League 2 relegation thread 14/15

[hellogregory]

I don't know what would be worse about us going down. Becoming a non-league club, or HG having been right all along (although even if we do go down I'd say his certainty was misplaced).

Right now though it just feels as though any talk of whether Carlisle will get relegated is like gatecrashing Tranmere's wake, it really does look dismal for them and I'm minded to let their fans get it all out of their system.

I'm already partly wrong. I was convinced we'd finish bottom, I really can't see that happening even if we lose to Hartlepool as well.

I do still think there's a chance we'll go down, but the fact we have a chance has already surprised me.

 

[Reginald Fodstain]

You must have lost a lot of fans since then. I'm always surprised you don't get a lot more than you do since the population of the Wirral along with Ellesmere Port is 380,000 (I know of a Tranmere fan from E.P. so I presume it is in your catchment area). I'm sure Liverpool and Everton are the main reason you don't have more but even then your attendances seem low for a team in a major metropolitan area given your local population is so big, there are 'only' a couple of Premier League teams about, and they're both on the other side of the river.

I imagine that you did get a lot more local support when challenging for a spot in the Premiership, and you were getting a lot of TV coverage due to John Aldridge, but now you've sunk to the fourth division it seems you've lost a generation of fans to the Merseyside giants, and will have to try and rise again before you can hope to bring the fans back. It's funny how almost everyone I've known from the Wirral has been at such pains to say they're 'not Scouse'... Well if they want to show now 'not Scouse' they are then they should support Tranmere instead of Liverpool or Everton.

Yeah, as LH said most of those 380,000 are tunnel rats. All my family support Everton - I'm the only Tranmere fan.

 

[JSMITH083]

Fair play to Wilcox who has really turned it around. It's fair to say his appointment was not met with any sort of enthusiasm but given the dross he inherited to be sat top of the form table is nothing short of a miracle. We now need to make sure we move forward next season, our last at BC before we move into the new stadium.

Yes, fair play to him- I may have to change my signature on here! However, I don't think he will be here next season, and I do think that Cressie has had a bit to do with the form/tactics, but Summerfield's return has also seen us remain unbeaten and he has been good in the last run for me, we need a third good centre midfielder to push Penn and Summerfield next season, maybe a fourth depending on tactics, because Montrose and Platt just do not push them enough. Really happy for Penn after his worldie yesterday, deserved to get the goal to keep us up after running our central midfield for the vast majority of the season.

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

He'll be scouring the Lakes now for a hill big enough to worry about!

 

[cufc17]

1-0 Grainger!!!!!
Get in!

 

[1884 Belmont]

You must have lost a lot of fans since then. I'm always surprised you don't get a lot more than you do since the population of the Wirral along with Ellesmere Port is 380,000 (I know of a Tranmere fan from E.P. so I presume it is in your catchment area). I'm sure Liverpool and Everton are the main reason you don't have more but even then your attendances seem low for a team in a major metropolitan area given your local population is so big, there are 'only' a couple of Premier League teams about, and they're both on the other side of the river.

I imagine that you did get a lot more local support when challenging for a spot in the Premiership, and you were getting a lot of TV coverage due to John Aldridge, but now you've sunk to the fourth division it seems you've lost a generation of fans to the Merseyside giants, and will have to try and rise again before you can hope to bring the fans back. It's funny how almost everyone I've known from the Wirral has been at such pains to say they're 'not Scouse'... Well if they want to show now 'not Scouse' they are then they should support Tranmere instead of Liverpool or Everton.

We've never really had thousands and thousands of fans to be fair. However, I think we have grown as a club despite the numbers - we didn't challenge for the Premier League again after 1995 but we spent a further 6 years in the 2nd tier before falling down a division. We then had a good squad for a few years, set a club record points tally (and league record for a non-playoff finish) 80 points and had several cup runs and a playoff campaign under Brian Little. Crowds around that time were 8-9,000 in the third tier, despite the fact we had about that for the 2nd tier playoff campaigns. When we played Millwall in the FA Cup Quarter final in 2004, we got over 14,000.
When we played Leeds in League 1, we got 11 or 12,000 for certain games and in the 2009 Scunthorpe season we had an average well above 6500.
Even this year, despite how crap we have been we pulled in over 10,000 for the cup game against Swansea and we get over 5,000 over almost every home game.

As you say, the potential crowds are there and if we get it right on the pitch we could be back to the 8/9,000 no problem in my opinion. If we were in the Championship now, we'd get the full 16,500 every game, given the teams who are there and the cost of supporting the other 2 now.

