The Sky is the limit

Jesus_was_A_red_ · 20-04-2008, 22:29

How high do you lot think stanley can climb up the pyramid in the next 10 years? I never thought id see stanley play league football when i was watching eastwood hanley, prescot cables, bamber bridge, chorley etc. So id never say never. I think, and it has been well documented that we have been a victim of our own success with regard to high expectations of supporters. There are many who go further back than me following stanley but where we are now to where we was when my dad took me is amazing. I hope kids when adults will be saying the same in 20 years. We had the biggest name in non-league football by a country mile something even your herefords and morecambes if there honest were in awe of. now we need to get the football league to take notice. We are due a good cup run, next season please stanley....

maccawozzagod · 20-04-2008, 22:54

realistically we should be aiming for the play-offs every year as they are the back door for smaller clubs to get into a higher league. We cant expect to go for automatic promotion in my opinion due to the financial differences between the haves and have nots in this league.

We need to ensure that we stay in the league first and foremost though but without doing a 'Rochdale' and staying put for a generation. We are currently 27 points away from the play offs though and that is quite some distance. But when you start to analyse that and view it as only nine wins and we have conceded some real drab games this year, you start to realise that it can be possible. The Conference winning team was not the best team on paper by some distance but the spirit was there and a bit of luck. I believe that we have some good players here but the manager needs to start coaxing something more from them.

If we can hang around long enough for the fruits of the academy, the community team etc to start coming through then we may be able to improve significantly enough to a point where the criticism of today is warranted.

We need to win more at home.
We need the Community team to start getting the kids in
We need the academy to produce a couple of good uns
We need the fans to start coming back.

We do need a decent run in the cup as well to give us the 1000 people head start on crowds. GIVE THE PLAYERS THE PRIZE MONEY PER ROUND and let the club reap the gate money and TV money

Jesus_was_A_red_ · 20-04-2008, 23:07

i think that is a fare anaylsis of the current predicament. i think we me included forget how far we have come from that meeting jack barrett held all them years ago. i think the attendances are success related at a lot of football clubs and we are one of them.

maccawozzagod · 21-04-2008, 00:01

even if we had a winning team, I cant see many more than 2000/2500 coming on regularly. Still, it would make a big difference to our balance sheet with an extra 1500 paying an extra £1/2m a year!

.... but that is potentially what we lost by not having the roof to capitalise on increased attendances during the Conf season and early last season

Chimer · 21-04-2008, 19:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by maccawozzagod

realistically we should be aiming for the play-offs every year

Because I was around in '62, I am basically just happy that we're back in the league and surviving.

Looking ahead, the best thing that could happen to us in the next couple of years would be a good cup run ending up with a real plum draw away to one of the greats (or failing a great, Blackburn or Burnley

).

The next best would be to get to the play-off final and lose a thriller. Lose, because the club are in so many ways not ready for the next step up.

With hindsight, automatic promotion from the Conference was probably less beneficial than promotion through the playoffs might have been - the country was sort of pleased to see us back, but the town (and therefore potential boots on the terraces) might have been more enthused by a trip to Cardiff. Hereford last season and Morecambe this time seem to have built on the excitement of playoff success, while we and the Daggers haven't been able to build on winning the Conference by a street. It'll be interesting to see how Aldershot fare next season compared with the playoff winners (glad to see Shots up in any case, 'cos they're only 60 miles away for me).

Cart on ....

Haz66 · 21-04-2008, 19:47

Yeah i also have to agree that we are not really ready for League 1 just yet, but would like us to make the playoff`s, as i also think that it would boost the support from the town itself, a good cup run would also do us some favours in terms of bums on seats.
In the next ten years though it would be nice if we could get into League 1 and compete with the rest of them, i think at the moment thats what i would settle for given the restraints of the club, if however we got bigger crowds, thus giving us more financial clout then maybe we could be looking at knocking on the door of the Championship but i think that things would have to take a big turn for the better first.

yonmon · 21-04-2008, 22:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haz66

Yeah i also have to agree that we are not really ready for League 1 just yet, but would like us to make the playoff`s, as i also think that it would boost the support from the town itself, a good cup run would also do us some favours in terms of bums on seats.
In the next ten years though it would be nice if we could get into League 1 and compete with the rest of them, i think at the moment thats what i would settle for given the restraints of the club, if however we got bigger crowds, thus giving us more financial clout then maybe we could be looking at knocking on the door of the Championship but i think that things would have to take a big turn for the better first.

