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This is always a "heart versus mind" thing; The heart says; I want promotion to the Prem, either through the play-offs or automatic. Anything less is not acceptable. The mind looks at reality, sees the obstacles facing us and says; The heart is not being realistic - just surviving would be an achievement with the current set-up.

I am just thinking back over many years; 15,000 fans in the Dell would have created a hell of a lot more atmosphere. SMS, although modern and pretty, will NEVER have that kind of atmosphere, whether it's full or half empty. Such is "progress".

Very good observations. Fitness, as opposed to speed, seems ti be the key indeed.

Well, he was right about the lows anyway!

Reason 1 - Value for money! (overpriced tickets for far-below-par quality of performance Reason 2 - CCC (playing teams like Barnsley and other such teams does not appeal to the masses like having prem league names as opponents Reason 3 - Ru**rt and his treacherous side-kick. (A number of people will NOT spend a penny on the club while these proven failures are in charge) Reason 4 - The economy (money is tight, many simply can't afford it anymore)

Working on it!

When I consider the answers to my "Give it time" post/thread, the answer according to many is simple: There is no alternative, so we will die doing what we are doing. (Edit: Post #8 in this thread is a great example of that defeatism) Believe it or not, stating that you see the need for change only invites the inevitable "what is your solution" response on here from the Ru**rt apologists.

Are you realizing the meaning of that statement, the sad commentary that it is on our plight? BARNSLEY...... f@cking BARNSLEY .... is now a big game for us? And still there are those who support this "experiment" of Ru**rt?

Yup, I too have made that discovery (workspace macro 4.6) a while ago

As I asked of another poster making this comment: Please explain what "the right way" is. Does that involve winning matches?

That would be funny if you weren't serious:rolleyes:

6 played, "only" 12 points from automatic promotion - We'll walk this league!

"To play the right way" - Does that at any time involve winning? If so, your statement is incorrect.

So this the joy of total football? Doesn't sound like a lot of fun to watch

Is it pretty yet?

Sounds like KD is keeping us in it

Tom can't, but we can! LOL

I remember nobody complaining about player's morale. Are you making it up as you go along?

Exactly right. And the people who were in a position to address it at the time are the same 2 who are now in charge. That's not really a confidence builder, is it?

You already know the answers, but I'll give you my OPINION: - We have essentially been asset-stripped by the current management (something we feared SISU might do, remember?). Our most valuable assets, the few good players we had, have been sold (and even the agreed upon price has been reduced by taking early payouts, for instance in the Walcott case). Left with only inexperienced players survival would be a miracle, and those reduced payouts meant that we had fewer funds to buy/attract suitable replacements. - The selection of coaches has been dictated by short-term (and short-sighted) financial "management", which may show on the books as a financial improvement in the short term, but guarantees larger loss of income in the future as the result of another relegation. - There is no single shred of evidence that ALL parties (board, shareholders) are making ANY effort to unite and agree upon some kind of planned direction for the future, which is needed to even get the slightest bit of interest from any potential investor - The customers are treated with disrespect, which at a minimum is no way to attract the public in greater numbers. Remember, this is my opinion. I realize many may disagree, but such is life.

I completely understand what you are saying. As I said; I understand that we have very few options left, given the situation we are in. I realize that the few options left may or may not have any discernible effect. However, doing nothing cannot be an option either.

Again, you are the one that needs to get real. With only a very few exceptions the CCC consists of clubs that are very similar to us, that do not have a "rich uncle", and have similar or even smaller attendances. None of them have it easy, but ALL of them manage to not only survive - they even out-perform us on and off the field as illustrated by our league position. Bottom line is that it does not REQUIRE millions of pounds of investment to survive in the CCC (although it would be nice to have those millions), it requires smart management and a unified board with unified shareholders.

If it took a billion pounds to run a CCC club there would be no CCC. Get real yourself

I am fully aware of the financial restrictions that we have to operate under and that our options may be limited, but (at least in my mind) it is also clear that this current experiment leads to only one thing: relegation. A consequence of relegation would be even tighter finances, if not administration. So instead of spending the salary on 4 "coaches" (Poortvliet, Wotte, Hockaday and the new Dutch guy) what about spending the salary of these 4 inexperienced guys on one experienced hard-nosed real old-fashioned manager? What about the three main shareholders actually getting together in a REAL effort to attract investment? In-fighting amongst the various parties only has one effect on potential investors; It's scares them off, as proven in recent history. What about respecting the supporters and stopping the incessant and blatant propaganda exercises such at the recent "question and answer" session in the Echo, which was clearly designed to only answer those questions that were "convenient" for Ru**rt and his side-kick, and showed a total and utter disrespect for the fans and insulted their intelligence. Maybe, just maybe, IF the club were more open and honest some more folks would come and watch, thus creating more income. These are just some of the options open to the club. I'll grant you that none of them guarantee success, or even improvement, but if we let things go the way they are, there is an almost certain guarantee of failure.

Plus investment and a decent Chairman. So they had 4 things we don't have