League 2 General Chat Thread

[Agombar stool]

12 seasons in League Two since 1995 though. Certainly one of the divisions bigger clubs I agree, but also not out of place in this division at all.

To put that into context, out of the current division's teams, only Carlisle, Exeter, Morecambe, Northampton, Leyton Orient and Cambridge have spent longer at this level than Plymouth have in the last 25 years.

I guess it depends on your parameters for these kind of things. I wouldn't necessarily argue that you are wrong, given the length of time the club have been in this division but you can't ignore their fanbase, and don't forget that Plymouth is now the biggest City in England never to have had top-flight football, which suggests that they are punching well below their weight

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

I guess it depends on your parameters for these kind of things. I wouldn't necessarily argue that you are wrong, given the length of time the club have been in this division but you can't ignore their fanbase, and don't forget that Plymouth is now the biggest City in England never to have had top-flight football, which suggests that they are punching well below their weight

I've watched football for 20 years and the way I see it, seeing Coventry and Portsmouth when they went down to this level and, if they don't survive this year, seeing Bolton at this level would constitute a shock for me. But Plymouth were lagging in the old Division Three in a run down Home Park when I first watched lower league football. Of course I remember them in the Championship and I acknowledge their fantastic support, but just like Bradford and yourselves, whilst you have the fanbases to be competing comfortably at a higher level, seeing teams like you lot at this level just isn't a shock to me.

I would agree though that big city clubs like Bradford and Plymouth have enormous potential to attract investment in the manner that Bournemouth did in the last decade and surge up the leagues. But both have been stung badly by outside investment in the past. So finding the right investment is their biggest challenge.

 

[Si Robin]

12 seasons in League Two since 1995 though. Certainly one of the divisions bigger clubs I agree, but also not out of place in this division at all.

To put that into context, out of the current division's teams, only Carlisle, Exeter, Morecambe, Northampton, Leyton Orient and Cambridge have spent longer at this level than Plymouth have in the last 25 years.

I know we're forgettable, but Cheltenham have had 16 seasons at this level, which is more than 12.

 

[Agombar stool]

Who said that?

 

[GTFCfish]

We spent most of the 1930’s in the top tier reaching two FA Cup Semi Finals so therefore I think we should be in the Elite with Liverpool and Man U.

 

[denzel ecfc]

I guess it depends on your parameters for these kind of things. I wouldn't necessarily argue that you are wrong, given the length of time the club have been in this division but you can't ignore their fanbase, and don't forget that Plymouth is now the biggest City in England never to have had top-flight football, which suggests that they are punching well below their weight

I know you are having a love in with the Janners at the moment, but its precisely because they have never played in the top flight that they are not, by any stretch, a top team.

 

[Agombar stool]

I know you are having a love in with the Janners at the moment, but its precisely because they have never played in the top flight that they are not, by any stretch, a top team.

I wouldn’t say ‘love in’ more mutual respect.

Also, nobody has said they are a top team. I personally regard them as a bigger club than their current league status implies, ‘tis all.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

I know we're forgettable, but Cheltenham have had 16 seasons at this level, which is more than 12.

I knew I forgot someone, my deepest apologies!

 

[F!RTHY]

1.) Bradford City
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[E10rifle]

As the only current Champions in the entire division, I demand that you peasants recognise our inherent MASSIVENESS.

 

[AdamStag]

I know we're forgettable, but Cheltenham have had 16 seasons at this level, which is more than 12.

Since 1995 - which is when I started going ar the age of 10 barring 1 season in league 1 (we didn’t like it) and 5 wonderful seasons in the conference we’ve been down here, which makes 18 out of 24 seasons in league 2.

Urgh.

 

[AdamStag]

12 seasons in League Two since 1995 though. Certainly one of the divisions bigger clubs I agree, but also not out of place in this division at all.

To put that into context, out of the current division's teams, only Carlisle, Exeter, Morecambe, Northampton, Leyton Orient and Cambridge have spent longer at this level than Plymouth have in the last 25 years.

We’ve had 18, I think we win that amazing accolade. Unless someone’s been really unlucky had been stuck here more times in the 25 years than us

 

[GTFCfish]

Does anyone have any idea how many years Mansfield have spent down here?
I’m guessing around 18.

 

[AdamStag]

Does anyone have any idea how many years Mansfield have spent down here?
I’m guessing around 18.

If I knew how to quote them both at the same time I would, but I don’t.

It’s 18 btw, and will be 19 next season.

Sigh

 

[AdamStag]

According to that Mansfield are one of the biggest clubs in L2 on a par with QPR and Rotherham! Vale similar to Accrington, Morecambe and Macc despite around 3-4 times the support

In fairness I did look at the bottom 3 lines about 5 times before realising for some reason we weren’t in there.

 

[AdamStag]

View attachment 12336

Random willy-waving argument-starting chart recently posted in Plymouth's forum (but not from there originally). If we were in the summer break this would get its own thread but I just thought I'd leave it here.

