Will always help a fellow Cov Uni student.
I will say as a journalist you should probably try to be a bit more balanced. You've left no room for the dissenting voices that would make any article have more weight and interest.
1. When did you start worrying about the state the club was in?
After Ranson quit probably. We seemed to no longer be trying to build a club and instead we're doing damage limitation. Since then it's gone from bad to worse with relegation, then the stadium fiasco, then seemingly another relegation. These days the club seems to make the right noises but doesn't follow through with actions.
2. How worried are you about the clubs future?
Very. I can't see how we get ourselves back on an even keel. Worried about the future of the academy. Worried about where we will play after next season. Worried about what the reason for Sisu owning us is. Just can't fathom any of it and I've seen businesses go bust trying to blindly follow a break even strategy rigidly with no concern for the actual business health.
3. Do you think the club is going to continue to slip further down the League ladder?
God knows. Right now we've got a new manager and the usual optimism has creeped in, maybe we'll storm L2, maybe Robins is the guy. But experience tells me that's probably not going to happen. We could move out of the City again, we could lose a promising manager due to lack of support. We could sell our top scorer in January. Goes back to the rhetoric from the club not matching their actions. It seems we've bottomed out, but we've been told that before. Maybe it's true this time, but I'd expect it to be more by luck than design that we have any success next year. If we go down and do poorly, I'd expect the downward spiral to continue.
4.Do you feel the fanbase has become more divided this season?
Maybe it's the Internet but the fan base always seems to be divided. Northampton was a big fault line, you either went or you didn't. Each protest is another, do you support it or not? Any argument/legal action with Wasps or the Council is another, who do you believe? In some ways we seem to be more united as fewer people defend Sisu these days, but still argue over the best way forward.
5.How successful do you think the protests this season have been?
To judge that you'd need to know what the hoped outcome was. I don't. In many ways they have further divided the fan base. I'm not sure there is anything fans can do to sway Sisu's hand, but I get the feeling of wanting to do something to show your frustration so won't condem them.
6. Do you see SISU selling up anytime soon?
God knows. It seems not, apparently they've turned down approaches, though there's been rumours of talks behind the scenes, but we've had that smoke before with no fire. I honestly can't see why they're still here so it's hard to see why they'd leave. Maybe after the new judicial review is decided, but we thought that after the last one. I sure hope they'll go after relegation but the noises from the club don't indicate that. Maybe we will come up on a wave of optimism next year and someone will take a punt. But if there was a white knight out there or a fan consortium to put together you'd have thought they'd have appeared by now. We seem to just attract an endless line of chancers and nobodies, not any serious interest.
7. Should the club completely fold would you support a Phoenix club if one arose?
Depends on the circumstances. If Sisu were to liquidate us out of spite, probably. In theory yes I would, but in reality it'd come down to how I felt about it and what the FA did with us. A "new" club starting a few leagues down is one thing, a complete startup is another. Another factor would be the people behind any new club, I'd want it to feel some connection to the current fan base and club and not like Coventry United.
