League 1 - to regroup, bring the youngsters through, get the finances straight finally - bring more investment on board and surge back up again on a high? To really mount a competitive challenge in this league? Like Brighton & Southampton? Or to continue to struggle in the nether reaches of the Championship? Of course, we may have no option......
League One is just as hard to get out of as the Championship plus we would lose the better players that we currently have. It would be a backward step that could take more than you think to get back up again. Hopefully (fingers crossed) this season is a blip and we struggle to survive but do survive and then go on from here.
This is a widely held belief that you lose your "better" players when you go down. I do not know the answer, but it would be interesting to know how many of Southampton's "better" players from their last stint in the Championship are still at St Mary's and playing a part in their surge to the top of the League. My money is on not many. Personally I think that we would lose most of the senior pros (not much loss there currently) and have to rely more on the youngsters. May not too much of a bad thing.
I imagine Loo Town thought the Blue Square would be easy to get out of - 3 years ago - relegation ? - no thanks - we have been quietly sorting out our finances and if we can stay in the Championship all the better
I see what your saying Vic , but going down will mean you lose your better players young or otherwise , your crowds go down as does other revenues and were back to square 1 ! It is part of our 5 year program for financial self sustainability not to go down! Usually teams that drop down spend at least 2 or 3 years at least trying to get out!! I totally agree with the above post!
No way, we would not consolidate, we would stagnate. Soton & Brighton had one other thing - money men to back 'em. We are skint and will be even more skint in the 3rd Div...relegation will be a disaster
I agree with the last two posts. The lower leagues are littered with clubs who thought that they could regroup at lower levels and return stronger. Millwall and Swansea City had to go down to Division 2 before the tide turned - and Plymouth Swindon and Luton are still waiting ! If it happened as you suggested then great, but, with our resources and fan base we could be moving into our natural level at division 1 and consequently be a lot longer there than you hope.
i have to agree with everyone else..i can't see we would benefit from a downward step, if we do get the choice!
I am sure that Mr B's financial plan (whatever it is ) does NOT include or expect relegation! Crowds below 10,000, decline in revenues from all sources--disaster. We do not have the resources to aspire to promotion from League One.
We have to utilise the full squad, kids and all, we must survive this losing streak! The Championship is the only place for us!
Some very big teams with massive support and well paid players have found it hard to come back up. The only reason we did last time was because GT came back and brought a few bargins which gelled well together. Would we be so lucky this time? We might use more of the youngsters but League one is a strong physical league so would they work well?
I wouldnt expect us to quickly bounce back if we did get dropped. And the horrible thought of stevenage potentially beating us doesn't bode well either. As previous posters have said, if we go down we might be league one for a good few seasons.
Surely it depends on us, the supporters, whether crowds would go down with relegation or not. Certainly the visiting support would drop - but ours ? With a new manager and a young team with lots of local products and the occasional chance of some wins ? To survive playing the ugly football we are at the moment will drive away the supporters every bit as well as relegation would. However, we've only seen promotion under 3 managers in our history - so I would accept relegation if I thought that the next GT. AD or Ken Furphy were waiting on the horizon (Or another Elton) but I don't see any signs of this as yet.
4 actually mein kölnischerhörnet - GT, Aidy, Ken Furphy & Ron Burgess (1959-60) although most people (including Oli Philips) felt that it was more down to Big Cliff Holton than Burgess. After Holton was sold in 1961 the team started on a downward spiral only stopped when Burgess left and Bill McGarry was appointed. Incidentally McGarry would have been player-manager but Bournemouth wouldn't release his player registration. So technically he was the Watford manager, but at the same time a Bournemouth player........
Sorry I stand corrected on Ron Burgess (I was too young then to remember it). By the way Hornet is Hornisse in German, & just to clear up any doubt I'm as English as you are.
God no, we wouldn't get out of League One with the current squad and we will lose all sorts of players and a lot of cash if we go down. Brighton and Saints have had a lot of investment to get back to where they are, there are plenty of other examples that didn't end so well.
