Accrington Web - View Single Post

maccawozzagod · 17-08-2013, 02:30

we HAVE to face facts and the facts are that Stanley have always been and will always be a poor relation. We hail from an unfashionable town that is doomed to merely exist and never again flourish. Punching above our weight isn't just a lame cliché that we trot out to make ourselves feel better every time the Barrow hits the fan.

In order to do more than just exist the club (and/or the town) needs to do something out of the ordinary that really galvanises the place.

A lottery winner couldn't guarantee success but he could revitalise the club from the ground upwards. It needs wholesale rethinking about how the money should be spent to build upon what we have. For some reason a Barrow club like us keeps managing to surprise people, we keep on getting to this level of football and outperforming what the experts think of us. If we had money behind us and exceeded expectation we'd be pushing out of The Championship ffs!

Only a ridiculous cup run and trip to Old Trafford, or unearthing the next Lionel Messi can provide us with the funds to turn the club around and become what we all want it to be. But should it happen one day I would wager that the money would be spent on 'having a go' at moving up rather than developing the income generators that would enable us to do that every season.

We SHOULD have the biggest, busiest and best function room in the borough
We SHOULD have the best training facilities in the borough
We SHOULD have a permanent town centre presence
We SHOULD own every school in the borough
We SHOULD have a fully functioning website that is updated the same day

We HAVE none of the above.

We have a fan liaison officer and two fan directors yet the perennial complaint of no communication still exists. We don't learn, stories WILL break and then those guys fire fight. We had/have a lifelong fan who worked his way from the terrace to the club shop, to secretary to CEO to MD yet he had to fire fight and (to some) his reputation suffered for it (long before the present and sad situation.

To those fan directors/liaison officers, please review your standing and consider what others think your role to be. Are you there to pretend to be directors? or are you our eyes and ears within the club? I love and respect the three of you as men and as fans but in my opinion the role is not self fulfilling. Most don't even know who you are.

2nd Rant

Somebody brought up the share issue and whether it is still going or whether the money is still there. When it was first pushed out it was on the back of IK stating that he would put £2m into a new ground and the share issue would hopefully fund another large chunk - with the remainder being contributed by sponsors/hotel/building contractor. With the best will in the world that is not going to happen is it? That ship sailed long ago and probably had as much to do with hype and publicity as it had to do with reality and intent. So why don't we put the story and hope back in it's box and start to review what we can do to the ground to bring it to where it needs to be? Livingstone Road isn't ideal and will never host a super stadium, but it doesn't need to. It needs to be home to Accrington Stanley and all that involves. From the bricks and mortar that were carried on the backs of a Lancashire Combination teams band of brothers, to the history and heritage of the two teams that came before. We can't incorporate a swimming pool, cinema or bowling alley but we can jemmy in some proper offices, shops, concourse outlets, dry seats and an impressive function room that is separate from the prawn sandwiches.

Last time we had any kind of murmurings about new stands there was a figure of £400,000 mentioned to develop the Whinney Hill Stand. There was also talk of Football Foundation grants for the vast majority if we built it all seater. Are we revisiting these thoughts? £400k shouldn't be too difficult to raise if it has a proper business plan attached to it. Or the FF option, nobody would begrudge an all-seater family stand running down the brickyard side would they? Build the changing rooms into and free up the existing area for a shop - or extend the away end right the way down and accommodate an extra 500 fans.

Many mentions are made on here by various people asking the club if we have a medium and long term plan. It is never answered. It is never offered. If we have one then speak it, orate to the public and let us in on the plan.

End of rant

We have a smashing little club and each and every one of us is proud of it. We are ridiculed wherever we go for poor facilities, Conference North crowds, sloping pitches, betting charges, betting charges (deliberately mentioned twice), stewards paid in washers etc etc. Yet still we gleam with honour at the fact that our run down little town has provided THREE football clubs that have defied the odds and produced teams to be proud of. We burst with pride when our laughable away crowds produce spirit that would have shamed the British Army at Rorke's Drift. We laugh at the bookies who are certain that Stanley will sink each and every year.

From Keith Morton to John-de-Maine, Eric, The Don, little Dan Warburton, John Alty, the irrepressible Frank Martindale, through to Ilyas Kahn, Peter Marsden and the Ben Hur cast that few can name, nobody has ever sat in that board room or commercial department and wondered how they can get away with doing nothing today. Everyone ever tasked with building our club has sweated blood and toiled long hours to doing everything they possibly can to get us going. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but each time they have dusted themselves down and gone back into work the following day to try again. Now is the time to dust ourselves off and keep moving. I don't know how much communication goes on between the powers that be and how often they get together, but it needs to be more often and more productive. Between all those guys are the brain cells, the ideas and the graft to find the way to take us forward another level.

Let's do this.

