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FOR FLEET FANS GOING TO OXFORD

Charles Webster

By Charles Webster
in Ebbsfleet United Forum

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barred Newbie

barred

Posted
Posted

I think you are missing the point Hirsty..........

 

FleetFanatic

Reserves Coach

 

 

Registered: 02/03/02

Posts: 12203

Loc: Royal Gravesham I've spent hours reading stuff the past few days. Luckily it's quiet, being on nights this week. When the news broke Tuesday morning, I was fast asleep - I woke up late afternoon, early evening & read texts about it from friends. I was stunned, to be honest. I spoke to a couple on the phone, at the time it was the final straw, one of them even said that it might be worth sodding off to Dartford. Hmmmmmm.....

 

.....now I'll be the first to admit that I don't get to as many games as I used to. A combination of work (as many of you know I work shifts as a rail controller), spending time with my daughter, as I no longer live with her mother, there is only one weekend in 4 that she can stay overnight with me. There are certain things that are more important in life than football.

 

Why did I say that last phrase? Because that is the general malaise in non-league football. The majority of clubs at non-league level have a similar problem, the local communities these clubs are in either have more important things or quite simply, other things to do on a Saturday afternoon. Therefore, regardless of performances on the pitch, the attendances aren't going to happen, other than for a match against a league side in the FA cup and suchlike.

 

It seems Ebbsfleet as a club reach that point. There appears to be a debt that the current board were either no longer prepared to or could afford to service. Who knows, maybe the club could have faced ruin eventually. Some of you recall the days when the club did very nearly go bust.

 

Therefore the club was touted to MyFC as a viable proposition. And it is - the long term plans for the regeneration of the Thames Gateway, Ebbsfleet International Station & the proposed developments around it to name just two reasons - the potential for growth is there. I firmly believe that the name change was done by board, as declared by them, with the aim of tapping into all that. I also think it was changed with approaching MyFC in mind. The more attractive the club could be made to look, the better the chance of getting MyFC to take over. Well guess what? They did it.

 

However, I don't blame Brian, Jason & Co at all. I still recall sitting in the bar after at least 2 matches, talking to Brian (who was the chairman at the time) & the one thing that came over was that he was a supporter first, a chairman second. I don't doubt that Jason is just as much in that mould. Which is why the more I think about this, the more I think they wouldn't have done it unless they REALLY thought the club could benefit.

 

So what about MyFC? Pumping in £500k to £700k a year, maybe more.

A lot of clubs would love that sort of cash. We used to slate clubs that had money pumped into them - the Canvey Island's & Telford's of this world. Canvey Island - one man - he left, they dropped out of the conference. Telford - one man - his business empire collapsed and Telford went with it. Similar story with Hornchurch. It simply can't happen with this scenario, surely? There's too many big companies tied in with this, as quite simply, too many people.

 

Then we have the possibilty of increased attendances, if what those who have posted on here is true, that they plan to come to games. Then they are like you and me, paying money at the gate, buying shirts, programmes.

 

I don't doubt there's a lot of unanswered questions - but it's very early days. I firmly believe that Liam Diash will still be guiding things so that the team that steps out on the pitch is essentially the side he believes will get a result.

 

Now I can't say I am happy with how it's come about - it feels all MK Dons, franchise football to me - it smacks of creating a fanbase from nowhere. But in one big hit, the club has created something that everybody at one time or another complained they weren't doing - and that was to raise the profile of the club. It doesn't come much bigger than being a news item all around the world. Nobody really knows how this will pan out. The truth is, this could be the one chance to leap forward to heights nobody really thought possible.

 

The one final thing I will say is that some of the idiots that have joined recently have been banned for the drivel they have posted so far, but let's face it - the majority of new faces on this forum have been more than reasonable in their posts. So I think at this time, it is fair to request that some of our own original members also refrain from derogatory comments too. There is no reason why things cannot be debated in a dignified manner. To be fair to those members of MyFC, they have been reporting their own members to us a fair bit.

 

The forum is currently a bit of a nightmare to moderate with total efficiency, so your assistance is appreciated.

 

Darren

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loosegooner Newbie

loosegooner

Posted
Posted

I'm coming to the game at Oxford and I'm a MyFC member, I don't think some of our supposed members comments have been helpful, while I think some others have been reasonable and have wanted to get to understand your point of view.

 

I'm an Arsenal fan born and bred I'm afraid, always will be but having moved all over the country I've always gone to local games, some of them even conference! And enjoyed the "Real Fan" experience.

