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2018/19 Football Season

Cor blimey they have had it rough and how :( That's a bit drastic a food bank set up for the club staff.
You have my sympathies by the way mate.

Thanks.

You know a club can’t sunk any lower when it’s staff have to rely in a food bank and donations of food vouchers from other clubs. It’s a huge testament to them all that they’ve continued to work unpaid through it all.

But we’ve no players and until this mess gets sorted we can’t recruit for next season..as if anyone will want to play for us
 
Thanks.

You know a club can’t sunk any lower when it’s staff have to rely in a food bank and donations of food vouchers from other clubs. It’s a huge testament to them all that they’ve continued to work unpaid through it all.

But we’ve no players and until this mess gets sorted we can’t recruit for next season..as if anyone will want to play for us


Its one big mess you are in. I agree nobody would want to play for you until they know they are going to be paid.
 
Its one big mess you are in. I agree nobody would want to play for you until they know they are going to be paid.
No, I know. I think it will be a week or two until new owners are in place...at least.

Then it’s deciding if the manager is staying..

Sorting out new players or re-signing...as we need at least 15! ..or 20..

Paying some bills..

Settling unpaid salaries..

Sponsorship..

New kit..

Pre-season friendlies..

Finding out our overall points deduction..which will make signing players more difficult..

And a hundred other things..

I think we’re already relegated to League 2 and if the EFL had any sense (although they’ve totally let us down) they’d scrap the points deduction and just put us there immediately.
 
I am very disillusioned with football right now. On the verge of just giving up watching it. Don't actually care about the Leeds result tonight. (I was typing this before the second half started, but we've had our 3rd power cut of the day so I couldn't finish the post, so now it looks like it's just sour grapes from me cos Leeds lost. lol)

I'm fed up with UEFA for holding a EUROPEAN final in ASIA. Why would you do that?
I'm fed up with Arsenal and Thos Cook Sport who are selling tickets and oversubscribing their flight on purpose, forcing fans to buy tickets that they may not be able to use.

I'm fed up with the standard and unfairness in refereeing at all levels. Sure most of the rules are open to interpretation, but they should be interpreted evenly and equally for both sides within a game. If a player from one side is sent off for what is only really a tangle of legs, then surely a player who elbows someone in the face should go too? Hey ho, as some of you say, the big clubs get all the decisions.

I have read Norwood's tweets after Monday's game and I hope they catch the thugs who assaulted players on the pitch on Monday and ban those thugs for life.

I'm quite sad that you guys on this thread all rushed to say you hoped Tranmere won. Why? Why should the big clubs have it all their way? They too have local folks who put money into the club, just like FGR. Dale Vince is no Russian oligarch, he's a local man who had nothing and worked to get where he is. I remember chatting to him in the school playground 20 years ago when we were collecting our children. He just happens to be richer that FGRs last owner. No-one seemed to complain when Trevor Horsley was the main owner. Why shouldn't there be new kids on the block?

I was going to write about South Shields V Warrington recently, South Shields biggest game ever in their bid for promotion to National League North, but then I realised that you all prefer the status quo and wouldn't welcome a match report from there.

Yeh I think I am fed up with football all round. Time for a rest methinks.

Signing out for a while. Let's face it, big club, little club, it's all just business and capitalism. They all just want our money and couldn't really give a **** about the fans, or indeed the football. It's just money.

Commiserations @Patrick66 I know you have a lot more to moan about than me.

