Been so shock that could not post. Relegation is a very sad thing and to hear on Saturday that Sean Ray has kept his job is an absolute joke and shows the club has no ambition. Another season of that and this time next year we will be a county league side. in the programme on saturday Walters said that money had been thrown at staying up, it did not work but Sean keeps his jobs. In the Kingstonian thread someone said Sean has the contacts. Really our problem all season was scoring and at times creating and the players that were brought in were no better than what we already had. As well as goal scoring being a problem discipline was the worse i can remember. Sean always arguing with the ref, other players too, head butts, player tantrums, its been embarassing and at times we look like a Sunday league side with the unprofessional way and no respect we show on the pitch. even on Saturday Ray was at the ref!
there is no way we will get promoted next season unless there are change in management. Walters said that money would be available for Ray to get promoted but it will just all be wasted. Back in January / February i was told not to panic on this forum we would be safe well im already in panic for next season. nothing against Sean Ray but he not ready for being a manager and maybe need to start lower down where there is less pressure it was obvious he could no cope and his help on the bench was limited. Apparently at East Thurrock Ray had to tell Langton to encourage the team from the bench! Is Langton cursed, first Horsham relegation and now us. He is meant to be high in qualification but we went backward when he joined club and 2 relegations tells you everything that he probably got his qualifications from a box of cornflakes.
There are no positives in relegation anyone that says there are is kidding themself. I want to watch my home club play at the highest level and after the cup run and extra money that gave us to spend on all those loan players it is criminal that we have gone down. Failure that is what it is.
I totally agree Pete. Keeping Sean on in my opinion is not the best option for the club. It's either a) cheap option or b) no one wanted the job.
I think as a player Razor will be at home in Ryman South. Keep Mark Stapley on in some capacity, Hugo though for me is a no go. Thanks for trying but just didnt work out. Relegation is not good for the CV but to have it twice...dont see that being pushed on social media! If we wanted to go down the player/manager route we have the ideal and ready made man. Ben Judge. Has contacts, experience and has done the job before!
I interviewed both Dave Walters and Sean Ray after the game on Saturday and yes, some of the money was spent on new players to try to stay safe. But both Dave and Sean both said that sometimes you have to take a step back to improve. They said that they've learnt a lot about themselves on and off the pitch and they've learnt a lot about the characters of the players. Sean's job will always be scrutinised and will divide opinions, but we're all too quick to forget that Sean did what no other manager has ever done for the club - getting to the FA Cup Third Round. As we all have the same in common - we all support Hastings United, we all have to believe in Sean, Mark, Hugo and Dave. Dave Walters has said that he is prepared to spend money, but they've learnt a lot and both said that sometimes you have to take a step back to improve.
Whilst obviously relegation is what no one wanted, even if we had stayed up this year we would have been in the mindset of strugglers next year and probably the year after. We have long forgotten what it is to win 15+ league matches a season, maybe a successful promotion season in the Ryman South will change the mindset finally, often happens that a promoted team gets another one straight after as the players have the confidence and get used to winning.
What's done is done, I think Sean can get us back up with his team and am prepared to support them and the team at home and as much as possible away in their attempt. I think the FA cup money gives us a better base for future success even at a lower level than another season scraping survival at Ryman premier level with none ever would.
It would be a shame if others walk away and choose not to attend due to their choice of not supporting the team whilst a certain person is in charge but could easily be their loss if we have a successful season. I'm sure we will find out early on next season! Spoken to many fans both young and old over the last few days and all with different ideas on the future of the club but many agree that the crowds could easily go up rather than down if the team starts strong and racks up some wins, it could defiantly change the direction of the club even from a lower division.
If we had swapped the cup run for two extra points Phil then yes we would be in the Prem next year but with a balance approaching zero yet again..... The players would have suffered yet another exhausting relegation fight and would likely be facing the prospect of several more over the next few seasons as i cant see that we would have been able to challenge for the top 10 consistent without a significant budget boost and from what i can see there is a distinct lack of potential buyers willing to put the capital in any more than the current regime has?
