Millsy
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,246
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Post by Millsy on Feb 3, 2008 0:54:44 GMT
From the Bromley forum: "We got ourselves three points and a clean sheet-result that everyone wanted. First half thought we came out on top, but second possession seemed to be constantly lost. Ref today-for once-let the game flow and was it a penalty? Well if it was against us i'd sure as hell hope it would have been given. But hey. Few blips out on pitch but nothing to bad-Wood I thought delivered some excellent balls into the penalty area and Judge held himself well. Sutton looked to have little ideas up front and lacked anticipation. Interesting to see how they have fallen from previous years. Good noise behind the Bromley end second half."
1] Has anyone yet fathomed the bizarre anti-Sutton fervour that eminates from this lot?
2] Why have we had so many penalties not awarded and can I attend the next referees' meeting?
3] Should more questions be asked reference the second bit in italics above? It's depressing me, that's for sure.
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Gareth
1st team Player
Goon
Posts: 1,646
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Post by Gareth on Feb 3, 2008 12:05:56 GMT
They really are a strange club. Apart from us, they seem to have made up a rivalry with Welling and AFC Wimbledon (what was the point in the score updates from Kingsmeadow throughout the second half yesterday?). If we do go down, at least we won't have to come across them next season.
As for penalities, well yesterday's non-decision by a referee who was consistently dreadful really cost us. I hope he was being assessed.
I think you're right to some extent with your 3rd question. Since we've stepped up to Conference South level, we've struggled and, from a personal point of view, have gone steadily backwards as a club. I think this is the 4th consecutive season where we've seen our average home crowd drop (albeit somehow only 2% this season, which is testament to the guts and guile of our hardcore support) but it's hardly surprising when we lose more games than we win.
A lot of other clubs who we'd consider smaller have restructured and, whilst they are reliant on money being pumped in by benefactors, they have seen increased attendances and better players on the field. We've also struggled to find a major sponsor to replace G4S/Securicor which has hit us hard financially.
So where do we go from here? Well irrespective of the final league position this year, the club needs to decide where we're going from here.
Can we plod on at the same "pace" doing the same things that we've been doing for the last god-knows-how-many years? Or should we look to restructure?
What are the potential downfalls of bringing a benefactor on board (given that as we don't actually own our ground, the worst case scenario seems to be a 2-division drop)?
The ground is getting more and more decrepit as time goes on....and whilst it ticks all the right boxes for the ground-grading, it needs significant regeneration just to tidy it up and make it look like a football ground.
Why can't we attract experienced players who have played at a higher standard to play for us?
Why can't we attract anyone decent to play in a money-spinning pre-season friendly?
This certainly isn't a blame-game....more a devil's advocate post to see what other people think and where we should go from here.
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Post by os on Feb 3, 2008 12:54:52 GMT
Yes we are on a downward slide, we are not getting the crowds or revenue from big matches like lucrative friendlies or FA cup runs. If I had a pound for everyone who told me how they won last weeks 18million in their dreams and told Bruce to shove over, I would have enough to actually do it. The reality is that benefactors don't grow on trees and the majority will be looking for a return just like any business. When you say restructure you basically mean spend more money I guess? Apart from idiots like us who would give the club our last quid you have to give potential investors a reason to put their money in. As difficult as it is to say the borough cannot sustain 2 clubs of similar level. Also the generic population has changed over the past 20yrs we are not attracting these people, why don't these people come to games. I hope its politically correct to say but how many black supporters do we have? We are in the shadow of the big London clubs, we have to persuade them supporters to come see us instead. The question is if I had a few million quid to invest in a football club would I choose Sutton and if I did would I get a return on my money?
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i
Spectator
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Post by i on Feb 3, 2008 13:47:58 GMT
what was the point in the score updates from Kingsmeadow throughout the second half yesterday? Bromley are playing AFC Wimbledon in a county cup on Tuesday. If the match against Torquay had ended as a draw it would have been off.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2008 14:50:52 GMT
Regarding the ground, have we applied to the Football Foundation to get a grant towards the cost of re-developing the Collingwood Road end of the ground, or any other parts the club would like re-developed?