I guess you can call me Mrs Angry today. :rolleyes::mad:

I'm gonna try and help you understand modern football.
I know what you are experiencing.
In my time as a supporter, I have my 'big club' go bust, go through really bad times, saved from administration and help pass buckets around at matches, meetings and supporters functions, travelling around the country, supporting my team on a cold Tuesday night, before finding out the game had been postponed, everything that has happened to us diehards, has happened to other clubs diehards.
The modern game is about money, and success on the pitch.
Jurgen Klopp has not yet won a trophy in England, but he is classed as one of the best coaches around!
UEFA, picks places such as Azerbaijan, because it is paid to. It uses the excuse to promote the world game by going to new countries, such as the world cup in 50degrees heat, because the bribery and collusion at that level is rife!
Unfortunately, at supporter level, you have to have faith in your support, I am not blind to what some chairman and those who use the game to make a profit or try to rip off supporters, that is the capitalists, who see an opportunity and abuse those who are gullible, because we are, regardless, we will spend a lot of our hard earned money to see our heroes, week in, week out, again unfortunately, because of the demand on the bigger clubs, there are those that can't afford ticket prices and miss out on experiencing the atmosphere of big matches.
Again, Liverpool, who have one of the biggest fan bases in the world, had a policy of denying local supporters, young and old, opportunity to see the reds in action. The ticketing system, was open to everyone outside the Merseyside postcode area, but if wanted a season ticket, you had to wait for years, a supporter from Ireland, Sweden, and so on could get one the next season. Until a couple of years ago, this was implemented vigorously, because of money spent by those outside the Merseyside area. A local would not spend as much on match day.
That is why Everton are regarded as the people's club.
My club is just over two miles away from both Merseyside clubs, we are the minnows in football terms, we are again building our supporter base, because of the great job our present manager is doing, in our first year in the national league, on a cold Tuesday night, we only had just over two thousand in Prenton Park, the club is doing all sorts to trying to bring the youngsters in and making great strides by making the match day experience more pleasurable for all supporters, lowering season ticket prices especially for youngsters, those less likely to afford football tickets and encouraging schools, youth clubs, to come and get involved, the ' In the community' schemes for disabled and unfortunate.
We have supporters on the board, we have inclusive meetings and support within the club and supporters association.
We are back to where we belong, competing at a professional level, I don't believe we have the financial clout to get back into the championship, but we will have a bloody good go. I'm really enjoying our incredible rise in fortune, because it could come crashing down again! You never know!
I have witnessed the best in football and too much of the bad times, all the worry of not seeing my local club, win, lose and draw, that is what football is about. You never know, what happens next!
I'm really lucky to be a supporter of my club, I know it deep down, I'm one of a few, who has been fortunate to be a part of my club, both on the pitch and more off it!
I am indeed fortunate to be in a position to be at Wembley, three seasons running, watching my heroes, if you were me, wouldn't you be happy for me!
Football is about us fans, we are there for most of our lives, our dreams are built into our DNA, sometimes it's horrible, sometimes it's great. Sometimes like a 0-0 bore draw! But we bounce back, and next Saturday we will smash em! Regardless of who we play. That is why the FA cup is brilliant!

Going to new places, New grounds, New people, those like us, true footie fans, who love the game despite the premiership, UEFA, FIFA and the FA especially, we can do something at our clubs, those at the top have forgotten the rest of football, the Sunday, Saturday afternoon amateurs. The local leagues, who have less teams in them every season, less leagues, less playing areas, less of everything that used to help young players into the game. Only schools have that availability. Until you take into account of the money that has been taken away by government because of political dogma.

The game in this country, could find itself in really big trouble if the t.v. companies decide to withdraw the huge amounts of money paid to the premiership. I have a feeling it will happen, maybe in ten years or so. So the big clubs need to get their act together, because if they don't, then, I fear, the big players will walk away!

So, do come back, I enjoy your posts, and football needs its idiots like us!

Yours in football.

K.
 
@Lamont D Great post. :)

First of all I want to say I am truly happy for you because Tranmere got to Wembley again, and I hope they go up.

I just recently seem to have opened my eyes and don't like what I see. I don't understand why referees aren't consistent within a game. We all make mistakes, of course we do, and we fans can have biased eyes and truly believe what we see which may not be the same as what the opposition fans see. But it goes beyond that for me now, promotions and cups are being won and lost because of the officials and enough is enough. I no longer want to be part of that.

