From reading this week's diary, it sounds like the club giving up on achieving 12k crowds has driven the decision to cut cloth and merge the academy. I understand the requirement to balance the books but I reckon there's a scenario here that will limit salary cap spend in anticipation of reduced crowds and consign us to middle 8 before a ball is kicked next year. Wonder whether signing Tuimavave rather than some bigger names bandied about is further evidence? If this were true, it would be the case that we've gone as far as we'll go under AP and with no alternative things look pretty bleak; our chances of genuinely challenging the Top 3 (lucky cup run apart) are minimal.

Four years on and we're almost back to square one (with lower attendances), the exception being the academy, the future benefits of which we're now choosing to dilute. When you look back at all the cash spent by AP on tax liabilities, EBTs, paying off contracts and agents fees you can't help but wonder how this could have been put to better use over that time period to build something with solid foundations. Club's at a crossroads this off season IMO and the only direction of travel seems to be downgrading/downsizing. Sobering stuff.

Anti-Radford vitriol has been done to death and beyond - purpose of this thread is what others views are of the club's medium term plan and direction on all fronts.

I doubt we'd have signed pritchard and taylor if we were limiting the cap spend. pearson made reference to spending £1.9m on salaries if my memory serves me so whilst there may be cost cutting going on it's not on the 1st team squad currently. If he wants to start spending less then that's up to him but he'll end up with us in championship 2 playing in front of 3000

One main problem weve had since Pearson took over is Pearson. The guys clueless. Whatever he knew from previous business or football has either not worked or he has made lots and lots of wrong decisions. The worst of all is our current coaching set up but he just doesnt get it. I would honestly rather have Kath and co back which was only really bad in the latter and Agar part of her tenure. Now weve got loads of fans deserting the club, a partial merger and with the coming season, stand closures, possible middle eights next season, less fans......etc etc etc.

The simple fact is the clubs fooked, is showing no signs of turning it around and lots and lots are seeing this and are deserting. I said on a previous thread that id take relegation and all that entails if it meant us getting rid of Pearson, starting again properly and being a club of the people again and id support it just like i did when it was the championship a few years back. Despite the way people slag Rovers they are still a fans club, a club were people feel part of it even if they are poor on the field atm and we could learn certain things from them

If we had Kath etc, we would be in the same position as Bradford and Wakey, without Pearson we might not have a club.

Can't blame Pearson for not wanting to spend anymore money and to make cut backs. My big hope is the current under 19s and if we can get our recruitment right for next year (is looking pretty good so far) then we can progress next year and get some fans back.

I'll probably regret this post but in my opinion in answer to the initial poster I think that the Club are just trying to be realistic really, the cash just isn't coming in and it doesn't look like that is going to change anytime soon. Pearson is forking out week in week out while income must obviously be going down on a weekly basis too.

Adam Pearson said on Humberside that the merger is in his opinion good for youth development but went on to say when pressed that it is in some part to save money and added that if we don't buy season tickets and start attending games again it will be down to 'passing the buckets round' which I think is an incite into what they are thinking and how strapped for cash we are.

However for me they don't seem to get it because we have got things the wrong way round. The issue with everything to do with a professional sports Club is geared to how much the team inspires the fans and captures their imagination. That puts bums on seats and sells the shirts. That's why in other sports coaches get sacked and players have to move on.

I think myself that playing well, looking good and offering some HOPE is what brings people back but bumping along in mid to lower table as we do year in year out just sees people getting fed up with the same old and walking away. Where we are at this moment after two good wins and then a very, very poor display against a top team is a place we have been in time and again for years and years and its bloody soul destroying.

I'm not getting into coach or player bashing but the thing that is radically wrong is the product it's that which gives people some hope and at present ts that which is driving people away. There seems to be no improvement at all in that same old culture and mental approach, well there is little evidence in this seasons results that much is changing is there?

That trend has to be reversed and action to do that however unpalatable or costly in the short term has to be taken. To simply look at ways of making savings is a downward spiral and we have to give the fans that hope again that one day we will be a top Club again. However unlikely that aspiration is. Blind faith wares very thin after time.

That is the only thing that will make them start to come back to games and subscribe to season tickets. We had 20,000 at Wembley two years ago so there are potentially some 12,000 out there who are interested enough to travel down to London to watch the FC, we simply have to produce the product to get some of those back to games. However if they were sat at home on Thursday watching Sky then its going to be a long haul but that's the fault of the quality of the product rather than anything else at the Club. Why should they shell out over £20 to watch that? Just my view of course, we're all entitled to them.

