Club restructuring.

We are pleased to announce an exciting transformation of our Academy, Development, and Community Football programmes which will build on the existing foundations and improve the football provision currently being delivered.

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Sluffy wrote:It means that FV have packed in having a reserve team /U23's and presumably the end for the old guard and McGinlay's buddies Lee and Philips.

Fwiw I've mentioned for years that the academy must have been losing the club millions, it's biggest success being Clough to Forest (and in retrospect that was a very bad buy from Forest) and that I couldn't see the point of it unless we were required to have one somehow - clearly not it now seems.

Whether the scraping of it now is a FV's cost cutting exercise or part of the 'masterplan' is anyone's guess.

From a practical point of view, if we have no U23's anymore and we are under an embargo for squad places next year (23/24 or something like that?) then we won't have any wriggle room if and when players get injured, suspended, off form, worn out, etc, etc, etc - as they will.

I think our stay in division four is going to be much longer than the immediate promotion back that many seem to believe it will.

There as seemed to be an agenda from Hill against the academy and the 'quality' (is that the right word?) that they've been producing - maybe he's been in the know about this from the start?

Maybe the penny has dropped that for clubs like ours, even if we do unearth some occasional gems, that they tend to walk away for free/very little, such as Mooy from a few years back and Luca Connell to Celtic for buttons at the start of the season.

Seems if the gossip is true that Darcey wants more money than we can afford to sign professional with us - hence why he hasn't been playing.

My first thoughts for what they are worth is that it does seem the way things are going for clubs looking to financially sustain themselves (rather than the owners subsidise losses as per the norm now).

I think it is signalling the end for now of any ambition to 'buy' our way up the leagues but rather try to build teams from scratch and sell anyone who turns out to be any good to Championship level clubs - with every sale 'snaking' us back down the league table's following the 'ladders' we've just had to clime to get that far in the first place.

That being the case then do we really need a close on 30,000 capacity stadium and the costs involved for sub 10,000 crowds and the income they will generate???

Natasha Whittam wrote:Football isn't a spreadsheet. You can't say we'll be in "League 4" for years just because the numbers don't look good.

We'll get promoted within two seasons of dropping to League 2.

Sluffy wrote:
Unfortunately football IS all about spreadsheets these days and it can be clearly demonstrated that the most successful clubs spend the most amounts of money.  This applies at every level of football and not just clubs in the Premier League.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Sluffy wrote:
Unfortunately football IS all about spreadsheets these days and it can be clearly demonstrated that the most successful clubs spend the most amounts of money.  This applies at every level of football and not just clubs in the Premier League.

That's your cynical view. But football is about heart and passion, and a crap team can go a long way on just that.

But your argument doesn't even stand up. Would you accept that Sheffield United have spent less than every team in the Premier League yet currently sit in 8th position?

Would you accept that Wycombe (currently 4th) have spent less than most of the teams in our own division including Sunderland?

You've spent too long away from the passion of match day, and what it means to dream as a football fan.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Sluffy wrote:
Unfortunately football IS all about spreadsheets these days and it can be clearly demonstrated that the most successful clubs spend the most amounts of money.  This applies at every level of football and not just clubs in the Premier League.

That's your cynical view. But football is about heart and passion, and a crap team can go a long way on just that.

But your argument doesn't even stand up. Would you accept that Sheffield United have spent less than every team in the Premier League yet currently sit in 8th position?

Would you accept that Wycombe (currently 4th) have spent less than most of the teams in our own division including Sunderland?

You've spent too long away from the passion of match day, and what it means to dream as a football fan.

Sluffy wrote:There's always a few clubs that for a time, defy the odds - Leicester winning the Premier League for instance

boltonbonce wrote:Nat, I think I love you. Bring an overnight bag and some furry slippers.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

boltonbonce wrote:Nat, I think I love you. Bring an overnight bag and some furry slippers.

Don't your family lock you in the attic after 8pm?

boltonbonce wrote:My family have 'disappeared'.

boltonbonce wrote:

Natasha Whittam wrote:

boltonbonce wrote:Nat, I think I love you. Bring an overnight bag and some furry slippers.

Don't your family lock you in the attic after 8pm?

My family have 'disappeared'.

MartinBWFC wrote:

boltonbonce wrote:My family have 'disappeared'.

A-la Fred West?

boltonbonce wrote:Sorry, I was simply in the wrong house again. As you were.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Sluffy wrote:There's always a few clubs that for a time, defy the odds - Leicester winning the Premier League for instance

And that's why we go to football matches. Every fan dreams of being the next Leicester or Sheffield Utd.

When Bolton were languishing in the lower divisions in the 80's who would have thought we'd one day be in the upper reaches of the top division and playing the likes of Athletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.

It can happen, starting with next season when we storm League 2.

wanderlust wrote:I imagine that there were at least two scenarios being planned and after our last two results where we really did need to win to have any chance of survival, Plan B is to be rolled out starting with restructuring for L2  finances.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

Sluffy wrote:There's always a few clubs that for a time, defy the odds - Leicester winning the Premier League for instance

And that's why we go to football matches. Every fan dreams of being the next Leicester or Sheffield Utd.

When Bolton were languishing in the lower divisions in the 80's who would have thought we'd one day be in the upper reaches of the top division and playing the likes of Athletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.

It can happen, starting with next season when we storm League 2.