Since regularly attending matches I no longer watch footie on TV much, normally only seeing the highlights of the game I have been to that day. I don't enjoy watching the game on TV and only seeing what the cameraman shows you. We don't subscribe to Sky or BT Sport for that reason.

This farce in Baku has hurt and disappointed me. We thought it would be an adventure for the 3 of us to go. The only thing that has been easy for us is getting the visa. However if my family were of Armenian descent instead of Polish descent they wouldn't be allowed to go with me as has happened to some London based Gooners. So much for UEFA's respect campaign and so called commitment to kick racism out of the game then! A player can't play in a match because of where he was born? That is racism and the final should not be in that country. I understand that the atrocities were fairly recent and our tour guide last time (during the group stages) told us of what happened in his Uncle's village which was truly awful, but unless it can be proved that Mikhitaryan had anything to do with it then he should have been allowed a visa to play in the group stages. Now he can't play in the final because of security fears.

We all know that UEFA doesn't give a fig about the fans, it's all money money money for them. But you should see how difficult it was to arrange travel via the club! We spent a whole week not knowing if we were on the oversubscribed flight or not, this delay cut down our options further down the line, and you had to buy tickets without knowing if you could actually go or not. It wouldn't have hurt the club to lay on planes and foot the bill for any empty seats itself, in the scheme of things what would it have cost? A few days of Ozil's wages?

Then having got flight confirmation some fans have to collect their tickets from a hotel in Baku on the day of the match. The plane will probably get to Baku too late for fans to dash across the city and collect the tickets! Honestly who comes up with these stupid ideas? Talk about making the fans jump through hoops. If the players put in as much effort as us we will win easily. All Official fan match tickets have passport numbers and names on the front of them. Passports are checked at the turnstiles, this has been policy for several seasons. Not sure how the Spurs fans managed to sell their tickets, it's just not possible to sell or transfer them after the booking process has been completed.

Having bought a ticket the fan has to complete a UEFA travel form within 24 hours or the ticket purchase is cancelled. On this form you have to state your travel plans and where you will be staying. We didn't know if we would need a hotel because our flight had not been confirmed, so we had to complete the form with what we hoped was the right info.

All this just to see Arsenal lose to Chelsea, which we can see at Stamford Bridge for only £26 every season. It's going to be a very long journey home from my last ever European match and not just because it is actually in ****** Asia

This is the reason I shan't be posting on this thread anymore, because I won't be watching footie anymore. I know there's a long line of fans waiting to take my place, but my eyes have been opened and I won't be part of it any longer. It's rather like when I see the brightly coloured crisps and sweet packets in the supermarket, marketed like that to lure the consumer into buying their junk with no care about how much damage it will do to us. My skin crawls when I see those packets. I now have the same reaction with football. I will never again sing "We love you Arsenal we do" as I did with the rest of the Gooners 20 minutes after the game at Old Trafford many season ago when the ref had won the match for Man U. I care as much for football as it cares for me. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Edited to add - what happened in the Champions League semi finals was also very wrong and all about money and tv. Liverpool played the day before spurs so by the time spurs qualified the cheaper hotels and flights had been snapped up by liverpool fans. Both semis should be played on the same night in fairness to both sets of fans.
 
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@Lamont D Great post. :)

First of all I want to say I am truly happy for you because Tranmere got to Wembley again, and I hope they go up.

I just recently seem to have opened my eyes and don't like what I see. I don't understand why referees aren't consistent within a game. We all make mistakes, of course we do, and we fans can have biased eyes and truly believe what we see which may not be the same as what the opposition fans see. But it goes beyond that for me now, promotions and cups are being won and lost because of the officials and enough is enough. I no longer want to be part of that.

Since regularly attending matches I no longer watch footie on TV much, normally only seeing the highlights of the game I have been to that day. I don't enjoy watching the game on TV and only seeing what the cameraman shows you. We don't subscribe to Sky or BT Sport for that reason.

