And don’t even contemplate trying to get a drink at half time.Quote:
Originally Posted by ncfcog
It’s a joke future Notts! Sort it out.
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And don’t even contemplate trying to get a drink at half time.Quote:
Originally Posted by ncfcog
It’s a joke future Notts! Sort it out.
Championship would be wonderful but I'd settle for being back in League One, which I regard as being the natural division for a club of our size. Jimmy Sirrel and Neil Warnock performed miracles to give us a taste of top flight football, and even a place in the Championship would be a level above what might normally be expected of a club that only occasionally breaks five figure gates even in it more successful times, but it's fair to say we're competing well below our natural level at present.Quote:
Originally Posted by kill_the_drum
That said, we are where we are and the greatest danger is that we arrogantly believe we have a right to be restored to higher leagues. Any return to relative success will have to be achieved through hard work and respecting the league we're in at any given time. Steve Cotterill preached humility and respect for 'smaller' opponents even during the Munto season, and the outcomes suggest his attitude was the right one.
10 years from today we will be 5th in League Two.
Now that's precision.Quote:
Originally Posted by TSANHO
If we're in the "Championship" in ten years time then it'll most likely be a re-branding of League One after 20 or so clubs breakaway to form a Premier League Two. I would never have been so pessimistic at the beginning of previous decades but us being where we are today and Fword surely making a return to the top flight before summer 2029 I don't think we'll finish any higher than bottom four of the 3rd tier in the 2020s. We'll have probably returned to a now all too familiar struggle to stay in level 4 by the time 2030 comes along.
If we're going to rise 2/3 levels then the Luton and Lincoln experience suggests you have to do it quickly whilst you've got the momentum. A steady ascent (one promotion every 3/4 years) doesn't seem to happen anymore as better players and managers will leave the moment you stagnate.
We can take heart from how Luton have gone from the Conference to the Championship in a short space of time (even if they will probably be relegated this season), but I think we will only ever grace such heights again if the Reedtz brothers’ model proves successful and we can “do a Brentford”. The next two years will give us a clearer indication of what that model is and if it can help us rebuild the club.
I’m feeling more Mystified than Mystic Meg, but will take a guess and say top half of League 2.
My hope for the next decade is for us to follow in the footsteps of Luton, Bristol Rovers, Shrewsbury and Lincoln. Where being at this level gives us the time out so to speak to hit the reset button and rebuild and go again. I’d like to think that is where our new owners are at in terms of having a club they can build from the bottom upwards. I think the most important aim for the next decade is to reduce the clubs losses season on season and for it to have some kind of financial stability.
If it’s one thing the first 20 years of this decade has taught us is that you can only dodge the drop out of the football league for so long and dice with death so many times. When you look back at the past twenty years apart from the promotion of 09/10 the 11/12 Curle Season and the 17/18 Nolan Season have only really been successful. The rest we have gone from crisis to crisis.
The highest placing in the 10’s was 7th in League One. Mid table League One is our natural level based on our history and current fan base. This is where I’d like us to be in ten years time having gone through a period of rising back up from non-league. I guess the big question is does slow and steady win the race these days or should it be a fast rise back and then stabilise when we are in league one? That will be for our owners to decide, plus it requires a bit of luck as well and judgement in January. Say for example if we got promoted to the football league and then the first season found ourselves in the league two playoffs the following season in Jan do we push for automatics or not? Much like the Nolan playoff season where we were top but didn’t strengthen in January so faded away.
One of my hopes for the next decade is to have a string of memorable cup games and cup runs. If you look on the best games thread it’s littered with big memorable games, and that is something I hope we can look back on in ten years time. These games are the ones where you look back with a sense of pride and they make you realise why you put up with the bad times and give hope and epitomise the feelings before every game. The league is the league but beating higher league opposition or matching them in the cup is something special. It would be awful if we don’t have some new fresh memories in ten years time of great cup encounters.
Our aims this decade should be:
1. Return to the league ASAP
2. Survive in L2
3. Kick on to L1
Given our fan base and stadium, I see no reason why a well-run Notts couldn't be an established, mid-table L1 side, like we used to be. Can't see us making it back to the Championship, however.
First things first though, let's get back into L2. Who knows how long that could take given how hard this division is to get out of. My guess is we'll be down here for three seasons, losing in the playoffs this season and next before finally getting it right.
For me it’s to simply have a club that we can continue to support. More clubs will feel the pinch of poor financial management in the next 10 years and follow Bury. I hope we are not one of them.
On a purely selfish note I’d prefer a 5 year plan to get us to L1, as I’m not sure I’ll be around in 10 years’ time. ;D