Scunthorpe

72 years in the league, been in the Championship not so long ago, and also flirted with going back there recently.

Let them be no clearer a warning to Pomlett that he has to back Flynn and get it right next season!

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I feel bad for them, even excluding the stadiums they are a very similar club to us. Looking at league tables from just 10 years ago it is crazy to see how much they have changed. Clubs like Scunny, Notts County, Grimsby and Chesterfield in non league and have been replaced by the likes of FGR, Salford and Sutton.

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Could easily be us. We’re one rubbish decision away from that. Just one. Imagine if Flynn had said no…

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Another club who are broadly similar to us, with a similar history, same as Stockport, Wrexham, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Grimsby, Southend, Lincoln, Tranmere, Brizzle Rovers, plus Luton and Oxford who were way bigger than us, all have had spells in non league and some are still there.
If Flynn gets fed up and walks, we are a poor managerial appointment from joining them as @Exile mentions. :grimacing:

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We can rant and rave that it’s sad that all these non league clubs with tiny fanbases are replacing historic league clubs with thousands more fans. But it’s the way it is. They are forward thinking, they have USP’s and modern ways of competing.

With our archaic structures and dinosaurs in the board room, including a ticket system (the tired Early Bird and stagnant schools days rolled out AGAIN in 2022 have been in place since the 90s!!!) we sit very firmly in the category of club’s that are falling out of league every year.

Like others have said, let’s be thankful for Michael Flynn otherwise I would be fearing the worst. Finally Dame Omellette Biggins has made a right call in booting out JF and backing Flynn. Now BACK him or you really do run the risk of being the man that ended league football in Walsall.

Scunthorpe, Stockport, Wrexham, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Grimsby, Southend, Lincoln, Tranmere, Bristole Rovers, Luton, Oxford, Shrewsbury should all be warning signs but Omellete lives in cloud cuckoo land, no doubt holding hands with Mole, Gamble etc. His latest rant against Walsall fans is laughable. The support he has received during his tenure has been astonishing. Whats that old saying - don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

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It can’t be said that they haven’t given it a good goo in recent years though. Just that they have cocked it up with their recruitment policy. Now in the shit, but who is to say they won’t be back soon.

Going from division 4 to division 5 is a reality of life for many clubs, particularly in post industrial towns that are less likely to attract the wealthier local investor, more so now that two come up from division 5. Just looking at the National league, approximately half of them have been in the EFL. There’s a few in the next tier down aswell.

As each season goes by, the list will grow, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we joined it at some point, and if we do we will all have the same choice as we have now, as to whether we carry on supporting the club, and in what way.

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One heck of a fall from grace after the likes of Kevin Keegan,Neil Warnock and Ray Clemence have played for them over their history.As always my thoughts are with the life blood of a club and that’s the fans, it’s going to be very difficult to bounce back with the likes of Solihull Wrexham Notts County etc that could all still be in their next season and I have a feeling it could be a good decade before they come back.

If at all. The sad reality is that some of the former EFL clubs will never return.

Agree with comments about non-league clubs evolving, being forward thinking and having USP’s etc. I have been saying for ages we need to offer something different to fans compared to other clubs in the area. This could include standing areas behind the goal and possibly in part of the family stand, which I think would attract lots of floating fans. We seem to lack any creative thinking at the club which is why I fear we are at high risk from dropping out the league in the next few seasons.

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For balance, there were a few seasons recently that Scunthorpe were spending way over what they could afford on wages with the owner plugging the losses.

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Peter Swan the ex chairman partly blames the pandemic and taking the emergency loan from the EFL. He states the embargo on signing new players put the club at a big disadvantage. Perhaps LP got that right then.

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I “rant and rave” a bit about these nuveau clubs and their complete lack of fan base. Carlisle bringing 600 yesterday demonstrates how the swap out of clubs with fan bases for those without makes professional football occasions worse.

But you’re right, it’s up to us to ensure we’re not added to that list in the National League. As @Exile says we are just one mistake away from that becoming a probability. This is because we have made countless mistakes and poor decisions over the last seven years. The only board member accountable for this it seems is Jamie Fullerton. Which is amazing.

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Absolutely yep

So why are gamble, mole, Gilman and the SLO not following him out the door all equally as culpable

It’s odd isn’t it? It could be that the rest are told that the results on the pitch are nothing to do with them.

Whilst no fan of Fullerton I believe, though might be wrong, that he was the only board member with no direct connection to Jeff Bonser. Now he’s gone, I think we’re back to exclusively the “Bonser babes”.

For the simple reason if you are the boss you would not sack yourself and he will not sack his inept mates

It’s clear to me that LP takes the support for granted and really believes that we are obliged to buy season tickets no matter what. The early bird campaign has purely been aimed at existing ticket holders and imo really poor in terms of marketing. There has been no thought at all into bringing back fans who no longer attend or trying to entice new fans. I haven’t been since Oldham and I really can’t see myself going to another game this season. It doesn’t surprise me that season ticket sales are poor and it doesn’t surprise me that LP sees the short term as the problem rather than the bigger picture.

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So if the results on the pitch are nothing to do with them then that means all the off the pitch stuff like fixing toilets, catering and bars, club and online shop, matchday experience etc must be, to which they have failed and are continuing to fail at so what happena then…

…nothing it appears! Depressing.

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Like us in a way, but financially they took a risk a few years ago and it didn’t pay off, now paying the price for it.

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Exactly.

It is that double standard that Leigh appears to be tolerating. If you’re on the football side of things he expects excellence and result. If you’re on a bit that is deemed “non football” side then it doesn’t really matter. In fact, we’ll bring in consultants to help you out.

Not that there should be a football and non football side in a football club.

Also, surely some effer must have recognised that for younger supporters it may be an all round thing. While I may have been ok with being ankle deep in piss at FP watching Buckley, my 58 year old frame isn’t impressed with the same shower of shite at the grand a day stadium

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Yeah same for me…always have them as a lower end league 1 team but ultimately just following the patch of likes of Orient and Tranmere in last decade. Not sure them or as looks likely Oldham will be back in league quickly either.

Terrible away trip though (sorry HullSaddler). You see the ground coming in on the train and think it’s not that far…5 minutes later rolling into the station. And town centre isn’t great to put it mildly. Pretty sure they were talking about moving a while back but guess that will be scrapped while they rebuild in non league.

Parallels in making league 1 play off in 2018 with likes of Ivan Toney upfront, not going up and then plummeting since then and this club has had a few warnings on that in last two years.

Not a great fanbase though…went there in April 2018 just after Keates had taken over and they were top 6 and not far off automatic promotion. Attendance was 4, 083 so as much as we give our own fans stick it was 6-7k at that stage of the season in 15/16.