Time to be positive

We all want entertaining football but right now it's the results which matter the most. Yes the pitch is very poor and the lack of funding into it is a clear indication the club just want promotion out of this division by any means. The money diverted from the pitch has gone into ensuring a competitive squad.

Injuries - and to an extent the pitch - have probably influenced the defensive approach Bowyer has taken. Once Donaldson in particular is back we might see a more attack minded city.

With regards to Doyle your argument is nonsense. You have the benefit of hindsight. Nobody knew Doyle would be as prolific at Swindon as he has been and the majority were calling for him to be shipped out any way. You also fail to recognise that his loan helped finance the aditional players Bowyer has brought in. We have a stronger and more rounded squad because of it.

 

If we can get 14,000 I believe this season ticket holders after that mess of last season I'm more than happy with the fans who have put their money into the club before a ball was kicked, they are my concern, there are fans out there for whatever reasons pick there games that at times they cant attend because of financial reasons, but not always so that suggests to me they select their games with regards the opposition and that to me is a fairweather supporter
If they don't attend on a regular basis with season tickets at £149 I would hardly call them floating fan base, a promotion this season knowing how much next seasons tickets cost will give these floating fan base no excuse to not attend.

 

The club couldn't survive on fairweather fans who are not committed where they don't know from one week to another how many are turning up, at least with the situation as it is "yes cheap season tickets" the club can budget going forward, how do they do that if we fans have not stumped up our brass before a ball is kicked.
You only have to look at last season, at the later end of the season we were getting 10/11,000 at best and that was simply because fans games were paid for and that was still not enough to get fans out to watch games, God knows what the turn out would have been if fairweather fans had to stump up £25 on a matchday, they wouldn't have come and where would that have left the club with the financial mess Rahic had already got us in.

 

What's impressive about it?

We were a 4th division club then, we are now.

For that figure to have any relevance, youd have to compare the relative changes in population, price and wider changes in attendance at football games.p

 

Nice to see a positive thread on here for a change! Can't believe fans have such short memories when we had to put up with the rubbish of last year and some terrible runs under Docherty, Taylor etc. etc.

Steady progress this year, and looking forward to getting back our injured players.

 

Our injured players coming back should make a big difference tbf. Twatting it long to Donaldson should be more effective than twatting it long to Connolly.

 

Against who, teams in the playoffs? irrelevant at the moment as they are currently well on course to achieve automatic promotion. By all means, If they finish 4-7 then their poor form against the better teams is something that , like us, would probably work against them imo.

Well yes. My point literally was that we are currently on course to finish in the playoffs (factual, not my opinion) and that the 3 teams we would have to face as things stand have beaten us and looked the better sides. Why wouldn’t I narrow it down to 3? Would we have to contend with more than 3 teams if we finished in a playoff spot?

No sweeping statements, you’ve just misunderstood a very simple point about us not looking like a top 3 side (imo of course) and losing to all the teams currently occupying a playoff position. it was such a simple statement I’m not even sure it needs a discussion tbh but whatever floats your boat.

 

I understand where you are coming from on this, but hasn’t this been the case for the majority of our recent history?

We have had some good (at times exceptional) football under Trevor Cherry,Terry Dolan, Chris Kamara, Paul Jewell, Stuart McCall and Phil Parkinson. A lot of the time though we have watched an awful lot of very poor football, while the club has been in turmoil, as we slid down through the divisions. The hard thing about the Edin Rahic debacle and outcome was that it was self-inflicted and ruined us just when we were making progress again as a club.

I admit I’ve only been to a couple of games this season so I’ve not witnessed all of what has clearly been painful to see. However, I’m actually, for the first time in 18 months, looking to see when I can get to games again. If we can get promotion this year, however it is done, then I think that overrides anything on the entertainment front for now.

 

It has. We're the footballing equivalent of a battered spouse. Years of taking shite, and the odd glimmer of being unscathed we take as glory unaccustomed to expecting or demanding better.

 

You are a miserable sod. You and @Fordy117 should get a room.

Your posts all day/week/month have been really negative towards the team/club so why don't you stop being a die hard supporter and become a floater? That way it won't bother you so much.

 

It can't survive on die hard fans either. Not at £149 a pop.

 

They've been critical of the manager's playing style, nothing else.

And I never pretended to be a die hard, I'm not. I just call shite, shite. I dont dress it up as anything else.

You haven't answered the question though.

What's impressive about going from being a 4th division club with an average gate of 3k in 1979 to a 4th division club with a gate of 14k 40 years later? Or would that be a lazy play on numbers to support a fantastical view that we're actually progressing as a serious and ambitious professional football club?

 

Don’t agree with this.

Our major stumbling block is that no one has come to the club and given us a load of money. There are plenty of examples of clubs getting it together on the field for short periods of time and then falling away without sustained investment.

Yes, we’ve made mistakes but our history of being a lower league club isn’t because people are aren’t demanding more. We haven’t had the funds to break through both on or off the field in a city that has been in decline for thirty years plus.

 

If that what the clubs ask I don't have a problem paying it, but I think you know what I mean.

 

Your response says it all.
You clearly have indicated you don't think the club is a serious and ambitious professional football club. A fantastical view as you so eloquently put it.Now that's nothing to do with the managers playing style is it?

 

Dodging the question again!

The fact that we were shit 40 years ago and we're shit now, cant really be laid at Bowyers door. But I'm not the one pretending we're anything different than we are.

A serious football club? By way of an example, our own manager has inferred that our pitch is unacceptable. The second such manager to do so in a handful of years. Funding was cut on the pitch in the summer.

'Quite Impressive'.

 

Believe it or not the fairweather are the most important because they are the hardest to keep hold of. The likes of me and you? Meh, we'll turn up regardless.

 

I didn't say we were shit 40 yrs ago... your words not mine.

As for the pitch. Its much better that in 1979 I can assure you.

Whats impressive is that YOU are still going to VP despite all the misgivings you have. You and about 11 thousand others compared to 1979 at this level.

 

Are you even a City fan? The way you’re putting our club down resembles that of a L**ds or Town fan giving digs

 

Gates have gone up. So what? The population is bigger. The game is more inclusive of women, families, minority groups. The game generally is more popular. As a city, we have little local competition when you look at other major cities. Our tickets are under priced - a ticket in 1979 was probably cheaper than it is now!

Your comment inferred that the growth in attendance is somehow a measure of success, of growth as a club. 'Quite impressive'. It's not. Theres nothing inherently impressive about our attendance now in relation to 1979. And if we continue serving up the same shite style of football, myself and a fair few of the 11k wont be back next season, because some of us value the entertainment and enjoyment factor.