Xen

This has made me realise we're not even the highest ranked LCFC in the country anymore...

I cancelled mine, still had a confirmation that the direct debit was renewed. Just to rub salt in the wound, that was about an hour after our relegation was confirmed... I just cancelled the DD again and confirmed with the ticket office that it wouldn't re-process. Keep trying and you'll get through eventually - email is probably best though. Failing that, the general [email protected] email is much more responsive. In my experience, Jim (supporter services) who mans it has been the one positive aspect of dealing with the club over the past few years. First DD payments wont come out til June so you've got plenty of time to get this resolved, imagine theres a lot of people with similar concerns all trying to get answers at once, currently.

Absolutely fuming with this, after going through such an ordeal with trying to cancel my ticket for next year (having cancelled my DD early after the renewals announcement) and being repeatedly reassured that it's been processed, this then happens hours after relegation is confirmed. Our club is beyond a joke at this point.

To all those who have been saying "This is our level" - what about now?? Unless we literally dominate the league and finish clear winners (we won't) we're about to have our lowest ever finish in the history of the club. Assuming we make it til the end of the season without winding up, of course.

Can he play upfront?

Sad thing is, that could have (should have?) been this season in the Championship. They were all on our books in the prem and we were talking about giving them opportunities and gradually integrating them with the first squad, then we had that disaster of a season and got relegated (again) and despite being at a lower level, most of them haven't really had a chance here. Whether or not they would have been PL level is unclear, but they certainly cant have been worse than relegation-zone-championship standard. The fact we need a second relegation to be in a position for them to actually get a chance is pretty depressing...

The small print in question for anyone else unsure: How hard is it for them to create a logical timeline for these things?

It's not what other's have alluded to that you have to tell them not to renew (you DO, but thats not why this email was sent out as the deadline for that is a month from now). I've already explicitly stated to them in writing that I'm not renewing, and they've still sent me this email confirming my renewal. They've effed up their own process. Sent them a strongly worded email asking for clarification...

It's a stupid system and makes no sense. There's no easy opt-out, you have to email them and do it 'manually' that way. The timings are daft too - you have to opt out before the final direct debit for this season comes out. I decided to cancel my DD and pay off the last two payments manually to avoid this, except the site is broken and doesnt actually let you do that, and apparently by cancelling the DD (even with the intention to pay) that voids your season ticket for the remainder of the season. I've had a lengthy back and forth with Jim via lcfchelp (who, credit where its due, was quick to reply and super helpful) to try and figure out how on earth to resolve it all. It's a nightmare for something that should be an incredibly simple process. Which I suppose is to be expected from LCFC at present...

With how dominant she is against her competitors, she's definitely in that same bracket as JEH - possibly even surpassing her if she keeps it up for a lengthy career. As the commentators were saying - if Keely turns up fit and in form, its hers to lose. She broke the 24year old world indoor record by a whole second, and has more to give. If that final had gone different from a tactical pov, it wouldn't surprise me if Keely had gone even faster again. Massive credit to Georgia and Molly too. Great to see a whole wave of success. Nice little stat I saw whilst checking something. The previous 800m indoor record was set on 3rd March 2002. Keely Hogkinson was born on... 3rd March 2002.

Exact same thing with me giving it to family. "Thanks... I'll pass" On more than one occasion someone has taken me up on the offer, and I've felt the need to apologise sincerely afterwards...

There won't be any waiting list, that's for sure. It used to be a multi-year process of getting a membership and buying tickets whenever possible - often as single seats - just to build up enough points over 2-3 years to potentially get one. Now we're half-filling the stadium, those spare seats are remaining spare and plenty of people who've already got their seats at STs aren't bothering. I renewed for this current season mostly because of an admin error - forgot the deadline to cancel the DD - and figured I'd take it as a sign to keep the faith. Gradually started going less and less and then gave up for good in December and after some initial feelings of remorse, now I'm quite happy to have my Saturdays back (2hr travel each way definitely impacts that choice, but still). Part of the appeal for renewing was to keep my seat and then just share the ST with family who are still local. But given how easy it's going to be to buy one-off tickets, I really don't care about having my specific seat and it's not like i'm going to struggle to get my hands on one. Only real downside is it'll limit me going to away games as I was just about at the points threshold where i could consistently get tickets... But oh well.

So now that we've finally broken the woeful streak of not keeping a clean sheet, how many more do we reckon we'll manage before the end of the season? Will this be a springboard for a watertight defence, or was this a false dawn? Upcoming fixtures (and current position) are: H - QPR (16) A - Watford (9) H - Preston (14) A - Sheffield Wednesday (24) H - Swansea (10) A - Portsmouth (19) H - Hull (5) H - Millwall (3) A - Blackburn (20)

Took a look out of interest, and in 15/16 we signed 3 players early in the window whilst Pearson was still here: Huth, Fuchs and Okazaki. All 3 key parts of the title winning side. After Ranieri joined the 3 we signed were Kante (who he had to be convinced about, and was identified early by SWalsh and Shakey who were the continuity) at the start of August and then Inler/Benalouane shortly after the season started. So the early preseason work is what set us up for success, and the later additions were less impactful. Preseason is a lot more important that those running the club seem to have given it credit for lately. Hopefully we can get a solid base sorted far sooner this year…

We need a manager who understands the club, fans can get behind and who gives us a much needed bit of consistency and stability. if he keeps us up, Rowett checks those boxes. Enzo was only ever going to be temporary. Cooper was an uninspiring disaster. Ruud was so out of his depth it was unbelievable. Marti had some decent opening interviews but from there he never really connected with the fans. i don’t want us to go crazy with the contract length on the back of some passable results (as we have form for….) given that we really shouldn’t be in this position in the first place, but a 1year contract with performance-based extensions/bonuses feels like it’d be fair reward for keeping us up. Setting a baseline by surviving relegation and clearing out the end-of-contract deadwood players, but then immediately bringing in someone new to change the direction of the club AGAIN feels like we’d be repeating past failings and setting ourselves up for another tough season. I’d rather keep Rowett than risk another Cifuentes…