accountants and statisticians must never win

[ted1965]

The last 20 months have brought some amazing changes to this club, yes some were painful to begin with but I don’t think anyone can deny it’s turning out to be far better than most imagined. The turnaround in our fortunes has been nothing short of phenomenal

Peter Coates, someone who has the kind of reputation among older supporters akin to anthrax and breathing had returned. There was a huge collective not again from many and we waited for the disaster to happen. The beginnings weren’t encouraging, there had it seemed not been much change in him on first sight. Though he has proved that we were wrong and the same for the manager much kudos to them both for it. That progressive thinking has led the club to the brink of the Premiership, yes still work to do but considering where we started from it’s been stunning progress.

The comments by some people in the media and so called experts about whether it’s worth sides like ourselves and others reaching in the Premiership is a ridiculous one. I have heard some actually saying teams like ourselves might be better off left in the Championship in favour of so called larger sides, it seems they believe this would form a far better way of deciding who is capable of sustaining football at the highest level.

There is a perfectly acceptable system for deciding whether any side deserves to be at a higher level it’s called 46 games, if you have won enough of those over a season then you’re worthy of that step up. If you don’t, then they have been proved correct. I think this method of determining whether a side merits promotion has worked pretty well for as long I can remember and I see no reason to change it.

The real problem for me is the play offs, it is exciting but sometimes the clubs coming through it aren’t ready or really prepared to gain promotion at that time. It also gives them a little less time to prepare for the following season, they can‘t chase players until they know which league they will be starting in. Though not complaining about it, it keeps the season alive and so was a pretty good innovation and lets face it how we came up in the first place.

The real reason we support a club is roots, the place we live or a club we latch onto from an early age, yes in some cases you discover too late that you have latched yourself to the Titanic and the iceberg is only minutes away. Though what does it matter, the real supporter is one who never wavers in his passion for the club they choose, through good and bad he will proudly say I support them. I knew from the beginning being a Stoke fan was going to be a roller coaster ride but it’s one I have endured in the bad times with black humour, been enthralled in the better times but whether in triumph or disaster never lost sight of the real reason, for that one chance that we would once more ascend the ladder and find ourselves going head to head with the very best in the land.

When I hear so called experts espousing such rubbish as certain teams should have to reach a set criteria before they are promoted, what criteria does any side need to reach other than proving themselves too good for the league below. If the financially driven world of football no longer wants anyone other than those who satisfy certain criteria then lets just pick the top 20 clubs on attendances, financial backing and dispense with actually reaching a league position on merit.

We can all sit in our little boxes year in year out and only when you have proved yourself to a panel of accountants and statisticians will you be allowed to progress to the next level. The result will be total stagnation, supporters will no longer have aspirations, hopes, dreams. They will lose interest and the smaller clubs will go to the wall. We all know that 90 percent of football sides will achieve relatively little in most supporters lifetimes, though if you take away that dream simply to please the accountants and statisticians then even those faint hopes will be extinguished. The vast majority of die hard football supporters don’t support their side expecting to see them reach the heights of success, they support them in the hope they might one day and if that day comes then the joy it brings is far more than someone who simply supports whoever wins the league. There is nobody who has the right to extinguish such dreams. If people like this got their way, Wimbledon would have remained a lower league side and never aspired or achieved anything, yes they faded away but they lived the dream.

Now thankfully this looks unlikely but the truth is many people within the game, not football people but those who only think in terms of football being a big clubs playground and if you don’t fit into their world then so be it if you fall. There could be such a time, The only thing these kinds of so called football people consider is the financial viability of the Premiership and where they can bleed supporters dry next.

When you fall in love with a club that doesn’t fit into their one dimensional view of the world then you’re out on a limb but for me, nothing good or bad will change my view of my football team.

[trebor63]

Ted I'm guessing you started watching Stoke about the same time as me, judging by the 1965 bit!

I started watching Stoke in 1970 so enjoyed the greatest years in our history at a very young age and I've endured the last twenty odd years of relentless failiure too!

But its like I said to my mate coming back from the meet the chairman tonight NO glory hunting fans could EVER possibly feel what us Stoke fans are feeling at the moment.

I'm jealous of PC cos he obviously has the exact same feelings that we all do BUT he can actually do something about it. I am soooooooo pleased that with his backing and TPs brilliant managerial skills all our dreams are starting to look realistic.

PS love reading your posts

[sandford]