So by your logic would you advise Bury to purchase Old Trafford if it became available?
If a housing estate is being built around us then we have no reason to move, especially not with the Roberts money paying off our current debt.
You dont upsize when you are nowhere near utilising the facility that you already have. That is just plain madness.
We are a Unibond Leage Division 1 club with an average gate circa 200. When we were walking the league above it was only approx 400 - 500.
We have to be realistic about our place in the grand scheme of things. Nantwich are currently a bigger club than us, as are Fleetwood.
We cant praise Mark for only allowing us to work within our means with one breath, but then with the next start talking about moving to a stadium that we couldnt run - we simply do not have the bodies or the experise to do so.
Leeds, Southampton, Bradford, Swindon, Boston, Scarborough, Halifax, Portmouth…VICS!!! Teams who try to punch above their weight soon come crashing back down to earth. For further reference, please see the little known tale of Witton Albion FC, circa 1990 - 1996.
The problem could be that if we don’t get out of the way of the new housing development, then the whole initiative could fail, and the council could re-look at the Winnington Urban village, which I can assure is still not buried.
Dear Rabbit,
It is a great article but it should be pointed out that the Vics fans in “Valhalla” must have loved seeing their club take on Charlton Athletic etc. The only problem is their club is now likely to follow these ex supporters into “Valhalla”!!
I have been a Wittoner for over sixty years, I have always started every season with great hopes for the team and have got used to those hopes failing to become reality. I live in hopes now and will continue to do so until the day I die, as will all real Wittoners,it’s what we do.
Eli, I own very few shares, my son Andrew has a few hundred, bought by me for Christmas one year, but the few I do won I have donated back to the club. I have never loaned the club any money expecting it to be returned, I have simply given the club any money I could sensibly afford, as have many other true Wittoners. I don’t want praise, nor I am sure, do any of the other people who have done the same. I do it because win lose or draw Witton are MY football team. (PS I still think Rugby Union is a better game!!)
WHS
The best thing for that stadium over there would be for it to make way for more of that chaps document storage warehouses (simple idea that, wish i’d have thought of it!) It’s big enough for a football league club, well it would be if it was finished off! When vics cup games were televised with the large gates they had the ends looked pathetic-the ends ar W.P are better.
Drive over there, look for the stadium, you think “well theres a stand over there which could be a football ground, but I can’t see it!” ITS NO GOOD, not for vics, not for us, not for FCUM, not for Stockport!!
Seem to remenber an ex-chairman saying that it was the clubs ambition to run without having to depend on volunteers. At the moment without the volunteers we would not be operating but surely the ambition still remains so we must explore every avenue to try and achieve this ambition ?
This has been an excellent thread, exploring the avenues of where our future lies. I admire the views of Robbo and Rabbit. With good exploration, hopefully we will choose the right path for our future. It is only through discussions like these we will find the right path to take, and make our club an exciting place to be part of.
I just hope that what ever decisions are made, it makes our club an exciting place to be involved in, rather than a club that is just surviving.
I agree it has been a great thread but I think it has run its course now don’t you agree? We can do nothing until the board come up with their ideas and I am sure they have taken what has been said on here on board, time for a new thread, for instance, will Vics start the new season at all?
WHS.
Rabbits post spot on. Robbos cant say I agree at all. Its that kind of attitude of be happy ‘just surviving’ and a lack of ambition that drives supporters away Im afraid and thus has caused Witton to slip further down the footballing ladder.
Rabbits right you need to take a few risks now. Everyones been saying Vics are going to be extinct next season for the last 2 or 3 years but say what you like they currently still exist and no matter what happens have the memory of beating charlton and how special that was in their minds forever, no matter what happens to the club.
Take a few risks and maybe Witton can have some of them moments that you’ll remember forever OR just carry on surviving and complaining on this forum about not getting promoted and watching witton each week will just become mundane. It seems because its witton albion people thought last year that its their right to just go straight back up last year. But its not. Its no wonder Gary didnt take the team up- half the fans were on his back slagging him off all season, the players and Gary himself are hardly going to be motivated by that after reading some of the comments on here are they?
How can Witton hope to achieve bigger and better things if the supporters dont believe in them to do so? If their happy just surviving?
Be Positive next season, look at it as a new start, then maybe you will see more supporters coming back. More supporters= more money= more success. Believe in the team and the manager that they can go up because they deserve to over the course of the season.
Like rabbit says witton could well be playing nobodys in 10 years or take a few risks and in 10 years, well, look at Dagenham and Redbridge. You never know
Personally I would prefer us to still exist in 10 years time than risk all and go defunct. Football is not ALL about winning, it is about the love of your club, the camaraderie between supporters and the knowledge that you are part of its history. Buying success with other people’s money is not what I want to see our club doing, Vics stole their success but now they are paying an awful price, I don’t want the same for us.
WHS.
All football leage clubs in recent memory, all at a similar level to us now. We may have stood still, but somehow we seem to have caught some bigger clubs up by ‘just surviving’.
And we don’t have ‘2004 Limited’ after our name either.
Grays, Farsley Celtic, Kings Lynn, Leeds, Pompey, Newcastle Blue Star…the list goes on of clubs who “took risks” and ended up in the sh*t! We did it in the “glory days” and were very lucky to survive, we still have barely affordable debt, but we are surviving and surely deserve to rise up (sometime, please, with the new management team and some returning wittoners COME ON ALBION!!!)
I have little doubt that our club will be successful again; not thanks to money “Stolen” from suppliers etc but on the backs of loyal supporters like you lot. We have a good ground, a good chairman and board and I believe we now have a good manager, all we now need is good luck. Whether we like it or not ALL football clubs have a level that they can consistantly thrive in, when they go above that level they usually end up in trouble. Our support is about 250, we can push that up to 500 if we have a great season, 300 if it is a good one. We have to pay wages to match those gates or go bust. As the Charles Dickens character Mr Mcawber said, “Income £20, expenditure 19 shillings and sixpence, result, happiness. Income £20, expenditure £20 and sixpence, result misery.”
WHS.
