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Post by scriptman on Jun 13, 2008 13:07:50 GMT 1
A Place to discuss League One Football
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Post by exiledwhite on Jun 14, 2008 10:57:38 GMT 1
Well we're in it again but this time we've got no deduction - so I'd have to say we are favourites for the top spot.... ....how will Leeds cope with that, who knows but I pray to God it is in a positive manner. I don't think it will be a walk-over. There will be a lot of draws and defeats but I think Leeds United FC will be a CCC club come the end of May (pretty, pretty please). Who else? NOT MK Dons for me - too soon For me the other teams who will be knocking around the top spots this season are Southend, Tranmere, Oldham, Carlisle and Leicester (if they don't feel sorry for themselves and get on with it) Outside shout - Huddersfield So that's my pre-season take on it but last year I went for Forest and Tranmere automatically with Leeds in the play-offs so don't run on down to the bookies on my prediction say-so
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Post by Marko69 on Jun 14, 2008 11:06:20 GMT 1
I'm looking forward to the season!
League 1 yes, but I enjoyed last season and i'll enjoy this one.
I think MK Dons will have a push, but only providing Ince stays on. Whats the fan base built up like these days?
Scunthorpe will be another one I reckon will make the play offs. I don't rate the manager/physio, so maybe a new one is needed. He took over from Brian Laws and finished off the promotion, but even though he lost Keogh, Sharp and Beckford, I still think he should have kept them up.
Leicester will struggle in my opinion. No certainty of a decent manager, but Mandaric would probably spend a bit - maybe unsettling the squad. I just hope they let us have Sheehan!
We'll be Champions (hopfully), Bates looks happy to spend and Macca looks ambitious in the market. Definately champions, but the I have to say that....
Huddersfield are an outsider for me too, as are Crewe, Swindon and Oldham.
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Post by scriptman on Jun 14, 2008 11:18:12 GMT 1
Let's be realistic....it's not not a case of 'if' with Leeds...it's 'when'. I've said before that Doncaster needed the victory at Wembley far more than Leeds did. Had Doncaster got beat, they'd be more than Green leaving....and it would have been another season of bedding in new players > ever decreasing circles. With Leeds it's different. You got beat...but you'll still attract the best lower league players around. You're on a level footing...points and financial wise...but you're just that much bigger than any other team in League 1 and the CCC come to that.
For me it has to Leeds and another.
We spent three seasons in League One....and it's probably been the most frustrating I have endured because the levels of expectations were always there....because of John Ryan's money and commitment to the club. It's like the CCC was always in our grasp...but we needed to stretch that little higher to reach it. With the likes of you..Barnsley, Wednesday, Sheffield United.... the CCC means zilch.....because with you it's still lower than where you should be.....and with Barnsley, the CCC is their spiritual home. To Donny it's the holy grail. Deep down I reckon most Donny fans feel the Premier League is a step too far for us......but where's there is hope, no matter how little.....there is a will to succeed.
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Post by animallittle on Jun 14, 2008 13:03:15 GMT 1
Dont think it's a step too far Script and its a realistic goal given the finance's at your disposal,the thing with me about Donny is the actual public of Donny themselfs,i know we have been down this road before but non the less given everything that's happened to your club in the last 5 years i would have expected more of your public to be honest. The gates in what was a very successful season and the pleasing on the eye football would give me cause for concern and i would have expected them to be higher,i was very suprised at the empty space's in your end at Wembley,i know there were some issues as to why this happened but then again i thought 30k was a realistic expectation given the size of the match,the opposition and the new Wembley factor. Dont always agree with your stand that these things take time and fan base's need to be built up over a number of years,dont think it works like that and thats not how it is in Barnsley,you either go down or you dont to Oakwell but you are still a fan either way and it takes a bit of understanding for me that Donny is not like that,sure we have our fair share of Blunt's and Wendy's but nothing really that put's our nose's out of joint and BFC is the number one club in this town by a huge margin maybe by as much as 85%. I know that's not the case in Donny but i cant get my head round the fact that the Donny public can support someone else even though DRFC are the equal or even better than the team's certain members of its public support.
