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Post by Lobster on Sept 30, 2017 17:05:48 GMT
Last season, the National League wouldn't allow clubs like Darlington and Poole Town to compete in the playoffs to get in this division because they deemed their grounds not up to standards, yet it's not even the end of September yet and we've already had two games postponed because of problems with other clubs' facilities.
What kind of impression does this league want to give of itself? You've got clubs like Forest Green running up £3m losses every season in a ham-fisted (or Quorn-fisted, if you prefer) attempt to get into the League, and now they're finally there they're getting their arses handed to them. You've got clubs like Eastleigh offering the likes of James Constable wages League clubs can't compete with, yet they can't be bothered spending to fix a drainage issue they've known about since at least the summer.
Does the National League want to be the unofficial Football League 3 or the Premier League of non-league? At the moment, it's neither. It's too unprofessional and tinpot to be thought of as anything but non-league, yet there's also a widespread attitude of buying success and winning at any costs that's out of keeping with the grassroots game. It's just an awful limbo between professional and semi-professional football that embraces all the worst aspects of both.
Time for this league to up its game I think. Introduce Financial Fair Play and seriously push for three up, three down from L2. I strongly believe in supporter ownership and what CFC is all about, but this is a miserable league to play in for a club like us.
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Post by rjshbdhmtrm on Sept 30, 2017 17:36:19 GMT
Excellent post Lobster, send the gist of your perfectly valid comments to The Conference and see how they reply.
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Post by Imperial on Sept 30, 2017 17:45:35 GMT
Couldn’t agree more. This kind of thing makes the league a laughing stock with fans of league clubs & leaves casual supporters with the impression that the entire league operates that way.
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Post by bonecrusher on Sept 30, 2017 17:57:20 GMT
Good post Lobster but I wouldn't hold your breath.
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Post by soulseal on Sept 30, 2017 18:22:35 GMT
Spot on Lobster
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Post by wxmred on Sept 30, 2017 19:00:02 GMT
Good post.
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Post by thetheremin on Sept 30, 2017 19:02:57 GMT
Great post lobster
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Post by Suomen Sininen on Sept 30, 2017 19:56:50 GMT
Great post J. Sums up many supporter's feelings.
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Post by agl on Sept 30, 2017 20:56:23 GMT
Spot on Lobster. I am getting mightily sick of the incompetence and amateurish running of these clubs. Not a single other game anywhere in the UK pp yesterday.
They were even playing in the same road in Eastleigh - Stoneham in the Wessex League. The pitch at Eastleigh has been poor every time we have played there yet they continue to plough money into ridiculous wages and subsidising tickets to boost pitiful attendances. Solihull shows us that nothing will be done and it's the fans that suffer. Another weekend f-ed up by a joke club. At least I only travelled from Brighton. The weather was fine all morning so this could easily have been called off at 8am - certainly no deterioration in the playing conditions between 8am and 12.30. My back garden is still taking a stud FFS. The lack of an apology from Eastleigh is the icing on the cake. Hope they disappear back to where they came from ASAP.
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Post by Wortleyblue on Sept 30, 2017 21:10:48 GMT
Spot on Lobster. I am getting mightily sick of the incompetence and amateurish running of these clubs. Not a single other game anywhere in the UK pp yesterday. They were even playing in the same road in Eastleigh - Stoneham in the Wessex League. The pitch at Eastleigh has been poor every time we have played there yet they continue to plough money into ridiculous wages and subsidising tickets to boost pitiful attendances. Solihull shows us that nothing will be done and it's the fans that suffer. Another weekend f-ed up by a joke club. At least I only travelled from Brighton. The weather was fine all morning so this could easily have been called off at 8am - certainly no deterioration in the playing conditions between 8am and 12.30. My back garden is still taking a stud FFS. The lack of an apology from Eastleigh is the icing on the cake. Hope they disappear back to where they came from ASAP. Totally agree with this and as I have just posted in the match thread an international cricket match was played in Southampton on Friday with no rain interruptions |
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Post by muffinthemule on Sept 30, 2017 21:22:35 GMT
Excellent post Lobster, send the gist of your perfectly valid comments to The Conference and see how they reply. What an excellent post. Thought about sending it to the non league paper. That may cause a ripple or two. |
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Post by Paul Da Part on Sept 30, 2017 22:04:10 GMT
Great post Lobster and sums up our feelings. We may not be the only set of supporters who would be thinking exactly the same thing.
