Next Season - What would you rather? | Vital Football

Next Season - What would you rather?

M

mick745

Vital Reserves Team
Given a choice would you rather Gills stayed up this season to be faced with another boring season of struggle next season, say in the bottom six for the whole season.

Or, go down and have a season in the top six of the National League, challenging for play-offs and in with a shout of promotion in the top six?

Bottom six or top six?
 
Bottom six. It means we are still in league 2.

There is no certainty of being top six, let alone getting promoted if we go down. Take a look at the National League. Half the sides are former long term established league sides who dropped down in the last decade and didn't bounce back despite being "the big side with the big crowds".
 
It's crucial that we stay in L2. Falling into the National League could be the end of GFC as we know it. There's no guarantee that we'd ever regain league status and I suspect that we'd just wither and die.
 
There is no shame in being a National League side. It is a vibrant league and very competitive.

Struggling for a number of seasons near the bottom of (now) league 2 nearly killed the club in the 1990s. A repeat of that is equally unpalatable.

It is hard to get out of the National League, with big spending clubs, such as Wrexham and the likes of Notts County getting five figure crowds.

But it is also hard to get out of League 2 (but at least there are twice as many promotion places).

Maybe it should be three up three down from the National League.
 
This is an alternative universe question, i am saying we stay up but struggle along in bottom six or we dont stay up and finish top six. I am aware of all the caveats (there is no guarantees either way) but asking what kind of season you'd rather have.
 
I`m a fan of the National League and watch it quite a lot. But, being relegated to the NL would be a calamity because, as others have rightly said, it`s a very difficult league to get out of ! Also, one wonder`s whether the apparent "take-over" bid might be subject to GFC being an EFL club.

Only situation that might make the NL less of a disaster for GFC is if, as Mick745 alludes, the EFL/NL promotion/relegation ratio changes to Three Down; Three Up. That`s a distinct possibility IMO.
 
I think GillsFan22 hit the nail on the head.

I honestly thought last season, that maybe getting relegated to L2 wouldn’t be a calamity, and we could look forward to a more “winning” season. Yeah, that turned out well.

I believe, if we can salvage this season by staying up and if the takeover does happen, we can maybe, just maybe, look forward to better times in L2 from next season onward. It shouldn’t break the bank for us to be highly competitive in this league. Just needs a bit bigger budget and larger crowds. It isn’t full of Sheff Wednesday’s, Ipswich’s, Bolton and Pompey’s who can smash our transfer budgets.
 
I'd be looking at the example of Scunthorpe right now. Similar trajectory to us, been verging on a takeover since before the season began and in the NL relegation zone currently.

My mate at work is a Scunny fan and tells a very similar tale when they were relegated to where we are now, total lack of playing quality, no creativity, lack of goals. We are a far more comparable club to them than the likes of Wrexham or Notts County if we were to go down.

We HAVE to stay up by any means necessary.
 
HerrLjunga said:
I'd be looking at the example of Scunthorpe right now. Similar trajectory to us, been verging on a takeover since before the season began and in the NL relegation zone currently.
My mate at work is a Scunny fan and tells a very similar tale when they were relegated to where we are now, total lack of playing quality, no creativity, lack of goals. We are a far more comparable club to them than the likes of Wrexham or Notts County if we were to go down.
We HAVE to stay up by any means necessary.
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Oldham also in the bottom four of the National League and they have experience of the top division under Joe Royle, so are historically bigger than us.

We need to pull out of the tailspin sooner rather than later, so need to stay in League Two as much as we did in the early 90s.
 
gills69 said:
I can't see a time when I'd ever consider us playing teams like Solihull Moors, Borehamwood, Eastleigh and Wealdstone "vibrant".
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To be fair, you could make exactly the same argument about Harrogate, Barrow and Hartlepool, for example
 
I think many have misunderstood Mick’s question.

He’s not asking whether it might be a good thing to go down because we might win more games next season.

He’s asking whether we’d rather finish top 6 in NL next season or bottom six in L2.

For me it’s still a clear preference for L2 - we’d have a 4 in 6 chance of playing league football in 2024/25 as opposed to a 2 in 6 chance were we to finish top 6 in NL.

However, change the parameters to top and bottom 4 and it’s a closer call.

Think I’ve mentioned previously that I’d allowed myself to daydream about a one-off season in NL, playing a host of Kent derbies on our way to a record breaking title. Obviously we’d then use the momentum to be European champs by 2032.

A season in NL could be fun* but extremely unlikely that if we got relegated we’d bounce straight back (if at all) so should be avoided at all costs.

*in the same way that Man City fans will look back fondly at their season in the third tier but would be devastated to ever go back.
 
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