Linnets' Fans' Forum

It really is time for Cleeve to hand over the reins of this football club over to someone else or a group of interested parties while he can still leave amicably.

I and many others appreciate what he has done for this football club and gave it a refreshing boost (at least on the pitch) and has got this club to where it should be in terms of where we play in the pyramid (I know a few of you will disagree but ultimately if you're getting 900-1,000 most weeks you should be at step 2).

However, off the pitch, the club is at best inadequate and at worst a total shambles. There is a real gulf between the club and its supporters and of the local community in general. There are many clubs in non-league who have seen crowds greatly improve because of their initiatives to engage with exisiting supporters and the community as a whole. You only have to visit the likes of South Shields, Chorley and Spennymoor to name a few in our league who have invested a lot of time to really engage with their town and surrounding areas to drum up support for their respective clubs and they are enjoying very healthy crowds of over 1,400 a week (over 2,500 in the case of South Shields) and I cannot see why we cannot achieve regular crowds of 1,400-1,500 a week.

The individual who is holding this club back is Stephen Cleeve, and until he goes this club will not move forward. If he were to sell up now or in the near future, he can leave the club I think with the best wishes of most for what he has done on the pitch and he should be welcomed, if he ever comes to matches, as someone who is purely supporting the club like all of us do. The longer he holds on to the club or messes people like Joe about, I can see things turning as nasty as they did last season when the majority at Boston chanted for Cleeve to "Get out of our club".

Here's hoping that change is coming in the near future 

Can't really afford any slip ups now, which is going to be a tough ask considering we now have home matches against Chorley, Scunthorpe and Chester. You'd like to think we at least get two more wins from Farsley and Needham Market but we never seem to do things the easy way against those down the bottom.

The town needs to get behind the boys now, starting on Saturday against Chorley 

Just imagine where we would be if we didn't play this rather dull style of football? We could very easily be occupying a top 3 position and that's not impossible with the majority of this squad that we have as they have shown on a few occasions what they're capable of. A few tweaks over the summer and a general change in philosophy by the manager and I have no doubt next season we will be up there. In my opinion I think it has been another poor league where if any team had something about them they would be walking away with it by now.

Oh well, let's just see the season out and see where we end up. I'll carry on turning up and supporting the club through thick and thin   

Quote from: Mallard on March 11, 2025, 10:21:44 PM
That's a decent point.  Now we need to follow it up with 3 more of them at home to Spennymoor on Saturday.

788 against top of the table with 3 quid money off deal must be concerning for the overseas investor.

As I said in my thread, it wasn't as well advertised compared to the Oxford City match. Disappointing really but considering Champions League was on last night it probably meant a few not turning up like they usually do

Another tough one tonight with the current league leaders coming to town. Play like we did at their place back in December and we should get something out of this. Be nice to see a gate of over a 1,000 tonight taking up the offer of a £3 discount on adult and concessions tickets if bought by midnight last night. I don't think that has been as well advertised as the £5 admission offer against Oxford City in my view but we shall see.

Going for a 2-1 win but I'll happily take a point. COYL 

Dreadful first half, second half was better albeit with AL making some rather odd subs at the break.

I've resigned myself to the fact that we're not making the play-offs now. Shame really after such a promising start. Still, I'll happily take this than being at the wrong end of the table.

Let's just enjoy what we can of the rest of the season and where we end up is where we end up - not going down, almost definitely not going up 

Just a bit of a recent observation but has anyone else noticed recently that when Ross Crane is on the pitch we look a bit more likely to score a goal?

Scored a goal against Marine about a month ago, was unlucky to hit the post against Radcliffe and I think he had another chance which wasn't far off, and seconds after he came on against Hereford he nearly set up the equaliser before someone managed to put it over the bar from 5 yards out!! He's then managed to get a brace against Oxford on Tuesday by being in the right place at the right time.

I know some have been critical of Crane but I really like the lad and given he's a young lad as well I think there is still more to come from him. For me, he has to be one of the first names on the teamsheet. Be interested to know everyone else's thoughts on him 

Glad we got that over the line last night. First half we looked OK but second half we made life difficult for ourselves at times.

Great turnout last night as well, though I thought there was more than 1,600 in attendance last night. It does make one wonder if there will be discussions between Cleeve and the commercial guy about admission prices. Not saying that we should put it down to a fiver or even a tenner, but maybe if we really want to get 'bums on seats' we probably need to be charging £15-17 for adults, it's certainly a lot more attractive than £19 at this level (or £22 to sit in the stands!!)

Anyway, another win and back in the play-off places for now. Onto Darlington on Saturday 

Quote from: Mallard on February 17, 2025, 01:58:06 PM
Clever piece of marketing by Bal.   After Saturday's defeat and with two home games in 3 days.  Cold Tuesday with Oxford in town how many people would the game of pulled in ?