The standard of this league seems to have gone downhill rapidly. Put that down to sugar daddies throwing money at clubs trying to chase the dream of the EFL personally, but the upper echelons really need to take a long hard look at themselves. If, officially, the game was postponed due to the weather then that isn't really punishable, but I think in this case, something needs to be done. I smell a rat somewhere. No doubt this will get brushed under the carpet by the league, the game will be rearranged midweek (to no benefit of either club, not even Eastleigh) and nothing more will be said. An example needs to be made of this farce. Forget that it has happened to us twice already this season (who's to bet that it won't happen again, bad luck comes in three's after all!) I'm sure we'd certainly raise an eyebrow or two had it happened to any other club in this division.
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Post by forestblue on Oct 1, 2017 5:28:02 GMT
Although I agree with the main post and the league need to get things sorted out. Please don't forget that not so long ago we, ourselves were causing problems for teams in this league. Eventually ending up withnour expulsion. And was it not ourselves who benefited when Salisbury went belly up and we remained in this league? Many will feel it is frustrating that clubs call games off but it is what is going to happen when they overstretch and channel their thoughts to other areas, rather than those areas that are more important. This league hasn't got the resources to police everything.
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Post by agl on Oct 1, 2017 7:40:29 GMT
Great post Lobster and sums up our feelings. We may not be the only set of supporters who would be thinking exactly the same thing. The standard of this league seems to have gone downhill rapidly. Put that down to sugar daddies throwing money at clubs trying to chase the dream of the EFL personally, but the upper echelons really need to take a long hard look at themselves. If, officially, the game was postponed due to the weather then that isn't really punishable, but I think in this case, something needs to be done. I smell a rat somewhere. No doubt this will get brushed under the carpet by the league, the game will be rearranged midweek (to no benefit of either club, not even Eastleigh) and nothing more will be said. An example needs to be made of this farce. Forget that it has happened to us twice already this season (who's to bet that it won't happen again, bad luck comes in three's after all!) I'm sure we'd certainly raise an eyebrow or two had it happened to any other club in this division. After the Solihull debacle I don't have any confidence in the National League taking proper action, or even looking into the circumstances. Given that there have been ongoing drainage issues and that Mark Maguire appears to have sought repeated assurances that the game would go ahead is there a case for a group legal action against Eastleigh? Park and other lower league fixtures all went ahead in the area yesterday and there was no significant ...if any...rainfall yesterday morning. Surely there's a negligence case to be answered here? This was not a weather issue but a known infrastructure issue...see the excellent AVFOs post on DC1. Too drastic? As per my earlier post I'm getting tired of having weekends ruined, at my expense, by clubs that appear to treat their own and visiting fans with contempt. Eastleigh's dismissive statement is further evidence of that. Maybe it's time we as fans stood up for ourselves? Any lawyers out there care to comment or get involved? I would take great pleasure in Eastleigh's chief executive being asked to appear in the small claims court in Chester, for example. Do we have any contacts at the Football Supporters Federation? I can understand that our own club's hands are tied to an extent. |
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Post by trev on Oct 1, 2017 9:06:43 GMT
Although I agree with the main post and the league need to get things sorted out. Please don't forget that not so long ago we, ourselves were causing problems for teams in this league. Eventually ending up withnour expulsion. And was it not ourselves who benefited when Salisbury went belly up and we remained in this league? Many will feel it is frustrating that clubs call games off but it is what is going to happen when they overstretch and channel their thoughts to other areas, rather than those areas that are more important. This league hasn't got the resources to police everything.
