Red Exile

double post

38 minutes ago, Nogbad the Bad said:

No, there really was no vitriol whatsoever and you either don't want to reel back from your initial OTT reaction, or you simply don't understand the meaning of the word vitriol, which I doubt.

All rather curious, you exaggerate the sentiment of my post to an extreme and then further hugely exaggerate any negative feelings you feel I have towards LJ personally by insisting I must 'despise' him, all this apparently without me even realising it myself!

My take on this is you are being so defensive towards LJ that you almost appear to be soppy about him, and as you've said you don't rate him much professionally, one can only assume you strongly admire him as a person.

If I was following your earlier line of argument I could say that you come over as besotted with LJ, and, if you can't see that - to slightly amend your earlier phrase - 'you're so far down the adore LJ rabbit hole that there's little hope for you to ever realise it.'

Of course I could be completely wrong to draw these conclusions, but no more wrong than you were when posting your bizarre over reactions to my posts.

 

 

 

Noggers I recall you defending me against the LJ glee club when I was calling him out on the occasion of one of his more incompetent late stage losses - against Barnsley as I recall. I was very grateful. I think we have to acknowledge that reason went out the window when judging Lee Johnson. He had a clutch of devotees who simply couldn't believe he wasn't up to the job...the job being getting us to the play-offs. Those of us who called him out were clearly motivated by hate - rather than the evidence of the league table. But hey. 

Great thread. Strikes me - looking back to the early 70s - that all the great City line ups had a consistency and the teams that 'more than the sum of the parts' feel.

I can't disagree with the 76-77 side as the greatest, not least because even after all these years - and I was in my early teens then - I could still name each player and their position. But the same would be true of the GJ side that got to the play-offs, or the Cotts side from 2014-15. I mean Flint & Wilbs are unlikely to feature in lists of the greatest ever City players - but they were vital cogs in well oiled machines - and it was a pleasure to watch a team playing so effectively as a collective. 

It was a depressing listen. 'Hoping for the best' - I thought. As for Lansdown - I'm not sure why anyone would invest in football if it wasn't for the glory. The idea of a financially sustainable Championship football club is almost laughable. We don't have to speculate on the health of a 71 year old billionaire to appreciate that 20 years of investment - the best years of his billionaire life - have delivered precious little glory....a cup win in the lesser cup (followed by a defeat), some lower league promotions (to compensate for relegations) a solitary play-off 15 years ago (which we lost). His media recognition is at best the occasional local radio interview...the promotion of a golf venture in Guernsey is hardly 'hold the front page'. If he's known for anything its stupendous investment in one of the most mediocre under-achieving British football clubs...but with a nice ground. Other than as a legacy project for his unimpressive son I'm not sure why he bothers - from that interview you'd have to assume that he appears to be thinking the same. 

26 minutes ago, Alessandro said:

For the first time, you can see shoots of the plan working - reasons to be positive. Or perhaps I’m just a deluded disciple - answers on a postcard.

Excellent post, and I'm certainly not a 'disciple'.

The missing bit for me is communication. If that is the strategy let's hear someone at the top shout about it...very happy for them to take the credit when it pays dividends. All along in the Lansdown years the missing piece has seemed to me to be taking the fan base on the journey. With very rare exceptions - think Cotts and the recruitment in the summer of 2014 - when there has been a tale spun - think '5 pillars' or Mark Ashton's offerings - there have been too many gaps in the narrative, gaps that can easily be filled by speculation and conspiracy theory.

I know that OTIB can descend into daftness at times but the people I know in the real world who post on here are all thoughtful, intelligent and well respected in their professional lives. Having worked in the media all my life I don't think any of this is all that hard to deliver, but it requires engagement with supporters beyond amusing social media posts and post match interviews, engagement which treats them like intelligent stakeholders with a contribution to make.

A really fine away win. Excellent performance.

7 minutes ago, daored said:

I’ll join you in wearing the tin hat, believed for a while the club should charge more than £10 for Robins TV and should be linked more to the POTD prices. Secondly for away games should be the cost of the away match ticket. Would be one way to increase revenue 

On that basis to watch the club stream across the season - currently £170? - would cost 46 x what? £30? I'm not sure there would be many takers for a Robins TV subscription at that price.

I'm not sure that increasing the revenue is the club's challenge at the moment. It's the investment of the revenue we have.

Good for him. Good luck!

2 minutes ago, Countryfile said:

As much as I respect the cash SL has put into the club his legacy remains one of failing to achieve the possible.

...beautifully put. 

14 minutes ago, Hxj said:

Seems to me that everyone hated the apparent 'pointless splurge' under the previous characters and now hate the 'pointless restraint' under the current characters.

