Copulate off Salford

[Deepcut Cobbler]

A rant but an understandable one...

 

[Vanni]

back to the Salford debate, I dislike them with a passion, though the main reason I do so is only because of the whole cnutsof92 thing as I hate anything to do with Man Ure.

As for them buying success, I do acknowledge that it's not the ideal way to go about it but let's all be honest here. All the clubs we support are propped up by some wealthy individual/s, and almost every successful season that our clubs have had in past years was mostly down to having very competitive playing budgets. Throwing money at it in short.

Just ask yourselves this - where would Mansfield be right now without Radford's money? Thinking about how they'll manage to stay up next year is the most probable answer.

Where would Notts be right now without Big Al's financial backing? Oh shit.......

 

[rudebwoyben]

To be fair to Kettering, they were a club that have always been one of the bigger non-league clubs around. If Ladak had not been on the scene, I think they would still be in the lower reaches of the NL or battling for promotion from the NLN and playing at Rockingham Road. He ruined them.
Having said that, they are on their way back having won promotion to the NLN.
They are a pretty horrible club though.

 

[T.A]

I have a feeling this thread might be quite big in a years time...

 

[Si Robin]

To be fair to Kettering, they were a club that have always been one of the bigger non-league clubs around. If Ladak had not been on the scene, I think they would still be in the lower reaches of the NL or battling for promotion from the NLN and playing at Rockingham Road. He ruined them.
Having said that, they are on their way back having won promotion to the NLN.
They are a pretty horrible club though.

I went to Rockingham Road in 2001 and we beat them 6-1 in the FA Cup 1st round. Their fans, aside from one who was with his daughter and warned us to hide the badges on our clothing, were absolute animals.

 

[Jabba the gut]

What’s the difference between Salford and Bournemouth? Both bankrolled way beyond their historic position in the pyramid.

I’d rather see Muff drop like a stone than Salford, tbh.

I fucking hate Bournemouth

I don't agree with Bournemouth's doping, but at least they were an established L1 club and had been built to that level for a long time by doing the hard yards. While they reinforce the EPL megamoney model that has killed the dream of even Championship football for many and fuelled a dangerous financial arms race extending down the leagues, they don't represent an innovation of wealthy men injecting megamoney from below that could threaten our very places in the EFL itself in the long run.

Moreover Bournemouth have kept their identity and fanbase - especially given that the small stadium limits the ability of plastics to swamp the club.

By contrast Salford's historic identity has been hijacked and much of the old fanbase has been replaced. It's essentially been turned into a different club in order for it's owners to use it as a Trojan Horse for their ambitions - not dissimilar to a kind of MK Dons MK II.

They are far more of a travesty and the model they've created is a vastly greater danger to the pyramid and clubs like ours than a thousand Bournemouths.

 

[Laker]

Rushden are the go to example in this situation, the sad fact is though that they are the only ones - or certainly the most high profile one.

FGR, Crawley (though I don't think they're doping anymore), Fleetwood are all still around having got to the League, with FGR and Fleetwood owners showing no sign of pulling out. Chelsea and City (at a much higher level) don't seem to be slowing down either. It'll be interesting to see what happens to Eastleigh now the money has dried up.

EDIT: Thinking about it, weren't Histon financially doped to reach the league and only just fell short before dropping all the way back down?

Yes Histon were but the difference was that they were signing part time players and there wasn’t a massive difference between the standard of the part time players they signed and our full time players! They beat us 5-0 in the FA Trophy and beat us 1-0 in a league match, both at theirs. They were in our division for three seasons and we finished above them each time (not by much) and it was very stressful playing them.

It wasn’t like losing to your traditional rivals, this was being humiliated by a village team. It was awful. And they properly went for us, locally pumping lots into strong PR campaign to steal our fans etc. Was a bit of a nightmare and I’m pleased they went away again.

The population of Histon was 4,000 which is around half the capacity of our ground which sums up how ludicrous the whole situation was. They now get attendances of about 150 again.

 

[Jabba the gut]

The problem Salford have is fan base, it takes little time to bankroll a team up the leagues but a lot longer to establish a good fan base, they were getting crowds of less than 200 before the money, as soon as that money is taken away its not just down the leagues they go, Salford may well not exist at all, that's the difference between bankrolling teams like Salford as opposed to teams like Bournemouth, chances are Bournemouth would survive as a club.

We really need to get rid of this idea/hope that Salford are going to go pop - especially due to a small fanbase. They are something we've never seen before at this level - Beckham alone has a similar fortune to Griggs and Ladak and Lim has vastly more. The combined fortune of Salford's owners would probably put them mid-table in a list of owners in the Premier League - the money is not going to run out.

If their project really is a tilt at the riches in the EPL, small fanbases won't stop them - Bournemouth's attendances were largely irrelevant compared with the doping going in and that will be the case with Salford.

