The stench of complacency

1993/94: The club returns from Milan beaten but unbowed. The money cannot be found to strengthen the squad as the manager wants, or even to give him the contract he desires. He walks out and the process of dismantling a great team is begun. The season fizzles out. Verdict: Bad season.

1994/95: The process of dismantling the team continues. As the team plunges towards down the table the money cannot be found to sign a replacement for Bryan Gunn or to bring in Lee Clarke. Money is found to buy a flour mill. The football team is
relegated. Verdict: Bad season.

1995/96: Martin O'Neill comes in as manager, but quickly walks out to Leicester when it becomes apparent that the money will not be found to sign Dean Windass. As the team plunges down the table the loans are called in and, as a flour mill is not an
easily liquidated asset, the team's two best players are sold over the head of the manager. Relegation is narrowly avoided.

O'Neill leads Leicester into the Premier League and thence Europe. Gordon Bennett is tasked with sacking staff. Verdict: Bad season.

1996/97: Mike Walker returns and despite a limited budget threatens promotion, but again the season fizzles out. Verdict:Average season

1997/98: Despite the emergence of young talent the team struggles and relegation is narrowly avoided. Walker is sacked. Verdict: Bad season.

1998/99: Rioch and Hamilton arrive amidst confusion as to who is in charge. City finish 9th but Bellamy's injury rules out an unlikely promotion bid.
Verdict: Average season.

1999/00: Another season of struggle. Rioch resigns explaining that the board's ambition does not match his own. Hamilton takes over and signs several players already rejected by Rioch. Verdict: Bad season.

2000/01: Bellamy is sold and not replaced. As the team plunges down the table Hamilton, despite the backing of the board, resigns. No manager is appointed until Worthington demands the job. The club avoids relegation. Holt and Drury signed.
Verdict: Average season.

2001/02: The board allows Worthington to spend moneys that would ultimately never be received, but he does so to such effect that the Play-Off final is reached. Verdict: Good season.

2002/03: City flirt with promotion but the season fizzles out. Old South Stand closes. Amidst concerns as to how the new one will be financed Doncaster reveals that it will all be financed from revenues generated from development of land - mostly behind the River End (remember that Flour Mill?) Verdict: Average season.

2003/04: City are Champions - in large part due to fan (but not Board member) Carl Moore. Doncaster reveals that, in fact, all the money used to finance the new South Stand and Infill was borrowed - borrowing that will hang round the club's head for a further 15 years. Verdict: Good season.

2004/05: City are relegated. Verdict: Bad season.

2005/06: No real challenge for promotion and, worryingly, by January 2006 despite the "Premiership millions" City have run out of cash and Dean Ashton has to be sold. Verdict: Bad season.

2006/07: As the team plunges down the table Worthington is handed ?500,000 to walk away. Peter Grant comes in and relegationis avoided.
Verdict: Bad season.

2007/08: Grant's two key players, Earnshaw and Etuhu, exercise clauses in the contracts negotiated by Doncaster and leave the club. Grant is not given the full proceeds of the sales to re-invest, and attempts to rebuild the squad on the cheap by looking to Scotland and Europe. This policy is an abject failure and with the club rooted to the table and the team unable to
even score a goal, let alone scrape a draw, Grant departs. During the managerial hiatus a further 3 matches are lost before Glenn Roeder arrives and, with extensive use of loan players relegation is narrowly avoided.
Verdict: Bad season.

2008/09: During the close season it emerges that an offer by billionairre Peter Cullum to put ?20 million into the playing budget was rejected out of hand. Two board members resign without explanation and Andrew Cullen, architect of the policy that created 20,000 season ticket holders leaves to universal acclaim but is not replaced. Glenn Roeder is only able to sign players of the requisite quality on loan. The team struggles to score and fan (but not Board member) Carl Moore finances the loan signing of Leroy Lita. With the finance to sign Lita seemingly unavailable the club is due to repay the ?2.59 million
loan used to buy a large amount land from LSE which it has turned into a small car park and a wasteland.

Throughout this period moneys have always been found to buy land, but seldom to build a competitive team. The current board's continuation of a policy that had proved an abject failure as long ago as 1995 is inexplicable. Doncaster has stated, and the Turners have suggested, that the non-executive directors have simply not bothered with the task of scrutinising management.

This indolence and complacency means that the club now faces its biggest crisis since 1956 - and this time we don't have Geoffrey Watling to bail us out.

For this reason I refuse to put one more penny piece into NCFC until the current board changes its policies, or preferably go.

Posted By: Reg Presley, Nov 1, 20:35:45