When we had to face up to relegation last year from the 2nd tier to the 3rd, the majority of people, including myself thought we were going to have an easy time and get a quick return with instant promotion, so say better players, used to playing a higher grade of football, better facilities, coaching, typical bigger club syndrome, we had performed bad and had bad leadership from top to bottom, big time Charlie's playing for us, but if we're honest we all thought we were going to do ok but, boy we sure got put in our places, we were crap and struggled, we had to re-adjust, learn quickly, eat humble pie and we all now know the outcome. I am wondering what might happen to the Rovers with the big drop, when the hurt subsides, and the full realization dawns that they are now a non-league side, the emotions will drop, the anger is gone, economies and cuts take place, players leave, staff are sacked and the same old suits are in charge, when they find out the opposition sides are as good and sometimes better and they start to lose some games, will the spirits take a further dive, will the club dip even further, the BRFC fans in the main as we have seen demonstrated on here will stick, there is big changes on the way, it happened to us and reality will hit them all regardless. Just how far will 'The Big Drop' continue with the fans and the club, they've taken a massive hit.
Well they dropped from league 1 to league 2 and thought they were a big fish in a small pond when in fact they were a fish who couldn't swim! Will be interesting to see how they do next season, me personally I think they will come straight back up and then they will be fighting at the right end of the table in league 2. They probably needed to go down to come up.
I admire your optimism Shiny - but they got relegated in the first place because they were not good enough. I reckon Wiz has called it right
As I've said on their forum there are plenty of clubs who leave the Football League and simply vanish - Darlington, Scarborough, and Maidstone to name but 3. Then there are those who leave and keep falling - Step forward Boston Utd, Workington, Barrow, Bradford Park Avenue, and Stockport County and now Chester City. Halifax bucked the trend and came back from the Conference North and have only just lost in the Conference Play Off Semi Finals. There are those who fall and come back like Luton (although it's taken them years to do so) and Torquay and Lincoln, who have managed to fall out of the league again And finally there are a gaggle of clubs that simply stay in the Conference like Kidderminster, Grimsby (reasonably big club), Wrexham, Cambridge, Barnet and others. Make no mistake it's a very tough league with little difference between the Conference and L1/L2 and everyone will want to beat Rovers. My feeling is that Rovers will need to bounce straight back if they're going to make it, or it could take them years. Spending money (as we know) also isn't a guarantee of success. You need a squad of players with the right mindset
Gateshead have been out of the league for 54 years and now have a playoff final v Cambridge U. I think Rovers stay will be somewhere between the wild optimism of next season and year 2050. For Gasheads sakes I hope its not too long.
We didn't exactly dominate Tamworth in the cup this year. Angelic is right - there is minimal difference between the Conference and L2 and Rovers will be a good scalp for most clubs as they will be viewed as one of the big boys. I really hope they get back soon. I have no ill-will towards The Gas and as many have said on this board before, it's a disgrace that a city the size of Bristol has 2 such under-achieving teams. If the Gas can bounce back and keep the UWE Stadium on track, they will hopefully have a secure future and at least both teams will have a solid infrastructure from which to hopefully progress. Bleak times for footy in Bristol right now, that's for sure. Over to you Mr. Cotterill......
