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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2024 14:13:53 GMT
It’s wild that Ebbsfleet spent £20 million just to struggle in the National League. Absolutely. I don't underestimate for a moment just how off the mark we were in 2022. But if these clubs, seemingly operating with no gate money budget constraints, can't manage it, expecting George to work miracles seems unfair. If we manage to secure promotion this season, I'll approach any expectations with great caution. Simply surviving would be a remarkable feat. Any promises of a top-10 finish (or budget) from the past are nothing more than wishful thinking. Promotion then survival would be a magnificent effort from George and subsequent playing squad but would our section of glory hunters be willing to accept 20th place or would they be singing George out before Xmas. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2024 14:16:40 GMT
Position Club Average attendance 14 AFC Flyde 1405 15 Eastleigh 2. 166 16 Maidenhead 1397 17 Woking 2643 18 Borehamwood 1114 19 Ebbsfleet 1568 20 Wealdstone 1451 21 Kidderminster 2782 22 Dorking 1914 23 York City 4558 24 Oxford City 947 Maidstone unitised 2033 Some of these attendance figures suggest that league has some dubious members, doesn't it? Only York is flying high, and can demonstrate a good spend on Higher-league livestock. Income must surely be DIRECTLY proportional to Bums-on-seats. York are likely going down and I'd not shed to many tears if they do . |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2024 14:19:45 GMT
Absolutely. I don't underestimate for a moment just how off the mark we were in 2022. But if these clubs, seemingly operating with no gate money budget constraints, can't manage it, expecting George to work miracles seems unfair. If we manage to secure promotion this season, I'll approach any expectations with great caution. Simply surviving would be a remarkable feat. Any promises of a top-10 finish (or budget) from the past are nothing more than wishful thinking. Promotion then survival would be a magnificent effort from George and subsequent playing squad but would our section of glory hunters be willing to accept 20th place or would they be singing George out before Xmas. they'd be happy for a year and then in typical modern day fan style would be saying there's no progress |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2024 14:22:47 GMT
It’s wild that Ebbsfleet spent £20 million just to struggle in the National League. The main problem to throwing money at promotion is that you will need that same money over and over again unless you go up again. We could spend £400k extra getting up but you need that to stay up again and again so unless you have a bottomless pit of money or can pay for it with your actual income, it's not worth spending extra money on. Just look at Torquay. They are a Billy big bollocks club who don't think they belong in non league let alone at step 2. They have splashed the cash,failed,and could end up in step 3 or worse still ,reformed at step 5 |
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Post by stones1 on Mar 15, 2024 14:39:27 GMT
Would love to see 3up from the NL (4 even better) - would allow more margin for error and less of the bigger clubs amassing all the talent in desperate attempts to get out the league even if it kills them. More chance of promotion would hopefully see teams spend more sensibly so ticks the financial sustainability box.
Makes sense as very few teams go up to league 2 and suffer immediate relegation at the moment, and would keep the NL refreshed (especially if 4 went up, in line with how many are promoted from League 2 currently)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2024 0:30:16 GMT
Would love to see 3up from the NL (4 even better) - would allow more margin for error and less of the bigger clubs amassing all the talent in desperate attempts to get out the league even if it kills them. More chance of promotion would hopefully see teams spend more sensibly so ticks the financial sustainability box. Makes sense as very few teams go up to league 2 and suffer immediate relegation at the moment, and would keep the NL refreshed (especially if 4 went up, in line with how many are promoted from League 2 currently) I absolutely agree with this but I cannot see EFL clubs agreeing to it as a certain Mr Dibbler once said "its cutting my own throat guv'nor" |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2024 5:51:51 GMT
They should have a sort out of L2 and NL clubs, based on population and stadium size.
Then close the door almost completely, with a return to election by corrupt northern chairmen voting for each other.
Then strict part time rules and wage cap for the for the NL.
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Post by stones1 on Mar 16, 2024 11:58:17 GMT
Would love to see 3up from the NL (4 even better) - would allow more margin for error and less of the bigger clubs amassing all the talent in desperate attempts to get out the league even if it kills them. More chance of promotion would hopefully see teams spend more sensibly so ticks the financial sustainability box. Makes sense as very few teams go up to league 2 and suffer immediate relegation at the moment, and would keep the NL refreshed (especially if 4 went up, in line with how many are promoted from League 2 currently) I absolutely agree with this but I cannot see EFL clubs agreeing to it as a certain Mr Dibbler once said "its cutting my own throat guv'nor" That’s the sad reality. Shows the desperate need for an independent regulator for football (and everything else) in this country. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2024 15:38:03 GMT
Would love to see 3up from the NL (4 even better) - would allow more margin for error and less of the bigger clubs amassing all the talent in desperate attempts to get out the league even if it kills them. More chance of promotion would hopefully see teams spend more sensibly so ticks the financial sustainability box. Makes sense as very few teams go up to league 2 and suffer immediate relegation at the moment, and would keep the NL refreshed (especially if 4 went up, in line with how many are promoted from League 2 currently) I absolutely agree with this but I cannot see EFL clubs agreeing to it as a certain Mr Dibbler once said "its cutting my own throat guv'nor" Was that a sneaky Discworld reference. Terry Pratchett, the undisputed king of comic fantasy. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2024 20:30:06 GMT
I absolutely agree with this but I cannot see EFL clubs agreeing to it as a certain Mr Dibbler once said "its cutting my own throat guv'nor" Was that a sneaky Discworld reference. Terry Pratchett, the undisputed king of comic fantasy. Yes,one of my favourite characters. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2024 22:15:13 GMT
Hard to believe, but Oxford City are doing worse this year than we did last season.
