Relegation - would it really be such a bad thing?

[Ayatollah Hermione 13909]

I don't think we've got the mugs/laughing stock/gravy train stigma anymore and I'll bet we're not on any agents' bulk email list for their final payday/retirement fund clients either.

 

Good.

 

Aye, I remember when we went down that you, I and a few others made that same point about us leaving the gravy train at that very point and I knew it would mean an influx of players who were at least motivated by football rather than one big contract from a bunch of mugs. However, I always assumed this would mean promotion and mid-table consolidation, never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd have this scouting system in place with these sorts of players.

[TicTacWoe 0]

When we went down I thought we were properly fucked. What really surprised me was the new lease of life the players we already had on our books got afterwards, the likes of Nolan, Raylor, Jonas, Carroll, Shola, and others who mostly looked like absolute dogshit in the relegation season all got their acts together once we went down.

[manc-mag 1]

yeah I don't think anyone claims any kind of clairvoyance at all, just a few voices saying it would give us something resembling a blank canvas and from that point onward you reap what you sow. No great claims, just a desire to be rid of the detritus of what had clearly failed as a model. As it happens it's been massive (and completely unexpected), but by stripping it all back I think we've given ourselves the best opportunity to continue building on what's been done so far. Really hope we can take that chance too.