Honest question because i don't know the answer:- When was the last significant offer made to the current owner that was a realistic figure to purchase the club and who were also in a realistic secure financial position to provide a higher playing budget than is currently provided rather than a collection of fans with their savings?
The last owners before him were multi millionares and for whatever reason it didnt work out there either.
Some people on here say he should leave the club now but no names are ever mentioned to take over, Is there still realistic outside alternative in the running or is it generally a case of wanting anyone but him? If he was to sell the club who could step in realistically and improve things?
Hi Phil, to clarify you said that you would have swapped the Fa cup run ( and by association the approx £100k gate and prize money that we have now in the bank ) what i mean is that without that money we would have probably struggled to get any higher than mid table with the budget we would have been left with.
Struggling teams with no money = less wins = lower gates = struggling team. just my opinion that one! feel free to disagree :)
The obvious preference would be Survival + FA cup money = run at play off of Ryman Prem next season but we are in the below situation.
And this is the way i personally see it
Season 2013/14 Lower Division + FA Cup money = strongest squad in division and likely ( in my opinion though obviously not certain ) to get promoted.
More leagues wins + Feel good factor due to winning = more fans through gate
Outcome = Promotion + good gates + feel good factor surrounding club
Season 2014/15 Take the feelgood factor, changed squad mentality ( winners not struggler's ) remaining FA Cup money, and higher gates into the Ryman Premier = much better chance of getting into the playoffs than we've had for years.
Of course that's the ideal situation and entirely my own thoughts! It 100% reliant on getting out at first time of asking though!
Phil, i respect you and opinions hugely and differences of opinions put across in the right spirit are what this forum is for :)
I am an optimist by nature ( probably too much for sure ) and always want to give people whether its people at the football club or people whom i employ the chance to prove themselves and will generally back them until its obvious that the situation is irreteivable. I dont belive that has occured longterm here and still belive than Sean and most of the current squad have the ability to deliver the plan outlined above and that is why i will believe in it.
And yes even with relegation i will look to see the optimistic route out of it and try to enjoy it for what it is! An Eastbourne derby, North Kent seaside trips to whitstable & Herne bay, wiinning more matches... anything :)
Either way whatever occurs i'm sure you will be there watching the season unfold all the way!
Despite our various disagreements on here between the diffent points of view i wouldnt want anyone not to turn up next season due to the mamangement situation and belive that any people who dont get behind the team next season after all those year of them following the lads home & away will personnly regret it long term in their hearts and will be a massive shame if it happens.
We support Hastings United Football Club above all dont we? not a particular player, coach, manager or chairman?
Some good points Dan. I certainly won't walk away from the club, whatever league we play in, whoever is manager, or chairman etc I will always support my team. I think that we will see after a dozen games in Ryman South whether the correct decision has been made. I just wonder what the expectation/target was from the Chairman in August, I am sure it would have been to stay in Ryman Premier, which hasn't been achieved. All this go back to move forward, we have learnt a lot from the season etc...this a standard response from any relegated team at any level. It must be very hard to find positives when you finish bottom! BUT decision has been made, comments for and against have been discussed, let's just get on with it now!
Dan, can't agree with you argument that we could get two automatic promotions , we thought that 6 years ago, and have spent the whole time avoiding relegation. The reality is that there has been no progress, and we are back at the lowest level we have ever been. We have gone full circle. As for the rubbish about taking one step back, can you imagine Sir Alex Ferguson, or Shankly or Clough coming out with such claptrap. I for one would willingly have swapped the cup run for 2 extra league points. I leave you with one thought ....if they win their last two games we shall be just one league above Little Common.
