Stop acting like a big club.

[Eric Youngs Contact Lense]

Want a world class stadium you have to pay for it. Ive been to some right shitholes watching football Rushden and Diamonds V Telford UTD on a wet Tuesday night in December being a low point. Compared to at least 100 other clubs we are a big club deal with it I don't understand the nostalga for the Withdean

I don't either. Yes there were some good moments in terms of the Clubs history, and maybe because we were at Withdean made us feel we had achieved something "against the odds" but as for the matchday experience, it was awful as far as I was concerned. I would try and take my kids, sit in the family stand, miles away from the pitch, with no atmosphere. It was the "big match" atmosphere of Villa Park and then the Amex that grabbed them both, and gave them a connection to the club, far stronger than anything they could have got at Withdean..

 

[JBizzle]

Of course Barber has a significant impact on what happens on the pitch. As CEO, what the fvck is he doing there if not? He employs everybody expect the manager, and we all know who has carried the can for it.

Do you honestly think that Barber is unsackable? We are in even bigger fvcking trouble if he really isn't!

Really? Does he? Just because he's in charge of balancing the books doesn't mean he hires everybody. He doesn't sign the players, or hire a manager, or fill a back room team, or sign academy prospects. All he did was (in tandem with Bloom) provide an increased playing budget in 2014, it's not up to him how it gets spent.

He's far from unsackable but if we did sack him for doing his job very well indeed then we are in trouble as a club.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

So has the Amex, it just happens to have gone AWOL at the moment because of what's on offer on the pitch. Anyway, it's the fans that give the ground soul - remember the first game against Doncaster, THAT Burnley game and when we stuffed Palace 3-0. I'm sure that any fan at those matches would never say that the atmosphere was soulless.

That's 3 games out of 4 seasons
I'm also fed up with the corporate side of things at The Amex
Im not renewing neither are my two lads as it's sadly become a chore to watch the dross this season but we are going to do a lot more away games next season where the atmosphere is always better and the majority of grounds let you stand up for the whole ninety minutes and you don't get people moaning about your choice of language like we did this season in the North Stand

 

[Lincoln Imp]

Sorry, but that's ridiculous. Barber's remit from Bloom has been to control what happens OFF the pitch in order to help bring us in line with FFP. How exactly is he to blame for the abysmal player recruitment and the performance of the team ? His remit from Tony Bloom was to increase efficiency and drive down running costs, and to that end, he has done exactly what he was brought in to do. We might not LIKE it, but that's the policy Bloom has adopted with a view to bringing this club in line with FFP and ultimately making it self-sufficient. And Barber is the guy charged with achieving that.

No, he's obviously not unsackable. If Barber royally screws up, then he'll be out on his ear (a-la Ken Brown). But blaming Barber for this CACK season is like blaming Kaddy-Lee Preston for telling you its going to PISS down tomorrow.

Well clearly two men - manager and head of recruitment - are immediately responsible for everything that happens on the playing side but it seems a bit simplistic to say that no one else should attract the chairman's ire if it all goes wrong. There's a whole lot of context going on. Are we really saying that the chief executive of the club doesn't have a role in the club's relationships with playing staff... how they're dealt with, what they're paid, whether they're hired or fired, nurtured, let go or held on to? Did his actions have no bearing at all in the Gus saga and the three appointments since? Does the chairman, who doesn't seem to be seriously overburdened with football people at board level, take no advice and guidance that impinges on the playing side from one of the few such people he has?

Maybe the answer to all these questions is No. I doubt it though. Kaddy-Lee may have no influence on the weather but the chief executive surely bears some responsibility for the deep depression that's been hanging over the Albion.

