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Post by araucaria on Apr 23, 2024 17:30:00 GMT 1
And 22 in the third and 6 in the fourth. 30 years in the second is actually correct, as is the point that we've spent 52 out of the 62 years in the second and third divisions. Ok so my figures for individual leagues are out by a couple of seasons here and there. I think I got confused with the changing of competition names when the Premier League was formed and then when they created the Championship, League 1, League 2. However, I think people can get the gist and the point I was trying to make......Sorry to the stattos for the mistakes You belong to a very small group which owns its mistakes on things like this. I always edit my posts if there's a mistake in there, especially a typo or a spelling mistake - very very old school, I know. You got the 52 years right, though, when your figures for the second and third divisions added up to 54. Promise me that if you ever produce an analysis of wins, draws and losses for a manager, or player, or for the club itself, you won't count cup matches AND ascribe points to them. If I see that Warnock got 8 points from 8 matches one more time.....Mark Robins has 78 points from 49 games this season by that 'methodology'. I know it's Town's fault for never winning cup matches.
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Post by Tim Nice But Dim on Apr 23, 2024 18:28:27 GMT 1
I think some of our fans are a disgrace and all we hear is "we deserve better" well doesn't every club. So what about fans at Derby, Pompey, Blackpool, Barnsley, Bolton, Charlton and even Notts County and Swindon or even non league Oldham an ex Premier league side. Football has changed so much and changed for the worse and its sad to say the fans have followed suit. The best chairman in years at this club and he made mistakes he admitted that, well there is an old saying "be careful what you wish for". How many of the moaners will be there next season.
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Post by teddytheterrier on Apr 23, 2024 18:45:36 GMT 1
I think for me it’s always been about being at this level - the championship. I’m not saying to be competing for promotion each season. But we could have easily been mid table with the occasionally promotion push each season on the back of the pl money. Apart from the season we were promoted and the season we lost in the final we have always been constantly looking over our shoulder at relegation. There’s never been a comfortable 12th or 13th place finish in the championship.
Agree regarding some of the comments when in the prem that we didn’t deserve to be there etc but the majority of that rhetoric was fed to us by the club not the fan base and they played it down every opportunity they could. They’ve also done this in the championship at times. We had it under potless, we can’t compete. What’s the fucking point then? We will probably hear it too next season when we are are 17th after 10 games. We can’t compete with the likes of Cambridge United, Mansfield, Stevenage etc. If thats the case town might aswell give up and join Golcar, Tadcaster et al in the North Counties East league.
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Post by willo on Apr 23, 2024 18:53:30 GMT 1
I think some of our fans are a disgrace and all we hear is "we deserve better" well doesn't every club. So what about fans at Derby, Pompey, Blackpool, Barnsley, Bolton, Charlton and even Notts County and Swindon or even non league Oldham an ex Premier league side. Football has changed so much and changed for the worse and its sad to say the fans have followed suit. The best chairman in years at this club and he made mistakes he admitted that, well there is an old saying "be careful what you wish for". How many of the moaners will be there next season. I think as fans we have deserved better. By that I mean; much better decision making in the boardroom, more astute signings, better tactically on the pitch, more heart and desire from the players. Apologies if that’s just too much to ask. Our fans have been largely decent this season despite the almost constant dross served up. In 87/88, our then Chairman Keith Longbottom was getting pelters outside the boardroom. There’s been nothing like that…yet.
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Post by colnevalleyblue on Apr 23, 2024 18:57:57 GMT 1
I think some of our fans are a disgrace and all we hear is "we deserve better" well doesn't every club. So what about fans at Derby, Pompey, Blackpool, Barnsley, Bolton, Charlton and even Notts County and Swindon or even non league Oldham an ex Premier league side. Football has changed so much and changed for the worse and its sad to say the fans have followed suit. The best chairman in years at this club and he made mistakes he admitted that, well there is an old saying "be careful what you wish for". How many of the moaners will be there next season. I think as fans we have deserved better. By that I mean; much better decision making in the boardroom, more astute signings, better tactically on the pitch, more heart and desire from the players. Apologies if that’s just too much to ask. Our fans have been largely decent this season despite the almost constant dross served up. In 87/88, our then Chairman Keith Longbottom was getting pelters outside the boardroom. There’s been nothing like that…yet. However, World has moved on now and we've got twitter replacing demonstrations outside board rooms/main stands. Nagle's taken abuse this season which hasn't been remotely constructive or right.
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Post by blackmoreisgod on Apr 23, 2024 19:06:05 GMT 1
I think as fans we have deserved better. By that I mean; much better decision making in the boardroom, more astute signings, better tactically on the pitch, more heart and desire from the players. Apologies if that’s just too much to ask. Our fans have been largely decent this season despite the almost constant dross served up. In 87/88, our then Chairman Keith Longbottom was getting pelters outside the boardroom. There’s been nothing like that…yet. However, World has moved on now and we've got twitter replacing demonstrations outside board rooms/main stands. Nagle's taken abuse this season which hasn't been remotely constructive or right. Nagle hasn't helped himself with the Warnock farce & Darren Moore etc. However much like the fanbase he's been sold an over-ripe turkey. The whole not being able to compete, gambling on project plsyers and coaches, the culture of failure is a product of the Hoyle era. Yes, he did a lot for the club and was also the best owner in decades but it cannot and should not be denied that he laid down the faultlines in the club and sold an absolute stinking poison chalice to Nagle
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Post by bluebeard on Apr 23, 2024 19:11:21 GMT 1
I think some of our fans are a disgrace and all we hear is "we deserve better" well doesn't every club. So what about fans at Derby, Pompey, Blackpool, Barnsley, Bolton, Charlton and even Notts County and Swindon or even non league Oldham an ex Premier league side. Football has changed so much and changed for the worse and its sad to say the fans have followed suit. The best chairman in years at this club and he made mistakes he admitted that, well there is an old saying "be careful what you wish for". How many of the moaners will be there next season. I think as fans we have deserved better. By that I mean; much better decision making in the boardroom, more astute signings, better tactically on the pitch, more heart and desire from the players. Apologies if that’s just too much to ask. Our fans have been largely decent this season despite the almost constant dross served up. In 87/88, our then Chairman Keith Longbottom was getting pelters outside the boardroom. There’s been nothing like that…yet. We had some right crack pot fans watching Town back in them days "80s" and i remember in the 73/74 season a fan throwing a Coke bottle and it wasn't plastic at Alan Gowling when he left the ground because he missed a penalty.
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Post by Sio on Apr 23, 2024 19:14:03 GMT 1
I think some of our fans are a disgrace and all we hear is "we deserve better" well doesn't every club. So what about fans at Derby, Pompey, Blackpool, Barnsley, Bolton, Charlton and even Notts County and Swindon or even non league Oldham an ex Premier league side. Football has changed so much and changed for the worse and its sad to say the fans have followed suit. The best chairman in years at this club and he made mistakes he admitted that, well there is an old saying "be careful what you wish for". How many of the moaners will be there next season. OK, Dean
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htafcokay
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
Posts: 4,577
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Post by htafcokay on Apr 23, 2024 19:25:49 GMT 1
I think as fans we have deserved better. By that I mean; much better decision making in the boardroom, more astute signings, better tactically on the pitch, more heart and desire from the players. Apologies if that’s just too much to ask. Our fans have been largely decent this season despite the almost constant dross served up. In 87/88, our then Chairman Keith Longbottom was getting pelters outside the boardroom. There’s been nothing like that…yet. However, World has moved on now and we've got twitter replacing demonstrations outside board rooms/main stands. Nagle's taken abuse this season which hasn't been remotely constructive or right. Nagle has got off incredibly lightly compared to previous owners of this club. A few nasty tweets is child's play compared to what's gone on in the past. Compared to his predecessors, he's had an easy ride.
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Post by nnnlove on Apr 23, 2024 19:38:32 GMT 1
This. I think we’re the most underrated club in the country because our own fans underrate us. Although, I do understand why because 1. Almost all of our good times were before most Town fans were born and 2. Quite frankly the club have buried our own history.The potential is there as shown in the demand for tickets in the PL and in the long term I do believe in Kev. It's not just the club, it's the fans as well. In 2017, we got promoted to the top tier and it was the first time since 1972 we'd been there. We were great that season, and really deserved to go up, we only spent one single week out of the Top 6 all season and we went toe to toe with some of the big guns. Yet our supporters will say, "We were lucky"
"We had a negative goal difference" "We got promoted via the play-offs without scoring a goal" "Wagner's football was shit that season" It's one of the club's best ever achievements and yet it's talked down by its own supporters. A number of supporters will also convince you that we're a shitty little League One club and we belong there, despite us only playing 22 seasons there in 116 years. Our fans ought to celebrate our history a bit more, instead of always trying to talk it down and belittle their own club. I believe - and this is a hill I'm prepared to die on - that we were unlucky that promotion season. Newcastle had such a huge financial advantage over us, I reckon if it'd been a team like Swansea or Stoke - then we'd have been top-two along with an excellent Brighton side (after several years of investment on their part). That said, although I've no personal experience of automatics, I'm convinced play-offs are the better way to go up. Wouldn't change it for the World. Loved every minute of it, me.
