In my opinion this side has a solid nucleus that could be good enough for promotion but I still feel we are a couple of players short. I've been wondering for a while now whether the club are keeping their options open both on the field and regarding the head coach. If Lowes doesn't look to have learnt from 2015 I can see him being replaced in June. If we're going well he'll probably get another crack at the 8's. The free cap space will then be there for some changes whether that be by Lowes or a new man looking to put his own stamp on things.

To take a position between the two, I feel the side, with a just a few additions/changes, is good enough to hold down a SL spot but, like any side playing all year in the championship, would struggle to overcome the promotion obstacle. The difference is the inbuilt advantage which is gained from a season played at the higher level.

On the coaching and tactical front, I'm hopeful that lessons have been learnt. I'm pretty sure that Jimmy is wise enough to take stock of what might be improved and to act upon it, there is certainly enough experience at the top to give advice so let's hope Jimmy has his 'ears on'.. He certainly isn't very likely to be replaced so I'm hoping that's the case.

If we aren't looking in good shape in June, I would be amazed if Marc Green doesn't look at other options. He knows full well that we haven't got too many rolls of the dice left before things are scaled back to a more sustainable level.

Given the talk around the club when Harrison left, it doesn't seem to me that Lowes is willing to do actually listen, it's probably the reason he doesn't seem to improve as a coach as rather than take on board all sides of the argument, he seems to just steamroller across and say "My way or the highway". Now, someone like Alex Ferguson could do that because he's got a the best part of half a century of management experience and a mountain of silverware to back up his contention that his way is best. Lowes on the other hand, doesn't have that and his following his first final, he showed a distinct lack of composure which leads me to believe that he's not got the right mentality to deal with the pressures of the boss' chair

Nothing has changed on the Lowes front - no promotion whilst he is in charge. One of Marc Green's few mistakes but sadly the biggest by a country mile.

Jimmy deserves another year for me. The performance of the team saw a marked improvement after Cummings left, and despite the inevitable relegation that followed, his work has been pretty good given the standard of players he's had to work with compared to what we had. He got us to the MPG, after all. Christ, the Leythers couldn't make it that far with a sugar daddy buffoon of an owner, an impressive squad that was better than ours last year with attacking intent and dogged defence, and an army of passionate, albeit deluded, fans.

The good thing is that he's got the '27 game pre season' to come to terms with the ins and outs of positional play.

He seems like an excellent (potential) acquisition to me. Fast and tricky, with a real eye for the gap. If (and its an 'if') he can adapt, then he's got to be worth a 1 year deal at the very least.

However, if you want real 'deluded', you need to see what our owner is predicting for this season!! (some of our ';deluded' followers are predicting Wembley wins - usually by 2021 - but definitely not THIS season!)

Pleased to see that you can manage expectations!

Haha, not sure it's best do 'expectations'.

things we'd like to happen are fine - it's only when we start 'expecting' them to happen that serious disappointment springs into view.....

I'm not sure about that.

After your victory over Wigan yesterday I'm expecting a tsunami of posts predicting not losing a game all season, promotion, cup glory, Man of steel awards, the onset of world peace and the ascension of Derek Beaumont to Gods right hand.