Div 2 sesl team previews

Ok, go on then ill go first...

Here my thoughts, in order of where i think they will finish this season!!!

Good luck to GM and QOS, i recklon you can have these division 2 teams!!

Greenock Morton
Finished 1st Division 3
GM didn’t win the 3rd division for no reason, they are a very strong squad and well packed throughout the team. The manager did an excellent job last season to fend of pressure from the other promoted teams. I believe this team will come on even further this season. Promotion should be a certainty, and top spot could be on the cards again!!

Queen of the South
Finished 2nd Division 3
QOS will hope to follow GM up again this season and there really isn’t too much in the league to stop them. A good tactical manager should have no trouble in taking QOS to the top division if he wants to this season. A deep squad and still looking good after ageing. One we expect to go through the 400 SL mark this season.

Falkirk
Finished 13th Division 1
Great Defence, experienced manager. I am Tipping Tippins to go straight back up. He will meet some tricky opposition from the ex third division teams and I expect FAL will fall somewhere in between them. Only just slipping down last season, nothing but promotion will be expected by the fans and I fully expect Tippins to take them there.

Brechin City
Finished 14th Division 1
Chris Martin will have a very tough job on his hands this season. Coming from the first to the second division the fans are going to expect it easy. I don’t think that will be the case. Brechin will really struggle to fight off the ex 3rd division boys, where FAL will manage it BRE will really struggle. Still I expect them to make it, just….

Stenhousemuir
Finished 4th Division 3
Promoted from the 3rd last season and still looks like a strong team. But that’s where their problem lies, where STE look like a strong team, GM and QOS look like strong Squads!! A top half finish will be expected but to push for promotion STE would need to deepen their squad, tricky with very little resources.

Nairn County
Finished 3rd Division 3
A great finish last season but I think NAI will fall off the pace a little this season. A new manager and new players perhaps and the squad will need time to settle. A cup run may be on the cards but the league may be beyond them this season. I would say NAI will look for a top half finish and to plan for next season where promotion would be a certainty.

Alloa Athletic
Finished 9th Division 2
Spent the last 2 seasons doing everything they can to avoid the drop back down to the 3rd. And credit to the manager, Paul has kept them afloat, and further still as Paul has invested greatly in the ALO youth academy which is expected to send several talented youngsters into the squad this season. With some experienced talent and some up coming youth relegation shouldn’t be a problem this season but promotion could be a struggle.

Hamilton Accies
Finished 16th Division 1
I believe Nick will struggle due to the size of the squad and be surprised by the strength of the promoted teams. Hamilton’s slide might not yet be over, although a relegation place would be catastrophic.

Forfar Athletic
Finished 8th Division 2
A good squad, an average finish last season. This season could hold much the same for Nev and his boys. Strong GKs will prevent a relegation scrap but a lot of strong teams in the division will make promotion a very big ask of this manager. The fans expect a cup run but not a top 4 finish.

Hearts
Finished 7th Division 2
Needs a lot of training, but if there is then Hearts should be able to stay well clear of relegation but I think Hearts will be another team to suffer at the hands of the strong division 3 teams

Peterhead
Finished 11th Division 2
Peterhead may do well, they have a good enough squad to finish top 6 but I think PET will shock us and actually be battling it out at the bottom and not the top this season. PET will have to watch they don’t get sucked into a relegation playoff – but could just as easily find themselves with a promotion place playoff!!

Airdree
Finished 12th Division 2
Could be the team to hate the new rule as finishing this low will mean a playoff with a 3rd division team!! Kevin knows what he is doing but has many weak players. I wouldn’t be surprised if Airdree fell below DUM but possibly an experienced manager can get them a few points against the odds and keep them up?

Dumbarton
Finished 6th Division 2
A 6th place finish last season looked good but this season DUM are going to struggle, 4 strong teams promoted and DUM could be the team most affected as they may be forced into the bottom four. Some great players and an experienced manager may save them but it will be tough!