Dan, I'm sure it's me but what does a 'balance approaching zero' mean. Are you saying that as we have been relegated there will be more money to spend on players ? You also state that the players would have had several more seasons fighting relegation. I know that you don't speak for the club but that's not being very positive. Not having a go at you Dan, because you are a good bloke, but I find what has happened over the last few weeks totally baffling.
I think what Dan is hinting at Phil although I could be wrong is that with the money from the cup run we would have the advantage of more money to spend on quality players in the lower division. Obviously the cup money brought us financial security and like many other clubs both league and non league money is very tight and bank balances Are generally low if not in the negative.
Hi Dan. I would love to be on your planet, it must be a very happy place, I will be there next season, all the homes, and even more of the aways, but I dont see that much changing, I really hope I`m wrong, but unless something major changes, I just cant see it. "Struggling teams with no money = less wins = lower gates = struggling team." Eh no one finished below us, and we did have the money, I also dont think the gates will go up if we start winning, I think we have got our share unless we go much much higher. I thing I really look forward too, is in 12 month time when you walk up to me and say "I told you so"
Oh and by the way is was great meeting you on saturday, "top man". Mike
Lewes appear to have ambition. 3rd bottom, they survive but dont think it was good enough to keep there manager who sacked today. ah fresh air!
Cup run great, money great, that money according to Walters was used to spend on players but we are still relegated. manager should have gone in february giving us best chance to have all that money and still be in prem next season with a new manager that got safety. instead we are relegated and keep same manager who not good enough. i just dont get it
promotion next season not likely Carshalton proved they are better than us with a more tactially gifted manager. If Maidstone fail in play offs they will have more money than us and plenty of other good kent teams folkestone, hythe , faversham who also in play offs and will fancy chances again next season.
relegation is a catastrophe, would have been much more easy to stay up than get up.
That doesn't look good does it? good luck to them as their fans were one of the best we had last season. I think I'm right in saying they threw money at Getting promotion last season didn't they?
Liam, would you be able to enlighten us what the manager and chairman have learnt and where improvements must be made?
I am unable to enlighten you on what improvements that are going to be made, but when my article is published, I will post the link on here and you can read what Sean and Dave said in their interviews.
Although I know nothing of their finances, the general point Dan makes about Carshalton is a valid one. Although few football clubs at any level, whatever scrapes they might get into, permanently cease to exist; that does sometimes happen. It certainly happened to my first club - Guildford City of the then Southern League - some 40 odd years ago. Despite various false dawns (merger with Dorking, Guildford and Godalming FC, etc), senior semi professional football has never returned to Guildford. The fans (and there were many of them) went elsewhere - some to Woking or Aldershot. That disaster has heavily influenced my attitude towards football finances. I respect prudent management, rather than those who would borrow in the hope of success bringing a matching or enhanced return. Disappointment and potential crisis is highly likely to follow. We are in the fortunate position of having money from the cup run. I hope that that will be used wisely, over the course of several years. The danger I see is that if results fail to come quickly next season, pressure might mount to spend more quickly. Ryman South will be a difficult league to escape from, since there is usually at least one club with 'money to burn' - whatever difficulty that might cause the club concerned in the longer term. I hope our time in Ryman South is not too long; but better that it is longer than we might wish rather than running the risk of creating a financial crisis and ceasing to exist altogether.
just hope the money spent on new players goes beyond county players.if we are to get back up at first attempt got to be better than the rest. also feel that any loan players should be for the season;amonth here and there dos'nt always blend;yes i know you will say what about the harry pells etc but what if we had that class all season .looking forward to getting to more away games this season;not sure if i would want a good cup run if it disrupts our push for promotion,cant wait for the new season.
I think it is over optimistic to think that we will go straight back up despite a bigger budget. Even Maidstone with their massive crowds haven't secured it yet. It's a tough league to get out of. I also think the feel good factor and winning momentum could be somewhat delayed while a large chunk of the team are suspended at the start of next season. I'm also with Barry in thinking that losing the reserves/u21s is a mistake. You need a feeder team to cover for injuries ( and suspensions) at this level. Here ends my first negative post !
