Nicky Butt and Chris Casper both leaving?

[kevin]

We're going to have to agree to disagree here I think.

Whilst I agree about the manager and players, I disagree about views on our ownership.
CO92 have taken us from the depths of non-league to being a solid League 2 club in 10 years. That is a huge success. Period. I don't think it's helpful to compare ourselves to the likes of Wrexham or Stockport- they have completely different histories and contexts. 

There is no way that CO92 are going to pull out now. Their commitment is not based on the money, it's based on the morales of investing in a local football club.

I know that I'm going against the grain here, but I really don't buy into the view that CO92 are a curse as much as a blessing and don't know how to run a football club/are our limiting factor. I just don't think this is the case. If they don't know how to run a football club... then who do?! Rich investors who are only interested in the money? Or a group of committed ex-footballers who genuinely love and understand the game? 

Yes, we are clearly in a state of transition. Yes, I see us shifting to a new strategy that is more sustainable for the longer-term (focus on younger players, adding value through B-team, etc). These are all positive things. I see this as evidence of GN & co's commitment to the club longer term.

I might be totally wrong here, but I wanted to put my view out there, as I am convinced that CO92 are here to stay. And long may they do so!

[Chris P. Bacon]

It is a great achievement to be where we, particularly with regards to the stadium and I’m not trying to talk down our owners achievements. But in some ways, non-league was much easier. You actually CAN buy a non-league title. I’m not sure when you started watching but if you were here at the start of CO92, you might recall that with every promotion came a clear out and a whole new team for the next campaign. Our players were generally better than the league we were in. Then just when we thought some of those players could do a job in the next league, we let them go and bought better.

When Mark Shelton left and did an interview he talked of the pressure to win every game at Salford and that pressure was down to the owners. Confidently predicting promotion every season was a must. Even Karen Baird said after signing a striker (Ian Henderson I think) that they had brought in the players who are good enough for promotion and ‘now it’s down to the manager to out it all together’…..as if that was the easier bit. That was a mistake.

In those early days…the owners were too hands on when selecting the squad. That was a mistake.

We sacked managers who’d just won a title. That was a mistake. They may have failed but most thought they deserved their chance.

Nobody is demeaning what the owners have done, but just like every other club in the league, the fans will critique not just the manager and players, but the owners, the catering and anything else.

But I would question the timing of Butt’s announcement when our form is decidedly patchy, the team isn’t balanced, we’re not even a quarter of the way through the season and suddenly…..our CEO is missing coaching. Did he realise that overnight or had he been pondering it for a while? If the latter, why take on the role when they could have advertised the role there and then.

There may be one massive plus that comes out of this. We might finally get a CEO who knows the job. Knows how to run a League 2 team…perhaps the toughest league of all 4 pro leagues. None of our owners would ever get a job as a football CEO and I assume they wouldn’t want that job if they would?