PeteG

Is it? Tell me yours then, because he certainly inherited an absolute mess of a football club. He provided decent budgets in the early days and i'd still argue that the squad that got relegated from League 1 was far superior to some of the ones in the previous few years that had stayed up. If we had stayed up, it may have worked out differently but i suspect not. He never really endeared himself to the fanbase for whatever reason, the crowds never went up when he took over which i still find strange given how many have turned out and supported Frank 2 divisions lower down.

Budget is only half the battle but without it you are most certainly struggling. Our recruitment over the past 2 seasons reminds me of United and Chelsea for our level. Throwing loads at it with no real plan or thought to what is really required. Then you have City who generally replace like for like and players just fit straight into a system that is settled. We need to go back to the drawing board as i've said numerous times, employ a good DoF who works closely with the manager, who is involved in the recruitment of the manager so they are singing from the same hymn sheet and who oversees all aspects of football at the club. Do not just sign players because they have become available regardless of how good they may seem if they are not what you need or don't fit into the system we have adopted. Lots of work to do.

No we aren't a big club but we certainly are at this level. Let's start acting like one and bully our way out this shithole and back into the EFL. Once we are back in League 2 we can reassess and take it from there. What I will say, in today's game in takes a monumental amount of money in most cases to climb the pyramid. At some point the Rothwells will either need help or hand over the reigns to someone with more resources.

He was unable to reverse the decline that's obvious. He should never have bought the club unless he was buying the ground, it was a foolish move. Too many outside influences were working against him from day 1 and his biggest mistake was leaving his brother in situ and giving him too much influence and power. His intentions were ok, he never set out to try and destroy the club like some people say, why would he having invested so much of his own money. Running a football club and turning this thing round is clearly a massive task as seen by the current regime. So easy to get recruitment wrong etc. which can hold you back for years unless you have limitless funds. We can go back to the days of Lees Brewery, Moore, TTA and Abdallah but it's all history now, we need to get this thing moving forward and quickly.

Why are we in this mess? How long have you got? It's down to over 30 years of mismanagement and a whole host of other factors. We need to turn that around and i've no issue if we do start acting like billy big bollocks, we might just start playing like it too because accepting of shit has got us exactly where we are. Bradford are the one bigger club in League 2.

You are of course correct, however, it's a mentality thing. We haven't acted like a bigger club over the last 30 years, we've talked ourselves down, we've been accepting of being an also ran in whatever division we've played in. It needs to change. The players and staff should be standing proud to pull that shirt on and willing to run through brick walls to show what it means. We shouldn't be embarrassed to say we shouldn't be in this division but we need players to go out and prove they shouldn't. It's basically leadership. Keep telling yourself you are shit and this is where we are and this is where you will stay.

You are correct on some aspects in that a player will nearly always sign for a club in a higher division because they have a short career and they are thinking about the here and now. However, don't think the likes of Wealdstone and Fylde don't give a shit because they do, they see us a scalp and raise their game accordingly. It's down to us to show them we respect them but show them what we are about and make these sides fear us rather than relish coming to BP and getting 3pts. We should also be attracting the best talent available in this division due to the size of the club. Players at National league level should be walking over broken glass to play for us regardless of the wages on offer and if they aren't then frankly we shouldn't be signing them. That's the one thing that annoys me about the Nuttall signing, once he turned us down we should have gone nowhere near him. Also, we aren't just bigger than some clubs in League 2, we are the 2nd biggest without a doubt.

We are a bigger club than Bournemouth.

There is much more than crowds or league position that defines the size of the club. They are obviously part of it but it's history, fanbase overall, perception from football fans nationally and further afield, potential. It's what draws players to sign for certain clubs. I've followed us for over 40 years and i'll never accept playing 2nd fiddle to Chesterfield, Salford, Rochdale or even the likes of Stockport. It's this mindset that has played a part in us being where we are. We keep going further down and then accept that's our level, it's a self fulfilling prophecy. I want someone to lead the club who talks us up, starts acting like we are a big club for this level and the one above and starts dragging people with them. All successful sports teams and individuals have a degree of arrogance about them, it's about time we did.

