Ricketts: I'm keen to join Blues (But we don't want him - FACT!)

[Angell Delight]

I can't even believe this is even a discussion. Hall, JJ, RR, Harris on their own are going to tear L2 a new a-hole....Simple as. I'm waiting for RR to sign the dotted line and I'm straight down to the bookies to make a substantial bet!

I've already stuck £20 on us at 28/1 and that was before RR even came on trial! I too will be making another "investment" if he does sign.....

 

[Angell Delight]

I think he would be a great attacking addition. PS likes playing with 3 forward players and quite frankly having the choice of playing 3 from Hall, RR, JJ, Corr, Harris, (plus Sturrock, Crawford and Asante) would scare the life out of most teams trying to stop us offensively. We struggled to create and score goals last seasons, therefore the more creative players going forward we add will address this problem. Personally I am excited about the type of attacking players PS looks at and if we can attack teams better next season, I cant see why we wont be there or there abouts near the end of the season.

Fully agree, for the first time in years I can actually see a few sides getting absolutely battered next season - especially if Ricketts signs.....

 

[superblue24]

I've already stuck £20 on us at 28/1 and that was before RR even came on trial! I too will be making another "investment" if he does sign.....

Yeah, but knowing my luck, JJ will get injured for 6 months or something.....Add RR and I reckon I'll be far more confident that my £££ is in the bag. Was that 28/1 for us to get promoted, or to win the league?

 

[Bromley Blue]

Yeah, but knowing my luck, JJ will get injured for 6 months or something.....Add RR and I reckon I'll be far more confident that my £££ is in the bag. Was that 28/1 for us to get promoted, or to win the league?

Without checking that would be to win the league. Promotion odds are much shorter as it includes playoffs.

 

[Angell Delight]

Yeah, but knowing my luck, JJ will get injured for 6 months or something.....Add RR and I reckon I'll be far more confident that my £££ is in the bag. Was that 28/1 for us to get promoted, or to win the league?

That was to win L2, although it may be worth doing it each way at lower odds to give yourself the best chance.....

At 28/1 though it's definitely worth more than a punt. We have excellent attacking players and a strong back line (especially in the centre). If you're scoring goals and not conceding many.....well....it all points to a successful season. :thumbsup: Cracking midfield too!

Or maybe I'm just high on optimism at the moment...... :smile:

 

[Shrimpersfan]

I haven't wanted the footy season to start this much for years!

 

[TTS]

what a difference 12 months makes eh !!

 

[bigmolt]

That was to win L2, although it may be worth doing it each way at lower odds to give yourself the best chance.....

At 28/1 though it's definitely worth more than a punt. We have excellent attacking players and a strong back line (especially in the centre). If you're scoring goals and not conceding many.....well....it all points to a successful season. :thumbsup: Cracking midfield too!

Or maybe I'm just high on optimism at the moment...... :smile:

28/1 is good price at min only 17.5/1 on betfair to win league, no betting up on there yet for promotion.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

I can't believe this is even a discussion point. Hall, JJ, RR, Harris on their own are going to tear L2 a new a-hole....Simple as. I'm waiting for RR to sign the dotted line and I'm straight down to the bookies to make a substantial bet!

I've already stuck £20 on us at 28/1 and that was before RR even came on trial! I too will be making another "investment" if he does sign.....

Fully agree, for the first time in years I can actually see a few sides getting absolutely battered next season - especially if Ricketts signs.....

I'm assuming from all this optimism we have it on record that no-one else in League Two has any new players. :unsure:

 

[palexander]

I'm assuming from all this optimism we have it on record that no-one else in League Two has any new players. :unsure:

You're a cheery bugger arent you?

If you cannot be a bit excited as August approaches and a new season begins - especially after we have made some cracking signings and one hopefully great one in the pipeline, then you probably in the wrong game!

 

[Fish]

I assumed the optimism meant I'd missed something in the smallprint of new league rules which means that every opposition club in League 2 this year will in fact be represented by Great Wakering Rovers.

So we should be odds-on for a top half finish.

 

[southendkid]

I assumed the optimism meant I'd missed something in the smallprint of new league rules which means that every opposition club in League 2 this year will in fact be represented by Great Wakering Rovers.So we should be odds-on for a top half finish.

now is not the time for realism! For the first time in a long while shrimperzone is actually being almost unanimously positive!

 

[Fish]

More seriously, betting is looking pretty good at the moment. If you're not brave enough for Winners (Totesport, BetFred, BlueSquare, 888, Coral and Willy Hill all still offering 25/1 on that), then promotion might look quite attractive: you can still get 7's at Totesport, BlueSquare, 888 and BetFred.

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-two/promotion

Go get them before we sign RR!

 

[Angell Delight]

I'm assuming from all this optimism we have it on record that no-one else in League Two has any new players. :unsure:

Looking at it objectively we had a decent squad last season, one that could well have finished top half and given the dire position Sturrock inherited that would have been a phenomenal achievement. We are a LEAGUE TWO club. Should we NOT be excited about bringing in players of the quality of Neil Harris and Jemal Johnson? Players who are almost certainly too good for this level? And should we NOT be excited about the prospect of possibly signing Rohan Ricketts? A player who most if not all Blues fans would have thought was out of our reach in terms of stature and division? Christ almighty......

