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Post by Neshead on Dec 1, 2020 23:17:12 GMT
How many here are actually that bothered? I ask this because up until recently I'd be horrified at the thought of non league football, now I'm not so sure I honestly care. Let's face it, unless Rupp goes nothing is gonna change. I don't think I'd lose any sleep over it, more the fact it would give me chance to walk away and do something rather than be over the moon we've survived the dreaded drop. You look at the likes of Stockport and Notts County struggling to get out of non league and in truth were no bigger a club than what they are, our crowds swelled by people with fuck all better to do taking advantage of the club practically giving tickets away.
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Post by fish on Dec 1, 2020 23:48:56 GMT
I'll be there to get my "I went to Dover away on a Tuesday night" superfan badge.
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Post by hobbes on Dec 2, 2020 0:11:24 GMT
I think if we went out of the league under the "one bad season" scenario I'd be fucking gutted, but currently I think I'd be pretty ambivalent given the sheer relentless ineptitude weve witnessed in the last 20 years aside from the four year blip where we werent shite.
But then, I paid a tenner for ifollow tonight having had my latest work contract terminated and been stiffed for most of the hours I'd worked, so I'm skint for a couple of weeks till I get paid for my new contract I start next week. I have £160 to my name till next Friday yet I still paid to watch us lose. I fear I might be incurable. Ffs
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Post by Lethal Jizzle on Dec 2, 2020 5:10:01 GMT
I'll be bothered because it's the ultimate embarrassment. I'm ashamed of this club as it is, going down will be horrendous. I'm not saying I don't go to games because if I see this club trying I'll be right behind them. But even with 2 years of success early we've spent the last 20 years not trying to do anything. And until we start behaving like a real football club they're getting fuck all from me.
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Post by Hobhead on Dec 2, 2020 5:15:20 GMT
If we go down the club is finished.
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Post by Lofty on Dec 2, 2020 7:34:36 GMT
New grounds, pints at the side of the pitch, oNlY ThE rEAl FAnS...
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Post by Train (F-2547) on Dec 2, 2020 7:38:59 GMT
I’d give us 2 seasons max before it folds if we went down. You just can’t see them coming straight back up with this team of doss wankers
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Post by bantam147 on Dec 2, 2020 7:46:55 GMT
If we do go down, would we even stay at VP?
We'd have the same issues coming back up as we do when coming down to this league. It'd be the death of the club.
I actually think our midfield isn't that bad. The main problems are at either end of the pitch. A proper CB, a couple of wingers and a striker are essential in January.
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Post by Dick on Dec 2, 2020 7:51:03 GMT
First Premier League team to end up in non-league? Even 20 years later its not something you want.
Imagine all the Leeds and Town fans we work with, then all the others - Man U, Liverpool etc. It'd be embarrassing.
I'll support someone else. 'Urrr ner, yer not a real fan' - oh fuck off. I've done my time, thousands of pounds over the years, days off for Tuesday away games 300 miles away.
I'll have my Saturdays back thanks.
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Post by Hoochy on Dec 2, 2020 8:28:59 GMT
Wetherby Whaler said on the other channel that the last time relegation from L2 was a distinct possibility, the plan was to fold the club. Possibly hyperbole but I can't really see how it's sustainable beyond 1 season.
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Post by mikehunt on Dec 2, 2020 9:19:50 GMT
Wetherby Whaler said on the other channel that the last time relegation from L2 was a distinct possibility, the plan was to fold the club. Possibly hyperbole but I can't really see how it's sustainable beyond 1 season. You get your half million EFL money as a parachute in year one and half that in year two but the TV money goes. Straight away you’re £450k of TV money down, plus the games that are on TV aren’t paid as well, reduced sponsorship and ST sales. So year one you’ve at least £600k less coming in, year two closer to £900k. Can’t see Rupp funding that for long.
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Post by Hobhead on Dec 2, 2020 11:23:16 GMT
It’d be funny if it wasn’t so preventable but all the at-least-we’re-not-Bury crew are going to have some mental gymnastics to perform. Imagine us becoming the one thing you’ve been using to justify our lack of adventure by virtue of the very strategy that was, above all else, supposed to prevent this outcome.
Never spend, never speculate, never show ambition, always be thrifty, don’t invest, save every penny and you’ll at least have a club to support. Odd that following exactly that course has us closer to oblivion than we’ve been in a long time. At least we’re not Bury yet.
As predicted, cutting costs, sitting on our hands instead of planning ahead and retreating behind cheap season tickets has led to us first stagnating then sinking. The trouble is the roots of this failure go deep. It might be convenient to blame Rahic but the truth is this goes back further than that. Take Parkinson out of the equation and this club would probably be dead already.
