Awesome Rant by Grimsby Town Fan

Utterly hilarious!

 

Passion. This is what the game is all about.

 

They could still escape by winning their last two games and hoping Barnet only pick up a point from theirs. As fate would have it, one of the games is Grimsby v Barnet on Saturday

 

And Barnet hit the panic button by sacking their manager before Saturday's game against Grimsby:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/28/barnet-ian-hendon-sacked-manager

 

Still think it's a certainty?

If Grimsby win at Burton and Barnet fail to win at home to Rochdale, Grimsby escape. And Cheltenham could still theoretically go down if both Grimsby and Barnet win and they lose, with a swing of seven required in goal difference. Grimsby are still clear favourites to go down, but it's not by any means a certainty.

 

Bet this bloke probably sees the world in a whole different light after today's result.

 

How big of a difference is there between League Two and the Conference on the field?

Just curious.

 

It is, but a lot of clubs save a chunk by being part-time.

Overall, there doesn't seem to be a noticeably bigger gap in playing standards between the conference and League Two than the gaps between the other football league divisions. If anything, it's getting harder for relegated clubs to bounce back, as there's quite a collection of ex-League clubs in the conference now.

 

Teams like Oxford, Cambridge, Luton, and Mansfield could certainly compete financially with a fair amount of teams in League 2, and in terms of playing standards as well there isn't a whole lot of difference between the lower half of League 2 and the top tier of the Conference. The bottom of the Conference though is a whole different ball game. It's simply miles away from the standards of league football.

 

I saw an analysis somewhere of "first time returners", i.e. teams that were relegated the first season after being promoted. Unlike the top four divisions, I don't think there's been a single case of a team being promoted from the Conference and relegated the following season back to it during the 20 odd years we've had promotion from the Conference. Some of this was probably due to a "logjam" of better-run non-league that were stuck there due to lack of pro/rel before that, but that effect should have run its course by now.

 

And yet Accrington, Morecambe, Burton and Cheltenham were all playing below the Conference ten years before they were promoted to the Football League. I take your point though:- the gap between the Conference and its north and south feeder leagues does seem to be widening. Many promoted teams are going straight down again, and the bottom of the Conference is seeing a bunch of teams stuck there year after year until relegated.

 

Your fans showed some real passion against Crystal Palace.

 

Crickey, this isn't trolling. This isn't even Sheffield Wednesday's forums. I just happened to be passing through here and I saw him writing about 'passion.'

 

One problem is that the ex-League clubs just tend to have much better support. The likes of Wrexham can pull double the crowds of someone like Altrincham or Salisbury, and it makes it much harder to compete. I doubt the gap between the bottom half of the conference and League Two is really any bigger than the gap between the bottom half of League Two and League One. And it's much smaller than the ga[ between the bottom of the championship and the premier league.

Ideally the football league could to expand to support another 12 full-time clubs, but logistically it's not really possible.

 

Well, you were right in the end

 

It's a tough day for all those involved. As a Hartlepool fan every minute today was agony followed by an amazing sense of relief. I don't want to get in to an argument about "true" football fans as a fan is a fan, but, unless for example you were Man Utd fan in 1974 fans of these teams have no idea what this agony, ecstacy and frustration is like.

Good luck to all those who got relegated next year (except Darlington...evil laugh!!).... and I will dream that Hartlepool will pull off a miracle and challenge for promotion.

-Richard

 

Bye bye Grimsby. Have fun playing in Conference.

Love,
Lincoln City