Resignation...

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Wiseacre
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Re: Resignation...

Post by Wiseacre » Thu Nov 29, 2018 6:42 pm

I think the statistics question is basic really because when you measure anyone's capacity in a specific area the best indicators to how they'll do tomorrow are what they've done before. I agree that they speak for themselves with TW. However he clearly inspires a lot of faith from the regular fans which speaks well of him but it's just not working. Having been unkind to him up to now I feel the club should stick with Wright; he might turn things round; he seems inclined to fight on; the names coming forward as better bets seem unlikely. As someone said recently on the thread what manager would come so if Tommy wants to stay I should get behind him. I think Bates has been harshly judged at Hartlepool, maybe you know who might get his chance.

lo36789
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Re: Resignation...

Post by lo36789 » Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:39 pm

John Flanagan has been sacked by Curzon Ashton...can’t see them surviving now not convinced anyone could get what he has done out of the resources they have!

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theoriginalfatcat
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Re: Resignation...

Post by theoriginalfatcat » Fri Nov 30, 2018 12:32 am

I saw Gray’s last game in charge at York, it was against Curzon and they looked well organised and up for it. I thought the Curzon manager that day did a good job - Gray was sacked the following day.
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wizardofos
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Re: Resignation...

Post by wizardofos » Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:18 am

notgnilrad wrote:
en passant wrote:
tdk1 wrote:
Ghost_Of_1883 wrote:Just a gut feeling boys.

In the mean time, let's all keep on blaming the manager.
Things do feel a bit creaky, no doubt, but it doesn't make Wright any less culpable for the on pitch s*** show.

What's really surprising is that there is no great outpouring of support for him despite the unbeaten run we had been on. I think it shows people have seen underlying problems even when we weren't being beaten.
Or it could be that a group of posters on here have got their knickers in a twist and have been searching the internet for a Black Friday deal on pitchforks. Friday's defeat in the cup has certainly brought out a concerted effort to undermine the manager and now seems to have progressed onto a plan to damage the club's finances by suggesting that some might withdraw their pledged contributions.

I'm not overlooking the oft quoted stats that show that TW's reign has been less than glorious, but I for one feel very uncomfortable about the witch hunt atmosphere that some folks on here seem happy to be stoking up. They have gone beyond talking over the possibility of needing a fresh managerial direction to having already decided who will replace Wright and weighing up the finances a new manager might be able to call on. Might I say that I thought that being a supporter of a football club does require a greater amount of fortitude than I've recently seen on here, and whilst I'm fairly confident that I will have plenty of negative reaction to this post, I for one would happy to provide a little brake on the view given above that the headlong move to oust TW is the only view on the terraces.

If I were a manager I wouldnt touch this club with a bargepole, Wright hasnt even had a full season yet with his own squad. We have gone on a six match unbeaten run ok been knocked out of both cups but so did Martin Gray every year.

I think he should be given till after Xmas and New Year if things are lookin bleak and we are in relegation places then the board should think about what to do next on whats best for the club.

We as fans have to trust the manager we will have ups and downs but we have to stick together because if we keep sacking managers because we are not in the play-offs we will go through a lot of them.
I'm not sure why you say "if we keep sacking managers"?
We're into our 6th year of fan ownership and the number of managers we have sacked so far = 0.

notgnilrad
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Re: Resignation...

Post by notgnilrad » Fri Nov 30, 2018 10:57 am

wizardofos wrote:
notgnilrad wrote:
en passant wrote:
tdk1 wrote:
Ghost_Of_1883 wrote:Just a gut feeling boys.

In the mean time, let's all keep on blaming the manager.
Things do feel a bit creaky, no doubt, but it doesn't make Wright any less culpable for the on pitch s*** show.

