Dave_Og Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 For over twenty years our club has been on a slow but steady downward path interrupted only by the occasional glimmer of life from a good cup result or a flirtation with the League One play-offs. During that spell the ground has got progressively worse, despite the new stand, attempts to move have come to nought, the general attendance has declined and hope of a recovery has dissipated. Many long term fans drifted away, not through an active boycott but just a simple and wholly understandable loss of enthusiasm. Inevitably the numbers of new, young fans catching the bug must have dropped markedly so we were in a death spiral from which I could see no great hope of escaping from. Under the previous ownership the club staggered on cutting its cloth finer and finer season by season and escaping the drop to L2 by narrower and narrower margins and showing no ambition at all to reverse the consistent trend of the last two decades. it's beyond any reasonable doubt really to think that things were going to improve. The outcome of al this was a huge level of apathy among a large section of the fanbase, both active or dormant/disinterested. Enter Abdallah and three seasons of much more spectacular cock ups leading us to where we are now. All that has really done in my mind is accelerate our decline towards what was going to be its inevitable conclusion anyway. It's taken a while but to an increasing degree the remaining fanbase has become rather more energised than has been the case. We have seen the emergence as PTB as a credible and dignified voice, the Trust/Foundation shows signs of becoming a force after so many wasted years, protests have drawn increasing numbers and it appears that more people are willing to step up for the cause. My suggestion is that none of that would have happened without the appearance of a polarising figure such as the current owner. We may not quite be in the dire straits which we are but we'd have been heading in that direction with no sign of anything being done to stop the decline. Whether it's too late, who knows... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pidge Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Wow Dave, you missed your calling. Healthy mind would have loved you as a counsellor! How to find the silver lining in any dark cloud! Good on you I say! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Og Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 12 minutes ago, Pidge said: Wow Dave, you missed your calling. Healthy mind would have loved you as a counsellor! How to find the silver lining in any dark cloud! Good on you I say! And I'm usually seen as a grumpy, glass half empty kinda guy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiseowl Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Interesting slant, Dave! Having witnessed at close quarters the Moore debacle and this one, my opinion would be that the fanbase was more "energised" during the Moore debacle. I suppose we had a bigger fanbase to draw from back then but the bucket shaking at City/United, the game at BP that Chris Coleman refereed (attended by fans of many clubs), the mini bus down to Moore's house etc. would tend to bear that out. Also, remember that, as a result, the fans raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in pretty quick order for "the cause" (money subsequently squandered in my opinion by the Trust acquiring their "sacred 3% shareholding" with the vast majority of it). This last point is the reason I will never trust any "Trust" with fans' money ever again. An awful lot of money wasted on a minority shareholding worth diddly squat in reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Dave_Og said: For over twenty years our club has been on a slow but steady downward path interrupted only by the occasional glimmer of life from a good cup result or a flirtation with the League One play-offs. During that spell the ground has got progressively worse, despite the new stand, attempts to move have come to nought, the general attendance has declined and hope of a recovery has dissipated. Many long term fans drifted away, not through an active boycott but just a simple and wholly understandable loss of enthusiasm. Inevitably the numbers of new, young fans catching the bug must have dropped markedly so we were in a death spiral from which I could see no great hope of escaping from. Under the previous ownership the club staggered on cutting its cloth finer and finer season by season and escaping the drop to L2 by narrower and narrower margins and showing no ambition at all to reverse the consistent trend of the last two decades. it's beyond any reasonable doubt really to think that things were going to improve. The outcome of al this was a huge level of apathy among a large section of the fanbase, both active or dormant/disinterested. Enter Abdallah and three seasons of much more spectacular cock ups leading us to where we are now. All that has really done in my mind is accelerate our decline towards what was going to be its inevitable conclusion anyway. It's taken a while but to an increasing degree the remaining fanbase has become rather more energised than has been the case. We have seen the emergence as PTB as a credible and dignified voice, the Trust/Foundation shows signs of becoming a force after so many wasted years, protests have drawn increasing numbers and it appears that more people are willing to step up for the cause. My suggestion is that none of that would have happened without the appearance of a polarising figure such as the current owner. We may not quite be in the dire straits which we are but we'd have been heading in that direction with no sign of anything being done to stop the decline. Whether it's too late, who knows... Dave. . Dave- is that you. So are you saying that if a new owner comes in he may be able to capitalise on a revitalised and hopeful fanbase - even in a division lower? I wish somebody had said it earlier. