This Seasons Expectations.

Was interesting perusing our collective expectations way back in July last year.Some going down the as long as we stay up road.My optimistic freind L/F suggested a 4th place finish for the Lions.There were times during the season when that optomism looked to be bearing fruits and at times I was swithering about crossing to L/Fs camp.Then came the World Cup and our steady decline to mid table mediocrity, culminating in our self inflicted faliour once again to miss out on the top six prize.I take no pleasure in saying along with Auld Nick that we both predicted 8th place for the Lions albeit the season hasn't finished yet technically.But for me tomorrow is a formality that will see us regardless of what happens secure that 8th place.Will be interesting to see our said collective expectations for next season once the close season is over.My suspicions err towards caution as next season is going to be oh so different.Just listen to Davie on YouTube and youl get where I'm coming from.Anyway we stayed up and thats something to applaud .

We went into the season with realistic expectations based on our budget compared to other teams in the league. Most of us settled for 10th place. Then came a run of games where we kept picking up points and playing really nice football. That raised our collective expectations to the point where top six was going to be a formality and some folk started checking their passports for a European run. Then came the crash. We never really recovered from that Caley cup game. There are so many variables in football that intertwine and affect each other. Confidence was affected, VAR decisions seemed to always be in the other team's favour, luck, rub of the green and referees giving us a break never seemed to happen. Even the fixture list where we seemed to play and get beat by the bigger teams one after the other did little to help lift the team. Not winning became the norm from one game to the next. And so we ended up here. Safe from relegation, which we would all have settled for, but narrowly missing out on a top six place again.
It feels like it wasn't a good season but there were spells where we looked very good and did well. It all makes me think about when you draw in a game. The team that had been winning go home disappointed while the one that was getting beat feels good. A bit like Wednesday night.
Aye, it's a funny old game

Yeh,it certainly is Orco.You kinda get the feeling that yes we had it in our own hands.So frustrating that with dubious decisions officials Var etc we were truly shafted imo.As said we are safe for another season. But bigger picture opportunity lost.Next season is going to be oh so different.Have asked our posters to look at Davies current post on YouTube. That concerns me.

A lot will probably depend on whether a big money offer comes in for Noobs.

Looks like we're getting an unexpected 250K development fee from Brighton for Brian Schwake signing for them. That's got to help our finances, and hopefully we get close to 1M for Nouble.

Yeah sitting 4th my expectations rose, and i couldn't see why we shouldn't be trying to put pressure on Hearts for 3rd. Hearts fell away as much as us after that, but nobody saw Aberdeen's rise, they shot up to 3rd, hitting a brilliant run of wins.

The way the fixtures fell, it looked harder for us not to get top 6, and once we got that, there was no reason not to think we could get at least 5th, and possible European footie. Still can't quite believe how many away games we went without even scoring a goal, let alone getting a win. And even after all that, still had a chance to get top 6 beating Utd, but we completely chucked it.

The home games have given us a wee lift from the slump, taking 4pts from them, a win tomorrow would have us finishing on a high, and 8th or 7th, depending how things go with ours and Motherwell's results, is still a decent season for us.

Hastings summed it up nicely in his interview, because we did so well getting up to 4th, it feels like we underperformed a bit, not making top 6, but have done well getting there in the first place, and finishing 8th is something we'd have been delighted with at the start of the season.

Just seen Christoff Berra has left the club.No big surprise there.Wonder if Davie has someone in mind to bring in to help.Also Stephen Kelly literally sweeping the board last night at the POTY awards last night with Joel and Bruce sharing the top goalscorer award.Congrats to all.Said before,big rebuild for next season.And it starts now!..

Good seeing Van Veen leaving Motherwell, suspect they'll struggle without him scoring 20 odd goals a season.

Still no idea who we'll have coming in, and although it's expected Fitzwater and Nouble will leave, i haven't seen anything official yet, esp Nouble, who is still contracted for another season. If he's offski, it would be good getting it done sooner than later, so Martindale can get some dosh to bring in other players.

Nothing on Dykes or Schwake either, the former's exploits with Scotland wont have done any harm getting him some interest, could do with the sell on fee from that too.

With the pattern looking like 9th-5th-6th-7th-8th, in our five seasons in the top flight, are we heading for a 9th place finish this season i wonder, then hopefully back up to 5th, and not continuing down the way to 10th & 11th the following two seasons.

Wee tad early for me to give seasons expectations atm.Will wait till League campaign starts.Agree that these games leading up to said start will see various trialists etc trying to impress.Just hope we don't sign players for the sake of it.Will once again put my trust in Davie to possibly unearth one or two gems.Really feel were going to need as much luck as we can going into the new season.

Who do you reckon will be the weaker teams we need to finish above Troy?

From what i can see, Dundee is practically signing a full squad, and management team, which must see them as relegation contenders, not an ideal way to start a season as a newly promoted team, you'd want some continuity from winning the Championship, but they have none.

St Johnstone were down near the bottom 3, but just managed to get away from it in the last few games, another team i'd think will be down there again.