It would be interesting to know if we've applied or are looking to apply. I seem to remember someone saying a few years ago now that the club were putting together something so they can apply. I'm aware the FF only fund 50% or so of the costs but then that would give the supports and the Supporters Trust a challenge in helping to raise the other half of the costs. A bit like Farnborough are doing.
Also Gareth, regarding that meeting about the regeneration of Collingwood rec, I couldn't attend it as I was at college but what sort of reactions/feedback came from it?
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Post by robcafc on Feb 3, 2008 15:10:19 GMT
Ref Simon's post: "Bromley born, Croydon bred, Sutton till I die!"
Cheer up Simon, we all have our cross to bear...
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2008 15:59:58 GMT
Well someone had to draw the short straw Rob ;D It's a tough life
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Gareth
1st team Player
Goon
Posts: 1,646
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Post by Gareth on Feb 3, 2008 16:56:09 GMT
Also Gareth, regarding that meeting about the regeneration of Collingwood rec, I couldn't attend it as I was at college but what sort of reactions/feedback came from it? My understanding is that the meeting went well and was attended by a number of people and organisations who use Collingwood regularly. They are still at the consultation phase and we're submitting a follow-up to our proposal this week
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Post by Amber Aleman on Feb 3, 2008 22:18:43 GMT
My response to Millsy's three questions...
1. Not really sure, but it may have something to do with Bromley lacking any obvious local rivals and so needing to 'adopt' a semi- neighbour. Like Bromley, we're a south London non-League club taking its name from the borough, and we've been roughly on a par with each other over the last twenty years. We've also had one or two rather fractious encounters during that period!
2. The only explanation I can give is that when you're down at the bottom, borderline decisions tend to go against you. Maybe the knowledge of your league position has a subconscious effect on officials who then act to reinforce it. We're not the first club to have experienced this!
3. I think Sutton Utd FC have basically stood still over the last ten years, not in itself a bad thing, but many clubs around us have attracted new investment in that time and overtaken us. Whether that situation is sustainable remains to be seen.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2008 17:11:38 GMT
Cheers for the reply Gareth.
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Post by ratty on Feb 4, 2008 17:59:28 GMT
Millsy,
1) Bromley are a strange lot even for non-league football - quite scarey. There is a bit of recent history between us; some of which emulates from a CCL league cup encounter with Coney Hall played at Hayes Lane. It also seems Bromley bring out the worst in us and at last May's playoff semi-final there were a few (ahem) problems
2) Every football supporter including ours, thinks every ref is against them. In reality we're all pretty incapable of seeing the game from the perspective of the oppostion.
3) You do have that "sniff of decline" about you. To quote one (Wimbledon) source - you're all old and smell of wee
2)
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markf
Top Performer
Posts: 3,207
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Post by markf on Feb 4, 2008 18:43:36 GMT
Ratty, it's not about a ref being against us it's about the total incompetence of some who officiate at this level. The guy on aturday appeared totally disinterested & as if he would rather have been somewhere else. No doubt the match fee was enticing enough for him to travel up from Wiltshire (I believe). But having done that he could have at least attempted to make a few decisions. I watched him when we should have had the penalty & showed no reaction whatsoever. He could have at least acknowledged that something had happened. A shake of the head, a play-on gesture, but, no, nothing. Some enthusiasm for the game would not have hurt.
While most of us would prefer a ref to be mostly inconspicuous, this guy became more conspicuous for being well, over-inconspicuous.
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Post by Amber Aleman on Feb 4, 2008 20:43:04 GMT
The guy on aturday appeared totally disinterested I thought refs were supposed to be disinterested (definition: "not interested by one's own advantage, impartial")
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Post by ratty on Feb 4, 2008 21:26:56 GMT
Yeah you get incompetent officials at these levels but my point would be that if they are "merely incompetent" their poor decisions will even out over the season.
Believe me - Wimbledon supporters bleat on about poor officials all season every season. On Saturday versus Torquay Utd, our centre back admitted that he's gone through Sills to get the ball leading to their first pen. Yet despite this, we've had countless posters on our forum claiming that it wasn't a pen and it tuned the game yadda yah
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markf
Top Performer
Posts: 3,207
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Post by markf on Feb 4, 2008 21:33:03 GMT
Sorry AA uninterested. Apologies for the grammatical error.
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