So another season is almost open us, , , do we have any expectations?? Hopes for the new season??

Personally I would like to see a Top half finish and 4 or 5 less defeats than last seasons shocking 22

If we can manage around the 20 mark in Wins we could have a decent season

Oh I would also like to see more than ONE league win in the first 2 months

Thoughts my fellow Mariners

GOALS

Very tough league this season. I’m happy with the signings and the fact that Whitehouse has belted out of the blocks. Obviously we need a couple more though.

Top half finish will do me. Just being realistic. Progress, no matter how incremental is a positive. Especially as we have already come close to dropping out again.

Halfway for me.I noticed today on odds checker that we are 4th favourites to be relegated which surprises me ?

Top half finish, new owner and something positive about the new stadium.

I’m still left with the feeling that we don’t have the finances and set up for a competitive league club.

I hope for Play Offs I expect midtable.

Upper lower half of table.

Hope for play offs at least but expect 10th -  14th,

Anything less and we have not moved on much.

I expect 12th-14th

We'll score and concede a few more than last season

Top scorer - Green (16)

If we can come out of the season looking like a respectful L2 team then it'll be a success. Aim for a top half finish and work on consistency that we seemed sorely lacking in last season.

Quoted from crusty ole pie

GOALS

Here, here to that!

What was it last season, 45 scored in the league?? Again not good enough that

In today’s GT, according to SportNation.Bet's League Two predicted table we will be 22nd! ??)

We need a decent start to generate some optimism.

Quoted from Rick12

Halfway for me.I noticed today on odds checker that we are 4th favourites to be relegated which surprises me ?

I've listened to and read a few previews and most seem to point to our poor end to the season and the ones that actually seem to have looked at squads talk about lack of creativity. The creativity thing is obviously a legitimate concern, but I don't buy this poor end of season stuff. We were safe really early last season and just sort of gave up. A more relevant main criticism of Jolley would be why did this happen and is he capable of getting the squad to stay motivated enough to progress from 17th/18th to actual proper midtable 11th/12th/13th, which I think is certainly achievable. I haven't seen one preview yet talk about our youngsters coming through, but I'm happy for this to slip under the radar. Neither have any of them mentioned that for a team that finished 17th last season, we weren't particularly bad at defending and had a better or as good a GA column as plenty of sides in the top half and around midtable.

50+ years a Town fan. This is the first season I can recall where I have little or no enthusiasm whatsoever and no expectations at all. For me it's a case of, "OK, here we go again."  
Sad to say that but that's how I truly feel.
A couple of good early wins and I might change my mind though eh?  :)

Expectations - like others have said, realistically higher mid table, but if Newport and Tranmere made the playoff final last season...

Worry - Squad depth looks too thin at the moment for a real tilt at the playoffs, though our team on paper should not see us struggle at the bottom end.

Cause for optimism - Generally the standard at this level is poor and with a bit more attacking intent we could at least flirt with the play-offs.  

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

In today’s GT, according to SportNation.Bet's League Two predicted table we will be 22nd! ??)

We need a decent start to generate some optimism.

Yes I saw that too,

MJ should stick that on the changing room wall so they can all see it before they go on the pitch,

It might inspire them to go out and show them we are much better that that.

Quoted from Son of Cod

. I haven't seen one preview yet talk about our youngsters coming through, but I'm happy for this to slip under the radar. .

Yes .By the sounds of it that Mattie Pollock looks a promising player.Will be interesting to see how his career pans out?

Could we see Pollock, Clifton and Rose starting on Sat??

Struggling for enthusiasm, worried about genuine creativity from midfield and the bookies don't usually get it badly wrong.
Head - 15th
Heart - taken the 66/1, Hanson will be a massive influence
Really hope one of the young lads makes a significant breakthrough
Hope the club and council can finally sort plans for a new stadium because I think that is the key to a takeover
UTM

Quoted from Mariner Timsky

Could we see Pollock, Clifton and Rose starting on Sat??

