Which fanbase has suffered the most - let us hear your sob stories

[King Kev]

I have been inspired after a Bradford fan went over the club's demise in the early naughties on the 'biggest club,' thread. Good idea for if you ask me, kind of like opposite to the pathetic cock waving thread going on in that thread. So go on lets hear it, which fans have had it the toughest? List your shiteness, your plummet down the league, embarrassing results, falling crowds etc. It is all just a bit of fun, there is no out and out winner.

Blackburn and Charlton fans I appreciate your club is currently going through such a period so I won't be offended if you refrain from posting.

 

[DippyDon]

Clearly MK, it's awful having a club put right on your doorstep and the support still being terrible

 

[Lance Stoe]

On this thread it has to be Oldham or Rochdale. No offence to either club but Oldham have spent twenty years in this division without movement and it took Rochdale a long time to get promoted to this level. Portsmouth, Blackburn and Charlton haven't had it hard. They have had the great times as well.

 

[Bobbin']

On this thread it has to be Oldham or Rochdale. No offence to either club but Oldham have spent twenty years in this division without movement and it took Rochdale a long time to get promoted to this level. Portsmouth, Blackburn and Charlton haven't had it hard. They have had the great times as well.

Really?

Going into administration, having to leave your home and spending 6 years in exile is hardly a stroll in the park.

 

[King Kev]

On this thread it has to be Oldham or Rochdale. No offence to either club but Oldham have spent twenty years in this division without movement and it took Rochdale a long time to get promoted to this level. Portsmouth, Blackburn and Charlton haven't had it hard. They have had the great times as well.

Dale fans will point to the Barrow era or maybe more lately the demise under Coleman. As a whole the last decade has been a very good time to be a Dale supporter though.

 

[WilsdenBantam]

From relegation from the Premier League, down to League 2 with 2 Admins along the way, and crowds that more than halved at one point.

P.s was it me who suggested a thread like this King Kev, I can't remember? Fantastic idea if it was much better than that other shite.

 

[King Kev]

From relegation from the Premier League, down to League 2 with 2 Admins along the way, and crowds that more than halved at one point.

P.s was it me who suggested a thread like this King Kev, I can't remember? Fantastic idea if it was much better than that other shite.

I think it was, excellent idea.

You have left out the bit about Bradford being consistently shite in league two as well, it just seemed to be never ending for you at the time.

Anyway whilst perhaps not to the same scale, Bury's demise in the late 90s to early noughties was quite painful. We stayed up in the championship in 1997/98 whilst City, Stoke and Reading were all relegated. We managed four points off City, drew with Sunderland, beat Forest, did a double over Birmingham, took four points off Norwich and even somehow managed to beat Bradford.....

Stan the Man left that summer and was replaced by Warnock. We were relegated in 98/99 and then spent the next seven years getting progressively worse. A much publicised battle with extinction began in 2002 which resulted in administration, relegation to the bottom tier, (that would have probably happened anyway), and the near death of the club. We then spent the majority of the next few years trying not to go out of the league. We were struggling to attract more than 2000 fans on a Saturday. Then for several years, notably after the championship relegation, we could barely even sign a player and had to play a mixture of not very good reserve and youth lads, along with overpaid fodder left over from the championship days, including our then player manager who refused to take a pay cut and always brought himself on for his appearance fee.
There was literally nothing good about supporting Bury at this point, bucket collections, no cup runs, regular dickings home and away, apathy from the town, knocked out of the cup by Northwitch Victoria, it just seemed to be constantly raining, as in when ever I remember matchday from this era I always remember it being grey and wet.
Luckily things improved around 2008, but up until that it felt like a lifetime since we'd had an actual good or enjoyable season. The worst thing was that for a sizeable chunk of this shite period I couldn't even drink on matchday as I wasn't old enough.

 

[Bottega Don]

We had to watch Craig Davies play last season.

That was pretty painful.

 

[bantamigo]

I think it was, excellent idea.

You have left out the bit about Bradford being consistently shite in league two as well, it just seemed to be never ending for you at the time.