Totally torn on all this. Part of me thinks if we couldn't get it right tactically this year then why will next year be any different? Also rather disappointed that the gate price can't be lowered if we truly do have £100k+ in the bank. But then I'm sure whatever people think of DW, the man must have a plan financially. He certainly strikes me as a man who wants to do his best for the club, and he can never please everyone.
Is sticking with Sean the best thing to do? I've previously posted saying I think it is, but if early results don't come next season I can see it being the end of his managerial tenure. We'll need to get off to a cracking start. 6 games in, if we're sitting on a couple of draws and some losses then I think it'll be time to say its time to try a new plan. I honestly don't see us getting out at the first time of asking. FA Cup Money won't neccessarily bring success in Ryman South, we saw that this season with a large % of that £100k getting thrown at expensive loan signings and still going down. It helps, but you need the right players, the right manager and the right tactics. If we spend money on the right players next year we still have two areas to fix IMHO.
I see this as being a 3-4 year battle down in the Ryman South. I hope I'm wrong, but whilst I like a bit of optimism and positive thinking, I'm more of a realist, and looking at the facts, I'm not convinced its going to be as plain sailing as some people on here expect.
Good luck to everyone involved at the club next year. Lets hope DW and Razor can pull it off together.
-- Edited by chilli on Wednesday 1st of May 2013 12:45:00 PM
Also, I thought it was great that Liam did that post season interview. Whether you agree or not with DW and Razors comments, it was a nice touch to get that insight. Much better than the doors being closed and no one hearing from either of them. I know how much time and effort goes into doing interviews and writing up reports/articles, so a big thanks to Liam from myself and everyone else who benefitted from his work. It's nice to get some news from the camp, even if DW's words are from the book of relegation cliches. :)
-- Edited by chilli on Wednesday 1st of May 2013 12:51:34 PM
It's a long-term verses short-term problem as always. Frankly, the best thing in my books that the club could do is to use the £150K that was in the bank last year (after a sneaky look at the accounts...), and the reported £150K from the FA Cup run this year, and buy the ground and the Firs - which would give us a real chance of actually moving forward.
That's real ambition in my books, but would the council take £300K? Doubtful, even if we drummed up support.
I'd rather field a team of U21 local boys, and finish mid-table next season, than blow everything we have to get back into the Premier and sit there for another 5 years.
-- Edited by glenn10 on Wednesday 1st of May 2013 12:48:26 PM
I'd agree that it is optimistic to suggest that we'll go straight back up. However it will certainly be INCREDIBLY disappointing if we aren't right up there challenging for a play off place. I guess we will be in one of the top two or three best supported clubs and with some cup money in the playing budget there should be every reason for optimism. So the big question is whether we can assemble a squad good enough and I'm afraid I'm not convinced we have the management team to do it. I hope they prove me totally wrong but I guess we'll be looking at a mid table position this time next year. I just hope this prediction doesn't turn out to be wildly optimistic !
It is so hard to predict and I agree, to say we'll go straight back up and win the league is optimistic. It is a tough league to get out of, but only three or four seasons back, we were challenging for a Ryman Premier League play-off! Walters has said in my interview that stretching the budget is a gamble but he is willing to do it (you can read the interview by following the link in my previous post in this thread). It will be very disappointing if we're not challenging for at least a play-off place because all of our players can play football and they all do have potential, in different areas. If they work as a team, we've proved this season that it's possible, we just have to believe it.
We can all have different opinions about Sean's managerial status with us, but our opinions are't going to change anything. Sean is staying on as manager next season and there's nothing we can do about it whether we like it or not. I think that he is capable of preparing and managing our players correctly to have us pushing for promotion but without sounding too optimistic.
