New Manager - Welcome Derek Adams

It’s all about potential and what he can achieve at City and the limits Morecambe have. True at the moment Morecambe are a far better side than City, but with crowds around the 2000 mark at best it would always be a difficult task to keep them up. Admittedly it can be done, look at Accrington but it would be difficult. If though he could get it right at City there is a great chance of getting us back to where we were at the latter end of the Parkinson reign. I’m very confident that he is joining us after the playoffs.

 

I must admit I like Plymouth too. Apart from the football me and my late wife had quite a few holidays down there and used Plymouth as our base, usually staying in a small hotel on the Hoe,overlooking the Sound. Also watched Dave Jones's Cardiff side play the Argyle and bumped into Sean McCarthy and had quite a long chat with him. Nice ground at Home Park and decent bars and restaurants in the evenings.

 

Challinor perhaps. The ex Barrow boss came from the National League and he's done okay.

 

You could well be right but what difference does a crowd of 2000 make there hasn't been a crowd at all this season doesn't seem to have affected them you mention potential what potential is there at our club we have a big ground that we can expand in to but that's it as far as I can see yes we have a multi millionaire owner but is he going to release sufficient funds to fulfill any potential we are selling our club on what Phil Parkinson achieved and as you know that doesn't happen very often

 

Micky Kennedy is the last long throw specialist I remember here.

 

Good shout, but you can see why he wasn’t renowned for it

 

He was more renowned for other things plus a back injury stopped him using his long throw as much as he would have liked. He was also one of only two players I have heard of who smoked a pipe!

 

Mourinho has signed for the Claret and Amber, just the second rate one in Italy

 

And that didn't turn out well.

 

Allanby and Lee Butler are still plying their trade at Sunderland, only Parky & Parkin left.

 

Just a thought, it won't happen anyway.

 

If it is Adams who is in the frame, I cant really see him coming if Morecambe get promoted.

 

if i was in his shoes, If i was paid the right wages plus the size and budget of the club would make it possible for me to possibly manage city to the championship. I would also know that Morecambe are going to be in relegation fight next year and would be very shocked if they held onto Mendes gomez. He must know what Morecambes strategy would be in L1.

 

Morecambe will be in a relegation fight, but I’m not sure what makes you think City will have a vastly different budget to Morecambe. They spent £2m on players wages in 18/19, Sparks has already talked about a reduced budget this season. Rupp wants the club to be self sustaining, low season ticket sales, low budget. Do the maths, an optimistic 8k adult season tickets at £200, half a million or so each from the EFL and TV deals plus a bit of sponsorship is £3m, maybe £3.5m coming in. Take out your fixed costs and what have you, Ryan’s keen to improve whatever goes on behind the scenes which isn’t for free, and you’ve a budget of £2-2.5m. Since City have underachieved for years on nearly double that, it’s a massive turnaround to get promotion.

Proper back of the envelope stuff but unless Rupp is pumping money in, and there has been zero indication of that, anyone expecting a big budget promotion push is wide of the mark. It’s back to player sales, cup runs and deficits.

Knocked out of the play offs on a £2m budget is a good season for Morecambe, knocked out in the play offs for £2.5m will be a failure for City next season.

 

I understand wages that you outline.

But in all reality, Wycombe, Burton, Wimbledon, Lincoln, Accrington are plying their trade above us and in relation to size, potentially we have a bigger stadium and maybe can be defined as a bigger club. But budget? League positions?

As @Mike Hunt indicated, we have to be sustainable and a reduction in playing budget has been said by Sparks for next season.

And with this in mind, the wages we both talk of, where does it come from if we are to be sustainable? Where does the compensation, if applicable, come from to pay off Morecambe, as Adams is in contract?

And I won't deny it, I will be questioning Adams motivation if he rocks up at VP if Morecambe were to be promoted. We can use all sorts of analogies about Bradford and Morecambe if we so desire but he will jump ship from a challenging position at Morecambe at a higher level to a challenging position at Bradford at a lower level.

If and a big if(I'm not convinced by the speculation tbh), Adams turns up at VP, I ask myself where will both clubs be in a couple of seasons?

 

There is nothing in this division that defines your potential other than money and a desire for success. We have to get this mindset out of our heads that we are special at this level. We aren't l. We're not a Bolton who bounced back up at the first opportunity, the last time we fell back into this division we spent 6 or 7 seasons there, hardly a big club with potential. And the only sustained period of success this club has had was bankrolled by IOUs from big Geoffrey.
As it stands we're just another average shit kicker in league 2 with everyone else and with an owner who doesn't really want to be here.
We could be down here for some time.

 

Take away Valley Parade, and without Richmond it would be 16-17k capacity stadium with the newest bits 25 years old, there is nothing about City to set them apart from most league two clubs. Local owner who wants to spend big, identity as an eco club like FGR, community club (Accy), sustainable from youth development sales (Exeter), millionaire superstar owners (Salford) and so on. We have none of that. Just a flirtation with the big time two decades ago, a decaying big ground, a disinterested owner and a local population who by and large aren’t interested or represented at the club. My worry if I have one isn’t being stuck in league two for some time, it’s that league two becomes the high point.

 

The difference a 2000 crowd makes is very significant when crowds do return as they will eventually. Morecambe will always have a small budget about half ours apparently and as I said despite the many negative posters on here there is huge potential at City. Despite your criticism of the owner I don’t see he is contributing less than Rhodes/Lawn who just relied on cup runs and player sales which is a policy which came off for them under Parkinson but not so much in Lawns first five years. Get the manager right as I feel we are about to with Adams, stop going back to reappointing McCall, and City could really take off

 

Bang on the money. I know we joke elsewhere about just being happy to have a club to support but that mantra won't keep your club alive in the long term. You need a USP like the ones you mention. Sport isn't like what it was decades ago, heck it's even changed in the last 10 years. You now have clubs who years ago you would have laughed if you were mentioned in the same breath as them. The likes of Salford, Harrogate, Barrow, FGR, Fleetwood, Accrington. Most of them finished above us. Some with their own little niche in the market. There are even esport teams and set ups like hashtag United trying to move up the divisions. And if your not careful the old flat cap and whippet approach sees you left behind as the dwindling support still sticks their collective head in the sand.
Make no bones about that the crowds that Mason built on the back of Parkys success have gone and we are in danger of losing another generation of fans if we don't put a marker down as what this club wants to be in the next 20 years. The demographic of this city is changing, most have no connection or emotional attachment to this club, if you don't change this I sincerely worry about this club being around as a professional outfit in the long term.

 

There is a lot of doomsday scenarios on here but it’s nothing that a couple of good seasons can’t cure