Matt Taylor - sacked by Rotherham & employed by Bristol Rovers

[Martin Lawrence]

I think the club has issues at this level of football more fundamental than who they choose to be our manager at any given time.
For various reasons we struggle to compete in third tier football, always have done and probably always will unless something fundamental changes.
If we bin GC and manage to stay up this season, it’s only a matter of time before footballing reality kicks in and we end up back where we came from.

I've heard this from others too Tavy. I don't entirely subscribe to it, as I do think we can keep improving and over time, establish ourselves. However, only a fool would completely ignore history.

 

[SaintJames]

I think the club has issues at this level of football more fundamental than who they choose to be our manager at any given time.
For various reasons we struggle to compete in third tier football, always have done and probably always will unless something fundamental changes.
If we bin GC and manage to stay up this season, it’s only a matter of time before footballing reality kicks in and we end up back where we came from.

i think we have changed and so has the city itself which used to be a small market town place but is now a thriving expanding city attracting investment. similarly the fans have showed there is an appetite to support a L1 club whereas that wasn't previously the case. wE can support a sustrainable l1 club in my opinion

 

[Max Payne 2]

My folks back in the UK were commenting on how fast Exeter is expanding, with a 20,000 - house new development and the corridor to Topsham filling up with houses. The potential now and in the future seems to be there. To be a stable L1 club making regular appearances in the top of mid-table and even a flirtation with the Play-offs has to be a realistic 10-year aim.

 

[tavyred]

i think we have changed and so has the city itself which used to be a small market town place but is now a thriving expanding city attracting investment. similarly the fans have showed there is an appetite to support a L1 club whereas that wasn't previously the case. wE can support a sustrainable l1 club in my opinion

Couldn’t agree more, we then get to the thorny issue of how we become a sustainable third tier club, the two biggest barriers to that goal IMO is a circa 7-8K stadium with limited seating which is not owned by the club itself and an ownership model that by definition can’t attract outside investment.
There are huge benefits to being the sort of club we are, but there also inherent weaknesses, the ability to grow the club financially in order to bust the city cycle of 10 years in the fourth tier followed by a very short stint in the third being the most glaring.
Arguments about GC or KMT being manager seem to me to be to be missing the bigger point.

 

[tavyred]

My folks back in the UK were commenting on how fast Exeter is expanding, with a 20,000 - house new development and the corridor to Topsham filling up with houses. The potential now and in the future seems to be there. To be a stable L1 club making regular appearances in the top of mid-table and even a flirtation with the Play-offs has to be a realistic 10-year aim.

it would appear that a rapidly growing 21st century city has a 20th century football club that can’t keep up and grow in a similar fashion.

 

[Banksy]

it would appear that a rapidly growing 21st century city has a 20th century football club that can’t keep up and grow in a similar fashion.

Yes I agree. This scenario will seemingly keep on repeating itself given ground capacity , the way we’re set up Trust wise etc.Sink to the depths , bounce up again until we hit a good patch and are promoted again , after what , about ten years? Then the process starts all over.Maybe we just have to accept being comfortable as a good community higher middle table League Two side, great training ground and all , with the odd spell of excitement in League One.Certainly it would seem we’ve no hope of competing money wise with two thirds of the teams in L1.

 

[BigBanker]

If we want the club to seriously consider investing in a bigger stadium it'd be good to prove that we can sell out for a consistent period of time. Ain't going to happen playing the type of football we've been served up last few months.

 

[Mr Jinx]

I think the club has issues at this level of football more fundamental than who they choose to be our manager at any given time.
For various reasons we struggle to compete in third tier football, always have done and probably always will unless something fundamental changes.
If we bin GC and manage to stay up this season, it’s only a matter of time before footballing reality kicks in and we end up back where we came from.

I think many have been over this. Whilst the club sees a 7k gate as its peak, it will never progress. The odd season or two in L1 is the best we as fans can hope for. I know the current ground can't go much beyond 7k and I think you'll find that that's nub of the problem.

We're riding high in the League, getting near 7k gates each game, we just bag a load of money for summer transfers and our outgoing on players was the princely sum of nil.

 

[Grecian Max]

I think many have been over this. Whilst the club sees a 7k gate as its peak, it will never progress. The odd season or two in L1 is the best we as fans can hope for. I know the current ground can't go much beyond 7k and I think you'll find that that's nub of the problem.

We're riding high in the League, getting near 7k gates each game, we just bag a load of money for summer transfers and our outgoing on players was the princely sum of nil.

We were getting bigger gates than we did last time in League 1 which speaks to that growth in the City - up 11% in the last decade

 

[lamrobhero]

So back of a fag packet what is the attendance needed to sustain league 1 football ? (though number of Juniors distort the figures)