This farce in Baku has hurt and disappointed me. We thought it would be an adventure for the 3 of us to go. The only thing that has been easy for us is getting the visa. However if my family were of Armenian descent instead of Polish descent they wouldn't be allowed to go with me as has happened to some London based Gooners. So much for UEFA's respect campaign and so called commitment to kick racism out of the game then! A player can't play in a match because of where he was born? That is racism and the final should not be in that country. I understand that the atrocities were fairly recent and our tour guide last time (during the group stages) told us of what happened in his Uncle's village which was truly awful, but unless it can be proved that Mikhitaryan had anything to do with it then he should have been allowed a visa to play in the group stages. Now he can't play in the final because of security fears.

We all know that UEFA doesn't give a fig about the fans, it's all money money money for them. But you should see how difficult it was to arrange travel via the club! We spent a whole week not knowing if we were on the oversubscribed flight or not, this delay cut down our options further down the line, and you had to buy tickets without knowing if you could actually go or not. It wouldn't have hurt the club to lay on planes and foot the bill for any empty seats itself, in the scheme of things what would it have cost? A few days of Ozil's wages?

Then having got flight confirmation some fans have to collect their tickets from a hotel in Baku on the day of the match. The plane will probably get to Baku too late for fans to dash across the city and collect the tickets! Honestly who comes up with these stupid ideas? Talk about making the fans jump through hoops. If the players put in as much effort as us we will win easily. All Official fan match tickets have passport numbers and names on the front of them. Passports are checked at the turnstiles, this has been policy for several seasons. Not sure how the Spurs fans managed to sell their tickets, it's just not possible to sell or transfer them after the booking process has been completed.

Having bought a ticket the fan has to complete a UEFA travel form within 24 hours or the ticket purchase is cancelled. On this form you have to state your travel plans and where you will be staying. We didn't know if we would need a hotel because our flight had not been confirmed, so we had to complete the form with what we hoped was the right info.

All this just to see Arsenal lose to Chelsea, which we can see at Stamford Bridge for only £26 every season. It's going to be a very long journey home from my last ever European match and not just because it is actually in ****** Asia

This is the reason I shan't be posting on this thread anymore, because I won't be watching footie anymore. I know there's a long line of fans waiting to take my place, but my eyes have been opened and I won't be part of it any longer. It's rather like when I see the brightly coloured crisps and sweet packets in the supermarket, marketed like that to lure the consumer into buying their junk with no care about how much damage it will do to us. My skin crawls when I see those packets. I now have the same reaction with football. I will never again sing "We love you Arsenal we do" as I did with the rest of the Gooners 20 minutes after the game at Old Trafford many season ago when the ref had won the match for Man U. I care as much for football as it cares for me. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Edited to add - what happened in the Champions League semi finals was also very wrong and all about money and tv. Liverpool played the day before spurs so by the time spurs qualified the cheaper hotels and flights had been snapped up by liverpool fans. Both semis should be played on the same night in fairness to both sets of fans.

Thanks for the reply, the details of what has happened to fans across the European cups has been dreadful, only one in four season ticket holding reds, got a chance to buy a final ticket. The cost is way beyond most fans, even the semi final ticket prices was really expensive.
I have read about mykhaterian and and its an absolute disgrace and total racism at its worst, if that would have happened to certain other ethnic groups, I'm sure that there would be a outcry for a boycott, but money talks and I'm certain that your beloved gooners have been persuaded to play without him! What does that say about everything you are disgusted about?