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KingNeil
Jimmy Nicholson Terrier
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Post by KingNeil on Apr 23, 2024 19:39:12 GMT 1
I think some of our fans are a disgrace and all we hear is "we deserve better" well doesn't every club. So what about fans at Derby, Pompey, Blackpool, Barnsley, Bolton, Charlton and even Notts County and Swindon or even non league Oldham an ex Premier league side. Football has changed so much and changed for the worse and its sad to say the fans have followed suit. The best chairman in years at this club and he made mistakes he admitted that, well there is an old saying "be careful what you wish for". How many of the moaners will be there next season. I'm with you regarding dean 👍 The best chairman in my lifetime and I have been watching since the mid 70,s so like a few more on here..seen a lot He wasn't wealthy enough to be able to back us any more than he did,he would have soon been out of pocket had he done so My local side donny rovers owner is wealthier than Dean,a personal wealth of half a billion and they spend fcuk all We have had 11 great years with Dean in charge and he Never took us back to that hell hole called league 1 He's a good man and has to spend the rest of his life with a life threatening condition
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Post by willo on Apr 23, 2024 19:43:03 GMT 1
However, World has moved on now and we've got twitter replacing demonstrations outside board rooms/main stands. Nagle's taken abuse this season which hasn't been remotely constructive or right. Nagle has got off incredibly lightly compared to previous owners of this club. A few nasty tweets is child's play compared to what's gone on in the past. Compared to his predecessors, he's had an easy ride. So far he has. I doubt KN will be there in person on Saturday but I can see it getting as bad as it’s been for a long time if we lose and lose heavily.
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Post by willo on Apr 23, 2024 19:44:59 GMT 1
I think some of our fans are a disgrace and all we hear is "we deserve better" well doesn't every club. So what about fans at Derby, Pompey, Blackpool, Barnsley, Bolton, Charlton and even Notts County and Swindon or even non league Oldham an ex Premier league side. Football has changed so much and changed for the worse and its sad to say the fans have followed suit. The best chairman in years at this club and he made mistakes he admitted that, well there is an old saying "be careful what you wish for". How many of the moaners will be there next season. I'm with you regarding dean 👍 The best chairman in my lifetime and I have been watching since the mid 70,s so like a few more on here..seen a lot He wasn't wealthy enough to be able to back us any more than he did,he would have soon been out of pocket had he done so My local side donny rovers owner is wealthier than Dean,a personal wealth of half a billion and they spend fcuk all We have had 11 great years with Dean in charge and he Never took us back to that hell hole called league 1 He's a good man and has to spend the rest of his life with a life threatening condition I agree with everything said above, some great memories. However, we are now witnessing his legacy.
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htafcokay
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
Posts: 4,577
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Post by htafcokay on Apr 23, 2024 19:46:21 GMT 1
Nagle has got off incredibly lightly compared to previous owners of this club. A few nasty tweets is child's play compared to what's gone on in the past. Compared to his predecessors, he's had an easy ride. So far he has. I doubt KN will be there in person on Saturday but I can see it getting as bad as it’s been for a long time if we lose and lose heavily. Longbottom had death threats, numerous protests, even an incident where he was confronted by a load of fans outside. David Taylor also had loads of protests, Ken Davy did as well. Barry Rubery required a police escort and had rocks thrown at him when we were relegated in 2001. I believe Phil Hodgkinson also had death threats. Football fans are far tamer than they were 20 or 30 years ago. Perhaps it will get bad on Saturday if we go down. Perhaps it needs to...
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Post by bluesandtwos on Apr 23, 2024 19:49:09 GMT 1
Motivational speaker speaks. The vast majority of people do better with a carrot rather than a stick. We have suffered some awful seasons but slagging players off and booing is so counter productive. Problem is some have come round to the fact we're down and we'll never see half of these players again and likely not the coaching staff. When that happens the gloves come off. Booing them whilst there's still a chance is stupid but if they were better pros they'd just get on with it anyway. Compare this lot with hef, Schindler, lowe, kachunga etc. Chalk and cheese. I can’t disagree with the comparison. We had some brilliant characters and great professionals back then. We have quite a few young lads now though who will struggle with the way the crowd treat them. We need a complete reboot and my gut tells me it will be in the division below. I do think we could put a decent League 1 squad together, although I know that’s little compensation.
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Post by alfredsterrier on Apr 23, 2024 19:51:11 GMT 1
I think for me it’s always been about being at this level - the championship. I’m not saying to be competing for promotion each season. But we could have easily been mid table with the occasionally promotion push each season on the back of the pl money. Apart from the season we were promoted and the season we lost in the final we have always been constantly looking over our shoulder at relegation. There’s never been a comfortable 12th or 13th place finish in the championship. Agree regarding some of the comments when in the prem that we didn’t deserve to be there etc but the majority of that rhetoric was fed to us by the club not the fan base and they played it down every opportunity they could. They’ve also done this in the championship at times. We had it under potless, we can’t compete. What’s the fucking point then? We will probably hear it too next season when we are are 17th after 10 games. We can’t compete with the likes of Cambridge United, Mansfield, Stevenage etc. If thats the case town might aswell give up and join Golcar, Tadcaster et al in the North Counties East league. I agree with this. I don’t remember the fans playing us down it came from the club and was so overused that like you say it gave the impression that what’s the point? I’m sure this affected the players and how hard they tried or played as the narrative was it’s ok to lose as we can’t compete. This has absolutely infected the club for too long. Another post says we should be careful what we wish for- I agree but we can only go on what we’ve seen and whilst mistakes have undoubtedly been made I think/hope they have the best intentions. Hopefully the saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions doesn’t prove true for us.
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Post by willo on Apr 23, 2024 19:51:21 GMT 1
I think as fans we have deserved better. By that I mean; much better decision making in the boardroom, more astute signings, better tactically on the pitch, more heart and desire from the players. Apologies if that’s just too much to ask. Our fans have been largely decent this season despite the almost constant dross served up. In 87/88, our then Chairman Keith Longbottom was getting pelters outside the boardroom. There’s been nothing like that…yet. However, World has moved on now and we've got twitter replacing demonstrations outside board rooms/main stands. Nagle's taken abuse this season which hasn't been remotely constructive or right. Forget twatter, bunch of keyboard warriors who would never front up in person. If it goes badly pear shaped again on Saturday, I can absolutely see the fans congregating outside the main entrance at the final whistle to voice their displeasure. And they’d be absolutely right to do so. I agree with your comment on the criticism KN has taken but he leaves himself wide open to it on social media, maybe he’ll keep his head down a little more next season. But you can’t argue the decisions of MC have been rank awful and he deserves plenty of stick and should be first out the door at the end of the season.
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Post by Big Ern on Apr 23, 2024 19:52:05 GMT 1
However, World has moved on now and we've got twitter replacing demonstrations outside board rooms/main stands. Nagle's taken abuse this season which hasn't been remotely constructive or right. Nagle has got off incredibly lightly compared to previous owners of this club. A few nasty tweets is child's play compared to what's gone on in the past. Compared to his predecessors, he's had an easy ride. Why should he get nasty tweets though? He is bankrolling the club. How can you possibly even justify abuse?
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htafcokay
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
Posts: 4,577
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Post by htafcokay on Apr 23, 2024 19:53:51 GMT 1
Nagle has got off incredibly lightly compared to previous owners of this club. A few nasty tweets is child's play compared to what's gone on in the past. Compared to his predecessors, he's had an easy ride. Why should he get nasty tweets though? He is bankrolling the club. How can you possibly even justify abuse? I haven't justified it.
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Post by willo on Apr 23, 2024 19:55:29 GMT 1
So far he has. I doubt KN will be there in person on Saturday but I can see it getting as bad as it’s been for a long time if we lose and lose heavily. Longbottom had death threats, numerous protests, even an incident where he was confronted by a load of fans outside. David Taylor also had loads of protests, Ken Davy did as well. Barry Rubery required a police escort and had rocks thrown at him when we were relegated in 2001. I believe Phil Hodgkinson also had death threats. Football fans are far tamer than they were 20 or 30 years ago. Perhaps it will get bad on Saturday if we go down. Perhaps it needs to... I think it will, would be genuinely surprised if it didn’t and folk probably do need to vent rather than stew on it over the summer. Of course if the players actually turned up for once, put in a shift and we somehow managed to get a win, things could be different. But after last Saturday’s game, I have very little faith in that happening.