Chesterfield had bigger crowds because they were romping away with the league. There is absolutely no way they are a bigger club than us. The size of the club is determined by many things, crowds being just one. We are the biggest club in the National League and there is currently only 1 club in League 2 bigger than us. I'm sick of hearing people say we need to be humble and accept where we are, that's nonesense. We need to start acting like the size of club we are, get people in the building with the character to stand up and say we are Oldham Athletic and go out and prove we are the biggest club down here. Teams should be fearful of us and we should be imposing ourselves all over some of these clubs. That's not arrogance, it's just what bigger clubs do. If the staff and players can't handle that then they shouldn't be here. We must strive to make BP a fortress where we are 1 nil up before we have even kicked off. It needs a total change of mindset and stop accepting shit.

Problem is, out of the 18 players contracted, i'm guessing it includes all of the big earners. However, if you offload Norwood that should in theory free up budget to bring in 2/3 decent players. Should be able to offload a couple of more so we should be looking at bringing at least 5/6 players getting only 3 out. You could then look to make up the squad with some youths and loans. However, it doesn't really scream we are going for promotion in a big way does it?

I'm not sure whether you get this thread? It's titled - Let the inquest begin! We are discussing what went wrong this season and i'm actually referring to the recruitment during last summer. I've not mentioned 1 signing during the season and also cited other reasons imo why it went so badly wrong.

I'm also in the minority here tbh, i'm not sure replays are necessary. The FA Cup has lost a lot of it's magic with so many sides including Championship sides fielding weakened sides. I don't think replays are the money spinner they once were, with the exception of drawing a Man United, Arsenal or Liverpool. Underdogs have a much better chance of winning in one off game. Just think when Matt Smith scored v Everton, would we have had a better chance with an extra 30 mins at home and potential penalties than a replay at Goodison? Even when we played Fulham it was reduced admission and despite us taking over 4000 fans I think the gate was in the region of 12000 or so. (someone will correct me) I doubt we made a great deal from the gate receipts but made more from TV even though it wasn't live. It's sad but it is what it is. I would also like to see Semi Finals moved away from Wembley, it takes something away from reaching the final and the Semis were magical at Villa Park, Maine Road, Highbury etc. Not going to happen, we are governed by the big 6 or 7 and the game is now a business all about money.

If we had a team good enough to win promotion we would be ready for a return to the EFL, we are still a much bigger club than most sides in League 2 and we would gain a lot of momentum. The problem is, the team isn't good enough hence why we are where we are. There is no blessing in disguise in this season's failure. We've thrown a lot of the budget at it and I honestly believe the longer you are down here the harder it becomes. We were 2nd favourites last summer, i can't see us being in the first 6 in the betting for the title this time around. Obviously the bookies prices are only a guide and we may well do much better next season but realistically we are looking at managing expectations once again.

I'd be surprised if he walks despite how despondent he sounds since he's sat on a 3yr contract. It's more a case of him backing the board into a corner which given his contract puts him in a position of relative power. Same with some of the players unfortunately. We might be paying the price for sometime.

This is exactly why he should be addressing the fan base as a whole via official channels. We should and are entitled to some kind of update next week once the season is finished especially as they are asking people to part with their hard earned. If we don't get anything in terms of accepting mistakes or some kind of plan and whether the budget will remain the same or has to be cut (which I think most people expect) then I can see renewals being significantly down.

It also needs balls to see it through and not pander to the naysayers when you hit a rough patch. It means having the right people in place in the first instance. We appeared to be doing this and I understand mistakes will be made and some people will need to be replaced such as Unsworth but we seem to have ripped up the whole plan completely by getting rid of the recruitment team at the same time. We chased players like Willoughby Lundstram and the lad from Gateshead (can't even think of his name now) yet then went and signed Norwood and Raglan last minute because they were too good to turn down and there agents no doubt came knocking looking for a payday. I'm not saying these weren't decent players but they weren't in the plan and resulted in the above players and the likes of Reid and Nuttall getting little time to play or settle in. Who knows what that did to the squad morale? Suddenly the plan was out of the window and were throwing anything and everything at it. We need a clear plan now and we need to hear from the club officially what it entails so we can all buy into it. Start again but I'm fearful it will be on a much reduced budget now. We've lost 2 years and a lot of potential momentum and goodwill.