17-08-2013, 02:30	#69
maccawozzagod God Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Red and White Fortnight Posts: 9,110 Liked: 1555 times Rep Power: 12677	Re: More than a manager we HAVE to face facts and the facts are that Stanley have always been and will always be a poor relation. We hail from an unfashionable town that is doomed to merely exist and never again flourish. Punching above our weight isn't just a lame cliché that we trot out to make ourselves feel better every time the Barrow hits the fan. In order to do more than just exist the club (and/or the town) needs to do something out of the ordinary that really galvanises the place. A lottery winner couldn't guarantee success but he could revitalise the club from the ground upwards. It needs wholesale rethinking about how the money should be spent to build upon what we have. For some reason a Barrow club like us keeps managing to surprise people, we keep on getting to this level of football and outperforming what the experts think of us. If we had money behind us and exceeded expectation we'd be pushing out of The Championship ffs! Only a ridiculous cup run and trip to Old Trafford, or unearthing the next Lionel Messi can provide us with the funds to turn the club around and become what we all want it to be. But should it happen one day I would wager that the money would be spent on 'having a go' at moving up rather than developing the income generators that would enable us to do that every season. We SHOULD have the biggest, busiest and best function room in the borough We SHOULD have the best training facilities in the borough We SHOULD have a permanent town centre presence We SHOULD own every school in the borough We SHOULD have a fully functioning website that is updated the same day We HAVE none of the above. We have a fan liaison officer and two fan directors yet the perennial complaint of no communication still exists. We don't learn, stories WILL break and then those guys fire fight. We had/have a lifelong fan who worked his way from the terrace to the club shop, to secretary to CEO to MD yet he had to fire fight and (to some) his reputation suffered for it (long before the present and sad situation. To those fan directors/liaison officers, please review your standing and consider what others think your role to be. Are you there to pretend to be directors? or are you our eyes and ears within the club? I love and respect the three of you as men and as fans but in my opinion the role is not self fulfilling. Most don't even know who you are. 2nd Rant Somebody brought up the share issue and whether it is still going or whether the money is still there. When it was first pushed out it was on the back of IK stating that he would put £2m into a new ground and the share issue would hopefully fund another large chunk - with the remainder being contributed by sponsors/hotel/building contractor. With the best will in the world that is not going to happen is it? That ship sailed long ago and probably had as much to do with hype and publicity as it had to do with reality and intent. So why don't we put the story and hope back in it's box and start to review what we can do to the ground to bring it to where it needs to be? Livingstone Road isn't ideal and will never host a super stadium, but it doesn't need to. It needs to be home to Accrington Stanley and all that involves. From the bricks and mortar that were carried on the backs of a Lancashire Combination teams band of brothers, to the history and heritage of the two teams that came before. We can't incorporate a swimming pool, cinema or bowling alley but we can jemmy in some proper offices, shops, concourse outlets, dry seats and an impressive function room that is separate from the prawn sandwiches. Last time we had any kind of murmurings about new stands there was a figure of £400,000 mentioned to develop the Whinney Hill Stand. There was also talk of Football Foundation grants for the vast majority if we built it all seater. Are we revisiting these thoughts? £400k shouldn't be too difficult to raise if it has a proper business plan attached to it. Or the FF option, nobody would begrudge an all-seater family stand running down the brickyard side would they? Build the changing rooms into and free up the existing area for a shop - or extend the away end right the way down and accommodate an extra 500 fans. Many mentions are made on here by various people asking the club if we have a medium and long term plan. It is never answered. It is never offered. If we have one then speak it, orate to the public and let us in on the plan. End of rant We have a smashing little club and each and every one of us is proud of it. We are ridiculed wherever we go for poor facilities, Conference North crowds, sloping pitches, betting charges, betting charges (deliberately mentioned twice), stewards paid in washers etc etc. Yet still we gleam with honour at the fact that our run down little town has provided THREE football clubs that have defied the odds and produced teams to be proud of. We burst with pride when our laughable away crowds produce spirit that would have shamed the British Army at Rorke's Drift. We laugh at the bookies who are certain that Stanley will sink each and every year. From Keith Morton to John-de-Maine, Eric, The Don, little Dan Warburton, John Alty, the irrepressible Frank Martindale, through to Ilyas Kahn, Peter Marsden and the Ben Hur cast that few can name, nobody has ever sat in that board room or commercial department and wondered how they can get away with doing nothing today. Everyone ever tasked with building our club has sweated blood and toiled long hours to doing everything they possibly can to get us going. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't but each time they have dusted themselves down and gone back into work the following day to try again. Now is the time to dust ourselves off and keep moving. I don't know how much communication goes on between the powers that be and how often they get together, but it needs to be more often and more productive. Between all those guys are the brain cells, the ideas and the graft to find the way to take us forward another level. Let's do this.