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Post by willo on Apr 23, 2024 19:57:45 GMT 1
I think as fans we have deserved better. By that I mean; much better decision making in the boardroom, more astute signings, better tactically on the pitch, more heart and desire from the players. Apologies if that’s just too much to ask. Our fans have been largely decent this season despite the almost constant dross served up. In 87/88, our then Chairman Keith Longbottom was getting pelters outside the boardroom. There’s been nothing like that…yet. We had some right crack pot fans watching Town back in them days "80s" and i remember in the 73/74 season a fan throwing a Coke bottle and it wasn't plastic at Alan Gowling when he left the ground because he missed a penalty. 73/74 before my time but I’ve heard a lot of the stories. 80’s was a follow on in many ways, we just had a much better sense of fashion. 😉
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htafcokay
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
Posts: 4,577
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Post by htafcokay on Apr 23, 2024 20:01:56 GMT 1
Longbottom had death threats, numerous protests, even an incident where he was confronted by a load of fans outside. David Taylor also had loads of protests, Ken Davy did as well. Barry Rubery required a police escort and had rocks thrown at him when we were relegated in 2001. I believe Phil Hodgkinson also had death threats. Football fans are far tamer than they were 20 or 30 years ago. Perhaps it will get bad on Saturday if we go down. Perhaps it needs to... I think it will, would be genuinely surprised if it didn’t and folk probably do need to vent rather than stew on it over the summer. Of course if the players actually turned up for once, put in a shift and we somehow managed to get a win, things could be different. But after last Saturday’s game, I have very little faith in that happening. I wrote this back in October, which went unpublished, but it was about how Nagle had been getting abuse on Twitter and how some were suggesting it was a new thing, so I went and researched the discontent over the last 35 years. I've whittled it down a bit, but if anyone has five minutes: Nagle is one of a long line of Town chairmen that have taken the brunt of supporters’ frustrations. As far back as 1990, Town supporters were aiming their anger at the club hierarchy, disgusted at the perceived lack of ambition from the club’s board. It all came to a head towards the end of the 1989-90 season.
Town started well and were looking likely for the play-off places at least, losing just four of the opening 25 games to get them to 3rd in Division Three. Though a dismal run followed and anger began to build as Town slipped to 8th after eight defeats in 10 games, a run that included five successive losses. Discontent began on March 10th as Town lost 1-0 to Fulham at Leeds Road.
The match was marked by a 50-minute demonstration of around 150 chanting supporters who demanded the resignation of Town chairman Keith Longbottom. After the match, Longbottom needed a police escort to leave the ground as he was targeted during the angry demonstration.
In an interview with The Examiner a few days later, Longbottom revealed he’d been receiving threatening telephone calls and while admitting he could understand the frustrations of the supporters, he vowed not to bow down to mob rule.
“I can understand the frustrations of the supporters because they are felt within the club as well but I deplore the protests like the one we had at Leeds Road on Saturday”.
His comments did not go down well with supporters, who turned on the chairman in the following day’s Examiner. A Mr. John Clark was quoted as saying “Town fans have been tolerant for long enough. We are now fed-up with a total lack of entertainment and passion on the pitch. There was no howling mob on Saturday, just frustrated supporters wanting to know what is going on at the club. Not one person misbehaved. People were simply chanting ‘spend, spend some money’.
Days later, Longbottom was approached by a consortium to buy him and the rest of the Leeds Road board out. Town fan David Taylor led the consortium, which included Malcolm Asquith and Malcolm Vincent, and they pledged to make more than £500,000 available for new signings as well as aiming to unseat Longbottom. The Town board ultimately rejected the takeover bid.
The disharmony continued in April after a dismal run of nine defeats in 12, as well as five straight home defeats for the first time in the club’s history, more protests followed after the 2-0 midweek defeat to Preston North End which prompted chants of ‘sack the board’, ‘we’ve got no ambition’ and ‘no more excuses’ outside the main entrance of Leeds Road. The defeat had more-or-less spelled the end of Town’s play-off hopes for that season.
Tensions cooled for a while before flaring up again in December 1990. Town had started the 1990-91 season poorly but had the chance to bring some much-needed excitement to the supporters when they faced Blackpool in the 2nd Round of the F.A. Cup at Leeds Road.
As the initial fixture had been postponed due to snow, the 3rd Round draw had already been made and if Town could beat Blackpool, they would face Tottenham Hotspur in the next round, who had the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Gary Lineker and Nayim playing for them.
As is typical with Town, they made hard work of it and lost the match 2-0. It was the final straw for around 200 Town fans who demonstrated outside Leeds Road for over an hour, directing their anger at both the board and Eoin Hand.
It turned again in 1992-93, after losing seven of their first eight matches, the fans had clearly had enough and demonstrated after a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City outside Leeds Road. Some disgruntled supporters stormed down the tunnel at full-time and ended up in the boardroom, where Trevor Cherry did his best to explain the financial situation. The major criticism from fans was the lack of funds available for manager Ian Ross. Ross even agreed with the discontent, ‘The fans were chanting the right things. It was rubbish”.
The following week, when Town welcomed Premier League Blackburn Rovers to Leeds Road in the League Cup, two large “Sack the Board” banners were displayed in the ground.
Fortunes did not improve and on December 19th, following a 2-0 defeat to Chester City, 200 angry Town fans once again voiced their displeasure inside and outside the ground, targeting Longbottom and manager Ian Ross, demanding that both of them leave the club and chants of ‘What a load of rubbish’ echoed around Leeds Road.
Ten days later, Longbottom announced his immediate resignation as Town chairman after mounting pressure from unhappy supporters. He was replaced by Graham Leslie. Longbottom left the club altogether in February 1993 after being bought out by Leslie.
Town chairman Terry Fisher quickly came under fire from supporters once Mick Buxton announced his exit from Leeds Road in July 1993.
Michael Davis of Brighouse wrote into The Examiner lamenting him for offering Buxton a one-year deal as assistant manager, instead of a five-year contract as manager and ended his rant with “Could the chap who owns the “Sack the Board” banner please give it to his mam for a wash. I feel he will soon be needing it again”. Pete Stead of Moldgreen was similarly scathing, saying “The most popular song on the terrace of recent seasons has been “Sack the board, sack the board, sack the board”. I hope you read this letter Mr. Fisher, because these immortal words will be ringing in your eyes around the middle of September”.
The 1993-94 season would be Town’s last at Leeds Road as they prepared to move into the new Alfred McAlpine Stadium across the road, and it’s fair to say that new manager Neil Warnock was deeply unpopular in those early months. Town struggled at the foot of Division Two and Warnock took the brunt of it from frustrated supporters.
In December 1993, Terry Fisher was even accused of asset-stripping the club by Nigel Skelton of Park Drive, Huddersfield.
As Warnock eventually turned things around and reached the Autoglass Trophy final at Wembley, and coupled with the excitement of playing in the new stadium, the fans were pretty happy. And then with promotion at the end of the 1994-95 season, there wasn’t much to moan about.
There were brief murmurings of discontent during the 1997-98 season as Brian Horton had a terrible start to the season, failing to win any of the first nine matches. However, his sacking and the appointment of Peter Jackson was a popular move amongst supporters.
After Town were relegated in 2000-01, Rubery was prevented from leaving the McAlpine Stadium after the game after 100s of supporters gathered in protest. As Rubery emerged from the stadium and tried to talk to the fans they turned angrily on him, objects were thrown and police had to usher him back into the ground.
David Taylor became the chairman in January 2002 and he received his fair share of abuse as well, and was also on the end of various protests calling for him to go. During the 2002-03 season, which was plagued by financial struggle and ultimately relegation, one disgruntled supporter chased manager Mick Wadsworth down the tunnel after one defeat.
Ken Davy, who became chairman in 2003, wasn’t without his fair share of stick either. Although he was initially popular for saving the club, when it emerged he had transferred the club’s shares of the ground into his name, things deteriorated. During one game in 2007, when Adam Pearson was rumoured to be interested in buying the club, chants of “Davy Out. Pearson In” echoed around the ground.
Dean Hoyle, who bought the club in 2008, is perhaps the only owner in Town’s history that was almost immune from criticism during his reign, and while it was a mostly successful tenure, he still managed to steer clear of any demonstrations, protests or chanting during his first spell as chairman. Even when the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2018-19, there was very little anger from the club’s supporters.
