Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Sent to Coventry: Division 4 2017-18

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Sent to Coventry: Division 4 2017-18

    Here we go again then.

    Bit of shopping required at Carlisle, with several released and a couple turning down deals. No signings to speak of yet. We've got a new contractor making a mess of the bars and food concessions though, so we've got that to look forward to.

    I've renewed my season ticket despite spending most of the last few months of last season saying I wouldn't. In the end it was out of convenience, I pay by monthly direct debit so it was just a quick phone call to renew, rather than the chore of buying tickets on a regular basis.

    The club introduced a so called 'radical pricing structure', a not particularly original idea of reducing the price in stages according to how many season tickets were sold. The club's season ticket pricing at the best of times has been like a section in a GCSE maths paper, but this year they took it to new levels of needless permutation. In the end sales weren't enough to trigger even the first price reduction, but the club triggered it anyway 'as a thank you for the overwhelming response'.

    #2
    Last time I looked Lincoln had sold a record 5,500 season tickets. We are all over-excited in general, and the core of the best players in the squad seems to have been retained. I'm not sure there's much of a quality gap between levels 4 and 5, and so am cautiously optimistic that we'll do alright, but any time I express optimism about Lincoln City I end up doing penance with my head in a metal clamp while Giant Haystacks, having eaten three lima bean curries, slowly backs his naked arse cheeks upon my exposed nose and parks them there for the night. Whereas last season my reverse psychology pessimism worked wonders and was clearly the sole reason we ended up as champions.

    Comment


      #3
      We start at new boys Forest Green so no doubt Bees fans will be front-loading on McDonald's at M4 service stations en route. First home games are Luton and Chavenage sandwiched between a trip to Crewe where we always get battered. Four points from the first four games seems wildly optimistic.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by imp View Post
        Last time I looked Lincoln had sold a record 5,500 season tickets. We are all over-excited in general, and the core of the best players in the squad seems to have been retained. I'm not sure there's much of a quality gap between levels 4 and 5, and so am cautiously optimistic that we'll do alright, but any time I express optimism about Lincoln City I end up doing penance with my head in a metal clamp while Giant Haystacks, having eaten three lima bean curries, slowly backs his naked arse cheeks upon my exposed nose and parks them there for the night. Whereas last season my reverse psychology pessimism worked wonders and was clearly the sole reason we ended up as champions.
        This stat about Lincoln's season tickets was brought up on our message board the other day.

        Can I just ask, has there been much fanfare from Lincoln's board of directors in a bid to ramp up sales, or has the league and cup success of last season been enough? And if there's been a concerted marketing campaign, does much of it focus on pride in Lincoln the city, or is it all based around the club?

        My reason for the latter question is that a lot of Bury message boarders are hand-wringing that we've only sold 2,000 season tickets despite some 'statement of intent' signings. I think that the new board, which came in in 2013, are outsiders to the town and aren't asking people to take pride in the place itself. The facility that they're always the keenest to trumpet is the Carrington training centre leased from Manchester City, 15 miles and half an hour away round the M60. We've always been poorly-supported but the town of Bury now really seems to have taken a back seat with the players only ever having the need to be there once a fortnight.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Giggler View Post
          This stat about Lincoln's season tickets was brought up on our message board the other day.

          Can I just ask, has there been much fanfare from Lincoln's board of directors in a bid to ramp up sales, or has the league and cup success of last season been enough? And if there's been a concerted marketing campaign, does much of it focus on pride in Lincoln the city, or is it all based around the club?

          My reason for the latter question is that a lot of Bury message boarders are hand-wringing that we've only sold 2,000 season tickets despite some 'statement of intent' signings. I think that the new board, which came in in 2013, are outsiders to the town and aren't asking people to take pride in the place itself. The facility that they're always the keenest to trumpet is the Carrington training centre leased from Manchester City, 15 miles and half an hour away round the M60. We've always been poorly-supported but the town of Bury now really seems to have taken a back seat with the players only ever having the need to be there once a fortnight.
          I think the Cowleys deserve an enormous lot of credit for reinvigorating the locals and getting them down to the Bank, and it is largely the success of last season. The club were canny with their loyalty schemes towards the end of the season, and it was genuinely brilliant seeing young kids coming to the games. The club are doing their best to get players and management out to schools etc and that in turn is getting families out to home matches.
          Plus, the board are talking up the success of Nicky and Danny, and I think there is genuine belief that if they stayed at Lincoln for a few years, they could take them to the Championship. This optimism must stop however, I can't handle it. I don't know what will happen if start losing 4 on a trot, will these people still be coming to the Bank?

