League 2 General Chat Thread

[Railway Blue]

The only final Scunthorpe might be in is the final relegation spot.

Aren't they going to bounce straight back?

 

[GTFCfish]

That’s great and fair play to them.

But I did see their kit launch today under the banner ‘This is our kit for the promotion season’.

Football fans do not like that (even if I think they’ll romp the title).

Aha I hadn’t seen that, yeah I can see why that would get people’s backs up.
There was something similar last season I can’t remember exactly but it was from their official site part way through the season and it was something to do with the play off final clashing with the Wales game on the same day, and of course we ended up beating them in the Semi so it turned out to be irrelevant.
I think that one turned out to just be a bit poorly worded though rather than them saying that they would definitely be there.

 

[AdamStag]

Have seen several posts on social media that a young walsall fan was murdered in blackpool last weekend

Apparently the 2 involved have been charged but such a sad thing to read.

 

[AdamStag]

The only final Scunthorpe might be in is the final relegation spot.

Scunthorpe are fucked.

I’ve seen some crap teams go down (ourselves included), i’ve seen you boys, i’ve seen doncaster (as we’re all involved in the chat) also go down, but scunthorpe were something else.

I’d be really, really worried if i were a fan.

 

[Stagat]

That’s great and fair play to them.

But I did see their kit launch today under the banner ‘This is our kit for the promotion season’.

Football fans do not like that (even if I think they’ll romp the title).

I dislike Wrexham as much as anyone now they have the media wankfest following them and I work with a fan who won't shut the hell up about Ryan fuckin Reynolds every time he turns up to watch a game same as most club owners do but TBF as far as I've seen that article was from a local independent Wrexham news site and not from the club itself.

wrexham.com is not the same as wrexhamafc.co.uk

 

[Ellis]

I dislike Wrexham as much as anyone now they have the media wankfest following them and I work with a fan who won't shut the hell up about Ryan fuckin Reynolds every time he turns up to watch a game same as most club owners do but TBF as far as I've seen that article was from a local independent Wrexham news site and not from the club itself.

wrexham.com is not the same as wrexhamafc.co.uk

The cult of personality genuine Wrexham fans have adopted over their owners is very weird. Loads of them with Ryan Reynolds profile pictures etc.

Hope they go up for their sake as they're a proper club and I fear if they flop around in non league or league 2 for too long the Americans will be running away. They've turned themselves into a bit of a circus for money.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

The cult of personality genuine Wrexham fans have adopted over their owners is very weird. Loads of them with Ryan Reynolds profile pictures etc.

Hope they go up for their sake as they're a proper club and I fear if they flop around in non league or league 2 for too long the Americans will be running away. They've turned themselves into a bit of a circus for money.

Canadian

 

[Conker]

Mullins better than Vardy

Mullins better than Murray

Mullins better than Wes Thomas, Paul Benson, Adam Stansfield...look, how many do you want me to list?

Casey

Glad someone pulled that up, ridiculous comment!

 

[Casey]

Glad someone pulled that up, ridiculous comment!

Did I miss you doing it?

My apologies if I did

Casey

 

[chipmunx]

Did I miss you doing it?

My apologies if I did

Casey

I think he's refering to the initial comment about how good Mullin was, not your comment. Kieron_Vale mentioned Vardy, I pointed out even we'd had 2 better and you agreed on Vardy and Murray who we had and you added a whole lot more names.

 

[Son of Cod]

Grimsby got taken over this time last year, just after relegation, and it seemed to give them a massive boost to bounce straight back. Would be good to see Oldham able to do the same.

Yeah, I doubt there has ever been a club that got relegated into the Conference in as high spirits as us last season. Definitely helped us.

They literally had the PPG to do it last year under Parkinson. We just exceeded them with an above average PPG for NL champions. They chased us down well IMO. I certainly had a squeaky arse at times.

Who's the team with the proven manager that will exceed them so much when you consider their budget is a lot higher? Paul Cook maybe? Not sure.

It's Wrexham's. Mullin's the best CF that's ever played at that level IMO.