However, when Hoyle sold the club to Phil Hodgkinson in the summer of 2019, things began to change. Although he was initially quite well received, the terrible start to the season saw Hodgkinson come in for an incredible amount of criticism and abuse, a little in the stands but mostly on social media. Hodgkinson also claimed to have received death threats. He lasted until October 2021 when he stepped back after his business went into administration.
Former owner Hoyle, who had kept a 25% share in the club, returned to the helm. And while Town reached the Play-off final in May 2022 under Carlos Corberan, the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest was the Spaniard’s final game in charge as he resigned in July 2022.
Many Town fans blamed Hoyle for Corberan’s departure and claimed that he resigned because Hoyle ‘refused to back him’. The appointments of Danny Schofield in July 2022 and then Mark Fotheringham in September 2022 did nothing to ease the situation and eventually Hoyle announced he was stepping back from running the club in October 2022.
While he appointed Neil Warnock in February 2023, who then masterminded an incredible survival, Hoyle’s second tenure as chairman is looked upon with huge disappointment and his legacy at the club has been tainted in the eyes of some supporters. While he left the club to a standing ovation in May 2019, there was nothing of the sort when he handed over the reins to Kevin Nagle in June 2023. Despite his unpopularity, Hoyle never had any protests or demonstrations during his time at the club, nor was any abuse flung at him from the stands.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that every time Town are struggling, the fans hit out and direct their anger towards the club hierarchy. As we’ve seen in the various struggles since 1990, it’s the chairman that has had to bear the brunt of the frustrations.
Funnily enough, while Nagle has to take some responsibility for the way things have gone this season, he isn’t to blame for much of the problems, and is perhaps unfortunate that he has taken over at a time where fans have witnessed mostly poor seasons and their patience is at an all-time low. Much of the rot had set in before he’d even heard of Huddersfield Town, let alone bought the club.
The truth of the matter is, whenever a team aren’t doing well, disgruntled supporters vent their spleens. The anger remains the same, it’s always been there but while it has now shifted from the terraces and the local newspaper letters column, it is now posted on social media platforms for all to see within seconds. The days of 200 fans protesting outside the ground have been replaced by a far smaller number of supporters posting nasty words online.
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Post by willo on Apr 23, 2024 20:06:15 GMT 1
I think it will, would be genuinely surprised if it didn’t and folk probably do need to vent rather than stew on it over the summer. Of course if the players actually turned up for once, put in a shift and we somehow managed to get a win, things could be different. But after last Saturday’s game, I have very little faith in that happening. I wrote this back in October, which went unpublished, but it was about how Nagle had been getting abuse on Twitter and how some were suggesting it was a new thing, so I went and researched the discontent over the last 35 years. I've whittled it down a bit, but if anyone has five minutes: Nagle is one of a long line of Town chairmen that have taken the brunt of supporters’ frustrations. As far back as 1990, Town supporters were aiming their anger at the club hierarchy, disgusted at the perceived lack of ambition from the club’s board. It all came to a head towards the end of the 1989-90 season.
Town started well and were looking likely for the play-off places at least, losing just four of the opening 25 games to get them to 3rd in Division Three. Though a dismal run followed and anger began to build as Town slipped to 8th after eight defeats in 10 games, a run that included five successive losses. Discontent began on March 10th as Town lost 1-0 to Fulham at Leeds Road.
The match was marked by a 50-minute demonstration of around 150 chanting supporters who demanded the resignation of Town chairman Keith Longbottom. After the match, Longbottom needed a police escort to leave the ground as he was targeted during the angry demonstration.
In an interview with The Examiner a few days later, Longbottom revealed he’d been receiving threatening telephone calls and while admitting he could understand the frustrations of the supporters, he vowed not to bow down to mob rule.
“I can understand the frustrations of the supporters because they are felt within the club as well but I deplore the protests like the one we had at Leeds Road on Saturday”.
His comments did not go down well with supporters, who turned on the chairman in the following day’s Examiner. A Mr. John Clark was quoted as saying “Town fans have been tolerant for long enough. We are now fed-up with a total lack of entertainment and passion on the pitch. There was no howling mob on Saturday, just frustrated supporters wanting to know what is going on at the club. Not one person misbehaved. People were simply chanting ‘spend, spend some money’.
Days later, Longbottom was approached by a consortium to buy him and the rest of the Leeds Road board out. Town fan David Taylor led the consortium, which included Malcolm Asquith and Malcolm Vincent, and they pledged to make more than £500,000 available for new signings as well as aiming to unseat Longbottom. The Town board ultimately rejected the takeover bid.
The disharmony continued in April after a dismal run of nine defeats in 12, as well as five straight home defeats for the first time in the club’s history, more protests followed after the 2-0 midweek defeat to Preston North End which prompted chants of ‘sack the board’, ‘we’ve got no ambition’ and ‘no more excuses’ outside the main entrance of Leeds Road. The defeat had more-or-less spelled the end of Town’s play-off hopes for that season.
Tensions cooled for a while before flaring up again in December 1990. Town had started the 1990-91 season poorly but had the chance to bring some much-needed excitement to the supporters when they faced Blackpool in the 2nd Round of the F.A. Cup at Leeds Road.
As the initial fixture had been postponed due to snow, the 3rd Round draw had already been made and if Town could beat Blackpool, they would face Tottenham Hotspur in the next round, who had the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Gary Lineker and Nayim playing for them.
As is typical with Town, they made hard work of it and lost the match 2-0. It was the final straw for around 200 Town fans who demonstrated outside Leeds Road for over an hour, directing their anger at both the board and Eoin Hand.
It turned again in 1992-93, after losing seven of their first eight matches, the fans had clearly had enough and demonstrated after a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City outside Leeds Road. Some disgruntled supporters stormed down the tunnel at full-time and ended up in the boardroom, where Trevor Cherry did his best to explain the financial situation. The major criticism from fans was the lack of funds available for manager Ian Ross. Ross even agreed with the discontent, ‘The fans were chanting the right things. It was rubbish”.
The following week, when Town welcomed Premier League Blackburn Rovers to Leeds Road in the League Cup, two large “Sack the Board” banners were displayed in the ground.
Fortunes did not improve and on December 19th, following a 2-0 defeat to Chester City, 200 angry Town fans once again voiced their displeasure inside and outside the ground, targeting Longbottom and manager Ian Ross, demanding that both of them leave the club and chants of ‘What a load of rubbish’ echoed around Leeds Road.
Ten days later, Longbottom announced his immediate resignation as Town chairman after mounting pressure from unhappy supporters. He was replaced by Graham Leslie. Longbottom left the club altogether in February 1993 after being bought out by Leslie.
Town chairman Terry Fisher quickly came under fire from supporters once Mick Buxton announced his exit from Leeds Road in July 1993.
Michael Davis of Brighouse wrote into The Examiner lamenting him for offering Buxton a one-year deal as assistant manager, instead of a five-year contract as manager and ended his rant with “Could the chap who owns the “Sack the Board” banner please give it to his mam for a wash. I feel he will soon be needing it again”. Pete Stead of Moldgreen was similarly scathing, saying “The most popular song on the terrace of recent seasons has been “Sack the board, sack the board, sack the board”. I hope you read this letter Mr. Fisher, because these immortal words will be ringing in your eyes around the middle of September”.
The 1993-94 season would be Town’s last at Leeds Road as they prepared to move into the new Alfred McAlpine Stadium across the road, and it’s fair to say that new manager Neil Warnock was deeply unpopular in those early months. Town struggled at the foot of Division Two and Warnock took the brunt of it from frustrated supporters.
In December 1993, Terry Fisher was even accused of asset-stripping the club by Nigel Skelton of Park Drive, Huddersfield.
As Warnock eventually turned things around and reached the Autoglass Trophy final at Wembley, and coupled with the excitement of playing in the new stadium, the fans were pretty happy. And then with promotion at the end of the 1994-95 season, there wasn’t much to moan about.
There were brief murmurings of discontent during the 1997-98 season as Brian Horton had a terrible start to the season, failing to win any of the first nine matches. However, his sacking and the appointment of Peter Jackson was a popular move amongst supporters.
After Town were relegated in 2000-01, Rubery was prevented from leaving the McAlpine Stadium after the game after 100s of supporters gathered in protest. As Rubery emerged from the stadium and tried to talk to the fans they turned angrily on him, objects were thrown and police had to usher him back into the ground.
