So as another poor season draws out to a painful close & it looks inevitable we’ll be outside the top ten again; which for many would be a realistic objective.
I thought it would be useful/depressing to reflect statistically on the past 20 seasons, as follows:….
• 20 Seasons 02/03 to 22/23
• 4 x top 10 finishes
• 1 x promotion
• 1 x playoffs
• 16 x outside top 10
• 3 x relegations
• 3 x FA Cup >4th round
So in 80% of the past 20 seasons we have not made the top ten in whatever league we were in. 4 top ten finishes in 20 years.
Yet we have pretty much the same people running the club & making the decisions; yet they have presided over abject failure.
Not taking playoffs or promotion here simply getting in the top ten. Perhaps Flynn with Johnson & less injuries would have delivered the prize of a top ten finish, perhaps he is doing better than some give him credit for.
Bottom line is the club needs real change starting in the board room not the dugout.
The priority is on how they can make cash quickly rather than performances on the footballing side. If we were a club constantly losing money prior to their takeover then I’d totally get it but we weren’t. They want a quick return to hand back to those who have invested, simple as that.
This season has been a disappointment but I don’t know that the last 20 years. If you look here
you can see that during that period, we have been in the second tier, the best we can realistically hope for and have generally bobbled around the middle of the third tier, which is historically where we have been in years before then. We did drop to the fourth in 2006 but bounced straight back. It is the last 5 years or so that drag us down, since Keates’ tenure really.
In criticising the way the club is run, I am not sure what people want. Clarke and Flynn were appointments welcomed by the fans, Taylor was a gamble that did not pay off but was not obviously stupid and Dutton was always a stop-gap to save money during Covid. Bonser has gone, which most supporters said was their biggest wish.
The injuries have made this season difficult to negotiate but there have been signs that more money is available. But, in the end, the last thing I want is for the club to spend beyond its means, Trivela to go and we are left looking at a Bury-like chasm.
That’s why their own money seems to be invested in the infrastructure (freehold/Saddlers Club) whilst the football budget is coming from the fans (tickets/parking/food/drink).
Basically they invest for the long term and increase the value of what they bought.
Long term play based on the club repaying a loan from them. Their return on the way through is that they make income from the repayments, and then own a club that’s looking a much more appealing prospect for sale, which makes a second return on investment. It’s not ‘get rich quick’, it’s a pension fund blue chip income, but with orange chips.
