Cartman, on 22 July 2014 - 05:22 PM, said:
The doom and gloom on here and talk of 'just like 2011' is stupid
There are still 2 weeks to the season and the club are obviously looking at options
Yes we would all like a few more players, in particular a decent striker, but people forget that we were near the top of the scoring tables in L2 last season as well as having one of the best defences (despite no 20 goal a season striker) and our squad now is far superior to what we had in 2011 in midfield and defense
In 2011 we lost loads of goal threat in Davies and Smalley (around 40 goals) from the promoted side, this time we've lost Richards' 10 or so goals
There is no comparison, even with no signings the team is much better than 2011 and should make a better fist of L1 - this team was by no means outclassed by Peterborough who were near the top of L1 last year!
People like to moan and bang on about mythical 20 goal a year strikers, or players from the lower divisions of the Scottish pub league who could 'do a job for us'
By no means would going into the season with just what we have be ideal, but it should be adequate to do ok in L1 and certainly more equipped to do so than what we had in 2011
Reading the drivel on here you'd think we had lost all the players who did so well last season, which is not the case
So, hopefully new signings will come, but even if they don't it is no reason for the defeatest doom and gloom posts on here
Get behind the club, the current squad is good enough to survive in L1, a couple of additions would make us a very good L1 side
Talk of budgets and moaning about DA getting his hand in his pocket is not needed
I for one am looking forward to the season
Interesting title as it sums up what we have seen from the clubs management.
You are right that some posts have gone too far but the level of expectation has been built up over the last couple of years.
The reality check is that those in control have realised that achieving and retaining Championship status is no easy task for our club. Many of us have always held this view, and never wavered, despite the hype.
The reality is that becoming a steady Championship club either requires you have established average attendances of 15000 plus or are supplemented by a wealthy backer, or perhaps a mixture of both. This may change with FFP but that would only be speculation at this stage.
There has been a period where there have been hopes of pushing our attendances higher and no doubt to some extent the budgets were raised to reflect this aim. There have also been attempts to improve other income flows. Whilst not entirely unsuccessful, it has nevertheless become clear that these revenue increases are unlikely to provide an easy path to attaining Championship status.
Our position may be better with the new stadium and some increased income, but without further significant investment from the owner, this is going to be a monumental task indeed.
Many fans have absolutely no expectation of additional investment by the owner but perhaps the owner's ambitions have implied that this investment might be coming.
Personally, I'm much happier that the reality has dawned and going forward it is much less likely that any financial mistakes will be made.
Back to managing within our (limited) budgets and hunting round for a few bargains who can help us retain our new Div 1 status. That works for me.
Help
