Last Home/Away game of the season

Thought i'd put thiso ne up Early.

Corby is our last home game..

Not sure about our last away game.

Anyone up for Fancy Dress?! :dance: :dance:

Last away was due to be Ilkeston on the 30th but now it's Alfreton on the 23rd (Saturday) which makes Corby (Monday 25th) the last game of the season.

Alfreton has a decent boozer nearby, we went fancy dress there a couple of years back, great day...

Back for both these games...fancy dress is a must for the last game, maybe in this league?

Have to get my voice in training..

What would happen to the club if we go down?
Would it be worth 'doing an Atherstone' and demote ourselves to a more affordable league, and hopefully build up again?

Hypothetically...

Although it's no fun in this league getting beat every week (ish)...I think it would be a disaster if we got relegated.

As Fingers has informed us several times, it is just as tough in the Division below with the costs pretty much the same in terms of travel etc.

Our budget is 900 pounds...most teams below us are paying more than that, so no difference there.

We would miss the income from larger gates (Telford, Boston, Nuneaton, Worcester etc), so I am not sure it would help us at all.

I know the league doesn't lie, but what I have seen in glimpses this season (Telford, Corby, Hyde, Worcester etc), we are not that far away are we?

We need some luck and with teams around us coming to the Valley....

I don't like losing every week,
Players don't like losing every week,
Fans don't like losing every week,
Management don't like losing every week.
Chairmen don't like losing every week.
NO ONE LIKES LOSING EVERY WEEK!

I don't know how close we are... but we are losing every week!!

If we go down a few leagues, we'll be competing, the team will gain confidence! Management will gain confidence, chairmen and fans will.
People might see us do well in the paper and come down due to success!

If we stay in this league, i wan't to stay here because we deserved it, not cause teams go bust.

Regardless of what league we're in next season, i'm still going down!! :dance: :dance:

Sorry, rant over

Doing an Atherstone would only really work if you went down three leagues, such as the pyramid is now. Any difference in travelling would be negligible with teams from the Midlands spanning two of the three leagues below us and three of the six leagues below that; it's just where the borders happen to lie and it's a big, big problem at Step 4 (the Roms level).

The Zamaretto Premier (division below) involves as much, maybe a little less travelling. There has been little between our level and the one below since the Conference North/South were formed seven years ago, mainly due to the fact they were formed based on one seasons league positions. I've always maintained anyone who struggles in the Conference North/South will do so below, this has been true of teams who have been relegated on merit rather than those demoted for financial/ground reasons.

That said, this season is starting to see a small but decisive gap between Step 2 (our level) and Step 3, especially in the divisions that would involve Redditch. Bigger clubs have reclaimed their natrual level and budgets in the league below have become tighter.

I think Redditch would still struggle to be honest; the current side would potentially be half way, but you would lose any players who did make an impression, many are at The Valley for a shot at this level, if they wanted Step 3 football they'd probably get much better offers elsewhere.

I don't think the gates would suffer too much, smaller clubs would visit but the local sides would travel well, Leamington, Hednesford, Stourbridge, Halesowen, Evesham; the home support can't get much worse (Surely?). Going down would see the sponsorship money disappear from Blue Square though, and you'd have an extra, less lucrative round to play in the FA Cup, two rounds in the FA Trophy.

Overall; relegation = bad. In this situation you should compete as high as you can and cut wage bills before going down to reduce travel, even if it means axing the budget completely for a while. The way the pyramid is structured it's rare clubs go up without a sugar daddy, don't ever choose to go down unless you have to.

As much as I think it was much more enjoyable following the club in the Southern League days, relegation would be a disaster IMO.

We will still not have the money to compete and will still be in for a long hard season IMO, a few players are here for a shot at playing football at a higher level if we drop down I doubt they will stick around when there a teams at the same level who will pay much, much more than we will and have a better shot at going back up and you cant blame them for that.

Have just done a very quick calulation using Google Maps and the average distance in the Conf North is 93.5 Miles, in the Southern Premier it is 88.4.... Hardly any thing in it really, although if Truro go up it brings it down to 81.

JBS wrote:Have just done a very quick calulation using Google Maps and the average distance in the Conf North is 93.5 Miles, in the Southern Premier it is 88.4.... Hardly any thing in it really, although if Truro go up it brings it down to 81.

I daresay the level below that would have more mileage than the Zamaretto Premier- Redditch might even get dumped in the South & West like Stourport Swifts who do more miles than all bar three of the sides in the Conference South!

Relegation on merit would be bad but not a disaster, but if Reds found that difficult a further drop would be a disaster, one they'd never recover from in my opinion.

Choosing to go down aside at this point its 50-50 IMO and that's baring in mind 1 maybe 2 clubs may still go bust, I think it goes against our fighting spirit to actually decide to go down but if we don't win some games soon it will happen.So I think the deal is if we don't want to go down we need to get money in the club a.s.a.p as now is the time we can do something, there is no point locking the door after the horse has bolted.

This thread was made for the last game of the season, not if relegation is a good idea or not!

rawlings09 wrote:This thread was made for the last game of the season, not if relegation is a good idea or not!

That's what you get for posting on the old forum

Ohhh, sorry mister Over 1,000 Posts!

Shall i be 100% on this one now?