Numero Uno

On the basis we were all moaning that we couldn’t beat shite sides (me included) the fact we’ve turned some shite sides over has to be a positive. Rotherham certainly fell into that category today……

I suppose it comes down to the fact that the group that own Ipswich don’t **** about and keep a lid on Swiss. “Just do your job, that is all”. Americans, don’t go anywhere near them Americans or Arabs for that matter, be careful what you wish for mind. The same “sages” would probably call you a racist on the politics forum if you said that in a slightly different context …………… Down here the Bristolian Owner and his offspring trying to introduce what I am informed by a few more sages is a “pure” form of promotion (******* pair of bullshitters) are still floundering after 25 odd years, two or three of which Swiss was handed the keys to the building and told to do what he likes.

15k is presumably THIS seasons figure? As it stands we have something over 12k for next season. With people not renewing I can’t see us reaching 14k, in fact nearer 13k would be my guess. Unless we really splash the cash he won’t need to worry about applying an upper limit for sales.

What the recent run and a number of performances has done is allow Liam to be judged with an open mind next season. Start well, he’s in a good place with the fans, start middling there’s still the niggles there but he’ll still get time, start badly and he’s right under the pump. Liams recent record has earned him that now in the eyes of most fans. What have the hierarchy done to earn a change of mind from many fans who just don’t trust them? What have they improved? I don’t think fans will be as inclined to let them off the hook as easily as Manning tbh. However results are going.

What, like Birmingham have with Tony Mowbray…….can be done.

"Club Legend" my arse...................

Yep, if we end up at 13K plus we've done very well in the circumstances.

I was always wary of predicting a massive decrease in sales because the same thing happens most seasons. People say they won't renew then, when push comes to shove and they realise the alternative, do. It is a fact though that a number have carried out their threat regardless of the current sales. The club do need to sort their comms out next season. Don't take support for granted.

To reach last years level of season ticket sales we will need NEW supporters (i.e. who have not had a ST before or for years) to sign up. I see us shifting another 1000 or so and end up up somewhere between 13-13.5K.

The devil is always in the detail. If we end up at say 13-13.5K ST holders it will be interesting to know the split. If 250 are kids in the South Stand that were barely attending anyway then half a dozen of the bigger games next season with increased POTD eats that for breakfast. If 500 were paying £700 in the Lansdown then that's £350K they have lost which will take more than half a dozen higher attendance games to recoup. Whilst 12K to date is impressive in the circumstances the club should be disappointed when any STH decides to jack it in particularly when a decent proportion of those will be because of the way the hierarchy of the club communicates. It's never easy to get people back once they take the plunge and do something else on a Saturday.

It’s not one I would take a chance on if I was running the club. Comms and supporter engagement is a relatively simple thing to improve.

If the figures are true and it was circa 8k middle of last week that would suggest quite a few sent a message that the club would do well to heed moving forwards. Taking fans money for granted only ends one way.

I said it would end up at hundreds rather than thousands not renewing and that’s where we are heading. However the club should consider that fortunate and make an effort to engage with fans and not antagonise or bullshit them in future. Liam found a run of form at just the right time for both him and the hierarchy. We go again next season now.

When you add the context that it was Marshall who said promotion was the aim THIS SEASON it is a strange comment......

Quite a few renewed Thursday, Friday and the last couple of days so I would guess around 10K'ish then...................

All eyes on the Technical Director then……

To me, it’s not about whether you were happy with James signing but the fact that the manager seemingly wasn’t. For all anyone knows he might have had a different keeper in mind and it might have prevented him having enough budget to bring in other players he wanted.

Neither of those managers would have agreed to inherit what Pearson agreed to inherit (in terms of the UPCOMING FFFP problem that everybody inside the club and many on here knew was on the horizon but a section of the fanbase seem to be in total denial about). That's why it took them nearly three years to fire him. The first question a manager of high stock at the time you are looking to appoint will ask is "how much have I got to spend?". When you come back with "very little" it's "thanks for your interest in me now kindly **** off".....

When, not if.

To be fair there are a few who went missing from January until we beat Southampton. I don't understand a scenario where your opinion is so set in stone that you simply cannot change it and are too embarrassed to come on here if facts are showing it to be an opinion that may turn out to be wrong. I only have one opinion set in stone and that is the position of the TD. If he oversees us winning us the Champions League in five years so be it, I would still rather have someone else in charge!!

It WILL happen. Football is traditionally reactive rather than proactive, doesn't really think things through and only learns it's lesson the hard way (i.e. no bums on seats and feet on terraces). This has always been the way. The game has really lost balance in terms of being corporate but what the corporates do not seem to understand is when Johnny on the Street has had enough because he/she is spending a hell of a lot of money to watch a product that is dull and stops going (and so do his/her mates) then a day out in a half empty stadium will be a pretty shite experience. The billionaires and corporates then take notice and pull out just as fast as they arrived, spending their dough on the next trendy thing, and it's back to a cheaper financial model and finding a way to get Johnny to come back.

We have one of the best defensive records in the division and a poor goals scored record. That alone tells you it's binary for the major part.

Football attendances are cyclical. Numbers will reduce in time, it's just a case of when not if, and at that point football will have to reinvent itself again based on the negative feedback before numbers go back up to recent/current attendance levels. Not only do you have the issues outlined above you now have managers who think that entertaining fans is for mugs and that their principles are not the most important thing, they are the ONLY important thing. They will get their answer in time because that's what has always happened. Plenty of people were going to football pre-1980's and took a break (when attendances dropped like a stone) before giving it a go again in the 90's. The last major reset we had was the back pass rule in 1992 because people had a guts full watching teams like Liverpool make going back to their keeper an art form when leading 1-0.

It's only a dozen or so posters looking for attention or needing to bask in the glory of coming on here and proclaiming "I was right" or "you were wrong" in reality.

I can remember a few moaning re: James as it happens (not me) and they were shouted down. If you go over the head of the manager and buy a Goalkeeper as the focal point of your recruitment and he doesn't win you 8-10 points that season then you get judged in hindsight end of story and you deserve the flak that comes your way too. In terms of hindsight, nobody was moaning when Pearson was appointed blah blah blah..................it was only when Danny Simpson arrived that a few decided he was finished for good. No criticism of the Owner who was happy to pay said player's wages though.