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Post by Dick on Dec 2, 2020 12:00:16 GMT
It’d be funny if it wasn’t so preventable but all the at-least-we’re-not-Bury crew are going to have some mental gymnastics to perform. Imagine us becoming the one thing you’ve been using to justify our lack of adventure by virtue of the very strategy that was, above all else, supposed to prevent this outcome. Never spend, never speculate, never show ambition, always be thrifty, don’t invest, save every penny and you’ll at least have a club to support. Odd that following exactly that course has us closer to oblivion than we’ve been in a long time. At least we’re not Bury yet. As predicted, cutting costs, sitting on our hands instead of planning ahead and retreating behind cheap season tickets has led to us first stagnating then sinking. The trouble is the roots of this failure go deep. It might be convenient to blame Rahic but the truth is this goes back further than that. Take Parkinson out of the equation and this club would probably be dead already. There were signs things were a bit wrong a few months after we lost at Wembley. I remember going to a lot of away games in 2017-18 and there was something like 4-6 consecutive away wins, but through hugely fortunate moments such as last minute winners and penalties, winning at Portsmouth from our only shot on target, winning at Shrewsbury through an OG (our only attack all game), a 3rd minute red card at MK Dons.... Really put us in a fortunate position TBH. But then from January 2018 we had a bit of a flat transfer window and we saw how we played when that luck ran out. The rest of the season was a mess, Grayson came in, left, then we had the Collins debacle - and took the rot into the 2018-19 season. 2019-20 season starts, and we had the most boring manager in memory actually manage to get by from scraping 1-0s from penalties and own goals. Same thing happened again though - fortune ran out and we saw how poor things were. 2020 season starts - hugely questionable recruitment again, and the post-January rot has just been carried straight over into this season. We're where we are not because of a few bad decisions made recently. That's effectively the last 3 years of constant rot - a terrible mix of mostly awful player recruitment, poor managerial appointments (all made with the priority they can operate under terrible constraints), and weirdly a mix of over-spending in some places then extreme penny-pinching in others. The Parkinson ere probably just prolonged this from happening earlier to be honest. Even when he was here we were desperate for 1st round cup victories to extend first teamer contracts who were here month-by-month.... No idea what to do at this point. Throwing money in January at players isn't a convincing solution when so much at the club remains the same. Survival this season looks like it could be down more to good fortune that actual ability and finding form.
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Post by tetchyarse on Dec 2, 2020 14:09:26 GMT
I still think there are two worse teams than us. I said 19th and I'm sticking with that, but it's looking dangerously gomperish to say that now. I don't see us improving after a scare, though, which is what worries me for future seasons.
If we go down there's a real chance of oblivion. Other clubs have survived- Chesterfield and Notts County are struggling but surviving, but Tranmere and Orient got back and are stronger for it- but I wouldn't be optimistic.
At the height of the Collins fiasco I said we were on the same trajectory as Orient, and it's really looking that way.
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Post by Pyongyang Bantam on Dec 2, 2020 15:04:00 GMT
Despite the apathy, i still think losing our 117 year status as a football league club would be a bitter pill to swallow.
Most top end national league clubs probably have a better set up than us, so i can't see us bouncing back without significant investment. The only glimmer of hope is that Rupp would likely call it a day and cut his losses, and one of these rumoured consortiums (perhaps Baldwin or Jenkins lead) comes in and sweeps away the dead wood. But i'm clutching at straws. Knowing us it'll be Rhodes or Lawn buying us back for pennies in the pound, having made a tidy profit when they sold us back in 2016. We'd probably end up sharing with Fax/Cougars/BPA/Guiseley/Bulls (if they return to Odsal), with the justification being we could 'lose our club forever' if we stayed at VP with it's crippling running costs. But with the caveat we'd return 'when the time is right' The gompers would hail them as saviours. Gibb would get shafted and Rhodes would have the last laugh.
Certain more pompous elements of our fanbase would probably gain a sense of gratification from supporting us in non league and enjoying a 'authentic' match day experience. Only uncultured white van driving plastics support big clubs, they would claim. Who cares about winning when you can enjoy a nice craft beer with 10 men and a dog at Tinpot Rovers or FC Sugardaddy?
"We're Bradford City. It's who we are"
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Post by hobbes on Dec 2, 2020 16:02:08 GMT
I reckon Lawn has blown a lot of his money turning Wibsey WMC into the Copacabana tbh
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Post by Dick on Dec 2, 2020 21:50:19 GMT
We're now 22nd.
If it wasn't for a 91st minute equaliser in the other game we'd be 23rd.
If we're still down there and cut off before the window opens we've had it. I've seen enough of this team this season and last to know they haven't got the fight for this; I'm sure Stuart will come out a few times and say otherwise, try to rally the troops... but we all know it won't work.
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Post by fish on Dec 2, 2020 22:16:50 GMT
McCall and Sparks for that matter seem far too relaxed about the situation. Neither seems to be genuinely concerned, just "disappointed" and seem to think survival is a given. Thats what concerns me most.
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Post by Hobhead on Dec 3, 2020 6:57:06 GMT
Is it possible to do some fag packet maths and work out how similar the figures are for the amount we underspent on the cap and the drop in season ticket revenue is?
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Post by mikehunt on Dec 3, 2020 9:11:04 GMT
Is it possible to do some fag packet maths and work out how similar the figures are for the amount we underspent on the cap and the drop in season ticket revenue is? Man maths is a speciality of mine, we’re about 3,800 down on last season, depends on the full price / children split but say that’s it’s 3:1 adults and children it’s probably close to £520k, some of that’s VAT though so say £450k or so in income.
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