Referees!
I can only say that being a supporter of a less well known minnow within the football hierarchy, we get our share of absolute biased, unfit, useless and totally irresponsible officials. We had a stand in referee at a recent away game and he was rubbish. I mean both dugouts were amazed at how he reffed the game and were in total agreement with each other about the standard he was useless. Actually laughing with each other and gave up trying to ask the fourth about any of his decisions. It was a joke. But as you know, the lower the league, the non league refs are the worst for professional players, the dominance of southern teams means the number of London based refs you get down there is beyond belief. It is a lottery and even though you do get the odd good, fair referee, the likelihood is you don't!
The fourth official is usually the one that has to put up with most of the antics in the dugouts, some of the most unbelievable things in football is from the bench from some well known managers, the aggressive attitude in trying to persuade officials in getting a little bit of an advantage is what I don't like in football, there has to be more respect. The attitude of some benches do bring the game into dispute.
That is why the card system for dugout staff has been brought in, but it isn't enough, the fines are derogatory and too small, fining big clubs a couple of thousand is shocking. The recent result of an investigation into Barcelona was unbelievable and too small.
Football is all about opinions and interpretation, the laws are always open to debate and most fans have differing views and alternative arguments about fouls and especially offside with hand ball being the latest moan.

To sum up, football is a business and within the industry, there is much to dislike.
But the beautiful game is still, the beautiful game, no FIFA, UEFA, FA or referees can change that, the simplicity of the game is to score more than the opposition is in itself a wonderful thing. The unpredictable aspects of the game is why we love it so much.
Even when things are not going your way, the game will surprise and elate you.

I do hope you will come back to football, you wouldn't want to miss something that has been a big part of your life, because of recent events. You never know what the future holds, maybe one of your team's can win something again, and maybe, Rovers can win again against all the odds, that the journey back to league football has done to me. In all of its time in the football league, Rovers have never finished champions of a division! No fa cup, no league cup. But we have won the league trophy for league one and two teams, once!
So I do support a really small club.

Best wishes
 
Thanks for the reply, the details of what has happened to fans across the European cups has been dreadful, only one in four season ticket holding reds, got a chance to buy a final ticket. The cost is way beyond most fans, even the semi final ticket prices was really expensive.
And everyone who is a member at Arsenal, all 80,000 of them got a chance to buy a ticket but very few could afford/manage to get there. :rolleyes: We were first priority as 'away season ticket' holders, along with season ticket holders who had 15 or more away credits. My family were delighted with me for getting tickets within 14 mins of them going on sale. Now I realise I was probably one of only a handful of fans who were even trying to buy them lol. :hilarious:

I have read about mykhaterian and and its an absolute disgrace and total racism at its worst, if that would have happened to certain other ethnic groups, I'm sure that there would be a outcry for a boycott, but money talks and I'm certain that your beloved gooners have been persuaded to play without him! What does that say about everything you are disgusted about?

Well they aren't my beloved gooners anymore, and that's one of the reasons why.
Football is all about opinions and interpretation, the laws are always open to debate and most fans have differing views and alternative arguments about fouls and especially offside with hand ball being the latest moan.
True, and most fans think that what the pundits quote as 'rules' are correct, when in fact usually it's just a simplification. One of these is the 'he has to be sent off, he was the last man' Unless the rules have changed since I read them many moons ago (and they are always changing lol) they don't state last man, the rules say 'clear goal scoring opportunity' which usually is 'last man', but not always.

I have mentioned before the dreadful penalty decision at ManU many moons ago, when Kieran Gibbs(? )slipped and was supporting his weight with his hand on the ground, Nani noticed and deliberately kicked the ball against the supporting hand to get a penalty which of course was given, because we were at Old Trafford. Now, no interpretation in the world can convince me that the 'hand ball' was either deliberate by Gibbs or that he actually controlled the ball, when the poor guy could do nothing about it, the pitch having been well watered at that end only (as it always was during the Fergie era, the other end being watered at half time) specifically to make our defenders slip.

I think that maybe I have just snapped over recent events which have become the last straw for me. Maybe because I am female I tend to put up with stuff and then just let rip, rather like battered wives. Not that I am comparing my disappointment in footie with what they go through, but these years and years of bad referring decisions (even one or two which went our way when I didn't feel they should have!) etc have built up and now I just want to walk away. I don't want to buy into that anymore. Why am I paying money to be disrespected when I can post on any thread here and get dissed for free?;)
I do hope you will come back to football, you wouldn't want to miss something that has been a big part of your life, because of recent events.
Diet Coke was a big part of my life too, but I am managing without that lol.

