Opinions / views changing?

Views on here seem to be moving / hardening. My view is:

There's more anger emerging, along perhaps with more apathy / people finding something else to do rather than go to watch the team.

Some accepting that results are unfortunate but prepared to stick with it - either because they believe it's the only strategy and / or that there's no other option.

And a reduction in the proportion thinking the team will develop and we'll end up ok this season.

Poll above, what are your feelings now?

 

If we'd kept Stendel, bought in some experience as he wanted developed the players into an attacking unit even if we did go down I'd have been hopeful of coming up again and that the philosophy was being consolidated with the youth teams (although probably resigned to losing Daniel). As it stands now we're a rudderless ship I know I keep harking back to Sunderland but they chose the wrong manager and are struggling even now.

 

This season is going to be a horrible embarrassment. It can happen. Its shi.t sometimes but can be recovered from.

What's really getting me is the thought that the hope has gone. That success on the pitch is not the primary aim. That the primary aim now is to sell players for profit as soon as a profit can be realised and maximised, regardless of the effect on the team.

I have never known a team before get itself promoted and then willingly significantly weaken itself as it is about to compete in a higher league and start the season with a weaker squad then the one it started the previous season with in a lower league. That just doesn't happen.

When the hope of sporting success has gone, what's the point?

 

They thought they knew better. That’s the point they are involved with something they don’t understand. They did the same at Nice. It’s like history repeating itself.

 

Repeat after me “we don’t have the money to realistically compete in the championship “.

 

Our owners do. They're just not prepared to invest. This why the likes of Brentford, Preston (2nd in the table ffs), Bristol City, Fulham, Watford, Bournemouth, Brighton, Charlton and Swansea can all compete at the same or a higher level than us, despite being no bigger than us historically. They're lucky enough to have owners willing to invest to make the team better. We don't. And it's ****.

 

Somewhere between anger and apathy. I'm not happy but know it's ultimately futile and nowt will change.

 

Keep Stendel, bring in three experienced players down the spine of the team (CB, CM, CF) and watch us stay up with ease. Gradually lose those three as others gain experience to take over that role in the team and others are brought in who are young to take up the original spots.

Instead we think one of our most successful bosses ever doesn't deserve a bit of support and we are where we are.

 

The way their strategy is supposed to work is that you sell one player at a time and use the money to reinvest without significant harm to the squad's overall ability to compete. That way, you gradually get stronger, little by little.

Not sell half the team in one hit every 2 years and start again.

One day in the future, I would hope that, when time has dulled the anger, someone on the board will go to a fans forum meeting and admit that they royally f.u.c.k.e.d up this summer and it will never happen again. Perhaps we might even forgive them if that happened.

If they go on to sell Woodrow in January and confirm my fears about the difference in their ambitions compared to ours, I probably wouldn't be around for that fans forum in the future.

 

I love this club no matter what,

But things need to change big time

 

So where has all the money from player sales gone?
The issue isn't that we can't compete, it's that we are not even trying to. Selling Moore a few days before the season starts and not replacing him isn't the sign of a club trying to compete. Whatever you think of Moores ability and if he had made any difference. He's a lot better option upfront than no cover at all.

 

This isn't something that should be too surprising. Warning signs and the evidence of our capability was on show in the first few weeks of the season. I think many already expected it after the closed season activities.

We aren't professional managers, scouts, CEO’s, etc at football clubs but it didn't take any skills or experience in professional football to see it coming.

My choice a few months ago wasn't to stop supporting and watching, but it was to put the fixture list and watching us in competition to second place when previously it took automatic priority. My dissolution came from my perception that the owners had done the same putting our competitiveness and on field focus second.. the sad thing is I've seen games where I'm convinced we would have won with last seasons team although i also get some player may want to leave.

Maybe if it was a one off you could claim the position to put the club first, support through thick or thin etc. But when we choose to repeat this process in the Championship 2-3, maybe more times by intent then the time comes when you ask yourself why bother.

I wont be at the Bristol or Hull games as i have arranged alternative things. Im sure I'm not the only one.

 

All true, DSL. But in fact we did exactly the same the last time we were promoted to the Championship - albeit it was January before the firesale unravelled. I keep hearin The Who ringing in my ears.

And Cauley needs to go in January for the sake of his resurgent career.

 

How do you know they do? Some on here have recently done a bit of digging and it appears quite worrying that the owners individual and collective wealth's have been vastly overstated and are nothing like what we thought.

 

******.

Do the maths of incoming and outgoing signings plus other add one gained from promotion and you will find a few million missing.

 

Apathy is what will kill us and this strategy breeds it. For the rest of the season if I’ve got summat better to do I will do it.

As for some grand plan when we get relegated it will be twice in three seasons which is as many times (excluding premiership relegation) as the previous 40 so it’s not exactly a roaring success is it?

 

nonsense. We would need serious money to give a premier league push a go, but a modest budget with some clever transfer dealings and a good head coach can keep us in the league

 

S

Stockholm Syndrome at its finest.

 

Our owners would give their eye teeth for our entire fan base to share this opinion.

 

Let’s remember that we survived for 9 years at this level with very little investment under Cryne, I know things weren’t always brill but we did survive. In the last 4 years we’ve brought in tens of millions in transfer fees so there’s no reason we shouldn’t be comfortable in this league. To be honest, even if we’d not brought in loads of experience this summer but kept Pinnock, Lindsay and Moore I’m confident we’d have been absolutely fine. Ripping 4 starters out of last year’s line up was suicidal and all for a quick buck. The thing is, these lads will probably do well in League One next year with a decent manager and the cycle will start again with owners making a few more millions in players sales.