How far has your club taken you......

[Proggs]

In the time you have been a fan, what is the highest point of ambition you have realistically felt your club could achieve with whoever was running and managing the club, not some dream of a sheik or sugar daddy. For me, just for a short while I really did think Crewe Alexandra would reach the Premier League, just for a couple of seasons around the turn of the millennium it actually looked like it could happen, I also thought we might reach the final of the FA Cup in the 2001/02 season after drawing away with Everton and then the winner of the replay getting Middlesbrough away in the Q/F, the draw seemed to open up and show a possible route to the final, in fact I think Millwall did make the final that year!


So to sum up, in the last 15/16 years I have gone from thinking we might make a brief appearance in the English top flight and that it was not a pipe dream of an FA cup final appearance, to praying to god that we don’t drop out of the football league and maybe we can get past the 1st round of the cup for a change.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Millwall got to the FA Cup final in 2003/04.
I remember at the time of our first promotion to the Football League, there was a genuine belief that we could do a Wimbledon and reach the very top. However, the foundations were built on sand.
Now, I believe that we do have the club infrastructure to be a successful League 1 club. We just need to attract more support!

 

[StagsForLife]

We've always been a yoyo club in the basement divisions throughout our history however I'd say the optimism is very high to certainly get us into League One in the next few seasons, the chairmans aim when he came in was to get the club to the championship. The foundations are certainly coming into place both on and off the field. We almost have our ground back and are just about breaking even.

 

[MJA]

In the time you have been a fan, what is the highest point of ambition you have realistically felt your club could achieve with whoever was running and managing the club, not some dream of a sheik or sugar daddy. For me, just for a short while I really did think Crewe Alexandra would reach the Premier League, just for a couple of seasons around the turn of the millennium it actually looked like it could happen, I also thought we might reach the final of the FA Cup in the 2001/02 season after drawing away with Everton and then the winner of the replay getting Middlesbrough away in the Q/F, the draw seemed to open up and show a possible route to the final, in fact I think Millwall did make the final that year!


So to sum up, in the last 15/16 years I have gone from thinking we might make a brief appearance in the English top flight and that it was not a pipe dream of an FA cup final appearance, to praying to god that we don’t drop out of the football league and maybe we can get past the 1st round of the cup for a change.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Whilst we were never particularly on the verge of it, and no-one was ready to put MOTD on series link, we were actually looking likely to gatecrash the Division One play-off race in Dean Ashton's final season. Just as it was looking too good to be true though, Ashton was sold and we fell like a stone for several years. It's not as daft as it sounds and no dafter than thinking Rui Faria has even heard of Port Vale, tbf.

Also that FA Cup run was immense (even if it did put Brammer out for the season and essentially relegate us). We should have beaten Everton (both at Goodison and then at Gresty) but doubt we'd have got to the final.

 

[Habbinalan]

Simple answer to your question is to the nether reaches of Hell, back to sanity and then ever onwards.

This is probably the best it's been since I've had time to be a proper paying supporter of my local club. I wasn't on board for the trip to Cardiff in 2002, never mind the FA Cup Quarter Finals and just falling short in the play-offs final to get into the first year of the Premier League in the early 90s.

I came on board in 2003 and became a regular (NRE) by 2004. Disaster followed disaster. Crook followed incompetent followed more examples of both in the ownership and management of the club - with the odd hero in the support (Colin), on the board (Nick), in the management seat (Buzz), on the pitch (Michael Morrison, Mark Peters, Bimmo, Courtney Pitt) and even in the Government (Richard Caborn) to lighten the experience as we went through administration, relegation, losing the ground, struggling to put together a squad. This was followed by the ups and downs of two losses at Wembley in the Play-off Final and much that I'll gloss over.

High point was probably second win at Wembley to regain League status (winning the Trophy was fun but treated as just a rehearsal). We/I've been walking on sunshine ever since - Josh scores to win our L2 debut against Argyle, home draw and trip to Old Trafford in the FA Cup, then starting this season's awaydays with a night out in Rotherham and a crazy 4-4 at Carlisle and finishing it with a chance of the play-offs up to the penultimate match.

What more could I ask for? I think I've earned it.