David Taylor became the chairman in January 2002 and he received his fair share of abuse as well, and was also on the end of various protests calling for him to go. During the 2002-03 season, which was plagued by financial struggle and ultimately relegation, one disgruntled supporter chased manager Mick Wadsworth down the tunnel after one defeat.
Ken Davy, who became chairman in 2003, wasn’t without his fair share of stick either. Although he was initially popular for saving the club, when it emerged he had transferred the club’s shares of the ground into his name, things deteriorated. During one game in 2007, when Adam Pearson was rumoured to be interested in buying the club, chants of “Davy Out. Pearson In” echoed around the ground.
Dean Hoyle, who bought the club in 2008, is perhaps the only owner in Town’s history that was almost immune from criticism during his reign, and while it was a mostly successful tenure, he still managed to steer clear of any demonstrations, protests or chanting during his first spell as chairman. Even when the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2018-19, there was very little anger from the club’s supporters.
However, when Hoyle sold the club to Phil Hodgkinson in the summer of 2019, things began to change. Although he was initially quite well received, the terrible start to the season saw Hodgkinson come in for an incredible amount of criticism and abuse, a little in the stands but mostly on social media. Hodgkinson also claimed to have received death threats. He lasted until October 2021 when he stepped back after his business went into administration.
Former owner Hoyle, who had kept a 25% share in the club, returned to the helm. And while Town reached the Play-off final in May 2022 under Carlos Corberan, the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest was the Spaniard’s final game in charge as he resigned in July 2022.
Many Town fans blamed Hoyle for Corberan’s departure and claimed that he resigned because Hoyle ‘refused to back him’. The appointments of Danny Schofield in July 2022 and then Mark Fotheringham in September 2022 did nothing to ease the situation and eventually Hoyle announced he was stepping back from running the club in October 2022.
While he appointed Neil Warnock in February 2023, who then masterminded an incredible survival, Hoyle’s second tenure as chairman is looked upon with huge disappointment and his legacy at the club has been tainted in the eyes of some supporters. While he left the club to a standing ovation in May 2019, there was nothing of the sort when he handed over the reins to Kevin Nagle in June 2023. Despite his unpopularity, Hoyle never had any protests or demonstrations during his time at the club, nor was any abuse flung at him from the stands.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that every time Town are struggling, the fans hit out and direct their anger towards the club hierarchy. As we’ve seen in the various struggles since 1990, it’s the chairman that has had to bear the brunt of the frustrations.
Funnily enough, while Nagle has to take some responsibility for the way things have gone this season, he isn’t to blame for much of the problems, and is perhaps unfortunate that he has taken over at a time where fans have witnessed mostly poor seasons and their patience is at an all-time low. Much of the rot had set in before he’d even heard of Huddersfield Town, let alone bought the club.
The truth of the matter is, whenever a team aren’t doing well, disgruntled supporters vent their spleens. The anger remains the same, it’s always been there but while it has now shifted from the terraces and the local newspaper letters column, it is now posted on social media platforms for all to see within seconds. The days of 200 fans protesting outside the ground have been replaced by a far smaller number of supporters posting nasty words online.Remember reading that when you first posted it, very interesting read and I recall and was around for much of it. Old Longpockets, 😂.
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htafcokay
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
Posts: 4,577
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Post by htafcokay on Apr 23, 2024 20:08:10 GMT 1
I wrote this back in October, which went unpublished, but it was about how Nagle had been getting abuse on Twitter and how some were suggesting it was a new thing, so I went and researched the discontent over the last 35 years. I've whittled it down a bit, but if anyone has five minutes: Nagle is one of a long line of Town chairmen that have taken the brunt of supporters’ frustrations. As far back as 1990, Town supporters were aiming their anger at the club hierarchy, disgusted at the perceived lack of ambition from the club’s board. It all came to a head towards the end of the 1989-90 season.
Town started well and were looking likely for the play-off places at least, losing just four of the opening 25 games to get them to 3rd in Division Three. Though a dismal run followed and anger began to build as Town slipped to 8th after eight defeats in 10 games, a run that included five successive losses. Discontent began on March 10th as Town lost 1-0 to Fulham at Leeds Road.
The match was marked by a 50-minute demonstration of around 150 chanting supporters who demanded the resignation of Town chairman Keith Longbottom. After the match, Longbottom needed a police escort to leave the ground as he was targeted during the angry demonstration.
In an interview with The Examiner a few days later, Longbottom revealed he’d been receiving threatening telephone calls and while admitting he could understand the frustrations of the supporters, he vowed not to bow down to mob rule.
“I can understand the frustrations of the supporters because they are felt within the club as well but I deplore the protests like the one we had at Leeds Road on Saturday”.
His comments did not go down well with supporters, who turned on the chairman in the following day’s Examiner. A Mr. John Clark was quoted as saying “Town fans have been tolerant for long enough. We are now fed-up with a total lack of entertainment and passion on the pitch. There was no howling mob on Saturday, just frustrated supporters wanting to know what is going on at the club. Not one person misbehaved. People were simply chanting ‘spend, spend some money’.
Days later, Longbottom was approached by a consortium to buy him and the rest of the Leeds Road board out. Town fan David Taylor led the consortium, which included Malcolm Asquith and Malcolm Vincent, and they pledged to make more than £500,000 available for new signings as well as aiming to unseat Longbottom. The Town board ultimately rejected the takeover bid.
The disharmony continued in April after a dismal run of nine defeats in 12, as well as five straight home defeats for the first time in the club’s history, more protests followed after the 2-0 midweek defeat to Preston North End which prompted chants of ‘sack the board’, ‘we’ve got no ambition’ and ‘no more excuses’ outside the main entrance of Leeds Road. The defeat had more-or-less spelled the end of Town’s play-off hopes for that season.
Tensions cooled for a while before flaring up again in December 1990. Town had started the 1990-91 season poorly but had the chance to bring some much-needed excitement to the supporters when they faced Blackpool in the 2nd Round of the F.A. Cup at Leeds Road.
As the initial fixture had been postponed due to snow, the 3rd Round draw had already been made and if Town could beat Blackpool, they would face Tottenham Hotspur in the next round, who had the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Gary Lineker and Nayim playing for them.
As is typical with Town, they made hard work of it and lost the match 2-0. It was the final straw for around 200 Town fans who demonstrated outside Leeds Road for over an hour, directing their anger at both the board and Eoin Hand.
It turned again in 1992-93, after losing seven of their first eight matches, the fans had clearly had enough and demonstrated after a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City outside Leeds Road. Some disgruntled supporters stormed down the tunnel at full-time and ended up in the boardroom, where Trevor Cherry did his best to explain the financial situation. The major criticism from fans was the lack of funds available for manager Ian Ross. Ross even agreed with the discontent, ‘The fans were chanting the right things. It was rubbish”.
The following week, when Town welcomed Premier League Blackburn Rovers to Leeds Road in the League Cup, two large “Sack the Board” banners were displayed in the ground.
Fortunes did not improve and on December 19th, following a 2-0 defeat to Chester City, 200 angry Town fans once again voiced their displeasure inside and outside the ground, targeting Longbottom and manager Ian Ross, demanding that both of them leave the club and chants of ‘What a load of rubbish’ echoed around Leeds Road.
Ten days later, Longbottom announced his immediate resignation as Town chairman after mounting pressure from unhappy supporters. He was replaced by Graham Leslie. Longbottom left the club altogether in February 1993 after being bought out by Leslie.
Town chairman Terry Fisher quickly came under fire from supporters once Mick Buxton announced his exit from Leeds Road in July 1993.
Michael Davis of Brighouse wrote into The Examiner lamenting him for offering Buxton a one-year deal as assistant manager, instead of a five-year contract as manager and ended his rant with “Could the chap who owns the “Sack the Board” banner please give it to his mam for a wash. I feel he will soon be needing it again”. Pete Stead of Moldgreen was similarly scathing, saying “The most popular song on the terrace of recent seasons has been “Sack the board, sack the board, sack the board”. I hope you read this letter Mr. Fisher, because these immortal words will be ringing in your eyes around the middle of September”.
The 1993-94 season would be Town’s last at Leeds Road as they prepared to move into the new Alfred McAlpine Stadium across the road, and it’s fair to say that new manager Neil Warnock was deeply unpopular in those early months. Town struggled at the foot of Division Two and Warnock took the brunt of it from frustrated supporters.
In December 1993, Terry Fisher was even accused of asset-stripping the club by Nigel Skelton of Park Drive, Huddersfield.
As Warnock eventually turned things around and reached the Autoglass Trophy final at Wembley, and coupled with the excitement of playing in the new stadium, the fans were pretty happy. And then with promotion at the end of the 1994-95 season, there wasn’t much to moan about.