Anyway whilst perhaps not to the same scale, Bury's demise in the early 90s to early noughties was quite painful. We stayed up in the championship in 1997/98 whilst City, Stoke and Reading were all relegated. We managed four points off City, drew with Sunderland, beat Forest, did a double over Birmingham, took four points off Norwich and even somehow managed to beat Bradford.....

Stan the Man left that summer and was replaced by Warnock. We were relegated in 98/99 and then spent the next seven years getting progressively worse. A much publicised battle with extinction began in 2002 which resulted in administration, relegation to the bottom tier (would have probably happened anyway), and the near death of the club. We then spent the majority of the next few years trying not to go out of the league. We were struggling to attract more than 2000 fans on a Saturday. Then for several years, notably after the championship relegation, we could barely even sign a player and had to play a mixture of not very good reserve and youth lads, along with overpaid fodder left over from the championship days, including our then player manager who refused to take a pay cut and always brought himself on for his appearance fee.
There was literally nothing good about supporting Bury at this point, bucket collections, no cup runs, regular dickings home and away, apathy from the town, knocked out of the cup by Northwitch Victoria, it just seemed to be constantly raining, as in when ever I remember matchday from this era I always remember it being grey and wet.
Luckily things improved around 2008, but up until that it felt like a lifetime since we'd had an actual good or enjoyable season. Worst thing was for a sizeable chunk of this shite period I couldn't drink on matchday as I wasn't old enough.

The admins were shit but I remember the season when Peter Taylor had been sacked, we were about 19th in L2 and Torquay turned up and beat us 3-0, not just that but played us off the park. We had the biggest budget in the league or something. Hard to get much lower really, especially when you can remember playing Premier League football.

Not been a bad few years since then thankfully.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

Interesting thread, though not sure how you compare. We have had our moment of very near extinction, but I certainly remember when younger how tough things were for Charlton, indeed I think I may have voted for the Valley party, or whatever it was called.

However, how long before this thread comes to resemble the Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen sketch?

 

[Marked Ox]

We had a 10 year slow decline due to a well meaning but incompetent at running a football club owner which meant we imploded financially around 2000. This led to Firoz Kassam owning us making £millions off of us and keeping all the assets such as the Stadium (we have to pay £500k rent annually), selling the club* just before we ended up in the hell that is the Football Conference (now the National League Premier).

*After stripping all the assets (apart from the players, not that they were assets considering their performances) the new owners paid off the loans made by Kassam to the club as his investment so he didn't even lose any of that to mitigate some of the profits. Completing the stadium (at the cheapest possible price so lowest quality and only 3 stands) also meant he made £millions from the surrounding development. Kassam must be one of a select band who has made tens of £millions from owning a lower league club (either in cash or by owning the assets).

 

[Stagat]

Good idea for if you ask me, kind of like opposite to the pathetic cock waving thread going on in that thread.

No, other side of the same coin IMO. People gonna be dick waving about going through the biggest hardship. As BE said, four Yorkshiremen.

 

[MillerWhale]

I know people have little sympathy, but clubs weren't about to foresee the collapse of ITV digital. As a Chanpionship club at the time, our budgets were aligned to this income accordingly. Players on decent wages on 3 year deals. It was key we offered players longer term deals as security of contract was one of the only selling points for us if chasing players vs Championship rivals.

When that funding (not bad planning, just unforeseen) bottomed out, we went into a downward spiral that we never recovered from. We'd tried in the summer to bring in greater quality to push for the top 6, only for us to lose our team spirit and have cast-offs like Robbie Stockdale and Paulo Vernazza taking up a lot of the budget.

Relegation inevitably was upon us and we had these contracts in place. We started well and then went into admin due to financial constraints of relegation and said contracts in place. A minus ten points deduction and all but one (O'Greedy) permitting their wage deferral but performances slipped.

We were also tied in to the improvement of our main stand to a 7k capacity stand. We realised we couldn't afford to finish it given he climate and ended with an unfinished bodge job as well as a newly seated Tivoli. The latter meant the spirit not only had been ripped out of the team but the fans as well. We had some demoralising seasons before eventually being relegated to the fourth.

Again, we started brightly but further administration meant another ten point deduction which put a stop to our layoff challenge.

