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Stags set for midfield mediocrity
By Nathan Jackson July 12 2006
Mansfield Town have gotten rid of some of the experienced members of that squad and that could cost them a promotion hunt. They have a promising young squad and could easily have a good season but that lack of experience could easily been the difference in terms of league positions.

Manager : Peter Shirtliff

Key Player : Giles Coke

Most Interesting Stat from Last Season : Only managed a run of back to back league wins once and that came with a 1-0 win over Northampton, just a few days after they beat Boston 5-0.

Tipped by many for : Midtable

Last Season : Last season was “Exhibit B” of why Carlton Palmer shouldn’t be a football manager as he almost single handedly got my home-town team relegated. They started the season with just 2 wins in their opening 13 games and often found themselves bottom of the football league. It was only after Carlton realised he was useless and left that Mansfield started improving and they won 6 out of 9 games in all competitions and pulled themselves clear of the relegation zone and under Shirtliff, they stopped losing as many games as they used to but still never particularly hitting enough form to get into the playoff race but a 5-0 defeat at home to Cheltenham on the final game and they finished 16th.

This season : Mansfield have a good young squad to choose from but they might have a bit of trouble replacing humpty dumpty in goal and that could be the difference between challenging for promotion and finishing in lower mid-table.

They’ll do better if: They can adequately replace some of the players who had left and sort of the problems that caused them to lose 5-0 at home to Cheltenham.

Prediction : 19st, this might not be as bad as it sounds because I reckon that the midfield will be quite closely packed and that lack of experience could be what costs them a higher league position.

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