I just renewed the ST's after deciding before the break not to. The reason is i feel the club needs help which helps the staff and community stay together. I and my family have had some great help during this period from Whitey, Beth and the team so i thank them. Whitey is a mate but i have seen him help many others. So i put a bit back by renewing. Im not that comfortable with the clubs running style at the moment but that doesn't reflect on these people. However i still may not attend that many games. What really brought things home was watching the replay of the Millwall play-off final highlights. The team, and in fact squad we had then was fantastic. Worthy of a championship team and one which arguably could have pushed into a playoff slot. Then the last promotion we have seen a similar squad look what could be another team potentially to consolidate in the championship. Pinnock was talked about on talk sport last night as best player in Brentfords team by the pundits. But we dismantle at the wrong time, every time. We have euphoria of promotion and deflation of pushing a tank uphill every August when we start in the championship. I fear we, at best, will see the same again. Even worse is, with the owners clearly not 'investing' anything from their own pockets and the player market in turmoil we may even be facing a L1 period of mid table mediocracy. Who knows. we may not go down, which i put hope in. But my fear is we see groundhog day or worse to yet come. Just wanted to cheer everyone up ;-)
Thanks for that. I think staying up is going to be key for ours & every other team at the bottom's future. L1 may not even kick off next year. That would be an even worse scenario, but one that has been discussed, if some bail out isn't made via increased TV coverage, even if that is partly via iFollow, as well as Sky, or another provider. Whatever happens I can't see us keeping Cauley. I'm hopeful if we stay up we might keep Mowatt & Solbauer, but who knows? One thing is clear. We sold Pinnock for peanuts.
It's true what you say about League 1. If ever there was a year to stay in the Championship this is it! You'd hope that the players get the importance of that and put the effort in to stay up if only for the sake of their own careers
I don't get the talk about league one and two not starting the next season the same time as the higher league. There would be no reason for them not to. The situation is getting better all the time and two months from now fans should be allowed back. If clubs don't want to play then replace them with lower league sides that do. If FL sides don't want to play then exclude them from the leagues and let national league clubs take their place.
Can't see all fans being allowed back in grounds until a vaccine is widely available - 2 months is way off the mark imho
I've just renewed for the same reason. The Club is about more than football. It gives the community some cohesion. I meet friends there from Primary school days nearly 70 years ago and it would be tragic to lose it. Having said that, I can't see me getting to a lot of games, if any, while I am in the vulnerable group. No chance of me coming out of that as what I have is not going to improve. However, if I get really frustrated with no live football, watch out for the old geezer in a full diver's suit in the East Stand Lower. I'll find a way.
What if fans aren’t allowed back. How do you expect income to be forthcoming. Most of these clubs will not survive on season ticket sales alone. Lots of Players not getting paid as it is. At the mo. Being furloughed. Reluctant to sign Players or extend contracts. It’s already muted some of the lower league players have given up hope of getting contracts and are leaving the industry to seek work elsewhere. I can foresee loads of players going semi pro. And we return to the pre 70/80s when it was commonplace. The higher leagues still have loads of money through tv/sponsorships. But will have to cut their cloth as well.
It's not a case of not wanting to but not being able to afford to without all fans being allowed back into the stadiums.
There will be clubs further down the pyramid happy to replace them higher up the leagues even if it means playing without fans. I'm sure the 25% capacity idea will be fine in two months time.
Very few clubs outside the Premier League will be able to sustain operations without fans. I’ve bought season tickets with no expectation of being able to attend but because I think our survival probably depends on it. There will be no Q of clubs looking to compete when it’s costing them an absolute fortune to do so. The one saving grace is that if they allow cinemas to reopen ( safe or not) there’s no real argument for not allowing football to reopen on the same basis.
Letting half a million on Bournemouth beach and another six figure crowd of scousers on consecutive nights celebrate the league and allowing all the BLM marches etc there is no reason why fans shouldn't be allowed back this season. It's ridiculous we can't sit in a ground with little face to face contact as we sit side by side watching a game. But things every week happen all over the country and nothing happens.
It’s a tricky one. The bloke I sit next to gets up fo a piss at least 5 times a game and shuffles past me. There would also be concerns around toilets and stairwells. No food and drink to be served. Club shop probably shut. There is no real ability to keep one metre distance. You could probably limit each stand to 500 And make masks compulsory that would probably do it but even then you may have insurance issues. Policing issues etc. It’s not as easy as saying some idiots chose to disobey the law so why can’t this business do the same.
Holland and Germany looking at September to allow crowds. And lets be right, a sparsely populated stadium is no more a risky place than a heavily populated indoor place of worship.
I've got to disagree...in the Championship, roughly 250k of people attend each round of games, packed in like sardines....shoulder to shoulder in the seats and concourses....whilst I agree about Bournemouth etc, nowhere has there been the closeness of a football game.
They can't afford to until fans are back in the ground, 2 months is extremely optimistic. Until then clubs just can't afford to play, the Championship can get away with it a bit more as the TV money helps them out enough but that isn't the case in Leagues One and Two.
This is where the Premier League should shoulder some of the responsibility it owes to the rest of Football .