Rahic in today's T and A

We didn't have a competitive team from Jan onwards last season
Our fan base has dwindled and is likely to drop further as the new season progresses
Unless you can show me how there will be a miraculous u turn in our fortunes
I am seriously worried it's more of a challenge than is realized

 

If they say nothing they “Don’t communicate “ If they do It’s “Soundbites” Thing to do is wait and see and then judge. Hopefully we will have a new head coach before I return at the weekend

 

The majority of posters over the last few seasons have played fcuk about the pitch though, can't have it all ways unless we get a massive cash injection.

 

Some on here would still "bang the drum" in the National league North looking forward to the derby with Park Avenue if they don't get promoted. Can't see us dropping that low but you asked about people's threshold for failure

 

To be fair to them we're getting much better communication from the club over the last couple of weeks.

 

Too true the state of the pitch is/was a concern but it's been like it for god knows how long. Surely this should have been picked up during purchase negotiations and allowances made. Think all the teams who beat us at home last season must have a "head coach" who specializes in playing on a waterlogged sand pit

 

I suppose I mean financially sustainable.

They aren’t mega rich so only have a fixed amount of cash to invest in the club. So they are trying to implement a system that enables us to progress without them taking a boom or bust approach. A strategy that is far better than putting everything on the line and hoping we get promoted.

 

There is something in this. You do need a structure around the club that allows the club to grow from within. Ultimately success on the field will determine whether you strategy has worked but long term there does need to be a serious think as to where this club wants to be.

 

I totally agree. We can only do this if we are progressing as a team/club. Financial security is all well and good but it’s all for nothing if we are going backwards on the pitch.

However, I’m willing to give the owners time to deliver success on and off the pitch, which they seemed to be doing until January. Sadly many on here seem unwilling to be patient.

 

Hard to say what would constitute failure. I don't think we need worry about relegation yet. I would carry on supporting the club if it landed in division 2. If I can see effort and improvement on and off the pitch. Spirit and attitude will keep failure away in my book. Others will have different opinions of course.

 

Depends if you "believe"-ahem, the club is getting a "competitive budget"@EdinProject;

The actual truth will become self-evident over the summer, no more excuses from Abbo or the Bonus Culture King.

 

But we've had 12 months of decline on the pitch, limited spirit and definitely some with poor attitudes.

 

I genuinely don't believe they realised just how poor an infrastructure we had at the club. Everything was live for today, there was certainly no long term strategy. Now i'm still undecided as to whether the plans of Rahic and Rupp will ultimately make any difference to our club as it now stands but fans are going to have to go with it regardless. Hopefully long term we will have more a professional feel to the club in aspects on and off the field.

 

Just frustrated that we were growing and delivering success......then we ripped it up and started again.

 

Absolutely agree that the fall in form at the start of this calendar year was awful. I am simply not ready to throw in the towel just yet. I have a season of optimism left in me still.

 

Can you explain why a fan might be in cuckoo land when he believes in a model successfully used by several clubs

What's the other ones?

Spend on 'known talents', that are slightly outside your price range, i.e. good but might be flawed, in other words an equal risk - a bit like MK Dons did. That worked out well for them. It worked out better for us under Richmond of course

Or maybe simply pay more wages for older players on a free, so there is never any value left in them - but I supposed they might be the best ones to guarantee performance. Another big risk though - if like Marshall and Clarke they don't work out, you're a Charlton fan left with two players getting older and not quite as good on big salaries

Love to know the great alternatives that you're so certain of, you can question the sanity of a fan with a reasonable plan

 

Dennis - thanks for that bit of information. It shows again that it is very easy to end up comparing apples and other fruit when it comes to player budgets.

Nonetheless, it highlights even more that we are miles off financing a Championship team without very large injections that look increasingly unlikely, so - putting owners' shoes on - why waste money trying to get there? In fact, if the policy is going to be to rely heavily on developing players to sell for profit, it might be more profitable to be a top-half team in League 2 on a £2m first team budget rather than a struggling team in League 1 on £3m. There lies food for thought. And it raises the question, if we end up as League 1 or even League 2 also rans for a few years ahead, what happens to a significant windfall from a major cup run or player sale, should it eventually happen? Would they want to blow it on a promotion push and relegation again, invest in infrastructure, or just pocket it as an investment return? I am still waiting to see how policy develops but I can't say I'm gushing with optimism at the moment. I suspect they bought City thinking they could replicate Crewe and Peterborough at a higher level with bigger crowds, without realising how quickly crowds might melt away but still leave them with higher overheads.

 

So basically you feel let down, because they dared to have some vision by the club, which you've take literally

I never did, because I read everything they said and from day one they talked about growth through younger players, so it was always a long term plan

What I don't get is why you and so many who 'bought' the Premiership vision (and it was never more than that) now think the whole club is in terminal decline.

What because in the most injury hit season I can remember we ended up 11th? Before you say injuries are part of a season, not the number we had. And it's interesting to note that Plymouth's season fell off the cliff as soon as they had a cluster of injuries as well

It's hilarious to think that if we'd had Shrewsbury or Rotherham's normal type of luck with injuries, we'd probably had got those few extra points and then what would you be moaning about

But yes, the last few months were terrible - but that doesn't set the tone for the future

There seems to be no rational except as I alluded to previously, hostile negativity - where if you still trust the owners, you simply get abused

It's "more fool" those gullible enough to believe in the PR machine of the new owners, to feel so let down after a bad last 25% of their reign