Yeah, I can't see anything other than a Wrexham steam rollering of that division really. You're probably looking at Chesterfield/County/Solihull being the only ones that'll push them but none of them really seem like likely options given that County have gone leftfield with their manager choice, Chesterfield are going through wholesale changes and Solihull will have a wobble in them. Southend darkhorses perhaps. The division has been weakened by the promotions last season as both us and you would have been in that top 7 pretty much guaranteed. Halifax will need a rebuild too so you'd imagine they won't be occupying a playoff spot for the entirety of the season.

Another one here who can't get on board with that Mullin comment by the way. He's decent but he's not as good as people make out. Without even thinking about it I reckon I could reel off a list of 5-10 strikers/forwards that have been better than him in that division and that's just from the 7 seasons I've seen us playing at that level.

If Dave Challinor didn't exist, those "EFL players and manager" would have won it. They were objectivley unlucky. Their PPG was Champions worthy in 8/9 out 10 seasons.

The Play-offs are always a banana skin. I had a feeling they'd lose them. We would have lost them if we'd be ousted for the title. Demoralised. Grimsby had the wind in their sails and had plenty of fight, they deserved it based on the format but they were nowhere near a better side than Wrexham.

Would have been interesting to see where would have come in the division if we started the season with the team that ended the season. We were basically a work in progress up until about Feb/March and then after that I'd argue we were every bit as good as Wrexham and yourselves. Hurst did an absolutely insanely good job of spinning plates, keeping us in the hunt while figuring out his best system.

Normally with a team chucking cash around like that I’d feel the same but after our play off game their fans were unbelievably gracious, in the same circumstances there is no way our fans would have been that nice about it, and also a big number of Wrexham fans donated to the crowdfunder the Mariners Trust did to enable a lot of our fans with kids to be able to go who couldn’t have afforded it normally with the extortionate prices for the final.
So for those 2 reasons, I hope they do win it.

Yeah said it plenty of times on the other forum but worth repeating here. On that playoff semi final day, the Wrexham fans were the best set of home fans I've ever met in 32 years of going to watch Town. All sound in the pubs and out and about before the match and I lost count of the number of them that shook my hand and said we deserved it and wished us luck after the match. Proper class bunch of fans and it's a shame that they're perceived a certain way because of their ownership. Something which I was definitely guilty of doing before going there too.

 

[GTFCfish]

Yeah, I doubt there has ever been a club that got relegated into the Conference in as high spirits as us last season. Definitely helped us.

Yeah that was a weird feeling in the Summer, we’d just been relegated yet it felt like we were in the best place we’d been for donkeys years.

Because of the new ownership I was hopeful that this time we would only be stuck down there for 3 or 4 years and I had already decided that I would’ve been happy with that so to bounce back the way we did especially after being 15 seconds away from going out in the eliminator was just surreal and I still don’t think it’s properly sunk in yet.
The good thing too is that they won’t just settle for stagnating in League 2 like Fenty did so I’m expecting a first season of consolidation before each season after to push on more and more.
Exciting times ahead for us I think and it’s about bloody time too after the last 20 years of utter misery.

 

[Son of Cod]

Yeah that was a weird feeling in the Summer, we’d just been relegated yet it felt like we were in the best place we’d been for donkeys years.

Because of the new ownership I was hopeful that this time we would only be stuck down there for 3 or 4 years and I had already decided that I would’ve been happy with that so to bounce back the way we did especially after being 15 seconds away from going out in the eliminator was just surreal and I still don’t think it’s properly sunk in yet.
The good thing too is that they won’t just settle for stagnating in League 2 like Fenty did so I’m expecting a first season of consolidation before each season after to push on more and more.
Exciting times ahead for us I think and it’s about bloody time too after the last 20 years of utter misery.