 

[daviejones]

Bloody hell Danny Grainger with an absolute belter in the 2nd minute. What a start, now the countdown to us bottling it.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

At least we can now afford a slip up and still grab a massive point, really need to go for 2nd while they are rattled

 

[daviejones]

Burton 0 - 1 Carlisle at half time. This is what it's all about: O'Hanlon goes off with his head pouring blood, players making goal line clearances and last ditch challenges. Thank god Gillespie is back because they'd have scored at least 1 without him. What a difference having an amazing goalkeeper makes.

 

[Bobbin']

I've been following this thread since the inception of 1FF, does hellogregory believe yellow bellied Carlisle will stay up yet?

 

[Reginald Fodstain]

I've been following this thread since the inception of 1FF, does hellogregory believe yellow bellied Carlisle will stay up yet?

No

 

[Bobbin']

But Carlisle have no guts or quality, but are winning away at table topping Burton?

 

[Murphy]

 

[womble76]

Oops, though they are just about safe now.

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

Just waiting for Mr Hellogregory to come on and apologise for all his negative comments, if he says Carlisle are going down he should be banned

 

[hellogregory]

If the ref had blown when he should have, we'd be safe, but that tosser was never going to blow until burton had scored. What an absolute grade A c***!

I hope that doesn't cost us.

 

[daviejones]

Incredible stuff, well done to all the players. Put up a bit of fight is all they've needed to do, compared to Accrington as well. Asamoah running with cramp for half an hour, O'Hanlon's head pouring blood and comes back on. Burton now my least favourite team in the league. Hope they get relegated next season just because of their press officer #sorrynotsorry

 

[hellogregory]

I don't blame burton. They are hardly going to say "ahh ref mate, you added 7 on when it should have been 4, but you've played 9, maybe you should blow for full time now"

The points are worth the future of our club, and the ref thinks he can do that. If we go down I hope for his sake he never refs at Brunton park.

 

[shoddycollins]

I don't blame burton. They are hardly going to say "ahh ref mate, you added 7 on when it should have been 4, but you've played 9, maybe you should blow for full time now"

I think it's more the comments from their press office during the game and the amount of time-wasting and off-the-ball-digs that went on in the game at Brunton Park that he's referring to.

 

[WH_Stag]

If the ref had blown when he should have, we'd be safe, but that tosser was never going to blow until burton had scored. What an absolute grade A c***!

I hope that doesn't cost us.

Try having Darren Drysdale in charge, 90 minute game with a 1 minute stoppage and he plays 15 minutes of added on time. Luckily for us Tranmere only had three shots all game.

 

[shoddycollins]

Try having Darren Drysdale in charge, 90 minute game with a 1 minute stoppage and he plays 15 minutes of added on time. Luckily for us Tranmere only had three shots all game.

That was mental, Exeter's game ran on forever too, there's been some pile of injury time in these midweek games.

 

[AdamStag]

That was mental, Exeter's game ran on forever too, there's been some pile of injury time in these midweek games.

Yeah, we had 8 which turned into 15 which we survived.

Put it this way, you got a point at burton and are virtually safe.

 

[hellogregory]

I think it's more the comments from their press office during the game and the amount of time-wasting and off-the-ball-digs that went on in the game at Brunton Park that he's referring to.

Just looked at the burton twitter. Their official twitter account has favourited tweets from fans criticising our away support, criticising our twitter fans.

Very unprofessional.

 

[thewwfc]

To be fair with "Exeter's" game as you so one-sidedly call it, time-wasting us were involved and we have not yet worked out that refs will add back on every minute we tit about - so the stoppage time starting point for us is usually about 6 mins, no joke.

 

[WAP]

The late equaliser is just karma for yours against us a few weeks ago. Should be safe now though.

 

[Pooliepride]

The last 6/7 games we haven't half had a lot of additional time.

The York game (4 mins) and Accy (5 mins) not so bad but we have had Cambridge (9 mins), Newport (6 mins), Mansfield (6 mins), Oxford (10 mins), Morecambe (7 mins) all in the last few games. I think someone doesn't like us.

Not good for the ticker!

 

[localhero]

The amount of time added on in our last few games has been ridiculous:
13 v Mansfield
5 v Southend
8 v Luton
7 v Stevenage
7 v Wimbledon
5 v Burton
7 v Cambridge
5 v Northampton
8 v Dagenham
8 v Wycombe
6 v Cheltenham
7 v Portsmouth
12 v Shrewsbury

98 minutes over the last 13 games, an average of 7.5 minutes per game! In that time we've only managed one goal as well.

 

[Glasshalffullpools]

Imagine if your boss made you do an extra 10 mins after your shift, you'd go mad! I wonder how many of those players missed their bus home afterwards, complete waste of a day tripper ticket!

 

[hellogregory]

If that fucktard of a referee costs us our league status, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.

 

[localhero]

If that fucktard of a referee costs us our league status, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.

He won't, and even if he did you don't get relegated on the basis of one last minute equaliser.