Buckie Thistle
Finished 15th Division 1
I think Buckie will be the team relegated from the first to struggle the most and the only one likely to go down again. Sergio wont want to hear it but after the first 11 it’s a slim looking squad, it was tough in the first and for Buckie it wont be any easier in the second…

Partick Thistle
Finished 10th Division 2
Struggled last season and this season the division is a lot stronger. Partick aren’t developing as quick as the teams around them and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Partick take up bottom spot come the end of the season, if it weren’t for the curse of ARB which will be haunting them this season…

Arbroath
Finished 5th Division 2
A radical prediction. Les is one of the most experienced managers and I have every faith in him proving me wrong, but… Some serious work needs to be done on that squad, and it may not be the worst squad out there, I just for some reason have a bad feeling for ARB this season. Please don’t beat me just to prove me wrong!! ;-)

I was going to do my usual of making my predictions for every team for the season but after reading Ricky's post and actually agreeing with it I've decided just to give a rundown on the Arbroath squad and the problems we have to overcome this season.

Goalkeepers
Gow (4/20) is an excellent backup goalkeeper UNFORTUNATELY he's actually first (and possibly only) choice.
Hinchcliffe (6/10) - may well retire before the season starts!
Defence
Mellberg SW/2/23 Classy automatic first team choice!
Florence SW/6/9 - may well retire before the season starts!
(S)Taylor 2/18 automatic first team choice
(B)Taylor 3/17 automatic first team choice
Ferreira 3/16 automatic first team choice
Hughes 6/10 - may well retire before the season starts!
Wilson 5/8 - may well retire before the season starts!
Midfield
Butt DM/1/17 - only product from our youth acadamy last season. Will continue to improve!
Kinniburgh MA/4/25 - big auction buy last season which helped trigger brilliant run up the table ending up with us only just missing out on promotion. A vital player this season.
Lennon 4/10 - backup player past his best.
Cargill 6/10 - may well retire before the season starts!
Rae 7/9 - may well retire before the season starts!
Wingers
Vryzas 2/17 - last seasons Bosman season will need to improve but looks like an automatic first choice.
Viana 4/15 no better than a squad player elsewhere but suspect he will be used a fair bit due to overall squad weaknesses.
Camoranesi 6/12 - may well retire before the season starts!
Querasma 5/8 - may well retire before the season starts!
Forwards
Vukovich 5/20 - very likely the new club captain. Getting on a bit but a vital player this season for us.
Heenan 4/8 - may well retire before the season starts!
Kellacher 6/6 - may well retire before the season starts!
Kahveci 4/26 - Division 2 Top Scorer last season and looks like he is going to be VERY important for us this season.
Cash
1097 - the lowest in all three divisions will prevent any quick fixes through buying and CP purchases. Our roll of the dice to capture Kinniburgh in the last auction last season may backfire this season!
CP / TP
We've got 42TP and are currently still working out how many CP to go for. Finishing 5th last season means our Bosman isn't gonna be great. Butt is the only player eligible for TP'ing up - so he's guaranteed to turn into a good player.
CONCLUSION / PREDICTION
We NEED to inject some youth, the reduction in the price of apprentices is therefore VERY welcome news for us. How many can we get though and realistically train up to a worthwhile SL?
We've only got a handful of decent players and as everyone can see our first team picks itself at the minute. We will have to work hard throughout the season to try and maintain our current status. There WILL be lots of changes this season BUT we don't want it to cost us relegation.
Should we consider selling our top players? Mmm, if a decent offer came in we would have to give it consideration. But Ricky is right. I AM an experienced manager at this level (I've never managed to take any team OUT of this Division (thats up or down!)) so we are aiming for mid table security - but we fully expect a long hard season... with a real possibility of heartache this time around!

Once again, in order of how i THINK the league will end up!

Greenock Morton – Champions of division 3 last season will be champions again. They have a great attacking line and two good keepers. The difference between them and other sides is that just about all of their star players are still young!

Falkirk – A very good side that will no doubt be promoted this season. They have young class players in every position but they just aren't quite as good as GM. It's difficult to see how they got relegated in the first place?

Queen of the South – Another promoted side destined for division 1. They have a large squad with good attacking and defensive options. They should be looking to strengthen the midfield this season though.

Stenhousemuir – There were some quality sides promoted last season, and Stenny are no exception. Great forward line with a good midfield and a promising defence. Although squad is small, with 1 or 2 more back up acquisitions I would expect Stenny to be in the promotion places.