"Sean is staying on as manager next season and there's nothing we can do about it whether we like it or not"
The problem is Liam, there is something we can do about it, and that is some people may feel so strong they may not come back ( I am not one of them) until something is done, meaning a smaller gate. I thing "Dave" is deluded, "they have made mistakes", but tell anyone what they are, "they have learnt alot". It all sound so simple, we`ll right the wrongs, but at a higher cost, I see he is not putting the entrance fee down, Does that mean we will be paying £10 for Ryman League South? How much are the other teams charging? and it is now confirmed no more Bradley. Looking forward to the new season........
During the interview, he also stated that the other Ryman League South clubs are charging around the same amount of money to get into their games. £8/£9/£10 - everyone at the club is aware that this may seem expensive for the 'standard' of football we are watching and people have said that 'Fulham only costs £20 and the standard of football is so much better'. Yes, this is correct. But, Fulham can afford to get people through the gates at a 'cheap' price because they take in the extra income from the adverts, TV rights etc whereas we don't have any of that. Our income comes from the advert boards around the pitch, shirt sponsors, program adverts, entry fees, food prices etc - the FA Cup money is slowly running out and did the club a lot of good, but our club is running on the things I have just listed, whereas Fulham has all of the extra income.
The situation at Carshalton is much worse than we are, they have a huge debt to pay off and could go into administration. I'd rather be in our situation than theirs. Like I said in my previous post, the football club will always divide opinions and that is what this forum is for, but I'd much rather be in our position than in the position that Carshalton are in. Under 21s get in free at home and I still feel that this is a good idea, although it doesn't generate any income for the club, more money will be taken in at the Youth Tea Bar and the Hot Food sales, which all adds up.
Pretty sure we'd need way more than £300k. That doesnt even cover my in-laws house price. I think the pilot fields worth more like £3-4million. Those are the figures I've read on old articles regarding DW trying to get the council to sell it for housing to then use the money on a new stadium. Unfortunately the council disagree with the value of the ground and I think they place it a bit lower, but that's a debate that's been going on years and I don't think will ever see the light of change personally.
Pretty sure we'd need way more than £300k. That doesnt even cover my in-laws house price. I think the pilot fields worth more like £3-4million. Those are the figures I've read on old articles regarding DW trying to get the council to sell it for housing to then use the money on a new stadium. Unfortunately the council disagree with the value of the ground and I think they place it a bit lower, but that's a debate that's been going on years and I don't think will ever see the light of change personally.
You're probably right, Chilli. I can't find how much we pay to the council for it year on year anywhere on-line, or in any of the annual accounts for that matter, but it depresses me to think that given the right level of support, and the amount of money the Council has stockpiled for a rainy day, the council wouldn't take a wedge of cash and give us the keys...
IF the accounts are right, and the FA cup run WAS as profitable as we all think, then turning up with said wedge of cash would surely at least bring them to the table?! I can't imagine when we've mentioned it before, we had all that much to offer - our £150K in the bank has been stable for 4-5 years, but before that it doesn't look as if we had anything to play with (which, you have to say, is a good job by the chairman...)
You can't fault Dave for keeping the club solvent no matter what you may think of him, he does care and has the clubs intrests at heart. I believe the value that was quoted to he council for the Pilot Field and the Firs was one given by a developer but you must take into consideration that was about 4 years ago and property prices have dropped since then. As much as I'd love to see he club have a brand new stadium along the lines of Maidstones I really can't see it happening. With the way our council are all they seem to be interested in is building the new bypass and an increasing the size of an already useless and under occupied industrial estate along Queensway.
Well it looks like Folkestone and Hythe will now be in Ryman South again after failing to progress in last nights play offs.....thats good news for HUFC as 2 away games next season less than an hour away. I remember many a battle against Folkestone at Cheriton road in the 70's and 80's...also remember going to Hythe to watch us exit in the FA cup and if I remember Terry White played for Hythe when they had abit of cash!!!!
