Quote Originally Posted by Old_pie View Post
I'm being serious here but these "5 year plans to the Championship" are millstones around the neck. Unless you've got squillions to spend you can't just say "that's our plan". There's no control over what other clubs are doing and it is a fact of life that there are large elements of luck in this game.

IMO the focus should be on simply doing the right things that are needed to create and maintain a good football club. It's a bit like "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves". Do the right things and the club will go places.

The pressure on "5 year plan" told on the Trews. They had a target so panicked the nearer they got to not getting to that target. Poor decision after poor decision.

AH is about to make a big decision and he looks absolutely flaked out. A clear head is need not a weary head. This is supposed to be his hobby, his out of work bit of fun.

Tear up the plan AH. Take the pressure off of your next manager and his players. Stop thinking about fancy exciting football - we're a basement league club and at the bottom of that to boot. Build a team the old fashioned way - from the back. Keep a balanced mix of youth and experience. Get off Twitter.
Excellent post. We need achievable goals (in both senses) rather than some MBA-inspired blueprint. Obvious things like increasing supporter base and getting more kids involved; developing more players in-house (or not, if it’s not feasible); getting permanent, high-quality training ground; getting promotion to League 1 and then consolidating. Forget any talk of the Championship until we’re averaging 10,000 and ready to take the next step.

I also think one of the biggest misnomers we could pursue as a goal is “attractive football”. I want to see attacking football and players who can get the crowd out of their seats - players like Chiedozie, McCulloch, Draper, Johnson, Dave Smith, Tom Ince, Jack Grealish. But I also want to see warriors like Stubbs, Kilcline, Short, Bishop, Yates, Bolland (just kidding), Harding - blood’n’guts players who give that cliched 110%. A team like Warnock built in the late 80s - one that gets the ball forward quickly, but then has skillful and fast players to capitalise.