Is it just me

...........yes it is !!!

Still feeling terrible about relegation..........but very slowly starting to come around to the fact
I knew during the Bournemouth game we relegated............left after 15 minutes of the second half and haven't been back since
Terrible to watch the team failing - not just for the club but the affect it will have on the whole town.

By the way...........welcome back !!!..................unless I've missed it, I haven't seen a post from you for a long while now.

 

Absolutely not arsed because I see it now as a chance to do something. Get shut of the ***** we've dealt with these 5 years and a new approach. I just hope we've the right men to do it.

 

As encouraging as I found Mansford's comments re loans etc, my worry is that we repeat the last 8 years mistakes (on a League 1 scale) and stagnate at this level.

Let's see what sort of squad we have in August, in terms of contracted players not the passing through types. 2 year contracts= failure

 

I dunno. I don't think the issue is 2 year contracts, it's leaving it until January before renegotiating. Seems well documented that Butterfield would have signed a longer deal if offered one in the Summer when Keith took over - why should any player show loyalty if we're happy to leave it until the last minute?

I enjoyed listening to his interview. I learned nothing.

 

Well if we're going to leave it till December of the final year to renegotiate someone on a 2 y contract then we are basically jeapordising transfer revenues imho.

There quite simply has to be a longer term view. How much we going to get for Crainie for example with a season to run ?

Think a little bit more imaginatively wrt contracts, building in clauses for relegation/promotion etc. Hopefully with a former agent now having input we will.

 

I agree entirely. But RE Cranie I imagine a 2 year deal helps us - he'll be a top earner and whilst a good player do we want to be spending top dollar on him in L1?

We need to look at Peterborough as an example of how to manage player contracts. Initial investment then backed up by a Chairman/CEO that knows what he's doing. Not talking about the money he's pumped in but how he manages things day to day. We can only hope. I think Ben has been a big positive this season but until the accounts for this season come out it's a bit of a jump to say he's been brilliant for us (or at least that's what people are implying).

 

Well why do we HAVE to commit ourselves ? Why not build in performance related clauses ? It's not a black and white issue.

Mansford won't have had any impact on accounts this season, surely again we have to consider in terms of years ?

 

He will have had an impact - he's spent the money. Or at least it's his job to spend the money. Appreciate it's not as black and white as that but that's his main remit. If we've over spent on players then is that a sign we went after good players or we over spent on bad ones?

And I agree with your point - considering Mansford was in charge of negotiations for these lads I expect we'll have something of that ilk in. Or I hope so anyway.

 

I'm genuinely excited about next season. I'm fed up of the same old relegation battles & seeing players who couldn't care less about the club pinching a wage (McSheffrey, Shea, Frimpong, Mido etc.)

I feel like we've got a great chance to build around the likes of Steele, M'Voto, Cranie, Nyatanga, O'Brien, Jennings, O'Grady (if we can hang on to them) mixed in with a few youngsters who'll hopefully play 30+ games next year in Rose, RNL & Digby & a few free agents coming in to freshen things up who haven't been on the end of so many defeats over the last few years.

I like Danny Wilson, I like Chris Hutchings, I don't know much about Crossley as a coach but I like the idea of local lads been involved.

I like Mansford as well even if he gives 20 minute interviews saying nothing.

The chance to go to new grounds, the chance to play teams who haven't got players on 5 times what our top earners earn & the chance to win more than we lose.

Bring it on

 

Well let's be reight - money spent in the summer was likely part of Flitcroft's 'assurances' - something which the majority wanted to happen- me included.

The money spent in Jan was trying to rectify the same.

And is/was it Mansford's sole responsibility ? Someone has to sign the cheques.

 

I agree.

All I'm saying is that everyone seems very confident in Ben. Probably quite rightly with his public communications but lets have a look at that when the numbers come in next year. We know our structure isn't as simple as 'CEO is responsible' but I'd expect the skills people say Ben has would have had an impact on the contracts he negotiated (Steele/Nyatanga/M'Voto/Cranie/Kennedy). Flitcroft's assurances were probably to bring Ben in - his responsibility then is to get the best deal for us. Let's hope he has and continues to do so, maybe a promotion clause for Golbourne.

 

Ambivalent at the minute. Too early to suck him off, too early to be cynical about him. And let's also consider that I think it looks like he ultimately answers to one man in reality, so I don't think it stretches the bounds of credulity too much to say that it's not all Ben's decisions.

For the record I'm guessing. I have no factual insight into the executive structure at BFC.

