Really as bad as many make out!!

LuckyReds said:

PeterGage said:

James46 said:

I have been at all the protests and have withdrawn from Valley Gold and no longer spend money at the valley but for me it has never been about RD selling the club, although if he does then that's fine. My protest has been about making the owner and CEO aware that they need to change. Time will tell but I suspect that we have made them sit up and think.

Clearly the managerial appointments have been the key issue. Had Luzon kept his early season run going, I doubt we would be at this point of unrest.
I must say that in all my time coming to the Valley (40 years) I've never cared about the owners, it's always been about the manager and now is no different.

Mostly, I agree with your points and without doubt, social media has fanned the flames of this situation. It's created a sort of mass-hysteria and I feel it's time for me to take a step back and give Riga and the team a chance. (I didn't really agree with his appointment but so far so good)

Most of all, I want us to stay up, but I fear that an intensification of the anti-board movement may be self-defeating in that respect. I feel this was at least partly responsible for the black week starting with the Colchester away game.

If the situation deteriorates I will consider not renewing our families 5 season tickets, voting with me feet so to speak but it will be with a heavy heart.

But, for the first time in months I am optimistic and so this Saturday, my amazon purchased black and white scarf will stay at home and if we win I suspect more scarfs will be left at home the following week.

Jeez...one win and suddenly things are looking optimistic !!

This is precisely what I was banging on about a while a go, and I think part of the reluctance of the trust to get involved - football fans are fickle and with some good results and a new manager there was always going to be a reduction in the protests.. how much though, will be interesting. I'm hoping it will be minimal.

I thought it would take more than one result though.

The most frustrating thing is these protests have absolutely fuck all to do with results.

If we win this weekend I can see the post match protest dropping by 25-30% straight away. Everyone has different motives for protesting and this makes setting a unified goal difficult.
I'd be happy if the revolving door of players/managers/staff ended and I could begin to develop some sort of affinity with the club again. It would be great to have a core of 6 first teamers for longer than a year again.

MrLargo said:

se9addick said:

Ketman said:

The pitch was paid for by the FA Cup run under Powell who he then promptly sacked.

I thought it was included in the purchase price negotiated for the club.

I think the latter is correct. Either way, he didn't pay for it out of the goodness of his heart, and this cost would have been factored in to the negotiations to buy the club - if you're buying a house and the survey tells you the roof is leaking, you negotiate the purchase price down to reflect the potential extra expenditure to get the roof fixed, no different when buying a football club.

It infuriates me when people suggest that the new pitch was an act of generosity - it was an absolute necessity that any buyer would have been required to pay for. If it hadn't been replaced, we would now be bottom of the table with 5 games in hand, paying regular fines to the Football League for not being able to provide a playable pitch all winter.

Didn't Ms Meire herself say that a large part of the new pitch funding came from the sale of Kermogant?

"Really as bad as many make out!!"

I thought this was a post about a terrible night full of American teenagers getting off with each other.

Missed It said:

MrLargo said:

se9addick said:

Ketman said:

The pitch was paid for by the FA Cup run under Powell who he then promptly sacked.

I thought it was included in the purchase price negotiated for the club.

I think the latter is correct. Either way, he didn't pay for it out of the goodness of his heart, and this cost would have been factored in to the negotiations to buy the club - if you're buying a house and the survey tells you the roof is leaking, you negotiate the purchase price down to reflect the potential extra expenditure to get the roof fixed, no different when buying a football club.

It infuriates me when people suggest that the new pitch was an act of generosity - it was an absolute necessity that any buyer would have been required to pay for. If it hadn't been replaced, we would now be bottom of the table with 5 games in hand, paying regular fines to the Football League for not being able to provide a playable pitch all winter.

Didn't Ms Meire herself say that a large part of the new pitch funding came from the sale of Kermogant?

Yeah, that's why we called it the Yann Kermorgant Memorial Pitch for that season

James46 said:

Davo55 and Hex, I'm that optimistic/foolish I may even buy a programme on Saturday!

My fear is that if these protests step up a gear then they could well hasten relegation because of the negative effect on the teams confidence and therefore its performance. At this point team spirit is key.

Team spirit or lack of it has nothing to do with the protests

Fans protested at Rotherham and we won. There was a large "support the team, not the regime" banner at the game.

Fans protested during the Forest game and we played well and drew.

In any case not buying food isn't going to impact on the players.

The protests after the game can't have an effect on their performances either

Covered End said:

LuckyReds said:

PeterGage said:

James46 said:

I have been at all the protests and have withdrawn from Valley Gold and no longer spend money at the valley but for me it has never been about RD selling the club, although if he does then that's fine. My protest has been about making the owner and CEO aware that they need to change. Time will tell but I suspect that we have made them sit up and think.

Clearly the managerial appointments have been the key issue. Had Luzon kept his early season run going, I doubt we would be at this point of unrest.
I must say that in all my time coming to the Valley (40 years) I've never cared about the owners, it's always been about the manager and now is no different.

Mostly, I agree with your points and without doubt, social media has fanned the flames of this situation. It's created a sort of mass-hysteria and I feel it's time for me to take a step back and give Riga and the team a chance. (I didn't really agree with his appointment but so far so good)

Most of all, I want us to stay up, but I fear that an intensification of the anti-board movement may be self-defeating in that respect. I feel this was at least partly responsible for the black week starting with the Colchester away game.