Forfar Athletic – One of those teams where you never quite know what's going to happen. At a glance they look to only have a few stars. Look closer and they have at least 9 players who can easily become mid 20SL stars. They will be the surprise package this season.

Peterhead – As last season, Peterhead have great attacking options but are let down in midfield and defence. Also need to get a good back up keeper, pronto!

Hamilton Accies – It hurts to see a team with so much promise fall from grace this quick! HAM now has a threadbare squad with plenty of decent young talent but not enough TP to go round! Should still do well though.

Nairn County – A very good side on paper but just about all star players are getting on a bit. Still good for a top half finish though.

Partick Thistle – An average squad across the park that will do average again this season. Will GK Cauteruchi be able to save them again this season?

Dumbarton – A side getting old and tired but should still have enough to stay in division 2. An even spread across the field but promotion looks out of reach. If they keep the NMR's down, they may do better!

Brechin City – Not quite good enough for division 1, and may find it hard to attain a decent league position in division 2. Will need to beef up defence and midfield though, as well as getting some young players in.

Airdrie United – Couple of undeserved blowouts near the end of last season lost some valuable CP. GK and DF looking poor, but MF and FW looking promising. Expect plenty of goals scored, but plenty conceded to go with it!

Hearts – Promising side. Some good age 2 players coming through but not too much in the way of midfield. It's hard to put Heart down so low as Mr Allen always seems to get the best out of his side!

Buckie Thistle – A very threadbare side that needs a lot of work to stay in division 2. Plenty of decent multi-positional players are their best assets, but they will need to haggle well to avoid relegation.

Alloa Athletic – Where have all their players gone? 17 players, 7 are 20+ but 7 are under 10! Will rely on stars but will need better back up!

Arbroath – Another manager that gets the best out of his squad but I fear they are doomed this season. Have a reasonably good squad but as Les pointed out himself, not enough decent cover for stars. Expect a few apprentices to make an appearance!

I hope to raise a glass to Buckie success,
and drop my pants to STE and AI for comments above!

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Last season, Queen of the South started as a middling long ball side, with a good keeper, decent defence, a star forward and lots of potential, and surprised their doubting manager by finishing second. This season I am much more positive about our chances, so no doubt it will go horribly wrong.

Goalkeepers are definitely a strength. With Scott (4/25) as first choice and Samson (1/17) looking to replace him, there shouldn't be any matches with a weak keeper.

The defence is looking rather ancient, but still strong. The first choice will be McColligan (SW 3/22), Payne (DF 2/25), Paton (DF 3/21) and Reid (4/17), with a couple of 4/10's in reserve, but some new blood is badly needed for next season.

The midfield was a sadly neglected area until Jed Ferguson (5/24) was signed last season. He will captain the side and hope to inspire last season's Bosman Tommy English (2/18) and apprentice Paul Burns (1/17) to give QOS some sort of midfield option.

The forward line looks very strong, as the four stars look to peak at the same time. McLaughlin (WG 3/22), Gibson (WG 3/22) and Lyle (FW 3/23) are all solid performers, supporting last season's Golden Boot winner David McNiven (FW 3/26). Chris Armstrong (FW 1/17), the third of a fine crop of youngsters, will hope to break into the first team later in the season.

So overall, with 8 outfielders over SL 20 and a further 4 over 17, along with two decent keepers, the prospects look good. However, some of the other teams in division two also look pretty effective. The main promotion challengers look to be:

Falkirk, with the best Top11, the best Top17, the best SET, the best OTF, good keepers and four forwards over SL20, must surely be the favourites for the title and should go straight back up.

Hamilton have six very good age 1 players, two SL28 forwards and a great keeper and sweeper combination. They may struggle to challenge for the Cup and League with only sixteen players, but they should have enough to win promotion.

Greenock Morton have a deep squad, lots of cash and secure keepers. They were just too strong for QOS last season and it should be very close again this season. The key may be how they spend their cash at the auctions.

Peterhead are another side with lots of cash (the most in the division). If they can spend it well to augment an already strong squad (with better keepers than QOS, equally good forwards but a slightly weaker defence), then they should also be there or there abouts at the end of the season.

Nairn County's strength is in their defence, but there are two relatively old keepers behind it and only two quality forwards in front so they could end up in playoff territory.

