Disgusted. Not getting to see us lose 7-0 to Tottenham Hotspur U23s has ruined my season.
Whereas beating Wycombe Wanderers et al has made it?
Because beating Wycombe could be an important factor in gaining promotion, Tottenham in the FA cup wont be....
As has been discussed ad nauseam, it’s a massive leap at this stage to suggest one game makes any difference to whether the team gets promoted, but my point is that League One football is not very exciting - as our collapsed attendances reflect.
L.B made public almost a week in advance he would make a lot of changes/rest certain players. So I understood the odds were stacked against us. I still went, ok it only cost me a tenner being retired.
Thought it would be interesting to see a lot of our youngsters and indeed it was. Fully understand why the gate was so low though. The game was a miss match imo, boys against men.
Marshall, Clark and Saar played well, Phillips & Lapslie were ok. Ajose & Reeves hardly contributed, the rest tried hard - imo.
Given the wretched injury record we have i agree with LB decision to play reserves.
As has been said above though- what a sad reflection it is on our club, cafc feeling it necessary to field a reserve team in second round of FA cup against the 'mighty' Donny.
Don't blame Lee Bowyer, blame lies solely with the billionair fu*ker living smugly in St T.
Disgusted. Not getting to see us lose 7-0 to Tottenham Hotspur U23s has ruined my season.
Whereas beating Wycombe Wanderers et al has made it?
Because beating Wycombe could be an important factor in gaining promotion, Tottenham in the FA cup wont be....
As has been discussed ad nauseam, it’s a massive leap at this stage to suggest one game makes any difference to whether the team gets promoted, but my point is that League One football is not very exciting - as our collapsed attendances reflect.
So go balls-out in the FA cup in the hope that we may draw a big team to add some fleeting excitement to a dull league one season? With a paper-thin injury prone squad when we are clinging to the top 6?
The crowds were already down in the championship and its the ownership that has caused that as much as the quality of the football.
Disgusted. Not getting to see us lose 7-0 to Tottenham Hotspur U23s has ruined my season.
Whereas beating Wycombe Wanderers et al has made it?
Because beating Wycombe could be an important factor in gaining promotion, Tottenham in the FA cup wont be....
As has been discussed ad nauseam, it’s a massive leap at this stage to suggest one game makes any difference to whether the team gets promoted, but my point is that League One football is not very exciting - as our collapsed attendances reflect.
Attendances didn't collapse last time we were in L1.
Disgusted. Not getting to see us lose 7-0 to Tottenham Hotspur U23s has ruined my season.
Whereas beating Wycombe Wanderers et al has made it?
Because beating Wycombe could be an important factor in gaining promotion, Tottenham in the FA cup wont be....
As has been discussed ad nauseam, it’s a massive leap at this stage to suggest one game makes any difference to whether the team gets promoted, but my point is that League One football is not very exciting - as our collapsed attendances reflect.
So go balls-out in the FA cup in the hope that we may draw a big team to add some fleeting excitement to a dull league one season? With a paper-thin injury prone squad when we are in the top 6?
The crowds were already down in the championship and its the ownership that has caused that as much as the quality of the football.
I don’t think anyone has argued that the FA Cup should be prioritised over the league and that Bowyer should have played the strongest possible team - rather that the selection was too weak and too cautious, to the extent it amounted to not really trying to win the match.
I guarantee you that previous regimes would have spoken to Bowyer about the financial imperatives of getting through, which of course the current shambles wouldn’t. If Bowyer’s view had prevailed the price would not have been £15 and the messages would have been managed appropriately.
There is really no comparison between the tail-off in crowds in the Championship and what is happening now, so I think it’s unrealistic to think the level of football isn’t a major factor.
I think Bowyer is the best manager we’ve had since Powell and haven’t changed that view after Saturday, so let’s see how the season pans out. I just think the idea that Saturday’s game was a significant risk to promotion is being hugely overblown.
Disgusted. Not getting to see us lose 7-0 to Tottenham Hotspur U23s has ruined my season.
Whereas beating Wycombe Wanderers et al has made it?
Because beating Wycombe could be an important factor in gaining promotion, Tottenham in the FA cup wont be....
As has been discussed ad nauseam, it’s a massive leap at this stage to suggest one game makes any difference to whether the team gets promoted, but my point is that League One football is not very exciting - as our collapsed attendances reflect.
Attendances didn't collapse last time we were in L1.
We lost about 40 per cent of season-ticket holders, so that’s not true.
Disgusted. Not getting to see us lose 7-0 to Tottenham Hotspur U23s has ruined my season.