 

For me, this season has been the worst season since when Glynn Hodges was in charge

I fear however that we haven’t hit rock bottom yet, the figures being released in terms of the reduction in income are scary and its all well and good building a team from youth and local based players, but that wont put bums on seats. If we don’t start well, I can see us spending a season or more in mid to lower L1, as has been the case for other clubs – Coventry, Preston, Bristol City, Sheff United would’ve all gone down thinking about bouncing straight back, its not that easy.

I cant see us holding onto the better of the contracted players, O Grady, Jennings and Cranie have shown they are capable in the Championship and its just a matter of time before their agents are ringing Ben, they'll already be searching for new clubs. Maybe Mansford can secure better fees for them, I’d expect all three to go to a tribunal to be honest, undisclosed etc. Wilson will need to build a team from scratch, no bad thing I suppose but prepare for organised, no nonsense, no frills football, because that is what is required, we haven’t got the resources of Wolves, to finish above Leyton Orient, Rotherham and others we’ll need to play on their terms. That fills me with dread.

World Cup year should bring optimism, not expecting England to get out of the group even, but the world stops when the tournament is on and the sheer spectacle of it generally generates interest, so this summer Im an England supporter to block out the pain, for a while. Im praying we get off to a good start and build some momentum in August and September because a season of sitting in a ¾ empty stadium with 150 away fans taking the piss in the away end will definitely result in further apathy and disinterest from me Im afraid, lifes too short.

Glass half empty, not renewing until Ive seen how things pan out. Over to you Ben & Danny.

 

Pretty much sums it up for me from start to end!

I know I've been on before saying that if all we can look forward to is being a yo-yo team between Championship and L1 I'm not sure I'm prepared to shell out for that, and this year is probably the closest I've come to not renewing my season ticket (did it yesterday) but I really wasn't that fussed on Saturday. The missus said I was remarkably calm, well I think other events have put it in perspective, I've far more to worry about that want division a football team are playing in next season when I don't know where I'll be working.
I resigned myself to relegation after the Bournemouth game, said then we were down - and then hope was renewed after the back to back wins at Reading and Yeovil, and again after Charlton, but as so often seems to be the case, we come back from a good away trip to very winnable home games and we can't do it. It's happened so often in recent seasons.
So, as I thought yesterday, I still see 23 home games next season, I still get to support my club, why does it really matter what the opposition is unless we have a real chance of getting back into the Premier.
Whilst I didn't want us to get relegated, in some ways I'd rather it happened last weekend and at least mean I don't have a tense, and most likely ultimately disappointing afternoon of frustration this Saturday.I'll go to the game and be at least relaxed, engage in the usually self-deprecation of how ***** we are and say "see you in August" to the people around us.
Then the beer festival on Sunday to drown our sorrows.

 

Agree. Very good face of BFC and his interviews and open style has been one of the few successes this season. I just don't think we know enough yet to declare him as a success as CEO in terms of contracts/deals etc.

 

Re: For me, this season has been the worst season since when Glynn Hodges was in char

Administration ???

 

£6 million is a big reduction

surely not spending all that on loan players, selling the decent few we have wont make much of a dint in it, 7,500 season tickets at best, can only see PC having to cover some of it again, how long is he prepared to do that? Cant see him finding a buyer for us in L1, so suppose he's no alternative.

Forgot to mention, our "football" will be played on a rugby pitch.

 

Re: £6 million is a big reduction

Looking forward to it all. happy days.

 

Our problem in the Championship is we've never been able to build a team, we get a very good player (occasionally have 3 or 4 of them at the same time) but we either can't afford to turn down the transfer fee or the player wants to leave.

The core of the team that went up in 97 had been built up over 4/5 years and obviously the signing of people like Hendrie and Marcelle gave us the necessary extra quality to have a terrific season. I'm not saying it would be possible to emulate that again but constantly changing the squad is never going to work.

We've just had an awful season so it's easy to assume that all the players aren't good enough but that's not the case - it's the managers job to work out who isn't good enough and who is being made to look bad because of the teams overall lack of quality.

My only doubt over Wilson was his decision not to sign a left-back, I'm sure Kennedy is a nice lad but it's obvious that he was being carried in a lot of games and was something of a liability (yes he did improve slightly in the second half of the season), but he offers very little defensively and nothing going forward. Wasted 95% of his corners and his trademark floaty balls in to the keepers hands were really starting to wind me up, which is quite something as I'm the most placid person I know.

 

So what do we aim for? Seems a pointless existence to me...