SouthamptonGull wrote:
I actually agree with you 100% (shock, horror )
Dave, money wasn't put aside, hence the 100k cut in the playing budget, as HoH says, that would have paid for the striker I know we were very very interested in. In my mind, this has put us back a year, which some might say isn't a bad thing, but I disagree, we have ambitious players, players we might be able to keep hold of if we were in with a chance of promotion, maybe that would also include the manager, we all know he's ambitious too.
Colin Lee deserves nothing but disdain in my book, he did well out of us, I am of the opinion that we did well in spite of him. Others may disagree but for all his meddling I'll stand by my opinion of the man.
It's a sobering thought, but in a hundred years or less, every person that uses this site will be dead!
SouthamptonGull wrote:
I actually agree with you 100% (shock, horror )
Dave, money wasn't put aside, hence the 100k cut in the playing budget, as HoH says, that would have paid for the striker I know we were very very interested in. In my mind, this has put us back a year, which some might say isn't a bad thing, but I disagree, we have ambitious players, players we might be able to keep hold of if we were in with a chance of promotion, maybe that would also include the manager, we all know he's ambitious too.
Colin Lee deserves nothing but disdain in my book, he did well out of us, I am of the opinion that we did well in spite of him. Others may disagree but for all his meddling I'll stand by my opinion of the man.
Thats fair enough dave,i execpt your opinion.
Surely it would have made sound buisness sense to have made sure the money to pay off Colin Lee was set aside when the decision to move him on was made.
I dont not know the in's and out's of what Colin Lee did or did not do for tufc,however regardless of how negative his impact on the club may have been,he is still entitled to take the money due to him,maybe a big mistake on the part of the club here.
There does seem to be confusing signals coming out of the club over the budget cut,in this mornings H/E it says Paul Buckle has had his playing budget cut atleast untill the new year,so does that mean should the team need aboost come january money may be made available?
When push came to shove there was very little activity in January 2010. Much to the consternation of those of us who believed that we would be active in that transfer window to assure our league status.
There was even talk of a £100k strikers and broken fax machines.
OK we did land the Pickler and that was arguably the most important signing of the season, however the late season burst of form owed much to the return of Muzzy, Ellis and Nicho.
It reminds me of the old adage that says “If a man fools you once shame on him. If he fools you twice then shame on youâ€ÂÂ.
"A day without football is a day lost" (Ernst Happel)
"Look at the (Plainmoor) stars, Look how they shine for you, And everything you do, Yeah they were all yellow" (C. Martin)
There does seem to be confusing signals coming out of the club over the budget cut,in this mornings H/E it says Paul Buckle has had his playing budget cut atleast untill the new year,so does that mean should the team need aboost come january money may be made available?
The thing is, Dave, where do you think that money will come from?
We have some very good assets on the playing staff now, at least one of those could be off before Paul Buckle gets his hands on any money. Times are hard, crowds are down, but the Club should heed the reasons mentioned by brucie and Dave Pougher if they want the situation to improve.
SouthamptonGull wrote:
The thing is, Dave, where do you think that money will come from?
We have some very good assets on the playing staff now, at least one of those could be off before Paul Buckle gets his hands on any money. Times are hard, crowds are down, but the Club should heed the reasons mentioned by brucie and Dave Pougher if they want the situation to improve.
I do understand that if Paul Buckle want's to play with the squad in January ,its likely he would have to sell to buy ,what i mean by confusing signals is thursday PB states that despite budgets cuts , he is under no pressure to sell players,and this mornings HE says his budget is cut untill atleast the new year,yet as you rightly say,the only way he would be able to generate money ,is to sell.
To me despite some passing intrest in Benners and Wroe in the summer,the only player asset we have which could fetch a six figure sum is Ellis,and i believe its a six figure the club would have to bring to in part fund any deficite and in part fund new players,if iam barking up the wrong tree,iam sure you will tell me
Trouble is as soon as Ellis is out the team we fall apart. If we sell a couple of our best assets then the team is going to be substantially weakened so we can't win either way.
Regrettably thats a fact of life nowadays Brucie. As both you and Dave P have said, financial considerations mean people
have less disposable income to spend attending matches. The same applies to the board, they cant continue to keep pumping
money into the club so cashing in on an asset is inevitable sooner or later
I don't think the board 'lacks ambition' at all. It's pretty ungrateful to suggest they do. They've made mistakes - but it's easy to say in hindsight. They wanted Colin Lee for his expertise, and because he was exactly the man the majority of the fan-base wanted on board. Unfortunately he didn't come cheap, and as it's turned out, that decision and the financial constraints it now provides represent probably their biggest mistake.
New training facilities, a wide-reaching youth programme and the re-introduction of a reserve team are not the actions of a board that 'lack ambition'. With those initiatives they are playing the long game, safe-guarding the long-term future of the club. Unfortunately, something has to give. With the money coming through the turnstiles currently (despite being briefly top of the League), they can't continue to finance the growth of the first team squad. For those of us that go most regularly it's frustrating. But it's not reason to stop going. Because you can be sure that lower attendances will make the problems greater.
Those that can't afford to go have a completely valid reason for not doing so. And i imagine that is the reason that most have for not attending. Those that aren't going because 'the club lack ambition' don't deserve a successful club. Because by making a conscious decision to remove your funds at the turnstile, you are adding to the problems the club faces.
