2025 relegation dogfight thread

[Tom_CUFC]

I don't, at all, we're punching above where we should be, my point is we are as high as we can be, we've "done it", so then what....

It's just a change in mindset after 25 years of always having somewhere higher to go, as I said I'm sure it'll become normal after time, we've just not been at our capable limit since the early 90s.

 

[Arbury]

Yup, first game 95, 40+ games a season since 2004 save for a couple of seasons pre-covid living in Canada. They were really shit, but because of where we were there was always the possibility of tangible improvement. We'd also basically had next to no big games/wins for 20 years, so there was always the excitement of when that big game will come (league or cup).

We've now hit our limit of where we can go AND we're as shit as we were in those days (and others). We're going to redevelop the stadium over the next 5 years to give us the facilities that will allow us to compete.....10 places higher than we are now. That's completely an indictment on football in this country rather than Cambridge United, but it's a bit depressing to me anyway.

At some point we'll win a bit more often again, maybe we'll settle in as a yo-yo L1/L2 team like a dozen or so teams and it'll become a bit more normal, bit after 2020-2023 it's feels a bit after the Lord Mayor's show right now still.

This all seems incredibly glass half empty to me, who’s ever said this is our limit? Teams have gone higher with worse facilities.

If you’ve done 40+ games every season for 20 then I doff my doff my cap as you’ve seen some proper shit, even more of a reason to know that this season isn’t that bad compared to others.

Perhaps the last 3 years of being shit is taking its toll, I dunno but I still believe we can improve.

UIE.

 

[Laker]

This all seems incredibly glass half empty to me, who’s ever said this is our limit? Teams have gone higher with worse facilities.

If you’ve done 40+ games every season for 20 then I doff my doff my cap as you’ve seen some proper shit, even more of a reason to know that this season isn’t that bad compared to others.

Perhaps the last 3 years of being shit is taking its toll, I dunno but I still believe we can improve.

UIE.

I understand where Tom is coming from and I privately had this fear as soon as we joined League 1. Put simply, our crowds are in the bottom half of the division and we don’t have a wealthy owner to supplement it so we’re always going to have a low budget at this level. Therefore we’re always going to be on the back foot. This was highlighted most in the summer when Wrexham spent £750k on Faal which is a different universe to us. And then Birmingham followed that up by blowing Wrexham out the water by spending £15m on Stansfield.

We’ve got a great little club which is going places but, unless we get it very right every summer and don’t hit mass injuries, we’ll struggle because we just don’t have the financial clout to compete.

So what is our limit? At the moment it’s very much League 1. There’s no one who has reached higher without a bigger ground or serious backing. And that’s a shame. It’s not a case of “completed it mate” but it does feel that “football” doesn’t allow clubs like us to go any further at the moment. I know Southampton fans feel the same about their club too, Norwich similar. I bet Sheffield United and Burnley are the same too.

It is what it is. To quote Brad Pitt in Moneyball “it’s an unfair game”. This doesn’t mean this season is any more palatable however it is sort of expected from time to time sadly.

 

[thewwfc]

It does seem unfair that there isn’t more acknowledgement of clubs that live within their means and don’t go for the whole thing of getting bought up the divisions by a sugar daddy.

But the minute that anyone tries to impose even the lightest kind of regulation on football (to try and balance things out) then it’s met with a “nanny state” outcry.

I think the whole “salary cap as a % of turnover” is probably as good as it’s going to get in terms of trying to equalise things.

We would probably still be in L2 (if not lower) if we had stuck with the supporters’ trust model.

Exeter have proved that you can make this work to sustain a club at L1 level, but they get better gates than we do and therefore more £ coming in the door.

Our gates seem remarkably indifferent to on-the-pitch success and remain fairly constant whether we’re doing well or badly.

Anyway, this is rambling a bit and maybe not entirely on topic, but just to agree that without the magic steroid of sugar daddy cash, a team can only punch above its weight for so long.

And those that have lived beyond the means of their natural level will come back down to it sooner or later (Wigan immediately sprung to mind but there are many, many others).

 

[EnglishRed]

The worst thing about being in League 2 will be playing Bromley. At least Carlisle may not be there.

Re. Thewwfcs post above, I agree. I was massively proud to be a fan owned club but sadly if our takeover hadn't happened we would probably be in regional football by now- which is arguably well below our 'natural' level. After 15 years in the doldrums I'm massively enjoying our financially doped present whilst it lasts.

Football fortunes ebb and flow. The teams getting relegated this season will, for the most part, be back again stronger in a few seasons time.

 

[AdamStag]

The only thing i hope is that when clubs come up from the conference they’re like a proper club - so like those who go down face the potential of -

York yes, happy days.
Forest Green - no
Barnet - pointless and just go back down anyway
Gateshead - meh, potential weekend in newcastle, but dreadful facilities
Oldham - deserve it, been treated badly
Solihull - no
Rochdale - happy days.

 

[GEORGE]

Yes, I think we were 8 adrift with 9 to play, we were much later in the year than this with people screaming "play the youth team!" and we managed to survive.

Having said that, this team is much worse, this manager is much worse, and this does feel much more hopeless. All the more reason why the board need to do something right now. I don't think they're going to though.

If you want a bit of success -- You could always venture out to Sawston.

 

[Throbber_for_Dunk]

If you want a bit of success -- You could always venture out to Sawston.

What? To Mark Bonner's gaff?

They don't call him the Sawston Mourinho for nowt (rip).

 

[Gassy]

There’s gonna be a fair few more turns and twists that’s for sure, January will be huge.