          I think the board are just relieved that after years of employing no hopers like Chris Sutton, Gary Simpspon and David Holdsworth, they got it right and actually sought a manager who was on the up and in current employment.

          Comment


            #6
            Lincoln seem to have been really well-run over the last year or two, which, I think, is quite a change of direction in comparison with the years prior to that. In amongst all the blather about their last season, I don't think that anything like enough has been made of them going from thirteenth place to top of the table in a year in such a competitive division. It's one of the more remarkable achievements of the last few years that I can think of, in non-league football.
            Last edited by My Name Is Ian; 22-06-2017, 17:57.

            Comment


              #7
              I should probably mention the impact that Clive Nates has had. He's put money into the club, and got others now financially backing the manager and joining the board (think 3 have joined this summer). That money has gone a long way, we wouldn't have been able to sign Sean Raggett without it, but at the same time, he isn't throwing loads into the club to be spent wildly on numerous players and agents. Despite living in South Africa, Nates was often in the terraces, watching Lincoln games and quite happy to chat to fans. The Cowleys are very astute when it comes to transfer targets and wage structure. They don't want anyone on outlandish wages, far above the other players, and DC has said today that the club is in transition now, and we have to be realistic about what we can achieve next season.

              Comment


                #8
                WSC claims that last season there was no real difference in quality between the teams except the Top 3 and bottom 2. If so next season then promotion should up for grabs.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Blimey, Alan Power has left City and joined Kilmarnock on a 2 year deal. Some move for him.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    It's nice to have the Lincoln fans back. Imp's post just made me breach protocol in the quiet carriage.

                    A few months ago Port Vale were mid table Division 3 while barring a miracle Newport were approaching terminal velocity in their descent towards Division 5.

                    Then, goodness knows how or why but something odd happened. Suffice it to say both my football beaus are now waiting for the Division 4 curtain to go up.

                    Newport have many of last year's squad signed up. Whether that's good or bad depends which half of last season you focus on. They have no strikers though. Hopefully the next Swansea under 23 forward in the last year of his contract will pop down the M4 to do a job of sorts for us.

                    Results of Port Vale's project "Sign-a-load-of-lower-league-foreign-players-on-the-cheap-then-hope-for-a-miracle" have controversially been deemed a failure by the chairman (or, to give him his correct title "ex-chairman"). Last year's players have pretty much all packed up and gone but manager Michael Brown has mysteriously signed up four goalkeepers plus a defender we let go a couple of years ago.

                    Thankfully the last couple of years there have been just enough Division 4 club implosions to keep Newport safe. I wonder if, with Newport regular strugglers and Vale in disarray, this year will be my annus horribilis?
                    Last edited by HORN; 23-06-2017, 15:56.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Satchmo Distel
                      How many of the sides here will be at the World Cup?
                      Not many, most of us will settle for the third round of the FA Cup.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post
                        Not many, most of us will settle for the third round of the FA Cup.
                        Pfft, won't be happy with anything less than QF tbh.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          At last, a signing! Matt Green, released by Mansfield has joined on a two year deal. Another Stag who used to score against us, and he should link up well with Matt Rhead if nothing else.

                          Edit: Blimey, we've signed someone else this morning. Ollie Palmer, a 6ft 5 inch tall striker, formerly at Orient with previous loan spells at Luton and Grimsby amongst others.
                          Last edited by RobW; 26-06-2017, 11:54.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            My main reaction to the fixture list was the realisation that, for the 1st time in donkeys years, I won't be going to a Grimsby away game somewhere nearby with my pal Tony.

                            He will want to go to Carlsle away in March, but apart from that being my likely birthday weekend, I do have in-law connections to Carlisle, was there at the Jimmy Glass game so I couldn't go along wholeheartedly with my honorary-Mariner/no longer el pupas status.

                            Maybe I'll persuade him to take me to Cleethorpes for a homer, instead...

                            Comment


                              #15
                              And Josh 'Gino' Ginnelly has signed on a season long loan deal from Burnley. I love it when a plan comes together.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Oh, there's a thread.

