My reason is that if we scrape up with a few mercenaries, and struggle to hold our own, the risk of becoming a yo-yo club is a real one. If our fate is to be such a club, and the way the leagues are structured , it is very probable , I would rather we were bouncing between the Premiership and the Championship as that is were the money is, and the value of the club will be secured, and unless we begin to control our buying and selling and stop gambling in the market, a year more in L1 , will seem like paradise.
I can’t see us getting a squad together and move through the leagues We need to get promoted out of this league whatever it takes Then we can talk about a 5 year plan
Think it’s safe to say this has split the fans! Personally I’m firmly in the “promotion is vital” camp. We have a squad of players who I really believe are more than good enough to get out of this league, they have shown that already. For whatever reason the wheels have come off (which I believe is down to the tactics). Also I’m absolutely sick of being in this league, watching cheating and time wasting opposition teams along with completely useless officials. On the other hand I’m really happy with the new owners and the focus on youth etc. I also hate to see managers get sacked after a bad run and would love to see Johnson succeed but he has to try something new very soon or he’ll be out the door I reckon.
Promotion is obviously vital to the club at some point in the near future. I think KLD is fairly relaxed about doing it this year as long as the club is being run the way he wants it. He no doubt has made plans to be able to fund the team properly next year whatever division we are in. He is determined to make us a model club that the rest of the football world will admire and will do everything the right way. Unless it all really goes to ****, I think LJ gets the season.
Add all of that together, and it won’t amount much in football standards. Everybody has to sign players and pay their wages, it’s the level of players you sign which dictate the money you spend. We’ve gone for youngsters with potential, that’s fair enough, but as Lee Johnson said don’t have big expectations.
I never said it's not vital, personally I think it is vital, I can't stand being in this division any longer.
i don't think there is a supporter who will say they are 'not bothered' if promotion does not come this season, in fact, there is not a club in this division that would not take promotion but it has to be earned and the only way to earn that right is by winning games, hence the supporter worries we are seeing now. on the new owners, hand on heart lads, when was the last time we can say we had a 'regime' that basically set it's stall out, with a solid plan with the aim to build the club...one that recruited carefully with people in the right place that have all helped to set up a structure and one where we can actually see a difference (drummaville and SNQ were a 'fast rescue act' and were never going to be around for long, Mr Short threw good money away trying to put something in place but never quite got it right and SD/CM were after a quick promotion and resell for quick profit) especially after so long where we more or less treaded mud. the squad, after the slow movement in the transfer market i think that by the end we were very happy with the squad, maybe a couple more additions to 'fine tune' but as long as we were near the top by january we were not too bothered, we are now looking at the problem with young lads in their first 'real' season combined with a hell of a lot of games and i just want to repeat myself here and say none of the young lads have let themselves or the club down but they need to 'grow' into this kind of schedule and the older players will probably pick up niggly injuries...would it have been better/wiser to say 'feck the cups, throw all at the league and promotion' or do as we have and given games to fringe players, personally i feel we should have got out of the cups early and 'saved' the fringe players for squad rotation as they have shown when given the chance that they are easily capable. the gaffer, i have no idea why results/performances have flipped but then i am not in charge...in this sense the buck really does stop with him and he is the man to find the reason and the solution, if there is a problem within the squad then get the lads in and sort it out rather than let it fester, if the squad have a problem with tactics then this is where the 'leadership group' should come into it's own and have a word with the manager, if there are a couple of bad apples in the bunch then again, get them in and sort it...now, he may or may not have done all of that but as fans we have to see a change on the pitch where it matters otherwise the voices will rumble louder and louder, the players will pick up more and more discontent and by the time any action is taken we could well be back to square one, whatever happens has to be soon.
Exactly. A club this size needs to be promoted at some point and that has to be the aim every season. But if he's put all his eggs in one basket on going up this season, he's a fool.
I'm not sure he did say don't have big expectations, did he? Didn't he say no one expected anything of them?
This basically. It’s absolute garbage. 24,000 ST holders will drop massively if we’re still here for next season.
Its not at all. Its completely different. "Don't have big expectations" suggests he doesn't think he can get us promoted. "No one expected us to do anything" suggests that the only questions about the ability of the side came from outside the club.
Think the problem with our current form lies in the fact were playing too many youngsters. Including the Hoff we have six players under 23, I'm not saying they're playing badly but that's a lot to carry us through this relentless league plus cup games. Young lads form does drop off, I think that's a given, and on top of that 09 is carrying his shoulder injury which isn't helping. We really only have Stewart up front and need Broadhead to stay fit and play two up top. LJ doesn't seem to have a plan B and when teams press us high up we struggle so he needs to sort his tactics out. We all thought we had a decent squad but injuries have really effected us. What's the answer, not sure, rotate some of the young lads when possible and make sure we have a plan B and really want LJ to get beyond this streaky issue which seems to have followed him from Bristol.
