a struggle ahead

I know its early days - but i think GUFC need to sign more players - 3 or 4 more good players at least

drafting in these under 21s will take bed in time - and they may just not make it - taking a big chance in restrained circumstances

dead wood has been gotten rid of - but the squad i feel lacks depth - not to single anyone out but take vinny faherty as an example - he may have potential but he is still relatively unproven - we cant rely on this to move forward

enough has been said about the season ticket scenario already - but i can see that the money, hopefully arriving there, is being waited on to purchase more players

but these players will ask themselves do they want to take a chance in galway or stay with the established teams guaranteed to stay up

I personally can only see another avoid relegation battle on our hands - 3 go down so the pressure will be on from the off

talk of top 4 is laughable - even if it was as some say to "compete" with the top 4

to get top 6 would be a huge achievement which would mean GUFC managed to compete with the bigger clubs, not alone on their form from the season just past but also with the new players that theyve bolsterd their squads with

certainly with the extra pressure of 3 relegated i cant see the football on the pitch being improved or developed in this battling scenario (Again)

another season of hoofball awaits???

I dunno corby I think you're being too pessamistic.

I don't think 3 going down will make a difference to us next season, everyone on here is saying that we shouldn't have been involved in the relegation fight last season and in the end we finished relatively safely. With a more settled side and new signings we should be well clear of those clubs in the coming season. On top of that we should also be looking to finish ahead of Sligo and possibly Rovers and Derry.

Cant agree with you there as it stands our squad is 100% stronger and more experienced than what we started out with last season.We lost only 3 games in our last 15 and finally got the home form sorted and that was a s a direct result of the new players we signed in July adding a stronger spine to the squad.

I cant wait for next season as I think with 2 more good signings we will have enough strength in depth to cope with Injuries and Suspensions and I feel like JC that we will be challenging for a top 6 place .Derry,Cork and Sligo are in turmoil at the moment so having our house in order before the season starts will give us the edge over them.

I don't know, Sliugo were supposed to be in turmoil at the start of last season too with no manager and some of their top players leaving with the red tracksuited one, but they came down and gave us a good spanking on the first day of the season and finished comfortably ahead of us.I think we have a stronger squad, add a left back and we could be motoring

We have added a left back Marc McCulloch see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_McCulloch. Very highly rated by shels fans.

i can understand your optimism and i am being pessimistic but i think the point about sligo is a good one - maybe cobh and finn harps wont roll over - maybe UCD will pick out a pile of genius' - who knows

i still think there will have to be immense improvement on the football side and a huge amount of fortune in getting the right 2 or 3 players

as i was saying the other teams wont be standing still either

if we can play the football we know GUFC can consitently with improvements to the squad then maybe just maybe get 6th - but i think there is an awful amount that has to go our way to get it

think about the run in - how many times should GUFC have been punished with another mediocre draw and luckily the teams around them drew or lost - that sort of form wont cut it this time to stay up

there wont be a team on -6 points, our 8th position was achieved with 2 games to go - we were second from bottom at one point with a game in hand

heres hoping i suppose

The season before Bray stayed up on how many points Corby ??? I know people get mad at me for saying this but writing us off before we have even finished signing players,Started Training our kicked a ball in anger is very unfair on the players and management.

Every club starts at 0 points in March so lets wait until 5/10 games before we judge how we will do or do we descend into the madness in England where a manger got sacked after 1 game where his Team had actually one.

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Originally Posted by JC_GUFC

I dunno corby I think you're being too pessamistic.

I don't think 3 going down will make a difference to us next season, everyone on here is saying that we shouldn't have been involved in the relegation fight last season and in the end we finished relatively safely. With a more settled side and new signings we should be well clear of those clubs in the coming season. On top of that we should also be looking to finish ahead of Sligo and possibly Rovers and Derry.

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Only way we'll be finishing above all those clubs is if we get in another 2 or 3 quality players IMO.

With 3 going down next season the liklehood is that half the division will be battling relegation. Without further improvement in the playing staff I think talk of a top 4 finish is fanciful to be honest. We were downright poor for large parts of last season before somewhat coming good in the final third of the season. We'll need to keep up that improvement as you can be sure that the clubs that finished above us will be looking to do the same.

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Originally Posted by gufct

Sligo are in turmoil at the moment

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Are we? Not near as bad as last season and look where we finished

midway through last season I was pretty sure we were heading down and was delighted that we grafted out the required points to stay up. Our mid season signings were a help to this. I am not surprised but dissappointed that we are been written off by some of our own fans before we go training as gufct said. Gilberto mentioned that we aimed too low last year and he is right in a way because as a club and a supporter we should have a Positive Mental Attitude. It's very negative of people to be already fearing the worst at least wait til the feckin season is under way for a bit then judge.

