The Perspective Thread

[royalgull]

This may be slightly easier for me to write because I didn't go to Rotherham, but reading through that thread some of the reports and comments have been quite harsh I feel.

Time to take a quick step back and realise whats happened this season. Despite a miniscule budget and crowds the team made it to the 4th round of the FA Cup, we had a huge disappointment there but surely that gives the players and staff even more credit for the reaction to that.

The FL decided to fine us and dock us a point, another set back again we've responded and we've made the playoffs in this league. A 3rd playoff campaign under Paul Buckle in his 4 years as manager.

We lost our top scorer on the last day of the transfer window as well as our captain at the start of the year. Yet the replacements and the team responded again and went from the outside of the playoffs to in the playoffs.

Despite the obstacles and disappointments we've had, over 46 games we've earned our shot at going up in whats been an outstanding season from all concerned. I know Bucks goes on about it but he's right, we've got a tiny budget compared to a lot of clubs in this league, we've got a load of lads in their 1st or 2nd years as football league players so how well have those lads done? Brilliantly I'd say.

It is such a bonus for us to be here and it's a chance we should just enjoy, no pressure, no regrets and no complaints if it doesn't go our way.

Well done and thank you to the staff and especially the players for this brilliant season

[portugull]

Well said Royalgull. I agree with every word.

[ferrarilover]

Buckle out!

Matt.

[Trojan 67]

Yes, it's been a rollercoaster of a season. If we don't make it to Old Trafford or beyond that into League One, there will still be some on here who won't see the season as a successful one. In a way they'll be right, as the expectation threshold has risen. To fall at the final hurdle will be a huge disappointment, but then we get over it and go again next season.

[Southampton Gull]

It is such a bonus for us to be here and it's a chance we should just enjoy, no pressure, no regrets and no complaints if it doesn't go our way.

Exactly how I see it.

We've drawn Shrewsbury, which should involve the biggest crowds, so more money into the coffers. I'm not nervous or apprehensive at all. These next two games should be enjoyed whether we win or lose, whatever happens, as a club we're moving along just nicely thanks.

[bixieupnorth]

the most disappointing thing about saturday for me was the tightness of buckles tracksuit bottoms, why has the man got no style on the bench?? skin tight ron hill tracky bottoms and gleaming white trainers are not a good look bucks, please sort yourself out, and as for that inside out tufc gnome hat you wore at the crawley game, just plain embarassing!! at least mr tidsdale tries!!

[Jerry]

Exactly how I see it.

We've drawn Shrewsbury, which should involve the biggest crowds, so more money into the coffers. I'm not nervous or apprehensive at all. These next two games should be enjoyed whether we win or lose, whatever happens, as a club we're moving along just nicely thanks.

It doesn't make any difference financially who we got Dave. The monies taken from the four play off games are all gathered together into a pool of money. This is then split - 50% to the FL and 12.5% to each of the 4 teams competing.

[Plymouth Gull]

Really, Jerry? Didn't know that. I assumed it was a case of us getting the gate receipts from the Plainmoor game, they get the ones from their ground then it's split 50-50 for the final.

[Jerry]

I think the 50% the league take is then divided amongst the rest of the league. It's some sort of half-assed attempt to appease those who complain that teams are financially rewarded better for promotion through the play-offs than those who managed to go up automatically!

The same happens for the final - 50% to the football league "pool account" and the other 50% shared between the 2 finalists.

This is from 2006/07 but I'm pretty sure the rules haven't changed:-

http://www.football-league.co.uk/static ... 306,00.pdf

[Jerry]

Also, please note (as I'm sure this will be asked at some point - probably repeatedly! :na: ) it states that away goals do NOT count double in the play-offs. Extra time and then penalties (Nicky Wroe over the stand?) if the ties are level at Greenhous Meadow!

