Luton

Ok, so they didn't make it to the final after losing tonight. But last time we were in the National League I remember they failed in the play offs three times before finally making it out in 2014.

The point is that in 8 years they have gone from conference football to a Championship play off. It shows what can be done.

I firmly believe that we have the potential, and the ambition, to achieve a very similar positive trajectory. It may take a few years, as it has with Luton, but I don't see any reason why we cant aspire to getting into the Championship again eventually.    

Luton learned from their mistakes, got back in the league and haven’t really looked back. We didn’t. We did the same things as last time and look where it got us.

Things could be different, will be different this time but has to be one step at a time. We’re in the playoffs at the first time of asking so anything is possible.

There are a handful of clubs we can use to create our model and when we get back in the league, we can build on those things and move forward, and ensure we never find ourselves in on league again…

If we're in a Championship play play off in 8 years time we need to build statues of Stockwood and Petit and carry them shoulder high through the town.

Probably easier to carry the guys themselves than lugging the statues around the town  

For anyone who thinks we can't mirror that level of progress...

Luton as a unitary authority has a population of approx. 220,000 and is less than 20 miles from the M25 and all the big city clubs within it.  It's on excellent train links to the capital, for example a trip from Luton station to the Emirates can be done comfortably in under an hour with pretty much constant frequency. West Ham, Chelsea, Tottenham can all be done in just over an hour.  

It's also less than 20 miles from Watford, a historically much larger club with a yo-yo like promotion/relegation from the top flight in recent years.  Also nearby are Stevenage, Cambridge and even Milton Keynes, all league clubs that are closer than our nearest teams in the top 6 tiers of the English game.    

North East Lincolnshire, with the borders that pretty much stop at Laceby to the south so not counting Caistor, Louth etc. (all areas we should consider as within our catchment area), has a population of approx 160,000.  So just over two-thirds.  Our nearest rival team is Scunthorpe, a 45 minute drive away for a side in the same division.   Next are Lincoln and Hull, both over an hour away driving.  Train routes are so poor that it's not even worth considering the time factor for either of the 3 aforementioned teams.  After that Doncaster, the Sheffield clubs, Leeds....you can add a 3 hour round journey if you want to go and watch any of those teams.

The fact we're isolated can be a hindrance but it can also be a benefit too.  Realistically we shouldn't lose much of our local fan base to other sides in the area.   I know we're going off topic a bit but the potential in this area is huge.  The biggest constraint to our progress will forever be Blundell Park, as Kenilworth Road will be for Luton.   I fully understand the 1878 approach that whilst the gates are rarely at capacity there's little point in investing too much in extra.  But the longer we're constrained, the longer we'll flounder.

Think yourselves lucky if your nearest competition for supporters is 45 mins away,I've never known us to be in a league above Forest and I'm sixty years old,for every Notts shirt you see on the high street you will see five Forest shirts and things will only get worst if Forest gain promotion to the Premier League such is the pulling power of the greed league,what teenager will want to watch NL clubs if they can wait a week and watch top six clubs instead,if Forest go up (and I've a horrible feeling about it) then reds will be strutting around like peacocks for at least the next 12 months

Quoted from Mariner Timsky

Probably easier to carry the guys themselves than lugging the statues around the town  

It's all in the punctuation  

Quoted from ncfc_chalky

Think yourselves lucky if your nearest competition for supporters is 45 mins away,I've never known us to be in a league above Forest and I'm sixty years old,for every Notts shirt you see on the high street you will see five Forest shirts and things will only get worst if Forest gain promotion to the Premier League such is the pulling power of the greed league,what teenager will want to watch NL clubs if they can wait a week and watch top six clubs instead, if Forest go up (and I've a horrible feeling about it) then reds will be strutting around like peacocks for at least the next 12 months

Things go in cycles....

I was a student in Nottingham and lived there for 10 years in total. I've watched Notts play in the top division (John Chiedozie et al) and was in the ground when Bayern obliterated Forest (7-0 I think) in what turned out to be their last ever game in Europe.

There will always be highs and always be lows.

Luton boss not happy with Huddesfield fans.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/spor.....r-AAXlUF9?li=AAnZ9Ug

Quoted from Les Brechin

Luton boss not happy with Huddesfield fans.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/spor.....r-AAXlUF9?li=AAnZ9Ug

"we won't complain.." he said, before going on to complain for another 2 paragraphs.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

If we're in a Championship play play off in 8 years time we need to build statues of Stockwood and Petit and carry them shoulder high through the town.

Don’t talk about statues in my city 🤦‍♂️

Quoted from Bristol Mariner

Don’t talk about statues in my city 🤦‍♂️

In my mind's eye I thought that they would be in Grimsby but I accept that I didn't expressly say that. I may not have given this plan enough thought.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

Things go in cycles....

I was a student in Nottingham and lived there for 10 years in total. I've watched Notts play in the top division (John Chiedozie et al) and was in the ground when Bayern obliterated Forest (7-0 I think) in what turned out to be their last ever game in Europe.

There will always be highs and always be lows.

Ahhhh... We had a great squad in those days and playing in the old Division One,what I wouldn't give to go back to those days,I'm pretty sure that Notts and Luton both got relegated from the top flight just as Div 1 became The Premiership

Quoted from Bristol Mariner

Don’t talk about statues in my city 🤦‍♂️

What happened to that statue that got chucked in river(?) Did it get fished out or saved?

Quoted from ncfc_chalky

What happened to that statue that got chucked in river(?) Did it get fished out or saved?

Yeah they fished it out and stuck it in a museum with a content warning sticker on it

Quoted from sonofmadeleymariner

Yeah they fished it out and stuck it in a museum with a content warning sticker on it

Without history, you cannot more forward.

Quoted from sonofmadeleymariner

Yeah they fished it out and stuck it in a museum with a content warning sticker on it

A content warning sticker,that's a bit much isn't it?

Quoted from The Yard Dog

Without history, you cannot more forward.

Salford City, Forest Green, etc. managed to

Surely Grimsby fans area lot worse then Huddersfield fans, just ask most constabulary’s.

Surely Grimsby fans area lot worse then Huddersfield fans, just ask most constabulary’s.

Quoted from ncfc_chalky

A content warning sticker,that's a bit much isn't it?

You'd of thought so but can't have peoples feeling hurt by the actions of people a few hundred years ago