joncurtis199

The Ricoh is the epitome of new bland bowls for me with an ugly arena bolted on the side of it. Rotherham showed that new bowls can actually have some character, and for Shrewsburys and Chesterfields failing with the ground so far out of town can't beat the 4 individual stands.

Damn, gutted about that was looking forward to it the first sat after new year.

Funny hearing their fans moan about the pen on the way out the ground. Their manager said it was a push too.

Seem to remember Tranmere in the league at some point recently.

What is at the end of January? Sorry, read that wrong. I was talking in terms of cup draws to find out opposition instead of actually when we actually play them

Its a "boring" draw because this is the 3rd season in a row we have had them. There will be no heroics this time if we get there so the end of the cup run, people are slightly disappointed because its being ended with nothing new. We still haven't see Oldham play at the Eithad or Emirates for instance and will now have to wait another 9 months at least to see if that will change.

Sheesh, money for second round potentially doubled if its on telly.

Was going to go anyway - new away trip for me.

We are going to get dicked. That said - The Bescot or Anfield? Easy choice...

The thing is they weren't losing every week and that gets lost on some of the Phoenix fans. They weren't challenging for trophies every season either, but its not as if they were getting romped week in week out. Thats the difference now, you expect Phoenix to challenge for trophies. Having to drop down to a league with the likes of Swindon and Bracknell cheapens the league and playoff win for me.

Devils advocate, City didn't exactly have the money they do now when they went back up and re-established themselves as a premier league team.

Thank you for this post. I love these in retrospect.

I was contemplating going but think that £24 has put me off.

Kidderminister was one of the best away trips last season. And some amazing pies there. I'm in London that weekend for the Masters on the Friday, so hoping for a trip I can get to on the way home from London...

But its very difficult and awkward to go last minute when tickets stop being sold 6 hours before kick off. This system of it being no cash entry makes no sense to me, it doesn't help out any fans who are unsure about going be them home or away fans. Personally I wouldn't feel too bad if we didn't take a lot, they are doing our fans no favours so at least Wolves will see less of our fans money.

The fact is was on its last legs? Would have thought the cost of a new scoreboard now would be a drop in the ocean compared to the overall cost of the new stand.

Hopefully I'll be more correct this time than the Rotherham effort, didn't the Scoreboard go bust so it was taken down anyway?

Say what you want, the EPL has historially got more teams dropping out per year than the EIHL has Those teams are just doing what Phoenix did and decided to jump ship to a lower lever where they could pay less and be competitive and win rather than be the whipping boys at the bottom. Invicta, Chelmsford and Romford have all done it. Teams have even passed up promotion due to not wanting to the same reason. The whole sport here is a mess and nobody is pulling in the same direction. (Can't you tell its a touchy subject? haha)

Thats what it appears to be. I'm on a hiatus from Altrincham as I've got sick of quite a few things there. I was at the playoff win in April and it felt so underwhelming for me personally. I remember having a conversation with a fellow Phoenix fan years before they dropped down where we argued Guildford shouldn't be in the EPL and only dropped down as its an easy option that allows them to win regularly and be big fish in the league. Thats the route we have gone down. It does make sense financially, but Mancunian Ice Hockey has so much potential which is not being realised for various reasons. Crowds tend to be 1000 or so.

Same, I find it so sad how far Manchester ice hockey has fallen with no ambition of ever really recovering.

Agreed. If he did that England would make a good go at a decent run while being much less frustrating. As for the group itself, I'm not that worried about the draw - England have gotten out of just as tough groups in the Euros. That said, we can't really set the expectation until we see that draw and find out what our likely route is. Could a group we should top with a relatively easy second round tie, or it could be the total opposite.

Gloucester would be great for me too. Always an enjoyable trip Cheltenham lovely place. Halifax or Bradford Park maybe?

I noticed Rotherham didn't have a Scoreboard...

Theres no real change really as the old box ran to the goal line. Perhaps even past it. The lights are tucked in the corner. What I would be querying is if the stand is high enough to be in the angle of the lights and create a shadow, but I'm pretty confident the floodlights are high enough so that wouldn't be the case.

Scott Campbell was the one that played for Storm, yes. Your use of "we" confused me for a moment there Ackey, but I can totally emphasise with it....