Last time we were relegated...

Which players did we retain in League One?

Did any of them thrive at the lower level?

I honestly can't remember a thing before Andy Ritchie took over. Who was our manager during the first season - Gudjon? The wilderness years are a total blur...

 

A quick look at Soccerbase has allowed me to partly answer my own question:

Based on appearances and goals, the retained players that did best were Betsy, Austin and Gorre (was he out injured for a long time?). I reckon the likes of Steele, Cranie, Jennings and O'Grady are miles better than anything we had back then.

Despite having a new manager, some absolute dross players, gangster owners, and a club ravaged by administration we actually did alright!

Unbeaten in our first five league games, and a brilliant Autumn run. Even considering the post- Christmas collapse, it's still better than anything we have enjoyed of late.

I'm actually starting to look forward to next season now

 

Parkin was the manager who took us down. He was sacked while we were in Administration and Glyn Hodges took over.

 

Gudjon!! And we complained about subsequent managers playing people out of position. That guy took it to a new level but was perversely successful at it albeit in League 1. At the time I thought he was harshly done by when the Ridsdale era began but as it was Andy Ritchie took us up it turned out right in the end.

 

Sorry mate, but Gudjon took over the second season we were down. And he did very well considering the restraints he was under.

 

We had to endure Paul Hart before Andy Ritchie took over.

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Paul Hart - the new Brian Clough? lol

 

was he worse than spackman , we have had some bad managers . they were decent coaches but cack at managing

 

Was anybody worse than Spackman? They were very dark days.

 

You're looking at the wrong season. 2002/03 was our first season down in League 1. We lost our first game 3-1 away at Swindon and drew our first home game 1-1 against Cheltenham. By mid-January we'd lost 17 of the 30 games we played. It was awful. Particularly embarrassing defeats were the 4-1 extra time loss at Macclesfield in the cup, watching Danny Wilson's Bristol City run us ragged as they beat us 4-1 at Oakwell, Wigan did a similar job on us a couple of weeks before, while the 4-1 defeat at Stockport was as bad as it ever gets.

At the beginning of October we applied for administration. A couple of weeks later, after that miserable afternoon watching Wilson's team destroy us, we sacked manager Steve Parkin. I still don't know who sacked him. John Dennis claimed it was him, the administrator Matthew Dunham said it was his decision. I don't believe Steve Parkin or his assistant ever received a compensation package. Not that they deserved one for the football they served up, but morally there was something wrong there. They'd both left a secure job to join us.

Glyn Hodges was given the job until the end of the season and if anything we got worse, if that was possible. Isiah Rankin scored in the 90th minute of the penultimate game to secure our League 1 status. We finished the season in 19th position, 52 points from our 46 games, 4 ahead of relegation.

Other than Bruce Dyer who scored 17 goals, I don't remember a single other player offering anything at all.

 

steve parkin .

 

Didn't realise it was that bad! Nearly a double-relegation.

Let's hope for the total opposite this times round.


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Well that's taken the wind right out of my sails.

 

Never mind... at least you're in Las Vegas.

 

I believe that Steve Parkin was owed, or agreed to accept in lieu of the full payment, £100,000 from the administrator.

He ended up getting zip.

I still don't know whether he was a bad manager. Jesus Christ would have struggled to turn us around after Spackman's tenure.

 

People who think league 1 will be a breeze-should read this.

I remember all this well and the regular beatings by the Pikeys This was the worse 4 seasons I experienced following the reds. It was awful, Good job the League was awful when we got promoted. let's hope that because we are better financially this time it won't be as bad.