Whereas beating Wycombe Wanderers et al has made it?
Because beating Wycombe could be an important factor in gaining promotion, Tottenham in the FA cup wont be....
As has been discussed ad nauseam, it’s a massive leap at this stage to suggest one game makes any difference to whether the team gets promoted, but my point is that League One football is not very exciting - as our collapsed attendances reflect.
Attendances didn't collapse last time we were in L1.
We lost about 40 per cent of season-ticket holders, so that’s not true.
Care to expand on that. I'm not disputing the drop in season ticket sales but our average home attendance appears to have been circa 17,400 in 2011/2012 dropping to 11,800 last season which is where @andynelson may have been coming from and we know that the actual bodies through the turnstiles was a lot lower than the last figure.
The Prem years are now a lot further away, might have something to do with it. Back in 2011 we might have thought a sharpish return to the Prem was on the cards.
Our average over the 3 years in L1 was 16,000+ last time. Now we're lucky to get 10,000.
We don’t have more than 7,500 home fans in the ground now for most games (including comps), and that has declined year on year in League One, but on both occasions when we were relegated we lost about 4,000 season ticket holders.
Disgusted. Not getting to see us lose 7-0 to Tottenham Hotspur U23s has ruined my season.
Whereas beating Wycombe Wanderers et al has made it?
Because beating Wycombe could be an important factor in gaining promotion, Tottenham in the FA cup wont be....
As has been discussed ad nauseam, it’s a massive leap at this stage to suggest one game makes any difference to whether the team gets promoted, but my point is that League One football is not very exciting - as our collapsed attendances reflect.
So go balls-out in the FA cup in the hope that we may draw a big team to add some fleeting excitement to a dull league one season? With a paper-thin injury prone squad when we are in the top 6?
The crowds were already down in the championship and its the ownership that has caused that as much as the quality of the football.
I don’t think anyone has argued that the FA Cup should be prioritised over the league and that Bowyer should have played the strongest possible team - rather that the selection was too weak and too cautious, to the extent it amounted to not really trying to win the match.
The bench basically told everyone that he didn't care about the result. Only 5 players with NONE of the rested outfield players available.
Imagine if it had been 0-0 with 15 minutes to go, with Doncaster down to 10 men and desperately trying to hang on, we had nobody available to capitalise
Any respect I had for Bowyer is now gone. Put a first team out to do a job on Mansfield, and then a reserve team for the next round. An absolute disgrace. Using the tiredness excuse is risible. My son played semi-pro.£70 a week, no matter how many games . Training two evenings a week. Most weeks, three games, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday.Quite often had to drive. Some matches, 2-3 hours each way. Then get up the next morning at seven, and do a proper days work. These muppets haven't a clue about the real world. F**k off the lot of you.
You can do what your son did but if it lowers performance levels by a few percentage points it can be the difference between three points and no points. Of course at your son's level, you have to play players through knocks and tiredness and so do your opponents. But resting professional players is 100% not about molly coddling them, but about getting the best from them. That is a manager's job.
Comments
So I understood the odds were stacked against us. I still went, ok it only cost me a tenner being retired.
Thought it would be interesting to see a lot of our youngsters and indeed it was. Fully understand why the gate was so low though.
The game was a miss match imo, boys against men.
Marshall, Clark and Saar played well, Phillips & Lapslie were ok. Ajose & Reeves hardly contributed, the rest tried hard - imo.
Given the wretched injury record we have i agree with LB decision to play reserves.
As has been said above though- what a sad reflection it is on our club, cafc feeling it necessary to field a reserve team in second round of FA cup
against the 'mighty' Donny.
Don't blame Lee Bowyer, blame lies solely with the billionair fu*ker living smugly in St T.
The crowds were already down in the championship and its the ownership that has caused that as much as the quality of the football.
I guarantee you that previous regimes would have spoken to Bowyer about the financial imperatives of getting through, which of course the current shambles wouldn’t. If Bowyer’s view had prevailed the price would not have been £15 and the messages would have been managed appropriately.
There is really no comparison between the tail-off in crowds in the Championship
and what is happening now, so I think it’s unrealistic to think the level of football isn’t a major factor.
I think Bowyer is the best manager we’ve had since Powell and haven’t changed that view after Saturday, so let’s see how the season pans out. I just think the idea that Saturday’s game was a significant risk to promotion is being hugely overblown.
Imagine if it had been 0-0 with 15 minutes to go, with Doncaster down to 10 men and desperately trying to hang on, we had nobody available to capitalise