We actually had a pretty good start to that season - in the play-offs by the third game and still in the top half by game 7 - then we crashed...
But Oxford didn't even have that - they started in the relegation zone, and spent the first 5 games there - until briefly rising to 15th, before crashing back down. From that point, their league position this season has pretty much matched ours last season, except that we managed to get out of relegation for 7 games, whereas they've so far only managed it twice, for a single game each time. And they actually hit bottom two games before us.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2024 22:30:02 GMT
For me, the National League has been the unofficial Division 5 (ok, League 3) for several years now. Let's face it, nearly half the clubs are former FL.
The issue is the gap between the NL and the NS/NN. Have long said that promotion to the NL is a poison chalice. Expenses go up massively, but income does not, so without owners with deep pockets, promoted clubs struggle - though with their income and infrastructure, York City have no excuses.
What can be done about this is anyone's guess, though if ever there was an arguement for promotion into the NL being by election, it might be now. Unfortunately, the NL chairman cannot be trusted with such responsibility - at least not at the moment, so we are stuck with yo-yo clubs. One or two will make a go of it, but ultimately most are doomed to slide back down the snakes, no matter how many times they climb the ladders.
Would it be so bad for there to be a glass ceiling above NN/NS level? That would depend on things like prize money and other opportunities. One option might be a cup competition for the top clubs in the NS and NN, with the final played at a decent venue. If clubs that qualified for this were able to drop out their county cup competition, then fixture congestion might be avoided.
Either way, for me it would be good to see alternatives being put forward, because it seems clear the current set up is flawed and there are just too many wannabe owners risking the future of football clubs chasing dreams they cannot afford.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2024 23:16:54 GMT
For me, the National League has been the unofficial Division 5 (ok, League 3) for several years now. Let's face it, nearly half the clubs are former FL. The issue is the gap between the NL and the NS/NN. Have long said that promotion to the NL is a poison chalice. Expenses go up massively, but income does not, so without owners with deep pockets, promoted clubs struggle - though with their income and infrastructure, York City have no excuses. What can be done about this is anyone's guess, though if ever there was an arguement for promotion into the NL being by election, it might be now. Unfortunately, the NL chairman cannot be trusted with such responsibility - at least not at the moment, so we are stuck with yo-yo clubs. One or two will make a go of it, but ultimately most are doomed to slide back down the snakes, no matter how many times they climb the ladders. Would it be so bad for there to be a glass ceiling above NN/NS level? That would depend on things like prize money and other opportunities. One option might be a cup competition for the top clubs in the NS and NN, with the final played at a decent venue. If clubs that qualified for this were able to drop out their county cup competition, then fixture congestion might be avoided. Either way, for me it would be good to see alternatives being put forward, because it seems clear the current set up is flawed and there are just too many wannabe owners risking the future of football clubs chasing dreams they cannot afford. I agree about the gap between Nat'N/Nat'S and the National League and also agree with you on the causes ie overspending etc..and the problems ie clubs being run sensibly struggling in the National. However, I strongly disagree about the solution. There should always be the opportunity of automatic promotion rather than election imho. Surely a more sensible solution would be financial rules, similar to ones that apply in EFL, prem and Uefa that means that clubs have to live within their means. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2024 0:23:26 GMT
Ignoring the NL is not a viable choice. The unfortunate fact is that we are not a regular NS club.
Ignoring the two incomplete Covid seasons, since we first made the NS in 2015, we have had 4 years in the NL and just 3 in the NS, and in two of those three NS seasons we have been promoted - and may also be in the third one.
We either take promotion to (and survival in) the NL seriously, or we are doomed to spend half our time being promoted from the NS and the rest of our time trying not to be relegated from the NL.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2024 9:58:40 GMT
Hard to believe, but Oxford City are doing worse this year than we did last season. We actually had a pretty good start to that season - in the play-offs by the third game and still in the top half by game 7 - then we crashed... But Oxford didn't even have that - they started in the relegation zone, and spent the first 5 games there - until briefly rising to 15th, before crashing back down. From that point, their league position this season has pretty much matched ours last season, except that we managed to get out of relegation for 7 games, whereas they've so far only managed it twice, for a single game each time. And they actually hit bottom two games before us. I think the only difference there is that they got up via the play-offs, really weren’t expecting to, and had no false illusions that this season was going to be a struggle. You’re right, at one point they were exceeding expectations, but they are pretty much where they expected to be. In that respect we performed far worse than expectation…… |
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