Clifton will start surely. Could see him going with Davis over Pollock, but wouldn't be surprised either way. I doubt Rose will start. Think it'll be Green/Hanson/Ogbu in a three.

And of course Max Wright!

Some real promising youngsters for the season ahead

Quoted from 1mickylyons

I hope for Play Offs I expect midtable.

Same for me

Solid mid table/top half finish, with another positive season for our academy players breaking through.

We'll probably stay up because there's Macclesfield and Oldham with their financial problems and maybe 3 or 4 sides that could be in a relegation battle.

But our spine, bar Macca, really worries me. Upfront were reliant on two 32 year old who have chequered injury history and it might one EFL season too many.

Our midfield is hard-working but lacks creativity without Embleton. Again were over reliant on Whitehouse been superb after 12 months out.

The fact that Pollock has played so much pre season says a lot about our centre halves.

I hope I'm wrong. It's perfectly feasible that our kids are brilliant, Whitehouse is the player we wanted him to be and Hanson and Green bop in plenty of goals but my head says we'll end up on the edge of a relegation battle.

Not sure he will start with Clifton.

Hewitt was a big feature of our attacking play on Saturday through the short corner routine and his crosses when he went to full-back.    Our real strength lies in our aerial presence in the form of Hanson from crosses plus any 2 of Pollock, Davis and Ohman from set-pieces.

Be it in midfield or at right-back, I've a feeling Hewitt will start.  If it's in midfield it'll be at the expense of Clifton, if at right-back Ring to drop out with Hendrie moving across to left-back would be my guess.

Expectation wise, there's an awful lot riding on Hanson's form and him staying fit.  Hopefully Ogbu can come good as a real creative influence, otherwise we're very much eggs all in one basket.  As long as we've got enough variance in options of where from and who delivers the crosses into him, I'm not too concerned with the supply line or his ability to do something with it and/or create space for others.  It's the 'what if' scenario that concerns me most.

Realistically a top half finish is progress whilst it would be nice to have a push towards a top 7 berth. Plus with the development of the youngsters it may be another season where we look for improvement rather than defined success.  Last season was as freebie for Jolley.  He got extra-time because of the Houdini act a few months prior and was building from nothing.  This year we need to see something.  It doesn't have to be promotion or any set position as such, but we need to see evidence of some identify emerging.  At no point last season did I really feel we were playing with a set style or even something that could be worked on to improve us.

Safe by Christmas, promoted by Easter, Champions at the end of the season. FA Cup fifth round. New owners. New stadium... And surgery to reduce the size of my ever growing nose...

If only everyone was really this okay with mid-table come November when we lose 2 on a bounce...

Mid table is fine with me, keeping the spine of the team again for the season after, and challenge for play-offs

Reading the comments I have to agree... Realisticallly ive said before I'd like us to  be near the play offs and have a half decent chance with a few games remaining but happy wiith top 12...

Although  I have put us on a lucky 15 each way at 50/1  ;D

I don't know enough about the other clubs, and haven't seen the new players so really hard to forecast.

But should be safe. Anywhere between 22nd and 4th would not come as a surprise. Outside of that I'll be gobsmacked.

Hope for at least 2 more signings to strengthen defence and midfield that I think we need to have a shot at the top half. As is, I expect us to score a few more goals if the new strikers avoid injury but still struggle to find enough consistency to get involved. We might improve our league position a little so I expect us to move between 15 - 20th and hopefully stay out of real relegation trouble.

It’s not really enough is it for a club of our support and history at this level, but only investment, regime change and the signing of some better quality players can change that I think.

I'm more positive than the last 2 seasons and if we can keep James Hanson fit, the young lads Rose, Clifton, Pollock &Wright should improve as the season develops, think we could be pushing for the plY offs.

Top 3 and above Scunny
:) ;) ;D

Hanson should be enough to see us mid to lower half...


still don't see the middle having enough creativity or flair

I'd take a season of more wins, more goals and less inconsistencies...my expectations are to sit more mid table throughout the season and relegation battles being a thing of the past...oh, and to be above scunny...