At the same time as a seated Kop, unfinished main street stand, two relegations and two administrations, our owner was ageing and his sons were not interested in football so were putting pressure on their dad to sell up. He did, and to a group of local businessmen with good intentions but neither the house of the industry nor the financial clout to run a football club. We were then owned by a couple of allegedly shifty businessmen st the time (a time period which saw us kill off our mascot pre-game to be replaced by a bugsy malone gangster mascot). This is all true, by the way.

It eventually ended with our current Chairman taking over but not agreeing the lease arrangements of Millnoor with the ex Chairman/Landlord of Millmoor so we were gone to an athletics stadium in Sheffield. Failure to reach a CVA meant a further 17 point deduction. Had it not been for the investment and belief from the Chairman and some diligent work from mansger Mark
Robins, we were very close to extinction or best case non league football.

All spiralled from a commercial deal that wasn't maintained against our control.

 

[bantamigo]

No, other side of the same coin IMO. People gonna be dick waving about going through the biggest hardship. As BE said, four Yorkshiremen.

I actually find these threads interesting. Football brings out some right dodgy incompetent feckers and it's usually the fans who suffer and bail them out. It's quite good to get a potted history of various clubs' hardships. We've all had them. Whereas 'biggest club' threads are pointless as no one is actually big in the lower leagues at the moment.

 

[Stagat]

I actually find these threads interesting. Football brings out some right dodgy incompetent feckers and it's usually the fans who suffer and bail them out. It's quite good to get a potted history of various clubs' hardships. We've all had them. Whereas 'biggest club' threads are pointless as no one is actually big in the lower leagues at the moment.

I don't disagree the subject matter is infinitely more interesting mate. Just reckon some people take as much pride in 'hardest done by' as they (or others) do 'biggest club'. But am not gonna labour the point. On reflection maybe I was a little harsh in making it even. MillerWhale's post above is a good example actually. Nobody likes Rotherham but that's some really good insight into summat their fans went through.

 

[Lance Stoe]

As a Scunthorpe fan I would just like to say how lucky we have been. Even League 1 is probably a League above our "rightful place"

 

[joethegill]

It's not us.

We've been really had 'turmoil' since the mid 90s.

 

[Simpo]

On this thread it has to be Oldham or Rochdale. No offence to either club but Oldham have spent twenty years in this division without movement and it took Rochdale a long time to get promoted to this level. Portsmouth, Blackburn and Charlton haven't had it hard. They have had the great times as well.

Not at all, the past 20 years have been an absolute delight.

 

[Lance Stoe]

Really?

Going into administration, having to leave your home and spending 6 years in exile is hardly a stroll in the park.

Charlton were one of the best teams in the Prem under Curbishley. Beating Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea week in week out hardly seems depressing

 

[Bobbin']

Charlton were one of the best teams in the Prem under Curbishley. Beating Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea week in week out hardly seems depressing

That period wasn't depressing, no.

What about going into administration, having to leave our home and spending 6 years in exile though? As per the post you quoted.

 

[Simpo]

Not at all, the past 20 years have been an absolute delight.

TWENTY BLOODY YEARS

 

[MillerWhale]

I don't disagree the subject matter is infinitely more interesting mate. Just reckon some people take as much pride in 'hardest done by' as they (or others) do 'biggest club'. But am not gonna labour the point. On reflection maybe I was a little harsh in making it even. MillerWhale's post above is a good example actually. Nobody likes Rotherham but that's some really good insight into summat their fans went through.

Out of interest, why does there seem to be so much animosity towards us? I know we have a few excitable fans on here, but so do most clubs with more than half a dozen people that post.

Can only assume it's the Steve Evans factor and it's stuck, as other than our local rivals, I don't remember many clubs with an ill feeling towards us.

 

[Bottega Don]

Out of interest, why does there seem to be so much animosity towards us? I know we have a few excitable fans on here, but so do most clubs with more than half a dozen people that post.

Can only assume it's the Steve Evans factor and it's stuck, as other than our local rivals, I don't remember many clubs with an ill feeling towards us.

That might be true but no other club has a SERNWA.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

That period wasn't depressing, no.

What about going into administration, having to leave our home and spending 6 years in exile though? As per the post you quoted.