What's really surprising is that there is no great outpouring of support for him despite the unbeaten run we had been on. I think it shows people have seen underlying problems even when we weren't being beaten.
Or it could be that a group of posters on here have got their knickers in a twist and have been searching the internet for a Black Friday deal on pitchforks. Friday's defeat in the cup has certainly brought out a concerted effort to undermine the manager and now seems to have progressed onto a plan to damage the club's finances by suggesting that some might withdraw their pledged contributions.

I'm not overlooking the oft quoted stats that show that TW's reign has been less than glorious, but I for one feel very uncomfortable about the witch hunt atmosphere that some folks on here seem happy to be stoking up. They have gone beyond talking over the possibility of needing a fresh managerial direction to having already decided who will replace Wright and weighing up the finances a new manager might be able to call on. Might I say that I thought that being a supporter of a football club does require a greater amount of fortitude than I've recently seen on here, and whilst I'm fairly confident that I will have plenty of negative reaction to this post, I for one would happy to provide a little brake on the view given above that the headlong move to oust TW is the only view on the terraces.

If I were a manager I wouldnt touch this club with a bargepole, Wright hasnt even had a full season yet with his own squad. We have gone on a six match unbeaten run ok been knocked out of both cups but so did Martin Gray every year.

I think he should be given till after Xmas and New Year if things are lookin bleak and we are in relegation places then the board should think about what to do next on whats best for the club.

We as fans have to trust the manager we will have ups and downs but we have to stick together because if we keep sacking managers because we are not in the play-offs we will go through a lot of them.
I'm not sure why you say "if we keep sacking managers"?
We're into our 6th year of fan ownership and the number of managers we have sacked so far = 0.
Did Gray have a bad run though, remember him having a little one a couple of years ago and the pitchforks were out, then he just bought a couple of players in (made us go over budget) and we started to win again then everyone shut up. I'm sure if Gray did have a bad run and we weren't near the top in any of his seasons the fans would be baying for him to be sacked.

Just saying we are not going to make the play offs every year sometimes we need a bit of stability and this might be this time.

Undercovered
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Re: Resignation...

Post by Undercovered » Fri Nov 30, 2018 11:17 am

I’ve been pondering this situation for a while whilst reading the comments with interest and would like to put forward my take on things.

Firstly, are we in a position to hire a new manager? (obviously not at the moment as we have one in position but assuming we didn’t for a moment). Generally the point of recruiting a new manager is to improve the on pitch performances and in turn results. This means bringing someone in who is up to the task who is also willing to work within certain restraints – usually the case at just about any club. There are two types of manager that a club such as ours could attract – young aspiring managers who are working their way up the ladder and older heads who are on the way down. Obviously you’d rather attract the former as that’s usually where your best bet of success lies which is obviously what we must want if we want to replace (how you define success is another subject altogether) with the current manager.

Now put yourself in the shoes of a prospective applicant for the managers role in the case of the profile of manage we’d want to attract – i.e. someone who is going to improve us. Unfortunately they’re all not Darlo fans like ourselves who have dreamed of managing the club all of their lives but usually people who want to make a career out of football management therefore want to make a success of the role. Football more than ever these days demands success and from a managers perspective one bad job can mean the end of a career. Therefore anyone who is worth having is going to want some assurances that they can do they job to the best of their abilities. Looking over the past 12 months or even further will they look at the club and think that’s a good fit for me?

At the moment I believe the club is pretty rudderless with no real plan or strategy of where we want to go and how we get there, apart from the oft trotted out “aspiration of getting back into the league”. The sporting village seems to be the thing that has been hung onto for the last 12 months or so but let’s face it, it’s just going to be a different set of challenges from the little we know about the situation. I’m not saying any of this is an easy fix, on the contrary, this is the type of stuff that keeps me awake at night rather than who the current incumbent of the managers seat is which to be honest is pretty secondary to most of the main concerns I have. The challenges run much deeper I’m afraid.