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Og Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 11 minutes ago, wiseowl said: Interesting slant, Dave! Having witnessed at close quarters the Moore debacle and this one, my opinion would be that the fanbase was more "energised" during the Moore debacle. I suppose we had a bigger fanbase to draw from back then but the bucket shaking at City/United, the game at BP that Chris Coleman refereed (attended by fans of many clubs), the mini bus down to Moore's house etc. would tend to bear that out. Also, remember that, as a result, the fans raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in pretty quick order for "the cause" (money subsequently squandered in my opinion by the Trust acquiring their "sacred 3% shareholding" with the vast majority of it). This last point is the reason I will never trust any "Trust" with fans' money ever again. An awful lot of money wasted on a minority shareholding worth diddly squat in reality. Some valid points but it's nearly 20 years since Moore. That's my point really; since then apathy has ruled. Perhaps more accurately, apathy kicked in once Blitz and Gazal walked away from the football side of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Og Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 1 hour ago, League one forever said: Dave. . Dave- is that you. So are you saying that if a new owner comes in he may be able to capitalise on a revitalised and hopeful fanbase - even in a division lower? I wish somebody had said it earlier. . . Hmmmm... never disputed that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzlatic Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 I see him as our 'rebound' owner. We had a long term destructive relationship with Corney. AL came in a bit of a whirlwind, cleared all Corney's sneaky debts and reduced the cost base down to next to nothing. Granted it's been short term, and a dirty unsatisfying experience all round, but now we're probably ready to commit again long term to someone more suitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigfatjoe1 Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Who was the biggest crook? Moore Corny Al Who was the most apathetic and who do you really despise the most? JW Lees Corny Moore Al These are in particular order. Just a random thought. For me, Moore still tops it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Og Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 4 minutes ago, bigfatjoe1 said: Who was the biggest crook? Moore Corny Al Who was the most apathetic and who do you really despise the most? JW Lees Corny Moore Al These are in particular order. Just a random thought. For me, Moore still tops it all. Given his criminal conviction I'd go for Moore. What really got me was him going in the pub to ingratiate himself with fans before the play off game at QPR as I knew what he'd been up to behind the scenes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcmetty Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Moore the most crooked, AL the most incompetent. None of them any good, sadly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy b Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 On 1/13/2022 at 11:26 AM, Dave_Og said: For over twenty years our club has been on a slow but steady downward path interrupted only by the occasional glimmer of life from a good cup result or a flirtation with the League One play-offs. During that spell the ground has got progressively worse, despite the new stand, attempts to move have come to nought, the general attendance has declined and hope of a recovery has dissipated. Many long term fans drifted away, not through an active boycott but just a simple and wholly understandable loss of enthusiasm. Inevitably the numbers of new, young fans catching the bug must have dropped markedly so we were in a death spiral from which I could see no great hope of escaping from. Under the previous ownership the club staggered on cutting its cloth finer and finer season by season and escaping the drop to L2 by narrower and narrower margins and showing no ambition at all to reverse the consistent trend of the last two decades. it's beyond any reasonable doubt really to think that things were going to improve. The outcome of al this was a huge level of apathy among a large section of the fanbase, both active or dormant/disinterested. Enter Abdallah and three seasons of much more spectacular cock ups leading us to where we are now. All that has really done in my mind is accelerate our decline towards what was going to be its inevitable conclusion anyway. It's taken a while but to an increasing degree the remaining fanbase has become rather more energised than has been the case. We have seen the emergence as PTB as a credible and dignified voice, the Trust/Foundation shows signs of becoming a force after so many wasted years, protests have drawn increasing numbers and it appears that more people are willing to step up for the cause. My suggestion is that none of that would have happened without the appearance of a polarising figure such as the current owner. We may not quite be in the dire straits which we are but we'd have been heading in that direction with no sign of anything being done to stop the decline. Whether it's too late, who knows... This. have said for years that our slow decline had meant that we have, until now, never been galvanised as a fan group to act. Rather