 

[Proggs]

Whilst we were never particularly on the verge of it, and no-one was ready to put MOTD on series link, we were actually looking likely to gatecrash the Division One play-off race in Dean Ashton's final season. Just as it was looking too good to be true though, Ashton was sold and we fell like a stone for several years. It's not as daft as it sounds and no dafter than thinking Rui Faria has even heard of Port Vale, tbf.

Also that FA Cup run was immense (even if it did put Brammer out for the season and essentially relegate us). We should have beaten Everton (both at Goodison and then at Gresty) but doubt we'd have got to the final.

Spot on, we should have beat Everton, but then I think we would have beaten boro in the quarters, but hey ho, it all went south.

If only the club had of shown some balls in Ashton's last season, got him him to stay until May, he would have smashed our own scoring record, he would have been the highest English goal scorer in any division, but more importantly for the fans we could have been a game or 2 away from the top flight, New Years Day 2005 and we looked ready to do it.

I think this was the vales 'Horton out' era, so they may not have been aware as to what we were up to, though you think taking their club captain and player of the year off them for £500,000 would have been a little hint.

 

[Laker]

Simple answer to your question is to the nether reaches of Hell, back to sanity and then ever onwards.

This is probably the best it's been since I've had time to be a proper paying supporter of my local club. I wasn't on board for the trip to Cardiff in 2002, never mind the FA Cup Quarter Finals and just falling short in the play-offs final to get into the first year of the Premier League in the early 90s.

I came on board in 2003 and became a regular (NRE) by 2004. Disaster followed disaster. Crook followed incompetent followed more examples of both in the ownership and management of the club - with the odd hero in the support (Colin), on the board (Nick), in the management seat (Buzz), on the pitch (Michael Morrison, Mark Peters, Bimmo, Courtney Pitt) and even in the Government (Richard Caborn) to lighten the experience as we went through administration, relegation, losing the ground, struggling to put together a squad. This was followed by the ups and downs of two losses at Wembley in the Play-off Final and much that I'll gloss over.

High point was probably second win at Wembley to regain League status (winning the Trophy was fun but treated as just a rehearsal). We/I've been walking on sunshine ever since - Josh scores to win our L2 debut against Argyle, home draw and trip to Old Trafford in the FA Cup, then starting this season's awaydays with a night out in Rotherham and a crazy 4-4 at Carlisle and finishing it with a chance of the play-offs up to the penultimate match.

What more could I ask for? I think I've earned it.

I first started going in December 1990. My dad got tickets through work then we got the bug. That coincided with probably our best season ever (won what's now League 1 plus quarter finals of cup). When we went top of what's now the Championship after beating Ipswich away in November that year I was convinced we were going up to be inaugural Premier League founders.

Since then, it's been a gradual decline and in the last 15 years or so I'd say ambition has ranged from merely surviving to being a League 2 club. Now I think we can get into League 1 and hold our own there (if Fleetwood, Bury, Rochdale, Peterborough etc can on their attendances then we should be able to too) but nothing more is dreamable until the Abbey is redeveloped..... and I have seen too many setbacks of a new/redeveloped ground to get my hopes up on that yet.

 

[BeesKnees]

Millwall got to the FA Cup final in 2003/04.
I remember at the time of our first promotion to the Football League, there was a genuine belief that we could do a Wimbledon and reach the very top. However, the foundations were built on sand.
Now, I believe that we do have the club infrastructure to be a successful League 1 club. We just need to attract more support!

In the early 90s when our home crowd was double what it is now I thought we would get to league one and stay there. Now I think the occasional flirt with league 2 play-offs is our lot. I don't see where the extra support is coming from to make us any more than that.

The sum of my ambition for the club is a play-off final at Wembley or drawing Tottenham in the FA cup next season when they are playing at Wembley. Our last Wembley appearance was 1972.

 

[shoddycollins]

The highest league position the club has ever sat while I've been a fan was 2nd in League One, this was on the back of promotion from the Conference; winning League Two in our first season back and then narrowly missing out on a play-off place in our first season in League One. This was pretty close to the end of the season too and automatic promotion to the Championship seemed fairly likely. I think the most I hoped we would achieve in the Championship though at that time was mid-table respectability. Unfortunately we capitulated, then lost to two late goals in the play-offs against Leeds and the slide began.

 

[huddsmoose]

Similar to other U's fans..