Like many others recently I am suffering from a certain amount of apathy to the clubs current situation which I guess is only natural after the huge upward curve we’ve had but by the same token it’s the lack of any real solid plan of where we’re going and how we’re going to do it. What we’re now seeing is the limitation of what we’ve built – a largely volunteer run organisation pinching pennies in areas that the business needs to grow in order to put every single penny into the players on the pitch. This strategy only works for so long and then you hit a ceiling and we’ve hit it. Rather than season after season in the 4th Division back in the day often flirting with relegation and once in a blue moon when some chancer borrowed some money competing at the top end of the division our new reality is that this is going to be the case at the level we’re at now unless we fundamentally change how we operate.

There are only two ways to change that - one is to grow the business itself but that means investing off the pitch which will have a direct impact on the pitch and the other is to seek a third party to come on board and help us get to where we want to be . The ideal scenario in my opinion is a combination of both – there is no point finding a backer to pour money into the playing budget only for them to walk away and be back to square one. Any money needs to be spent developing the business first and foremost. Is there anyone out there? Who knows, we’ve never seriously tried have we?

So in summary my current feelings on the managerial situation is that unless we’re in grave danger of relegation and by that I don’t mean unbeaten in a handful with a few bright spots (admittedly mainly away from home) I would resist trying to change things until the summer if possible and in the meantime focus the limited time and energy that the board have in trying to remedy some of the bigger challenges that threaten the long term future of the football club rather than the short term. There needs to be some big decisions taken in the mid-term which are much more important than who sits in the managers seat.
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al_quaker
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Re: Resignation...

Post by al_quaker » Fri Nov 30, 2018 11:39 am

Undercovered wrote: At the moment I believe the club is pretty rudderless with no real plan or strategy of where we want to go and how we get there, apart from the oft trotted out “aspiration of getting back into the league”. The sporting village seems to be the thing that has been hung onto for the last 12 months or so but let’s face it, it’s just going to be a different set of challenges from the little we know about the situation. I’m not saying any of this is an easy fix, on the contrary, this is the type of stuff that keeps me awake at night rather than who the current incumbent of the managers seat is which to be honest is pretty secondary to most of the main concerns I have. The challenges run much deeper I’m afraid.

Like many others recently I am suffering from a certain amount of apathy to the clubs current situation which I guess is only natural after the huge upward curve we’ve had but by the same token it’s the lack of any real solid plan of where we’re going and how we’re going to do it. What we’re now seeing is the limitation of what we’ve built – a largely volunteer run organisation pinching pennies in areas that the business needs to grow in order to put every single penny into the players on the pitch. This strategy only works for so long and then you hit a ceiling and we’ve hit it. Rather than season after season in the 4th Division back in the day often flirting with relegation and once in a blue moon when some chancer borrowed some money competing at the top end of the division our new reality is that this is going to be the case at the level we’re at now unless we fundamentally change how we operate.
I think this bit strikes at some of my fears. We're told the budget we can afford is one that will put us at the bottom of the conference north. Yes the 500 club ending will free up some cash to enable us to have a better budget at this level. But is the future of the club pretty much conference north? We may have the odd flirtation with the conference, but I am struggling to see how we will ever have the revenue streams capable of sustaining a team at that level. We have no real assets, we have very little scope for making money from BM, I think we'll struggle to ever really grow crowds at BM, and we have no money to do anything about any of this.

I think it was easy to forget the damage that years of financial mismanagement had when we were winning every week in lower divisions, but perhaps we're seeing that damage now. Maybe this is the new reality - midtable football in a crap stadium in a regional league. Maybe it's the club the town deserves. Maybe it's better this way than the risk of 'boom and bust' with private ownership (although we never had much boom). But it's still rather sad to think this might be it. Or maybe I'm overreacting :lol:

comeondarlo
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Re: Resignation...

Post by comeondarlo » Fri Nov 30, 2018 11:40 am

This thread is soooo facking depressing!

Can’t even be bothered to put my opinion in the mix, other than saying it would be against the majority.

Still I’ve made up my mind what to do on Boxing Day!

banktopp
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Re: Resignation...

