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Forest Green Rovers

It's more of a Scottish football thing having names not associated with the town of the team. Albion Rovers (Cumbernauld), Queen of the South (Dumfies), Morton (Greenock), Queens Park (Galsgy), Hibernian and Hearts (Edinburgh).

edit: I've just thought of Crystal Palace and QPR in England, so it's not unique to The Jocks at all !!!!!!!

Tranmere Rovers.
 
Well I hope no footy fan in his or her right mind would attend a footy match without a meat & potato pie (or similar) in their gut. We want to see players with beef in their gut, not lentils.
That said, small town Hoffenheim are currently 4th in the Bundesliga, behind moneybags Bayern and Red Bull Leipzig.
Comments?

Hoffenheim's stadium is actually located in Sinsheim which has a population of 36000. The original stadium was in the village but their sloftware-mogul owner wanted something bigger, though I presume they were forced to move there after promotion to the 1. Bundesliga.

I think the reason they've managed to get fairly decent crowds (ave over 25000 and they've had a good season) from a standing start is that they are located in a fairly populous area of Germany and there aren't any other top league teams in the area with the exception of Stuttgart to the south.

I can see what you mean about Tranmere, they are down there because they simply weren't strong enough to bounce back from League 1 relegation and their changes upon entering League 2 backfired leading to back-to-back relegations. This does not change that Tranmere are historically a club around the 3rd tier of English football, give or take a couple of 5-10 year stints either side of that level in the 2nd and 4th tier.

Newport County pre-bankrupcy spent about an equal split between 3rd/4th tier football with one promotion to the 2nd Division being followed by immediate relegation the very next season, and Newport County AFC have not gotten to the L2 playoffs in their 20 years of existence whereas other phoenix clubs like AFC Wimbledon have reached L1 despite starting much lower in the leagues in less than 15 years. Their ground is ill-equipped, hence all the postponements due to waterlogged pitches, and next season will likely be bottom, or at least another struggle for them unless the wheels come off another club like it's threatening to at Morecambe. To sum it up, they employed Graham Westley - that's how desperate it is for them.

I didn't directly compare the ambition of Forest Green and Tranmere, as I agree that Forest Green are going places and are definitely very ambitious. That said, Tranmere have now got a manager who's won promotion from the Conference and League 2, gotten solid experienced players like Steve McNulty and Jeff Hughes, and have signed other club's top goalscorers, including Forest Green's James Norwood.

Given the mess the two relegated L2 clubs are in, I would say Tranmere to win the Conference next season is a good bet - my point however is that if this was any other league, Tranmere would have been promoted without a trip to Wembley. Gaining promotion to the League is much harder than getting promoted to any league higher up the ladder, and mediocre/poor sides like Newport are benefiting from this at the expense of sides like Tranmere.

What you seem to be questioning is the whole premise of promotion and relegation. That's the way it is, it's the way it always has been in all the league. Why should it be any different for Tranmere?
 
There's nowhere called Arsenal either.....you're right about QPR too

Woolwich Arsenal actually started life south of the river before moving to N5 (hope thats the correct N Postcode without checking).

Edit - And as I enter Page 3 (fnar!), I see that Outreacher made this exact point late last night.
 
What you seem to be questioning is the whole premise of promotion and relegation. That's the way it is, it's the way it always has been in all the league. Why should it be any different for Tranmere?

I am not questioning the whole premise of promotion and relegation, I am simply questioning the way that teams go between the National League and League 2. In every league from L2 upwards, the top two are automatically promoted, whereas in the National League 2nd only earns qualification for the playoffs.

As teams like Luton, Bristol Rovers and Wimbledon have proved since their promotions from the National League, the gap between the quality of the sides in the respective leagues is shrinking to the point where newly-promoted teams have no reason not to go for back to back promotions or at least reach the playoffs straightaway. It says everything that the chairman of the 3rd placed side in the National League is now saying that gaining promotion from L2 will be "easy", yet they were 9 points behind Tranmere, who will spend another season in non-league despite attaining a league finish that, in any other league, would equal promotion.

How would you feel if PNE finished 2nd in the Championship, yet that was only good enough for the playoffs?
 
I am not questioning the whole premise of promotion and relegation, I am simply questioning the way that teams go between the National League and League 2. In every league from L2 upwards, the top two are automatically promoted, whereas in the National League 2nd only earns qualification for the playoffs.

As teams like Luton, Bristol Rovers and Wimbledon have proved since their promotions from the National League, the gap between the quality of the sides in the respective leagues is shrinking to the point where newly-promoted teams have no reason not to go for back to back promotions or at least reach the playoffs straightaway. It says everything that the chairman of the 3rd placed side in the National League is now saying that gaining promotion from L2 will be "easy", yet they were 9 points behind Tranmere, who will spend another season in non-league despite attaining a league finish that, in any other league, would equal promotion.

How would you feel if PNE finished 2nd in the Championship, yet that was only good enough for the playoffs?

I agree more churn would probably make for more interest, but I don't buy the idea that teams like Luton or Tranmere have a God given right to league status. I guess they know the rules so need to get on with it. The promotion into the National League is on the same basis: 1 automatic from each of North and South and one playoff from each division.
 
I agree more churn would probably make for more interest, but I don't buy the idea that teams like Luton or Tranmere have a God given right to league status. I guess they know the rules so need to get on with it. The promotion into the National League is on the same basis: 1 automatic from each of North and South and one playoff from each division.

No club has a god-given right to any status. However, when a team is that far clear of the rest of the teams and doesn't get the same treatment as other teams in that position I find it unfair.

Similarly to L2, I think it's wrong that there are 3 auto spots up for grabs plus the playoffs. Maybe that's part of what the Forest Green chairman meant - statistically speaking, it is easier to get promoted from L2 because there are double the promotion places than the National League.
 
It's more of a Scottish football thing having names not associated with the town of the team. Albion Rovers (Cumbernauld), Queen of the South (Dumfies), Morton (Greenock), Queens Park (Galsgy), Hibernian and Hearts (Edinburgh).

edit: I've just thought of Crystal Palace and QPR in England, so it's not unique to The Jocks at all !!!!!!!

Albion Rovers play in Coatbridge. Clyde play in Cumbernauld.
 
I am not questioning the whole premise of promotion and relegation, I am simply questioning the way that teams go between the National League and League 2. In every league from L2 upwards, the top two are automatically promoted, whereas in the National League 2nd only earns qualification for the playoffs.

As teams like Luton, Bristol Rovers and Wimbledon have proved since their promotions from the National League, the gap between the quality of the sides in the respective leagues is shrinking to the point where newly-promoted teams have no reason not to go for back to back promotions or at least reach the playoffs straightaway. It says everything that the chairman of the 3rd placed side in the National League is now saying that gaining promotion from L2 will be "easy", yet they were 9 points behind Tranmere, who will spend another season in non-league despite attaining a league finish that, in any other league, would equal promotion.

How would you feel if PNE finished 2nd in the Championship, yet that was only good enough for the playoffs?

The current promotion/relegation slots don't make sense in that it differs throughout the leagues, but that's how things are at the moment. Were you around in the 1980s or earlier? There was no promotion to the league from the conference at all.

And as for your final question, I'd feel exactly the same as if we finished 3rd under the current system. Thems the rules and that's what every team knows at the start of every season. Every year we get some bloody team whining that they finished x points ahead of another team, but they fail to make it through the play offs. Tough!
 
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