As a kid, listening on the radio to the play off games against Leicester, it seemed likely that Cambridge would end up in the Premier League in the 90s.

15 years of decline later and we were on the verge of extinction until the honourable Mr Caborn intervened.

Now, crowds are on the up, finances are secure and we have some capable chaps steering the ship. Being a sustainable League 1 club should be the short to mid-term ambition.

Never dull up the Abbey.

 

[Flaxman's Alibi]

My club has taken my hair, my wealth, my hopes, my opportunities and seen me tragically choose two crushingly disappointing wives.

I blame them for pretty much every shafting that I've ever received, without once accepting any personal blame.

For 4 decades the scenario has pretty much gone: I chose them. They choose to repeatedly stick it up my wrong un with a branch from a Monkey Puzzle tree.

 

[AtaturkOzgutson]

Since then, it's been a gradual decline and in the last 15 years or so I'd say ambition has ranged from merely surviving to being a League 2 club. Now I think we can get into League 1 and hold our own there (if Fleetwood, Bury, Rochdale, Peterborough etc can on their attendances then we should be able to too) but nothing more is dreamable until the Abbey is redeveloped..... and I have seen too many setbacks of a new/redeveloped ground to get my hopes up on that yet.

Quite, as someone who started watching us decline from (now) League One to almost the regional leagues/folding completely it's hard to say with a straight face that we could reach the Championship. However, we've now been improving as a club for 4+ years straight, and the board have openly stated the long term goal of reaching that level sustainably. I don't think it's unrealistic but for it to ever be sustained it would require the ground developments to come to any kind of fruition. News has gone painfully quiet on this front too of late.

Considering where we currently are, there's no reason we couldn't get into League One and stay there. Progressing out of the bottom half of that division would probably not be possible in the current Abbey set up, and I'd probably consider survival there about right for us on the whole.

 

[joethegill]

Best ever finish was 11th in the Championship, so we had pipe dreams of the play-offs there for a little while. A club I think we could emulate over time would be Ipswich, in and about the top 10 of the Championship but apparently never quite good enough to take that extra step forward. I think that's our limit realistically.

 

[E10rifle]

Harlow.

 

[Don Tonberry]

I've seen my club finish 8th in the Premier League, win the FA Cup and play AC Milan in a competitive UEFA Cup fixture at Fratton Park.

It will never be that good again.

 

[dedwardp]

In 2007 we were 1-0 up away at Stoke in the penultimate game of the season with the Championship play-offs in touching distance. A quite remarkable season but the momentum that team had it just felt like anything was possible - there was talk of groundsharing with Ipswich if we made the Premier League and so on. So the Championship play-offs were definitely realistic for that short while and then who knows what could have happened?

Otherwise, the most realistic aim would probably have been League One top six, and even then it was only really for a couple of years after we had come back down from the Championship when we were generally not too far away.

 

[GTFCfish]

I grew up watching us in the Championship or whatever it was called then and i remember a couple of seasons we were flirting with the play offs until around Feb/March time before falling away so the Premier League dream was whilst still a pipe dream, always there as a 'maybe one day' thought.
Then not too many years later we end up in the Conference and our second season in it we were around 18th/19th at Christmas and i really thought that we were heading for the Conference North before going on a crazy unbeaten run of 20 odd games to the verge of the play offs before a certain Mr Vardy dived to win Fleetwood a penalty before scoring the winner in injury time to end our unbeaten run and our season petered out after that.
To finally be back in the League after all these years feels just as exciting to me as it was all those years ago playing big Championship teams, the season cannot start soon enough!

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

We got to the league one play off final .......but back in the late 70s early 80s every new manager could see us being a second division club ( championship ) within 5 years ....I fell for it , looking back , I now realise they were only buying themselves time before they had even started , 3 just avoiding re election seasons and they were still within the 5 year plan

 

[Habbinalan]

1966/67

• Barrow AFC finished 3rd in League Div 4, behind Stockport County and Southport - promoted, along with Tranmere Rovers.
• FA Cup 3rd Round Barrow 2 -2 Southampton (Ron Davies, Martin Chivers and Terry Payne tamed)

1967/68

• Barrow AFC finished 8th in League Div 3.
• For one Friday night and Saturday morning ( I think 24/25 Nov edit:actually 1/2 November 1968 ) they/we were top of the League.