Post by banktopp » Fri Nov 30, 2018 12:28 pm

comeondarlo wrote:This thread is soooo facking depressing!

Can’t even be bothered to put my opinion in the mix, other than saying it would be against the majority.

Still I’ve made up my mind what to do on Boxing Day!
Not quite sure what you are on about.
Having re-read the whole topic there are obviously a variety of opinions certainly without a clear majority.
Roughly 9 people want TW sacked, 10 are prepared put off any decision for several months, and 11 are prepared to keep Tommy Wright in post until at least the end of the season.
Most of the opinions are well thought out and reasoned.
I would like to add that any talk of cancelling BTB pledges is a betrayal of the football club, our club. I am in it for the long term irrespective of who the manager is. Surely as owners it is incumbent upon us to support the club not just through the turnstiles but other financial initiatives also, those of us who can afford to.

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Re: Resignation...

Post by Ghost_Of_1883 » Fri Nov 30, 2018 12:30 pm

banktopp wrote: I would like to add that any talk of cancelling BTB pledges is a betrayal of the football club, our club.
Absolutely.

TDS
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Re: Resignation...

Post by TDS » Fri Nov 30, 2018 12:52 pm

al_quaker wrote:
Undercovered wrote: At the moment I believe the club is pretty rudderless with no real plan or strategy of where we want to go and how we get there, apart from the oft trotted out “aspiration of getting back into the league”. The sporting village seems to be the thing that has been hung onto for the last 12 months or so but let’s face it, it’s just going to be a different set of challenges from the little we know about the situation. I’m not saying any of this is an easy fix, on the contrary, this is the type of stuff that keeps me awake at night rather than who the current incumbent of the managers seat is which to be honest is pretty secondary to most of the main concerns I have. The challenges run much deeper I’m afraid.

Like many others recently I am suffering from a certain amount of apathy to the clubs current situation which I guess is only natural after the huge upward curve we’ve had but by the same token it’s the lack of any real solid plan of where we’re going and how we’re going to do it. What we’re now seeing is the limitation of what we’ve built – a largely volunteer run organisation pinching pennies in areas that the business needs to grow in order to put every single penny into the players on the pitch. This strategy only works for so long and then you hit a ceiling and we’ve hit it. Rather than season after season in the 4th Division back in the day often flirting with relegation and once in a blue moon when some chancer borrowed some money competing at the top end of the division our new reality is that this is going to be the case at the level we’re at now unless we fundamentally change how we operate.
I think this bit strikes at some of my fears. We're told the budget we can afford is one that will put us at the bottom of the conference north. Yes the 500 club ending will free up some cash to enable us to have a better budget at this level. But is the future of the club pretty much conference north? We may have the odd flirtation with the conference, but I am struggling to see how we will ever have the revenue streams capable of sustaining a team at that level. We have no real assets, we have very little scope for making money from BM, I think we'll struggle to ever really grow crowds at BM, and we have no money to do anything about any of this.

I think it was easy to forget the damage that years of financial mismanagement had when we were winning every week in lower divisions, but perhaps we're seeing that damage now. Maybe this is the new reality - midtable football in a crap stadium in a regional league. Maybe it's the club the town deserves. Maybe it's better this way than the risk of 'boom and bust' with private ownership (although we never had much boom). But it's still rather sad to think this might be it. Or maybe I'm overreacting :lol:
We are no longer a League 2 club. Simple as that. Fans of York, Stockport, Chester etc don't expect to be back there so its time we stopped too. Football has unfortunately moved on, if anybody follows Accrington Stanley's chairman Andy Holt on Twitter, he paints clear as day that there is not a single EFL club running within their means. That is our aim, to be sustainable, we are against private ownership and we must accept what comes with that. If not let's roll the dice with everybody else and play the boom-bust game that comes with it.

This is the league we can manage on fan power and this is the reality of the situation, one thing I do think that has waned over time is our energy to prove to Chairman of the past that we can do it ourselves.