At that time I lived first in Welling and then Eltham both only a few miles away from then Valley, and as a West Ham fan I realised what a bad situation this was. I used to go past the ground and just see weeds growing. It was very depressing and I was not a fan, how worse was it for those that were. Was your last game at the Valley before you left a friendly against us happy hammers, I certainly remember going to a game there. I also bizarrely saw an American football game there with the local Greenwich team playing.

 

[StevieEvansRedNWhiteArmy]

I know people have little sympathy, but clubs weren't about to foresee the collapse of ITV digital. As a Chanpionship club at the time, our budgets were aligned to this income accordingly. Players on decent wages on 3 year deals. It was key we offered players longer term deals as security of contract was one of the only selling points for us if chasing players vs Championship rivals.

When that funding (not bad planning, just unforeseen) bottomed out, we went into a downward spiral that we never recovered from. We'd tried in the summer to bring in greater quality to push for the top 6, only for us to lose our team spirit and have cast-offs like Robbie Stockdale and Paulo Vernazza taking up a lot of the budget.

Relegation inevitably was upon us and we had these contracts in place. We started well and then went into admin due to financial constraints of relegation and said contracts in place. A minus ten points deduction and all but one (O'Greedy) permitting their wage deferral but performances slipped.

We were also tied in to the improvement of our main stand to a 7k capacity stand. We realised we couldn't afford to finish it given he climate and ended with an unfinished bodge job as well as a newly seated Tivoli. The latter meant the spirit not only had been ripped out of the team but the fans as well. We had some demoralising seasons before eventually being relegated to the fourth.

Again, we started brightly but further administration meant another ten point deduction which put a stop to our layoff challenge.

At the same time as a seated Kop, unfinished main street stand, two relegations and two administrations, our owner was ageing and his sons were not interested in football so were putting pressure on their dad to sell up. He did, and to a group of local businessmen with good intentions but neither the house of the industry nor the financial clout to run a football club. We were then owned by a couple of allegedly shifty businessmen st the time (a time period which saw us kill off our mascot pre-game to be replaced by a bugsy malone gangster mascot). This is all true, by the way.

It eventually ended with our current Chairman taking over but not agreeing the lease arrangements of Millnoor with the ex Chairman/Landlord of Millmoor so we were gone to an athletics stadium in Sheffield. Failure to reach a CVA meant a further 17 point deduction. Had it not been for the investment and belief from the Chairman and some diligent work from mansger Mark
Robins, we were very close to extinction or best case non league football.

All spiralled from a commercial deal that wasn't maintained against our control.

O'Grady was 19 with a young kid and we signed him in League One and wanted to drop his wage which must have been peanuts anyway before dropping to league two.

The animosity toward O'Grady is truly pathetic and unwarranted. Shaun Barker left us for an extra £20 in bonuses to sign for Blackpool and every c*** applauded him like he was the prodigal son this season.

Have whatever opinion you want but don't dare slag a then teenager trying to support his family.

 

[PaulHaddock]

Wouldn't say we've had it the worst (look at Stockport ffs) but since the millenium it's been mostly horrific. The collapse of ITV Digital meant we were in the shit financially. Instead of taking the easy way out (admin), we just cut down everything and suffered massively; successive relegations in 03 and 04 took us from the Championship to League 2. The first relegation was from the players just not being good enough- the second relegation was because of players who didn't care and shit management. The chairman who came in and put all of our debt into his hands was John Fenty (more on him later).

Managed to stabilise the next season by finishing 17th and made the playoffs the season after. That was after being in the top 3 for most of the season and falling out of it in the 90th minute on the last day. Got to the final and lost that. Next two seasons were midtable bores again, though we got to the JPT final and lost to MK Dons. The season after, we only avoided relegation due to Luton's 30 point deduction. We also hired Mike Newell, who decided to bring in a load of mercenaries for the follwing season. He got sacked and we hired the YT coach Neil Woods. He led us to a 25-game winless streak and we were deservedly relegated via that embarrassing day at Burton. Woods was kept on as manager for our first Conference season in 100 years. We lost over £1million that season.

