead of simply driving towards the oppositions goal shifting play from our danger area, and not inviting more.

D - shifted to an alternative formation other then 4231.  Not once can I remember seeing a 442 or a 4132  or any other variation as a starting lineup in last few years, we have stagnated on this point and all of our managers have tried to shoehorn players into this formation and hope and make do, regardless of whether the players skill set matches 

 

We could go on,

 

 I think any true high calibre manager with a brain, tactical awareness, and crucially the observation skills to actually see who our under performing and incompetent week on week repeat offenders actually  are and then proactively do something about them (and not do what the current and last 3 managers have done and just persevere,) by changing the starting 11 and replacing the worst of dross where realistically possible.

I appreciate our squad due to Rudkin could be better, but even if its Aluko for a a broken Ricardo or taking a chance on youth to replace our misfiring "strikers", would be a positive start, and not just continuing as last 4 managers have done...which is nothing, 

Look at changing the formation.

Think about changing tactics.

Better subs.

 

All of these are things that the past managers have failed to do or have been unwilling to entertain.

 

Any manager willing to be different, and really make fundamental changes to our core match day setup and seriously come away from our current stagnated approachs could, IMO geta tune out of this lot. Or at least improve us enough to give us a fighting chance, because we are underperforming and are better than the sum of our parts.

 

 

[FoxesTalker]

1 hour ago, STEVIE B said:

Obviously Rowett takes some of the flak, but l can't think of anyone that gets a tune out our squad. The mess at the top has just filtered down. 

This is the second consecutive season with no ‘bounce’ from a managerial change, so it does say a lot about the squad. The performances (overall) have been more competitive under Rowett, but they haven’t translated into results unfortunately.

[fox_favourite]

A lot of non playing staff will lose their jobs because of the sheer selfishness of players and the ineptitude of the management. 

 

Utter shambles

[CPepFox]

On 05/04/2026 at 08:39, FoxesTalker said:

This is the second consecutive season with no ‘bounce’ from a managerial change, so it does say a lot about the squad. The performances (overall) have been more competitive under Rowett, but they haven’t translated into results unfortunately.

Yeah, next year will be horrific... but maybe a falcon will come from the garbage upper management, Aiyawatt and Rudkin have led us too??? Or am I too inebriated to even recognize the correct bird??? I think falcon is right

[PhillippaT]

27 minutes ago, CPepFox said:

Yeah, next year will be horrific... but maybe a falcon will come from the garbage upper management, Aiyawatt and Rudkin have led us too??? Or am I too inebriated to even recognize the correct bird??? I think falcon is right

Falcon? Ha. More like a greedy bunch of Buzzards start circling...  

[FoxFossil]

Guy on Sport talk said it. Players and their agents looking for a way out / next club stop playing for the team and only play for themselves. This is exactly what Mavididi, Fataea, Winks, Ayew, maybe others are doing. Need to drop most of them, but Rudders bought them, and it looks like he picks the team.

[LCFCCHRIS]

10 minutes ago, FoxFossil said:

Guy on Sport talk said it. Players and their agents looking for a way out / next club stop playing for the team and only play for themselves. This is exactly what Mavididi, Fataea, Winks, Ayew, maybe others are doing. Need to drop most of them, but Rudders bought them, and it looks like he picks the team.

Some of them will benefit from the drop, as it means we will be more desperate to sell. A lower fee means potentially higher signing on bonuses for them.

[honeybradger]

4 hours ago, LCFCCHRIS said:

Some of them will benefit from the drop, as it means we will be more desperate to sell. A lower fee means potentially higher signing on bonuses for them.

Surely relegation to league one is a career ender for most of them.

 

Who will pay their £30-50k wages when the average wage of the teams around us is around £5-10k.

[FoxesTalker]

So many parallels with 2022/23. Feels like history repeating itself.

[Blue ROI]

1 minute ago, FoxesTalker said:

So many parallels with 2022/23. Feels like history repeating itself.

Life under King Power.

[ClaphamFox]

Just now, FoxesTalker said:

So many parallels with 2022/23. Feels like history repeating itself.

Yep—2023 being the tragedy and this season being the farce. Marx was right. 

[ronnup]

In regards to off loading players, we wont have the revenue to bring new ones in. Swallowing the wages may be the only option as there'll be nothing for transfer fees. 

[Lionator]

32 minutes ago, ronnup said:

In regards to off loading players, we wont have the revenue to bring new ones in. Swallowing the wages may be the only option as there'll be nothing for transfer fees. 

Any player on wages above 20k a week who refuses to leave next season is imo worse for this club than Dennis Wise. They will be actively engaging in an action that will lead to the liquidation of the football club over the short to medium term. 

[Cropwellfox]

Took Sunderland 4 years to come back without any points deductions. Ipswich 4 years and three of them were mid-table. Bolton 7 years now out of the champ including a season in league two following admin. Given the fact we are not far off insolvent and the absolute state of our squad league one very possibly our level for a good number of years. 

[Terraloon]

11 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Any player on wages above 20k a week who refuses to leave next season is imo worse for this club than Dennis Wise. They will be actively engaging in an action that will lead to the liquidation of the football club over the short to medium term. 

I get your point but sorry if a player on say £25k a week with another two years refuses to leave and go to another club on say a £15k a week contract would you really blame them ? 
 

Players are for all intents and purposes short terms employees. The club signed them and gave them big contracts so the responsibility lies solely with the club/ owner.

 

Have players delivered value for money ? No of course not but the players are afforded vast protection during their contracts and unless they have committed gross mis conduct don’t expect any to have their contracts just torn up . That is without them receiving compensation