SwansQuaker83
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Re: Resignation...

Post by SwansQuaker83 » Fri Nov 30, 2018 1:16 pm

TDS wrote:
al_quaker wrote:
Undercovered wrote: At the moment I believe the club is pretty rudderless with no real plan or strategy of where we want to go and how we get there, apart from the oft trotted out “aspiration of getting back into the league”. The sporting village seems to be the thing that has been hung onto for the last 12 months or so but let’s face it, it’s just going to be a different set of challenges from the little we know about the situation. I’m not saying any of this is an easy fix, on the contrary, this is the type of stuff that keeps me awake at night rather than who the current incumbent of the managers seat is which to be honest is pretty secondary to most of the main concerns I have. The challenges run much deeper I’m afraid.

Like many others recently I am suffering from a certain amount of apathy to the clubs current situation which I guess is only natural after the huge upward curve we’ve had but by the same token it’s the lack of any real solid plan of where we’re going and how we’re going to do it. What we’re now seeing is the limitation of what we’ve built – a largely volunteer run organisation pinching pennies in areas that the business needs to grow in order to put every single penny into the players on the pitch. This strategy only works for so long and then you hit a ceiling and we’ve hit it. Rather than season after season in the 4th Division back in the day often flirting with relegation and once in a blue moon when some chancer borrowed some money competing at the top end of the division our new reality is that this is going to be the case at the level we’re at now unless we fundamentally change how we operate.
I think this bit strikes at some of my fears. We're told the budget we can afford is one that will put us at the bottom of the conference north. Yes the 500 club ending will free up some cash to enable us to have a better budget at this level. But is the future of the club pretty much conference north? We may have the odd flirtation with the conference, but I am struggling to see how we will ever have the revenue streams capable of sustaining a team at that level. We have no real assets, we have very little scope for making money from BM, I think we'll struggle to ever really grow crowds at BM, and we have no money to do anything about any of this.

I think it was easy to forget the damage that years of financial mismanagement had when we were winning every week in lower divisions, but perhaps we're seeing that damage now. Maybe this is the new reality - midtable football in a crap stadium in a regional league. Maybe it's the club the town deserves. Maybe it's better this way than the risk of 'boom and bust' with private ownership (although we never had much boom). But it's still rather sad to think this might be it. Or maybe I'm overreacting :lol:
We are no longer a League 2 club. Simple as that. Fans of York, Stockport, Chester etc don't expect to be back there so its time we stopped too. Football has unfortunately moved on, if anybody follows Accrington Stanley's chairman Andy Holt on Twitter, he paints clear as day that there is not a single EFL club running within their means. That is our aim, to be sustainable, we are against private ownership and we must accept what comes with that. If not let's roll the dice with everybody else and play the boom-bust game that comes with it.

This is the league we can manage on fan power and this is the reality of the situation, one thing I do think that has waned over time is our energy to prove to Chairman of the past that we can do it ourselves.
I agree to a certain extent but I do think we can go further and grow under this model. BM is the main obstacle on that front. However we do it, we need out of the deal we have... for me it's the number one priority for this club.

I know there's a lot of apathy in the town but it's up to us to change that, the club and fans need to revolutionise the way we think in terms of attracting new fans. We need to change perceptions and improve our offer. We need to engage, with schools, with town centre business, with neighbouring towns, we need to market ourselves better... There are many ways we can grow our fanbase organically and therefore grow the club... but we have to do it from a solid foundation, at the moment we're trying to build a big house on quick sand.

en passant
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Re: Resignation...

Post by en passant » Fri Nov 30, 2018 1:21 pm

Ghost_Of_1883 wrote:
banktopp wrote: I would like to add that any talk of cancelling BTB pledges is a betrayal of the football club, our club.
Absolutely.
Agreed.

I sometimes think that those who have suggested such a thing forget that it is us, the supporters that this whole project is about. If we lose faith in what we are doing and want to take our money back in a strop it is only harming the club and therefore ourselves.