All this Crystal-Ball gazing is all very well Haz, and this is an optimistic and forward-looking thread indeed . But our concern must be with the present, and dire situation which FOOTBALL finds itself at the FES today!.
I know I seem to be banging away at the same old drum these days, but
it is difficult to see how a commercial organisation like Accrington Stanley FC can possibly avoid a steady downwards slide towards non-league oblivion, let alone aspire towards a place in the higher echelons of the Football League without a complete review of it's Management structures and STYLE being one of it's earliest priorities.
Numerous threads on this Forum, Media Reports, and the evidence which no self-respecting Fan can fail to observe in the playing arena week after week,achieve nothing except to confirm for everyone that Management-wise, things are far from being adequate!. The final proof of this could be seen in the body-language of the Team and it's Manager
as they capitulated to Barnet on Saturday last!.
So before we don our rose-tinted spectacles and build castles in the air
( Mixed Metaphors again!), I suggest that a continual questioning of those who are attemping to manage the Stanley, and currently achieve so little, as to where and how they are going to lead the club to success in the NEAR future.
It is a great club !, and we love it !, we do want to see it climb to lofty heights in the League pyramid, but HOW under present conditions can this possibly be achieved ?.

'WHAT ME WORRY ?'....Looking at the wider picture, I am getting somewhat concerned !!

Haz66 · 21-04-2008, 22:21

The original question asked in this thread was how high can we climb up the pyramid in the next ten years.
I answered to that question, not with rose tinted glass`s but with what i thought was a realistic answer, with the end of the answer being, i think that things would have to take a big turn for the better first, this may have been a bit vague but i ment that a lot of things surrounding the club would have to improve quite a lot for this to happen, if they did then why could we not compete in League 1, i`m not saying just yet, but in the next 10 years.
It wouldn`t bother me however if we were still in League 2, as long as we were playing good football and playing as a team and the team giving it their all, well they are going to have to start doing that or we will be back in non league in no time.

yonmon · 22-04-2008, 06:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haz66

It wouldn`t bother me however if we were still in League 2, as long as we were playing good football and playing as a team and the team giving it their all, well they are going to have to start doing that or we will be back in non league in no time.

Isn't this what we all long for Haz ?, and isn't it all to do with STYLE and how producing this is achieved ?. This is an entity which is, sadly. in extreme short supply at the FES both on and off the Pitch, and must be a real priority in the minds of those who plan the longer-term strategies for thefuture development of our club.
Without this, a team giving their all and playing good football is,
in my opinion, nothing but an unachievable dream, and at the very best stagnation is all we can look forward to!.
I sure do sound gloomy these days I know, and I tend to play the Blues more often ( my very own Mood Indigo? ). perhaps it has something to do with advancing years !. But I , like you, long fervently to see better days for the Reds, filled with STYLE and
PURPOSE !. ( I've got a pair of rose-tinted ones as well.....wore them as I filled out my Season Ticket application!).

' ON STANLEY......ON !!!'

Haz66 · 22-04-2008, 20:04

Isn't this what we all long for Haz ?,

I guess it is, but in the conference, and even last season we played some good football, where its gone wrong this season is anyone`s guess but it`s certainly not good enough.

( I've got a pair of rose-tinted ones as well.....wore them as I filled out my Season Ticket application!).

[/quote]

yonmon · 22-04-2008, 22:57

[quote=Haz66;566518]Isn't this what we all long for Haz ?,

I guess it is, but in the conference, and even last season we played some good football, where its gone wrong this season is anyone`s guess but it`s certainly not good enough.

( I've got a pair of rose-tinted ones as well.....wore them as I filled out my Season Ticket application!
That night at Bradford seems a long time ago now Haz.....
Where did it all go ?.......
Will we ever see such sublime soccer from the Reds ever again ?
AS you so rightly say....it's anyones guess!
But guesswork in League football is not enough?
Where will it all end??.
(Doom and Gloom again...sorry?)

'What me Worry ?'...wouldn't you???