Season Summary

[MikeSB]

Bradford have averaged about 15,000 people for their home games in the last 5 years. Does that make them as successful as Bournemouth who have a similar average? No, of course it doesn't. Manchester United are the team with the most home support in England. Are they successful? No, obviously it is not that simple.
Overall, football attendances have been on the up. This despite a rising cost of living. There is only a partial correlation between attendances and success.
When Timmy talks about arguments being flawed, I think this is the kind of thing he is referring to Life is not black and white despite the current political climate.
As for people being sacked if they weren't doing well at their jobs after 6 months, what kind of world do you live in? If someone is not performing well, then possibly they have not been trained well enough, maybe there are personnel problems, maybe the person has been ill. I'm/M really glad,MSB, that you haven't been in a position of power if you think everything is so simple.

Life is simple. If you are good enough at whatever job you are in then generally you will succeed. For over one hundred years there were no academies or coaches or dozens of hangers on or non players. Crewe Alex had far higher gates in the old days with just one manager ie like all clubs did. Clubs signed players who were good at the time whether that be PL standard or non league. We now have thousands of kids from toddlers being coached at hundreds of millions of pounds. We spend over a million pounds a year on an academy where players and presumably youngsters spend almost 100% of the time defendng and passing back and across with almost no direct attacks on goal. Who on earth decided this when the whole idea of football was to win and score goals. Life was simple but no longer.

Nobody had a worst start than me growing up in poverty and what not and I succeeded in life by sheer hard work and yes got a engineering degree and became a Chartered Engineer...and did well by doing so.

I was in a managerial position and I had to analyse the work of others and put in place remedial action as my boss did for me. People were sacked if they were not good enough. My friend had to sack mature men who were guilty of stuff. That is how life was. Not any more. Its mental illness now with millions of people who won't work and in the old days there was no housing allowance or money given out like today. Footballers are very well paid and the only thing that matters is results on the pitch. LB is lucky he was not sacked for one of the worst set of results in the league since Christmas. Why is he going to change next season?

ManU have failed because the players are not good enough and the ones who sign them are the managers and so they keep changing the manager...to no avail!

The problem with some football fans is they will put up with any dross on the pitch and say nowt! You can read about that anywhere!

[Timmy58]

Bradford have averaged about 15,000 people for their home games in the last 5 years. Does that make them as successful as Bournemouth who have a similar average? No, of course it doesn't. Manchester United are the team with the most home support in England. Are they successful? No, obviously it is not that simple.
Overall, football attendances have been on the up. This despite a rising cost of living. There is only a partial correlation between attendances and success.
When Timmy talks about arguments being flawed, I think this is the kind of thing he is referring to Life is not black and white despite the current political climate.
As for people being sacked if they weren't doing well at their jobs after 6 months, what kind of world do you live in? If someone is not performing well, then possibly they have not been trained well enough, maybe there are personnel problems, maybe the person has been ill. I'm/M really glad,MSB, that you haven't been in a position of power if you think everything is so simple.

Gazan, you are right. Mike is either saying all this to provoke a reaction (I succumbed I am sad to say) or he is really living in the past. The past where kids were sent down mines or up chimneys, where mental health was neither talked about or recognised. We have progressed thank God (although I do worry about the rise of a certain political party/limited company!) and the recognition that players and managers can have struggles that are personal. His argument is flawed because Manchester United, who are the classic example of both sides of the coin, have changed their manager more often than some change their beds and have not managed to repeat the success they had with a manager who was a "failure" for the first 5 years at OT. The policy of giving a manager 6 months to be successful will ensure that in time you will be back to ones you have had before and, by definition, will be taking managers on who have failed somewhere else. It really is laughable!

[MeForCrewe]

Okay I've bitten aswell. Facts rather than fanciful statements to suit the narrative.
The year followed by average attendance and lastly lowest attendance at Gresty Road.

1955 4785 2357
1965 4263 1988
1975 2649 1506
1985 2271 1529
1995 4239 3242
2005 7403 5409 Championship
2015 4732 3495
2024 5090 3427

[MikeSB]

Gazan, you are right. Mike is either saying all this to provoke a reaction (I succumbed I am sad to say) or he is really living in the past. The past where kids were sent down mines or up chimneys, where mental health was neither talked about or recognised. We have progressed thank God (although I do worry about the rise of a certain political party/limited company!) and the recognition that players and managers can have struggles that are personal. His argument is flawed because Manchester United, who are the classic example of both sides of the coin, have changed their manager more often than some change their beds and have not managed to repeat the success they had with a manager who was a "failure" for the first 5 years at OT. The policy of giving a manager 6 months to be successful will ensure that in time you will be back to ones you have had before and, by definition, will be taking managers on who have failed somewhere else. It really is laughable!

When you get to a certain age, living in the past is all you can do...

Frank Lord was a wonderful header of the ball and achieved so many hat tricks in doing so. We really don't see that quality anymore as all teams do now is cramb the defence and make the game as dour as can be. This is not the football I grew up with, watched and played and if that is living in the past, so be it. I mean how can you play for 90 odd minutes and not have a direct shot at goal?? I would never have played football had that been the standard back then.

