MadAmster

Not had a season ticket since the 83/84 season when I moved to the Netherlands. I usually manage between 6 and 8 games a season. Flights, trains, hotels, match tickets and food and drink make each trip an expensive one. I'd do more games but 8 games is about as far as I an stretch my pension. 
This new TV deal will likely see me having to book flights closer to game day which will see me having to pay higher fares. I usually travel in Friday morning and back Sunday tea time. I may have to reduce my weekends away to Saturday morning to Sunday tea time.
Thanks Sky! NOT

Partly jollies, for sure, as he stopped by my mate's pub in Henlow for a couple of beers. Combining work and pleasure on his trip? Whyever not? 

Knight going out of contract and we needed the money to survive. Bird going out of contract looks like he'd decided to spread his wings.

I'm struggling to get my head round the "get rid of CBT" posts. 
Agreed, he hasn't apart from Pompey and one cameo sub appearance, done much for us, YET. However, the lad was carrying an injury when he joined us. How do you expect a player who's not 100% right, physically, to be brilliant?

Knight going out of contract and we needed the money to survive. Bird going out of contract looks like he'd decided to spread his wings.

I'm struggling to get my head round the "get rid of CBT" posts. 
Agreed, he hasn't apart from Pompey and one cameo sub appearance, done much for us, YET. However, the lad was carrying an injury when he joined us. How do you expect a player who's not 100% right, physically, to be brilliant?

Knight going out of contract and we needed the money to survive. Bird going out of contract looks like he'd decided to spread his wings.

I'm struggling to get my head round the "get rid of CBT" posts. 
Agreed, he hasn't apart from Pompey and one cameo sub appearance, done much for us, YET. However, the lad was carrying an injury when he joined us. How do you expect a player who's not 100% right, physically, to be brilliant?

I've not had an email so I can't comment on what the club thinks my stats are. Any road up, I've seen 8 games at Pride Park during the 23/24 season. That's around 750 minutes. Seen 7 wins and a draw for a total of 22 points from a possible 24. Travelled some 4500 miles in the process. I did have a balti pie at one of the games so I helped that stat along. Also had a cheeseburger in the concourse at another game, not an experience I'm likely to repeat.
Hopefully, I can equal the above next season... minus the cheeseburger, of course.

I've not had an email so I can't comment on what the club thinks my stats are. Any road up, I've seen 8 games at Pride Park during the 23/24 season. That's around 750 minutes. Seen 7 wins and a draw for a total of 22 points from a possible 24. Travelled some 4500 miles in the process. I did have a balti pie at one of the games so I helped that stat along. Also had a cheeseburger in the concourse at another game, not an experience I'm likely to repeat.
Hopefully, I can equal the above next season... minus the cheeseburger, of course.

Total wage bill of £17M of which the players cost around £7M. That £17M is well above the total turnover of almost all L1 clubs and I'd estimate the £7M would beat the total budget of half a dozen L1 clubs.

CBT was out of contract this summer at Charlton. We had no money in the "buy" pot but did have some in the "loan fee" pot. We paid a £300K loan fee and he's a DCFC player from July 1st when his CAFC contract has expired.

Total wage bill of £17M of which the players cost around £7M. That £17M is well above the total turnover of almost all L1 clubs and I'd estimate the £7M would beat the total budget of half a dozen L1 clubs.

Having been relegated twice from the Championship should at least have give Warne a good idea of what works and what doesn't in that league. He clearly knows how to get out of this league which was the number 1 priority, get us out and get us out quickly. That has meant that we have limited the haemorrhaging of money and our best young players, both from the first team squad and the academy to a minimum. 
Warne's last attempt at the Championship was short lived but successful up to that point. So hopefully that's an indicator that lessons had perhaps been learned. He should certainly be better prepared for the tactics and standards required this time. When you listen to Warne its obvious that he's a bright guy, he's far more erudite than most football managers you listen to so it seems inconceivable to me that he can fail to understand the tactical nuances that his arm chair critics - myself included - accuse him of. Bright guys are better than most at learning too. So why did we hate the football so? I'm coming to the conclusion that Warne knew better than we did that the ugly, basic football the team played a lot of the time was the most effective at that level. He said - and I criticised him for it -  ''my job is not to entertain the fans, its to get results''. My criticism at the time was 'no Paul, your job is to do both'. Whilst I still think so, maybe I should concede that his view, as a professional, is that to do both may be possible but with this squad would be less certain to get promotion quickly which was the overriding priority. 
So lets see how recruitment goes, this summer and next January. I think we will make a solid return to the Championship finishing comfortably mid table and then kick on the following season            

Agreed. However, we should, IMO, temper our expectations. Clowes has been clear from day 1 that the club will be run sustainably and be self sufficient. i.e. he's not going to throw millions at it. We'll spend what we can afford and no more than that. If it takes 2 or 3 seasons to start challenging for the top 6, so be it.
Obviously, top 6 is where I'd love to be this time next year. I'm just not going to run that particular flag up the pole as it's a perfectly normal wish but not a likely probability. Midtable would do me fine under the circumstances. If we do better, you won't find me complaining about it. 