Stenhousemuir, the other promoted side, may not have quite enough this season, but with three stars at age 2 and two at age 1 they will not suffer too much midseason and could well mount a late challenge.

Buckie Thistle have a great first team but the supporting cast, especially the SL 9 reserve keeper, may let them down. Unlike others, however, I can't see them being relegated - there is too much quality for that to happen...

Finally, Forfar Athletic have a strange squad, with eight players of SL 17 and 18 to support their four stars. Much will depend on their coaching decisions and the use of their wads of cash.

No doubt some other team will come into the reckoning, but I would be surprised if any other teams broke into the top four. In fact, of the eight teams plus QOS considered above, I would expect the title battle to be between Falkirk, Hamilton, Greenock and Queen of the South.

So here we are again at the start of another season with hope high for all the managers involved throughout SESL. However, only a few will be smiling come the end of the season and heres a little preview as to the men to watch in my team this season.

Keepers
Halstead is the forst choice keeper here at Alloa at age 4 it might be his last season as first choice so he will be determined to make it a good one. Breathing down his neck and after that coveted no. 1 jersey is young Pete Glanville who the club picked up on a Bosman in preseason and in who we have great faith and expect bog things from in the future. Backing up these two is Derek Stillie who will be mightily disappointed that he has been overlooked for the reserve keeper role this season. Will he be looking for a move away from Alloa?? maybe just maybe, will anybody want him?? probably not!!

Defence
The defence is really a story of two star players and very little else. Josemi and De Vos will be looking to break in tot he 30+ SL band early on in the season and will surely be two of the best defenders in all of SESL. However, looking beyond these two there is very little else by the way of defence. Skerla will provide some backup but will surely take a hard hit come mid season as he is at age 5. Thats about it for defence at the moment, surely a couple of youth players have to be brought in from the academy. We wait to see what develops.

Midfield
A story of star men again really. But this time there are three, but for how long?? with rumours that the manager is ready to cash in on one of these assets rife, will it only be two star men come the start of the season? Responsability for supplying the front men will fall to Le Tallec and Butterworth if Robben leaves as expected. These two really do look the part but once again there is nobody else around them to support or even allow a rest. Will youth be the order of the day here also? we have to think that something will have to be done.

Attack
Alloa are very short of atracking options and in fact only have two strikers in the squad!! surely this wont be enough to sustain much of a challenge this season. Once again its about a star man, this time its Cisse, who will surely bag his fair share of goals this season. but will it be enough??

So just what is this squad up to? In short, not a lot as it stands!! Work is going to have to be done to improve the squad. We are told that the manager has a plan, we wait to see what kind of escape act can be pulled off this season as we look to avoid relegation by the skin of our teeth for the third season running. Heres hoping!!

Well, here is my prediction:

1.Greenock Morton
There should be no doubts about Season 14 Division 2 Champions. Not only that GM is extremely strong team, they also have a huge bank balance to even improve.

2.Queen of the South
Another newcomer and another hot promotion candidate. With excellent attacking line, very good defense and decent midfield promotion should not be a problem for them

3.Falkirk
With experienced manager Tipps on board and 1/17 Bosman they should return to Division 1 immediately. I don't know exactly how such a great team managed to relegate last Season? There were much weaker sides in Division 1 last year.

4.Nairn County
What a strong team! Second best T11 and T17 in Division 2. They could be unstoppable until mid season aging. But after mid season aging a big problem will occur for them. Main problems for them: low bank balance, and an aging roster.

5.Stenhousemuir
Another powerhouse but very small roster. If Ricky will be capable to buy two good players, Stenhousemuir will promote on the account of Nairn County. But if some injuriers and suspensions came early in the season, they may struggle.

6.Peterhead
Could you believe that? I put myself on 6th place. But the fact is that I’m very satisfied with my current squad. I have 2 very good GK’s, defence will improve, midfield is weak, I admit and forward line will be a problem for many teams. With such squad, Peterhead would promote easily in Season 13 and I’m pretty sure that we would be in Top 10 in Division 1 this Season. But .. We ended at 11th place last Season and this year Division 2 is incredibly strong with 4 great teams promoted from Division 3 and 4 very strong teams relegated from Division 1.