And one thought on the OP. I do not think it bleak and depressing to say that we may be at this level for some time to come, based on what our current model can sustain. Keeping the patient alive, even in a semi-comatose state at least provides for something better further down the line. We can forget how bleak things looked 6 years ago and that where we are now is a good deal better off than having no football club to worry about.

al_quaker
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Re: Resignation...

Post by al_quaker » Fri Nov 30, 2018 1:32 pm

TDS wrote: We are no longer a League 2 club. Simple as that. Fans of York, Stockport, Chester etc don't expect to be back there so its time we stopped too. Football has unfortunately moved on, if anybody follows Accrington Stanley's chairman Andy Holt on Twitter, he paints clear as day that there is not a single EFL club running within their means. That is our aim, to be sustainable, we are against private ownership and we must accept what comes with that. If not let's roll the dice with everybody else and play the boom-bust game that comes with it.

This is the league we can manage on fan power and this is the reality of the situation, one thing I do think that has waned over time is our energy to prove to Chairman of the past that we can do it ourselves.
I'd hazard a guess there are fans of York, Stockport et al who do expect to be back in League 2.

I could be wrong, but I thought Andy Holt was referring to not a single League 1 club running within their means. Do clubs like Exeter run at a loss?

'We are against private ownership' is a sweeping statement - there are plenty in our fan base who are in favour of it.

I've never done what I've done (as little as that may be) for the club in an attempt to 'prove to chairmen of the past we can do it for ourselves' - rather, I do what I can as I want DFC to ultimately grow to a position where it can be competing as a professional club in a national league. I certainly don't expect to be back in League 2 (as much as that would be superb)- rather it's dawning on me that, like you say, the reality of the situation is that this is the only league we can manage nowadays. And, because we have no ground and no revenue streams, I see no realistic way out of that. And perhaps that is behind my personal growing detachment from the club, no doubt exacerbated by the tedium of what goes on on the pitch.

comeondarlo
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Re: Resignation...

Post by comeondarlo » Fri Nov 30, 2018 1:39 pm

banktopp wrote:
comeondarlo wrote:This thread is soooo facking depressing!

Can’t even be bothered to put my opinion in the mix, other than saying it would be against the majority.

Still I’ve made up my mind what to do on Boxing Day!
Not quite sure what you are on about.
Having re-read the whole topic there are obviously a variety of opinions certainly without a clear majority.
Roughly 9 people want TW sacked, 10 are prepared put off any decision for several months, and 11 are prepared to keep Tommy Wright in post until at least the end of the season.
Most of the opinions are well thought out and reasoned.
I would like to add that any talk of cancelling BTB pledges is a betrayal of the football club, our club. I am in it for the long term irrespective of who the manager is. Surely as owners it is incumbent upon us to support the club not just through the turnstiles but other financial initiatives also, those of us who can afford to.
I’ve calmed down a bit now. I haven’t been on here for awhile and may have over reacted. That said I also read the Tin Shed Facebook page earlier which proper gets my goat! That said I dispute your figures there but I refuse to go ‘all Gramps’ on you.

What en passant has just said is roughly where I am
Last edited by comeondarlo on Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

TDS
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Re: Resignation...

Post by TDS » Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:47 pm

al_quaker wrote:
TDS wrote: We are no longer a League 2 club. Simple as that. Fans of York, Stockport, Chester etc don't expect to be back there so its time we stopped too. Football has unfortunately moved on, if anybody follows Accrington Stanley's chairman Andy Holt on Twitter, he paints clear as day that there is not a single EFL club running within their means. That is our aim, to be sustainable, we are against private ownership and we must accept what comes with that. If not let's roll the dice with everybody else and play the boom-bust game that comes with it.

This is the league we can manage on fan power and this is the reality of the situation, one thing I do think that has waned over time is our energy to prove to Chairman of the past that we can do it ourselves.
I could be wrong, but I thought Andy Holt was referring to not a single League 1 club running within their means. Do clubs like Exeter run at a loss?

