Officially Down

Walsall and Wimbledon our fellow bedfellows then as they currently are now....

 

I suspect they were the only options we had left. It's obvious they weren't first or second choices. We weren't a club that players were busting a gut to join. Almost certainly a combination of the Rahic fiasco/reputation, our league position and limitations on funds. I feel fairly sure that Clarke and Butterfield only came because of the prior connections.
Conjecture but it doesn't make sense that a manager identifies the weak areas yet ends up addressing none of them.

 

Well it is official we are now in league 2. I don’t want to discuss what happens next atm, I want to reflect on last season. I have watched and supported city for many a long year. This has to be right up there, not because we have been relegated, but the way we have just slipped into league 2 without a whimper. Every single player should take a long hard look at themselves, along with everybody involved with the club.

I don’t want to hear any excuses about lack of finances, don’t lie to me, just get it sorted. No long speeches and hand wringing, just sort it, and tell us what the plans are for our progress.

 

The way Hopkin was speaking weeks before the window opened gave a lot of people (myself included), false hope. He was incredibly gung ho about it, stating not only that he had targets in mind, but that he was going to sign them up at the very start of the window and have them ready to go in the match day squad for New Year's Day. Of course, that all turned out to be a load of codswallop and made me start to question Hopkin's credibility.

 

Could the none signings be because Stefan would not fund them after he'd seen what money he was losing with regards the so called quality Rahic & Co brought in during the summer.

 

Possibly, or maybe once he'd forked out to keep Payne for the rest of the season he moved the goalposts in terms of what funding he was prepared to offer for new players?

 

I know it sounds strange, but almost feels like a relief that its finally confirmed. The writing has been on the wall most of this miserable season and like Im sure everyone else, cannot wait to see the back of this season.

Looking forward to what should be a brilliant summer of Cricket with the World Cup and Ashes coming up, and a few weeks break from Football

 

You could be correct that's why IMO having a owner who has no interest in what the business is about isn't particularly a good thing, who knows if he did the above and wouldn't finance any more, where as a football man may have said we needed Payne and also needed to back Hopkin with the other identified targets and that might have given us a better chance of staying in league one.
Because I cant see him making money from league two football even if we do get promoted.

 

I agree. My head has said we are down for weeks but my heart has continued to have that little glimmer of hope that a miracle could still happen and it has been agonising. Thank goodness it's over.

 

Thanks it seems more this season but can't argue with the facts.

 

I believe if most fans were honest they thought the same.

 

It was clear to all what we needed in January and it sounded like Hopkin thought he would get the money. Keeping Payne seemed a must at the time, with hindsight it’s cost us dearly. Something else must have changed. Perhaps Rupp found out just what a mess Rahic had really done with the finances and that suddenly made him reluctant to commit even more? When Rupp said he would put it all right he may not have understood just how much it was going to cost him. Bringing in more midfielders instead of what was required was just bizarre and perhaps Hopkin felt he was let down and he would be the one left to take the blame for relegation.

 

Or, if it was a financial choice between keeping Payne or using that money to strengthen in other areas, a football man may have decided on the latter. With hindsight, this would have been the more sensible option but at the time, a non footballing man put all his eggs in one basket.

 

What we need is an owner who knows football

 

I think it was Hopkin decision, but I doubt he did it blind. Maybe Rupp told him this is how much we can spend, if you want I will sign Payne, but x is left. However, don’t know why Hopkin signed more of the same, better we sign none, although they won’t cost us anything further, but still!

I would prefer Rupp et al to tell us straight.

 

Just goes to show anything can happen.

Said it at the time but, We should have followed the Millwall blue print when they lost in the play off final. Kept the squad together and added 4 or 5 real quality players the manager wanted.

Instead we messed around and signed shite and McCall was sacked 6 months later. Now we are in league two without even getting above 40 points. Awful

 

I'm not sure Rahic would have been happy with that situation @How (I'm 100% behind you) the more we look back at what happend the more annoyed I get that Rahic actually thought he could keep going against logical thinking and still keep the club going forward.

 

It’s a killer isn’t it?

Imagine we sign Payne instead of McCarten?

We get the lad at the back from Millwall who McCall took to Scunthorpe etc?

 

Rhodes? well I suppose anything is possible. Let’s be honest the way Payne was playing many of us wanted him to stay, myself included. However, I did want the other players, and if given a choice I would have had to let Payne go, and sign players we needed.