At what point do we move on.

I bleed Tangerine

I bleed Tangerine

Well-known member
I'm probably opening a can of worms here, but at what point do we move on as a fan base from just being grateful that we have our club back?

I'll start this by saying that I think Sadler is one of the best owners in English football and I believe the club is being ran very well.

However when we have a poor performance and people are rightly annoyed by it, I keep seeing comments about how we should just be happy we have our club back and how they're happy that people are just moaning about football again. At what point does that stop being the case? We wanted to be a normal, well run club and we are that now. Is it not time to start acting like that and not wanting people to be 100% positive all of the time because we should just be thankful we have our club back.

Maybe I'm on my own in this, but I want to move on and be a normal football fan supporting the club I love. I am thankful to have my club back everyday, but that doesn't mean I can't be annoyed or upset when the manager makes a mistake or the players aren't playing well. The 2 aren't mutually exclusive. As long as what I say isn't abusive, then it doesn't make me ungrateful, I think that just finally makes me a normal football fan.

Like I said, maybe I'm on my own with this, but I'm starting to get frustrated by being told that I should just be grateful to have a club to support.
 
I bleed Tangerine said:
I'm probably opening a can of worms here, but at what point do we move on as a fan base from just being grateful that we have our club back?

I'll start this by saying that I think Sadler is one of the best owners in English football and I believe the club is being ran very well.

However when we have a poor performance and people are rightly annoyed by it, I keep seeing comments about how we should just be happy we have our club back and how they're happy that people are just moaning about football again. At what point does that stop being the case? We wanted to be a normal, well run club and we are that now. Is it not time to start acting like that and not wanting people to be 100% positive all of the time because we should just be thankful we have our club back.

Maybe I'm on my own in this, but I want to move on and be a normal football fan supporting the club I love. I am thankful to have my club back everyday, but that doesn't mean I can't be annoyed or upset when the manager makes a mistake or the players aren't playing well. The 2 aren't mutually exclusive. As long as what I say isn't abusive, then it doesn't make me ungrateful, I think that just finally makes me a normal football fan.

Like I said, maybe I'm on my own with this, but I'm starting to get frustrated by being told that I should just be grateful to have a club to support.
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Or don't take any notice of what people post on social media it's utter shite half the time and not the real world.

The only important thing is when your inside the ground supporting the team not some person sat behind a keyboard. 👍
 
We have no right to be in the top two divisons. It has to be earned.

Barring 8 years all I've seen is us in the lower leagues and our recent (40 years) history shows us that is our natural ish place. I dont know why we have fans that think we should be any higher when we've barely been higher in my lifetime.

There's nothing wrong with hope and dreaming but for people to say we SHOULD be out of this league is ridiculous.
 
If we were massively struggling and looking like we were gonna go down, then questions would rightly need to be asked as to whether the right decisions had been made from the very top down.

However, the way I see it (regardless of what went on under the O's) is that we have an owner who is pumping a ludicrous amount of money in to the club despite the most uncertain circumstances the sport has ever known. Everyone at the club is pulling in the same direction, plans are afoot to develop the training ground and apparently the East too. Come the summer there will be even more investment in the playing squad, and we currently sit mid table, with games in hand on a fair few of the teams above us. If (and it is a big if) we win those games, we'll be right in the thick of the players off chase.

There has been tonnes of totally valid criticism of the last couple of performances which no one is shouting down as being incorrect, most people agree with it and are discussing the issues in a balanced way, addressing what went wrong and what could bring about a positive change.

What is it that, other than performances which in no way whatsoever justify firing the manager, you are so unhappy about that you feel needs to be addressed? I'm genuinely intrigued.

If we were Sunderland or a similar club with a history of being in the top two divisions, then I could understand the angst at being midtable in League One regardless of whether or not we're currently at the start of a huge rebuilding project, but we aren't.
We're a club that surely most people can see has spent the best part of the last 40 years in the bottom 2 divisions. We're heading in the right direction, it isnt always going to be plain sailing. There will be poor performances and results, that doesn't mean all hell should break loose every time they happen.
 
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BlackpoolsFinest said:
If we were massively struggling and looking like we were gonna go down, then questions would rightly need to be asked as to whether the right decisions had been made from the very top down.

