I don't understand why he's going on about it anyway, what relevance has it to the weekends game.

how is he covering his own back? He says its now unlikely for a team to get back to back promotions from league 2 to the championship.

Seems as though we have been in league 1 for 3 seasons then he isnt referring to us at all.

I think I am reading this quote different to you then "You can write down the top eight teams at the start of the season and not have anybody missing out of those eight clubs up there"

I know for a FACT Tubby wouldnt have had us in that top eight list, my question is why?

All very well, except that one of the teams he tipped to do well this season was Wycombe!

Doncaster 3 promotions in 5 years. Hull maybe about the same time frame (not sure) ... no one can run up the leagues... must be true this dimwit said so.

That's just bollocks. We've got four teams in this league that command 20,000+ gates at home. We've got another four that regularly get 10,000+. We get sub-4000.

I mean you really don't have to be a mathematician to see where he's coming from. Yes, we can give them a game, and we do, but no-one is saying 'they get big crowds lads, roll over and die.'

You don't but people aren't thick and realise that without it being said, you just don't want hear it from your from the manager. If football was as black and white as that you could just print the league table in August and save everyone the hassle and money.

It does sound defeatist no matter how true it is, and it's extremely uninspiring. No wonder the gates are as low.

Lets just hope the grand plan is to replace him as soon as this season is over.

If it isn't there'll be a lot of pissed off poolies not buying season tickets

Seriously? I don't see the squad as being anything better than a midtable one.

there is absolutely no reason why we should be throwing in the towel before the season starts.

we have seen in the past that there is the potential for gates of between 5000 - 6000 at the vic if the team is playing well in this division, and fans can see that there is the potential for promotion.

................//.....................better young players on loan ? sir ken is meant to have loads of mates at newcastle, how come we rarely see their players on loan at the vic?

This is part of the reason why I don't accept the whole 'it's better than when Dave Mcreery was manager' bollox.

I agree 100% but you almost have to qualify any moan about the current state of the club as you will always get someone responding with the "We are far better now than we were under Houchen" guff.

People can moan that we are unlikely to move higher up the table with such low crowds but its not the crowds that are the major factor, its the investment from IOR. They are clearly willing to back Turner and make a loss. The crowd argument while relevant, doesnt prevent a decent position in this division.

there is absolutely no reason why we should be throwing in the towel before the season starts.

we have seen in the past that there is the potential for gates of between 5000 - 6000 at the vic if the team is playing well in this division, and fans can see that there is the potential for promotion.

clubs like doncaster, blackpool, and in particular scunthorpe have come out of this league on similar gates. while both donny and blackpool have pushed on in the championship and got gates over 8000, scunny are still only averaging 6400.

if pools were operating in the championship and had the facility to accomodate more away fans, then im sure our gates would be a lot higher, as clubs like newcastle, boro, sheff wed, sheff utd, forest, derby, barnsley, preston, donny etc would have brought many more away supporters than the likes of yeovil, gillingham, wycombe, brentford, orient, millwall etc.

colchesters attendance this season averages 5600, bristol rovers are averaging 6700. they are part of the elite 8 turner is on about. brighton are getting an average of 6300. none of these clubs could be remotely classed as big or wealthy. swindons average attendance over the last 4 seasons has been 5800, 5900, 7400 and 7100 and they are second in the league ffs.

if all of these " not huge " clubs can compete and be successful, then why cant pools do it ? if the manager says we cant be successful then is it any wonder gates are falling ?

at the moment the club seems to be unable to replicate what other only slightly bigger clubs are doing because :

a ) we are tactically naive.
b) the team has no self belief. we go to big grounds and take the lead while playing well. the opposition scores, and then we crumble. we are beating ourselves a lot of the time because panic sets in e.g. southampton away.
c) we dont have a successful youth policy. a lot of other clubs are bringing young players through the system or signing young players and developing them. at pools promising young players seem to go backwards in terms of their development, not forwards. there has hardly been a more depressing sight all season than that of ritchie jones, alan power and johnny rowell, 3 players with bags of ability, being unable to oust either sweeney or humphreys, less technically gifted players, from a starting role in the centre of midfield
d ) we dont use the loan system well. turner has said he doesnt like it, but for the second season running an exciting player has come in on loan and scored the goals that kept us up. Swindon have Simon Ferry, Danny Ward, Matt Ritchie, Stephen Darby and Frank Nouble on loan, players who have helped them to second in the league. every other team in the division seems to use the loan system effectively. we seem to use it as a last resort. with big clubs in the area why are we not getting their better young players on loan ? sir ken is meant to have loads of mates at newcastle, how come we rarely see their players on loan at the vic?

Looks like little Ross County are going to beat big club Celtic in the Scottish Cup. Who would have predicted that eh?