Controversial crap? It's my opinion, i'm not seeking a rise. Just because I don't conform to all your away with the fairies opinion's I constantly get shot down. I have on the Ryan Doble thread what I say has substance.
no your just negative twat - i have never seen you post a positive comment on this board, its always negative **** at the far end of the scale and i'm sure your one of the people who loved Rupert Lowe's time as it gave you lots to moan about
Look in the Yago thread. Idiot. Nope Despised the man, I've always despised the whole family, his father is even worse.
Speak your mind mate,there's nothing wrong with that even if I or others don't agree about it I don't think we should get all agitated about it
Be gone devil. You know sod all, now please do us all a favour ..... Oh and you'd never merit a PA. They don't give them to the tea boy
Those people who see football clubs as "just another business" have completely missed the point. There is an emotional bond between supporters and the team we love which may be irrational, but it is very real. Otherwise, 3 years ago when Southampton FC were facing possible oblivion we would just have shrugged our shoulders and said "Oh, well, never mind, we'll just have to support Pompey instead, at least until they go down the pan as well". Darlington supporters may well find another club, or maybe they can buy their club out and save it, but whatever they do has very little to do with a desire to run a successful business. I absolutely agree that football clubs MUST be run on sound business principles but they are not just disposable products that can be trashed if they don't work properly.
Nothing wrong with expressing opinions guys and gals.......just keep the personal insults out of it please. There is no need for them.......We mods try not to interfer but now and again you guys go way over the top. In the main we have one thing in common our love of the game of football. There is no room for personal insults..........
Interested to see a thread about Darlington here as there was a good article about this club in last month's "When Saturday comes." I don't know if anyone else on this board reads this magazine but it always has very thought provoking articles within it and is a marked improvement on the kind of journalism. The article was written by a fan who rightly bemoaned Reynold's decision to take Darlington from their original, adequate ground and construct a new stadium to fulfil their Premiership ambitions which were never likely to be achieved. Quite a lot of remarks were made on both this and the Pompey board about criminals being in charge of PFC but in the case of Darlington this was wholly accurate. Oddily enough, another article in this month's "WSC" described how St. Mirren had been re-organised into a compnay whereby the assets such as the ground, etc were ring-fenced should future owners prove unsuccessful in the management of the club and how this arrangement of coupling this with a "community club" kind of arrangement was seen by many north of the border as a sensible solution for some of Scotland's smaller clubs. Because of the way that football clubs are linked to the community, I feel that there should be assurances to ensure that clubs (especially ones with a strong regional attachment) are protected. When I looked at the Blue League table and saw how many old Football League clubs were languishing in this division, it highlights the plight of many clubs such as Mansfield (at one time potentially being re-named to match a fictional football team on a cable TV soap opera), the now defunct Chester City and perenial strugglers Stockport County. Surely a csse should be made for retuning to a more regional series of divisions like the old Div 3 South & North which would cut down travelling expenses and perhaps generate more interest in regional derbies? Whilst football clubs have always gone out of business even before the days of Accrrington Stanley, Southport and Barrow in the 60's and 70's (quite a few "important" teams like Clapton Orient and Leeds City disappeared after the First World War nearly 90 years ago), some of the clubs now threatened have a heritage which stretches back nearly 140 years and I think that this is definatley justification for more regulated running of football clubs and perhaps a redistribution of revenue where some of the money can filter further down the l;eague.
Overall a great post, but I have to point out that Chester City may not be a league club at the moment, but are not defunct. They are owned by their fans and get crowds of 3000+ in a league where the average attendance is measured in tens. Horrible history of an owner milking the club, not paying tax bills (sound familiar) but they are climbing back out of it.
Who cares? they're lower league scum... a nothing club with nothing fans, let em die... seriously, why should we care about them?!
It sounds a good idea to have a regional division 2 to cut travel costs down. Could have champions of each region go straight into division 1 and a play-off involving teams 2 and 3 from each league for the last spot.
Sorry, but I find this response unbelievable. Football teams probably give the town and cities across the provinces their highest profile and in many, many cases, I would suggest that the football club is the most prominent thing about some of these communities. I would definately argue that a decent football club is a source of regional pride. Other than this, I feel that football clubs are part of our heritage and very much something that is of importance if you are a social historian. Whenever I go on holiday to France you can guarantee that someone will want to talk about English football to you and I am sure that this is the same in many other countries too. For me, there is definately an element of pride that the game was created in this country and that Britain was at the forefront of ensuring the sport's rules were clearly defined, competitions organised and that the appeal of football emerged as the first form of mass entertainment. Darlington may not have an illustrious history but they do have a history none-the-less being formed two years before Saints in 1883. (still relatively late for many Northen clubs, though.) They may be non-league but they are by no means "scum" and I would take exception that their fans are dismissed so readily too. As I said in my earlier post, these smaller clubs would benefit from better protection from entering into administration or liquidation and it is criminal when 130 years of heritage and regional, cultural identity is allowed to crumble like this. BTW: Fran's idea makes a lot of sense.
