If you assemble a squad of L2 and below quality players and appoint a L2 and below quality head coach to run the squad sooner or later you're gonna end up in L2 L2 players + L2 Manager = L2 Team
No I won't be happy until we are back as a middle tier Championship team looking at the occasional punt at the playoffs which despite all the accept our new reality pushers beliefs is were we could and should be and were until the owners decided to turn the club into retail outfit for professional footballers.
Except... Starting 11 yesterday: O'Keeffe: Signed in summer '23 after a season in League 1 with Forest Green for whom he contributed 7 assists. Rep of Ireland international U16-U19 Gent: Signed in Summer 24 from Blackburn in the Championship after a year on loan with Motherwell in the Scottish Premier de Gevigney: Signed in in Summer '23 after a year in the French second division with Nimes Pines: Signed in Jan 24 after spending his entire career in US Major League Soccer with DC United. Full USA international. McCarthy: Signed in summer 22 from St Mirren in Scottish Premier. Rep of Ireland U21 international Craig: On loan from Tottenham in the Premier League. Scottish under 21 international. Nwakali: Signed in summer 2024 after a season with Chaves in the top Portuguese league. Full Nigerian international Russell: Signed Jan 2023 from Huddersfield after 2 seasons in the Championship. Full Jamaican international Humphrys: Signed summer 2024 after a season in League 1 with Wigan Which leaves just Killip and Keillor-Dunn signed who signed for us immediately after playing in League 2. Subs: Watters: Signed summer 2023 from Cardiff in the Championship who had paid £1 million for him. Cosgrove: Signed summer 2023 from Birmingham in the Championship who had paid £2 million for him. Spent the 2022-23 season on loan for Plymouth in League 1. Plus Cotter from the league of Ireland and Lofthouse from the national league. Significant players missing through injury/illness were Connell from Celtic, Earl from Fleetwood in League 1, Roberts from Birmingham, and Phillips from Burnley. So while the equation you've presented may be true, it clearly doesn't apply to us.
They might have come from L1 and above that doesn't mean that's were they belong. I'm not saying they were all brought in from L2 and below I'm saying that's where their ability means they will end up.
But those days are long gone. Financially, it's impossible for us to be there. Clubs currently in the middle of the championship either benefit from Parachute Payments or have owners who are happy to set fire to millions of pounds a year. The level we've been at over the past 20 years is a fairer representation that the previous 80. We're a top level league one side, who occasionally gets to fight bravely against relegation from the championship every 6 years or so.
Only thing with these owners and head coach it would be conference or whatever it's called these days, inside 2 or 3 seasons
We have owners setting fire to millions of pounds a year sadly they don't know what the **** they are doing so most of it if not all is wasted. They are pumping millions in but taking the club backwards the squad is weakened every window.
Loads of grounds would look like this when it's cold and wet and you're being hammered at home 3 nil. What's experiment fc mean?
That's what we feel like some kind of experiment, a club with no playing identity, square pegs in round holes, staff galore, I'm not sure how over complicated it needs to be for a club at this level
We're 9th in League 1. We're 1 point outside the play-offs and 11 points above the relegation places, so no, it's not.