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Post by Marko69 on Jun 14, 2008 13:29:00 GMT 1
I think Donny just have to look at Hull City to see what can be achieved in such a short space of time.
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Post by scriptman on Jun 14, 2008 15:06:50 GMT 1
animallittle
I disagree. Not so long ago Donny were a laughing stock and if you admitted to supporting Donny then it couldn't have been worse if were wearing a clown costume with a big red nose. I can remember Barnsley getting crowds of of two and a half and three thousand. Prior to 1975 there was very little difference between the crowds at Oakwell and Belle Vue.....but then as you climbed the leagues your crowds increased accordingly. There's hundreds, if not thousands more Barnsley people supporting Barnsley FC, who are in their twenties and thirties, than the Donny equivalent. Kids at 10-years-old in 1980, 1990 or 1998....wanted to watch top tier or second tier football......not a team struggling in the basement of the fourth division or none-league football. I know lots of guys in Doncaster, in their early 20s, who are Barnsley crazy....because a few minutes down the road, in 1998 when they were 12 and 13, they could watch Premier League football...... and that's when your team becomes etched on your soul. The majority of Donny fans at Wembley were young kids, teenagers, women and old men....the difference, demographically, between the Leeds fans, and Donny fans was plain to see. Most of the Leeds fans were male and between 20 and 45. Donny lost two generations of football supporters, Barnsley didn't because of the relative success they had. Donny sold 27k for Wembley, about two thousand of these went to Leeds fans. By any stretch of the imagination 25k is good considering where we are since the rebirth of Doncaster Rovers at the turn of the millennium. Doncaster Rovers is not a Barnsley, Burnley, Preston, or Plymouth when it comes to fan base... but can be like them...and we aspire to be like them. Having said all of this.....Donny still took 4k more fans to the League One Play-Off final at Wembley than you did for the same competition in Cardiff. I appreciate you took 33k to Wembley, but I have no answer to that unless we play in the FA Cup Semi Final to draw on a comparison. I'll hold my hands up and say that I was disappointed with some of the crowds last season.....but we are a small club and a developing one at that. If the average falls below the 9k mark next season.....then Doncaster don't deserve a team in CCC..
Marko I think Hull have done exceptionally well. I used to spend a lot of time in Hull and when the KC Stadium was being built...the Hull fans I knew, were so full of it.....they were saying things like...'We'll be in the Premiership etc'........and I used to laugh at them. That humble pie doesn't taste very nice....I've had a couple of text message coming from Hull of late.
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Post by animallittle on Jun 14, 2008 16:46:06 GMT 1
Yes your right,up to 1975 the average crowds at Oakwell and Belle Vue were very similar around the 3K mark when both clubs struggled at the foot of the old 4th division. We then had a couple of near miss promotions and pushed that average up to 5K,but here's when it gets interesting,when we appointed Allan Clarke as player manager in 1978 the average crowd rose to around the 11k mark overnight,thats an instant increase of 110%,our final home fixture that season against Grimsby Town drew a crowd of over 21K. We too must have lost potential supporters to Leeds and Sheff Utd in the 70's when we were at the foot of the old 4th division but as soon as some success came our way they either came back or people returned from exile so to speak but it happened very quickly,and thats what i still cant fathom with Donny despite the very good points you raise.
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Post by scriptman on Jun 14, 2008 17:20:29 GMT 1
In the past though, Barnsley FC have mostly been a credible alternative from other local teams. Doncaster Rovers have not. If I said to you that the folk of Donny are more passionate about their football club than Barnsley....I'll be saying that just for the sake of arguing...because we know it's not true. ....and you could point to any number a factual evidence. However, if you say to me that the folk of Barnsley are more passionate about football than Doncaster....then I would debate that. Doncaster is a very passionate football town....but the passion of most runs to teams outside of Doncaster. We have lost fans to Barnsley, Leeds, Wednesday, and Sheff United.......and there's no way we'll get these back...so we need to work on a younger generation.... and I think we are doing that.
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