|
Post by martinjohn on Apr 2, 2024 10:50:19 GMT
I agree there are many factors, but I'm saying that we really will be amongst the smallest clubs, almost certainly smallest 4 clubs for the first time since we came up to league 1 in 2021. That doesn't mean we're destined to finish in the bottom 4, but I would have thought would make it a harder proposition than the previous 3 seasons. Purely off the top of my head, I'd say we've been 1 of the smallest 4 clubs since we came up haven't we? Certainly 1 of the 6 smallest every season. That said I've likely forgotten who was even in the league with us. 21/22: 16th in the attendance table 22/23: 17th 23/24: 19th Yes, judging a club's size by its attendance isn't everything but I think it's quite significant factor. And the league table largely correlates, with some notable outliers every season. If we lost Burton and Cheltenham and the top 3 of league 2 go up along with MK Dons and any of championship relegation candidates go down, we will be the 4th smallest side in the division. Yes, if we stay up of course.
|
|
|
Post by Tom Shaw's Fist of Rage on Apr 2, 2024 10:50:52 GMT
I agree there are many factors, but I'm saying that we really will be amongst the smallest clubs, almost certainly smallest 4 clubs for the first time since we came up to league 1 in 2021. That doesn't mean we're destined to finish in the bottom 4, but I would have thought would make it a harder proposition than the previous 3 seasons. The year we came up was pretty strong and we were almost certainly in the bottom 4 financially but we didn't need to worry too much because we were good and finished ahead of most of the similar sized teams bar Accy. Last season felt weaker, partly because of Accy and Morecum being down there but we were competing with Oxford and MK at times for that last spot who would have had bigger spends. This season was always going to be a bit more unknown because we were going from a squad of League One quality on League Two wages, to having to replace on League One wages and still being one of the smaller teams. Next year while I agree it might be the toughest in terms of opposition, I think as El G alluded to, we will start to find ourselves a bit more established in terms of squad building at this level which should balance that out somewhat.
|
|
|
Post by El Goodo on Apr 2, 2024 10:53:24 GMT
Northampton have got the majority of their squad out of contract as well and loanees like Bowie will leave. Most promoted clubs get second season syndrome where they tend to not do as well. Yeah Northampton are one I definitely think will have a much tougher time of it next year. Brady's a good manager though. I think Exeter will properly struggle too.
|
|
|
Post by El Goodo on Apr 2, 2024 11:00:34 GMT
Purely off the top of my head, I'd say we've been 1 of the smallest 4 clubs since we came up haven't we? Certainly 1 of the 6 smallest every season. That said I've likely forgotten who was even in the league with us. 21/22: 16th in the attendance table 22/23: 17th 23/24: 19th Yes, judging a club's size by its attendance isn't everything but I think it's quite significant factor. And the league table largely correlates, with some notable outliers every season. If we lost Burton and Cheltenham and the top 3 of league 2 go up along with MK Dons and any of championship relegation candidates go down, we will be the 4th smallest side in the division. Yes, if we stay up of course. Fair enough. I'd be amazed if we weren't in the bottom 4 of budgets every single season we've been here though. Guess the question really, presuming we're in L1, is does the median divisional budget change & does the disparity between the bottom 4/6 budgets and the rest of the division increase. My assumption is yes it does.
|
|
imp566
Cult hero
Posts: 16,066
|
Post by imp566 on Apr 2, 2024 11:02:33 GMT
Next season is gonna be a way harder league than we've known it to be before. We will almost certainly be one of the 4 smallest sides in the league and staying up will be an achievement. Redevelopment cannot come soon enough. Worse than last season? We had some very big hitters last season; depending on who goes up this season, can't see it being harder than that.
|
|
rozza1
Reserve team regular
Posts: 3,195
|
Post by rozza1 on Apr 2, 2024 11:04:12 GMT
Comments or debates like these always get on my nerves.
We may have the one of the 4 smallest budgets next season, but that does not make us one of the 4 smallest clubs. Even if the current bottom 4 from League 1 go down and any 4 of the current lot in the League 2 promotion hunt go up, we'll still be no smaller than nearly half of the clubs in this league.
Sorry if it sounds pedantic, but I find this belittling attitude we have towards our own club irritating and even quite constrictive and times. If we stay up we'll be here because ultimately we deserve to be here.
|
|
|
Post by martinjohn on Apr 2, 2024 11:11:40 GMT
We are here in merit. I was just responding to someone saying that we're going to have a promotion push next season. I love the optimism and I really hope we do, but just wanted to throw some perspective in.
|
|
imp566
Cult hero
Posts: 16,066
|
Post by imp566 on Apr 2, 2024 11:14:44 GMT
I agree about the promotion push - that is not on my radar, very amber tinted glasses on there!
|
|
|
Post by funkymonk on Apr 2, 2024 11:30:48 GMT
Comments or debates like these always get on my nerves. We may have the one of the 4 smallest budgets next season, but that does not make us one of the 4 smallest clubs. Even if the current bottom 4 from League 1 go down and any 4 of the current lot in the League 2 promotion hunt go up, we'll still be no smaller than nearly half of the clubs in this league. Sorry if it sounds pedantic, but I find this belittling attitude we have towards our own club irritating and even quite constrictive and times. If we stay up we'll be here because ultimately we deserve to be here. Yeah it's a balance between looking at attendances, looking at budgets and then the more intangible stuff of "bigness". Burton/Wycombe/Stevenage probably have a bigger budget, off field income etc than us but are objectively smaller. Shrewsbury/Exeter/Northampton/Orient/etc are all peers size wise but have a lot of different things going on than we do. Equally, there are objectively bigger clubs in the league below who've been run terribly, so it's more about what you do with it than the size of it (or so I'm told).