If the situation deteriorates I will consider not renewing our families 5 season tickets, voting with me feet so to speak but it will be with a heavy heart.

But, for the first time in months I am optimistic and so this Saturday, my amazon purchased black and white scarf will stay at home and if we win I suspect more scarfs will be left at home the following week.

Jeez...one win and suddenly things are looking optimistic !!

This is precisely what I was banging on about a while a go, and I think part of the reluctance of the trust to get involved - football fans are fickle and with some good results and a new manager there was always going to be a reduction in the protests.. how much though, will be interesting. I'm hoping it will be minimal.

I thought it would take more than one result though.

The most frustrating thing is these protests have absolutely fuck all to do with results.

But the protests are linked to the results.

If we had effective recruitment for both players and coaches, then we wouldn't be fighting relegation.

If we beat Bristol C convincingly, will there be thousands protesting ? Maybe.

If they beat us convincingly, then I'm sure there will be.

This is what I implied in my first paragraph - it was always going to be the case that decent results would soften the impact of the protests on the pitch.

However the reasons we protest are a lot greater than those results, and are in fact about the core of how the club is run and the sustainability of the model for the future.

PL54 said:

LuckyReds said:

PeterGage said:

James46 said:

I have been at all the protests and have withdrawn from Valley Gold and no longer spend money at the valley but for me it has never been about RD selling the club, although if he does then that's fine. My protest has been about making the owner and CEO aware that they need to change. Time will tell but I suspect that we have made them sit up and think.

Clearly the managerial appointments have been the key issue. Had Luzon kept his early season run going, I doubt we would be at this point of unrest.
I must say that in all my time coming to the Valley (40 years) I've never cared about the owners, it's always been about the manager and now is no different.

Mostly, I agree with your points and without doubt, social media has fanned the flames of this situation. It's created a sort of mass-hysteria and I feel it's time for me to take a step back and give Riga and the team a chance. (I didn't really agree with his appointment but so far so good)

Most of all, I want us to stay up, but I fear that an intensification of the anti-board movement may be self-defeating in that respect. I feel this was at least partly responsible for the black week starting with the Colchester away game.

If the situation deteriorates I will consider not renewing our families 5 season tickets, voting with me feet so to speak but it will be with a heavy heart.

But, for the first time in months I am optimistic and so this Saturday, my amazon purchased black and white scarf will stay at home and if we win I suspect more scarfs will be left at home the following week.

Jeez...one win and suddenly things are looking optimistic !!

This is precisely what I was banging on about a while a go, and I think part of the reluctance of the trust to get involved - football fans are fickle and with some good results and a new manager there was always going to be a reduction in the protests.. how much though, will be interesting. I'm hoping it will be minimal.

I thought it would take more than one result though.

The most frustrating thing is these protests have absolutely fuck all to do with results.

You know that is not the case - if we were top of the league nobody would give two hoots about sofas, managerial changes and ticket office opening hours.

However, the fact that we have, somehow or other, managed to avoid those dizzying heights may not be totally unrelated to the cack-handed/shambolic handling of affairs by the current regime. Our league position is the result of the application of "The Shareholder's" footballing philosophy. Nothing indicates that he has changed his fundamental views, he is a visionary, determined to use his plaything as an incubator for his ideas.

I would not be so crass as to suggest that he cannot succeed.... Okay actually I would, because, for the model to work, he needs to revolutionise the football business model, and one owner, by himself, cannot succeed (especially with a "network" as limited as his).

I cannot imagine that even 2% of fans believe that their relationship with the club has improved under the current regime. There is an underlying alienation that has the potential to be fatal to CAFC's well-being if not addressed, and there is little indication that the regime can, or really wishes, to so do.

PL54 said:

That's all great but if we were top of the league under these Belgian squirrel sluts, nobody would be shouting at windows after the game or wearing Fulham scarves whatever was going on.

So yes it is all linked to results.

If we were top of the league it would be because they weren't doing stupid stuff like selling Kermorgant and replacing him with Polish Pete, or signing so few players Regan Charles-Cook has to fill in at right back, so there would be no need for protest regardless. There's no scenario where the idiot things they come up with can get us to the top of the league so it's a moot point.

I was at Ninian Park when we won 3-0 in the early 80's. I think Derek Hales got a hat trick. I was sat in their main stand with two mates, one of which was Vince, where we were surrounded by home fans. In the second minute, Mark Aizlewood clattered one of the Cardiff players and was fortunate to get away with a booking. Whilst the Cardiff player was being treated, the locals calmed down, only for the third person with Vince and I to shout out 'nice one Aize, stuff the Welsh bastards'.
I'll leave it everyone's imagination as to what happened next.

James46 said:

Davo55 and Hex, I'm that optimistic/foolish I may even buy a programme on Saturday!

My fear is that if these protests step up a gear then they could well hasten relegation because of the negative effect on the teams confidence and therefore its performance. At this point team spirit is key.

If people feel that at this point, its a risk worth taking then that is fine. Personally I don't.

I hope your pessimism is misplaced, I really do.

Well you could just as well argue that the protests at Rotherham must have inspired the team to victory. In practice if we support the team during the match, that is all that matters. The owners need to change course or sell, no sign of either happening at present which dooms us to more of the same next season whichever division we are in.

I cant tell if the title is actually a question, or a statement being shouted at us...