I personally dont think home attendances will drop that much but as already mentioned depends how we progress....if you look this year in Ryman South both Maidstone and Dulwich have had very healthy attendances...its got to help with so many local derbies who will bring away travelling support ie Maidstone or Faversham / Folkestone / Hythe / Eastbourne Town / Peacehaven / Redhill / Burgess Hill / Three Bridges / Crawley Down / Chatham ( might end up in Ryman South )..all within an hours drive or thereabouts. Recon alot will depend on who they give us for the bank holiday fixtures?
Team selection will be interesting as I cant see many of the current squad remaining certainly cant see Bradley Goldberg staying as he will be hoping for at least Conference South level, can see him at Tonbridge Angels / Bromley or Maidstone ( if they get promoted ). Recon Lewes will be sniffing around the remainder as well in their pursuit to strengthen.
Guess Razor will have to trawl the county league for a few promising players and I know many voice concerns about this but Rye have a good crop of youngsters ( Matt Maclean / Sam Crabb / Oliie Lockyer) as well as Eastbourne Utd ( Liam Baitup ).
I think the Ryman Prem is a very difficult division to get out of ( as already mentioned ) and guess best bet is to win outright but a massive challenge, the play offs whilst exciting to the masses are a lottery, how many times do you see the team finishing 5th winning and getting promoted usually about 15 points behind the team that finished 2nd!!!!!
I for one and looking forward to the new season and think DW has made the right decision in continuing with Razor......., just hope we get knocked out of the fa cup in the first round this year!!!! and win the league !!!!
Also, I thought it was great that Liam did that post season interview. Whether you agree or not with DW and Razors comments, it was a nice touch to get that insight. Much better than the doors being closed and no one hearing from either of them. I know how much time and effort goes into doing interviews and writing up reports/articles, so a big thanks to Liam from myself and everyone else who benefitted from his work. It's nice to get some news from the camp, even if DW's words are from the book of relegation cliches. :)
-- Edited by chilli on Wednesday 1st of May 2013 12:51:34 PM
You can't fault Dave for keeping the club solvent no matter what you may think of him, he does care and has the clubs intrests at heart. I believe the value that was quoted to he council for the Pilot Field and the Firs was one given by a developer but you must take into consideration that was about 4 years ago and property prices have dropped since then. As much as I'd love to see he club have a brand new stadium along the lines of Maidstones I really can't see it happening. With the way our council are all they seem to be interested in is building the new bypass and an increasing the size of an already useless and under occupied industrial estate along Queensway.
Here here...
Although, I don't actually think we need a new stadium, I'm quite happy at the Pilot Field... My ambition would have to be to make it 'ours' - I wouldn't want a ground like Maidstones, it's a very nice ground, but it's not like ours. I like the fact the main stand looks a hundred years old, that the Elphinstone Road stand is at a funny angle, and that the floodlights are ludicrously close to the pitch. It's what makes it all unique, and special. Nothing would upset me more than a sterile new ground!
So, a few more things that've popped into my head:
1) With all of these local games next year - if the club offered a shuttle service for away fans from the train station for away supporters, could be a nice little earner... Only has to be a little bit cheaper than the bus service, and people would jump on it...
2) I still don't agree with free admissions for U21's... What would be wrong with a couple of pounds? I still don't really understand the business model behind it, even though it is a very charitable thing to do? I'm 23 and pay £10/game, and I seem to remember paying £4/game when I was 18... I'm just not convinced we gain enough with the free entry from purchases in the ground to make it all that beneficial.
3) I reckon I could get a few people together over the summer to do some painting/general maintenance around the place for a couple of days - if someone lets me know where and when I'll try and rally up some troops!
4) Can we get rid of the speedway track yet? Turf it over and put another goal on the new bit before the game, stop the pitch churned up? Just a thought...
Glenn some good ideas and I will try and answer as much as I can......
Stagecoach were approached last season about a "shuttle service" to the ground for the Brighton game and they never got back to us, however its something I'm willing to ask Dave if its feasible given our opponents will be more "local" next season.
