Lincoln City

Its only like Hull. Its not that long ago, that we wouldn't have paid any attention to them from our lofty position.

Scunthorpe who have monumentally copulated up have still had much higher highs than we have in the last 15 years.

Lincoln have surpassed us also

Hull too (although inevitable I suppose given how resource centric football has become)

GTFC sort of reminds me a little of Britain since the Great War - its been managed terminal decline for decades, with interludes of improvement and/or success

Fingers crossed our luck finally changes and we finally dust ourselves off and can start pushing on.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Capacity 2k higher, no restricted views. Scope for expansion.

Marginally better then which is expected I suppose given they have had a good few years. Its not a huge gulf though, is it?

I take the view that all our best years are ahead of us, including stadium improvements to look forward to at some stage. Nothing stays the same forever.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Marginally better then which is expected I suppose given they have had a good few years. Its not a huge gulf though, is it?

I take the view that all our best years are ahead of us, including stadium improvements to look forward to at some stage. Nothing stays the same forever.

I think the ground improvements are being slightly under estimated.

500k on the pitch which is now very good, New digital advertising around the entire pitch, new changing rooms, Legends lounge, all executive boxes refurbished and a 2.6 million new Stacey west stand/complex, 600k on the irrigation system for the whole ground, which will eventually allow the stand opposite the co-op stand to be replaced - So the ground has undergone quite a lot if changes.

Add to that a new training ground, and a new 4G pitch outside the ground then things are definitely looking up - Just a shame on the pitch is a real struggle at the moment.

On the jealousy point, no argument.

I'm jealous of the fact that Lincoln have had a vision, success and investment for the last 7 years. 5 years more than we have.  I'm jealous of the fact that they took full advantage of their success in the Conference and cup run, used the attention to gain investment and went from strength to strength.  Whereas we, a year ahead of them, did intercourse all other than buy an extra porta-cabin and replaced the core of our promotion winning side with rejects from relegated York City.

But then I'm also jealous of the likes of Rotherham in the Championship who were a far smaller fish than Town as I was growing up.  Even in League One the likes of Peterborough, Oxford, flipping Stevenage for gods sake, Orient, Cambridge, Northampton, Shrewsbury, Vale, Wycombe, Burton, Exeter, Cheltenham, Fleetwood and Carlisle are all clubs that historically we lorded it over.  

Up as far as the Prem, Man City were a bit of an anomoly at our level and Newcastle were always a proper sleeping giant.  But seeing Brighton, Bournemouth, Fulham, Brentford and Burnley at that level when it only feels like I blinked since we were comfortably better than them brings home the reality of how we've fallen behind.

Looking at the League Two table there's not many in there in what I class as the same position as us.  excrement for the majority of modern history but spin it back a few decades and we were far, far better.  Tranmere, Swindon, Notts County....Stockport and Donny both had dabbles in the second tier.  Of course AFC Wimbledon but their journey is completely different.

What went wrong?  In the 1990's we could and should have kicked on big time.  I've long said that Buckley team around 1993 was a player away from reaching the Premier League.  Dave Beasant's loan signing showed us what a marquee signing would have done for us and I firmly believe if we somehow managed to hold onto him we go up that year, the rest of the side was just perfect.  The backline was solid with a great blend of youth and experience.  The midfield was as good as it ever was, the likes of Child and Gilbert were at their peak, firepower wasn't a problem either with Super Clive and Groves banging them in, maybe needed someone else to help out.

2 or 3 years later under Laws I think we were close again.  End of November we're a point off the top spot before it spectacularly went to excrement, even before Ivanogate. But the bulk of that season was without Mendonca.  All if's and but's but had he not spent the majority of the season out, I think that was our best chance of getting into the top flight.

98/99 was our best recent finish but I never felt we were quite good enough.  Our football was figured out by a lot of sides and were far too reliant on Groves' goals.

It might only have been a Swindon, Barnsley or Bradford spell in the top flight but I can't ever imagine us getting close to that again, which is a really sad reflection on the modern game.  Looking again at our league table I can't see anyone getting a sniff, not even Wrexham or Stockport.  The amount of investment needed to even survive in the Championship is immense, at the top end of it...nah.

In League One you've got Derby pulling 25,000 for home games, Bolton and Portsmouth high teens and then there's a big drop off to Charlton, Reading et al.  The Championship has some monster outfits in Leeds, Sunderland....14 sides averaging more than 20,000 at home games but history tells us that's not enough.  Without significant money pumped in and with even more debt added to their balance sheets, it won't be enough.

If I'm honest I don't think I would want us to be a Bournemouth with that success basically bankrolled.  Even Brighton, for all the praise they get have done it all with a huge investment from a benefactor.  It's not likely we'll ever know what it feels like but I do wonder if it feels a bit tainted.  

Quoted from NorfolkImp

Just the 10,064 here today, 1995 was the last time you achieved an attendance of this size, so your absolute delusion at being the Premier Club in the Shire is off the scale sir.

Just the 8661 there tonight with only 1000 tickets given to the away team which were nearly all sold meaning there were 1600 more empty seats in the home end than three days ago. And it was kids in for a quid too. Flakiest support in the FL and dropping like a stone in the league.