It's league 2 / div 4 and we are Grimsby Town. My expectations are top three.

I expect to see the Jolley babies playing a few games ,which would be good for the club

Quoted from fishboyUTM

It's league 2 / div 4 and we are Grimsby Town. My expectations are top three.

That’s exactly my expectation of what our objective and ambition should be. Absolutely.

On our way out of the league I lost count of the amount of teams that beat us by the odd goal that were nothing special but had a solid team spirit. We had some good young ins last season but at times got bullied , looking at the size and shape of us this preseason that won't happen this year.
My only doubt is , along with others the missing attacking flair. Ogbu I fear will take a good while to settle so a fit Vernham might do it.

I think we'll score more goals which will go a long way towards pushing us up the league.  We talk about creativity, but by the same token, there are a lot of goals scored from set pieces and crosses in this league (last season we were on the receiving end of a lot of them) so if that clicks with Hanson and Green then we could do alright.  Other teams have also improved and there are a few bigger (well, better financed anyway) teams in the league, both having come up and who have come down.

Could be anywhere from 7th to 22nd, but I'd imagine we're more likely be in the 10th-16th bracket.

I think we should be aiming for a top 22 finish !!!!!  ;)

Spot on Hackney. I've lost count of the amount of relegated teams from L1 that were too good to go down and slipped through to non league . County and Accrington are two examples were money isn't the be all and end all. We may well need a bit of quality adding but I'm comfortable that we will manage better this season.The dip off of form at the end of last season that the bookies have picked up on was our early safety combined with possibly bad apples within the squad that could've now moved on.

Who do you reckon the ‘bad apples’ were?

I think our general problem, since we returned to the league, has not been ‘bad apples’ but the prevalence of very average to below average players who have been relatively cheap so as to make a meagre budget plan for this level work. And we’ve scraped by.

Reading this thread is depressing. Survival, mid table, upper mid table. I'm surprised no-one has written " happy to consolidate" or " happy to see evidence of rebuilding" . What is wrong with EXPECTING a push for promotion? How can you maintain interest in a football club if your only aim is to survive and possibly achieve mid table? Fenty must be laughing as he is getting off the hook before the season has even started. Come on , start expecting more from our club and who knows they may just surprise us!

I hope for 3rd from bottom
I dream of mid table
Players looking confident and looking like they know what is expected of them will also be good
Come on Town!

Top 7
Go up through play offs
UTM

Quoted from heppy88

Reading this thread is depressing. Survival, mid table, upper mid table. I'm surprised no-one has written " happy to consolidate" or " happy to see evidence of rebuilding" . What is wrong with EXPECTING a push for promotion? How can you maintain interest in a football club if your only aim is to survive and possibly achieve mid table? Fenty must be laughing as he is getting off the hook before the season has even started. Come on , start expecting more from our club and who knows they may just surprise us!

Nothing, but in our case it's more of a hope than an expectation.

Quoted from heppy88

Reading this thread is depressing. Survival, mid table, upper mid table. I'm surprised no-one has written " happy to consolidate" or " happy to see evidence of rebuilding" . What is wrong with EXPECTING a push for promotion? How can you maintain interest in a football club if your only aim is to survive and possibly achieve mid table? Fenty must be laughing as he is getting off the hook before the season has even started. Come on , start expecting more from our club and who knows they may just surprise us!

Its being realistic as well.Times have changed since the maximum wage was abolished in football in 1961.Back then we had more of a chance.Now you have the likes of Salford  in league 2 backed by billionaire chairmen.

Something tells me the budget hasn't really gone up as promised unless Hanson and Green are on massive coin.
Think we are as fans fed a loads of bollox, far too much by the club and unfortunately looks like another struggle this year.
We as fans should due to the size and fan base of the club should at least be expecting a playoff finish but due to the inadequacies and iron grip on club of the current board we are looking urine poor again.

What is wrong with expecting a playoff push is the fact we have a bottom half budget, sadly. Don't worry we'll only be treading water for 9 years with current board as Fenty claws back 200k each Season. That's not long to wait right?