What I enjoy most about footie is the days out with my family and that's what I will miss and that's where I need to be careful not to 'cut my nose to spite my face'. I may still go along with them as I did in the early days when I really could not be called a gooner because I didn't like Arsenal at all back then.:rolleyes: I am pretty convinced at this moment in time though that my love for the game has gone, if I go next season it will be for the days out and maybe I'll just go along for the ride and not actually go to the matches? Hmm we'll see.
 
Thanks for the reply, the details of what has happened to fans across the European cups has been dreadful, only one in four season ticket holding reds, got a chance to buy a final ticket.
Even at Wembley the fans do not get enough tickets for FA Cup finals. For Arsenal's most recent FA Cup final, season tickets holders needed at least 2 away credits to be guaranteed a ticket, the rest had to register their interest and go into a ballot. If the FA don't care about English fans why should UEFA or FIFA? But then again we all know that some season ticket holders are touts who would simply sell them for huge profits anyway, that's why there are sometimes blocks of 4 seats empty at lesser games.
Yep that's me, thoroughly ****** off with football. Speak to me after the Europa League final and we'll see if I have changed my mind at all.:) It really is going to be a very long journey home :rolleyes:
 
Even at Wembley the fans do not get enough tickets for FA Cup finals. For Arsenal's most recent FA Cup final, season tickets holders needed at least 2 away credits to be guaranteed a ticket, the rest had to register their interest and go into a ballot. If the FA don't care about English fans why should UEFA or FIFA? But then again we all know that some season ticket holders are touts who would simply sell them for huge profits anyway, that's why there are sometimes blocks of 4 seats empty at lesser games.
Yep that's me, thoroughly ****** off with football. Speak to me after the Europa League final and we'll see if I have changed my mind at all.:) It really is going to be a very long journey home :rolleyes:



Good luck hope you win next Wednesday night :)
 
Good luck hope you win next Wednesday night :)
Thanks. The 'day trip' is 36 hours and I doubt I will manage to sleep the night we go as we need to get up at 11.30 pm...so I am facing approx 54 hours without decent sleep. Well it seemed like a good idea at the time:rolleyes:
 
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So that's Tranmere, Charlton and Villa all promoted. Signals the end of the Football season for 2018/19. Be interesting to see how all our teams perform in 2019/20 season :)
 
Wow! Wow! Woo hoo!
OMG, incredible! Bestest ever feeling!
It was always going to be tight, on a really warm day, and the heat was coming from the dugout! (Ha!)
Yes, the tension really got to me, both teams did not want penalties.
Both teams were a credit to their clubs and unfortunately their had to be only one winner!
When we scored and you couldn't have scored at a better time, could you really? I went mad and if I could, I would have headed to the scorer and jumped on him, but I got blocked off!
Incredible scenes at the end.
A fabulous occasion, the experience was the best of the three, the staff at Wembley were truly remarkable and we came away with some of the artwork including Norwood picture and club emblem, that is six foot square.
The party of which you refer, went on, the rest of the weekend including this afternoon at the local town hall. Yesterday at PP! And all the extraordinary celebrations straight afterwards in the dressing room and bar upstairs with squad family members.
Incredible. It hasn't sunk in yet, I have made good friends at Newport, despite the result, they were magnanimous in defeat.
The superwhite army were unbelievably loud and an attendance of 25,000 +, was very good. Especially for two clubs who have an average of between five and six thousand at league games.
Can't believe that I will be visiting clubs likes Sunderland, Ipswich, Coventry and so on and visiting new grounds, like Burton.
Two seasons ago we were playing in front of a couple of hundred at places like Boreham Wood, now it could be over ten thousand at a lot of places.
Unbelievable!

Wow! Wow! Wow! Woo hoo!
 
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