There were brief murmurings of discontent during the 1997-98 season as Brian Horton had a terrible start to the season, failing to win any of the first nine matches. However, his sacking and the appointment of Peter Jackson was a popular move amongst supporters.
After Town were relegated in 2000-01, Rubery was prevented from leaving the McAlpine Stadium after the game after 100s of supporters gathered in protest. As Rubery emerged from the stadium and tried to talk to the fans they turned angrily on him, objects were thrown and police had to usher him back into the ground.
David Taylor became the chairman in January 2002 and he received his fair share of abuse as well, and was also on the end of various protests calling for him to go. During the 2002-03 season, which was plagued by financial struggle and ultimately relegation, one disgruntled supporter chased manager Mick Wadsworth down the tunnel after one defeat.
Ken Davy, who became chairman in 2003, wasn’t without his fair share of stick either. Although he was initially popular for saving the club, when it emerged he had transferred the club’s shares of the ground into his name, things deteriorated. During one game in 2007, when Adam Pearson was rumoured to be interested in buying the club, chants of “Davy Out. Pearson In” echoed around the ground.
Dean Hoyle, who bought the club in 2008, is perhaps the only owner in Town’s history that was almost immune from criticism during his reign, and while it was a mostly successful tenure, he still managed to steer clear of any demonstrations, protests or chanting during his first spell as chairman. Even when the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2018-19, there was very little anger from the club’s supporters.
However, when Hoyle sold the club to Phil Hodgkinson in the summer of 2019, things began to change. Although he was initially quite well received, the terrible start to the season saw Hodgkinson come in for an incredible amount of criticism and abuse, a little in the stands but mostly on social media. Hodgkinson also claimed to have received death threats. He lasted until October 2021 when he stepped back after his business went into administration.
Former owner Hoyle, who had kept a 25% share in the club, returned to the helm. And while Town reached the Play-off final in May 2022 under Carlos Corberan, the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest was the Spaniard’s final game in charge as he resigned in July 2022.
Many Town fans blamed Hoyle for Corberan’s departure and claimed that he resigned because Hoyle ‘refused to back him’. The appointments of Danny Schofield in July 2022 and then Mark Fotheringham in September 2022 did nothing to ease the situation and eventually Hoyle announced he was stepping back from running the club in October 2022.
While he appointed Neil Warnock in February 2023, who then masterminded an incredible survival, Hoyle’s second tenure as chairman is looked upon with huge disappointment and his legacy at the club has been tainted in the eyes of some supporters. While he left the club to a standing ovation in May 2019, there was nothing of the sort when he handed over the reins to Kevin Nagle in June 2023. Despite his unpopularity, Hoyle never had any protests or demonstrations during his time at the club, nor was any abuse flung at him from the stands.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that every time Town are struggling, the fans hit out and direct their anger towards the club hierarchy. As we’ve seen in the various struggles since 1990, it’s the chairman that has had to bear the brunt of the frustrations.
Funnily enough, while Nagle has to take some responsibility for the way things have gone this season, he isn’t to blame for much of the problems, and is perhaps unfortunate that he has taken over at a time where fans have witnessed mostly poor seasons and their patience is at an all-time low. Much of the rot had set in before he’d even heard of Huddersfield Town, let alone bought the club.
The truth of the matter is, whenever a team aren’t doing well, disgruntled supporters vent their spleens. The anger remains the same, it’s always been there but while it has now shifted from the terraces and the local newspaper letters column, it is now posted on social media platforms for all to see within seconds. The days of 200 fans protesting outside the ground have been replaced by a far smaller number of supporters posting nasty words online.Remember reading that when you first posted it, very interesting read and I recall and was around for much of it. Old Longpockets, 😂. I've never posted it as far as I'm aware! Intended to give it to And He Takes That Chance, but I never bothered in the end. It was only a rough draft of something written on a whim, but I found it interesting how some were suggesting that abusing the chairman was a completely new thing.
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Post by joeyjoneslocker on Apr 23, 2024 20:08:28 GMT 1
So far he has. I doubt KN will be there in person on Saturday but I can see it getting as bad as it’s been for a long time if we lose and lose heavily. Longbottom had death threats, numerous protests, even an incident where he was confronted by a load of fans outside. David Taylor also had loads of protests, Ken Davy did as well. Barry Rubery required a police escort and had rocks thrown at him when we were relegated in 2001. I believe Phil Hodgkinson also had death threats. Football fans are far tamer than they were 20 or 30 years ago. Perhaps it will get bad on Saturday if we go down. Perhaps it needs to... That last sentence is a ridiculous statement
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htafcokay
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
Posts: 4,577
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Post by htafcokay on Apr 23, 2024 20:10:24 GMT 1
Longbottom had death threats, numerous protests, even an incident where he was confronted by a load of fans outside. David Taylor also had loads of protests, Ken Davy did as well. Barry Rubery required a police escort and had rocks thrown at him when we were relegated in 2001. I believe Phil Hodgkinson also had death threats. Football fans are far tamer than they were 20 or 30 years ago. Perhaps it will get bad on Saturday if we go down. Perhaps it needs to... That last sentence is a ridiculous statement I imagine you'll be one of those cheering the team off then.
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Post by joeyjoneslocker on Apr 23, 2024 20:28:50 GMT 1
That last sentence is a ridiculous statement I imagine you'll be one of those cheering the team off then. Come on mate let’s take a step back and think about this. You were talking about protests and death threats, then said perhaps it will get bad Saturday and perhaps it needs to. To what end exactly? It’s just football. It’s a constant cycle of ups and downs. ‘Perhaps it needs to get bad’ is just poor form and throwing toys out of the pram. It’s the last thing we need. I won’t be cheering them off as I most likely won’t be there at 90 minutes as I ain’t staying to watch the death of our current Championship status. If, and it’s a big if, we win then yes I’ll most likely clap them off. For about 20 seconds. Then I’ll be off.
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htafcokay
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
Posts: 4,577
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Post by htafcokay on Apr 23, 2024 20:33:09 GMT 1
I imagine you'll be one of those cheering the team off then. Come on mate let’s take a step back and think about this. You were talking about protests and death threats, then said perhaps it will get bad Saturday and perhaps it needs to. To what end exactly? It’s just football. It’s a constant cycle of ups and downs. ‘Perhaps it needs to get bad’ is just poor form and throwing toys out of the pram. It’s the last thing we need. I won’t be cheering them off as I most likely won’t be there at 90 minutes as I ain’t staying to watch the death of our current Championship status. If, and it’s a big if, we win then yes I’ll most likely clap them off. For about 20 seconds. Then I’ll be off. I think the club need to realise just how pissed off the fans are, and if that means a few angry chants then so be it. I don't think death threats and protests are required and I never said that. That would be absurd. However, the club have got off incredibly lightly over the last few years and if a bit of anger is shown at the end (as it was on Saturday) perhaps the club will realise that people have finally had enough.
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Post by gledholt terrier on Apr 23, 2024 20:38:46 GMT 1
I think it will, would be genuinely surprised if it didn’t and folk probably do need to vent rather than stew on it over the summer. Of course if the players actually turned up for once, put in a shift and we somehow managed to get a win, things could be different. But after last Saturday’s game, I have very little faith in that happening. I wrote this back in October, which went unpublished, but it was about how Nagle had been getting abuse on Twitter and how some were suggesting it was a new thing, so I went and researched the discontent over the last 35 years. I've whittled it down a bit, but if anyone has five minutes: Nagle is one of a long line of Town chairmen that have taken the brunt of supporters’ frustrations. As far back as 1990, Town supporters were aiming their anger at the club hierarchy, disgusted at the perceived lack of ambition from the club’s board. It all came to a head towards the end of the 1989-90 season.
Town started well and were looking likely for the play-off places at least, losing just four of the opening 25 games to get them to 3rd in Division Three. Though a dismal run followed and anger began to build as Town slipped to 8th after eight defeats in 10 games, a run that included five successive losses. Discontent began on March 10th as Town lost 1-0 to Fulham at Leeds Road.
The match was marked by a 50-minute demonstration of around 150 chanting supporters who demanded the resignation of Town chairman Keith Longbottom. After the match, Longbottom needed a police escort to leave the ground as he was targeted during the angry demonstration.
In an interview with The Examiner a few days later, Longbottom revealed he’d been receiving threatening telephone calls and while admitting he could understand the frustrations of the supporters, he vowed not to bow down to mob rule.
“I can understand the frustrations of the supporters because they are felt within the club as well but I deplore the protests like the one we had at Leeds Road on Saturday”.
