Clyde FC; Season 2022-23

[JBJ]

22 minutes ago, Brian Carrigan said:

Posts like this should be grounds to be added to some kind of watch list

It’s goal of the season..... why should the scorer of at least 2 better goals than the list presented (QP & Alloa) not be included?
 

[BrigtonClyde]

17 hours ago, Hampden Diehard said:

Unless you have a backer like the one QP are fortunate to have, building your own ground is a non-starter.  Shawfield is ready to fall down so that seems an unlikely move.

Sort of, but not necessarily.   The terracing was condemned years ago for multiple reasons, not least the foundations of the wall have been compromised due to tree roots, so it's not a case of it just needing a tidy up, you wouldn't get a safety certificate to open it.   The stand from the outside looks OK, but it's been deteriorating the past few years to the point large areas of it have now been sectioned off.  So again, very unlikely a safety certificate would be issued.   It's pretty much common knowledge the dogs are finished there, the pandemic was the final nail in the coffin and the trainers have moved elsewhere.

The ownership of it is another thing.  There's what's officially on paper and what's in reality.  May well be holding on for the land value, there's certainly no value left in the building itself, but when the property gets into that level of disrepair you are open to various possible actions being taken.

When Clyde originally moved there they didn't own the land, they rented it.  They owned what they built and of course earned from everything that took place there.   It was some years later before the land was also purchased.   Shawfield was always going to have to be a demolition and rebuild, but wherever they were looking to go there would be a new build requirement, so in that sense as an option, it's no different.  In other senses it has far more potential for the club to develop longer term, certainly from the point of view of catchment area, than anything else that has been suggested so far.

It's certainly not an impossible option, enough stars are beginning to align.  But what the club actually decide to do, who knows.  What is certainly not an option is continuing to put forward the idea that it would be possible to make the best of Broadwood for the time being, engage with local business and community while having made it perfectly clear your intention is to move away.  You can't square that circle, it won't work and no wonder.  Whoever put forward that idea is operating miles above their pay grade. 

[gav-ffc]

Imagine being raging about a rapist not being included in your goal of the season award, what a state to get in over a nothing award. 

[Ignoramus]

3 hours ago, Karpaty Lviv said:

I’m a Cumbernauld based Clyde fan with zero family connections to the club, went to the local high school and had absolutely zero engagement with the club at any point. Not even any posters advertising the £5 under 16 season tickets in the school, and that was when we were a comfortable mid table Division 1 side. Even a couple of months ago, an old guy asked me outside the bookies in Condorrat, a baw hair away from Broadwood, what my red white and black scarf was. It’s depressing. 

Thinking about it, it’s no idea why I started supporting them. Certainly wasn’t engagement!

I’m in the same boat. I was fortunate enough to be one of the beneficiaries of one of the few community efforts made while we were in the First Division, the club gave out free tickets to my primary school for the games and I went along. However, I can’t recall them doing it for a long while after that and over the last decade and a half, the community engagement has been diabolical, leading to the only reasoning people know us in the area being because we are desperate to leave.

The current board made their intentions clear in the last statement by effectively nailing their colours to the mast of finding a new ground. They seem optimistic about that prospect but I fear it’ll turn into another of the countless half-baked ideas we’ve had and then dropped over the years (Cunningar Loop, EK, Shettleston etc). I don’t mean to be doom-laden but my view is that the club is pretty much on borrowed time long term. We have no ground if we choose to move out of Broadwood in 2023 and faced with the prospect of an expensive ground share while investigating the possibility of a new ground that may never come. Meanwhile, every year our budget remains constrained by our circumstances and we will be running out the clock as the ex Juniors and well backed sides from below start to overtake us (and several other established SPFL sides). Frankly, I think the current leadership of the club are in a pretty impossible position, but unfortunately a decent portion of it is due to poor decision making of their own in the last two decades.

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

52 minutes ago, BrigtonClyde said:

Sort of, but not necessarily.   The terracing was condemned years ago for multiple reasons, not least the foundations of the wall have been compromised due to tree roots, so it's not a case of it just needing a tidy up, you wouldn't get a safety certificate to open it.   The stand from the outside looks OK, but it's been deteriorating the past few years to the point large areas of it have now been sectioned off.  So again, very unlikely a safety certificate would be issued.   It's pretty much common knowledge the dogs are finished there, the pandemic was the final nail in the coffin and the trainers have moved elsewhere.

The ownership of it is another thing.  There's what's officially on paper and what's in reality.  May well be holding on for the land value, there's certainly no value left in the building itself, but when the property gets into that level of disrepair you are open to various possible actions being taken.

When Clyde originally moved there they didn't own the land, they rented it.  They owned what they built and of course earned from everything that took place there.   It was some years later before the land was also purchased.   Shawfield was always going to have to be a demolition and rebuild, but wherever they were looking to go there would be a new build requirement, so in that sense as an option, it's no different.  In other senses it has far more potential for the club to develop longer term, certainly from the point of view of catchment area, than anything else that has been suggested so far.

