League 2 General Chat Thread

Robshep

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2020
Messages
2,649
Reaction score
1,063
Points
113
Location
Wallasey
Supports
Tranmere Rovers
Not just the veganism, but also the environmental issues. Not sure what will happen when Dale ceases to be involved with the club, which will of course happen eventually...guess it depends who takes over.
Greta Thunberg?
 

denzel ecfc

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
4,083
Reaction score
1,136
Points
113
Supports
Exeter City
At least we will have a whole Summer to get a new pitch sorted.
And half a new team...
 

Bone Idle

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2019
Messages
732
Reaction score
313
Points
63
Location
Llandogo
Supports
Newport County
According to the so called efl experts at sky this is the L2 team of the season
 

Boz

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
3,323
Reaction score
690
Points
113
Location
Huddersfield
Supports
Tranmere Rovers
I think it’s an improvement on the other one though still some strange inclusions and omissions.
 

Bottega Don

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2015
Messages
5,161
Reaction score
1,712
Points
113
Supports
Scunthorpe United
That team is pretty good except for the obvious omission of Mullin and Bradford having two players in it
 

denzel ecfc

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
4,083
Reaction score
1,136
Points
113
Supports
Exeter City
That team is pretty good except for the obvious omission of Mullin and Bradford having two players in it
And Doyle not being in it.
At least we have a team of average players I guess
 

loz

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2015
Messages
762
Reaction score
328
Points
63
Location
Bratfud
Supports
Citeh
That team is pretty good except for the obvious omission of Mullin and Bradford having two players in it
Can't see how any Bradford Player would make tos. It's done on statistics obviously. According to statistics, we regularly had 60% possession in games. Pity we didn't leave our own half more often.
 

Si Robin

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2015
Messages
4,208
Reaction score
1,517
Points
113
Location
Tewkesbury
Supports
Cheltenham Town
A Cheltenham fan pointed out yesterday that Will Boyle's rating was 7.24, so 0.07 higher than Mickey Demetriou.

I can't say I either know or care about it to be honest.
 
  • Like
Reactions: loz

Conker

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
7,108
Reaction score
1,733
Points
113
Supports
Mansfield Town FC
Twitter
@CONKS__
Sports Direct - renowned for their ethics/treatment of employees. Seems ironic for them to run an initiative like this.


It’s mad when you see the shift change at their HQ in Shirebrook, loads of Eastern Europeans on mopeds with 4 people on them smoking baccy in high vis, I’ll be suprised if they still don’t get treated like shit by Sports Direct.
 

Indian Dan

‘Absolute calamity!’
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
10,157
Reaction score
3,324
Points
113
Location
Corsham
Supports
Swindon
Which is why the vast majority of clubs in the lower 2 leagues will never really get anywhere. Crewe are a typical example of a cyclical club. Great crop of youngsters every few years, get promoted from L2 to L1, sell them, stumble back to L2 and repeat. It’s when the saleable players dry up and the club are still losing money that they get into trouble.
 

Devon_Lad

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2017
Messages
2,303
Reaction score
382
Points
83
Location
Jurassic Coast
Supports
Exeter City / Rangers
Twitter
@MoggMentum
Which is why the vast majority of clubs in the lower 2 leagues will never really get anywhere. Crewe are a typical example of a cyclical club. Great crop of youngsters every few years, get promoted from L2 to L1, sell them, stumble back to L2 and repeat. It’s when the saleable players dry up and the club are still losing money that they get into trouble.
And repeat? We must be missing this part. Need to get promoted for us to follow that cycle.

Now our academy is well known most our youngsters get poached before we get anything out of them or a good wedge as they're too young. Need that sorting out somehow, new rules or something
 

Indian Dan

‘Absolute calamity!’
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
10,157
Reaction score
3,324
Points
113
Location
Corsham
Supports
Swindon
Well, yes. But if you want to get up to L1 I’d think you should have done so by now. Obviously, I have no idea how much of your cash reserves will be spent on your squad but you can’t go on producing decent youngsters and not achieving it. When the well runs dry - as it will - those operating losses will bite. This isn’t a jibe at your club particularly, but it applies to most every club in some way.

When we missed out on getting to the Championship a few years ago the players that got us there got sold and the rot set in. Saying that, not every club has a thieving bastard as an owner.
 

shoddycollins

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
11,445
Reaction score
3,529
Points
113
Location
In the Paul Simpson wonderland
Supports
Carlisle United
We seem to be in the midst of a productive crop of youngsters at the moment with the likes of Branthwaite, McCarron and Galloway being snapped up by Premier League teams and Charters and Dixon coming through while the youth team did very well last season. See where it gets us, no surprise though that it's coincided with the return of Eric Kinder.
 

