eddielewis

Northampton have managed to get their main striker Kieron Bowie back from being called up for Scotland U21's. On the bench having played on Thursday.

Wildsmith Nelson Bradley Cashin Wilson Hourihane Ebou Sibley Thompson NML Waghorn

I would guess a few clubs are after him in the Prem in order to fill the homegrown player quota which was why Man City have had Carson the past few years. Unless he is totally driven by the cash I would find it weird to see him just rot on some teams bench and get the odd cup start when he's finally found some consistency of playing week in, week out for us. He doesn't seem like the type to want to just sit around so hopefully he re-signs with us.

Their manager mentioned in his presser today he might have to call upon 35 year old striker Danny Hylton who has only been involved 4 times this season and does radio commentary for Luton Town. All the makings of first goalscorer 😂

Northampton have lost Tony Springett to Ireland under 21's and their striker Kieron Bowie to Scotland Under 21's. So bare bones up front for them on Saturday.

Another aspect possibly how the Football Regulator would have dealt with our situation is the establishment of a licencing structure with all clubs, similar to what they have in France and Germany. Any club that is spending far beyond their means or a owner that is mistreating their club (as we currently see with reading) will have their licence downgraded to a provisional (for 3 years) or even in harsher situations maybe even have their licence taken away (the parliament bill states that will be a last resort) Good examples of the licencing structure in action in the above countries recently have been Kaiserslautern and Bordeaux who were deep financial turmoil after being reckless with spending got relegated to the depths of their respective lower professional divisions and were given a similar provisional licences to get their finances in order and are now on a path to being more sustainably run. Essentially it creates a more formal lay of the land for owners to say 'you can only spend this amount otherwise there will be trouble!'. I suspect we will see initially lots of clubs downgraded to provisional licences to get their finances in order (outstanding debts, paying taxes etc). The regulator has to be strict and firm from the get go. What will be interesting however is the EFL going to punish clubs themselves if a club downgraded to a provisional licence i.e. points deduction (is there a need?)

Wycombe's 2 goals against them on Saturday are very much in Sibley's locker

For further context on the teams near the bottom last season during the last 7 games Cambridge Won 4 drew 1 lost 2 Morecambe Won 4 drew 1 lost 2 MK Dons Drew 5 times and Lost 2 Some teams in the relegation scrap are going to wake up and snatch points off people and I'm glad we don't play Cambridge till near the end where it might not mean much hopefully for either side.

Whilst Peterborough on the face of it have the 'easiest' run in I would consider that their game against Port Vale 3 days after Wembley cup final a massive banana skin alongside that away fixture vs Cheltenham (who were unlucky not to beat Barnsley at the weekend) on the tuesday of the final week. You want to avoid teams who still have something to play for. Their constant 2 games a week schedule you would think will make them vulnerable to fatigue in games. Even their away game vs Orient before the pizza cup final you would think for those players to try and not get injured and miss playing at Wembley.

Agree I'd say we need around 4 wins depending on how quickly Barnsley and Peterborough pick themselves up

Football web pages prediction update after today's results

Games opening up this match has been a heavyweight scrap

I think BBC Scotland spotted you scouting this player tonight

Updated Predicted table from footballwebpages

Burton with a late goal back 2-1

5 yellows before match 19 one match ban 10 yellows before match 37 two match ban 15 yellows over 46 games 3 match ban Ebou is on 5 (4 with us 1 with Cardiff)

Update after today's results The table's algorithm is still playing it safe got us winning 1 and drawing the other away games.

Just looking at their remaining games they could sneak in the play off spots. Could also help us out last game of the season against Portsmouth.

I'm not suggesting we need to go anywhere near that limit because we already have a good league 1 squad by spending 45% It would be interesting as I say what would be the our internal limits for next season based on which league we are in. Will we keep it around this percentage if we don't go up but just fine tune ie Hourihane is a big earner and will probably leave will we replace like for like in terms of wages or find a cheaper option. And if we do go up what will be limit as wages will naturally go up in terms of the calibre of players we will need. Obviously in the Champ these turnover rules do not apply it would be sensible to stick to this principle.

Interesting how were only at 45% turnover/spend when league 1 clubs can be up to 75%. Be a good question to ask how far close to the limit would Clowes take the playing budget when the restrictions are lifted. We get tarnished by other clubs around us that were big spenders but it's far from the case.

For me he reminds me more of Michael Ricketts when he was at Bolton. Has the physicality to be 9 when he wants but has the movement of a 10 to drag defenders out.

Unless Warne has a magic trick inside his bobble hat and finds out Sibley and Bird have ancestry for the Faroe Islands which warrants them a call up I doubt the Northampton game is getting postponed.

To add further context to your point these have been the promoted teams the past 5 seasons prior to covid and their previous position. 18/19 Luton 1st (league 2 promoted) Barnsley 2nd (champ relegated) Charlton 3rd POW (6th) 17/18 Wigan 1st (champ relegated) Blackburn 2nd (champ relegated) Rotherham 4th POW (champ relegated) 16/17 Sheff Utd 1st (11th) Bolton 2nd (champ relegated) Millwall 6th POW (4th) 15/16 Wigan 1st (champ relegated) Burton 2nd (league 2 promoted) Barnsley 6th POW (11th) 14/15 Bristol C 1st (13th) MK Dons (11th) Preston 4th POW (3rd) So in all League 1 has no pattern for being harder or weaker and except for 17/18 there has not been more than 1 team coming down that has gained promotion immediately.

This algorithm for the predicted table seems to play it very safe especially for the higher teams away from home. We are also predicted to go unbeaten but go with 1 win and 4 draws in the remaining away fixtures but considering the opposition we have I would say we better that. If we win against Bristol irrespective of the result between Barnsley/Bolton this coming tuesday I think this table will put us back into 2nd. I miss the fivethirtyeight interactive website that recently got bought out by nbc in america and then shut down. They had predicted tables for every league in the world with percentages for every team of how likely they will finish.

Pink Bobble hat. Warne out surely!!