[Ferrite]

Cliff Byrne’s Right Peg wrote:

Putting the positive cap on momentarily, I’d assume it makes capital lending more accessible and favourable if intend on redeveloping the ground and the surrounding area? Also will the 300k a year we paid in interest now be put towards the playing budget?

Two questions about that: how can the club borrow money if it doesn’t have its main asset as a security? And will the club be charged rent instead of interest?

[Ferrite]

We must also not forget “Project Big Picture” which, if it had gone through, would have given the Big 6 a lot more power in a number of areas, like voting rights, money, vetoes, etc.

And the EFL came out in favour of that! So if that had gone through, the PL and EFL would have had little or no power to stop the super league from happening.

It’s time for massive reform. The current system isn’t working for the vast majority of clubs. Otherwise, this super league plan will come back round again and maybe next time they won’t be quite so disorganised.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Deereyme66

[Ferrite]

Northumbiron wrote:

Basically we’d have to lose the last five by a cricket score for Southend to finish above us on GD

Not entirely true. The goal difference is 16 in our favour I think. We lose our last 4 games, we’re likely to lose another 5-6 goals in goal difference. If Southend win their last 3, they’re likely to make up 5-6 goals in doing so. Suddenly, not such a wide margin.

[Ferrite]

alcazar wrote:

Surely there will be sanctions from the Prem for those six clubs?

If not, why not?

1) Lawyers

2) It’s not really in the PL’s interest to take firm action against the clubs involved, it will damage their “product” (their word). Expect lots of fine words but little firm action.

[Ferrite]

Southend can’t pass us unless we have a 15 goal swing in results (unlikely but not impossible) so we would need 1 more point if they win their last 3 games.

We need to get 2 more points if Grimsby win their last 4 (their goal difference is also much worse).

If either side fails to win any of their remaining names, we are safe even without winning another point this season.

1 user thanked author for this post.

ironking

[Ferrite]

I fear you’re right but I just cannot understand how fans of these clubs can go back now, not after this. Of course, I know people will go back, I just don’t understand it!

[Ferrite]

Les – fair points all. As a wider fanbase, we have to look again at this idea of ambition. I’d love to see our club putting down some deeper roots in the community, that is crucial for our future I reckon.

1 user thanked author for this post.

lesgeo

[Ferrite]

cassidystash wrote:

Maybe ones that have some interest in SUFC next season?

That assumes there are some!

Look, I don’t think Cox is a great manager or will ever be one but I still think finding a way of keeping us in the league this season is no mean achievement. Look at what’s happened to the Cods under much more experienced managers and with a similar squad.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Northumbiron, JohnGaylesNuttingKit, BobbyGmeister

[Ferrite]

One thing’s for certain: we can’t let them come crawling back without some serious reform now. The status quo wasn’t working for football, rewinding the clock to last Sunday morning isn’t good enough.

[Ferrite]

inspector wrote:

I just wondered whether Swann was somehow behind the other Company!!!

Gallagher is a massive retail park company I think and the other one is on the link above. I do think one of Wharton’s biggest mistakes as SUFC chairman was not buying up the land around the ground in the early 1990s. Could have made bundles for the club and we could have some really great training facilities/club bars/etc.

[Ferrite]

lesgeo wrote:

It shows zero ambition but would, at least, let the club consolidate a bit. It looks like that is going to be the best we can hope for.

For you, what does “ambition” mean? Because, to me, it doesn’t just mean massive spending. Sometimes, ambition can be sustainability and long-term planning.

[Ferrite]

It tells you in the story! And it doesn’t take much to find out the names of the directors of the company involved:

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09363012/officers

It’s a terrible idea though, I reckon, yet another out-of-town development at a time when retail is dying and Scunthorpe town centre is such a mess.

[Ferrite]

cassidystash wrote:

He continues to pick the same failing players.
He continues to use the same failing tactics.
He continues to worry about the opposition rather than his own team.
He continues to fail to motivate his players.
He continues to insist we’re looking to win games which we clearly aren’t.
He’s been dealt a bad hand that’s true, but does anybody believe he’s getting the best out of what’s available? I really want continuity but he has to prove he deserves to stay.

1) Which players should he pick? This is not a good squad, especially when you lose a couple to injury.
2) Not true. He moved away from a back 5 and it proved much more successful.
3) Most managers do this.
4) Didn’t look the case against, say, Grimsby at home this season.
5) Maybe we’re just crap?
6) Yes, I do. I think he’s done very well with a terrible squad.