I can't agree with some of your points. Firstly just a bit of history. In summer 2009 Chester City FC was placed in administration. Before the season started many warned the League administrators what would happen if CCFC were allowed to continue, but they persisted in spite of this with the inevitable consequences. Whilst the Club was Reformed, please don't confuse the "we" (Supporter run model) of the last 7 years, with that of the Vaughan-run business entity which ended in the spring of 2010. Are you suggesting that Chester FC and its fans should accept poor treatment due to the failures of the Vaughan regime ?
Secondly, both Salisbury and Hereford were found to be in serious breach of financial rules. This included signing better players than ourselves, but then not paying them. This put Chester FC (and others) at a serious and unfair disadvantage and as a result they were expelled and we were reinstated. Given the seriousness of the financial irregularities you have to wonder how either club was allowed to start that season.
Eastleigh’s "sub soil drainage” problem is well documented and according to their own fans has been going on for months, whilst their wealthy owner has invested millions(?) over the years in stands , corporate facilities , fancy scoreboard and the like, and are clearly are not short of resources. But despite this Eastleigh's pitch was also very poor last season. Solihull for whatever reason chose not to comply with simple requirement(s) for its Safety Certificate (apparently including work to an emergency acess gate) despite warnings from The Local authority and others to do for weeks before the start of the season. It is difficult see how the National League is an effective organisation when it can't simply monitor or take effective/timely action on the state of clubs basic facilities well before the start of the season . However, it seems once Clubs are in the National League "fold", even with exceptionally poor grounds such as at Solihull and Eastleigh, such unacceptable incompetence seems to be tolerated with little regard of the consequences for the fans, and well-run Clubs with more limited resources.
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Post by MPW on Oct 1, 2017 14:33:49 GMT
Remember when they refused to let CCFC start the season under SV, it was a complete farce and the club at that time was guilty of messing many clubs about.
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Post by Lobster on Oct 1, 2017 14:35:15 GMT
Remember when they refused to let CCFC start the season under SV, it was a complete farce and the club at that time was guilty of messing many clubs about. Absolutely, and again that was down to poor handling of the situation by the Conference. |
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Post by forestblue on Oct 1, 2017 16:17:45 GMT
Although I agree with the main post and the league need to get things sorted out. Please don't forget that not so long ago we, ourselves were causing problems for teams in this league. Eventually ending up withnour expulsion. And was it not ourselves who benefited when Salisbury went belly up and we remained in this league? Many will feel it is frustrating that clubs call games off but it is what is going to happen when they overstretch and channel their thoughts to other areas, rather than those areas that are more important. This league hasn't got the resources to police everything.
I can't agree with some of your points. Firstly just a bit of history. In summer 2009 Chester City FC was placed in administration. Before the season started many warned the League administrators what would happen if CCFC were allowed to continue, but they persisted in spite of this with the inevitable consequences. Whilst the Club was Reformed, please don't confuse the "we" (Supporter run model) of the last 7 years, with that of the Vaughan-run business entity which ended in the spring of 2010. Are you suggesting that Chester FC and its fans should accept poor treatment due to the failures of the Vaughan regime ?
Secondly, both Salisbury and Hereford were found to be in serious breach of financial rules. This included signing better players than ourselves, but then not paying them. This put Chester FC (and others) at a serious and unfair disadvantage and as a result they were expelled and we were reinstated. Given the seriousness of the financial irregularities you have to wonder how either club was allowed to start that season.
Eastleigh’s "sub soil drainage” problem is well documented and according to their own fans has been going on for months, whilst their wealthy owner has invested millions(?) over the years in stands , corporate facilities , fancy scoreboard and the like, and are clearly are not short of resources. But despite this Eastleigh's pitch was also very poor last season. Solihull for whatever reason chose not to comply with simple requirement(s) for its Safety Certificate (apparently including work to an emergency acess gate) despite warnings from The Local authority and others to do for weeks before the start of the season. It is difficult see how the National League is an effective organisation when it can't simply monitor or take effective/timely action on the state of clubs basic facilities well before the start of the season . However, it seems once Clubs are in the National League "fold", even with exceptionally poor grounds such as at Solihull and Eastleigh, such unacceptable incompetence seems to be tolerated with little regard of the consequences for the fans, and well-run Clubs with more limited resources.
