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Would League 1...actually be that bad?


r_wilcockson

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5 minutes ago, Rammy03 said:

This notion that dropping down to League one would be better for us long term as it will enable us to build from the ground up, is nonsense. It might end up being true, but equally we could drop right through the leagues like a Bolton for example. There are absolutely no guarantees, it's tough down in League one, just because we're Derby county doesn't mean we will come straight back up. We need to get real. It's far too much of a risk. We cannot get relegated. Something needs to change NOW to turn this around. Lose these next two games and it becomes a reality. We are heading for League one.

You're absolutely right - and the recently introduced 'sustainability' rules are a disaster for the bigger clubs in the lower divisions - a firm salary cap rather than a percentage cap means that even with bigger gates than most, we'd struggle to attract better players than (for example) Burton. We'd also almost certainly lose the Academy status, have our advertising revenue decimated and (as we currently spend much more than we earn even ignoring covid) potentially go bust very quickly.

We need an experienced head to grab hold of the team and get us up the league  - any idea of giving the job to an inexperience manager is the beginning of the end....

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3 hours ago, dlm77 said:

You've changed your tune, it was only a few weeks ago that you had said we were going down, to which I reminded you that there were 35 games still left to play (v Barnsley thread). no idea idk GIF 

Honestly I haven't, people were saying we weren't going down which was stupid now it's also stupid to say we are definitely going down. Wycombe game on Saturday is crucial if we win that things can change if not we will need play off form to stay up which is unlikely. I said there's a good chance we go down and have said that since October, still hope for us now. Although a few more losses and there's not much hope. If we can't beat Wycombe the senior players should have wages docked and be put in the reserves as far as I'm concerned. 

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3 hours ago, Carnero said:

They would be paid their full salary but that salary would only count as £100k towards the salary cap.

On that basis then i’m not so concerned about relegation. It would hamper us with bringing players in or extending contracts but we wouldn’t be necessarily forced into a fire sale.

 If we could convince the right players to stick around we could be a force in League 1 and gain momentum to take back into the championship. 

But still the risk we could stay down and then we really would be hampered and would risk losing good assets for free. Either way a reset is required to be a force next season whichever league we’re in.

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Every time a club is threatened with relegation someone comes out with this sort of comment. And every time it’s wrong. Relegation would be an absolute disaster. Financially our income would be crippled, we’d have to sell all our talented young players, and end up signing a load of journeymen. We probably wouldn’t be able to afford the category one academy anymore. Any takeover would be out the picture as we’d be making too much loss. 

It certainly wouldn’t be easy to get back up either, look at how long the likes of Sheffield United were down there. With the mess we’re in, we’d be more likely to be relegated again and go out of business than get back up.

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1 hour ago, Ghost of Clough said:

There's something like a £6m drop in direct income as a result of dropping to League 1. Player values also drop.
Relegation is definitely something we should avoid if we can help it

Absolutely. I'm not saying with this post that we should aim to get relegated (sorry if it read like that for some people), and we should do absolutely everything we can to avoid it. But the more games we lose, the closer to reality it becomes. Life and football will go on and we need to see it's probably not the end of the world if it does happen. 

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19 hours ago, MuespachRam said:

It remains the best time I had supporting the Supers in the old division 3. Some great great trips around the country. I wouldn’t be bothered at all if we went down again. 

Also spent my youth watching the Arthur Cox football in the old 3rd division loved it,having a laugh with your mates travelling the country watching a mainly winning side but what was the football really like down there? Was it the exuberance of youth that made it? Well it didn't put me off supporting the rams ,but would I want to watch 3rd tier football week in week out now not really            but IF we go down I will still support the mighty rams

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As others have said the financial impact would cripple us more than we are now.

Not just from a player salary point of view but from all the sponsorship and associated contracts we have.

 

When we were dallying with promotion I was privy to one of the discussions we had with another betting provider and current provider of gaming sponsorship etc. The current contract is only for the league we are in so if we are promoted we are able to increase that financial impact. The same applies to if we are relegated, they have the right to re negotiate to lower that sponsorship.

We were due to make around £3m more per year on club gambling sponsorship alone if we were promoted.

We will lose hundreds of thousands on gambling alone if we are relegated.

Add on all the rest of what we bring into the club and the figure of a £6 million loss per annum on sponsorships and hospitality alone is pretty accurate.

Not a good thing to be relegated, ever.

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I loved it when we were in Division 3 back in the 1980s. Great away trips to ramshackle stadia, being the 'big fish in a small pond', being everybody's cup final, drowning on open terraces - culminating, of course, in Trevor Christie being as cool as custard.

Actually, on reflection, most of it was crap, but it was different - and the Arthur Cox bandwagon was starting to roll.

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On 26/11/2020 at 07:53, r_wilcockson said:

Ok, bear with me here as I may be trying to scrape the barrel a bit in terms of any remaining positivity....

We've been stuck in this league for 13 years now, and after multiple failed bids at promotion recently, it feels like we are almost back where we started. Could it take us to potentially drop down a league to build a decent, hardworking team which we can all get behind again to benefit us in the long run? 

Leicester - Had a season in League 1, went on to win the Premier League

Wolves - Went down to League 1 and now a fully established Premier League Team

Leeds - Went down to League 1 and are now in the prem (and I can see them staying there as much as it pains me)

Sheffield United - Built a really hard working team in League One and carried this through to the prem.

I know that for every one of these there's also a Sunderland and Ipswich. We all want the club to be the best it can be, but maybe we need this step back to get us away from the current circus and rebuild?

Potentially watching a lot of our own academy players flourish, getting some football identity back, new grounds, we might even score a goal.... Would it all be that bad?

Bugger that . Football wasteland.  Fixtures in this League are bad enough .  This much vaunted academy would be worth nowt either .  No talent would come here and decent ones would be off.

Unfortunately, I can't see us heading anywhere else at the minute. Were in a position where we need to realistically win 3 in row just to get traction with those around us.

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Perspective is needed here. Millions of people who own or work in the hospitality business are seeing their livelihoods melt in front of their eyes.

Last time I looked, even Div. 3 players (or Div. 1 for you whippersnappers) earn quite a few more bob that the minimum wage. No it wouldn't be a disaster, and as I've told you all before, they sell good fish n' chips in Fleetwood.

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