MKAylesburyDon wrote:
WellDon wrote:
On the flip side, if we get relegated, will the fallout from fans be so big that they have to change their mode of thinking and actually invest in a team and try and look after the fans. The worry is relegation and further cuts in the budget would probably sentence us to a few seasons in LG 2 rather than a fleeting visit we would hope for.
They did invest in the team this season, unsuccessful as it may have been you can't keep denying they invested when money was spent on Dennis, Devoy, Grant, Burns, Tucker etc.
I will concede, possibly a poor choice of words that deserved a better explanation.
Yes they have invested albeit at a level that wouldn’t have reached the fee obtained for Twine, so perhaps I should have said something along the lines of, invest in a team that could be expected to compete even at a mediocre level.
My regular comparisons with Plymouth, which I think is fair, show they have invested in a team capable of being promoted, their level of investment being greater than ours.
It’s all about levels I think, we decided to cost cut and save money in various areas and it hasn’t worked out and fans have stayed away, our results have gone downhill, and we are in the mess we are in.
It’s easy to sit here now and say what fool thought that would work, Sweeting etc would have been hailed a genius if he had pulled it off, but it hasn’t and probably in hindsight they realised they cut too deep or under invested in the team.
Plymouth on the other hand decided to invest at a bigger level than us, the results speak for themselves, top of the league, sellout crowds, but it’s easy to say that now in March, the Plymouth Model might have failed, well it is easy to say it now, but you can’t deny I haven’t just started saying it this month, it’s been on the agenda for most of the season.
So in conclusion, I will amend future posts to say a level of investment.
I'm not sure I can agree with your assessment WellDon.
Plymouth paid a fee for one player in summer 21 and amongst all their free transfer signings two were from us. They didn't pay for a single player in summer 2022. They also appointed their assistant manager to replace Lowe, considering our fans love to moan about hiring the 'cheap option', I'd love to see the reaction if we did that here. They signed 4 players for 'undisclosed' fees this January when already top of the league but Tyriek Wright was apparently all add odds with no up front fee, Early had been playing in L2 with 6 months left on his deal at Norwich and Wright was deemed surplus at Blackpool after only 6 months. Arguable all unproven youngsters with their only real experience in L2. Not sure where the 'investment at a bigger level than us' or 'their level of investment being greater than our' comes from.
They are doing better. But they've signed youngsters on the cheap, hired a cheap option and relied on many loan spells. Probably actually invested a lot less than we have.
They may have invested in things off the field to help attendances. But then again Plymouth is a town with a bigger population and basically one professional football team near them for quite a few miles, as well as having the boost of being a decent sized University town.
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. But our leading scorer gets put down for "not doing enough" but you are happy to let grigg who has been average for years with a free pass. What a deluded bunch you all are. 2016 was probably the man's last half decent season. 7 years ago. But compared to second highest goalscorer in the league in bishop it is night and day. It's all ifs and buts but if we were willing to pay half a million for bishop then get grigg as alternative on a free where did that portion of the budget go? I mean I guess it was spent now with what we got in Jan but you are telling me grigg was an adequate replacement for a 25 year old we allegedly couldn't afford. That's the part that most annoyed me with his signing was we were willing to spend on a striker and ended up with a striker on a free and the rose tinted glasses that came with him.