7.Hamilton Accies
Why didn’t I put this club higher on my prediction list? Best T11 in Division 2 and plenty of age 1 players, including 1/16 Bosman. They could be much higher as 7th place.

8.Buckie Thistle
If they will solve their 2nd GK problem, they could finish 2 or three spots higher as my prediction is.

9.Forfar Athletic
Very well balanced team with huge bank account. I expect mid-table for them.

10.Brechin City
Another very well balanced team. I expect constant performances for them but their problem could be goalkeepers after mid-season aging.

11.Partick Thistle
Last Season they finished 10th and I expect a similar performance from them this Season

12.Dumbarton
Almost everybody (including me) tipped Dumbarton as the main candidate for Division 2 title last Season. But there were too many NMR’s from Martin and with an aging squad I don’t see them between TOP 10 this year.

13.Hearts
It is always risky to predict such a bad finish for a team under the Bruce management. Hearts seems to be pretty weak club for at least 2 years, but Bruce deliberately avoid promotion in Season 12 and he was not too far away neither last Season.

14.Arbroath:
Hard Season is in front of Les. He will have very decent team until mid-Season aging, so Les need some good results in first half of the Season.

15.Alloa Athletic
This team is struggling already 3 Seasons to stay in Division 2. Always relegation favorite and Paul has always managed to stay in Division 2. But this year, with no money in the bank to improve a team I hardly believe Paul will succeed.

16.Airdrie United
Sorry, Kev, but I must put someone in the last place. I think that Hearts, Arbroath, Alloa Athletic and Airdrie United are teams with very similar quality, but goalkeepers, very week defence and no money in the bank are main reasons why I put this team at the last place. Kev will be forced to use all of his managerial skills to stay in Division 2 this Season.

So not knowing to much about the opposition this season (what with being new BACK to the game), I have decided to just take a little look at my own squad.

Falkirk seem to be fairly well set up for an all out attack at bouncing straight back into the the 1st division and with 2 fairly good GK's, the basis is set.

We have a fairly strong defence, if a little thread bare and the same could be said of our midfield.

2 decent WG's who also have age on their side and will be looking to improve further over the coming season.

As for the FW's, yes, we seem to have a good set-up to get a few goals, but we also have to look at the future, so it may be that 1 or 2 of these could be moving out (but the older ones) but this would also depend on a few quality players coming in as we are dealing with a smaller squad than I would like.

That said, as already mentioned by other managers who have posted on this thread and by myself at the start of this post, everything is aiming towards a promotion push.

One other aim we have for the 2nd division this season, and that's to help Airdie reach the dizzy heights of the 3rd division SESL/tongueout.gif

Good luck everyone else, apart from when you're play FALKIRK

Oh crikey, it looks like GM are going into this season as favourites for the title. Did no-one see our 9-2 aggregate loss to Montrose at the weekend!?

Anyway here is a very brief analysis of Div 2 teams capabilities (in no particular order):

STE: Always seem to do well against us which is very annoying - good prospects for promotion again.

PET: A strong squad with good strikers. They knocked us out of the cup last season and they will cause problems for most teams. Promotion candidates

AIRDRIE: A decent squad but perhaps lacking in star quality. Mid-table likely

PT: This is a small but strong squad. Mid-table likely again.

FAL: Excellent squad. Will challenge for the title for sure.

HAM: Squad looks a little thin but they have a strong MF.

HEA: A huge squad which will give their manager plenty of options. A tough side to beat I expect.

BUC: A bit short of cover for GK but a strong forwardline should mean they do ok.

ALLOA: A strong top 11 which will cause any team problems on their day. Might struggle to last the pace though.

DUM: An ageing team but again they have a strong top 11.

GM: Shocking. Relegation for sure.

NAI: A canny side who seem to punch above their weight. I think they will surprise a lot of teams this year.

FOR: I like the look of this squad. Fairly young and well-covered in all areas of the park. Good bet for promotion.

ARB: My former team will have their work cut out to retain Div 2 status.

BRE: A decent squad but a lack of star players may cost them.

QOS: A strong team. Narrowly pipped for the Div 3 title last year. Some say they should have won it. But what do they know? League champions always deserve to be league champions!

Best of luck to all this season - should be a good one.