Cambridge & Burton are relegation dodgers for a couple of years now, although this year does feel different.

Northampton are in a classic 2nd season syndrome (which we warned them of last season). We have been awful ourselves.

Then there’s a load of teams that could drop like a balloon, with a tad of bad form. I fully expect Peterborough to buy their way out of it this month.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

The only thing i hope is that when clubs come up from the conference they’re like a proper club - so like those who go down face the potential of -

York yes, happy days.
Forest Green - no
Barnet - pointless and just go back down anyway
Gateshead - meh, potential weekend in newcastle, but dreadful facilities
Oldham - deserve it, been treated badly
Solihull - no
Rochdale - happy days.

York seem to be buying their way back to the league though.

 

[Conker]

York are tinpot.

 

[Luke Imp]

Tbh I think you could look through most of L1 and say they're at the highest level they're likely to reach.

Aside from Rotherham as a yo-yo club, but really a L1 size one, we'd probably all agree on 15-18 sides who are probably as high as you'd imagine they will go.

 

[AdamStag]

Tbh I think you could look through most of L1 and say they're at the highest level they're likely to reach.

Aside from Rotherham as a yo-yo club, but really a L1 size one, we'd probably all agree on 15-18 sides who are probably as high as you'd imagine they will go.

Very true and a sad state of affairs with how money has changed it.

 

[Laker]

What? To Mark Bonner's gaff?

They don't call him the Sawston Mourinho for nowt (rip).

I assume he’s referring to Cambridge City who are RIPPING Isthmian North Div 1 league apart by sitting in 10th place.

 

[Carver]

How’s Ryan Loft doing Cambridge fans?

 

[BRFC_Gas]

How’s Ryan Loft doing Cambridge fans?

Still has the control of a baby giraffe. This was from Saturday..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1875939557184831742

 

[GEORGE]

Still has the control of a baby giraffe. This was from Saturday..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1875939557184831742

And that was the good bit he did on Saturday --- He really is crap.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

And that was the good bit he did on Saturday --- He really is crap.

Shit player but what a fantastic agent he must have

 

[Gassy]

Still has the control of a baby giraffe. This was from Saturday..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1875939557184831742

When he came on, I thought it would be written in the stars he’d score but somehow he’s actually gotten worse. That touch absolutely cracked me up, he somehow tackled himself? I still don’t know how he’s done it tbh

 

[Gassy]

Very true and a sad state of affairs with how money has changed it.

I feel like Rovers could become a lower championship side if someone came in and built us a new stadium.

All we need is £50/60m. Easy.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

I feel like Rovers could become a lower championship side if someone came in and built us a new stadium.

All we need is £50/60m. Easy.

Thats the only difference between City and Rovers, Steve Lansdown

 

[AdamStag]

I feel like Rovers could become a lower championship side if someone came in and built us a new stadium.

All we need is £50/60m. Easy.

It’s all relative, i think most league 2 clubs have the potentially to set themselves up to be established in league 1 - it’s what happens then.

When there’s only 3 spaces up and 4 down, but with some massive clubs chucked in (well compared to us) it’s certainly hard to see how to get a look in to anything more.

 

[Laker]

Still has the control of a baby giraffe. This was from Saturday..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1875939557184831742

Even I thought this was hilarious. It’s beyond frustrating, it’s just laughable.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Even I thought this was hilarious. It’s beyond frustrating, it’s just laughable.

It's weird because at one stage here he was scoring and playing well (scored 5 goals in 6 matches) and everyone was saying he should be one of the first names on the team sheet. Then he got injured and we never saw that version of Loft again, and I dont think anyone else has since.
It was always a running joke here that his 2nd touch was always conceding a foul, hard to believe he uses a football every day

 

[denzel ecfc]

The only thing i hope is that when clubs come up from the conference they’re like a proper club - so like those who go down face the potential of -

York yes, happy days.
Forest Green - no
Barnet - pointless and just go back down anyway
Gateshead - meh, potential weekend in newcastle, but dreadful facilities
Oldham - deserve it, been treated badly
Solihull - no
Rochdale - happy days.

Would rather go to Solihull than Rochdale.
Shame York moved from the KitKat

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Would rather go to Solihull than Rochdale.
Shame York moved from the KitKat

I guess they needed a break

 

[Throbber_for_Dunk]

I assume he’s referring to Cambridge City who are RIPPING Isthmian North Div 1 league apart by sitting in 10th place.

Well, there is that, but we're both old romantics delighted to see them home (C7 massive!), aren't we?

Used to work Saturday and watch them from the Westbrook centre on a weekend. Shame the heart was torn out of that club how it was, even if I'm sure there are very old boys who'd dissent.

 

[Carver]

Shit player but what a fantastic agent he must have

We had Loft up here on loan in 2019 and he looked completely out of his depth playing in L2, so how he keeps on signing for L1 clubs is unbelievable.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

We had Loft up here on loan in 2019 and he looked completely out of his depth playing in L2, so how he keeps on signing for L1 clubs is unbelievable.

His agent must be an absolute fookin wizard

 

[valefan16]

Ryan Loft... the things than stunned me most was a) We managed to get money for him so feel less nuts that we paid for him and b) he managed to stay in League One.

Bloke always scored against us, Carlisle/Rovers/Scunthorpe but its telling he has more goals at Vale Park scored against us than for us!

Relegation situation looks fairly cut and dried with the bottom three, Burton have surprised me after their take over to be worse than last season, Shrewsbury and Cambridge have been circling the drain for a while now and ran out of poorer sides to keep them up this season.

Peterborough though? What has gone on there.

Current bottom 4 probably go as it stands.