Athelwulf

Can't disagree with any of that. If all goes well, next season should be a positive one under new ownership. Hopefully we'll be winning games regularly, so recruiting will be easier. I know 8 people who've packed up attending in recent years, and I've got them in my sights. There's no chance at the moment, but if we're doing well next season - and prices are lower - then there's a good chance of getting them back.

Fair enough, and good points made. Realistically it'll be next season when the recruitment drive will have to kick in. For what it's worth, the five I brought yesterday enjoyed the game, and they'll be back. Rawmarsh Mick brought additional nephews, for instance.

I agree with you, prices should be lower. Yesterday's game should have been cheaper in my opinion. But no owner will lower prices and then get the same crowds as before. Persuading people to return and enlisting new recruits won't be easy, but it will be a much easier task with lower prices. I know that the Trust is now working on boosting crowds, and hopefully they will liaise with whomsoever the new owner is. However, we'll have to do our bit too in persuading others to join us. We shifted Chansiri together so there's no reason to believe we can't boost crowds together.

Yes, get Bernard back too, and we've got the making of a good defence there.

We need to be doing better than 24-25K. Our objective has to be to attract crowds of 30K+, and if we want cheaper prices then that's what it'll have to be. Which is why it's incumbent upon fans to bring someone with them.

Imagine Biggsay and Anday ... Sport's about timing. Pompey were doing well until the red card and penalty. And it's obvious that Leicester's players aren't playing for the manager, as Blades players weren't for Selles. United were beaten play-off finalists last season, so there's nop way they should be where they are in the league. But if they don't do it automatically, then they're staying down. Surely Leicester will change manager after this debacle.

People do what they want to do, but we need to bear this in mind - and I'm not talking necessarily about today's game. We want lower prices, and in fairness today's game is quite expensive, but in general if we want cheaper prices then we're going to have to turn up in bigger numbers. And that basically means bringing someone with us. Friends, family, colleagues, people who've drifted away. I wrote to the Trust a few weeks ago, and they told me that they are going to attempt to boost crowds, and we'll need to give them a hand.

Which is why we need to turn out in force tomorrow. I was pleased to hear that Mick the Rawmarsh Owl is taking additional nephews tomorrow, and I've got 5 people going with me. Potential buyers could well be in the box tomorrow, so we want to impress them. Don't let's allow the derby defeat to scupper our chances, or Tufty and Dem Blades will have won twice over.

To me, this bloke looks like Povlsen.

If Ashley were a cricketer he'd be Boycott. It's slow, laborious, tardigrade. But, he knows football.

Defeatism. We can't do this, we can't do that. The shooting down of any suggestions which fans make to enhance the club.

Mine neither. If the house gets struck by lightning it'll be my fault.

That's good, and it's what we'll all need to do. We've finally got Chansiri off our backs, so now the restart. I wrote to the Trust 3 weeks ago re' the crowds, and they replied that they're working on boosting crowds. What we're doing will be much easier if prices are lowered under the new ownership, and this is where the Trust can play a part. But if the newcomers lower prices, then we have to respond by turning out in larger numbers. That's where the fans and their power of persuasion will be put to the test.

If I'm honest, I genuinely don't feel downhearted about yesterday. It's a bit like comparing the weather to the climate. The weather's what it's doing right now, which is poo. The climate is the general weather, and that's improving. I'd rather lose 0-3 to United and have a new owner, than win 3-0 and still have Channers. What happens on the pitch this season is frankly an irrelevance, as next term we'll have new players and a new manager. I'm concerned about what we can do off the pitch to build the club, and I'm certainly not going to allow dem Blades to discourage me.

We've had the worst owner in British football for the last decade. In fact, several years ago we were the worst run club in Europe. Choo choo could have sold the club months ago and avoided all this mess, but he behaved like a chuff right to the end. Dem Blades have had a tidy little run, but it's coming to an end. They're not going up this term, and next season will be their first in years without parachute money. Plus, these new owners don't know what they're doing, and are definitely inferior to Abhorrence.

We're plop, and we're going down. We've known that since the summer. We were bottom-four financially last season, and half the squad's decamped since then. What happens on the pitch was always going to be an irrelevance this season. What really matters is what happens off it. Our first objective was to shift Chansiri, and we've done it. Our next objective is to build the crowd. I wrote to the Trust a few weeks ago, and they're engaged in it. I've recruited five, and I'm hopeful that it will soon be seven. Other fans are doing this too, and we all need to get involved.

True. The tide will now turn, it's just a question of how soon. We need to focus on what we can do. I'm up to five recruits - my sister, my niece and her boyfriend, plus two mates who packed the club up.

The sad fact is that we're just not good enough to beat United at the moment. They're a parachute club, we were bottom-four financially last season, and we've lost half the squad since then. In terms of quality it's a mismatch. I don't like to see us lose to United, but we have to accept the situation Channers has put us in. Even Wilder wasn't giving it large like last season, which tells its own story.

Exactly. Tufty still hasn't avenged Boxing Day. And that encounter was between two evenly-matched teams, not a mismatch like today's game.

If Chansiri were still here and we'd no hope, then yes I'd be devastated. Let Dem Blades wet themselves about beating a poor League One outfit. The tide's turning, and there's nothing they can do to stop it.

These players are transient figures; they'll be gone. And today's encounter was a nothing game in the scheme of things. We've got a fresh start now, and the part we've got to play is in recruiting fans to accompany us to the games. We'll have United over in due course, if we all pull together.

To be honest, no, and that's a strange thing to say. The problem we've had of late is that when we play Dem Blades and Leeds they're just not contests. We all know what the situation is, and even Tufty wasn't vainglorious in victory. I'm far more focused on off-the-field matters, like take-overs and crowd-building.

The main thing is that Dem Blades didn't avenge Boxing Day, which was a game between two evenly-matched teams. This encounter was a mismatch, so Tufty missed an opportunity.

I stewarded in there for the Sunderland v Naaarwech semi in 1992, and it's a good view.