Cheers

Andrew

I believe dosh is still up for grabs on here, so here goes............

The season has started off ok, we're top of the league, scoring goals for fun and still in the CECIL Cup, this is giving us the extra chance to use our TP and CP slots to get our players trained up faster, so we are able to carry out our assault on the league quicker than expected.

We hope to carry on in the CECIL Cup this week, although we have 1st division Celtic who seem to be faultering this season but they could come good at any time.

Our squad is getting stronger by the week, the only downside being, we have very little in the way of cash, having just spent 99.5% of it on 5TP's in the last auction!!

Here's to good rest of the season SESL/goodluckicon.gif

Well here we are six games into the new season already. Things haven’t gone too well for the Red Lichties, although this won’t surprise anyone as most managers have predicted us to finish bottom this season anyway!

CECIL Cup F – A Scorers
Huntly (H) 3 – 0 Vukovich (3)
Huntly (A) 1 – 1 Kahveci
Hibs (H) 2 – 0 Mellberg, Camoranesi
Hibs (A) 2 – 7 Vryzaz, Kahveci

We saw off the dangerous threat of Kev Martin’s promotion chasing Huntly with an impressive win at home in the first leg. We thought we had done the same against Matt Sab’s top flight strugglers Hibs. However, a dreadful defensive display saw us pick the ball out of the back the net seven times from Hibs eight shots. Apart from the scoreline we must admit to being fairly content with our performances in this competition. Although conceding seven is obviously not good and highlights the work we have to put in at the back.

League
Forfar (H) 0 – 3
Nairn (A) 5 – 1 Kahveci (3), Vukovich (2)
Peterhead (H) 3 – 5 Johnson, Kahveci, Kinniburgh
Partick Thistle (A) 0 – 3
Queen o t South (H) 6 – 7 Kinniburgh (4), Kahveci (2)
Greenock Morton (A) 1 – 4 Vukovich

Our only points coming against an NMR in match 2 at Nairn. Oh dear! We currently sit uncomfortably in 12th place – one place above the relegation zone!

No problem scoring goals which is comforting – but no prizes for guessing where the problem lies! We’ve conceded SEVEN twice now. The game with QoS was amazing. Our goalkeeper was awarded 10/10 as were our four forward minded players. Unfotunately all the defensive guys attained 1/10. True we had some EL problems going into this one and played our reserve goalkeeper as sweeper BUT QoS amassed 40 shots at our goal! Our previous home game against PET we had more of the game and created a lot more chances but again defensively we were poor.

We need to coach our GK up a bit and possibly find a decent backup goalkeeper. Two good young players picked up in the auction was great news for us and both are already building up their SL and heading towards their seasoning bonus. We still need to improve our squad defensively though!

Can we avoid relegation? Well after the first six games its time to take a long hard look at the runners and riders and this is the way we see it going if everyone performs to their potential and utilises all their resources wisely.

Prediction Current Club Manager Comments
1 1 Falkirk Nick Tippins 23.17 T17 nuff said
2 2 Hamilton Accies Nick James Should push Tipps all the way
3 4 Greenock Morton Andrew MacKie Decent squad, money to strengthen further
4 3 Peterhead Ciril Deteenik Decent squad and resources to use
5 7 Queen of the South Stephen Othen Will be in the shake up
6 15 Stenhousemuir Ricky Hawthorn Will be in the shake up despite poor start
7 5 Hearts Bruce Allen Plenty money and decent squad
8 6 Forfar Athletic Nev Voice Can't split them from Hearts
9 8 Buckie Thistle Craig McPherson Lack of CP may hinder second half of season
10 10 Nairn County James Drummond Ditto
11 9 Partick Thistle Colin Scott Will have to work hard to ensure survival
12 13 Dumbarton Martin Fallon We'd be grateful for this final position!
13 11 Airdrie United Kevin Hull Sorry Kev, but 3rd Division beckons
14 16 Brechin City Chris Martin Lack of resources and strength in depth
15 12 Arbroath Les Lithgo Oh dear!
16 14 Alloa Athletic Paul Butterworth Long hard season ahead!
(Sorry my table didn't quite look like it was intended!)

So if there is anyone out there who wants to donate any strong defensive players or goalkeepers to the Arbroath cause please let me know!