I've gone 2nd/3rd but it really depends on how well some of the other teams strengthen. 

Will Worthing keep hold of the likes of Ollie Pearce and their better players?

Do Maidstone invest some of that FA Cup money to get out of the league?

How will Torquay United do under the new ownership?

How will Boreham Wood do under new management?

If some of these teams don't strengthen as expected or lose the majority of their better players then I can see us winning the league.

I really don't see the current squad strong enough to make top 5, so see us low playoffs 6th or 7th.

Too many of our better players are injured or coming to end of career. Feel these problems affect our defence, wingers and up front.

Feel there will be stronger sides such as Boreham Wood, Maidstone, Chelmsford and Worthing.

Boreham Wood, Maidstone, Hornchurch, and Bath are all likely going to be very strong. 

My prediction for us next season is somewhere between 6th and 10th.

It all depends on how well the playing squad is managed during the season, younger players need to be played more. If younger players are trusted and played to supplement the experience then the side could get into the play offs. I think we can all discount any use of the loan market for us.

@crawleysth Worthing have been severely weakened by the loss of Ollie Pearce to York, so that squad may not be as strong as next season but will definitely be play off contenders.

I binge watched about 10 episodes of BOA last night in order to catch up (as I was behind. For clarity I fast forward through the actual football because I’ve already seen that.

Anyway one bit struck me, it was in the episode with the week of build up to the Chesterfield home game. Marc was in the dug out and did a ‘if we go down (which we won’t), we will piss the NLS next season’ (or words to that effect. Rich then probed him a bit on that claim and he went into a bit more detail

1^st season we ‘signed nobody’ and finished 7^th was the claim.

In reality the team started strongly but by the time the season was ended prematurely we were sliging down the table. If the season had gone on even one or two more weeks I believe we wouldn’t have been top 7, it was only how PPG was calculated at that time that got us through it.

2^nd season we were top when the season was cancelled.

Indeed that was the case, however so many teams basically downed tools whilst we continued in the face of the pandemic. We were rearranging games with any team that was fit enough to play each week, in order to get wins to inch ourselves top on PPG – when it all stopped we were just three hundredths of a point better than St Albans who had played 3 games less.

3^rd season, we were pretty gash for much of the first half of the season – Slav got injured, ‘Nelse’ was dreadful in goal and it wasn’t until we signed Dan Lincoln that we got it together and rose up the table. We were far from consistent all season.

I hope we are HMS Piss the League next season, it’ll be great fun. Yeovil had a real ‘champions tour’ season last season, it’d be great to do the same.

I do however really wonder if it won’t be a bit like 2021/22 though, taking a while to find our feet and get into a rhythym? If there is another team on a rich vein of form then anything other than a fast start and we will have an uphill battle to keep up.

Great analysis @dorking-eagle

It is worth having a look at the rivals at this point as that will be the big factor on our final standing this season.

Boreham Wood

Haven't made a ton of signings yet but Josh Hare from Dagenham is a really good one. Have lost the key loan signings of Tshimanga and Robinson and also lost Sousa who was their best player last season.

Maidstone United

In my opinion, they will be our big promotion rivals again. They haven't brought in a huge amount of players as of yet but have kept the majority of the squad together so far. Can only assume they will sign Faal from Havant permanently after his successful loan spell last season (if he doesn't go up a level).

Torquay United

A little bit overlooked when we all first looked at the NLS for next season but their recent takeover means they could very well be a force next season. Signed some good young players but have lost some key figures such as Jarvis, McGavin, Hall, etc. Might take them a year to fully find their feet again though.

Worthing

The big loss for Worthing is obviously Ollie Pearce with his 40+ goals last season. They also lost Felix to York as well. As we know, Sam Beard and Joe Cook are good signings for them, as well as Chris Haigh. Expect them to add some more firepower and be up in the playoffs again next season.

Chelmsford City

Put together a great squad last season and ended up finishing 2nd but have unfortunately for them, lost a few of those players - Jermaine Francis (Barnet), Luke Jenkins (Aldershot), Ben Brookes (Maidstone) were all key players for them last season. Have managed to keep hold of Charlie Ruff and brought in a few new players already. I don't expect them to finish as high as 2nd again next season but will still be competitive.

Hampton & Richmond Borough

Some key departures (Seymour) and some key retained (Grey). Similar to Chelmsford, I don't expect them to be up challenging for automatic promotion but can definitely seem them finishing playoffs again. 

Bath City

Mostly kept their successful squad from last season together and also made a couple of good signings (Wanjau-Smith) so expect them to be up in the playoffs again.

Aveley

Lost arguably their best two players in Vaz and Odelusi (Sutton United) but they are an ambitious team so I expect them to sign well and be challenging for playoffs again.

St Albans

The big rumour around St Albans is that they might lose Shaun Jeffers which would be a big blow for them. Will expect them to be up around playoffs if he stays though.

There a few other dark horse teams who I expect to have much better seasons this year - Hemel Hempstead, Weston-super-Mare, Eastbourne Borough and Tonbridge Angels have all made lots of signings and could be up challenging for playoffs. Chesham United look best placed of the promotion sides along with Hornchurch.

@dorking-eagle 

Yes its utterly deluded to say we will p*ss the NLS next season. 

Firstly, as you say we did not p*ss it any of the 3 seasons we were in it. Although in that second season during covid, we did look good enough to be the champions. Our position was based on points per game, with enough games to go to not claim we p*ssed it. 

Secondly, the squad is older and has more 35+ and 30+ players now than it did when we were last in NLS. Everyone can watch BoA to know exactly how the team plays and to see exactly what the weaknesses are. It has become as easy as colouring in a child's colouring book to exploit those weaknesses.

Teams in NLP were even parachuting in reserve players who hadn't played all season, but had pace into the 1st team to tear a new one out of the slow and old back line of Dorking. That is why the team was consistently smashed to bits at home conceding 3-4 goals in a lot of home games last season. 

Thirdly, injuries will be a factor again. Marc spent all of the 2nd and 3rd seasons in NLS moaning about all the injuries he was getting. It was unprecedented apparently. Then again moaning about all the injuries he was getting in the 2 seasons in NLP. The simple facts are that older players get injured more often and that needs to be factored into the squad. I think he is relying a lot on players who are post athletic prime not getting injured. They will. 

My prediction of 6th-10th place stands. As I don't think the money is there to invest when the season kicks off in mediocre fashion. Also the loan market wont be an option because its now common knowledge loan players are not treated with due respect at the club.

Perhaps the ceiling of the team with current amount of money we have is around NLS to NLP. No evidence coming of real investors coming in to make a difference either. 

I agree with JF, we need to lower our expectations about the new season - for all the reasons Jackson stated. The priorities this season should be to get the physical infrastructure and management organisation sorted; aim for two good cup runs and finish no lower than mid-table.

We will not progress until we can get rid of the Surrey FA because then we can invest in developing the stadium to make it suitable for National League and above.  The existing management structures with Marc having too many roles is barely sustainable  - in NLS let alone anything higher.  Appointing a Chief Exec and Head of Procurement are moves in the right direction.

Building a sustainable and resilient playing squad is going to take more than one season. 

Only hope the decent young players in the team will stick with us so that we can build a league winning team around them - but I don't think the money is there to do it this year.

Posted by: @dorkingtyke

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Appointing a Chief Exec and Head of Procurement are moves in the right direction.

As the new Head of Procurement, I couldn't agree more 😉 

Anyway, I remain very optimistic for the coming season - based simply on the fact that with a fair wind and a little luck we could easily still be competing in the NL, have retained the vast majority of that squad, and have added some excellent new signings.

Either way, future's bright.