Club in freefall

Does anyone else fear that this could be the end of this era where we regularly play in the Championship.

Looking at League One, there's a lot of big clubs in there now. It won't be east to go up like alst time - our team is also much worse.

Sad state of affairs.

 

Absolutely. Squad, coaching staff and board all in complete disarray. It's a long road back from here. The board bottled it when we were so close to a winning formula and regardless of what they do in January, Championship survival would be a minor miracle.

 

I seriously believe there are many league 1 teams that would comfortably beat us, that in itself should be causing serious alarm bells. The championship is finished as far as we are concerned. It's alright tho we'l just stick with the same formation and probably end up in league 2.

 

If I'm honest then I would have agreed with you about 15 years ago and I never thought we would be back in the Championship and have successful seasons. We've managed a couple since that time but for one reason or another we haven't managed to put a couple back to back and truly establish ourselves. I am now more comfident than I was then that we can complete at this level again.

 

There’s so many clubs that are no bigger or not much bigger than us who’ve had the premier league money & they’ve knocked bigger clubs than us down the pecking order. It makes it a lot tougher.

10 years ago it would be hard to imagine clubs like Brentford & Bournemouth having so much money.

Watford, Burnley, Brighton, all operating in a different stratosphere to us financially never mind the naturally bigger clubs.

Yes there’s a good chance we won’t bounce straight back this time round.

 

Let’s be fair,Rotherham top the league with a similar team from their championship relegation.… it’s not exactly Serie A.

 

Rotherham have an excellent head coach.

 

That’s just it though. Rotherham have continuity. They keep largely the same squad, a mix of youth and experience. They keep the same coach who’s Rotherham through and through and a damn good one at that.
They’re everything that we aren’t.

 

Exactly so. They have an owner (not everyone's cup of tea) who is deeply committed to them, a comfortable stadium and convenient parking too.

 

Wow, you all need some antidepressants.

We've been here before, relegation is awful but it's not the end of the world, we'll be back.

 

Last time we were relegated the club was on a firm financial footing. The reserves on balance sheet enabled the owners to retain the existing squad, lose over £3m over the season and bounce back. That included the sale of Brad Potts, who may or may not have been on the wing.

Survival this time round looks highly unlikely. Honestly, if my motivation of running this club was to avoid putting any money in then I’d be looking at removing as many of the higher wage earners from the club as I could, getting as much cash in as possible from transfers and playing the youth.

The impact this year, results wise, probably can’t be much worse and it will build some experience for next year. It would also ensure reduced losses next year but what it will not do is maximise the chances of promotion.

 

They've got some continuity though and held on to Freddie Ladapo and their manager Paul Warne.plus if Sheff Weds and Derby had Bern deducted the points they should have they'd have stayed up. Dread to think what we'll have left, but a manager that doesn't get in the opposition half doesn't fill me with positivity for a good league 1 season I'm afraid.

 

Get thi sen off then

 

Last season was a blip for many reasons. 5 subs, no fans, direct style from an inspirational coach, Dike on loan. We haven't finished higher than 14th in the Championship since the turn of the century. Most seasons we've been scrapping against relegation or in League One.

However this time it feels worse as the owners are turning so many fans against the club.

 

That's what makes me laugh. I totally agree. People would say to me last season "you're doing well aren't you?". I'd say, "I can't understand why. These players aren't very good. I'm just glad we've got 50 points."

 

IMO there will be some panicking going on in the boardroom at the moment, the fact they have no money left in the coffers (that was there before they were here and included in the sale of the club) means they will have to either inject some or generate some from within, hence a cash grab is imminent, the Herbie Kane situation is probably an indication as to how desperate they are to save/generate any small amounts they can, I fully expect any saleable assets gone in January and zero strengthening.

 

I think you'll find under these it's a very long way back. More a possibility of relegation again as there nothing in the team structure .Any half decent players they will try to sell conference football could beckon in 3 years time..look at chesterfield all to do with the wrong owners ..not confident we can stay up in league one

 

Yeah but they did lose some players including crookes who was above ladapo in the squad. They kept their players largely because no one wanted them. A bit like us last season.

My comparison was that it’s not a super league…

 

You’re right it’s not the end of the world. We may even get back one day but I doubt it’ll be for a very long time unless there’s a change in ownership.
Last time we went down with a squad way too strong for L1. We had money in the bank and no need to sell. This time we’ve no money in the bank, no one worth selling (come Feb 1st) and a very weak squad to boot.

 

Why do we regularly get plundered - CEO, manager, coaching staff, players - whilst Rotherham remain relatively unmolested?

(I don't expect you to know the answer, but your post made me wonder!)