thewookieisdown

Thank you DC indeed, but DC inherited a stadium that was already lagging, and getting further behind every year. Owners going back well before him are also to blame

Sure, and my guess (and it can.only be a guess) is that we will be competitive. But there are assumptions that we will have owners willing and able to spend at a level that really should assure us of promotion. Which may be how it turns out. Too early,.however, to say...

We have no idea whether we will be "minted" or not. Relative to now, yes, I dare say. Relative to other ambitious clubs in league one? Dunno. Relative to Birmingham last season? Dunno, but perhaps not?

Well. Hopefully we will have a club next season. That's the first hurdle. The signs are good, but let's see Then it's all very well to say that new owners will be ambitious and want us back in the championship as soon as possible and ideally first attempt, but they won't be alone in that ambition. Let's see. The competence and the willingness to invest of any new owners very much remain to be seen. Perhaps we are about to get an owner capable of securing a short run assault on promotion to the premier league, but we seem to have a weirdly large number of fans confident that that is going to happen.

I don't think we have crap players because the club is sentimental (and still less because fans are sentimental; if we were, why would that impact on recruitment decisions?) We have crap players because in the modern era of the game we are a yo-yo club between the second and third divisions. We are then a yo-yo club between the second and third divisions because we have crap players. It's all self-reinforcing. There's the special case that Chansiri, notoriously, refused to sell at sensible prices, and more broadly refused to accept the reality that the right strategy for clubs like us is to sell to the big clubs when the time is right. But that's gone, and was stubbornness and stupidity at least as much as sentiment

Oh, FFS. There's something about derby games that brings out the halfwit oldschool PE teacher, never all that latent among certain parts of the fanbase. Lack of effort - which can easily be ascertained by sight from row V. Pash-un.

History and tradition. Oh, yes. I've supported the club for 48 years. Fewer than one third of those seasons in the top flight. None in 25 years. None since the real revolution took place. And in a stadium which lights up a few times in a season, but is more often than not quiet and sullen. A stadium with wretched facilities and minimal revenue generation. FFS.

That's wrong. On Sunday, when the King lays his wreath at the cenotaph in London, the Last Post will sound after the silence.

The last time I bought a programme, I quickly realised I couldn't read it. But I don't really want to take my reading glasses to a game, so that's me out. They've obviously slashed back the font size over the years. Fixing that would be the priority for me.

As someone else has commented above, The Last Post followed by the silence would work better. It's what will happen at the Cenotaph on Sunday - and indeed, what we will do at the simple little ceremony at our local war memorial.

It's all very well saying The Last Post is followed by silencer, but at the Cenotaph there is the silence first, ended by the last post. I think it would be ok if people were told that the silence should immediately follow The Last Post and explicitly asked to be quiet rather than applaud. The problem is that while this was attempted, our PA system is useless, so not everyone could hear. There were people near me applauding, who I don't think are stupid and I'm sure aren't disrespectful, but they didn't know.

That's all fair.

Two things can be true at the same time. The band are irritating. And even if they weren't, if they were drowning out anti-Chansiri songs, that's it. Off they go. It's also true that our fans don't create a great atmosphere. There's a post above which notes that it was flat because the team was flat early in the second half. But the best home crowds make noise and lift teams when it's dull. Ours don't. And never have. There's nostalgia for the early 90s. The atmosphere in the early 90s could be pretty much non-existent if the team wasn't playing well against mid or lower table opposition. Nothing unique to us in that. But it's a fact worth facing. When Hillsborough is rocking it's great, but overall we aren't the loudest or most inspiring set of home fans, and never have been. There are ways in which fan noise could be encouraged, including zones, support for fans groups etc, and I hope the new owners will be interested in that.

Can't think of anything worse. Trophies. Atmosphere. Profile. Excitement.

My first since Feb. Also my son's. Most enjoyable.