I know petitions are pretty lame, but...

[Sicklee Sausage Roll 0]

Petitions are pretty lame, as risible as those text messages they have in the Chronic-al. For all we know, the people signing/sending them might never have been to a game in their life. As a way of getting the club's attention they haven't got any credibility whatsoever.

 

A bandwagon of half-baked ideas, jumped on by geeks on the internet. Who are these people to Shepherd and Hall? As long as the season tickets are being sold, and the shirts are being shifted, they can confidently think that these people don't matter at all. For all they know, these disgruntled fans aren't the same people who fill the ground and buy the merchandise.

 

To get their attention, the fans have to prove their financial value to the club. A list of nobodies from cyberspace means nothing, but a list of names and season ticket numbers, would signify potential lost revenue for the powers that be.

 

If we collected only a thousand fans' names who would threatened to abstain from SJP, it could potentially be half a million quid down the suwannee for our porcine friend Frederick. That would surely prick his ears up.

 

In the past, Fat Fred could rest on his laurels and speak smugly about his waiting list. What does it matter if a few unhappy punters toss in their tickets at the end of May; they'll be another mug who'll gratefully take their place.

 

Well, to those who dawdled on their renewals, and received a letter giving them another chance to claim their seat; and to many of us who have seen the club suffer the indignity of broadcasting a TV ad begging people to come to SJP, will have finally seen the wizard behind the curtain. Season tickets are not like gold dust, and waiting lists are written on post-it notes rather than kept on databases so large that NASA is employed to keep record of them. Now we know, if you don't renew, Mr Shepherd will be sweating. Well, sweating a bit more than he does most of the time.

 

So what would be the point of this list of names, what demands would be made?

Well that would be up to the people who put their season tickets where their mouth is.

 

My personal gripe would be the fact that we should have been looking to replace Shearer about two years ago. We're now a matter of days away from a new season with a talisman who has seen better days and two 'products' of our youth development that wouldn't get into the reserve teams of any of the top five.

 

We've got Elliott, a gamble of a loan signing and some freebie nobody making up a big chunk of our defence. Boumsong is all on his own, and promising youngsters such as Taylor and Ramage will be unfairly thrown into the deep end before they have time to properly develop.

 

We're left with a threadbare squad that's an injury crisis away from relegation, because we can't add to the squad without stripping as many assets as we can beforehand.

 

Shearer is hanging his boots up, Jenas wants away and Given will end up going by the way things are going. All we will be left with is Dyer on the treatment table earning 4 million a year.

 

£500 of your money pissed up the wall because the men who pull the strings have a vested interest in keeping the profits high, so their dividends pay out more.

 

Do something by January, Shepherd, or the money gets it.

Edited August 9, 2005 by Sicklee Sausage Roll

[Matt 0]

I don't think it's needed yet.

 

When the plc results and dividends are announced and we're stumbling through the season, I suspect an insurrection is not out of the question.