Views from the Sieve

Further announcements will be made next week…

BB-Dagger wrote: Sat Feb 28, 2026 12:59 pm

len wrote: Sat Feb 28, 2026 11:22 am Anyone interested in looking to invest in football clubs are certainly not doing it to make money and even more so in our case as we don't own the ground.
Looking forward to finding out more in the coming weeks.

Then “investing” isn’t the correct term is it? It’s more of purchasing an expensive hobby

Been saying that for years. The word 'investment' in football clubs that ply their trade below the Championship is an oxymoron. What idiot would plough loads of money into an 'investment' that returns absolutely nothing from a fiscal point of view? What clubs at our level need are wealthy benefactors who are happy to use the football club as their plaything (step forward Freund and his yank cronies), a muse if you like. Then they get bored or fed up with chucking their dollars at a toy that doesn't work (ie. the mis-management of the club and our lame attempts to make the National League play-offs for 7 years or so). Or wealthy American lawyers who run away as soon as they realise they have made a complete dogs dinner of it (hello Club Underdog).

The new ownership consortium (if the rumours are true), have a lot of knowledge and experience of English football and with Anwar at the helm, someone who really gets football at this level. But after the disaster that has been the past 18 months I think we should proceed with a healthy dose of cynicism.

When new owners mention the term "sustainable" and " restore the club to the football league" I wonder what they really mean? I believe it's no coincidence that the club's with the biggest home attendances in the National League are also occupying the leading positions in the table.
If we got to the National League again our attendances would increase a bit but nothing to compare with the likes of Southend, Carlisle and York City.
I know we managed the unthinkable years ago but believe things have changed since then and without a very generous budget it would be extremely unlikely to get anywhere these days.
I think you can use the term sustainable but not in the same sentence as getting back into the football league as there appears to be a complete contradiction in terms.
I know Barnet and Bromley did it so perhaps it is possible with a less generous budget so there is some hope perhaps.

Len, totally agree with you but once the supports drift away they ain't coming back, eg like me, supported this club through thick and thin since 1970 ( Dagenham FC, yeah, glory hunter, 2 cup finals in 2 years ). Because I lived in Reede Road and as a 10 or 11 year old, I used go over there by myself because it was safe unlike going to West ham at that time because of the hooligans.
My Daughter's said before Christmas " can we go over on boxing day " I gave in and we watched that shower, come the £2.50 day I said " do you want to go, it's only £2.50" her reply " no thanks, I got better things to do then watch that"
Ps the only good think about boxing day, we all got a free pint of Guinness!.

Lumpit wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 5:18 pm Len, totally agree with you but once the supports drift away they ain't coming back, eg like me, supported this club through thick and thin since 1970 ( Dagenham FC, yeah, glory hunter, 2 cup finals in 2 years ). Because I lived in Reede Road and as a 10 or 11 year old, I used go over there by myself because it was safe unlike going to West ham at that time because of the hooligans.
My Daughter's said before Christmas " can we go over on boxing day " I gave in and we watched that shower, come the £2.50 day I said " do you want to go, it's only £2.50" her reply " no thanks, I got better things to do then watch that"
Ps the only good think about boxing day, we all got a free pint of Guinness!.

I also started going over to Victoria Rd around 1970 as I also lived in Reede Rd, I remember going to the cup finals as well (still have the programs) but this season I couldn’t be bothered with a season ticket for the first time in ages and watching yesterday confirmed my decision was correct, next weekend is my birthday and I was going to watch the game with a couple of mates and have a few beers but after yesterday I’m not going to bother, things really have got that bad!

And therein lies the problem, once people walk away it’s hard to get them back. I’ve not missed it at all apart from the social aspect, we might get some more new owners but there is still one main elephant in the room that is still stinking the place out, teflon Steve. Unless he’s banished nothing will change regardless of who is owning or helping the club as his ideas always get used in the end.

A number of things need to change before I return on a regular basis.

1. Get rid of Thompson
2. Get rid of the manager
3 Lower the ticket prices
4 Improve the matchday experience
5. Play some decent football
6. Bring back digger the dog!

Hopefully the new owners do the right thing and relieve ST of his duties.

Harrym4737 wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 9:05 pm Hopefully the new owners do the right thing and relieve ST of his duties.

Considering he’s survived multiple takeovers, it seems unlikely.

How much of a slice of the club does ST own? Is it enough he can't just be fired?

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 11:09 pm How much of a slice of the club does ST own? Is it enough he can't just be fired?

He owns next to nothing unless he managed to get a revised stake in this new consortium. But he is employed by the club and it is not easy (or cheap) to dismiss someone in this country without serious cause to do so. Being crap just isn’t enough unless you want to pay up. When we say we have to get rid of him, in reality it will be him “retiring” and taking some form of ceremonial lifetime member of the board role. Which means we would have to convince him to go, and therein lays the challenge.

I guess based on my other post, it’s not just a case of does Anwar have the right relationship to want to remove Thomson. It’s also a case of if the have the right relationship where Steve wants to listen.

Don Dagger wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 2:06 pm Further announcements will be made next week…

Good.


I'm pleased to see that the ownership issue has been (partly) settled.

Now that there is some stability and some assurance from the board room, hopefully this will garner confidence on the pitch and we'll see performances improve as well welcome in new and better players.

Perhaps, despite the most recent result, we can make a late and dramatic push for the playoffs?

rebeldagger wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2026 5:07 pm

Don Dagger wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 2:06 pm Further announcements will be made next week…

Good.


I'm pleased to see that the ownership issue has been (partly) settled.

Now that there is some stability and some assurance from the board room, hopefully this will garner confidence on the pitch and we'll see performances improve as well welcome in new and better players.

Perhaps, despite the most recent result, we can make a late and dramatic push for the playoffs?

I feel that it is too late now to make the playoffs. We only have eleven games to play and have played a lot more games than a lot of other teams. It would also mean that we would almost have to win all our remaining games to stand any chance and up to now have been so inconsistent.

Play offs was lost in September after winning 1 of our first 10, we would have had to be in league winning form for the remaining games to make even play offs. Bradbury should have been sacked at that point, whole season has been a waste of time since then.

NBDag wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2026 5:53 am

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 11:09 pm How much of a slice of the club does ST own? Is it enough he can't just be fired?

He owns next to nothing unless he managed to get a revised stake in this new consortium. But he is employed by the club and it is not easy (or cheap) to dismiss someone in this country without serious cause to do so. Being crap just isn’t enough unless you want to pay up. When we say we have to get rid of him, in reality it will be him “retiring” and taking some form of ceremonial lifetime member of the board role. Which means we would have to convince him to go, and therein lays the challenge.

I guess based on my other post, it’s not just a case of does Anwar have the right relationship to want to remove Thomson. It’s also a case of if the have the right relationship where Steve wants to listen.

Obviously not that much of a challenge