Yeah part of me feels like we absolutely got away with one there by taking the first chance we had, but that's mixed with other parts that think fuck it...we were down for six seasons before and we saw Barnet, Cheltenham and Bristol Rovers all come down after us and sneak back up before us. And then there's also the fact that we deserved it as well. But yeah, I was like you in that I was delighted to be kicking off the season without Fenty in charge, didn't matter what division we were in. I had a right blast last season. Loads of away matches near me, played some really good football at times and we took loads of fans everywhere. Throw in that playoff campaign and it was a top tier Town season. Would recommend a single season stint down in that division to anyone that's interested.

 

[Son of Cod]

Old Man Wild has done a 30 minute interview on D3D4 if you aren't aware @Barrowfans. Comes across well as he usually does.

 

[BarraMatt]

Old Man Wild has done a 30 minute interview on D3D4 if you aren't aware @Barrowfans. Comes across well as he usually does.

Had no idea. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[chipmunx]

Old Man Wild has done a 30 minute interview on D3D4 if you aren't aware @Barrowfans. Comes across well as he usually does.

thanks - a good listen

 

[Son of Cod]

thanks - a good listen

Yeah plenty to be pleased with I think if you're a Barrow fan. Sounds very much like he gets you as a club.

 

[Casey]

I have shamelessly copied and pasted this because if I tried to write it it would be complete gibberish...to be honest it's still complete gibberish to me but here goes...

Today was mint day when you could buy Wagmi United NFT. An NFT can be bought with Etherium. The selling price was 0.3 which relates to around 306 pounds

It seems some 6700 of these were sold.

Exactly how the translates into cash for my club I have absolutely no idea but " apparently" it went well.

If anyone could translate that I would be grateful and just a little concerned for you.

Casey

 

[PuB]

I have shamelessly copied and pasted this because if I tried to write it it would be complete gibberish...to be honest it's still complete gibberish to me but here goes...

Today was mint day when you could buy Wagmi United NFT. An NFT can be bought with Etherium. The selling price was 0.3 which relates to around 306 pounds

It seems some 6700 of these were sold.

Exactly how the translates into cash for my club I have absolutely no idea but " apparently" it went well.

If anyone could translate that I would be grateful and just a little concerned for you.

Casey

The bottom has fallen out of crypto currency and NFT’s. People don’t have spare money to burn.

Hope for the best for you but your business model is fucked.

 

[Casey]

It ain't my business modelbut earning £20k for the equivalent of shirt sales in a day can't be bad.

How much the club will receive from that is a completely different matter...I'm talking about legitimate costs here.

Casey

 

[Alain]

The sum raised by the NFT WAGMI was just over £3m so far of which part is going to be used on Stadium improvements and some on players. So far 9000 have bee sold to date.

Now if and it’s a big if, these new found supporters decide to follow the club on match days via iFollow then we could be getting a lot more revenue into the club on a weekly basis and so should the club we play when we are away.

 

[Agombar stool]

The sum raised by the NFT WAGMI was just over £3m so far of which part is going to be used on Stadium improvements and some on players. So far 9000 have bee sold to date.

Now if and it’s a big if, these new found supporters decide to follow the club on match days via iFollow then we could be getting a lot more revenue into the club on a weekly basis and so should the club we play when we are away.

There is no way there are 9,000 Crawley fans willing to spend £300 on jpegs of monkeys wearing Crawley 'apparel'! Its probably 8,500 crypto nerds.

Very very wary of this business model, it really doesn't sound sustainable at all.

 

[Casey]

Agombar, of course there are not 9,000 Crawley fans. We know that.

None of us Crawley fans have much clue as to exactly how Wagmi are going to sustain the sales of nfts and any other income streams they may have but there ain't a lot we can do about it either way.

That is one of the reasons I put these things on here. It's not a bragging thing on my part more a case that the football family can keep an eye on it.

I actually expect some money to be spent and a dash for promotion before Wagmi sell us on for a profit.

Casey

 

[Agombar stool]

Agombar, of course there are not 9,000 Crawley fans. We know that.

None of us Crawley fans have much clue as to exactly how Wagmi are going to sustain the sales of nfts and any other income streams they may have but there ain't a lot we can do about it either way.