[andygull]

Buckle has done an outstanding job and i admit i am not his biggest fan. He could develop his teams with a bit more directness, pace and aggression instead of some of the patient slow to get players forward mentality especially away from home. Yes i know his budget is miniscule and we lost benyon ( where is he now man! he's only scored once and we could pass like ships in the night if we go up!! Thanks anyway benners ) but often his tactics are a little bizarre ( like consistently bringing on stevens as an impact sub but with only about 30 seconds to make an impact!! frustrating!!). That aside what bucks has achieved compared to managers at vale, rotherham, bradford etc is exceptional and shows a real promising managerial talent at this level at least and there is a massive room for improvement for him to learn so i've no doubt he will end up at a higher end league 1 club soon if not championship. I think the huge dip in form after starting the season on fire disappointed a lot of fans and it looked at one point like another relegation battle was on the cards but he and the players pulled it round and got on with the job. I actually feel though that given better luck ( ie not hitting the woodwork a thousand times this season ) and a more positive, direct, attacking mentality away from home and we would be replacing wycombe in third. Oh and also the ridiculous double penalties conceded when 1-0 up at morecambe with minutes to go to lose 2-1! One was definately not a penno ( let it go andy!! LOL) by the way the ref in that game was mr k a woolmer who had a shocker, the same ref who had a shocker at the don valley on saturday. All in all a massive overachievement anyway and i just hope the lads can believe that they can beat anybody on their day. Lets get past shrewsbury then annihalate the ghost of accy stanley this time on an actual football pitch at old trafford. They won't be able to string two passes together on actual grass!!! Haha!!! Buckle In!!! COYY!!!

[Dave]

I totally agree, season 10/11 has been very successful for the club, Paul Buckle has done a very good job as manager and the team have over achieved, there is doubt that the club has made great strides on and off the field every season since the current board took control of the club, right now as a fan I am very proud of the club.

Going into the play-offs as a fan I am feeling quite calm, agreed it really will not be the end of the world if the team fails, however there is a “but” to this, the club as whole can not if it fail's to win promotion spend the entire summer congratulating itself looking back on a successful 10/11 season (I am pretty sure that will not happen)

For season 10/11 to mean anything the club if it fail's to gain promotion must during the summer build on that success ,Aldershot and Morecambe and to a point Rotherham are prime examples of teams who failed to build on the previous season s success ,Aldershot and Morecambe took giant steps backwards, after losing in the play-offs.

I think the team was 2 maybe 3 players short of getting a top 3 finish, nobody need ask me where the money is going to come from, or tell me about the clubs budget, I know, the club will not need to shell out £100k in transfer fee s to find the players it needs, to me if the club can hold together the core of the current squad, and “if” it can add quality in the right area s next season should the club be in league 2,can and will be even more successful.

One final note, regardless of what happens in the play-offs the club will get my congratulations.

[Bigman]

The comments I have read in the Rotherham thread seem pretty much bang on to me, as long as they are taken only in reference to that game. It was a bad performance and left me in no mood for celebration at the time.

However, the season as a whole has been a massive success. At the start I'd have been happy with avoiding a relegation scrap, and I think the team have became a victim of their own achievement - continued flirtation with the playoff places made us hungry for more and after the Bradford game that seemed like a minimum requirement, whereas if we'd faded away earlier on (a bit like Rotherham themselves) we wouldn't really feel as though we'd missed out on anything and I think we'd still look on the campaign as a success and something to build on next year.

I think Bucks is doing the right thing in interviews (and hopefully in the dressing room) now, by focussing on the positives of the season as a whole, largely forgetting the last game, and looking ahead to the next game. On the day, last Saturday was horrible, but it doesn't matter now. Whenever the season ends it's been a great one and the players and staff deserve infinite credit for that.

[Southampton Gull]

It doesn't make any difference financially who we got Dave. The monies taken from the four play off games are all gathered together into a pool of money. This is then split - 50% to the FL and 12.5% to each of the 4 teams competing.

I didn't know that, but isn't that just typical of our luck in "draws" that when we get possibly the best one available there is no financial reward for it

[yellow]

The OP seems to contain a fallacious argument.

The poor performance at Rotherham, and the achievement of reaching the play-offs are two separate and distinct things.

One was an under performance on a particular day, the other is the result of over performance during the course of the whole season.

There are few who would not agree that reaching the play-offs constitutes a good season. It represents a progression from last season and that is all that we can reasonably ask for.