Quoted from mariner91

Just the 8661 there tonight with only 1000 tickets given to the away team which were nearly all sold meaning there were 1600 more empty seats in the home end than three days ago. And it was kids in for a quid too. Flakiest support in the FL and dropping like a stone in the league.

Norfolk Imp demanding a return from the Cowleys on Vital, all makes for a very enjoyable trip down the pub tomorrow seeing all the miserable faces 😀😀

Quoted from diehardmariner

On the jealousy point, no argument.

I'm jealous of the fact that Lincoln have had a vision, success and investment for the last 7 years. 5 years more than we have.  I'm jealous of the fact that they took full advantage of their success in the Conference and cup run, used the attention to gain investment and went from strength to strength.  Whereas we, a year ahead of them, did intercourse all other than buy an extra porta-cabin and replaced the core of our promotion winning side with rejects from relegated York City.

But then I'm also jealous of the likes of Rotherham in the Championship who were a far smaller fish than Town as I was growing up.  Even in League One the likes of Peterborough, Oxford, flipping Stevenage for gods sake, Orient, Cambridge, Northampton, Shrewsbury, Vale, Wycombe, Burton, Exeter, Cheltenham, Fleetwood and Carlisle are all clubs that historically we lorded it over.  

Up as far as the Prem, Man City were a bit of an anomoly at our level and Newcastle were always a proper sleeping giant.  But seeing Brighton, Bournemouth, Fulham, Brentford and Burnley at that level when it only feels like I blinked since we were comfortably better than them brings home the reality of how we've fallen behind.

Looking at the League Two table there's not many in there in what I class as the same position as us.  excrement for the majority of modern history but spin it back a few decades and we were far, far better.  Tranmere, Swindon, Notts County....Stockport and Donny both had dabbles in the second tier.  Of course AFC Wimbledon but their journey is completely different.

What went wrong?  In the 1990's we could and should have kicked on big time.  I've long said that Buckley team around 1993 was a player away from reaching the Premier League.  Dave Beasant's loan signing showed us what a marquee signing would have done for us and I firmly believe if we somehow managed to hold onto him we go up that year, the rest of the side was just perfect.  The backline was solid with a great blend of youth and experience.  The midfield was as good as it ever was, the likes of Child and Gilbert were at their peak, firepower wasn't a problem either with Super Clive and Groves banging them in, maybe needed someone else to help out.

2 or 3 years later under Laws I think we were close again.  End of November we're a point off the top spot before it spectacularly went to excrement, even before Ivanogate. But the bulk of that season was without Mendonca.  All if's and but's but had he not spent the majority of the season out, I think that was our best chance of getting into the top flight.

98/99 was our best recent finish but I never felt we were quite good enough.  Our football was figured out by a lot of sides and were far too reliant on Groves' goals.

It might only have been a Swindon, Barnsley or Bradford spell in the top flight but I can't ever imagine us getting close to that again, which is a really sad reflection on the modern game.  Looking again at our league table I can't see anyone getting a sniff, not even Wrexham or Stockport.  The amount of investment needed to even survive in the Championship is immense, at the top end of it...nah.

In League One you've got Derby pulling 25,000 for home games, Bolton and Portsmouth high teens and then there's a big drop off to Charlton, Reading et al.  The Championship has some monster outfits in Leeds, Sunderland....14 sides averaging more than 20,000 at home games but history tells us that's not enough.  Without significant money pumped in and with even more debt added to their balance sheets, it won't be enough.

If I'm honest I don't think I would want us to be a Bournemouth with that success basically bankrolled.  Even Brighton, for all the praise they get have done it all with a huge investment from a benefactor.  It's not likely we'll ever know what it feels like but I do wonder if it feels a bit tainted.  

TBH you could go back to 81 when we should have kicked on more - a fantastic team of homegrown players but with the chance of further investment wasted. The Findus was a cheapskate replacement for the Barratt and wasn’t there an issue about the Board refusing to issue more share capital back then? In the 90s we waited right to the last minute to work out a plan for all seater and again it was the cheapest possible solution. This and then the Fenty years is why so many clubs have overtaken us.

Quoted from mariner91

And don't get me started on NorfolkImp. A meltdown befitting a toddler when you were shite saying he's never going again, not seen on here for years until you started getting some success and these days is posting on our forum approximately 5 minutes after full time to boast about an attendance after a game in which you were comprehensively outplayed. Probably following Lincoln a bit more this season as City's title challenge seems to have stalled. Literally one of the saddest bell-ends I've ever come across online or in real life and would be worthy of pity if he wasn't such a tw@t.

Comedy Gold …. I haven’t laughed as much since I saw your result at full-time. I was so tempted to come on 5 minutes later, but didn’t want to appear cruel.

Quoted from NorfolkImp

Comedy Gold …. I haven’t laughed as much since I saw your result at full-time. I was so tempted to come on 5 minutes later, but didn’t want to appear cruel.

You finished w@nking for the night then?

Quoted from NorfolkImp

Comedy Gold …. I haven’t laughed as much since I saw your result at full-time. I was so tempted to come on 5 minutes later, but didn’t want to appear cruel.

Here he is, the world's saddest man ladies and gentlemen. Imagine having such an empty and pathetic life that you've posted almost 3000 times on a rival team's forum.