 

[sydney]

My son and myself at least agree on this. When we stood in the rain at the Goldstone or sat in the rain at Withdean and we were crap at least we had the board
to have a go at . The passion has gone. All gone corporate now . They just want more and more of our money. Buy a burger and chips outside the ground for
£4-50 or come and join the 1901 club where you can get said food for £14-00. Or pop in the café before the game for pie and chips for £3-00 or pay £6-50 in the lounge. Yes we have a shiny new stadium but it is not super rich Arsenal at the Emirates where you see top of the premiership football every week and regular
Champions League games. We are a smallish championship club and this year not a very good one. After supporting for 57 years I never thought I would lose the buzz of going to watch my beloved team. But it has and it saddens me.

well said mate....i think there are a lot feeling the same way....the prices expected by the club do not tally up with what has been on offer on the pitch this season.....TB has had 3 years to get the hang of this now ...he is obviously no idiot/mug but he does appear to have a football brain that is hard pushed at this level...........it appears to me that there is zero motivation in the team and they are mostly there for the cheque , a long way from the Mghee, Adams days when we weren't very good but had a go and the fans loved the players for it , we need to re build our identity on the pitch.....Greer has to be one of the most invisible captains ever...he just has no presence.....i'm going to finish this bottle of wine now and probably open another one.....taraa...!!

 

[sydney]

This is spot on!
We are not a big club. Not in any sense really. I preferred the time when we knew we weren't. Other than a short spell in the top flight 30 years ago we are doing what we have always done.
The surroundings are brilliant, no question, but this doesn't make a big club. What makes a great club though is all the fans together as one.

yeh , agree entirely but for this to happen there needs to be a bit of inspiration from the players...!!

 

[Bwian]

Plenty of previous times in our history this could be said? Just our expectations are higher and our disappointment with it.

The only good thing about our disappointing season is that it has managed to quiet down a bunch of 'fans' who were starting to act all 'Billy Big Bollocks' previously because we've had a couple of decent seasons in a decent stadium.

 

[el punal]

That's 3 games out of 4 seasons
I'm also fed up with the corporate side of things at The Amex
Im not renewing neither are my two lads as it's sadly become a chore to watch the dross this season but we are going to do a lot more away games next season where the atmosphere is always better and the majority of grounds let you stand up for the whole ninety minutes and you don't get people moaning about your choice of language like we did this season in the North Stand

Each to their own. I just used those three games as an example by the way. As for your opinion of the corporate aspect of the club, if it doesn't affect you just ignore it, it is obviously relevant to certain groups of fans though. I agree about the dross on the pitch but that's the way the cookie crumbles in football - sometimes we're f***ing brilliant and then we're f***ing sh*t, we move on.
With regard to your comment about the North I thought you could say anything there! Being a West Upper man I can't say that I've had a problem with the old Anglo-Saxon lingo.
I also agree with you about the away trips, Albion fans are more committed and more vocal than at home but then that's always been the case.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

With regard to your comment about the North I thought you could say anything there! Being a West Upper man I can't say that I've had a problem with the old Anglo-Saxon lingo.
I also agree with you about the away trips, Albion fans are more committed and more vocal than at home but then that's always been the case.

Because the North Stand is the cheapest option and it's not sold out every week you are getting more and more families in there ( which I understand as it's the cheapest seats) but from what it was 2 years ago in there it's a completely PC stand now sadly and IMHO it's killed it

 

[Questions]

Want a world class stadium you have to pay for it. Ive been to some right shitholes watching football Rushden and Diamonds V Telford UTD on a wet Tuesday night in December being a low point. Compared to at least 100 other clubs we are a big club deal with it I don't understand the nostalga for the Withdean

There's no nostalgia for Withdean from the people who actually went there all the time. It's the success that we have nostalgia for.......Bobby Zamora.....two championships. I ****ing hated the place.

 

[Camicus]

I did like the brewery tap though

 

[Working class pride]

It's difficult for a club who can get 29000 for Fulham at home when scrapping near the bottom of the Championship to not act as a big club. Big club with no success, always been the way. Doesnt look like changing any time soon either.

 

[Dan Aitch]

Only one way to get big - Weight Gain 4000.