The cost of going up

[jdfc]

Can we afford it this time, we would need virtually a full new team, would have to pay up the contracts of players like McGowan and surely the manager who I can’t see leading us to survival up there

[BCram]

Can we afford it this time, we would need virtually a full new team, would have to pay up the contracts of players like McGowan and surely the manager who I can’t see leading us to survival up there

Good point jdfc. Only solution seems to me to promise McPake and his team the chance to show that they are good enough if they win the playoffs. I know this will not be universally popular, but seems to me to be a better option than completely starting from scratch in the event that McPake and his players do win promotion. I think it unlikely that we would get anywhere near winning the playoffs if the club thought that would bin everyone who got us promoted.

[jdfc]

Good point jdfc. Only solution seems to me to promise McPake and his team the chance to show that they are good enough if they win the playoffs. I know this will not be universally popular, but seems to me to be a better option than completely starting from scratch in the event that McPake and his players do win promotion. I think it unlikely that we would get anywhere near winning the playoffs if the club thought that would bin everyone who got us promoted.

It’s just a realistic view, a number of these players weren’t good enough the last time we were up there, we need to learn from our mistakes

[BCram]

It’s just a realistic view, a number of these players weren’t good enough the last time we were up there, we need to learn from our mistakes

Worried that this kind of realism will take hold of the squad and they don't manage to get us promoted. Admit it's not a stick on certainty, but i think any hint of McPake and his team not being good enough to play in the top league, if they actually do win promotion is very negative. Would rather hope that they might have a good bounce and do OK in the top league than start from scratch - again with all the costs, as you say, that that has entailed over the years.

[hmac]

Can we afford it this time, we would need virtually a full new team, would have to pay up the contracts of players like McGowan and surely the manager who I can’t see leading us to survival up there

I dont think we need to even worry about it

[islaydarkblue]

Worried that this kind of realism will take hold of the squad and they don't manage to get us promoted. Admit it's not a stick on certainty, but i think any hint of McPake and his team not being good enough to play in the top league, if they actually do win promotion is very negative. Would rather hope that they might have a good bounce and do OK in the top league than start from scratch - again with all the costs, as you say, that that has entailed over the years.

Which players would you keep who are out of contract at the end of this season if we managed to gain promotion via the playoffs.