Hopefully County too, usually the team that just avoids being relegated is down there the following season, like us and Dunfermline the last time we were in the top flight, we both followed Dundee down after struggling to stay up.

And finally Motherwell without their goal scoring talisman, they went on a great run to shoot up to 7th, but Van Veen was a massive part of that.

Hibs have lost Nisbet but i doubt they'll be in the mix, but if we have a semi decent season they'd be one i'd be looking to get above. We're in the same category as Motherwell though, losing Nouble, but if we can get our defence sorted we should be fine, that was a real weakness for us last season, and no great loss seeing Fitzwater leave.

Basically i'd say the top 4 is going to be the same as how it finished last season;

Celtic
Sevco
Aberdeen
Hearts

Every other place will be up for grabs.

Oh feck forgot about Killie, they were absolute gash away from home, and another team we should be looking to finish above.

Yeh,I suspect we're gonna be in a mini league with the teams you've mentioned. Cant see much of a change to the top 4 as well,and im foolishly taking us out of that equation .As I said earlier bit to early for rash predictions for me.Perusing through the rags recently and whilst as you say others adding to their squads not a sausage from us is rather depressing.Hopefully givin time we can somehow muster a team that hopefully will be good enough to keep us away from you know where.‍�.

Thought I'd get this in before Saturday.Been dreading it for weeks,but here goes.Not so much an expectation but an non educated prediction.Im going to take a stab at an overly opptomistic 9th place for the Lions this season. I say this with extreme pessimism.Why you might ask?..Simple,like it or not we are simply not good enough imo.For me we haven't a hope in hell of challenging for the top half of the table. We are arguably weaker than weve been at this level for years,shown in the performances so far pre season.I get its all about getting fitness up and generally results don't matter.But let's be honest here.Are we really happy the way things have gone on the field so far?.Doesn't help when your seeing in the press and on TV Davie looking like a forlorn figure,and we haven't even started yet!.Will end on a positive note though.In fairness despite the ongoing rantings about budgets etc etc.Im looking forward to seeing Steven Kelly and the big fella Nottingham. Could be shining lights for us.As for the rest,one year on,as I've said I have my reservations. Will take a monumental effort from them if my prediction is to come to fruition. Wont make a prediction for the domestic cups,but regardless of how far we get in them the financial gain will help the coffers after all the cuts.Sorry for the downhearted rant from me,just the way I'm feeling at the moment. Lol T .

Expectations…

Viaplay Cup - Ayr will knock us out
Scottish Cup - out in the first round we play in
League - 11th but that could become 12th if St Johnstone improve

Really not getting the doom and gloom, from what i can see only the loss of N Devlin hasn't been filled yet, M Devlin is an upgrade on Fitzwater, and everyone else is still here (and they were good enough to have us sitting 4th for a good bit, and finish the season in 8th place), though we're trying to get rid of a couple yet.

St Kelly will be a key player for us, esp if he can score a few from set pieces, we may lose Nouble but i reckon it'll actually benefit us with Kelly-Pitts-Anderson being able to play in our attacking line up. Nouble's heart hasn't been in it and if he's keeping Kelly out then i'd rather we got him sold sooner then later.

Only seen him playing once, but Nottingham coul even replace N Devlin's attacking runs up the wing, looked really impressive, and a big lad, which given his build, i'm quite optimistic he'll do the same to Premiership defenders.

Only thing holding me back from predicting a top 6 spot, is how we finished the season, that dark cloud is still lingering till i see us playing an away game this season, but if our home form stays good, it should be enough to keep us safely away from the bottom 2.

Top 5 should be Celtic, Sevco, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, which only leaves one spot between the rest of us. Motherwell have lost a 30 goal striker, that's got to be a big loss to them, more so than us losing Nouble (when he goes). St Mirren have lost a couple of big players, and signed some strikers, which looks like they'll need time to gel, imo it's between us 3 for that final top 6 spot.

Can't see Killie being any better than last season, same with County, and St Johnstone look in a bad way, which leaves an unknown in Dundee, but they've had a massive rebuild from their promotion side, even replacing the manager, i think they'll be in the bottom 3.

I'd like to wait and see us against Aberdeen, but i'll make a stab at it before Saturday anyway.

League Cup - final (can but hope for another final)
Scottish Cup - quarter final
Final League Position 7th

Player to watch - Teto (when he finally gets his paperwork through)
Top Scorer - Anderson
Surprise package - Nottingham

BTW a real surprise package could be Guthrie, if he can add goals to his game. Certainly puts in the energy running about and winning balls, just needs to score a few goals now.

Including friendlies and cup games, that's 13 games played and only one defeat, Sevco at Ibrox, pretty impressive looking start for us. Always great getting that first league win so early too, esp away from home against an Edin team, not getting carried away but things are looking a bit brighter than we all thought, with the way we ended last season and all the talk from Martindale on cutting our budget.

We've got a better looking defence playing a back 3, and Devlin is certainly making a difference, fingers crossed he stays injury free, and that Nouble has more games like yesterday. Though we may lose him being the down side to that, i'd rather he was showing that kind of form than the one in the 2nd half of last season.