Chris FGR

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
11,176
Reaction score
5,469
Points
113
Supports
Forest Green
We've had our player of the year awards.

Supporters player of the year - Jamille Matt
Players player - Jamille Matt
Young player - Udoka Godwin-Malife
Goal of the season - Aaron Collins v Oldham (A)

Jamma also won PFA Community Champion.
 

Gassy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2015
Messages
3,306
Reaction score
1,289
Points
113
Location
London
Supports
Bristol Rovers
And repeat? We must be missing this part. Need to get promoted for us to follow that cycle.

Now our academy is well known most our youngsters get poached before we get anything out of them or a good wedge as they're too young. Need that sorting out somehow, new rules or something
It doesn't get any easier I'm afraid. Unless you get to the Championship or have really high level facilities, this is just how it is. We recently just lost another 2 starlets to Villa who were extremely highly rated.

I cant remember what the FA did exactly, but they changed the rules a few years ago to screw lower league clubs istm.

I think we did get £200k for Kyrie Pierre who went to Villa at the age of 15, which is fantastic on paper - but give it a couple of years and we'd have received a few mill I'm sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: loz

Super_horns

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2014
Messages
10,383
Reaction score
1,306
Points
113
Supports
WATFORD
If he gets in the England squad which is likely you'll probably hear people say Jayden Sancho came from Man City which it true but he actually started out with us until aged 15.
 

Luke Imp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
12,419
Reaction score
2,883
Points
113
Location
Lincoln
Supports
Lincoln City
It doesn't get any easier I'm afraid. Unless you get to the Championship or have really high level facilities, this is just how it is. We recently just lost another 2 starlets to Villa who were extremely highly rated.

I cant remember what the FA did exactly, but they changed the rules a few years ago to screw lower league clubs istm.

I think we did get £200k for Kyrie Pierre who went to Villa at the age of 15, which is fantastic on paper - but give it a couple of years and we'd have received a few mill I'm sure.
I think you mean the PL with EPPP.
 

Robshep

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2020
Messages
2,649
Reaction score
1,063
Points
113
Location
Wallasey
Supports
Tranmere Rovers
And repeat? We must be missing this part. Need to get promoted for us to follow that cycle.

Now our academy is well known most our youngsters get poached before we get anything out of them or a good wedge as they're too young. Need that sorting out somehow, new rules or something
Capitalism bites tory on arse and he complains.
Shut up. You reap what you sow.
 

Devon_Lad

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2017
Messages
2,303
Reaction score
382
Points
83
Location
Jurassic Coast
Supports
Exeter City / Rangers
Twitter
@MoggMentum
When the well runs dry - as it will
Why will it? We have the best academy locally and seem to be getting most of the talent coming our way and have 2 more youngsters potentially being picked up by Prem clubs. My worry isn't about the talent running dry, we will keep producing - It's the fact that they get poached so young we don't even see them properly on the pitch now (Jay Stansfield, Ben Chrisene - Soon to be Sonny Cox & Harry Lee). If we can get better rules about compensating clubs when a prem side snaps them up when they're 15/16 then we should be fine. It won't happen though.
 

Indian Dan

‘Absolute calamity!’
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
10,157
Reaction score
3,324
Points
113
Location
Corsham
Supports
Swindon
Well, that’s my point really. These young players should be helping you progress as a club but, in essence, all they are doing is helping you stand still. Again, using Crewe as an example, they have been using this model for years and they just yo yo between the bottom 2 leagues. Sure, there’s always a chance a ‘small’ club can do a Wycombe for a season but that’s about the limit. Then there’s the historical small club that gets an artificial financial leg up - Bournemouth, for example - who sustain it for a few years then return, usually broken, to their natural place in the scheme of things.

Saying that, most fans of lower league clubs just want to watch their team and don’t have the ‘entitlement’ attitude that the fans of bigger clubs have that may have fallen on hard times - Sunderland, for example. I’m amazed that, at the moment anyway, all clubs have survived Covid. If next season isn’t back to normal with full crowds I reckon that will soon change.
 

TrinidadsNumberOne

Gizza job?
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
3,146
Reaction score
908
Points
113
Location
Crewe/Macclesfield
Supports
Crewe
Which is why the vast majority of clubs in the lower 2 leagues will never really get anywhere. Crewe are a typical example of a cyclical club. Great crop of youngsters every few years, get promoted from L2 to L1, sell them, stumble back to L2 and repeat. It’s when the saleable players dry up and the club are still losing money that they get into trouble.

With all due respect that "cycle" you speak of has only happened once in modern times.