His comments did not go down well with supporters, who turned on the chairman in the following day’s Examiner. A Mr. John Clark was quoted as saying “Town fans have been tolerant for long enough. We are now fed-up with a total lack of entertainment and passion on the pitch. There was no howling mob on Saturday, just frustrated supporters wanting to know what is going on at the club. Not one person misbehaved. People were simply chanting ‘spend, spend some money’.
Days later, Longbottom was approached by a consortium to buy him and the rest of the Leeds Road board out. Town fan David Taylor led the consortium, which included Malcolm Asquith and Malcolm Vincent, and they pledged to make more than £500,000 available for new signings as well as aiming to unseat Longbottom. The Town board ultimately rejected the takeover bid.
The disharmony continued in April after a dismal run of nine defeats in 12, as well as five straight home defeats for the first time in the club’s history, more protests followed after the 2-0 midweek defeat to Preston North End which prompted chants of ‘sack the board’, ‘we’ve got no ambition’ and ‘no more excuses’ outside the main entrance of Leeds Road. The defeat had more-or-less spelled the end of Town’s play-off hopes for that season.
Tensions cooled for a while before flaring up again in December 1990. Town had started the 1990-91 season poorly but had the chance to bring some much-needed excitement to the supporters when they faced Blackpool in the 2nd Round of the F.A. Cup at Leeds Road.
As the initial fixture had been postponed due to snow, the 3rd Round draw had already been made and if Town could beat Blackpool, they would face Tottenham Hotspur in the next round, who had the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Gary Lineker and Nayim playing for them.
As is typical with Town, they made hard work of it and lost the match 2-0. It was the final straw for around 200 Town fans who demonstrated outside Leeds Road for over an hour, directing their anger at both the board and Eoin Hand.
It turned again in 1992-93, after losing seven of their first eight matches, the fans had clearly had enough and demonstrated after a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City outside Leeds Road. Some disgruntled supporters stormed down the tunnel at full-time and ended up in the boardroom, where Trevor Cherry did his best to explain the financial situation. The major criticism from fans was the lack of funds available for manager Ian Ross. Ross even agreed with the discontent, ‘The fans were chanting the right things. It was rubbish”.
The following week, when Town welcomed Premier League Blackburn Rovers to Leeds Road in the League Cup, two large “Sack the Board” banners were displayed in the ground.
Fortunes did not improve and on December 19th, following a 2-0 defeat to Chester City, 200 angry Town fans once again voiced their displeasure inside and outside the ground, targeting Longbottom and manager Ian Ross, demanding that both of them leave the club and chants of ‘What a load of rubbish’ echoed around Leeds Road.
Ten days later, Longbottom announced his immediate resignation as Town chairman after mounting pressure from unhappy supporters. He was replaced by Graham Leslie. Longbottom left the club altogether in February 1993 after being bought out by Leslie.
Town chairman Terry Fisher quickly came under fire from supporters once Mick Buxton announced his exit from Leeds Road in July 1993.
Michael Davis of Brighouse wrote into The Examiner lamenting him for offering Buxton a one-year deal as assistant manager, instead of a five-year contract as manager and ended his rant with “Could the chap who owns the “Sack the Board” banner please give it to his mam for a wash. I feel he will soon be needing it again”. Pete Stead of Moldgreen was similarly scathing, saying “The most popular song on the terrace of recent seasons has been “Sack the board, sack the board, sack the board”. I hope you read this letter Mr. Fisher, because these immortal words will be ringing in your eyes around the middle of September”.
The 1993-94 season would be Town’s last at Leeds Road as they prepared to move into the new Alfred McAlpine Stadium across the road, and it’s fair to say that new manager Neil Warnock was deeply unpopular in those early months. Town struggled at the foot of Division Two and Warnock took the brunt of it from frustrated supporters.
In December 1993, Terry Fisher was even accused of asset-stripping the club by Nigel Skelton of Park Drive, Huddersfield.
As Warnock eventually turned things around and reached the Autoglass Trophy final at Wembley, and coupled with the excitement of playing in the new stadium, the fans were pretty happy. And then with promotion at the end of the 1994-95 season, there wasn’t much to moan about.
There were brief murmurings of discontent during the 1997-98 season as Brian Horton had a terrible start to the season, failing to win any of the first nine matches. However, his sacking and the appointment of Peter Jackson was a popular move amongst supporters.
After Town were relegated in 2000-01, Rubery was prevented from leaving the McAlpine Stadium after the game after 100s of supporters gathered in protest. As Rubery emerged from the stadium and tried to talk to the fans they turned angrily on him, objects were thrown and police had to usher him back into the ground.
David Taylor became the chairman in January 2002 and he received his fair share of abuse as well, and was also on the end of various protests calling for him to go. During the 2002-03 season, which was plagued by financial struggle and ultimately relegation, one disgruntled supporter chased manager Mick Wadsworth down the tunnel after one defeat.
Ken Davy, who became chairman in 2003, wasn’t without his fair share of stick either. Although he was initially popular for saving the club, when it emerged he had transferred the club’s shares of the ground into his name, things deteriorated. During one game in 2007, when Adam Pearson was rumoured to be interested in buying the club, chants of “Davy Out. Pearson In” echoed around the ground.
Dean Hoyle, who bought the club in 2008, is perhaps the only owner in Town’s history that was almost immune from criticism during his reign, and while it was a mostly successful tenure, he still managed to steer clear of any demonstrations, protests or chanting during his first spell as chairman. Even when the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2018-19, there was very little anger from the club’s supporters.
However, when Hoyle sold the club to Phil Hodgkinson in the summer of 2019, things began to change. Although he was initially quite well received, the terrible start to the season saw Hodgkinson come in for an incredible amount of criticism and abuse, a little in the stands but mostly on social media. Hodgkinson also claimed to have received death threats. He lasted until October 2021 when he stepped back after his business went into administration.
Former owner Hoyle, who had kept a 25% share in the club, returned to the helm. And while Town reached the Play-off final in May 2022 under Carlos Corberan, the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest was the Spaniard’s final game in charge as he resigned in July 2022.
Many Town fans blamed Hoyle for Corberan’s departure and claimed that he resigned because Hoyle ‘refused to back him’. The appointments of Danny Schofield in July 2022 and then Mark Fotheringham in September 2022 did nothing to ease the situation and eventually Hoyle announced he was stepping back from running the club in October 2022.
While he appointed Neil Warnock in February 2023, who then masterminded an incredible survival, Hoyle’s second tenure as chairman is looked upon with huge disappointment and his legacy at the club has been tainted in the eyes of some supporters. While he left the club to a standing ovation in May 2019, there was nothing of the sort when he handed over the reins to Kevin Nagle in June 2023. Despite his unpopularity, Hoyle never had any protests or demonstrations during his time at the club, nor was any abuse flung at him from the stands.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that every time Town are struggling, the fans hit out and direct their anger towards the club hierarchy. As we’ve seen in the various struggles since 1990, it’s the chairman that has had to bear the brunt of the frustrations.
Funnily enough, while Nagle has to take some responsibility for the way things have gone this season, he isn’t to blame for much of the problems, and is perhaps unfortunate that he has taken over at a time where fans have witnessed mostly poor seasons and their patience is at an all-time low. Much of the rot had set in before he’d even heard of Huddersfield Town, let alone bought the club.
The truth of the matter is, whenever a team aren’t doing well, disgruntled supporters vent their spleens. The anger remains the same, it’s always been there but while it has now shifted from the terraces and the local newspaper letters column, it is now posted on social media platforms for all to see within seconds. The days of 200 fans protesting outside the ground have been replaced by a far smaller number of supporters posting nasty words online.Memories! Just missing dribble, Drabble, dribble, Drabble, out, out, out!
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King Curtis
Jimmy Glazzard Terrier
Bacon is good for me
Posts: 4,794
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Post by King Curtis on Apr 23, 2024 20:59:37 GMT 1
I think it will, would be genuinely surprised if it didn’t and folk probably do need to vent rather than stew on it over the summer. Of course if the players actually turned up for once, put in a shift and we somehow managed to get a win, things could be different. But after last Saturday’s game, I have very little faith in that happening. I wrote this back in October, which went unpublished, but it was about how Nagle had been getting abuse on Twitter and how some were suggesting it was a new thing, so I went and researched the discontent over the last 35 years. I've whittled it down a bit, but if anyone has five minutes: Nagle is one of a long line of Town chairmen that have taken the brunt of supporters’ frustrations. As far back as 1990, Town supporters were aiming their anger at the club hierarchy, disgusted at the perceived lack of ambition from the club’s board. It all came to a head towards the end of the 1989-90 season.
