Relegation Dogfight?

The clocks have now gone back, those winter nights are upon us, the yellow ball replaces the white for the next two months and the time for grinding out results has come.

Whilst it is not panic stations just yet, the alarm bells will start to ring soon unless Pool can find a win in the near future. Pool are now precariously placed just two places and points above the dreaded drop zone. However, with the Seasiders clash with Cardiff being postponed until December, Pool's rivals have the chance to steal a march on us next weekend.

So, am I being a pessimist or a realist when I say that a relegation battle lies in wait for the Tangerines this term? That's up to you to decide. I will always maintain my thoughts from the start of the season that Pool will stay up, but will us fans have to go through a gruelling relegation scrap in order to survive? And, if so, how many points might we require to stay up?

Well, looking back at the past three seasons in The Championship, teams need to reach around the 45 - 50 point mark to survive. In the 2004/05 season, Gillingham were relegated with 50 points. In the 2005/06 term Crewe dropped down with only 42 points, as were Southend the year after.

A target of 45 - 50 points would perhaps be enough to survive, meaning that Pool need to convert those draws into three point hauls fairly quickly.

However, realising that this piece conveys a rather negative tone on Pool and how our season might pan out, I shall once more state that we WILL stay in this division, and WILL finish between 10th and 16th place.

Of course, that statement relies upon Karl Oyston wiping the dust off his cheque book in January and giving Simon the money to spend on bringing in some reinforcements. Not to worry, Mr. Oyston has proved in the past that we can trust him (tongue in cheek) so we are guaranteed an influx in the transfer window!

Let's get behind the lads as we have done so magnificently so far this season, and help the boys get some wins so that we can start to climb this league and find our rightful place above PNE again!

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