However, the way I see it (regardless of what went on under the O's) is that we have an owner who is pumping a ludicrous amount of money in to the club despite the most uncertain circumstances the sport has ever known. Everyone at the club is pulling in the same direction, plans are afoot to develop the training ground and apparently the East too. Come the summer there will be even more investment in the playing squad, and we currently sit mid table, with games in hand on a fair few of the teams above us. If (and it is a big if) we win those games, we'll be right in the thick if the players off chase.

There has been tonnes of totally valid criticism of the last couple of performances which no one is shouting down as being incorrect, most people agree with it and are discussing the issues in a balanced way, addressing what went wrong and what could bring about a positive change.

What is it that, other than performances which is no way whatsoever justify firing the manager, you are so unhappy about that you feel needs to be addressed? I'm genuinely intrigued.
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I've never even suggested sacking the manager and I've already stated that I'm happy with the way the club is being run. Yesterday I said that I didn't agree with Critchleys subs, only to be told by a minority and I will say that it's a minority that at least I can moan about just the football now. That's the attitude I'm talking about, you have to be 100% positive or you are ungrateful to the club and we should just be happy that we have our club back. When does that stop? When can we give valid criticism and not be told to just be happy we have our club back?
 
I bleed Tangerine said:
I've never even suggested sacking the manager and I've already stated that I'm happy with the way the club is being run. Yesterday I said that I didn't agree with Critchleys subs, only to be told by a minority and I will say that it's a minority that at least I can moan about just the football now. That's the attitude I'm talking about, you have to be 100% positive or you are ungrateful to the club and we should just be happy that we have our club back. When does that stop? When can we give valid criticism and not be told to just be happy we have our club back?
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Who is claiming that you have to be 100% happy about anything and everything? Is there anyone?
There has been loads of threads/posts discussing the performance yesterday and virtually all of them have been critical, and rightly so, it was a poor performance.
 
Aren’t you forgetting one thing. Oystons owned the club for a large chunk of the wilderness years. Only ambition was floating between the two lower divisions until Belekon came along.
From the birth of the club until fluke relegation in 1978 we were never out of the top 2 divisions.

Every club has hard times and it doesn’t seem 5 minutes ago when Burnley were fighting for their lives to stay in the league!
We are a Championship club and that is what Sadler is aiming for.
 
Lewis_Winthorpe said:
We have no right to be in the top two divisons. It has to be earned.

Barring 8 years all I've seen is us in the lower leagues and our recent (40 years) history shows us that is our natural ish place. I dont know why we have fans that think we should be any higher when we've barely been higher in my lifetime.

There's nothing wrong with hope and dreaming but for people to say we SHOULD be out of this league is ridiculous.
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A little different during my lifetime. My first game was in 1957 and until 1978 Pool had been in either the old 1st or 2nd Divisions. We've had some good times since promotions, visits to Wembley old and new, Millennium and the Prem season. Perhaps the older I've got the less tolerant I've become of watching tripe at league1 level where many of the managers, coaches and players underwhelm more often than not.
 
The biggest misconception you have made here is that we are a normal club. We aren't.
We still have a protest group going to the fans meeting with the club and having a bigger voice than 99% of fans. Not a fans group but a protest group.
Untill we move on from that then we won't ever be a normal club.
 
Look at it another way, if it was you pumping unfathomable sums of money into a broken club, knowing that your critics will always have 20/20 hindsight as a weapon to hit you with, as well as knowing that if it’s worth doing it will need to be built up over time (not chasing short term gratification and wasting millions) how long would you ask for??

For me, we move on when we can judge if the foundations laid and the process put in place has worked or not. Surely that’s around 3 years 🤷🏻‍♂️ After that, fair enough but still I’ll be grateful for the investment and the willingness to step up and try to improve our club.

Some people talk like an average season for Blackpool is to be in the top 6 all season, pushing for automatic promotion
 
We more than held our own in the Championship and above under shitty owners, so I’d say we have every right to aspire to and want to gain as quickly as possible our place back in the Championship. Man City spent years in the lower divisions, did their fans not expect a return at some point as being within their grasp? Too right they did and now look where they are.
 