The lack of genuine creativity is a valid concern but on the flip side we could compensate for that by getting as many crosses into the box as we can, Hanson and Green should thrive of crosses into the box and despite being a small lad Rose seems an adept header, didn't Danny Cowley say that 1 goal is scored every 33 crosses or something similar? We need to get as many crosses as we can into the box and that should lead to goals, that could certainly make up for genuine creativity.

Mid table would be progress and would be the best finish since Slade part 1.  We have spent over ten years either in non League or flirting with relegation and several years before that on a disastrous plummet down the leagues.  In this context, mid table and a shout for the play offs would be a major step forward.

Expectations? To be entertained with attacking football.. Not much to ask is it?

I'd be more than happy to see cross after cross chucked into the box for Hanson to get his nogging on the end of

Something like say Hanson & Rose (sounds like a cheesy bro & sis christian folk duo) up top could be our Jones & Reddy, , , ,

Hanson to lump it up to, , he does the holding up and bullying and Rose to run , run , run!!

I expect to see some purpose from Town this season and an actual plan in our play - with that I'll be happy

I expect us to be better than last season and to be challenging for a play off place

Quoted from LondonMariner43

Mid table would be progress and would be the best finish since Slade part 1.  We have spent over ten years either in non League or flirting with relegation and several years before that on a disastrous plummet down the leagues.  In this context, mid table and a shout for the play offs would be a major step forward.

Agreed. 1 top half FL finish in 20 years, so I'd take a promising looking 12th, if offered.

Expect to flirt with promotion,but the big BUT is lack of depth in the squad.Injuries may play a large part in just how well we progress

I'd have to agree with Heppy. First time I've read this thread and it's depressing to read everyone's expectations even though they are based upon a huge dose of realism. I also agree with Kingston that we could finish anywhere between just avoiding relegation (squad too thin) and flirting with play offs (more firepower, blossoming of youth, the unknown quantity that is Ogbu and hopefully a couple more signings to come in).

If the fans of a club like ours have these realistic expectations, we can't argue with fans of any other team in this league looking down their noses at us and taking the pisss. Every club worried about the drop hopes for mid-table obscurity before a ball is kicked. It's where we are and I'd like something huge to happen to change our very modest reality..

Unfortunately the 'compelling long term vision' from our current custodians is to scrape by on the cheap and hope for a bit of footballing fortune. I've never known expectations to be so nulled but that's the fare we're being served right now so unsurprising really that the usual fantastical optimism has been replaced by a dull realism.

Hey when we finally get that 'hairs on the back of the neck' signing the mood might pick up.

The Championship in five, four three years? To that I'd say "Shut up!". But then again I'm just a cretinous hooligan....

No it's not acceptable, but that's what we're stuck with.

I think the fans expectations will be higher than the boards

I'd imagine we'll have a mid-range budget for the division so anything near the play-offs (hopefully sneaking into them) would be a good return.

The financial doping at the higher levels of the game (from dodgy oligarchs, dodgy royalty from the Middle East, dodgy businessmen from overseas) has quickly worked its way down to our level (and further down) so you can't really expect to be competing when there is nothing like a level playing field. Goalmouths apart, of course.  :)

There may only be a few clubs in the division with a bigger support than us this season, but there are several others which will be bankrolled way beyond the means of their fanbase. Given the signings we've made, I'm more confident that we might be able to make a push into the play-offs this year if we can avoid too many injuries and enough of the players hit form, but we'll be up against it when playing teams spending several times as much as us on players and wages.

I think our creative midfielder may turn out to be Ogbu. On the evidence of. video clips/highlights, his main attribute appears to be the ability to play accurate through balls to men in space. He has the physical characteristics of a central striker, but I don’t think that will be his main game. It looks to me that he’s at his best playing wide on the left.

Quoted from Numanoid

I expect to see the Jolley babies playing a few games ,which would be good for the club

Jolley Tots  ;)

Quoted from Tangerine Chris

I think the fans expectations will be higher than the boards

Which boards are they, the ones at the back of the Main Stand?