'We are against private ownership' is a sweeping statement - there are plenty in our fan base who are in favour of it.

I've never done what I've done (as little as that may be) for the club in an attempt to 'prove to chairmen of the past we can do it for ourselves' - rather, I do what I can as I want DFC to ultimately grow to a position where it can be competing as a professional club in a national league.
I'm sure he was suggesting that there is not a single club within the EFL that runs on revenue alone. But either way, it shows how far football has come. You can easily blow £millions just trying to get in to League 2 and failing massively. This is the risk we as fans take on and this is why we cannot have this immediate over-night success craving. We all felt helpless when Raj and George and Scott and Sizer were passing us around willy-nilly. This is what the Club is now protected against, and this is the conditions I agreed to come and be involved under. Sure, a private investor can come in and own a share, but never more than the fans do and it should never be in the form of loans etc. We find our level and we deal with it.

al_quaker
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Re: Resignation...

Post by al_quaker » Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:04 pm

TDS wrote:
I'm sure he was suggesting that there is not a single club within the EFL that runs on revenue alone. But either way, it shows how far football has come. You can easily blow £millions just trying to get in to League 2 and failing massively. This is the risk we as fans take on and this is why we cannot have this immediate over-night success craving. We all felt helpless when Raj and George and Scott and Sizer were passing us around willy-nilly. This is what the Club is now protected against, and this is the conditions I agreed to come and be involved under. Sure, a private investor can come in and own a share, but never more than the fans do and it should never be in the form of loans etc. We find our level and we deal with it.
I agree with you about the feeling of helplessness when we were the plaything of businessmen. I'm personally not advocating for a return to that model, rather I'm lamenting the 'new reality' of the football club.

But I disagree with your implication when you state "we cannot have this immediate over-night success craving" - barring a decent run when the season was over at the back end of last season, we've been pretty rubbish since York away August 2017. I'm not surprised fans are feeling disillusioned. Yet this to me appears to be the first time there's been widespread grumbling. I think on the whole (there will always be extremes at either end of the spectrum) the fan base has been pretty patient with what's been served up over the last season and a half.

sue_donym
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Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2010 11:39 am
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Resignation...

Post by sue_donym » Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:46 pm

I think if most fans were asked in the abstract whether they'd rather follow a fan-owned club or one that was owned by (and dependant upon) a wealthy benefactor they'd always choose the former.

But I think we're rubbing up against the reality of what that entails now. It makes us exclusively reliant on the revenue that can be generated by the club itself. And with limited hospitality facilities and commercial revenue, that pretty much means gate receipts and money raised by the fans. It isn't a lot, especially given that many of the clubs we purport to compete against are either (a) benefitting from substantial investment or (b) get substantially higher attendances. I know noises were made about our budget at the start of the season but I don't for a second believe it was top ten and in that context we're not failing terribly. The lack of cup runs are all the more disappointing in that context as that would be the one extraordinary one-off event (or series of events) that could generate enormous revenue. Imagine what a FA cup second round match at Sunderland on the telly could have done for us.

Anyway let's stop day dreaming. If we don't want to take on outside investment or raise capital by debt then that's where we are and there's nothing we can do about it. All of that said, I still take pride in the fact that I support a club that I own a part of, and that all of the ups and downs are experienced communally. It makes it all the sweeter when we do win.

My memory of growing up watching Darlo is watching us in Divison Three/League Two and I believe we can be, and in terms of history and status in the game ought to be a national professional outfit. But we have no divine right to that, and where we are now is a long, long way from that. It's key that the people in charge are taking strategic long term decisions. That means investing in the academy. It means reaching out to the community and establishing long lasting links (Andy Holt at Accrington gave away 000s of shirts to local schoolkids, brilliant idea). The one massive thing we need to do is make the match day experience better but without more investment unfortunately we can't do that.