|
|
rozza1
Reserve team regular
Posts: 3,195
|
Post by rozza1 on Apr 2, 2024 11:40:25 GMT
We are here in merit. I was just responding to someone saying that we're going to have a promotion push next season. I love the optimism and I really hope we do, but just wanted to throw some perspective in. I'd be surprised if anyone seriously thinks that. We are in a transitional period both on and off the pitch. If we stay up, then if next season is anything like the last couple then it'll be another tough scrap. It'd be our 4th season in this League, and ideally we should be aiming a little higher (lower midtable not promotion chasers) so we can continue this transition with a bit more confidence in our league position. But hope is one thing, reality is another. Budgets are a limitation, and people have mentioned on here previously about there being room for improvement in terms of the club being a bit more savvy with our transfer dealings, and get into the position where we can start making more money from transfers like Exeter for example. The club are clearly keen to find more revenue streams, though I'd rather we go down the Exeter route than the alternatives like Stevenage's burger king sponsor or the CEO's Americanisation of the badge. It's also how you use your budget that really counts. We nearly always see multiple clubs that are fairly wasteful with their budgets and in turn clubs that are incredibly smart with theirs. After our recruitment and planning the last two seasons I'd say there's definitely room for improvement in this area for us too.
|
|
|
Post by Andrewlang on Apr 2, 2024 11:47:08 GMT
If we're super smart about our recruitment you never know about a promotion push, but yeah, very unlikely I'd say. The three who come down are all financially solid so should be among the favourites and the three among the top 7 who don't go up will be fancied too and then there's Reading probably spending their way to oblivion again. Wigan probably doing the same. Oxford are often up there...and Charlton have to sort their sh*t out at some point, surely.
I do think we've possibly got at least three players who *could* be part of a much much better season if we get the right players around them, though. Bennett if he stays is one of the best full backs in the league (as above I don't think we'll stick to three at the back next year) Jobe is only going to get better, and if we sign him Ahadme has an iron side to him and scores goals. 17 in 33(23) games at this level is excellent and will get better as he establishes himself next season.
I assume a few clubs will fancy him next year so I hope we're already talking to him.
Andrew
|
|
danboyb
Youth team substitute
Posts: 507
|
Post by danboyb on Apr 2, 2024 11:49:59 GMT
Can only guess the promotion quote was very much tongue in cheek. No reason why we cannot improve year on year and eventually aim for that, but stability has to be the short term aim.
We do need a major review of all aspects of the club at the end of the season though. Monk may well want to bring in his own fitness coach, Goalie coach etc. Injuries have disrupted us yet again this season, can we do anything to lessen them or speed up the recovery.
This season has mirrored last season in too many ways, which means certain lessons haven’t been learnt. As others have recently said, recruitment is one area that must be addressed, that’s in terms of the players we sign, Age, recent injury history and current playing level, future sell on value. I’d like to see us take a risk on one or two potential Gems from a lower league, back Monk to get the best out of them and create a really good mixture of youth and experience.
Jobe and Liam Bennett look like real prospects, if we can add the right players in the right positions and with the right profile then there is no reason we can’t have a comfortable season and then with natural player progression we can steadily enhance our ambitions. Right now the sole ambition is the here and now, stay up and then let’s have a new start.
|
|
|
Post by funkymonk on Apr 2, 2024 12:00:46 GMT
If we survive this year, it'll be the longest we've spent in this division continuously, won't it?
|
|
|
Post by Jerry1971 on Apr 2, 2024 12:01:07 GMT
I think the club has muttered something about having a go for promotion at some point, was it when Harris was here or on Monk’s arrival? Clearly other factors have to align, the biggest of which is the need for continued structural growth - the basic of which is for CUFC to be a bigger business than it is now, however that is achieved. We’ve got it within us to do that, but we’ll never do it for if we continue to think negatively and to think small which is what a lot of our fans tend to do.
I’m not suggesting SoB, far from it, but we need continued growth and we really only achieve that now by staying in L1. For all the good stuff happening off the field, the key for me is that we need a successful first team. Everything else follows, just as the evidence of increased crowds is showing us now.
|
|
|
Post by mike_CUFC on Apr 2, 2024 12:14:48 GMT
If we're super smart about our recruitment you never know about a promotion push, but yeah, very unlikely I'd say. The three who come down are all financially solid so should be among the favourites and the three among the top 7 who don't go up will be fancied too and then there's Reading probably spending their way to oblivion again. Wigan probably doing the same. Oxford are often up there...and Charlton have to sort their sh*t out at some point, surely. I do think we've possibly got at least three players who *could* be part of a much much better season if we get the right players around them, though. Bennett if he stays is one of the best full backs in the league (as above I don't think we'll stick to three at the back next year) Jobe is only going to get better, and if we sign him Ahadme has an iron side to him and scores goals. 17 in 33(23) games at this level is excellent and will get better as he establishes himself next season. I assume a few clubs will fancy him next year so I hope we're already talking to him.Andrew Hoping the injury will have kept him off people's radars but he may well be putting himself out there with recent performances. I did notice after his goal yesterday he grabbed the badge very enthusiastically and gave it an almighty kiss, and yes I know a lot of players do that and then sod off a few months later but there was something in it that made me think we have a decent chance of keeping him.
|
|