                                Anyway, don't bother going to Exeter this season, unless you're one of those groundhoppers that specialises in building sites.

                                We've bought nobody worth mentioning (sorry Dean) and since we can't accommodate a crowd, we'll be sitting this one out in mid-table. See you next season.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Forest Green took advantage of a head injury to one of our defenders to score twice inside three minutes just before half-time; given that we had rested Akinde, that fact that we managed to score twice without him was largely down to a change in tactics and formation in the second half that saw us draw level and come close to winning. Luton at home next Saturday, who only managed to slip eight past Yeovil.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Swindon took advantage of our inability to mark at set pieces, and an uncharacteristic mistake by the usually dependable Mike Jones, to score twice. A rare goal from Luke Joyce (who can usually be depended upon to make the sort of mistake that Jones did) was about as much as we deserved. We had injuries to two of our already threadbare defence so the whole thing was a bit of a downer really. Our defence has been our weak spot for the last couple of years, so much so that it might be worth appointing an ex England international defender as manager to see if he can sort it out. Oh...

                                    Meanwhile the catering stands were running out of basic things before kick off, and the stands and terraces are covered in bird shit. My mate's 4 year old son inadvertently helped keep the place tidy by intercepting another payload with his hand and preventing it adding to the pile around our back row seats. How we laughed. Well I did, him and his dad were less amused.

                                    It's going to be a long season.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      I shelled out for the iFollow app so that I can watch Lincoln live all season, wherever I am, as long as I have my phone on me. Can't really tell who's who on such a small screen, though, and there's no commentary and no replays. And if we get knocked out of all the cups and hang around mid-table, that'll be fine for the club as a first season back in the League, but how many games will I be watching live? I'll get back to you on that.

                                      Anyway, within three minutes of me tuning in at half-time on Saturday, we scored at Wycombe. Yay! Then after half an hour I had a data usage warning from my phone provider, because I wasn't in wifi range. I've never had a data usage warning before in all the years I've had a phone (don't tend to use them much in public), so that gives you an idea of how much it saps off your plan. Anyone else rash enough to subscribe?

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        I didn't subscribe because I'll be back in the UK soon but I splashed out a fiver for just the Sheffield United v Brentford game. It was strange watching without commentary and it didn't help that the crowd sounds were a few seconds behind the action. Overall, it was a pretty underwhelming experience.

                                        Saturday's game against Forest is the internationally televised game so I shall revert to less legal methods for that one.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Alan Hardy, the self-made businessman millionaire who has recently bought Notts County, is worth following on twitter if only to help you start to hate a previously-unhateable club like Notts County. He's a smug wanker.

                                          Tonight moaning about how much funding the athletes get ("phenomenal"), not in any way understanding that the squad of players he loves to show off that he is building are on £100k a year for playing for the 84th-best team in England. being 84th-best in any athletic discipline wouldn't get you anywhere near the world championships.

                                          Such a blowhard.

                                          Cov beat them 3-0 opening day. Fancy spending all that money and losing 3-0 to Coventry. LOL.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            That would be the same bloke who canned the Notts County Women's team a day before the season started, right? And did so in such a way that the players got little to no redundancy money, they just found themselves jobless, and in the case of those who had been living in Notts County owned accommodation, homeless?

                                            The Lady Pies were far better than the 84th best team in the country at the time.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Well, we were unable to fill a bench on Saturday, and 3 of the 5 on the bench were youth players who have never played a first team game.

                                              Coupled with that, news broke on the morning of the game that an offer had been accepted for Harry Pell - who has been a rock in our midfield over the last two seasons.

                                              By all accounts (recent birth of twins means away games are a no-go for me) we played well and were deservedly 1 up at half-time with Mo Eisa (signed from Greenwich Borough) scoring on his Football League debut. However, after hitting a post very early in the second half Morecambe then equalised before stealing the 3 points in injury time.

                                              Cue hysteria on Twitter and our club message board. If you believe most Cheltenham fans:

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                With just 45 games to play, you're obviously as good as down already.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Belated welcome to the board Simon. I'm a father of twins, now aged 10. It gets easier!

                                                  Have a friend living in Cheltenham who has adopted them as his team, and his 13-year-old daughter is a devoted fan. So, I look out for their results for their sake. I must admit, he's not quite as pessimistic as you, though he expects a season of struggle.

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X