⚽ Match Thread vs. Newport County AFC 23.11.24 [EFL L2]

[SmiffyPie]

The owners won't be getting twitchy, because they don't see football in terms of "big investment" and an instant need for promotion like previous owners have. They simply look to improve the team - at a sustainable cost - each season, making the odds of promotion steadily greater. They also recognise that there are variables in football, like injuries to your best players, that can hold back even the strongest group of players.

Don't get me wrong, the owners are ambitious and want to climb the leagues, and if the squad this season proves strong enough to win promotion they will be delighted I'm sure, but if it isn't, they'll just look to improve a bit more again next summer. There's no "top five budgets" or "promotion or bust" panic about this regime, and the club is immeasurably better for that lack of chaos and anxiety.

There was desperation at times from fans when we fell just short of promotion from the National League, but never from the owners. They just kept looking to improve within our means, and in the end the success arrived. In fact, three near misses, battling away each season at the top end of the table, did no harm in growing our support base.

As fans we increasingly need to learn to see things in the same mature, strategic and patient way the owners do.

I think most know what you are saying is accurate but bloody hell I've not got many years left and have had a bellyfull of year-on-year progression! We have rebuilt the defence (and a good job done there) so next season we should look forward to a much improved forward line? So season 25/26 there should be no more "building" excuses then?

[jackal2]

I think most know what you are saying is accurate but bloody hell I've not got many years left and have had a bellyfull of year-on-year progression! We have rebuilt the defence (and a good job done there) so next season we should look forward to a much improved forward line? So season 25/26 there should be no more "building" excuses then?

I dare say there are quite a few supporters who will take the view "I've not got many years left, I need success now" view, and a fair few others who have got plenty of time left but still don't want to wait anyway. Frankly though, if you're in a football club boardroom you have to be more strategic than that. It was playing to the fans' desire for big signings and quick success that view that led Ray Trew and Alan Hardy (to name just two recent examples) into big trouble.

Owners who think too much like fans are not actually doing their club any good in the long run, because only sustainably built success can be maintained. There isn't even the realistic prospect of a billionaire shooting a club like ours to the stars anymore, because FFP prevents outlandish levels of investment. I appreciate that's not what the average football fans wants to hear, but they're often the same ones who cry salt tears when the club is on the brink of bankruptcy because it chased the dream too quickly. Success takes hard work, time and a lot of patience. There are no short cuts.