It's certainly not an impossible option, enough stars are beginning to align.  But what the club actually decide to do, who knows.  What is certainly not an option is continuing to put forward the idea that it would be possible to make the best of Broadwood for the time being, engage with local business and community while having made it perfectly clear your intention is to move away.  You can't square that circle, it won't work and no wonder.  Whoever put forward that idea is operating miles above their pay grade. 

So 2 months ago there were 2 arguments: follow our emotion and reiterate our former chair's petulant decision to leave, without a firm destination or to make the best of things at Broadwood and try to re-engage.  A kind of stick or twist dichotomy.

The truth is we have nowhere to go and if we did, it would cost £5million+. And we are skint.  Returning to Shawfield falls into that emotional response and as @BrigtonClyde says Shawfield is in a poor state of repair, so there will be a huge refurb price tag never mind the purchase price.

However, if we listen to @Karpaty Lviv and @Ignoramusthey live or lived in the area, are Clyde fans and remember very little promotion / comms about Clyde.  Surely that means we have, in reality, NEVER tried to engage with this new generation.

Any rushed relocation will give us the worst of both worlds.  Shitty facilities AND the need to invest in fan engagement.  This is compounded by weak leadership, lack of money and current supporting feeling excluded.

Edited April 6 by Bully Wee Clyde FC
Typo

[CM.]

There's a Clyde flag hanging from the window of our shirt sponsors office in Kirky and that's probably more advertisement for the club than anything Cumbernauld has.

[gav-ffc]

I grew up in Cumbernauld and during my time at primary and high school not once did anyone come to either from Clyde with either free tickets or the such.

Not sure how much of a difference it would have made with everyone being rangers or Celtic ( or me) but you wouldn’t  even know there was a team there unless you were passing broadwood On a Saturday.

[Brian Carrigan]

1 hour ago, JBJ said:

It’s goal of the season..... why should the scorer of at least 2 better goals than the list presented (QP & Alloa) not be included?
 

A) Because the club don’t need any further controversy, the reason is completely obvious to anyone that isn’t a total headbanger.

B) It’s goal of the season, who cares.

C) Goodwillie isn’t gonna be pals with you because you want his goals to be included in a crap poll, get a grip

[Clyde85]

Signing incoming

[Clyde85]

Danny Lennon signs new 2 year deal.

[diamondman]

Seems a brave move with Lennon. Alternatively, a dynasty is in the making. 

 

[BullyWeeStonehouse]

He (and his recruitment team) needs to get the recruitment right this summer. It’s been sadly lacking for too long. We can’t go on hovering above the relegation places for much longer or our luck will run out.

[David W]

I am pleased to keep him. We know that we need to fix the recruitment; whether that's through better scouting, more money or whatever. The positive is that doesn't rely entirely on him, it can be fixed by other people doing a better job.

We also know that he'll get a team motivated and will usually be tactically spot on. He also has a strong relationship with our support. That stuff comes down almost exclusively to the manager, and in that regard I doubt we'd get anyone better, or even close to be honest.

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

1 hour ago, David W said:

I am pleased to keep him. We know that we need to fix the recruitment; whether that's through better scouting, more money or whatever. The positive is that doesn't rely entirely on him, it can be fixed by other people doing a better job.

We also know that he'll get a team motivated and will usually be tactically spot on. He also has a strong relationship with our support. That stuff comes down almost exclusively to the manager, and in that regard I doubt we'd get anyone better, or even close to be honest.

Agree with everything apart from the motivation and tactics. 

The evidence? Home matches v 1 Dumbarton, 2 Montrose, 3 Dumbarton (again) 4 Peterheid. Cup ties v 1 EK, 2 Broomhill, 3 Clydebank.  

[Velvet Donkey]

Danny Lennon signs new 2 year deal.

Seems to me that's very good news for Clyde. Despite what you may say about his recruitment (under constraints), he seems to create much more than the sum of parts. I've wondered if Falkirk would have fallen so far with DL in charge.

[bullyweehutch]

What an utterly shite team we have with a lazy, shite Rob Jones cherry on top

[Clyde85]

Just need to hope Dumbarton don’t pick up any points over their next two games cause we certainly won’t.

[BullyWeeStonehouse]

Fair play to Danny and Alan (and most of the players) for being able to turn things around after the Clydebank game.

It looks as if the league is going to be even stronger next season so we seriously need to get our recruitment right this summer and get rid of the dug shite in the squad like Jones.

[Clyde85]

Serious clear out needed.

[Clyde_1977]

Agree, but that's a problem for the future.

Let's just enjoy having 2 stress free games, genuinely thought this would go to the wire so I'm delighted