Caldwell out?

[BigBanker]

Surely the club have been totally vindicated in the decision not to sack him? We don't need to wait until next season, as we already know it was the right decision. Yes, most other clubs would have, but we didn't.

100% vindicated.

 

[Grecian Max]

ut equally important is the demographics, who live in the area and are they typical football goers? If there has been population growth, who has moved in? Are they likely to be football fans and in what proportion. Whilst there are millions of middle class people who like football and attend matches, they are still less likely than working class people to do so based on my experience. From what I've seen, admittedly in Devons more rural areas, the vast majority of incomers, have been middle class. So Just because people have move to Exeter or its catchment area, there's no way of finding a proportional increase likely on those attending SJP.

I think part you're probably a bit off tbh, football spectating in 2024 is very much a middle class thing... it's an expensive hobby and when I look around me in the gilded Stanno stand there's a lot of people in nice jackets who wouldn't look out of place at the Chiefs

That's before you get to the question about what is middle and working class these days anyway, lots of blurred lines here in the UK now

I'd argue the demographics at the club is rapidly changing and is including a lot more women too

We're experiencing our best gates since the mid-60s which is thanks to a number of things - Covid bounce, population growth, much better facilities, quality of football in L1 etc etc

This city should have a League 1 team with a League 1 budget, if the ownership is achieving that - in my eyes that's great

If we can't put together a competitive budget and are second bottom in the third tier then I think we aren't reaching our potential and questions should be asked

I don't believe we are bottom 2 anyway so this likely a pointless conversation - it's possible but I don't think it is. Hawker has said as much.

So Caldwell has done well with his budget irregardless and Taggy and him can stop quoting something that isn't true

 

[BigBanker]

I don't think it matters if the budget is 23rd largest or 16th largest or whatever in the league does it?

What matters most is a) what we do with it b) are we able to supplement it sufficiently with home-grown players and c) whether or not the club remains sustainable.

On point a) you've got to say GC has played a blinder in the main. To bring in players of the quality of Mitchell, Aitchison, Aimson, Cole, Carroll, Jules on permanent and Sinisalo, Ryan Woods and Rankine on loans within our meagre budget is impressive. Added to that, the younger players like Harper and Alli are promising. Obviously there's been some mis-steps along the way but that's to be expected.

On point b) we're still producing young players capable of playing League One football. We've had numerous discussions here about a perceived reduction recently but with Diabate, Cox, Richards, Borges and maybe a couple more waiting in the wings I think academy-produced players still enable GC to allocate a bigger percentage of playing budget to attracting external players than he would otherwise

Finally, on point c) in comparison to almost our entire history we're better placed than ever to be flexible with budgets (for example spend a little more if we have less academy products). This, for me is where the extra expectation comes from. You only have to look at those figures Kieran Maguire issued - yes there are many clubs in this league that have a bigger budget than us, but not many seem to have a long-term vision or stability. On this, retaining GC was clearly a good decision and I was wrong in wanting him gone and the board deserves huge credit for sticking to their principles. But I still think we can finish higher in this league.

Good post.

The budget does matter, but it isn’t the sole factor. The manager does matter, but it isn’t the sole factor. The academy, board, training facilities, continuity, back room staff etc all matter.

Our smaller budget is offset by punching over our weight in all those other areas, IMO. In December I thought we were under indexing on the manager front - I was wrong.

 

[denzel]

I think part you're probably a bit off tbh, football spectating in 2024 is very much a middle class thing... it's an expensive hobby and when I look around me in the gilded Stanno stand there's a lot of people in nice jackets who wouldn't look out of place at the Chiefs

According to some on here it's too cheap...

 

[STURTZ]

It is too cheap! There again we are never going to make enough money at SJP to progress beyond league 1 stability. Only a new ( bigger) ground would give us that opportunity.
Nevermind I'm quite happy as an established league 1 club with no real prospects of going any further.

 

[Bridgy 81]

Big fan of posts like this

Exeter is the 10th fastest growing city in the country over the last 10 years and we should be taking advantage of that as well as adapting to a new normal (hopefully) where our core fanbase is permanently raised

View attachment 15413

Reading appears twice in the chart you’ve presented, increasing in size over the past 10 years by 13.3% and 8.2% respectively.
As there aren’t two Readings to my knowledge I’m not sure how much store to put in this graphic.

 

[SaintJames]

It is too cheap! There again we are never going to make enough money at SJP to progress beyond league 1 stability. Only a new ( bigger) ground would give us that opportunity.
Nevermind I'm quite happy as an established league 1 club with no real prospects of going any further.

Therefore, to get into the Championship season tickets should be a snip at around five thousand a pop

 

[sign of the chimes]

Reading appears twice in the chart you’ve presented, increasing in size over the past 10 years by 13.3% and 8.2% respectively.
As there aren’t two Readings to my knowledge I’m not sure how much store to put in this graphic.

Beyond the realms of fantasy to suggest that the second line represents a five (percentage) point reduction from the EFL? Perhaps I'm Reading too much in to it.

 

[Spoonz Red E]

There's a place called Lyne in Surrey and also a place called Lyne in Scotland.
Which leaves the opportunity for both Reading and Reading-between-the-Lynes.

 

[Grecian Max]

Reading appears twice in the chart you’ve presented, increasing in size over the past 10 years by 13.3% and 8.2% respectively.
As there aren’t two Readings to my knowledge I’m not sure how much store to put in this graphic.

The stat of us being 10th fastest is from the 2021 census, I’d quickly Googled it again and got the wrong link to visualise it buts factually correct