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Post by forestblue on Oct 1, 2017 16:19:38 GMT
Although I agree with the main post and the league need to get things sorted out. Please don't forget that not so long ago we, ourselves were causing problems for teams in this league. Eventually ending up withnour expulsion. And was it not ourselves who benefited when Salisbury went belly up and we remained in this league? Many will feel it is frustrating that clubs call games off but it is what is going to happen when they overstretch and channel their thoughts to other areas, rather than those areas that are more important. This league hasn't got the resources to police everything.
I can't agree with some of your points. Firstly just a bit of history. In summer 2009 Chester City FC was placed in administration. Before the season started many warned the League administrators what would happen if CCFC were allowed to continue, but they persisted in spite of this with the inevitable consequences. Whilst the Club was Reformed, please don't confuse the "we" (Supporter run model) of the last 7 years, with that of the Vaughan-run business entity which ended in the spring of 2010. Are you suggesting that Chester FC and its fans should accept poor treatment due to the failures of the Vaughan regime ?
Secondly, both Salisbury and Hereford were found to be in serious breach of financial rules. This included signing better players than ourselves, but then not paying them. This put Chester FC (and others) at a serious and unfair disadvantage and as a result they were expelled and we were reinstated. Given the seriousness of the financial irregularities you have to wonder how either club was allowed to start that season.
Eastleigh’s "sub soil drainage” problem is well documented and according to their own fans has been going on for months, whilst their wealthy owner has invested millions(?) over the years in stands , corporate facilities , fancy scoreboard and the like, and are clearly are not short of resources. But despite this Eastleigh's pitch was also very poor last season. Solihull for whatever reason chose not to comply with simple requirement(s) for its Safety Certificate (apparently including work to an emergency acess gate) despite warnings from The Local authority and others to do for weeks before the start of the season. It is difficult see how the National League is an effective organisation when it can't simply monitor or take effective/timely action on the state of clubs basic facilities well before the start of the season . However, it seems once Clubs are in the National League "fold", even with exceptionally poor grounds such as at Solihull and Eastleigh, such unacceptable incompetence seems to be tolerated with little regard of the consequences for the fans, and well-run Clubs with more limited resources.
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Post by thebluecamp on Oct 2, 2017 16:10:21 GMT
Two articles in yesterday's NLP regarding the Eastleigh postponement.
The general theme was that Eastleigh (and the National League) need to 'get their act together'.
It further almost ridiculed the small (and ineffective) fine that will be handed out, and sympathises with the real sufferers - the fans.
Would it not be a fitting 'penalty' to reverse the fixture, and play the rescheduled match at Chester ?
That way, our club would effectively be compensated with additional match day revenue, our fans would not have to pay (again) to visit Eastleigh, and (dare I say it) it may give us the opportunity to put more points on the board with an extra home match.
Eastleigh (the culprits) would have to visit Chester twice, which (under the circumstances) seems only right and proper.
Perhaps Eastleigh could offer some form of financial renumeration to their fans who travel to Chester as it's the club's incompetence that has created the situation.
Just a thought.
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Post by tonya on Oct 2, 2017 20:38:51 GMT
Only issue would be (and a pretty big one at that), is that other clubs would feel that we would benefit from being at home. Other clubs will naturally feel we are benefiting and therefore the culprits should be penalised with a massive fine. It won't happen of course. I wonder how many fans who emailed will receive a response....I haven't yet, but I won't hold my breath.
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Post by MOC on Oct 8, 2017 7:36:41 GMT
A letter from Nathan Auty in the NLP today has an uncanny resemblance to what Lobster has written above.
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Post by Lobster on Oct 9, 2017 12:00:41 GMT
A letter from Nathan Auty in the NLP today has an uncanny resemblance to what Lobster has written above. Haha, classic Mancot/Sychdyn Blue! Star Letter as well! Ah well, I just wrote it to sound off in this particular echo chamber. If someone liked it enough to send it to the NLP, fair enough. He can deal with the angry Eastleigh fan coming back at him next week though! |
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Post by iandychesterfc on Oct 9, 2017 12:16:21 GMT
haha, amazing.
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