@DavesaRam The lift was right 🙂
On the PW front, I'm expecting to see more of his post 3rd promotion with RUFC football than that of the first 2 he had with them. In the weeks leading up to us nicking him, their fans were waxing lyrical about the results and the style of play being served up. An expansive style. I hope my expectations become a reality.

Promotion should always be the aim. However, not making it isn't necessarily a hanging offence. I want promotion next season. Would love it to happen. Midtable or better would suffice though.
Ipswich? They built over 4 seasons into a team capable of back to back promotions. 2 years ago we had 5 players and no money. We brought in a shedload of players on freebies. 1 year ago we had a bit of a clearout and brought even more in. Today we have 14 players out of contract. Some will retire, some will go back to their parent clubs, some will be let go. We are likely to have an influx of 10 to 12 players again. A million miles away form the Tractors steady build. 
Would I like back to back promotions? Hell, yes. Do I expect it? Hell, no.

Promotion should always be the aim. However, not making it isn't necessarily a hanging offence. I want promotion next season. Would love it to happen. Midtable or better would suffice though.
Ipswich? They built over 4 seasons into a team capable of back to back promotions. 2 years ago we had 5 players and no money. We brought in a shedload of players on freebies. 1 year ago we had a bit of a clearout and brought even more in. Today we have 14 players out of contract. Some will retire, some will go back to their parent clubs, some will be let go. We are likely to have an influx of 10 to 12 players again. A million miles away form the Tractors steady build. 
Would I like back to back promotions? Hell, yes. Do I expect it? Hell, no.

Next season is, indeed, the time to pass judgment on CBT. Arrived injured, looked it, improved and that showed as well, then his injury flared up (or was it a different one?) and he didn't shine.
Get better, get fit, get a full pre season in him and, hopefully, we'll get the player we thought and hoped we were.

Agreed. However, we should, IMO, temper our expectations. Clowes has been clear from day 1 that the club will be run sustainably and be self sufficient. i.e. he's not going to throw millions at it. We'll spend what we can afford and no more than that. If it takes 2 or 3 seasons to start challenging for the top 6, so be it.
Obviously, top 6 is where I'd love to be this time next year. I'm just not going to run that particular flag up the pole as it's a perfectly normal wish but not a likely probability. Midtable would do me fine under the circumstances. If we do better, you won't find me complaining about it. 

... then you probably also read from my posts that RUFC fans were waxing lyrical early season about both the results and the style of play. More expansive than "Warneball". Not just down the outside cross it and hope...

Next season is, indeed, the time to pass judgment on CBT. Arrived injured, looked it, improved and that showed as well, then his injury flared up (or was it a different one?) and he didn't shine.
Get better, get fit, get a full pre season in him and, hopefully, we'll get the player we thought and hoped we were.

Agreed. However, we should, IMO, temper our expectations. Clowes has been clear from day 1 that the club will be run sustainably and be self sufficient. i.e. he's not going to throw millions at it. We'll spend what we can afford and no more than that. If it takes 2 or 3 seasons to start challenging for the top 6, so be it.
Obviously, top 6 is where I'd love to be this time next year. I'm just not going to run that particular flag up the pole as it's a perfectly normal wish but not a likely probability. Midtable would do me fine under the circumstances. If we do better, you won't find me complaining about it. 

@DavesaRam The lift was right 🙂
On the PW front, I'm expecting to see more of his post 3rd promotion with RUFC football than that of the first 2 he had with them. In the weeks leading up to us nicking him, their fans were waxing lyrical about the results and the style of play being served up. An expansive style. I hope my expectations become a reality.

@DavesaRam The lift was right 🙂
On the PW front, I'm expecting to see more of his post 3rd promotion with RUFC football than that of the first 2 he had with them. In the weeks leading up to us nicking him, their fans were waxing lyrical about the results and the style of play being served up. An expansive style. I hope my expectations become a reality.