Throw in players like Barker, Hall, Ferdinand, Grant, Corr (not to mention Sawyer etc) and we really do have a quality squad -not just side like last season.....SQUAD - for this level. Added to that we have probably the shrewdest manager in the division so yeah why shouldn't we be positive for once about a big promotion push! It's not rocket science - if we score more goals than we concede we're gonna do well. Our defence is pretty strong and we were fairly decent defensively last season. Difference is unlike last season it doesn't look like we're gonna have much trouble scoring goals this year. Add in a midfield that has not only some creativity but is also great protection for the defence and it all adds up to one quite possible outcome.....a successful season. No-one can say for sure but I'll tell you one thing, I haven't felt this confident for a long time about a forthcoming campaign.

And in answer to your original question no I'm not concerned with who other clubs in L2 have signed so far and the reason for that is the quality of our own signings. There are 4 spots available in terms of getting out of this division, we've got as good a chance as anyone of filling one of them.

 

[Angell Delight]

28/1 is good price at min only 17.5/1 on betfair to win league, no betting up on there yet for promotion.

I got in quick just after we signed Harris and before JJ - I'd guess with the signings we've made the odds have rightly been slashed somewhat.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

You're a cheery bugger arent you?

If you cannot be a bit excited as August approaches and a new season begins - especially after we have made some cracking signings and one hopefully great one in the pipeline, then you probably in the wrong game!

Sorry - not wishing to dampen the mood. Things are certainly infinitely more cheery than this time last year - but many seem to be of the opinion we are going to walk the league, without so much as a cursory glance at what some of our rivals are up to. Personally I'd be expecting a top half finish, optimistic of a play off spot, and not ruling out promotion.

I apologise again for my frustration, but we had this last pre-season too. I was pretty much hounded out for suggesting 3rd from bottom would be a succesful season, being told we were sure to be promoted as we'd signed Louis pishing Soares!

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

What odds on 100 points and 100 goals?

 

[Cricko]

Louis Soares...now he was a star player who will no doubt play for Barcelona one day........

​

 

[Norwichshrimper]

Looking at it objectively we had a decent squad last season, one that could well have finished top half and given the dire position Sturrock inherited that would have been a phenomenal achievement. We are a LEAGUE TWO club. Should we NOT be excited about bringing in players of the quality of Neil Harris and Jemal Johnson? Players who are almost certainly too good for this level? And should we NOT be excited about the prospect of possibly signing Rohan Ricketts? A player who most if not all Blues fans would have thought was out of our reach in terms of stature and division? Christ almighty......

Throw in players like Barker, Hall, Ferdinand, Grant, Corr (not to mention Sawyer etc) and we really do have a quality squad -not just side like last season.....SQUAD - for this level. Added to that we have probably the shrewdest manager in the division so yeah why shouldn't we be positive for once about a big promotion push! It's not rocket science - if we score more goals than we concede we're gonna do well. Our defence is pretty strong and we were fairly decent defensively last season. Difference is unlike last season it doesn't look like we're gonna have much trouble scoring goals this year. Add in a midfield that has not only some creativity but is also great protection for the defence and it all adds up to one quite possible outcome.....a successful season. No-one can say for sure but I'll tell you one thing, I haven't felt this confident for a long time about a forthcoming campaign.

And in answer to your original question no I'm not concerned with who other clubs in L2 have signed so far and the reason for that is the quality of our own signings. There are 4 spots available in terms of getting out of this division, we've got as good a chance as anyone of filling one of them.

I kinda agree with that. Harris is undoubtedly a proven quality signing. Others have varying elements of doubt.

But what if everything you say is correct - but 9 other clubs have done the same (for arguments sake). We could be hugely improved, finish mid table, and most would see it as a failure. All I'm saying is you need to factor in the competition.


Crawley will be up there, despite being the biggest bunch of ***** you can imagine and everything thats wrong about modern football, Rovrum have invested a lot this season (though admittedly they always seem to do that and regularly underachieve), Bristol Rovers also....thats only 3 and i don't claim to have chapter and verse on post season activities throughout the league, but hopefully you get my point.

I too am quietly optimistic about our chances and am looking forward to the season, but being a Shrimper for many a year now I am also fully prepared for optimisim to turn into a good hard kick in the dangleberries.

 

[Norwichshrimper]

More seriously, betting is looking pretty good at the moment. If you're not brave enough for Winners (Totesport, BetFred, BlueSquare, 888, Coral and Willy Hill all still offering 25/1 on that), then promotion might look quite attractive: you can still get 7's at Totesport, BlueSquare, 888 and BetFred.

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/league-two/promotion

Go get them before we sign RR!

For me bet of season is Le Fondue to be top scorer. I think he's 6/1 with Skybet. He's been regularly near top of list in a poor team and this year has a bit of help