Besides, the celebrity stardust and almost inevitable hype and excessive promotion in the media, plus the fact they have enough money to avoid stagnating in League 1, will probably grow their fanbase to a reasonable level - not that it matters.

 

[Vanni]

Yes Histon were but the difference was that they were signing part time players and there wasn’t a massive difference between the standard of the part time players they signed and our full time players! They beat us 5-0 in the FA Trophy and beat us 1-0 in a league match, both at theirs. They were in our division for three seasons and we finished above them each time (not by much) and it was very stressful playing them.

It wasn’t like losing to your traditional rivals, this was being humiliated by a village team. It was awful. And they properly went for us, locally pumping lots into strong PR campaign to steal our fans etc. Was a bit of a nightmare and I’m pleased they went away again.

The population of Histon was 4,000 which is around half the capacity of our ground which sums up how ludicrous the whole situation was. They now get attendances of about 150 again.

I thought they never did beat us in a league fixture, but you're right, they did beat us 1-0 at theirs back in 2007

 

[northstandexile]

Haven’t Histon been promoted this season?

 

[Trapdoor]

All the clubs we support are propped up by some wealthy individual/s

Well that's not fucking true for a start.

 

[TimeyWimey]

We really need to get rid of this idea/hope that Salford are going to go pop - especially due to a small fanbase. They are something we've never seen before at this level - Beckham alone has a similar fortune to Griggs and Ladak and Lim has vastly more. The combined fortune of Salford's owners would probably put them mid-table in a list of owners in the Premier League - the money is not going to run out.

If their project really is a tilt at the riches in the EPL, small fanbases won't stop them - Bournemouth's attendances were largely irrelevant compared with the doping going in and that will be the case with Salford.

Besides, the celebrity stardust and almost inevitable hype and excessive promotion in the media, plus the fact they have enough money to avoid stagnating in League 1, will probably grow their fanbase to a reasonable level - not that it matters.

Worth noting that Lim & the Utd players aren't really separate entities as is often made out. They're all business partners who have a huge portfolio in Manchester and have started throwing up sky scrapers whilst making few friends along the way. As you say, the money will not run out and the amount that will be needed to get into the Premier League, if that's what they want, is a pittance. It makes you wonder what the real motive behind Salford is.

 

[Laker]

I thought they never did beat us in a league fixture, but you're right, they did beat us 1-0 at theirs back in 2007

Yeah it was really annoying, was the year Quinn was in charge. I couldn’t get a ticket in the away end so I ended up in the home end and saw next to nothing. Was a crap game.

 

[EnglishRed]

Ha! I did football studies at uni so some of my opinions won't be popular!

So you don't support a proper club and you didn't do a proper degree.

A real monster.

 

[Kim Jong Un]

"Football Studies" Society really needs to stop encouraging people to do these pointless degrees. Many Universities are just about profit now. If I didn't get the grades to get into a good University I would have likely tried another route.

As for Salford City, it's been covered by the good people on here already. I quite like the analogy of financial doping. The real gap is now between the Championship and League One, the jump in average wage between those two leagues is extraordinary. My club Oxford United would never be able to compete without serious money coming in.

In a perverse way, I kind of hope Salford City get promoted twice in the next two seasons and enter the Championship. It would bring extra attention to what a farce this is.

Big respect to clubs like Burton Albion who have climbed the pyramid in a respectable manner.

I would love wage caps to come into football globally at all levels, it will never happen though.

 

[rudebwoyben]

I went to Rockingham Road in 2001 and we beat them 6-1 in the FA Cup 1st round. Their fans, aside from one who was with his daughter and warned us to hide the badges on our clothing, were absolute animals.

Yep, I’ve heard similar about their fans. It must be because of the surfeit of meat pies that they consume.

 

[Luke Imp]

Kettering fans were the same at their and our place as well. I wasn't really sure why our away FA Cup game there was so heavily policed and about halfway through the second half I could see why.

Absolute weirdos, them lot. Not just the type of person who look for a fight etc, just downright weird. Difficult to describe them.

 

[Indian Dan]

We had a right old punch up with Kettering in the FA Cup years ago - we won 7-0. Tbh, I think most were Cobblers fans who had a bit of shoeing in a league match.

 

[Conker]

back to the Salford debate, I dislike them with a passion, though the main reason I do so is only because of the whole cnutsof92 thing as I hate anything to do with Man Ure.

As for them buying success, I do acknowledge that it's not the ideal way to go about it but let's all be honest here. All the clubs we support are propped up by some wealthy individual/s, and almost every successful season that our clubs have had in past years was mostly down to having very competitive playing budgets. Throwing money at it in short.

Just ask yourselves this - where would Mansfield be right now without Radford's money? Thinking about how they'll manage to stay up next year is the most probable answer.

Where would Notts be right now without Big Al's financial backing? Oh shit.......

Why’s that? This is traditionally our level, we neither struggle nor prosper usually - the only time we got relegated was due to being leeched by Haslam, so yeah very harsh conclusion from yourself.