Honestly, how often do issues like motivation & contracts come up at successful, well-run clubs?

I do completely agree with you on Lillis, I think that was a strange appointment, bringing in someone who’s been out of the game for a while to help an inexperienced manager.

1 user thanked author for this post.

BobbyGmeister

[Ferrite]

NI – I definitely recommend picking up the sequel, The Further Corner. Not quite as witty, a bit more contemplative but it still gave me huge nostalgia when I read it over Christmas.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Northumbiron, Deereyme66

[Ferrite]

NI – Have you read Harry Pearson’s books The Far Corner & the follow-up The Father Corner? Both very funny & beautifully observed tours through non-league football in the north-east.

Newcastle fans complaining about the superleague are, in many cases, the same ones complaining that the PL wouldn’t let the Saudi regime take them over so they could spend a shed load of money on players & completely distort football.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Awaywego

[Ferrite]

Good point Mick, that goes back a few years too, doesn’t it?

[Ferrite]

Deereyme66 wrote:

You may have seen this article already Ferrite? Differing views, some I can empathise with others absolutely not…

No, I hadn’t seen that. The last two people really make you shake your head, don’t they?

I suppose my real point is this: I just don’t understand *this* being the breaking point for PL fans. And, on top of that, if the Superleague doesn’t happen then we cannot go back to the old status quo, which wasn’t working for 99% of the football pyramid. I get the impression that the majority of Big 6 fans would be happy to rewind the clock to last Sunday morning (of course I could be wrong) but this needs to be a line in the sand moment and the time to reform the game.

I mean, when third-tier clubs are losing £3m+ per season chasing promotion, you know the game is not in a healthy state!

Deereyme66 wrote:

was merely having a discussion with Ferrite about his opening post, you know the topic in question? I’m not, and wasn’t, irate about it. Difference of opinion. It happens.

It’s not the modern way to discuss a difference of opinion reasonably, should we start name-calling?

1 user thanked author for this post.

Deereyme66

[Ferrite]

Deereyme66 wrote:

You have got a point Ferrite, but it’s far from funny for those supporters who’ve been disenfranchised for years by unscrupulous owners. Money talks and many supporters who would’ve been in the Stretford End, The Kop, etc, as kids have been priced out. Many of them will be disgusted with this move. Do they deserve to be laughed at? Not for me.

I completely agrew with your sentiment but they were priced out years ago. Anyone who is still there has put up with being pushed around, fleeced at every opportunity, ignored in any major developments and has watched their clubs massively distort club football. I feel sorry for people who feel like their clubs have left them and I feel sorry for anyone who can’t afford to go to watch their team (which also applies at this level) but I don’t feel too sorry for those fans of Big 6 clubs who have defended everything their club does for years.

[Ferrite]

Deereyme66 wrote:

Again, sweeping generalisations. Of course there are premier league fans like that but there are many others who aren’t. I know a number who are born and bred Liverpool, Man U and Spurs fans who are not like that at all. I’ve met many on trains on the way back from Scunny matches over the years and I’ve not met one like that. If you want to laugh at those fans in the pubs you mention fine, I get that, but for every one of them there is a decent supporter.

I think there are plenty of what you call “decent” supporters but I don’t think there are as many as there are the pub/TV supporters, that’s precisely why these big clubs think they can get away with their plans – because they’re only interested in TV viewers.

Deereyme66 wrote:

The supporters I’m thinking of would probably accuse you of being holier than thou, and I wouldn’t argue with them.

Maybe. Maybe I’ve got a point.

[Ferrite]

I reckon the gap will be 4-5 points by the end of the season. Expect Grimsby & Southend to win a couple more games but it won’t be enough.

[Ferrite]

Well, this particular threat seems to sit with foreign owners but my point is there have been plenty of home-grown wrong ‘uns involved in our game, especially in the lower leagues. Reynolds at Darlington, Vaughan at Chester, Belotti at Brighton are just some which spring to mind.

[Ferrite]

Deereyme66 wrote:

Is there a generic Spurs, Man U, Arsenal fan that I’m unaware of?