Not sure what my point is. Probably that we need to adjust our expectations and be realistic about our place in the world, and instead ensure that the club is taking the right steps in the long term to ensure that our trajectory, which has tailed off in the last couple of seasons for the first time since we re-formed, continues upwards in the long run.

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beatroute66
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Location: Ingleby Barwick

Re: Resignation...

Post by beatroute66 » Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:51 pm

Undercovered wrote:At the moment I believe the club is pretty rudderless with no real plan or strategy of where we want to go and how we get there, apart from the oft trotted out “aspiration of getting back into the league”...
Your post is spot on and I agree with pretty much everything you say save for the aspiration you mention there.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm generally "meh" on getting back into the FL, I think, save for it meaning enjoying another couple of promotions in the coming years (not that I see that happening as things are).

I'm more interested in us being sustainable, having interesting seasons (either successfully or trying to avoid being unsuccessful by means of staving off relegation...) and it being fun going to the games.

Maybe too many seasons sat in The Arena watching abject L2 football in the rain and wind has jaded me.

Just my opinion, etc, etc.

Quakerlad
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Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2014 7:54 am
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Re: Resignation...

Post by Quakerlad » Fri Nov 30, 2018 4:26 pm

quote]I think if most fans were asked in the abstract whether they'd rather follow a fan-owned club or one that was owned by (and dependant upon) a wealthy benefactor they'd always choose the former.


I think your wrong, I know plenty of fans who would swap our current situation and the thought of a very average next few years for an investor owned club with the potential excitement that brings. Not saying any old random businessman from afar, but one who is local and after due dilligance clearly has the resources to back it up.

We are going absolutely nowhere except a downward spiral without investment and most potential investors would not put money in without control, why would they.

Another sign today with selling another of our experienced good players to be replaced by who.......at best another young weak kid on loan.

But hey, we are fan owned so we are where we are and that’s ok! At least we cannot go out of business! Come on, you really want this?

en passant
Posts: 527
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Re: Resignation...

Post by en passant » Fri Nov 30, 2018 4:33 pm

Quakerlad wrote:quote]I think if most fans were asked in the abstract whether they'd rather follow a fan-owned club or one that was owned by (and dependant upon) a wealthy benefactor they'd always choose the former.


I think your wrong, I know plenty of fans who would swap our current situation and the thought of a very average next few years for an investor owned club with the potential excitement that brings. Not saying any old random businessman from afar, but one who is local and after due dilligance clearly has the resources to back it up.

We are going absolutely nowhere except a downward spiral without investment and most potential investors would not put money in without control, why would they.

Another sign today with selling another of our experienced good players to be replaced by who.......at best another young weak kid on loan.

But hey, we are fan owned so we are where we are and that’s ok! At least we cannot go out of business! Come on, you really want this?
You sound as if we have a choice in this matter, so who is the investor you have lined up so we can think about it?

sue_donym
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2010 11:39 am
Team Supported: Darlington

Re: Resignation...

Post by sue_donym » Fri Nov 30, 2018 4:50 pm

Quakerlad wrote:quote]I think if most fans were asked in the abstract whether they'd rather follow a fan-owned club or one that was owned by (and dependant upon) a wealthy benefactor they'd always choose the former.


I think your wrong, I know plenty of fans who would swap our current situation and the thought of a very average next few years for an investor owned club with the potential excitement that brings. Not saying any old random businessman from afar, but one who is local and after due dilligance clearly has the resources to back it up.

We are going absolutely nowhere except a downward spiral without investment and most potential investors would not put money in without control, why would they.

Another sign today with selling another of our experienced good players to be replaced by who.......at best another young weak kid on loan.

But hey, we are fan owned so we are where we are and that’s ok! At least we cannot go out of business! Come on, you really want this?
So you're essentially saying that you'd risk the club's existence on a speculative tilt at the Football League?

Unless this hypothetical investor you are thinking of has massive pockets and/or is sufficiently committed to the club to absorb losses year on year (not many of them around) then that's what you're advocating.

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