Town started well and were looking likely for the play-off places at least, losing just four of the opening 25 games to get them to 3rd in Division Three. Though a dismal run followed and anger began to build as Town slipped to 8th after eight defeats in 10 games, a run that included five successive losses. Discontent began on March 10th as Town lost 1-0 to Fulham at Leeds Road.
The match was marked by a 50-minute demonstration of around 150 chanting supporters who demanded the resignation of Town chairman Keith Longbottom. After the match, Longbottom needed a police escort to leave the ground as he was targeted during the angry demonstration.
In an interview with The Examiner a few days later, Longbottom revealed he’d been receiving threatening telephone calls and while admitting he could understand the frustrations of the supporters, he vowed not to bow down to mob rule.
“I can understand the frustrations of the supporters because they are felt within the club as well but I deplore the protests like the one we had at Leeds Road on Saturday”.
His comments did not go down well with supporters, who turned on the chairman in the following day’s Examiner. A Mr. John Clark was quoted as saying “Town fans have been tolerant for long enough. We are now fed-up with a total lack of entertainment and passion on the pitch. There was no howling mob on Saturday, just frustrated supporters wanting to know what is going on at the club. Not one person misbehaved. People were simply chanting ‘spend, spend some money’.
Days later, Longbottom was approached by a consortium to buy him and the rest of the Leeds Road board out. Town fan David Taylor led the consortium, which included Malcolm Asquith and Malcolm Vincent, and they pledged to make more than £500,000 available for new signings as well as aiming to unseat Longbottom. The Town board ultimately rejected the takeover bid.
The disharmony continued in April after a dismal run of nine defeats in 12, as well as five straight home defeats for the first time in the club’s history, more protests followed after the 2-0 midweek defeat to Preston North End which prompted chants of ‘sack the board’, ‘we’ve got no ambition’ and ‘no more excuses’ outside the main entrance of Leeds Road. The defeat had more-or-less spelled the end of Town’s play-off hopes for that season.
Tensions cooled for a while before flaring up again in December 1990. Town had started the 1990-91 season poorly but had the chance to bring some much-needed excitement to the supporters when they faced Blackpool in the 2nd Round of the F.A. Cup at Leeds Road.
As the initial fixture had been postponed due to snow, the 3rd Round draw had already been made and if Town could beat Blackpool, they would face Tottenham Hotspur in the next round, who had the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Gary Lineker and Nayim playing for them.
As is typical with Town, they made hard work of it and lost the match 2-0. It was the final straw for around 200 Town fans who demonstrated outside Leeds Road for over an hour, directing their anger at both the board and Eoin Hand.
It turned again in 1992-93, after losing seven of their first eight matches, the fans had clearly had enough and demonstrated after a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City outside Leeds Road. Some disgruntled supporters stormed down the tunnel at full-time and ended up in the boardroom, where Trevor Cherry did his best to explain the financial situation. The major criticism from fans was the lack of funds available for manager Ian Ross. Ross even agreed with the discontent, ‘The fans were chanting the right things. It was rubbish”.
The following week, when Town welcomed Premier League Blackburn Rovers to Leeds Road in the League Cup, two large “Sack the Board” banners were displayed in the ground.
Fortunes did not improve and on December 19th, following a 2-0 defeat to Chester City, 200 angry Town fans once again voiced their displeasure inside and outside the ground, targeting Longbottom and manager Ian Ross, demanding that both of them leave the club and chants of ‘What a load of rubbish’ echoed around Leeds Road.
Ten days later, Longbottom announced his immediate resignation as Town chairman after mounting pressure from unhappy supporters. He was replaced by Graham Leslie. Longbottom left the club altogether in February 1993 after being bought out by Leslie.
Town chairman Terry Fisher quickly came under fire from supporters once Mick Buxton announced his exit from Leeds Road in July 1993.
Michael Davis of Brighouse wrote into The Examiner lamenting him for offering Buxton a one-year deal as assistant manager, instead of a five-year contract as manager and ended his rant with “Could the chap who owns the “Sack the Board” banner please give it to his mam for a wash. I feel he will soon be needing it again”. Pete Stead of Moldgreen was similarly scathing, saying “The most popular song on the terrace of recent seasons has been “Sack the board, sack the board, sack the board”. I hope you read this letter Mr. Fisher, because these immortal words will be ringing in your eyes around the middle of September”.
The 1993-94 season would be Town’s last at Leeds Road as they prepared to move into the new Alfred McAlpine Stadium across the road, and it’s fair to say that new manager Neil Warnock was deeply unpopular in those early months. Town struggled at the foot of Division Two and Warnock took the brunt of it from frustrated supporters.
In December 1993, Terry Fisher was even accused of asset-stripping the club by Nigel Skelton of Park Drive, Huddersfield.
As Warnock eventually turned things around and reached the Autoglass Trophy final at Wembley, and coupled with the excitement of playing in the new stadium, the fans were pretty happy. And then with promotion at the end of the 1994-95 season, there wasn’t much to moan about.
There were brief murmurings of discontent during the 1997-98 season as Brian Horton had a terrible start to the season, failing to win any of the first nine matches. However, his sacking and the appointment of Peter Jackson was a popular move amongst supporters.
After Town were relegated in 2000-01, Rubery was prevented from leaving the McAlpine Stadium after the game after 100s of supporters gathered in protest. As Rubery emerged from the stadium and tried to talk to the fans they turned angrily on him, objects were thrown and police had to usher him back into the ground.
David Taylor became the chairman in January 2002 and he received his fair share of abuse as well, and was also on the end of various protests calling for him to go. During the 2002-03 season, which was plagued by financial struggle and ultimately relegation, one disgruntled supporter chased manager Mick Wadsworth down the tunnel after one defeat.
Ken Davy, who became chairman in 2003, wasn’t without his fair share of stick either. Although he was initially popular for saving the club, when it emerged he had transferred the club’s shares of the ground into his name, things deteriorated. During one game in 2007, when Adam Pearson was rumoured to be interested in buying the club, chants of “Davy Out. Pearson In” echoed around the ground.
Dean Hoyle, who bought the club in 2008, is perhaps the only owner in Town’s history that was almost immune from criticism during his reign, and while it was a mostly successful tenure, he still managed to steer clear of any demonstrations, protests or chanting during his first spell as chairman. Even when the club were relegated from the Premier League in 2018-19, there was very little anger from the club’s supporters.
However, when Hoyle sold the club to Phil Hodgkinson in the summer of 2019, things began to change. Although he was initially quite well received, the terrible start to the season saw Hodgkinson come in for an incredible amount of criticism and abuse, a little in the stands but mostly on social media. Hodgkinson also claimed to have received death threats. He lasted until October 2021 when he stepped back after his business went into administration.
Former owner Hoyle, who had kept a 25% share in the club, returned to the helm. And while Town reached the Play-off final in May 2022 under Carlos Corberan, the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest was the Spaniard’s final game in charge as he resigned in July 2022.
Many Town fans blamed Hoyle for Corberan’s departure and claimed that he resigned because Hoyle ‘refused to back him’. The appointments of Danny Schofield in July 2022 and then Mark Fotheringham in September 2022 did nothing to ease the situation and eventually Hoyle announced he was stepping back from running the club in October 2022.
While he appointed Neil Warnock in February 2023, who then masterminded an incredible survival, Hoyle’s second tenure as chairman is looked upon with huge disappointment and his legacy at the club has been tainted in the eyes of some supporters. While he left the club to a standing ovation in May 2019, there was nothing of the sort when he handed over the reins to Kevin Nagle in June 2023. Despite his unpopularity, Hoyle never had any protests or demonstrations during his time at the club, nor was any abuse flung at him from the stands.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that every time Town are struggling, the fans hit out and direct their anger towards the club hierarchy. As we’ve seen in the various struggles since 1990, it’s the chairman that has had to bear the brunt of the frustrations.
Funnily enough, while Nagle has to take some responsibility for the way things have gone this season, he isn’t to blame for much of the problems, and is perhaps unfortunate that he has taken over at a time where fans have witnessed mostly poor seasons and their patience is at an all-time low. Much of the rot had set in before he’d even heard of Huddersfield Town, let alone bought the club.
The truth of the matter is, whenever a team aren’t doing well, disgruntled supporters vent their spleens. The anger remains the same, it’s always been there but while it has now shifted from the terraces and the local newspaper letters column, it is now posted on social media platforms for all to see within seconds. The days of 200 fans protesting outside the ground have been replaced by a far smaller number of supporters posting nasty words online.Big gap between 2008 to 2019. Wonder why?
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