The answer to this is definitely “yes”. In normal times, they’re found in your local pub on a Sunday afternoon wearing the latest polyester offering of their chosen club and shouting loudly at a screen that can’t hear them. They may also ask you who you support and when you reply “Scunthorpe”, they will ask “do you not support a big club too?”.

[Ferrite]

I do understand where you’re coming from so I’ll just say this: if I had supported one of the Big 6 clubs, I’d have walked away several years ago. Maybe when they started putting games on on a Monday night. Or the ticket prices kept increasing to sky-high levels. Or they started trying to claim an ever-bigger slice of the pie for themselves. Or they were taken over by a regime with a terrible human rights record, or other dubious “investors”. Or they laid off ordinary members of staff during a global pandemic whilst paying players £300,000 a week and then tried to claim government subsidies. Or when they were convicted of breaching rules designed to prevent child trafficking.

If a fan is prepared to put up with all of that, that’s their choice. As it is my choice to laugh at them when they get a taste of their own medicine.

[Ferrite]

How can you blame “foreign” owners when you give Gartside as a great example of the sort of terrible club owner?

Deereyme66 wrote:

You appear to be suffering from inverted snobbery and tarring all supporters of these clubs with the same brush IMO. ‘Looking down their noses’, ‘not batted an eyelid’ ‘grateful for the crumbs..’, etc. Sweeping generalisations, sensationalism and inferiority complex in my opinion. I’m pretty sure the majority of indigenous supporters of these clubs are not the villains you want to paint them as. But hey, just my opinion. You carry on with your ‘us and them’ malarkey. Afraid to tell you though, it ain’t quite like that.

You might be right and maybe in a few days I might see things more clearly but, frankly, this is a reckoning that has been 30 years in the making. The Premier League has consistently tipped the scales in its favour, undermining the lower leagues and making life harder & harder at lower levels. Now they’re getting hoist with their own petard.

As for Premier League fans, they’ve gone along with it because it suits their clubs (or they think it does). I often look at Man City and wonder what remains of the original club. They’re just a host now for their new owners. Many fans of the Big 6 seem unable to look beyond the next big name signing, the next trophy, etc., not giving two hoots about the wider game.

Yes, I’m sure it’s #notallPLfans but let’s be right, they’ve not exactly been allies when it comes to the struggles of the lower leagues. They couldn’t even be bothered to protest about Wimbledon.

[Ferrite]

I agree Deerey, can you show me all the empathy of all the PL fans who have been looking down their noses at the lower leagues for 30 years? Who have not batted an eyelid at the rules the PL has kept introducing to keep tilting things in their favour? Who don’t complain about things like FA Cup replays being done away with to make space for their European fixtures? Who are quite happy (and sometimes actively campaign for it) when billionaires take over their clubs, further distorting the game in this country? Who thing Football League clubs should be grateful for the crumbs we get from their table?

I’ve plenty of time for FC United of Manchester, they’re a brilliant, positive force for good in the game and in their community. If we get more clubs like that out of this, then it won’t be all bad.

[Ferrite]

MK Iron wrote:

Sky would probably be singing a different tune if they still had the rights to Champions League and Europa League.

Not sure, if the PL expel the 6 clubs, that could blow a hole in their subscriptions & therefore their business model.

MK Iron wrote:

Is it too much to hope for that the self appointed super 12 or so will feck off into oblivion along with the greedy owners, greedy players and the leeches that are the pay tv and betting companies?

I actually feel a bit sorry for the players caught up in this – no easy choices but I wonder if any of them will rip up their contracts in response to a super league?

[Ferrite]

Iron-awe wrote:

the increase in foreign ownership doesn’t help, the interest in the history and tradition of our national game is lost on them.

Nowt to do with where people come from, plenty of domestic cowboys in the game too.

It’s quite funny watching all the Sky pundits trotting out their PR lines about how this is the death of football or whatever. They’re going to be furious when they find out about what Sky has done to football!

Northumbiron wrote:

On the down side, any restructuring may save the Cods from relegation!

Good, good, more Grimsbys, fewer Man Uniteds please!

[Ferrite]

Northumbiron wrote:

With improved fitness methods and strict diets. Warm ups and warm downs. One would have thought today’s footballer would be stronger than forty years ago, but apparently not!

Racehorse vs. drayhorse?

[Ferrite]

Is Howard contracted for next season? I thought he only signed until the end of the season.

[Ferrite]

We will stay up this season.

[Author]

Posts