The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

if they dont get promoted next season id be very suprised they have just signed andy mangan from wrexham quality signing what a lethal partnership they will have! just prey that we will be playing in this league next year!

They're next seasons Crawley albeit on a slightly smaller scale. The 3/1 with Coral available on them winning promotion seems very reasonable so I've already had a bit of that! Here's hoping they make a few more big money deals!

They are being bankrolled by a wealthy benefactor, they have a marvellous stadium, they are spending money like confetti. They are determined to buy their way into the football league.

They are living way above their means and have a small fan base.

Sounds familiar!!!!

sussexdiamond wrote:they have a marvellous stadium

Have they moved to a new ground then? I went to Highbury last season and thought it was a dump!

(You realise it's not the same Highbury that Arsenal used to play at?!) :lol:

davealbon wrote:

sussexdiamond wrote:they have a marvellous stadium

Have they moved to a new ground then? I went to Highbury last season and thought it was a dump!

(You realise it's not the same Highbury that Arsenal used to play at?!) :lol:

It was certainly like a building site last season, with the only impressive thing being the fancy video wall in one corner - until that broke and the ref had to get them to turn it off. I guess the new stand might be impressive when it's finished - but Fleetwood is a very odd place, and with Blackpool so close they'll struggle to even equal Crawley's crowds, let alone what we used to get in the Conference.

Fleetwood are a lot like Gateshead with their fan base, when you have clubs like Newcastle and Sunderland on your doorstep its difficult to attract new fans to go there so I guess a lot of non league owners in that position have resided themselves to losing money on spending money on good players to get in to league 2 and further to attract new fans to ultimately make more money but 9 times out of 10 they don't get a return on there investment.

Rushden_RM wrote:Fleetwood are a lot like Gateshead with their fan base, when you have clubs like Newcastle and Sunderland on your doorstep its difficult to attract new fans to go there so I guess a lot of non league owners in that position have resided themselves to losing money on spending money on good players to get in to league 2 and further to attract new fans to ultimately make more money but 9 times out of 10 they don't get a return on there investment.

The added difficulty for Fleetwood is that so much of their catchment area is replaced by the Irish Sea. Most fans travelling any distance will either have passed Blackpool or Preston to get there - although I suppose both of those two clubs are struggling at the moment which might help.