Must have been a Mansfield fan, thinking the Stags belong on the same level as CURRENT PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM Bournemouth and well established top end Championship teams like Reading and QPR. In fact looks like Mansfield were the first team that came to mind when they started to think, who goes in the level beneath the likes of Watford and Southampton.

Also, the difference between tiny and tinpot just seems to be that tinpot teams are tiny teams that the creator doesn't like.

Who actually has time to put these things together, don’t they have things like work, mates, beer and other halves to be keeping them busy!

 

[GTFCfish]

If I knew how to quote them both at the same time I would, but I don’t.

It’s 18 btw, and will be 19 next season.

Sigh

Click on the +quote at the bottom on each one and then click on insert quotes.

 

[Blue Lion]

I knew I forgot someone, my deepest apologies!

And us! Perhaps surprisingly this is our 16th season at this level, all since 1995. And sadly 16 is where it will probably end.

 

[E10rifle]

I make this Orient’s 14th at this level over the past 25 years. Two B******i-induced seasons in the wilderness of non league and nine at our more natural level of League One also-rans. Pity we keep almost going bust due to misfortune, really, or maybe we’d have shaken off the Cinderella club of London tag. Though, unlike Plymouth we have actually been to the ball.

 

[shoddycollins]

Plymouth are always a bit of an anomaly when we start discussing / arguing about bigness.

Superficially, things like the size of the city, fanbase and ground make you think they should be a steady Championship club. They were even proposed as a host city for England's World Cup bid. You'd expect to see them on a level with the likes of Reading and Derby for whom a spell in the top flight is well within reach and a spell in league one would be seen as failure. Yet in actual fact their league history is much like ours (minus our solitary top flight and non league seasons) with a reasonable spell in the second flight but most time spent between the bottom two divisions.

You look at the likes of Northampton, Bradford and Oxford where having a top flight rugby team or in Oxfords case a large transient population probably holds the football club back or Bristol which has both of these plus two football clubs and yet have been more successful than Plymouth in the past, and I think Plymouth is bigger than Northampton or Oxford too anyway. Its a decent sized working class city which should really have a big club.

Perhaps it's all a case of remoteness. That definitely holds us back but I thought Plymouth was big enough for it not to affect them that badly.

 

[AdamStag]

In my time I’ve seen Plymouth no differently to an exeter, Carlisle or Cheltenham.

Probably played those 3 teams more than any in the (well documented) 18 years we’ve had here since 1995.

Fans only seem to cling desperately onto their “size” when they’re doing shit and trying to prove a point to folk who see straight through it (that isn’t reference at any plymouth fan reading this - mansfield appears to be Plymouth’s bitch - we ALWAYS lose to them so personally I wish they’d fuck off to a different division)

 

[valefan16]

It’s hard to rank teams now because of money. I mean Wigan is a great example... For all intense and purposes they are a small ex non league club but people see them bigger with the new ground and decade in the Premier League and cup win. (That said they’d not even sell out for the likes of Arsenal etc) Hull get big crowds now but that more came with the new ground and generally potted around the lower leagues...

Bournemouth have always been pretty much a small L1/L2 club but now in the Premier how are they seen?

 

[Trapdoor]

Plymouth is only the size it is because it's hemmed in by dartmoor hence people are concentrated towards the tamar valley.

In terms of actual effective catchment area they are the same size as Exeter. They get a lot of people coming in from East Cornwall while we get a lot coming in from North Devon and West Dorset. There's over a million people living in Devon and most of them live central or east.

 

[Bottega Don]

Plymouth must have the worst home attendances if you were to compare it to the size of the city/catchment area. Is there anybody worse? Not including London clubs obviously

 

[Amber Nectar]

Plymouth must have the worst home attendances if you were to compare it to the size of the city/catchment area. Is there anybody worse? Not including London clubs obviously

But there again Plymouth has about half the population of Bradford. Although Bradfords attendances are really impressive for this level and above, they do have really cheap season tickets whilst Plymouth don't. Just had a quick check and Plymouths season tickets were over 2.5 x more expensive than Bradfords based on purchasing the cheapest early bird offer for this season.

 

[shoddycollins]

But there again Plymouth has about half the population of Bradford. Although Bradfords attendances are really impressive for this level and above, they do have really cheap season tickets whilst Plymouth don't. Just had a quick check and Plymouths season tickets were over 2.5 x more expensive than Bradfords based on purchasing the cheapest early bird offer for this season.

And Bradford are competing with the rugger

 

[Ninety Per Cent]

The Rugby team went bust and reformed and don’t get as much support as they used to. There’s a number of sides you could pick to watch of that code too.

If you’ve had a recent successful spell you can hang on to the crowd, I’m surprised we’ve had 3,000 home fans at least considering how bad we’ve been.

 

[GTFCfish]

Christ and I thought the toilets at Blundell Park needed a lick of paint.

 

[The Jovial Forester]

Stream I've got for us away at Crawley has a load of groovy new camera angles, seen our lads getting off the bus, learned one of the turnstile blokes is called Dennis and that Crawley fans have good manners, wishing happy New Year and saying thank you

 

[LeonTheGreen]

1-0 Argyle, young lad we recalled from Truro scoring the goal.