Unfortunately society is full of people convinced that the world owes them a living. The board 'owe' them a team filled with excellent players that win every week, playing great football. Well i'm sorry, but that doesn't come for free. If we can't make the effort to get to the games in greater numbers, the board's 'ambition' can only stretch so far. Their 'ambition' was evident during our stay in the BSP. Without it, we'd still be there, you can be sure of that.
Rather than continually asking them what they're going to do next, it's time for us as supporters to take some responsibility - to show them their efforts weren't wasted. Because they'd by justified in thinking they were with our current attendances.
Our club was all but dead when we lost our place in the League. This group of people revived it, and got it back to where they thought it belongs. Were they wrong to think that? Because a team that averages 2,500 every week hardly deserves to call itself a League club. How are they supposed to attract more fans, when many that consider themselves 'true fans' are turning their backs?
Stop moaning about 'why aren't they doing this', and 'why haven't they done that'. Appreciate what they have done and keep turning up to support the team. Those that can go but choose not to, are in no position to criticise anyone.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something."
And so, my fellow Gulls: ask not what your club can do for you - ask what you can do for your club.
"A day without football is a day lost" (Ernst Happel)
"Look at the (Plainmoor) stars, Look how they shine for you, And everything you do, Yeah they were all yellow" (C. Martin)
Totally agree with Fonda's post it's spot on.
I know that there are many of you that live much further away from Plainmoor than I do and full credit to those of you who manage to make it to so many of the home games. I looked into costs for me to travel down on the train so I could take in a few more games and it is just too expensive, add in the family and you can forget paying the bills that month.
When I do make it down for that one game I honestly couldn't care less where we are in the league I'm just happy to be there, I probably would feel differently were I able to get there and I saw poor performances week in week out but we're not doing badly and more performances like Saturday's should see us right.
At this level and at this time money is tight for clubs like ours.
There was a comment above about the need to offer incentives for fans. Why? Without fans there is no need for the club. Affordability is an issue for the fans but the same is true of the club.
Any drop in gate prices to attempt to attract more fans will lose the club money - £3 makes no difference to the ambivalent. Anything larger and there has to be a serious increase in attendance - drop prices 20% and attendance has to increase 25% to break even. 33% and 50% more people are needed.
Unfortunately any progression and achievement in recent years has never guaranteed enough interest in the bay to support it. Check out our attendances at the start of our League 1 campaign.
Best start EVER this season and how many turned up for our home match after 4 wins in a row and top of the table?
Fonda wrote:I don't think the board 'lacks ambition' at all. It's pretty ungrateful to suggest they do. They've made mistakes - but it's easy to say in hindsight. They wanted Colin Lee for his expertise, and because he was exactly the man the majority of the fan-base wanted on board. Unfortunately he didn't come cheap, and as it's turned out, that decision and the financial constraints it now provides represent probably their biggest mistake.
New training facilities, a wide-reaching youth programme and the re-introduction of a reserve team are not the actions of a board that 'lack ambition'. With those initiatives they are playing the long game, safe-guarding the long-term future of the club. Unfortunately, something has to give. With the money coming through the turnstiles currently (despite being briefly top of the League), they can't continue to finance the growth of the first team squad. For those of us that go most regularly it's frustrating. But it's not reason to stop going. Because you can be sure that lower attendances will make the problems greater.
Those that can't afford to go have a completely valid reason for not doing so. And i imagine that is the reason that most have for not attending. Those that aren't going because 'the club lack ambition' don't deserve a successful club. Because by making a conscious decision to remove your funds at the turnstile, you are adding to the problems the club faces.
Unfortunately society is full of people convinced that the world owes them a living. The board 'owe' them a team filled with excellent players that win every week, playing great football. Well i'm sorry, but that doesn't come for free. If we can't make the effort to get to the games in greater numbers, the board's 'ambition' can only stretch so far. Their 'ambition' was evident during our stay in the BSP. Without it, we'd still be there, you can be sure of that.
Rather than continually asking them what they're going to do next, it's time for us as supporters to take some responsibility - to show them their efforts weren't wasted. Because they'd by justified in thinking they were with our current attendances.
Our club was all but dead when we lost our place in the League. This group of people revived it, and got it back to where they thought it belongs. Were they wrong to think that? Because a team that averages 2,500 every week hardly deserves to call itself a League club. How are they supposed to attract more fans, when many that consider themselves 'true fans' are turning their backs?
Stop moaning about 'why aren't they doing this', and 'why haven't they done that'. Appreciate what they have done and keep turning up to support the team. Those that can go but choose not to, are in no position to criticise anyone.
nice one shane.
great post mate.
id be there every game if i lived in the bay.
id still be going to plainmoor if we were bottom of league 2 (like the 70's) or top of league 1.
Member of the Yorkshire Gulls Supporters Club - Sponsors of Lirak Hasani, 2024-2025
Driving South to all games!
Sorry, Fonda but I disagree wtih much of what you say . I recognise the Board has done much but I think their efforts on attracting more fans have been inadequate. I do agree with you that one should have little time for those fans who do not turn and then complain that TUFC lacks ambition. I do turn up to most home games and a few away ones. My criticism is that the club has to be proactive and generate more support form the public. Anything less is to condem us to league 2 football for the foreseable future. If this is the case the Boead shoud say so and regular fans would know where they stand
)