people drifted away and our decline never attracted attention. Death by a thousand cuts. There are a number of examples of clubs being resurrected from the death but in most such cases the decline has been headline worthy, as ours now is. Brighton, Hull, Doncaster, Rotherham, Portsmouth, Coventry spring to mind. In these cases, the decline generated a reaction. what this shows is that the decline needs to be very clear and obvious so that it is universally accepted as such. Only then will fans pull together and take action to force change. In the above cases that spectacular collapse generated a reaction In many ways, it’s galling (and somewhat surprising) that it’s taken so long for us to get to the foot of the table - we have been moving towards this point for 20 years - certainly since the 2097/07 playoffs. This slow pace of decline has meant fans have drifted away (as the logical reaction to things getting incrementally shitter year on year) rather than getting behind a protest movement - there wasn’t one to get behind on account of our decline not being sufficiently clear and obvious. That’s corney’s legacy. during the corney years, many were in denial that we were even in decline. But in decline we were. However he was the master at keeping the wolves from the door. Never let us slip by more than a few percentage points each season such that it was debatable whether we were even in decline. Result - no fan action. Look at what they took over. Look at what they left 14 years later. A club picked apart. One may praise him for keeping us in league 1 against all odds. Others may wish he had put us out of our misery earlier so we could start again whilst our fan base was larger. 2008 onwards were whether the damage was done. 10 years of slow death before AL gave us pneumonia corney’s strategy of managed decline explains why our fans have never acted. Managed or otherwise, we were in decline. It was just too marginal season on season to generate a response AL is bearing the brunt of that now because he is nowhere near as skilled and experienced a business man as corney and co. But yes, i am thankful that he is so bloody terrible and that that has made fans realise what has been happening for years. We are staring into oblivion - it’s just AL has accelerated that. I want AL out. I don’t blame him singularly for our predicament. Far from it. I worry about who we will get in replacement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaddyexile84 Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 20 minutes ago, Andy b said: This. have said for years that our slow decline had meant that we were never galvanised as a fan group to act. Rather people drifted and our decline never attracted attention. Death by a thousand cuts. There are a number of examples of clubs being resurrected from the death but, aside from those that got lucky with a billionaire owner, most such examples are where the decline has been spectacular from a position of spectacular collapse. Brighton, Hull, Doncaster, Rotherham, Portsmouth, Coventry spring to mind. that spectacular collapse generated a reaction in each case. The fan base was still there as only a few years prior they were in better shape so fans hadn’t drifted away to a great extent. during the corney years, many were in denial that we were even in decline. Corney was the master at keeping the wolves from the door. Never let us slip by more than a few percentage points each season such that it was debatable whether we were even in decline. Look at what they took over. Look at what they left 14 years later. A club picked apart and in ruins. At the time it wasn’t sufficiently obvious that that managed declined was happening to the extent needed to generate any level of impassioned fan reaction. AL is bearing the brunt of that now because he is nowhere near as skilled and experienced a business man as corney Corney a business man?? The man was Del Boy at best - showing people around saying he spent £40,000 on a dressing room when he hadn’t paid a penny that man is a crook of the highest order Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy b Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 8 minutes ago, Chaddyexile84 said: Corney a business man?? The man was Del Boy at best - showing people around saying he spent £40,000 on a dressing room when he hadn’t paid a penny that man is a crook of the highest order And yet we didn’t protest. Which is my point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaddyexile84 Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 1 minute ago, Andy b said: And yet we didn’t protest. Which is my point I certainly didn’t support the Charletan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy b Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 1 minute ago, Chaddyexile84 said: I certainly didn’t support the Charletan We. Didn’t. Protest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaddyexile84 Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 Just now, Andy b said: We. Didn’t. Protest. I. Am. Not. We i hated that cunt as much as this lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy b Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 Just now, Chaddyexile84 said: I. Am. Not. We i hated that cunt as much as this lot Good. I wasn’t a fan either. But it wasn’t universally accepted that he was managing the club into oblivion, hence no protest. Am sure we can agree on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaddyexile84 Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 12 hours ago, Andy b said: Good. I wasn’t a fan either. But it wasn’t universally accepted that he was managing the club into oblivion, hence no protest. Am sure we can agree on that. No but to