Its a very good OP

I've always said that we have a large majority of fans who have an inferiority complex

Fans who are just happy to have a club

We had years of idiot fans not protesting against the Oyston crooks when it was obvious to anyone with half a brain cell what they were doing

I want the club to be the best that it can be, always have always will

And if that means demanding more then i will and i won't make any apologies for it
 
Perhaps like in most companies the CEO/Chairman should publish his Annual Performance Review and then we would know what he thinks and what he expects?
 
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I don't think we should just be grateful for ever more, and it's perfectly valid to criticise not just the manager, but also the club if it's warranted.
But I also think that there is a view that because the Oystons were holding us back, a change in owner would yield instant results and nothing would stop us, and I think it's led to an air of impatience and entitlement. It isn't that simple and never was going to be, and that realisation has been pretty slow for some I think. We need to move on from that state of mind too, and realise that sustained success is going to take time. I got the impression from some of the fans forum responses that that's what was being hinted at too by the board.
 
BFC_53 said:
I don't think we should just be grateful for ever more, and it's perfectly valid to criticise not just the manager, but also the club if it's warranted.
But I also think that there is a view that because the Oystons were holding us back, a change in owner would yield instant results and nothing would stop us, and I think it's led to an air of impatience and entitlement. It isn't that simple and never was going to be, and that realisation has been pretty slow for some I think. We need to move on from that state of mind too, and realise that sustained success is going to take time. I got the impression from some of the fans forum responses that that's what was being hinted at too by the board.
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And that is just the sort of attitude i mean

Simon Sadler has ambition, he wants to get out of this league as quick as he can

So should we
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Its a very good OP

I've always said that we have a large majority of fans who have an inferiority complex

Fans who are just happy to have a club

We had years of idiot fans not protesting against the Oyston crooks when it was obvious to anyone with half a brain cell what they were doing

I want the club to be the best that it can be, always have always will

And if that means demanding more then i will and i won't make any apologies for it
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Its the same everywhere but the worst are those who denigrate fellow fans and mock them,where they use forums-often acting as a moderator- to force their agenda.

Usually they're first in line for tickets too and 'expenses' by getting involved with fans groups, but of course this is only my experience with Leeds-you guys wouldnt have anyone around like that would you?
 
Lewis_Winthorpe said:
We have no right to be in the top two divisons. It has to be earned.

Barring 8 years all I've seen is us in the lower leagues and our recent (40 years) history shows us that is our natural ish place. I dont know why we have fans that think we should be any higher when we've barely been higher in my lifetime.

There's nothing wrong with hope and dreaming but for people to say we SHOULD be out of this league is ridiculous.
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Blackpool FC are 133 years old and were relegated to league 1( old division 3) in the late 70's for the first time.
Therefore BFC have spent the majority of their time in the top 2 divisions.
I wasn't lucky enough to see the great teams of the 50's and first went to Bloomfield Rd in the late 60's for the first 8 years of me supporting them they were in the 2nd division (championship).
I honestly don't think its unrealistic to see Blackpool back there and I think that's the minimum that Sadler will accept.
Its people accepting that weve been in the lower divisions for so long it's where we belong to be. Should Fleetwood be back in non league as that's where they've been for the majority of the last 40 years?
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
And that is just the sort of attitude i mean

Simon Sadler has ambition, he wants to get out of this league as quick as he can

So should we
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I think we all have ambition for the club. We'll soon find out how much patience SS has if we don't go up this season.
 
In direct answer to the OP, at this moment in time it is too early to stop being thankful about having a club to support, with a good and forward looking owner and board. We were very lucky that (a) Belokon decided to sue, (b) that Mr Justice Smith set the sum owed to Valerie at such a high level and (c) that Simon Sadler took an interest and got involved. Many of us spoke about being willing to go down to non-league in order to shake off the Os. That did not have to happen and, fortunately, here we are competing in League One having got rid of them.
Now, as for getting out of League One in the right direction, it's not easy. If it were, Portsmouth, Sunderland and Ipswich - with their resources - would have done it. I'm afraid the only way up is with a good squad & good coaches and those gelling within a good infrastructure. The latter can be delivered by the owner and it is starting to be. The footballing side has some way to go but let's be positive that we're going to get there.
 
Lewis_Winthorpe said:
We have no right to be in the top two divisons. It has to be earned.

