Blackpool panthers general : Sun Jun 06, 2010 8:44 pm  

Hi folks new to this forum thingy. Im a blackpool panthers fan and a lot of people asking a lot of questions with regards all the rumours at the moment about the panthers. Top and bottom of it is that all us fans care about is having a team and being able to support them and build on what we have at the moment. Many will say our fan base is lacking and this is true, i feel this may be partly down to the club(lack of organisation) and current location of where we play (FYLDE RUFC - BLUE RINSE AREA) Communication at the club at the minute is non existant and things are now escalating onto the pitch as shown today in a poor performance away at oldham. Had to mis-fortune of making the trip today. All i would say to panthers fans is let all the panthers fans stick together and if your a true panthers fan join us on facebook( or message me kev banham)with any queries regarding away travel or any other queries and hope i can assist. Otherwise get yourself down to the woodlands and support the lads - Up the panthers

Re: Blackpool panthers general : Mon Jun 07, 2010 1:04 pm  

Granted the team is what matters, but Bobby Hope is potentially ruining the club. We need more fans urgently through the gate to finance the current team, but where does he expect these fans to come from? We have a small fan base and it is unlikely that people will just suddenly start turning up and become a 'new' fan. As a club we were making small steps until this season and had a competitive team under a managable budget. The powers that be have now gone for a 'sh*t or bust' business plan, have assembled an 'all-star' team and coupled with no significant increases in attendance, are now leaving us with the possibility of going bankrupt or becoming uncompetitive again a la gateshead. Lets face it, if we fail to win promotion, the tap will be switched off and we will have to re-build most of a new team for next season as we could not afford half the players we have on our books.

The lack of a cohesive business plan (or so it seems!) at the club is shocking and the communications from the club are minimal. This will not help when trying to attract new converts to the club or even getting 'the converted' out from their arm chair on a Sunday afternoon. Don't buy into the 'not being in Blackpool is the reason we cannot attract fans' argument. Think it is a false idea spun by the club officials to cover their backs at not being able to attract fans. Even if we did go back to Blackpool, can you see another 200/300 turn up? As stated elsewhere, FC fans travel from all over the Fylde to go to Bloomfield, so why wouldn't they travel to Lytham?

According to today's League Express MC was quoted as saying, after the Oldham match...

"Disappointed? Of course I am...but more than that I am seriously reviewing my position because of the things that are happening at the club. Internal issues are causing me problems. What's the point? I'm fighting a losing battle."

John Chadwick also remarked that the wheels have fallen off at the club, for various reasons' in his post-match speech.

MC is the best thing to happen to the club in it's existence, and we are now risking losing him- great stuff!

Re: Blackpool panthers general : Mon Jun 07, 2010 1:55 pm  

So does anyone have any actual facts to flesh out those disappointing snippets?

Have to agree with The Cow's statements though, we were making good, steady, sustainable progress last year under MC, what was the point of playing sh*t or bust this season?

Re: Blackpool panthers general : Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:53 pm  

Think the only way we will find anything out for definite is if B. Hope releases a press statement, or the players themselves make comment about whether they are getting paid. It would seem MC and John Chadwick won't come out to say exactly what the problem is/ has been going on. This only leaves us the fans to guess what is going on via rumour.

Sounds like MC was pretty upset after the Oldham loss about something and feels that something is affecting the team on the pitch as well as off.

My major queries are:

1) Are we going to make it until the end of the season before B.H. pulls the plug?
2) If we do get promotion at the end of the season, is B.H. going to finance us next season?
3) If the answer is No to both above, then surely we need to be thinking about re-building now (cancelling contracts, recruiting players we can afford, etc.), not at the end of the season before even more damage is done to the fans/ players morale/ finances.

I also want to know whether we have abandoned pay as you play (which imo is the future for all clubs at this level!) and reverted back to a traditional weekly pay.

Re: Blackpool panthers general : Mon Jun 07, 2010 3:07 pm  

Fair questions T_C and I think we, as fans, deserve some answers.

I completely agree with you though, there's no point carrying on like this unless there's a financial plan to see us through next season as well (in the Championship). I'd rather we cut our cloth accordingly NOW, do whatever we can to keep the ship sailing a smooth course with MC at the helm, rather than carry on living wildly beyond our means.

Let's get back to reality now before it's too late.

Re: Blackpool panthers general : Mon Jun 07, 2010 3:22 pm  

Its the club that matters. Too many rumours and not enough facts or statements of whats going on. MC best thing to happen to the panthers. Needs sorting and fast