The free entry to U21's has generated more income via the various outlets despite what some may think. The idea however wasn't to generate more income for the bar etc it was to try and generate a new fan base and although I don't know the figures it has been very popular, for example when we offered free entry to u16's we had maybe a dozen come through the gate, when free entry was increased to u18s the figure rose again, now its u21's on any given game the total is between 80 - 100 at least, in fact last Saturday it was well over 100, now i know that these arent all in the age range of 18-21 but an awful lot are. I know that its a policy that has divided opinions however that is an example and that's all I have to say on the matter as its been widely discussed before. Oh and it was £3 for u18's.
The summer works will start almost immediately, in fact the goals come out Friday morning and the restoration work on the pitch, I believe will start next week. That is obviously specialised work however the work around the ground won't be far behind and as per previous years an appeal will be put up on the website and I will also post on here and of course any help you and anyone you could muster up would be most gratefully appreciated. The ground as you is 100 years old and there is ALWAYS something to do and this costs money as you can appreciate? It would be nice to have the old cinder track turfed over but yet again it would cost a small fortune and quite frankly would take up money that could be spent on things that are more of a priority.
A very comprehensive reply HL - which is very much appreciated on my part.
Also very interesting to read some of the figures that appear to be coming together from the U21 ticketing policy. I am not as explicitly against as my previous post may have you believe, but I think it's an interesting discussion!
The way that my head looks at it (which is by no means the right way) - is that if we are getting 100 U21s through the gate for nothing, how many of those would we get through the gate for £2? And do we actually have a figure which we know these 100 U21s are actually bringing in through 'in the ground sales'? Maybe if all 100 of these U21s are spending £5 once in, then this would make sense to me...
But then, conversely, if only 75 U21s come in due to the cost being £2 and not free, are any of those 75 less likely to make purchases in the ground? Seeing that the 25 "lost" aren't willing to pay £2 to get in, would we actually just be loosing 25 people who come in, for free, and then don't spend any money anyway?
I guess someone has worked all this out, and thinks that it is, I'm just procrastinating really... ;)
I think it would be quite difficult to work out how much the U21's actually spend inside the ground however I know like for like figures are as in any business looked at regularly.
I do not agree that all under 21`s should get in free, but what about the full paying supporters, how many of them will not turn out, £10 and in this league, should only 10 of them stay awayand that would be £100, the amount that Glenn is taking about for "100" under 21`s and I know of at least 3 that have said just that, they will not pay that amount for what they have seen this season,
I am a bit confused with some of the things being reported! The chairman "The FA Cup money is running out!".....the manager "this season the money has kept the club safe for 10 years" (or something like that)...any clarification anyone??
If imagine that the general idea is that the 'lifetime' of that sort of money would be around 10 years when added to what we currently have as a budget. It's never going to last forever or be topped up by our current revenue streams.
Still a very mixed message Dan and a cause for confusion not that Id trust much that comes from the manager anyway. Got my back up the fact he said in Observer the win against Kingstonian was for the fans. A win to late what about Carshlton at home, that would have been for the fans and would have kept us safe.
Can't disagree with the Carshalton result Peter, the team completely bottled it on that day and we created such an atmosphere in the ground that to lose like that was heartbreaking.
I have said several times to all parties involved that the communication with the fans needs looking at as it is lacking in regular updates which need to be authorised from the top ( I.E Dave & Sean Ray together )
You have two types of news, 'hard news' - results, match reports, fixtures, cancellations etc, Think that is ok
It is 'Soft news' - injury updates, transfers, explanations of certain situations, general interesting titbit stuff that I think needs to be improved as this is the information that is needed quickly due to time relevance and is often very popular and Dave and Sean Ray need to look at that together in my opinion.
Sean did do a few 'from the dugout' bits on the site and thought those were a good start.
(which, you have to say, is a good job by the chairman...)
