Aspirations for the future

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Originally Posted by sidders

Thanks for this, Tricky. You are always fair about Notts. Also I didn't realise Forest's crowds had increased significantly. I have a ticket for Hull v Forest this Sat.
I agree that falling out of the EFL would be a frightening prospect and there might be no way back. I'm afraid too many Notts fans think the cavalry will come over the hill when we need them. Signs are that the club is in terminal decline unless serious structural changes are put in place.

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You're welcome Sid.
Our crowd average this year is 27500, the 3 rd highest behind Leeds and Villa.
Considering Notts poor form, your gates haven't been a disaster. But for how long?
When we got dumped into Lg 1 15,000 gates were awful to attend. Not just the money hit, but the whole atmosphere of the place.
Can you imagine being in a 20k ground when 2000 is a good turn out?
When I was my sons age, we were playing Notts quite frequently. Money has slowly eroded all that away.
Its a shame in reality.

My current aspiration is for Hurst to be announced today as our new manager. He's a strong guy with a sound background at this level and doubtless has the player contacts to strengthen the club come the New Year.
If it's Nolan, we are screwed.

Ideally to maintain the crowds of 6000-7000 for the future and hopefully play in league one.

I'd like to see a return to youth being given a chance like they did in the 90's as i'm sick and tired of seeing useless journeymen playing for us someone posted an excellent post that since Ray Trew took over we have had lots of managers and over 200 players in 8 years that has to stop.

I think we can forget about the championship I don't think i'll see us that high up again in my lifetime as we just do not have the finances.

I forgot to add finishing at least 22nd this season !

Obviously this season, the goal is to retain our league status. But beyond that, I think being a decent L1 club would do for me. Maybe 15 years ago, I thought our rightful place was in the Championship, purely because I started watching Notts in the early 90s. So much has changed since then, and the amount of money average Championship teams spend is ridiculous. Forest's wage bill was over £25 million a couple of seasons ago, and that secured them a 14th place finish.

So like others have said, a decent L1 side with a strong home record would do for me, with an outside chance of going up via the playoffs. Average attendance of around 8000. I would also like a manager who knows what he is doing, and is allowed to get on with it without outside interference. Oh and I'd like to beat Mansfield, just once.

All of that seems miles away at the moment.

There’s a healthy dose of realism running through this thread. In the short term, the aim has to be to stay in the League this season. In the medium term it should be to achieve some stability in the managerial position and amongst the playing staff, and to develop some young players of our own who can form the basis of a push towards League 1.

Can we ever make it back to the Championship? Unlikely though it seems right now, I keep on hoping. Mainly because other “small” clubs have got there and established themselves - or have gone further. Bournemouth and Brentford are two outstanding examples that have shown what is possible if you get everything right. It’s unlikely, but just possible, that something similar could happen at Notts.

Stabilise under a decent manager and perhaps even a late flirt with the playoffs if a miracle run occurred.

Push for promotion next season but without the senseless turnover of players which always undermines clubs at our level ever building a team that appears to know each other out on the pitch. Many of us can name the best Sirrel or Warnock team in our sleep. Now we don't even know who 50% of the names on next week's teamsheet might be.

Keep the same manager for two whole seasons.

In other words, stability, consistent improvement, security.

My grandma used to have an aspiration, great big ugly plant it was, she kept it in a vase in the hall, near the front door. I think Gracie Fields sang a song about one, she was a great big ugly thing too.

Get back into League One as it's been 4 years now and that is simply too long for a club of Notts size, surely it's not too much to ask, when back there targets can be adjusted accordingly but at a sensible level. No way should this club be messing about in League Two let alone be near the bottom. The odd cup run would also be nice, that happened last season which was why I wasn't too critical of the heavy loss to Swansea as Notts did well to get that far. Keep the average attendance around 6,000 and make a sensible managerial appointment for once.

For me our natural level is top half of League One which is based on the size of our club and our fan base and past history. At the moment that is a very long way away.

So for the short term (as in this season) as we all know the biggest job of all is to stay in the football league which appointing the right manager and making changes in January will give us hope. If we were to drop out of the football league I firmly believe it would be catastrophic for the club. It's so difficult to get promoted back out of the National League. You have to tear the league apart throughout the entire season from day one to stand any chance of being automatically promoted.

There are also other issues that come into play because I'm sure our Meadow Lane lease is affected if we become a non-league club? So could the council revoke it? Perhaps others have more knowledge about this.

Right here, right now has to be rock bottom for us.

In the medium term (2-3 years) then as I posted yesterday about 12 managers and over 200 players in the past 8 years this needs to change. In this period we should be aiming to get promoted to league one by gradually building our identity and style of play (see Luton/Wycombe/Accrington/Wimbledon) with a manager who's job should only be in jeopardy if we are in serious danger of being relegated.

Longer term once we are league one then establish ourselves in league one for a number of years consistently with the occasional flirt with the play-offs and the occasional 4th/5th round cup runs. Perhaps if we were lucky we could sneak up to the championship for one season.

I don't want to hear any more talk of 4, 5 or how many year plans to get to the championship. Football is not that simple or predictable plus there are 47 other clubs in League One and Two that want to do the same. There is nothing wrong and that should not be confused with having ambition of getting there.

What division we’re in is less important to me than just having a team for myself and my son to go and watch that is a pleasure to watch and not a chore and an embarrassment.

Even though it went wrong at the end, to be battling away at the right end of the table for a change last season was great, with some big games and large crowds. Looking forward to going to games is sometimes as important as the games themselves.

I should add that it would be lovely to have some of our own good young players come through to the first team, but that doesn’t appear possible anymore.