Division Three Sack Race

Five games left, this is the bottom of D3:

With 45 points needed to be 100% sure to avoid relegation, we can be sure that Gladbach are gone, and their manager Ken jumped two games ago before he was pushed. Ken had amassed a paltry 5 points in twelve games since his halt-time team-talk, while the interim caretaker manager is unbeaten with a win and draw so far…. Gladbach look certain to play D4 football next season for the first time in their history.

It’s almost certainly not going to require 45 points this season to avoid the drop, but next most likely are Twente. Manager Jamie Alldridge some mistakes in the transfer market and which he’s been trying to rectify all season. He’s managed 18 points from fourteen games since, but even if he keeps that level up it’s not enough to stay up, and probably not enough to avoid the bottom three and the sack.

Stuttgart have managed just 13 points from 14 games, and that’s seen them drop into the sack zone since the halfway mark. Manager Feargal Hickey joined in controversial circumstances from Atalanta after Tharani took the vacant Manchester United job. Tharani had taken Stuttgart from D5 to D3 in consecutive seasons so was a hard act to follow. Only Hickey himself had done the same in S2 and S3, and he won the Top 100 Shield!

Under another former Atalanta manager (and also a former Gladbach boss) Attila Olah, Galatasaray have taken 15 points from 14 games since Ken’s halfway review and they remain in the drop zone. After just missing out on the playoffs last season, Gala – like Gladbach – could be playing D4 football for the first time in their history next season.

Hoffenheim were in D1 three seasons ago, but are now flirting with a return to D4 for the first time since S5. Under Anthony Guardiola, they have taken 17 points from 14 games since the halfway mark, and if they can continue their relative uptick in form compared to the four teams floundering below them, they’ll be fine.

It’s a similar story for Liege, who look like they will just be able to do enough to survive under Attlio Bonnici. Critics might argue they should be doing much better!

Cruzeiro are in an awful run of form, but even if they lose their last five that could still have enough points already to survive simply because the teams in the bottom four are so poor.