I stick by my observations off the senior team at WTWRLFC, oft stated on here. I think there are 2 legitimate criticisms to be made. Firstly they are not wealthy enough and secondly they have not raised the clubs income sufficiently.

What they have achieved though is nothing short of remarkable. With an income significantly less than their competitors they have, post Pearman, competed and punched above their weight relative to their competitors with greater income. The credibility and track record of their coaching team is of an objectively verifiably better standard in the 30 years of my being a fan.

To the objective observer it is nothing short of a miracle that the spectre of administration has been fought off for so long. Lets not forget that but for a 50 / 50 decision by the SOS this crisis would not have arisen at this stage.

That these boards are filled right now with the critics who throw around foundless allegations and insult the intelligence of those who have a contrary position to their own ought not to blind us to the objective facts. The last 10 years of the clubs history may well have seen dark days but have also seen the best days on the field in my life time (Im 40).

None of this is intended to pretend that the club is in a healthy state. I simply challenge the supposition of the keyboard Alan Sugars that managing the club more effectively amidst the circumstances that were beyond the controll of the BOD at WTWRLFC was achievable under the circumstances.

For not being extraordinarily wealthy and failing as an alchemist the BOD are guilty. I see no evidence of their guilt of anything else.

Your entitled to your opinion mate, but I think you are giving the BOD far too much credit. Everything related to WTRLFC has been in their control and it is their bad decisions that have got to us where we are. Failure to pay our tax bills repeatedly, falling for the Thornes park pipe dream, falling for the Pearman debacle and failing to check him out properly first - treating all but a few select fans like mushrooms and then asking for us to pay 1,000 quid with no facts as to what it is actually for and suggesting if we don't we don't care.

I am not falling for any of this hindsight is a great thing bull crap, the bottom line is they are incapable of planning anything properly and we are now seeing the result of this with the current debacle.

The heart of the debate is the too much credit or too much criticism issue. I stand by the too much criticism position. Let me explain why.

It is easy to take the peril the cub is now in and assert that it is the result of the bad decisions. However that whole arguement is predacated on an assumption that better options were available at the time that the BOD made what you assert were the bad decisions.

Cup semi final, twice in play offs, a SOS decision away from a new stadium - these are not insignificant achivements - in our financial context and relative to our competitors. It is in this light that I think the criticism is too harsh.

I think it is possible that no management team, faced with the context our BOD have faced would have managed more effectively. For me the issue of good or bad leadership is were the controllables controlled? I have seen no evidence that our BOD failed in this respect.

Cup semi final, twice in play offs, a SOS decision away from a new stadium - these are not insignificant achivements - in our financial context and relative to our competitors. It is in this light that I think the criticism is too harsh

Lots of nearly's in there - believe you I have had directly dealings with the club regarding very big potential sponsorship deals - and they were appalling. If you were looking at a deal worth £50-100k - would you have supplied a copy of the best bits of the previous season - mmmm yes you would. Wakey were asked personally by me 8 times and never supplied it. The potential (it was never guaranteed) sponsorship just walked away!!!

lad13 the example you cite sounds odd on the face of it especially given the financial state of the club.

It is common FACT that the Richardson clan have been taking a big chunk of money out of the club year on year and plenty of it. Jobs for all the family !! I know one businessman who tried to invest big money in the club a few years ago and they did not want his investment because they wanted to keep control... if that happened there would have been major changes in who was earning what as a salary and there was no way they were going to let that happen. Eric France was also prepared to wasn't he ?? again something got in the way of that I heard.

Yes but you are forgetting that these achievements were done by not acting within the financial constraints that applied and hence why we have had 2 large tax bills in 12 months and now another one possibly threatening the existence of the club. Is paying the bills not a controllable?

wonder where the money has gone. now thats a mystery.

Like most arguments where polar opposites exist, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle!

Your point about the tax bills is beyond dispute, although the context (image rights / revenue test cases etc' may emerge in mitigation in the coming weeks).

I don't have it in me to try to 'win' this arguement. Im not interested in trying to proclam the BOD as paragons of effective management! By definition they have failed the effective test. If the allegations in the previous 3 or 4 posts are indeed comprehensive and true criticism is indeed merited.

My position, and Im not disuaded from it, is that the last 10 years on and off the field have seen the club have more success than any other 10 year period in my 40 year life time. Further, given our relative weakness financially compared to our competitors, the people in charge during this time deserve credit. Think back to 6 games into last season - the criticisms we now hear on this board were dormant.

Clan has it for me - Im just appealing for balance.

What money ?

With sky money our crowds over the last 10 years and our lack of a serious major club sponsor we dont have enough income to keep the club going, this is something most fans seem to agree on, our accounts dont sound as half as bad as some sl clubs yet we are still here battling all these years later. Where is this massive amount of money coming from then Mopsey if we never had it how can he take it? You say you know these things for certain so either man up and tell everyone what you think you know or just give it a rest on your crusade it is both pathetic and repetitive to say the least and lastly it does nothing to help the clubs current predicament.

Here Here, the man has so many issues I believe it may be a woman. The thing is knowing a little about who I think it is....

On this 'SOS decision away from new stadium' issue, who takes credit if Newmarket happens? The club won't own the new stadium, just rely on it.

Let me repeat I don't think the BOD are the be all and end allBUT they deserve more credit than they are getting.

Are you challenging my assersion that the post Pearman era have been, for WTWRLFC, the most successful in the clubs recent history?