With the exception of the Royles not that i'm aware. Peter Norberry was on the board at Wigan Warriors for a time I think but looking at some of the press releases regarding that, it wasn't wholly successful. Tbh, i'm not sure too many boards at football clubs will have people previously involved in football but i think the important thing for the board is to recruit people who have and the most important position should be the CEO. When was the last time the club actually employed a really good CEO or MD? My personal thoughts are we should get a CEO who employs a Director of Football to oversee the football side of things, whether that's Darren Royle or not is for the board to decide but the DoF needs to work closely with the manager, the recruitment team, the youth set up. Need to get all these things right and then we might start to see some progress. A long term plan essentially which is what i thought they were doing but seems to have gone out of the window at the first sign of some poor results. Since then we seem from the outside to have gone into panic mode and just thrown money at it signing players left right and centre without any real thought process to a system, resale value or length of contracts. I'm repeating myself here, but we have relied on several players throughout the season that were actually signed by Shez and the previous owners which is criminal really.

Who are these football people you refer to on the board? With the exception of Joe, I can't see anyone on the board with football experience and we don't know what Joe does or if he is just a figure head. The Rothwell's have been quoted as saying they know nothing about football and we've an inexperienced CEO in football. I've said it before, but before even thinking of sacking the manager or any further investment in the squad they need a total rethink on how the club is being run from the top.

Shelton played 90 mins v Fylde away and then only another 8 mins v Eastleigh at home a couple of weeks later under Mellon. I know Fylde away was bad but does seem strange he hasn't even given him another look given some of the players he has. Must be more to it. I had heard if Mellon didn't like the look of you that was it. Tollit had it at Tranmere and was first out of the door when he arrived here. Still think Tollit would have given us something.

What is the relevance of that in terms of what we are discussing now? What areas of the club improved under the ownership of Corney? Are just going to keep going back? We are talking about now.

The majority of us were saying the same thing 12 months ago. It has arguably been worse this season even if we do finish a couple of positions higher as they had a full pre-season this time to prepare. We can't keep making excuses about previous ownership and what they inherited. AL also inherited a mess of a club but protests were under way less than a full season in (Mansfield at home) when we still had an outside chance of reaching the play-offs in League 2. If the plan is still the same and there are mitigating circumstances as to why the recruitment has not worked thus far, we need the club to tell us and to say this is the path they are going down and stand by it. If they think they got it wrong, admit it and again tell us the new plan. They have just increased season ticket prices (rightly imo) but they can't just expect people to have blind faith after overseeing some of the worst results in the clubs history.

DR is the CEO - he's the highest paid and highest rank employee in the organisation. Any CEO is to oversee all aspects of the business even though they will inevitably delegate many of the roles which require day to day, hands on roles. If everything off the pitch has improved, he will rightly take the plaudits but when it's been a complete mess on the pitch and much of the original plan has been shelved and we've not heard anything with regards to a new plan (as I've said previously, we just seem to be winging it) it is only right people question what he's doing and if he's the right man to lead the club at what is a vital period. You only have so long to make the most in terms of goodwill in change of ownership and my concern is we are wasting it. It will be 2 years before next season starts and at some point the honeymoon period will be over and gates will begin to fall if we are subjected to the performances we have seen thus far, especially at home. People are questioning Mellon, my only point really is we need to possibly have a total rethink before we even contemplate changing manager once again. It may well be, that the rethink has already taken place or is doing in the coming weeks but it would be nice to hear from the CEO once in a while from the official channels at the club. When was the last time he provided any sort of update??

Agree that signing a player on those wages in League 1 was silly but lets not try and rewrite history regarding Menig's ability as a player. He's played at a far higher level than any of our players we currently have and was sold for 700k not long after we had him on loan. He's played in the top European competitions and is currently playing for one of the top clubs in Turkey.

I would also add that the decision not to use the loan market seemed a rather foolish one, whether that was Unsworth or a board decision, who knows. When we have used the loan market, with the exception of Stones, the signings have been just as poor as the permanent signings. Given in recent years some of our best players have been loans with the likes of Ripley, Lang, Surridge, Smith to name just 4, it seemed a bit rash so early into their time running the club to be so dismissive of the loan system.