 

I'm not sure how welcome I'm going to be on Saturday, but I came into this all with what I thought were good motives as did most others. We know you are the "Real Fans" the true owners of your team, but if you'll have me I'd like to get to know all about Ebbsfleet and be a supporter.

 

Booked my ticket, don't know who I'm going to be sitting next to but I hope to meet some real Ebbsfleet fans. My name is Gordon, I'm 6'4", ugly as all f*ck and a bit of a geriatric, so look out for me, I'm a big target, hopefully I won't need a hard hat.

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Hirsty Newbie

Hirsty

Posted
Posted
Originally Posted By: OKUZ
jeff i would not like to call you thick as you have to us but if you do work in the internet society then please use your spell checker, and who the hell is backs, could it be david backham lol


Excellent - you'll fit in well....criticising the spelling already. Are you sure that to haven't been on this forum prior to Tuesday ? You're not Harry J under another name are you ?
As long as you can use the Quote facility then that's fine !!

Cheers,
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chris blanc Newbie

chris blanc

Posted
Posted
Originally Posted By: Hirsty
Originally Posted By: OKUZ
jeff i would not like to call you thick as you have to us but if you do work in the internet society then please use your spell checker, and who the hell is backs, could it be david backham lol


Excellent - you'll fit in well....criticising the spelling already. Are you sure that to haven't been on this forum prior to Tuesday ? You're not Harry J under another name are you ?
As long as you can use the Quote facility then that's fine !!

Cheers,


And use capital letters when appropriate when mocking someone else's English
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Jeff Newbie

Jeff

Posted
Posted
Originally Posted By: Glover
Hi Jeff, hope you had a good holiday !
Nick


It was a work trip but may as well have been :-)

Spent most of the plane ride home musing about all this and am seeing benefits to the scheme for the club in the short and long term.

However, there are two things that I cannot get my head round:

1. If you all want to support a team and run it together as a group of people with an equal say, then why not start your own club? I know it's different circumstances but FC United and AFC Wombles seem to be doing alright.

2. This is one that gets me. How can you just one day decide to support a football team that you have never heard of? I saw a post earlier about someone saying he had asked his wife for a shirt for xmas. Eh? It's like me waking up one morning and suddenly liking crafting and card making cos a load of people on the internet do it.

I do appreciate some of the sentiments from the new members of this forum and can see that we are gaining some insightful new fans (as well as a load of cash - cheers for that!) but I just feel really bad that this is what football, combined with the internet and people with too much time, money and trendy ideas has come to.

And to whoever took me up on spelling, you try typing something that you never thought you would have to even think about after two hours sleep to go to an airport at 4:45am and then having three pints of Efes.


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Glover Newbie

Glover

Posted
Posted

O god i remember efes too vividly....

ok

1.Good point but could you tell me any area of the country that doesnt have an team already with a supporter base in a place where there is huge potential

2.Tough one being a Yeovil fan, but as an example i lived in newcastle for 15 years and believe me its a religon up there so i follow them as well, its not hard as the two are not really likely to come into contact.

it wasnt a flash of light but it came over several months.

I have been preparing for a new club in my life for a while now so its not a shock like it is for you.

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eufckev Newbie

eufckev

Posted
Posted
Originally Posted By: Glover
Dont know how much of the north stand will be set aside for fleet fans but it looks like its filling up quick, anyone on row L ?


I've just recieved an e-mail from the Oxford ticket office and have been told 2000 seats are allocated for away fans, which can be expanded if needed.
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Harry J Allstars Newbie

Harry J Allstars

Posted
Posted
Originally Posted By: HULLCITYandEBBSFLEET
myfc member...
most weekends i will be watching the mighty "HULL CITY" with me being a life time supporter of the "TIGERS"
BUT, i will try to get to a few ebbsfleet games this season and in the seasons ahead.
any supporters of ebbsfleet in return are welcome to visit the kc stadium in hull and watch hull city play. your entrance fee will be accepted and the money will go to helping get hull city into the premiership.
i hope that the myfc thing will work out to be a great thing for
the supporters of ebbsfleet. i myself live in *scarborough and i know a few people up here who would have welcomed a myfc take over especially as now scarborough dont even have a stadium to play in and can only dream of being in the blue square premier league.
i just hope the long time fans of ebbsfleet will all end up happy over the events of the last few days..

ps.. good luck for the game at oxford.

pps... though i am a member of myfc i realise that in reality ebbsfleet belongs to the people who have followed the team week in and week out over the years...

( * born in hull so i support hull city )


And what if Hull play Ebbsfleet in a competative match?
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