The club is in the entertainment business and since radford took over we've been a long way from entertaining for the most part. Our home form has been terrible this season and there is no wonder people are staying away. radford was a hard working, honest pro and he's trying to build a team in that mould. It won't bring back the missing fans I'm afraid and I can see another slide in pass sales for next year

The most annoying thing for me is the fans on twitter, Facebook and on here who moan about the club , the coach and the merger but don't attend and give the club the money that they need to compete with the likes of Leeds. I have no problem with the true fans like Jake, Mrs B and Wilf have a good old moan, but those who don't go or don't give the club money don't deserve this right.

The game itself has gone stale, 10-15 years ago it was all relatively new, summer rugby nice shirts decent grounds, marketing was good, fireworks, mascots, big signings were over here, people just don't want or can't afford to shell out ex-amounts of money to go watch something that doesn't entertain them no more. I love the club & the game it's my addiction. So have no choice.

The club can't keep Issuing veiled threats to get people to buy season tickets
That was trotted out last year. Many people responded and gave the club another season, but the emotional blackmail won't work again
Our club has had superb support, bearing in mind how very average we've been for a long time.
What crowds would Wire , Saints, Wigan and Leeds get if they'd put up with years of tut like we have?
Let's be honest, in the main the product on offer this season has been poor most weeks. People have finally has enough I feel this year. The academy merger will be the final straw for many. "In any kind of weather" only goes so far when people are struggling financially and many make sacrifices to attend games.
AP was badly advised in the beginning of his tenure, and that's cost the club hundreds of thousands of pounds. Thats APs fault, not the supporters.
I don't think I've ever felt so ambivalent towards my club and the game in general

If you can afford it you go it really is that simple, some people over scrutinise things on here, if your a die hard & have the finances you turn up, albeit it gets you mad from time to time, but it's in your blood from a young age.

but loyalty only goes so far in sport. you have to have entertainment too. a team struggling in mid to lower table playing boring rugby will never bring in a lot of support. there are few teams in sport who fill their grounds consistently whilst offering up poor fare on the pitch. even newcastle united fans, some of the most loyal in their game were getting fed up last season.

its all too obvious that our crowds won't improve unless changes are made either to the ownership or coaching. too many people have made their minds up. there's many other forms of entertainment out there, especially in the summer months to compete with. until then the club will lose money or be forced to budget accordingly.

but there is hope. look at Cas punching well above their weight with some excellent players and attractive rugby, despite a much smaller fanbase than ours. trouble is it took a change of coach to spark them into life

AP knows that if the product is no good the fans will not buy tickets. Yes the future has to be secured and plans put in place to be able to produce players etc but there's no point in that if the current malaise continues , the future will be in the Championship. You have to conclude therefore that AP believes that Radford and co are buying the right players and will deliver. Certainly he will be spending to the cap next year or so it seems. Why he believes that I don't know but he has "got previous" in listening to advisers , taking their views as gospel before suddenly binning it off and following the next guru just as avidly. We all thought that Gentle and Macrae was a dream team , why did they suddenly become almost criminally intent on ripping AP and the Club off? Or did they? If not who persuaded AP that they were? Why did he suddenly form this idea of having an utterly inexperienced coaching team in place , all of whom had come through the club with the playing staff. And now Hudge has persuaded him that merging the academy is a good idea. For an experienced and successful business man he seems bizarrely suggestible but can that really be the case? There's a piece of the jigsaw missing which may if found explain more rationally why AP is doing what he's doing which seems to be making the best of a poor job or cutting his cloth as the op says.

I was a season ticket holder for 10 years until this season. I bought several shirts and other merchandise, and I started the season as a weekly attendee. That's pretty much all stopped now, does that mean I've forfeited my right to be unhappy about the club and voice this opinion? If so, why? Have I not paid enough dues to be a bit ticked off?

Totally agree about the club not seeming to get it and having things the wrong way around. Obviously I can't speak for everyone, but I get a sense that what is doing for a lot of fans is simply the loss of hope. I have zero belief that things will get much better any time soon, and I do know that there are others like me. I wish that the club would try and re-engage with us and understand why we don't want to go any more, instead of just announcing another signing as if it will be a magic tonic or making veiled threats about the end of the club to bully us into buying tickets. I've never felt less like a fan and more like a consumer whose opinions don't count, only the colour of my money.

In s nutshell, it doesn't feel like my club any more, and that's what's killing it for me personally.

In the same interview he said that we had to start winning to bring the fans back, so I think he does 'get it'. He just has an odd idea about how to go about achieving that.