New beginnings - 25% Truth, 80% Bollocks

[UTR]

I'm not saying we'll be shit this year. But this was said 100 times last year when people were saying this loads last year when it was obvious we weren't up to it and were in for a shit season.

Then 10 games came and people said can't count cup games.

Then 10 league games came and people were saying were still near the play offs when we were drawing games we should have been pumped in.

Tired of being devil advocated to death. If people think we look like we're going to be shit, sometimes they're on to something.

This season, the jury is out big time. Would be nice to be making as many signings as swindon wildcats or the women's team this week though.

Great post

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

I could be totally wrong but I swear I remember an interview where Clem distinctly said that his company would not work on the County Ground stadia  

He's said they won't necessarily be, but they could be.

[Mooneyraker]

Top post.

People should be wary of repeating Hanners' early season "if you can't see that this team is class then you don't understand football" type of post from last year that aged like warm milky vomit in the sun.

[DMC]

Agree we definetly need work on the squad. I have said all summer if we only sign the same calibre as we did last summer with no real experience then i will be worried.

[BambooToTheFuture]

That's a very fair question.

What they are trying to do at the moment is sustainably build the club, so its not a gamble or a risk. The downside is if income drops, then costs drop, and we have the sort of issues people worry about right now, which is becoming an average league 2 club. However morally this is probably the right thing for a club thats been in Admin twice before? Its far less glamourous, is probably a lot slower unless you are great at identifying and recruiting talent (something year 1 under Clem was close to being very good at).

I think this sounds about right and it's probably part of the problem. Could it be that the current board are trying to run STFC ''too much'' like any other business. Where normally those models might work, football clubs are bottomless pits or as I like to say '...are akin to buying a boat'. You have to perpetually pump money in...even if  the club is somewhat or trying to be ''sustainable''. There are very few clubs across the league structure who are genuinely self sustained. Everyone just about owes something to someone else. Nothing wrong with that too much if you have the guaranteed working capital/investment like the bigger clubs. You can ''afford'' to be in multi millions of debt owing. Smaller clubs, it only takes not even a million of ''real'' money to send them into liquidation.

To bring that i, another question in some ways is - by trying to run STFC much like any normal business and striving for sustainable purity, does this mean Town actually run the risk of not being able to move forwards at all {or very much}? Further, does this mean that there is an element of slowly drifting backwards whilst feeling secure?

I suppose what I mean by that is, we may have a sustainable club and there is no danger of it going out of business but does this come with the ''risk'' of Town becoming a team that regularly plays in the National League South - say in twenty years time? I think I can understand elements of Mooneyrakers initial concerns regarding '...managed decline'. As much as getting promoted from League Two is a realistic prospect {at some point hopefully}, we have to be aware that relegation from League Two is also a realistic prospect as well.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

I'm not saying we'll be shit this year. But this was said 100 times last year when people were saying this loads last year when it was obvious we weren't up to it and were in for a shit season.

Then 10 games came and people said can't count cup games.

Then 10 league games came and people were saying were still near the play offs when we were drawing games we should have been pumped in.

Tired of being devil advocated to death. If people think we look like we're going to be shit, sometimes they're on to something.

This season, the jury is out big time. Would be nice to be making as many signings as swindon wildcats or the women's team this week though.

Yet Clem’s first season, under umbongo, was widely expected to be a relegation fight. Could, and should, have got to the PO Final at least. Seeing the squad churn last season it was all starting from scratch again. We signed, and paid money for, a handful of players under the weird recruitment plan of Sandro et al. Obviously it all went to shit under the dubious management of Lindsey and Morris. I’m placing my faith, unfounded if you like, on the rump of last years squad improving under different and, hopefully, more pragmatic management.

That’s why I said give it 10 games.

[RobertT]

This is what gave me a hint that Axis would be involved, in the June AB Minutes:

 "Anthony Hall, UK Axis MD, is leading on the redevelopment
for STFC. Expecting initial feasibility study by the end of the
Summer which will be discussed and shared with Supporters
Trust"

[BambooToTheFuture]

He's said they won't necessarily be, but they could be.

Fair enough but I thought I distinctly heard Clem state that Axis wouldn't be used for it. In any case, that's still very different to what Rob T stated:

and Clem also gets 50% of the freehold value to play with. It was also mentioned the plan is to use his firm for a lot of the works, so he gets to spend the money they finance via his own company, earning back his loans I imagine.  I would not be surprised to see the contracts for development signed with Axis and a few months or year or so later, Clem has his exit plan.

[RobertT]

Sure I saw more than that as well, but can't find it quickly, so I may be fibbing.

[BambooToTheFuture]

This is what gave me a hint that Axis would be involved, in the June AB Minutes:

 "Anthony Hall, UK Axis MD, is leading on the redevelopment
for STFC. Expecting initial feasibility study by the end of the
Summer which will be discussed and shared with Supporters
Trust"

I'd not seen this but for whatever reason {I am going off an interview with Clem, maybe it was an OSC OTS chat or something}, that is also very different from what was previously said by Clem. Of course, these things can change and it wasn't doubting of yourself, more the doubting of the words the Chairman said.

If I can find them transcribed somewhere I will but again, and as I said these comments obviously can change.

[UTR]

At the very root of it all (and this is an extremely blinkered view without taking note of the obvious external factors), I’m just tired of being reduced to a club that’s expectations have dropped down to hoping to get a play off place in League Two.

I can’t speak for anyone else but even with taking note of the external factors and being understanding of them, it’s still a very depressing fact and is probably the root of my negative feeling at the minute. If the rest of the fanbase are similar then I can understand why they’re in a position where they can’t win, they’re seemingly trying to do the right things but whilst we’re loitering down here, they’ll never be able to kill that negative atmosphere.

For example the survey they sent around to garner ideas to improve the match day atmosphere and introduce things like singing sections. Whilst I applaud them for trying, I feel they’re just on a hiding to nothing with it. The atmosphere will always be poor if we’re failing to compete properly in League Two.

I do feel for the hierarchy in that sense but can see both sides.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Sure I saw more than that as well, but can't find it quickly, so I may be fibbing.

See above RE my own struggle to find said discussion by Clem 

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

Yet Clem’s first season, under umbongo, was widely expected to be a relegation fight. Could, and should, have got to the PO Final at least. Seeing the squad churn last season it was all starting from scratch again. We signed, and paid money for, a handful of players under the weird recruitment plan of Sandro et al. Obviously it all went to shit under the dubious management of Lindsey and Morris. I’m placing my faith, unfounded if you like, on the rump of last years squad improving under different and, hopefully, more pragmatic management.

That’s why I said give it 10 games.

Yeah but you could see the quality we were bringing in with the likes of Jonny Williams, etc. The circumstances and lack of proper preseason with the players dictated we shouldn't expect much, but even then you had reason for quiet optimism.

[Nemo]

Angus MacDonald and Luke Jephcott were both serious statement signings last season, they just didn't actually end up playing very well. We wasted a lot of money last season. The Garner season we maybe got lucky maybe Chorley was great but basically every single signing worked out.

[DMC]

Angus MacDonald and Luke Jephcott were both serious statement signings last season, they just didn't actually end up playing very well. We wasted a lot of money last season. The Garner season we maybe got lucky maybe Chorley was great but basically every single signing worked out.

I agree mate and it really is a big thing that many fans keep overlooking. We spent money last season and quite alot of it the problem is some of it was on absolute shit and the management was just awful on and off the pitch.