Horrendous mismanagement of a seven figure transfer budget at L1 level in 2008 coupled with a pair of inept managers saw us get relegated to L2 with a Top 6 L1 budget. We've never spent as much as that again. Before then, we had 15 solid years in the middle two tiers.

The fact we're now free of our shite former owner means trying to obtain Championship football will be a realistic prospect for us in the mid to long term as the club continues to modernise and maximise revenue having spent 15 years being hamstrung. The player trading model will continue, as it should for any club at this level. But this will lead to us investing more in the squad rather than putting millions in the owners back pocket like in the past. I dont expect us to stay 8 seasons out of 9 in the second tier like we once did. But it's now a genuine aim for the club to get back there whereas a few years ago under Hassall we had no chance at all.

Without our player trading model, we'd have ended up like Halifax Town or Chester. The player trading model based on Academy players saved us from non league in the 80s and, in an era before mass foreign investment, took us to the top half of the Championship. It's probably kept Exeter miles away from non league in modern times too and the same applies to Rochdale.

First and foremost I want a club to support. I dont want boardroom drama like a lot of clubs have. I don't want administration. I accept PL football will never happen in Crewe. So taking the rough with the smooth and selling to survive is something I accept. And if we go down, we go down. But I'd rather accept that than worry about my club going bust in the Courts like our friends up at Macclesfield did for years.

I just find it strange some fans of third and fourth tier clubs can't accept their clubs are selling clubs. Player trading is crucial even more so now thanks to Brexit and the Pandemic. Instead of scouring the Continent, Championship clubs will now recruit from this level to cut costs accordingly. So a key way of raising revenue for our clubs just became a lot easier!
 
Last edited:

denzel ecfc

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
4,083
Reaction score
1,136
Points
113
Supports
Exeter City
Well, that’s my point really. These young players should be helping you progress as a club but, in essence, all they are doing is helping you stand still. Again, using Crewe as an example, they have been using this model for years and they just yo yo between the bottom 2 leagues. Sure, there’s always a chance a ‘small’ club can do a Wycombe for a season but that’s about the limit. Then there’s the historical small club that gets an artificial financial leg up - Bournemouth, for example - who sustain it for a few years then return, usually broken, to their natural place in the scheme of things.

Saying that, most fans of lower league clubs just want to watch their team and don’t have the ‘entitlement’ attitude that the fans of bigger clubs have that may have fallen on hard times - Sunderland, for example. I’m amazed that, at the moment anyway, all clubs have survived Covid. If next season isn’t back to normal with full crowds I reckon that will soon change.
I'm resigned to perennially being a league two/ league one club. That will do me.
Wycombe had one season in the championship, and there were short stays for Yeovil, Burton, Colchester. It was never going to be sustained.
I'm happy with the way things are. I just hope we never ever get relegated to the conference again
 

Indian Dan

‘Absolute calamity!’
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
10,157
Reaction score
3,324
Points
113
Location
Corsham
Supports
Swindon
Pretty much what most lower league fans want. We’ve got our problems at the moment which, hopefully, is close to being sorted.
 

denzel ecfc

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2015
Messages
4,083
Reaction score
1,136
Points
113
Supports
Exeter City
Oh well, at least we wont have the Ryan Reynolds show next season
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2015
Messages
3,032
Reaction score
753
Points
113
Location
Creepy
Supports
Creepy
Eastleigh blew their chance which means I'm a Billy Idol fan for the play offs now. Mind you, as they are nicknamed "The Ravens" I'm not sure we will be signing White Wedding when Bromley get promoted.

Casey
 

E10rifle

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2015
Messages
4,046
Reaction score
2,515
Points
113
Location
Suffolk
Supports
Orient
Eastleigh blew their chance which means I'm a Billy Idol fan for the play offs now. Mind you, as they are nicknamed "The Ravens" I'm not sure we will be signing White Wedding when Bromley get promoted.

Casey

Fuck Bromley coming up. Dreadful little club with a dreadful little fanbase and a dreadful little ground in a complete shithole of a suburb. Absolute nobbers.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
16,422
Messages
1,189,997
Members
8,392
Latest member
feby2112
Stronger Security, Faster Connections with VPN at IPVanish.com!

SITE SPONSORS

W88 W88 trang chu KUBET Thailand
Fun88 12Bet Get top UK casino bonuses for British players in casinos not on GamStop
The best ₤1 minimum deposit casinos UK not on GamStop Find the best new no deposit casino get bonus and play legendary slots Best UK online casinos list 2022
No-Verification.Casino Casinos that accept PayPal Top online casinos
sure.bet
Need help with your academic papers? Customwritings offers high-quality professionals to write essays that deserve an A!
Top