Barring 8 years all I've seen is us in the lower leagues and our recent (40 years) history shows us that is our natural ish place. I dont know why we have fans that think we should be any higher when we've barely been higher in my lifetime.

There's nothing wrong with hope and dreaming but for people to say we SHOULD be out of this league is ridiculous.
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Can't find any posts where people have said we should be out of this league. Or did you make that bit up?

All of us want out of this league, but nobody demanded or expected it. Oh and the last 30 odd years were under the Oyston's - not because we are a small tinpot club. Think bigger.
 
We go again on Tuesday evening, we get behind the team and owner. I was critical of the Manager on Saturday,
but I fully believe we can get 3pts against MKD's. Critchley will set-up for a good result that I'm sure.

Win Loose or draw we follow the 'Pool'
 
I bleed Tangerine said:
I've never even suggested sacking the manager and I've already stated that I'm happy with the way the club is being run. Yesterday I said that I didn't agree with Critchleys subs, only to be told by a minority and I will say that it's a minority that at least I can moan about just the football now. That's the attitude I'm talking about, you have to be 100% positive or you are ungrateful to the club and we should just be happy that we have our club back. When does that stop? When can we give valid criticism and not be told to just be happy we have our club back?
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The people who say you cannot criticize and still be a proper fan are just as ridiculous as the people who want the manager sacked every time we don't win!
Avoid the extremes and valid criticism is always 100% acceptable, it's a huge part of being a football supporter.
 
Beauty of this new site is you can now ignore the extremes at either end of the spectrum and that way you get a much more interesting and balanced debate .
Surprisingly not an many as you think .Last 2 games in particular have seen some really constructive and well thought out argument from both sides.
 
Wizzerboy said:
Blackpool FC are 133 years old and were relegated to league 1( old division 3) in the late 70's for the first time.
Therefore BFC have spent the majority of their time in the top 2 divisions.
I wasn't lucky enough to see the great teams of the 50's and first went to Bloomfield Rd in the late 60's for the first 8 years of me supporting them they were in the 2nd division (championship).
I honestly don't think its unrealistic to see Blackpool back there and I think that's the minimum that Sadler will accept.
Its people accepting that weve been in the lower divisions for so long it's where we belong to be. Should Fleetwood be back in non league as that's where they've been for the majority of the last 40 years?
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I knew there would be one.

As I stated in my lifetime. I am well aware we have spent most of our history as a second tier club. The abolished maximum wage hurt clubs like ours hard. Weve hardly recovered from it barring a few years in the late 00's/early 10's.

I'd love to be higher but reality shows we've hardly been anywhere since the late 70's.

And regarding Fleetwood, yes they should go back to non-league. Shit fans, shit ground (smiley thingy)
 
clappers said:
We more than held our own in the Championship and above under shitty owners, so I’d say we have every right to aspire to and want to gain as quickly as possible our place back in the Championship. Man City spent years in the lower divisions, did their fans not expect a return at some point as being within their grasp? Too right they did and now look where they are.
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The one thing amazes me looking back with the owners we had how successful on the pitch we were so I can only imagine potentially with an owner like Sadler what we will be capable of in the coming years 🍊
 
LimerickTangerine said:
The one thing amazes me looking back with the owners we had how successful on the pitch we were so I can only imagine potentially with an owner like Sadler what we will be capable of in the coming years 🍊
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Exactly, which makes me wonder about the mindset that views our natural level is where we are right now.
 
I think a lot of us (i.e. largely 40 to 80 somethings with the bulk in the 45-65 area) have seen multiple seasons of BFC scudding round the lower leagues - give or take the odd adventure. There's therefore bound to be a bit of a nostalgic affection or at least affinity for that image of us as a club (Barnet away anyone?). As a few have already pointed out, for most of our long and illustrious history we've been much, much better than that. I'd personally love us to be back in the Championship and looking ambitiously upwards, whilst not forgetting what we're about..... and still hankering a bit for the days when Wagon Wheels were a respectable size and you had to piss against a wall at half time.
 
I've only been a fan for 20 years, experiencing my first game in 2001/02, so started off in league one, but have felt that looking at the fanbase size, and the historical significance of the club we should comfortably be a Championship side.
 
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