So 400 @ £20.   Against 2500 @ £5.

You do the  math.

I hope the Chip van has stocked up on the old King Edward's 

There would have been more than 400 

It would be the usual 700-800 turning up, but looking forward to tonight. Should be a decent atmosphere 

Quote from: Birc1959 on February 10, 2025, 07:03:58 AM
After a superb win away to our nemesis curson Ashton, did anyone notice the post match interview reaction......
Negative doesn't come close🤔

I think he's still baffled by the reaction after the Radcliffe match but to me it seems like he has spoken to supporters who have given him a rather negative opinion of the state of the club off the pitch, something of course he can't control, but nevertheless hasn't been around long enough to maybe understand people's thoughts. I don't know, I'm just guessing 

Saturday was a fantastic result and the boys played well. Not too many chances as both sides were pretty resolute and tough to break down so it was always going to be a case of who takes that golden opportunity and fortunately we took ours when it came. Much needed 3 points after recent results and hopefully Saturday we can pick up another 3 points

Another great initiative by the club to get people in. Club need to get this all over the town through the available channels and really hammer it home if they want as many people to turn up. Don't know what the target figure will be for this but surely it must be 1,500-2,000? As someone else has pointed out, there would need to be 4,000 coming in to get the same revenue as we would normally on a matchday but I highly doubt that is achievable considering the opposition (no disrespect to Oxford City) and the fact its a Tuesday night. 

And if that target is met will we then see the club seriously look at making some adjustments to the entry? I've argued for a while that the entry should be the same if you sit or stand (£17 seems to be the average for this league) and concessions being £5 off the adult price (again, seems to be the standard for pretty much every other club in this league).

I don't think the boos on Saturday were necessarily aimed at the players but more towards the management. 2 points out of 9 against two teams in the relegation zone and another against an average mid table side in this league is simply not good enough and the way that AL sets us up to play is not a style of football that neither suits the players we've got nor will it see us even come close to winning the play-offs. AL is starting to make a number of comments about the supporters at the minute and about people supporting the club and I'm afraid this will only put more people off from coming. Further, I think supporters have a right to voice their grievances, especially since we're paying £19 or more to watch what we're being served up at the minute.

Having said all that, Saturday just felt really flat all around the ground which was reflected in the dismal crowd that turned up. And I don't think it's to do with the way we're playing. I, like many who support this club (or the ones I talk to anyway) feel so detached from the football club. The gap between supporters and the football club is probably the widest it has been. No one knows what direction the club is heading, no one knows what's going on with Joe from Singapore and what ultimately his and Bal's vision is for the club. The atmosphere around the ground before a match just feels like 800 odd people turning up out of habit as loyal paying customers to something they've been turning up and paying for for however long they've been doing it.

I don't want to make this into a long essay about the state of the club as many on here know what the problems are, but unless something fundamental changes soon (Cleeve handing the keys over to Joe, Bal or someone else would be my preferred option) then I really do fear for the future of this football club. I look at other clubs in our league, above and one below and sometimes I say to myself "I wish we could be like that", but I'm afraid it won't happen so long as Cleeve stays at this club.

Anyway, onto Curzon and safe trip for anyone else who is making the journey. Can't say I'm looking forward to it 

The big problem this season has been our goal threat. Margetts and Gold have hardly played together or been fit so far this season and this has certainly impacted our goal of winning the league. Having said that, I think AL's cautious style of football against certain teams this season also hasn't helped us. We've got a squad that is certainly capable of playing any team in this league off the park, yet all we seem to do is try and lump it to someone who is about 5 foot nothing against a 6 foot 4 centre half. We have been rather frustrating to watch this season, but it's certainly better to what it was last season.

Having said that, still a long way to go and plenty of football to be played from now until the end of the season 

Big 3 points needed on Saturday if we are to keep up with everyone else in the top 6.

It'll be a tough game, Peterborough Sports seem to be a very difficult side to break down who don't give away too much. Still confident we'll get it right though as we seem to play with a bit more freedom away from home. I'm going for a 2-0 win and the sizeable following from West Norfolk getting behind the boys 

Quote from: Linnet on December 30, 2024, 12:00:25 PM
I was trying at the weekend to buy tickets and followed the link on the home page but their online sysytem won't let you buy tickets
Pity

If you're trying to buy tickets in the away end and finding that nothing happens when you click on the away end, somewhere at the top it will say something like 'Change to away' and it should bring up the ground with all the home areas greyed out and then the section in the away end which we have coloured in purple (I think?)

Hope this helps