That is one of the reasons I put these things on here. It's not a bragging thing on my part more a case that the football family can keep an eye on it.

I actually expect some money to be spent and a dash for promotion before Wagmi sell us on for a profit.

Casey

Do you not have a supporters trust or a fans group that are taking these guys to task or are you just letting them get on with it? I find it interesting that Bradford fans made a huge thing when they were sniffing around but Crawley appear to have welcomed them with open arms.

 

[Casey]

We do have a supporters trust. I would be expecting them to be keeping an eye on wagmi but the sale was completed before anyone (probably someone did) even knew we were for sale and under the ownership of Ziya Eren we were poor but stable so there was little cause for concern.

Also, they have done nothing (other than sacking Yems) to take them to task over. The trust can hardly go into the boardroom demanding answers/change when all that has happened is an increase in budget and support staff.

I am wary but so far there is nothing bad to actually report.

Casey

 

[Agombar stool]

We do have a supporters trust. I would be expecting them to be keeping an eye on wagmi but the sale was completed before anyone (probably someone did) even knew we were for sale and under the ownership of Ziya Eren we were poor but stable so there was little cause for concern.

Also, they have done nothing (other than sacking Yems) to take them to task over. The trust can hardly go into the boardroom demanding answers/change when all that has happened is an increase in budget and support staff.

I am wary but so far there is nothing bad to actually report.

Casey

Incidentally have you heard anything about Crawley being interested in Jack Payne? We've offered him a new contract on big money for league 2 but apparently his agent is playing silly buggers and demanding an unrealistic fee. The reason I'm mentioning it is that I've read you are also offering decent money and I suspect probably willing to pay the agents fee also. Have you heard anything at all?

 

[Agombar stool]

"when the NFTs “drop” next month overseas fans will be buying a “virtual season ticket” which will include the ability to influence major decisions like how the transfer budget is spent.

“That scares people,” Johnson admits. “But with things like socios, fans get to vote on whether it’s Pepsi or Coke being served in the stands. Do fans really care about that? They need ‘buy in’.

“We’d never do something that would upset the staff or offer NFT holders a chance to vote on who plays, that’s down to Kevin [Betsy] – that’s why we have appointed him. But other bigger picture stuff is an option.

“An example is in January if we have £200,000 to spend in the transfer window. We’ve seen us playing for a couple of months, we have an idea of where our strengths and weaknesses lie and we have season ticket holders and NFT holders and we give them a vote on how we distribute those funds in the transfer window.”

So are the 9,000 people that bought these NFTs going to be making the decisions that a Director of Football, or a Football manager going to be making? It all seems a little bit Ebsfleet Town of a few years back. I'm not against change per se but if its accepted that the majority of these 9,000 people aren't actually Crawley fans but nerds in basements that probably know little about football are these really the people that you want making these decisions?

 

[Alain]

WAGMI have already appointed a member of the Supporters Trust to the board and are setting up a Fans Council in the future - they are being very open about what’s happening and having regular Twitter Space open meetings that anyone can listen into and ask question.

Have heard rumours about Jack Payne but nothing definite- we are still supposed to be signing a few more though.

 

[Casey]

To be honest I don't think the Jack Payne rumour will actually end up with him at Crawley. More a case of trying to screw money out of Swindon...but what do I know?

I had the nft and season ticket holders choosing where to spend money explained to me thus: Manager goes to chairman/owner for new signings. Chairman says yeah but I'm not spending anymore money on a striker you've got seven but there is money for a centre half. In this case the nft and season ticket holders are the chairman/owner.

Bloody fraught with problems if you ask me (every fan wants a new striker) but as long as we don't foist a player on the manager that he neither wants or can accommodate I'm hoping it want do too much damage.

As I said. Very wary about the model but as yet nothing to throw my toys out the pram about.

Casey

 

[Agombar stool]

Never been a fan of Crawley after the Steve Evans v Di Canio season but for the sake of the fans, and you guys who seem like decent folk I just hope they don't take the piss with this venture.