be universally accepted it needs universal knowledge: personally I questioned the TTA motives when they were applauded onto the pitch to the announcer saying “Boundary park belonged to the club” my dad said “no it doesn’t it belongs to them” I told him to stop being miserable but he was right - I can’t stand any of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Og Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 1 hour ago, Andy b said: This. have said for years that our slow decline had meant that we have, until now, never been galvanised as a fan group to act. Rather people drifted away and our decline never attracted attention. Death by a thousand cuts. There are a number of examples of clubs being resurrected from the death but in most such cases the decline has been headline worthy, as ours now is. Brighton, Hull, Doncaster, Rotherham, Portsmouth, Coventry spring to mind. In these cases, the decline generated a reaction. what this shows is that the decline needs to be very clear and obvious so that it is universally accepted as such. Only then will fans pull together and take action to force change. In the above cases that spectacular collapse generated a reaction In many ways, it’s galling (and somewhat surprising) that it’s taken so long for us to get to the foot of the table - we have been moving towards this point for 20 years - certainly since the 2097/07 playoffs. This slow pace of decline has meant fans have drifted away (as the logical reaction to things getting incrementally shitter year on year) rather than getting behind a protest movement - there wasn’t one to get behind on account of our decline not being sufficiently clear and obvious. That’s corney’s legacy. during the corney years, many were in denial that we were even in decline. But in decline we were. However he was the master at keeping the wolves from the door. Never let us slip by more than a few percentage points each season such that it was debatable whether we were even in decline. Result - no fan action. Look at what they took over. Look at what they left 14 years later. A club picked apart. One may praise him for keeping us in league 1 against all odds. Others may wish he had put us out of our misery earlier so we could start again whilst our fan base was larger. 2008 onwards were whether the damage was done. 10 years of slow death before AL gave us pneumonia corney’s strategy of managed decline explains why our fans have never acted. Managed or otherwise, we were in decline. It was just too marginal season on season to generate a response AL is bearing the brunt of that now because he is nowhere near as skilled and experienced a business man as corney and co. But yes, i am thankful that he is so bloody terrible and that that has made fans realise what has been happening for years. We are staring into oblivion - it’s just AL has accelerated that. I want AL out. I don’t blame him singularly for our predicament. Far from it. I worry about who we will get in replacement Let's not forget that 'what they took over' was a basket case. Condemned as beyond saving by Peter Ridsdale for one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy b Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 6 minutes ago, Dave_Og said: Let's not forget that 'what they took over' was a basket case. Condemned as beyond saving by Peter Ridsdale for one. What did they take over and for how much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L1onheartNew Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 3 minutes ago, Andy b said: What did they take over and for how much? I think basket case is more or less definitive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_Og Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 7 minutes ago, Andy b said: What did they take over and for how much? They took over a club that was a couple of days from going under and with next to no assets. I've no idea what they paid but I'm absolutely certain it would have gone then if there hadn't been the property play angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy b Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 2 minutes ago, L1onheartNew said: I think basket case is more or less definitive. I think these reactions prove my point. some defending him, some criticising him. fact is our fan base and status as a club declined under his tenure. It may have happened significantly quicker with someone else - who knows - but we as fans didn’t do a single think to try and halt the decline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
League one forever Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 1 hour ago, Andy b said: I think these reactions prove my point. some defending him, some criticising him. fact is our fan base and status as a club declined under his tenure. It may have happened significantly quicker with someone else - who knows - but we as fans didn’t do a single think to try and halt the decline. This always makes me smile. What do you expect fans to ultimately affect? Even in these desperate times, we can protest/boycott etc. But it always comes down to one man’s decision to sell. Also, they took us on in league one and left us in league one- hardly a decline in status is it? And certainly not something that fans would be willing to protest/boycott about. The fanbase dwindled because they got sick of finishing 17th and being largely very average/poor. Again being average isn’t going to galvanise the masses to protest/boycott. If there was to be protest it should have been what they did to the club off the pitch, but I honestly think the average fan took no interest as long as everything seemed ‘fairly normal’ on the pitch. Which it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.