Slow decline followed, with the near death throes of relegation (1970) and its consequences avoided by the distraction of girls, university and rock & roll.

 

[RampantRover]

We finished just mid table in the Championship in the 2008/09 season under Sean O'Driscoll, but being around the playoffs for a while. Our first in the Championship and the season after beating L***s at Wembley.
Since then it's all been down hill, apart from one promotion back to the Championship on our way down to League 2, which some say was the greatest finish to a season ever beating Brentford to become Champions.

 

[mowgli]

Reaching the semi final of The FA Cup in 2001 losing 2-1 to Liverpool at Villa Park, we will never have such success again in my lifetime i reckon.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Spot on, we should have beat Everton, but then I think we would have beaten boro in the quarters, but hey ho, it all went south.

If only the club had of shown some balls in Ashton's last season, got him him to stay until May, he would have smashed our own scoring record, he would have been the highest English goal scorer in any division, but more importantly for the fans we could have been a game or 2 away from the top flight, New Years Day 2005 and we looked ready to do it.

I think this was the vales 'Horton out' era, so they may not have been aware as to what we were up to, though you think taking their club captain and player of the year off them for £500,000 would have been a little hint.

Apparently Ashton wanted to go but yeah, I do wonder if he now regrets taking the first (or second, apparently Dario made sure he didn't go Palace) offer. It was the wrong move for the wrong price at (for us) the wrong time. It was insane just how much better he was than the rest of the Division, 20 goals by Jan 1st and he was certain to be closer to 40 than 30 by May. He should have made a bigger step up than to a doomed Norwich, pretty much meant he wasted 6 months back in the Championship with them waiting for the transfer window to open. £3million was also an absolute snip when you look at pretty much every other player of that calibre. Without that broken ankle, he'd be playing on Saturday.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Dean Ashton was a complete centre-forward, he would have been an England regular for sure.

 

[GTFCfish]

Reaching the semi final of The FA Cup in 2001 losing 2-1 to Liverpool at Villa Park, we will never have such success again in my lifetime i reckon.

Yeah i remember that we drew you in the 3rd round, i remember thinking nice easy draw for us with us being Championship and you being League 2, haha hindsight eh.

 

[mowgli]

Yeah i remember that we drew you in the 3rd round, i remember thinking nice easy draw for us with us being Championship and you being League 2, haha hindsight eh.

Yep, we drew at Adams Park 1-1 then won the replay at yours 3-1. Your fans were brilliant after the game with most saying we deserved it and wished us good luck in the 4th round.

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

We finished just mid table in the Championship in the 2008/09 season under Sean O'Driscoll, but being around the playoffs for a while. Our first in the Championship and the season after beating L***s at Wembley.
Since then it's all been down hill, apart from one promotion back to the Championship on our way down to League 2, which some say was the greatest finish to a season ever beating Brentford to become Champions.

Aye , that made good telly for the rest of us .....your ticker must have been going at some pace ...

 

[Silver Stone]

Back in 1990, what's now League One was in our sights. Of course it was a castle built on sand, and we're better equipped for that nowadays. Maybe.

 

[Casey]

This is weird for me because to say we have exceeded my expectations would be a massive understatement!

When I started watching Crawley I hoped we would make the Southern Premier League and stay for a few seasons before we were relegated back.

That team in the first season in the Southern Premier is still my favourite and I had more fun watching football then than any other season since.

The side that won promotion to the conference was good but I never expected to stay because we were such a small club in a shoestring budget (Charlie MacDonald was our top striker but we lost him because Gravesend offered fifty pounds more). So fully expected to go down again pretty quickly but although it was tough and we had some very dodgy moments I was living beyond my dreams.

That cup run, beating Swindon with a last gasp goal, Old Trafford.

Football League and League one! Hey, don't be silly. That's for bigger clubs than us (yes I know I'm going to get it for that comment).

Casey

 

[Sestonpoolie]

My club has taken my hair, my wealth, my hopes, my opportunities and seen me tragically choose two crushingly disappointing wives.

I blame them for pretty much every shafting that I've ever received, without once accepting any personal blame.

For 4 decades the scenario has pretty much gone: I chose them. They choose to repeatedly stick it up my wrong un with a branch from a Monkey Puzzle tree.

And I though being a Pools fan was bad