Speaking for myself it wasn't the 'splurge' that was hated under the previous characters but the pointlessness...

...EDIT: beaten to it by @Lew-T

1 minute ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Two to three years were FFP we were somewhat hamstrung. In part due to his decisions and lack of oversight but a £26.5m in Additions ie 2019-20 as well as the wage bill continuing to rise was a bit of a statement tbh.

Wage bill peaked at £35m in 2020-21.

I'm sure you are correct, but that lack of ambition has a far longer pedigree. My in laws support Hull - two stints in the Prem and a cup final.

4 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

 

Yeah, people would have loved that wouldn't they? "But, but, we have the worst ground in the prem and it's embarrassing. Why doesn't he build a ground?"

Not to mention the fact that he can build a ground within the financial rules, but can't do the same with a team. How many more times FFS.

He's had 20 plus years to make his riches count. I don't spend a day travelling to the Gate and back to admire a stand. I'd happily have had the worst ground in the Prem. 

9 minutes ago, BS15_RED said:

Mate, as I said in my original post, I’m not an SL fan, it’s just I’m wary of who comes in after him. 

I think we all would be wary, but the reality of professional sport is that it's about ambition. SL has thrown a blanket of unambitious mediocrity over the club for years.

1 minute ago, bcfc01 said:

And, if that happens, SL can watch ST sales and attendances plummet.

 

Thing is - the STs are sold, and counted in the attendances regardless of who turns up. Its not the first time I've bought a ST in the Lansdown regime only to think a few weeks into the season that the optimistic prospectus on which it was sold was all smoke and mirrors!

3 minutes ago, glynriley said:

Time for the fans to back NP and the boys, just like we did when dear old Terry Cooper was at the helm. Got a similar feel right now.

TC was invited onto the Board, was he not - different times, the club was run by people with the same passion as the fans on the terraces. We were all in it together. I've seen little evidence of that in recent times.

Just now, frenchred said:

Should have built a team and not stand

Should have built a team and not a stand

Should have built a team, should have built a team

Should have built a team and not a stand

Amen!

2 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

And at this point the actions of the club hierarchy and owner are either one of the following:

1) Complete incompetence; or

2) Deliberate actions intended to undermine the manager

My money is definitely on the latter.

...worrying, and in itself a completely incompetent way to run a football club.

2 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

That would actually save me getting on for £600 next year.

You wouldn't be alone!

I know his admirers will point to the new stands and training ground, but folk don't go to football matches to admire the architecture or upholstery. Bottom line is that no one compelled Steve Lansdown to buy the whole club - make it his club - run it unimpressively for two decades, lose millions, win next to nothing, tack on a rugby club and basketball club (basketball!!), hand it over to his unimpressive son, disappear into tax exile...

Its a high profile entertainment business, the Lansdowns appear to have no flair for either publicity or entertainment. Sad times - yet again.

16 minutes ago, spudski said:

I wonder how many views will change when the full interview is released early this week, instead of judgements based on a few sentences.

I understood from the Twitter intro to the clip that the full interview was about his new golf venture. This was the City related question. Could be wrong of course!

14 minutes ago, ashton_fan said:

Is it greed to want to keep your own money, I suppose if it was yours you'd just hand it over to the government?

Well I imagine most OTIB users do just that, taxes pay for things like school and hospitals...

..but hey, lets not derail this!

1 minute ago, richyy66 said:

How did Joe Bryan play for those that were there.

Made some dangerous crosses - but nothing special. Glad we signed Roberts!

Get in! Played well. Tough match. Impressed with our control in possession. Not something I’d often say! That is a fine away win. 

2 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Next season is, for me, when the stars are most likely to align.

Let's hope so!

3 minutes ago, Dynamite Red said:

I wouldn't be concerned in micro analysing every word of a SL interview, who is prone to going a little off script.

We will invest and develop in young talent, sell where there is a large offer and continue to build, once strong enough we thrn make a push when we think it's the right time. Hasn't this always been the strategy?

I'm not convinced he's that interested. He's simply speaking words but saying nothing. So I agree, not worth over-analysing. Frankly I don't think there has ever been anything that might be graced with the term 'strategy'. All over the place in his managerial appointments.

But for supporters in the here and now it seems reasonable to ask when exactly 'when the time is right' might be? He's had a couple of decades. Listen to him - are we steadily building, in which case are we selling our best players to invest in more? Or have we already got 'the makings of a promotion winning side'? We're, as ever, left guessing. 

He was only showing his face to launch a golf project on Guernsey.