Following two seasons were 11th placed finishes. Woods was replaced by Rob Scott and Paul Hurst. Went on to lose 3 successive playoff campaigns (1 with S&H, 1 solely Hurst), two in the semis and one in the final on penalties. Also lost another final at Wembley, this time it being the FA trophy against Wrexham. Finally, after 13 miserable years, we were promoted (though we lost another FA trophy final a week later).

TL;DR across 13 years, there had been 3 relegations, 4 playoff losses, 3 cup final defeats, £5million of debt racked up and only half a million made from transfers.

 

[seasider]

Us by a long way. 3 relegations, no training ground and a chairman who still drives around with an Oyston Out number plate.

What makes our case unique is that the chairman has sued many individuals and a popular forum. He sued a 72 year old for a Facebook comment and the poor chap only had 34 friends.

The legal action has prompted a boycott and now there is a stand off. Oyston is once again back in court but this time he is on the back foot. Belokon owns 20% of the football club and never received any dividends from the PL money. This is how Oyston operates and likes to keep all the cash in his holding companies.

How we got promoted I will never know but we will be relegated again and the battle will no doubt continue.

 

[miagsygas]

2010-11 to 2013-14 season were a pretty horrific time to watch Bristol Rovers. Two relegations. The latter of the two falling out of the league on the final day, at home, against a team with nothing to play for and wearing our old away kit because they'd forgotten theirs, in the single most agonising game I'd ever been at.

Add in, during that time, some of the worst managers and players that have ever represented the club, Dave Penney, Paul Buckle, Mark McGhee and the second coming of John Ward. Some of the worst brand of football and the worst feeling amongst supporters in terms of relationship to the club.

However, despite all that, I said at the time at the top because in the long run, it has seemed the best thing to happen at our club. New ownership, completely changed the way the club went about its business and one of the best young managers in England got the chance to do things his way. If we didn't go down that year it would have been the usual of no changes and more misery. I also quite enjoyed the conference, funnily enough, but one season was enough.

 

[Bobbin']

At that time I lived first in Welling and then Eltham both only a few miles away from then Valley, and as a West Ham fan I realised what a bad situation this was. I used to go past the ground and just see weeds growing. It was very depressing and I was not a fan, how worse was it for those that were. Was your last game at the Valley before you left a friendly against us happy hammers, I certainly remember going to a game there. I also bizarrely saw an American football game there with the local Greenwich team playing.

Our last game at The Valley was a 2-0 victory over Stoke in '85.

Fortunately for me, I was born during the wilderness years so missed the worst of it but have seen the pictures, read the books and heard the stories and it's grim.

This is why our fans can't stomach the thought of our new owners, selling The Valley or building flats on/around it. It's our home and the fans fought so hard to keep it that way. It's amazing when you see how it's changed over the last 30 years.

 

[UTS]

I don't think many fans of clubs in league One or Two will have ever claimed to have it 'easy'. It's why we aren't branded as gloryhunters as we've stuck with our clubs through thick and thin.

Even clubs now you'd think have it easy such as Brighton or Bournemouth have had termoil in the recent past. I'd say Fleetwood fans have had it very easy although living with the knowledge that you support a bankrolled non league club can't be easy.

Since I've started watching Bury in 2003, we've had two promotions and 2 relegations, a couple of decent cup results (Sunderland 2006, Leeds 2007 and Norwich 2008 spring to mind). Standard fare I'd say for a lower league club. We've had some well publicised financial troubles through the years, the main being 2002 which nearly finished us, and gave birth to the 'bucket shakers' remark.

Bury always have to contend with being the butt of the joke, but you get used to that, I'm sure Walsall fans get the same off Villa/Wolves fans etc.

I'm reluctant really to name any of the big clubs as having a 'hard time' as the likes of Charlton and Blackburn have seen some genuinley great times that many clubs fans in this league will never see. Even their so called 'hard time' is sharing a league with fellow league One clubs.

Oldham stick out as fairly depressing, having spent 20 consecutive years in this league. However for a club like Oldham it's not a bad standard of football, so it's not like they've underachieved as such, they just haven't done anything. A fair number clubs in this league have spent the majority of the last 20 years or so within this division or below, it's just Oldham haven't been relegated, so is that a good thing or a bad thing?!

Shrewsbury also seem like a club that have never done much, maybe a Shrewsbury fan could enlighten me on any good/bad times?