Anyone hear of us being linked with any players? Particularly a striker!

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Originally Posted by gufct

Sligo are in turmoil at the moment

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Gotta love the obsession gufct, keep it going please.

How, exactly, are we in turmoil? We've lost Hughes yes, we're signing Anto Murphy from Pat's. So we've that spot sorted. Every season seems to start with us 'in turmoil' but yet we do ok. If things were to stay the way they are right now, I'd be positive of finishing ahead of ye. Signing the likes of McCulloch and Rouse and ye expect to challenge the top 4? Good luck with that.

Don't want to come across as trolling here but I'd say ye are in more turmoil than us what with a lot of fans giving out about season ticket increase and the fact that ye still have the same manager as last season.

in fairness lads, ye are getting far too ahead of yerselves here. ye will be lucky IMO to avoid relegation, with 3 teams going down, im not trolling im just saying that with what ye have brought in so far, theres no way ye will improve on last seasons finish. who's mcculloch? and rouse was only a 2nd choice first division goalkeeper with us. he wont be starting with ye i suppose but still ye have to get some players in, some premier division players!

I think the proportion of pessimists here far outnumber the optimists, it all depends what you mean by struggling...with 25% of the teams in the league going to be relegated one could argue that any team outside the top 4 will struggle as they won't be far from relegation for most of the season...no doubt one or two will pull further away later in the season so thats leaves 6 teams struggling for the whole season...a few points to note:

- 3 being relegated this season, 2 were relegated last season so its only one more team..albeit one relegated was via a play off but you could equally argue that Bray/Galway/UCD could have also lost the playoff.
- if 3 were relegated last season, Galway would have been safe...just
- our form in the last third of the season was well above our form for earlier two thirds (Home WDLWWW, Away DDLLDD) whether that was because of the full-time set up or acclimatisation to the higher standard in the league

So if the definition of struggling is fighting for relegation for the whole season then we will struggle because I can't see us breaking into the top 6 and if we do it will be 6th and 6th only, but at the same time I can't see us being in the last 3 as we were for most of last season as hopefully we will continue where we left off last season and the newbies will likely struggle as we did for the early season...now must put my money where my mouth is and fork out for another season ticket...come on United

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Originally Posted by gufct

Every club starts at 0 points in March...

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No, 33 points.;)

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Originally Posted by gufct

The season before Bray stayed up on how many points Corby ??? I know people get mad at me for saying this but writing us off before we have even finished signing players,Started Training our kicked a ball in anger is very unfair on the players and management.

Every club starts at 0 points in March so lets wait until 5/10 games before we judge how we will do or do we descend into the madness in England where a manger got sacked after 1 game where his Team had actually one.

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i think it is fair enough that people are asking the question of how do we expect to challenge the top 4 this coming season? are we going to sign top players or do it with mostly the same squad?
it is reasonable to think that at present with the current playing staff and management team that we will be closer to the bottom four than the top 4.

last season you were giving out to people who dared to ask questions of the manager early to mid season saying
'we needed time to see the full effect of full time'.

in the middle to late season of the season you said we
'needed to give the new players time to gel'.

toward the end of the season you said
'we all need to get behind the team not critise the manager'.
'wait until the season is over' you said.

now when people are asking how (on what evidence) are we expecting to finish challenging the top 4 you say 'wait until 5/10 games into the season to judge.'

will you ask us to 'let the new players gel first' then????

when in YOUR opinion is the correct (or suitable) time to air grievences or queries about the current management team?

thats a good point hoop

it would put a person off getting a season ticket.i just hope this atmosphere doesnt get into the general public etc,its sad.

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Originally Posted by eamo1

it would put a person off getting a season ticket.i just hope this atmosphere doesnt get into the general public etc,its sad.

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Glad you said it Eamon because i would have been slaughtered for saying it. A new season should always be something to look forward to but anyone reading posts on here would be depressed.

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Originally Posted by gufct

Glad you said it Eamon because i would have been slaughtered for saying it. A new season should always be something to look forward to but anyone reading posts on here would be depressed.

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Yes but we don't all have to look forward to it with rose tinted glasses. There was nothing in the football we saw last year to suggest that next season will be anything other than a struggle. Thats just being realistic.
Giving a realistic expectation from my point of view is not being pessimistic in my opinion.
Of course we all look forward to next season and dream of a cup final and a push for Europe, but that doesn't mean its the most likely outcome for the club.
As much as you may think we are being pessimistic we could say that you are going around with your head in teh clouds:)