Life is full of ups and downs, millions came back from wars or didn't come back and left widows and families to get on in life. My father was terrible and horrible to me as he wasn't my real father but you have to live through these things and work hard and not sit at home like they do these days. They need to stop paying people big money to stay off work and possibly people will stop worrying then and basically get on in life. Football is terrible in many ways now as it pays stupid money at all levels of the game for just kicking a ball about and not very well at that. Managers are on a merry go round, they fail at one club and then get appointed at another club. We see that all the time. I think you need to be creative in life and do things against the grain. Lee Bell could change that and have 4 strikers playing every week and excite the fans in the process but they can't as their minds won't let them but what is to lose, but yet another game and who knows it may bring football to be played how it used to be.

There is no such thing as mental illness just the easy and hard way of life as there as always been. Unfortunately the medical profession has too many duds in it...

[MikeSB]

Okay I've bitten aswell. Facts rather than fanciful statements to suit the narrative.
The year followed by average attendance and lastly lowest attendance at Gresty Road.

1955 4785 2357
1965 4263 1988
1975 2649 1506
1985 2271 1529
1995 4239 3242
2005 7403 5409 Championship
2015 4732 3495
2024 5090 3427

I'm speaking of times BEFORE those dates as well but those figures show the gates were higher in the 50's and 60's..Those are the facts too.

Discussions about football are not a case of 'biting' or 'not biting' but addressing why the hell we had one of the worst post Christmas spell in years? Second in the table and then to finish in the bottom half deserves the sack at any club imo..

[ShropshireAlex]

I'm speaking of times BEFORE those dates as well but those figures show the gates were higher in the 50's and 60's..Those are the facts too.

Discussions about football are not a case of 'biting' or 'not biting' but addressing why the hell we had one of the worst post Christmas spell in years? Second in the table and then to finish in the bottom half deserves the sack at any club imo..

No, those aren't the facts in those figures, whatever they may have been in the 30s and 40s. They WERE higher than in the 70s and 80s, which was true of football generally.

How pleased Mike must have been that our late season form gave him something big to come back and moan about .....

[Timmy58]

When you get to a certain age, living in the past is all you can do...

Frank Lord was a wonderful header of the ball and achieved so many hat tricks in doing so. We really don't see that quality anymore as all teams do now is cramb the defence and make the game as dour as can be. This is not the football I grew up with, watched and played and if that is living in the past, so be it. I mean how can you play for 90 odd minutes and not have a direct shot at goal?? I would never have played football had that been the standard back then.

Life is full of ups and downs, millions came back from wars or didn't come back and left widows and families to get on in life. My father was terrible and horrible to me as he wasn't my real father but you have to live through these things and work hard and not sit at home like they do these days. They need to stop paying people big money to stay off work and possibly people will stop worrying then and basically get on in life. Football is terrible in many ways now as it pays stupid money at all levels of the game for just kicking a ball about and not very well at that. Managers are on a merry go round, they fail at one club and then get appointed at another club. We see that all the time. I think you need to be creative in life and do things against the grain. Lee Bell could change that and have 4 strikers playing every week and excite the fans in the process but they can't as their minds won't let them but what is to lose, but yet another game and who knows it may bring football to be played how it used to be.

There is no such thing as mental illness just the easy and hard way of life as there as always been. Unfortunately the medical profession has too many duds in it...

Mike, your ignorance is mind blowing, No such thing as mental illness? For Gods sake never let anyone you know hear you say that! Comments like that lose you any respect you may have ever had. People committing suicide just need to pull themselves together. You carry on living in the past Mike. It is where you belong! Disgraceful. You know nothing about what people on here that you interact with are going through. Educate yourself.

[MeForCrewe]

Mike, your ignorance is mind blowing, No such thing as mental illness? For Gods sake never let anyone you know hear you say that! Comments like that lose you any respect you may have ever had. People committing suicide just need to pull themselves together. You carry on living in the past Mike. It is where you belong! Disgraceful. You know nothing about what people on here that you interact with are going through. Educate yourself.

I stopped reading his message before I got to the last paragraph. Now that I have read it, like you, I find it an absolutely unbelievable and ignorant comment. No excuse for that and remember in the past he has accused people of bullying him.

[Timmy58]

I stopped reading his message before I got to the last paragraph. Now that I have read it, like you, I find it an absolutely unbelievable and ignorant comment. No excuse for that and remember in the past he has accused people of bullying him.

Thanks. I certainly do not wish to be considered a bully but that comment raised my blood pressure. None of us know what others are dealing with and to be so dismissive coupled with other utterances, I am afraid I had to respond.

[MikeSB]

Thanks. I certainly do not wish to be considered a bully but that comment raised my blood pressure. None of us know what others are dealing with and to be so dismissive coupled with other utterances, I am afraid I had to respond.

Let me apologise for upsetting anyone on here or elsewhere.

Age and experience can lead in different directions.

I was born during the second world war when what was it, 50m people died during that conflict and millions of people lost husbands, wives, brothers, sisters and they had little option but to try and get on in life. If you were born in poverty and deprevation of love like I was with holes in your shoes and rags to wear, then it was easy to sit back and say that's it, I'm done, But millions of others were like me.

I'm also sorry to say that there is no such thing as 'mental' illness, just trials of life and death that has been going on for tens of centuries. People back then had it far harder than today when you can get almost anything from the state and live a reasonable life. People do commit suicide and I feel sorry for wives that are beaten up and have to leave home with their kids. I feel sorry for those who are ***ually abused, of course I do.

Life is hard, and we have many trials and tribulations along the way.