[Albion] Bridcutt and Chicksen in the same Bolton team

[Lower West Stander]

How times change......


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[Invicta]

How times change......


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Will Buckley still there too... out injured !

 

[DJ NOBO]

Should have stayed with a big club. Apart from Chicksen who never should have been anywhere near a big club.

 

[BensGrandad]

Will Buckley still there too... out injured !

Also Chris O'Grady is there I think.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Also Chris O'Grady is there I think.

Indeed, as was Craig Noone, until he decamped down under to sign for Melbourne City in the summer.

 

[bardo]

Football is no respecter of club names any more is it? With Bolton seemingly heading for Div 2 and teams like Portsmouth, Coventry, Sunderland, Blackpool and Ipswich struggling to get out of Div 1. Who would have thought it just a few seasons back?

 

[JBizzle]

If we end up back in those dark depths in a few years time, there would be people saying the same about us.

Only a handful of teams are probably too big to drop that deep. Remember even Man City were there not too long ago.

You're right, it's all about perspective isn't it? Leeds, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday are all historically massive clubs (especially the Massive). They all settled in and around the second tier for a while and if you'd taken them at some point in their history you'd have said they were too big for League One.

Fingers crossed for Man United, eh?

 

[Brovion]

Football is no respecter of club names any more is it? With Bolton seemingly heading for Div 2 and teams like Portsmouth, Coventry, Sunderland, Blackpool and Ipswich struggling to get out of Div 1. Who would have thought it just a few seasons back?

On a similar theme, where are Hartlepool, Stockport, Wrexham, Aldershot and Chesterfield now? Not only are they non-league, they're all in the bottom half of the National League ('Conference' as was). Indeed Chesterfield are in danger of dropping into regional football.

 

[Gritt23]

On a similar theme, where are Hartlepool, Stockport, Wrexham, Aldershot and Chesterfield now? Not only are they non-league, they're all in the bottom half of the National League ('Conference' as was). Indeed Chesterfield are in danger of dropping into regional football.

As a bit of a follower of my local non-league team, I've seen quite a few supposed "big names" (relatively speaking) fall into, and often through the National League. Sadly,you can often see who are the ones who will bounce back, and who are on a slippery slope. By that stage, those who turn up with a healthy support still (Luton and Orient) looked destined to bounce back as the potential is clearly there to be back in the League. But others turn up with the sort of away turn out which is more typical of low end National League, and those are the ones who tend to keep sliding.

At the end of the day, it may not feel like it at the moment while we knock around in the echelons of the billionaire owners pumping in obscene money all around us, money that could never be matched by the fans through the gate, it is still the groundswell of fan support that keeps a club from slipping too far. I just pray we don't lose sight of that and do ensure that regular fans are not pushed out by price, or inconvenience, with no new young fans coming through. Easy to ignore in the bright and shiny World of the Premier League, but we have to ensure we are also protecting our future. Look at how quickly attendances can drop in The Championship at clubs who had 3 or 4 years at this level. Without realising it they have been filling the ground with too many who are only interested while their club is in the top flight, and after relegation they are getting significantly worse crowds than before they got promoted in the first place.