Ps we in all likelihood would still be non-league and possibly liquidated if it wasn’t for JR.

 

[Laker]

It’s a strange place is Kettering but never really had any issues there. We always took a decent following but don’t recall any problems.

 

[Posh Harry]

If you’ve ever been to Kettering town centre you might understand why some of them have issues. Hell hole. Makes borehamwood look like Kensington high street

 

[Wooderson]

The Championship has already been corrupted beyond belief. It is EPL2 in all but name. In the 80s and 90s it was relatively easy for clubs like Oldham, Swindon, Vale and ourselves to survive at that level. Now it is all but impossible, as the struggles of Rotherham, Peterborough and co. at that level demonstrate, despite heavy investment. League One is a glass ceiling for most small clubs now, and that ceiling will probably be lowered further in the next few years.

And us! I'd think L1 would be our upper level nowadays to be honest. If we ever get out of NL!

 

[Plumbob]

I have a feeling this thread might be quite big in a years time...

Having been moved to the L1 forum by a mod.

 

[localhero]

I wonder how many 'fans' would be turning up to watch Salford if they'd been taken over by Niall Quinn, Mike Summerbee and Shaun Goater.

 

[Jerry]

Histon were a horrible little club.

When Cambridge City were in trouble their players wore "RIP CITY" t-shirts.

When we got into trouble they didn't just dance on our grave, they stamped all over it. Shame we weren't quite dead. Some so called "supporters" jumped ship and went over to Histon, they started calling themselves the "biggest club in Cambridge". Their arrogance was astounding.

The media absolutely adored them as well, much like the national media adore Salford.

They finished 3rd in 2009 just behind us, thankfully they were beaten by Torquay in the Playoff Semifinals.

I still can't forgive them though. In fact, I'm still slightly obsessed by them. I always follow their results and enjoy every defeat they suffer. I hate everything about the way that club achieved it's success. I still can't forgive the so called football fans that went and watched them, many of whom abandoned the U's when we needed them most. They tried to engineer and take advantage of us at our lowest point in our history, so fuck them until they are but a mere footnote in the footballing history books as a team that once beat Leeds in the FA Cup and now no longer exist.

Sorry for the rant.

Horrible side were Histon, I think John Beck was on the coaching staff? Scabby little ground on an industrial estate and they poured a swimming pools worth of water on the pitch before our play-off game to stop us playing any football.

I seem to remember loads of Cambridge fans watching the game from a nearby hill?

 

[EricSabin]

We had a right old punch up with Kettering in the FA Cup years ago - we won 7-0. Tbh, I think most were Cobblers fans who had a bit of shoeing in a league match.

You’ll get a shoeing next season if you aren’t careful

 

[Indian Dan]

Don’t suppose you were at that game at yours when Macari was in charge? We won 1-0 and absolute carnage after the game as you stabbed one of ours in a chip chop beforehand.

Macari said it was worse than an Old Firm game.

 

[Boz]

I wonder how many 'fans' would be turning up to watch Salford if they'd been taken over by Niall Quinn, Mike Summerbee and Shaun Goater.

None of them as minted as the klass of 92 and Lim, so very few presumably.

 

[Vanni]

Well that's not fucking true for a start.

Fine. Is 'the absolute majority of the clubs we follow are propped up by wealthy individuals' better for you then?

Why’s that? This is traditionally our level, we neither struggle nor prosper usually - the only time we got relegated was due to being leeched by Haslam, so yeah very harsh conclusion from yourself.

Ps we in all likelihood would still be non-league and possibly liquidated if it wasn’t for JR.

Fair enough Conks. I didn't mean to imply that Mansfield would struggle to stay up year in year out (like Morecambe always do) if Radford walked away. What I meant was more that you wouldn't be challenging for promotion every single year but you'd only be a mid table side in all likelihood. And the very nature of L2 footy means that mid table sides are never really truly safe from the drop, as we all know all too well

 

[Conker]

Fine. Is 'the absolute majority of the clubs we follow are propped up by wealthy individuals' better for you then?





Fair enough Conks. I didn't mean to imply that Mansfield would struggle to stay up year in year out (like Morecambe always do) if Radford walked away. What I meant was more that you wouldn't be challenging for promotion every single year but you'd only be a mid table side in all likelihood. And the very nature of L2 footy means that mid table sides are never really truly safe from the drop, as we all know all too well

Fair enough - traditionally being a mid-table L2 side is a fair comment, but when you consider buying the stadium, general improvement of facilitys, new training ground, excellent youth academy etc Radford has spent much, much more on off the field than on it so we have proper potential to change what we have been for the past couple of decades.

Anyway the actual only time we have been relegated to the non-league, will always be a #stain on our club but that was due to a combination of previously being profitable and HIM leeching everything the club had, but history will suggest we are much more likely to get promoted out of this level than relegated