So what now?

[tommy2thumbs]

In addition to Carlisle where to Morecambe train?

The Prawns have training a pitch at the montezuma shed, plus I think they sometimes train on the arti at Heysham High School.

[Amber SUFC]

Once again the board have made the right call and kept us up eventually. We learn as we go on but how do we ensure that we aren’t in another relegation battle next season?

On and off the pitch there clearly needs to be developments.
Some of the things that have crossed my mind?

1) As a squad, we seem to have a group of players that have shown they can do the job when required. My worry is that some players are judged on their contributions of the last three games rather than over the full season. A goal scorer is a must but we all know that comes at a cost. Are the rumours true that Platt (and others) already agreed pre contract terms at other clubs? If so, they’ll obviously need replacing.

2) The stadium needs further work and again that will come at a cost. Has it been decided where the extra seats will go? Are the changing rooms up to scratch? How does the away end become less of an embarrassment? How do we upgrade basics that make the game more enjoyable to entice more fans?

3) I assume that the academy is now a goer and the club will receive funding for this from the EFL? Do they pay it all or is there a further cost to the club? Where are they playing, I hope the rumours about Kendal are not true. How many are local players, how many from away? Will they be given an opportunity to train with the first team and will the first team manager be asked to watch their games?

4) Community. How do we extend the community work done to get more fans in? Can we target outlying areas in South Lakes? Can we build to 3500 regularly next season - small, consistent gains? Will meet the manager and training sessions be regular, not just at the start of their reign? How do we get relationships with local clubs and leagues - try to avoid fixture clashes? Local finals played at HS for kids have again been stopped I’ve heard when they used to always be there.

5) Training ground. What’s the situation? Is that solved long term? What can be done to entice new players?

6)Fanzone - how is this maximised on non match days? Can we get a manager to oversee events like the raiders have? There’s a music event coming up.

7) Season tickets - Freeze the price or raise? Early bird offer? Link discounts to more local businesses or events. Can something be combined with the raiders - a dual season ticket?

I enjoyed the fanzone yesterday. It is something Sutton could emulate at Gander Green Lane.

[FanzoneFan]

Morecambe use our old training base - Lancaster University

[blue nige]

We need to recruit and appoint a CEO. Hopefully somebody with EFL experience this time too.

Surely this is Brown (if he doesn`t get the Manager`s job ,which I don`t think the board should dive in just yet -no rush)?

[BlueNurse]

In addition to Carlisle where to Morecambe train?

The Prawns have training a pitch at the montezuma shed, plus I think they sometimes train on the arti at Heysham High School.

They train at Lancaster uni. They've got a decent partnership with the University.

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

We need to recruit and appoint a CEO. Hopefully somebody with EFL experience this time too.

Surely this is Brown (if he doesn`t get the Manager`s job ,which I don`t think the board should dive in just yet -no rush)?

Good god no. CEO of a football club is nothing like managing a squad of players.

[bamber678]

Surely this is Brown (if he doesn`t get the Manager`s job ,which I don`t think the board should dive in just yet -no rush)?

Good god no. CEO of a football club is nothing like managing a squad of players.

If brown isn’t going to be the next manager I’d definitely offer him Director of Football. Need one of them more than a CEO

[Main Stand SeasonTct]

Good god no. CEO of a football club is nothing like managing a squad of players.

If brown isn’t going to be the next manager I’d definitely offer him Director of Football. Need one of them more than a CEO

As an EFL club you have to have a CEO. I'm not sure many if any clubs in league two have a director of football in an official capacity. Dean Holdsworth who Carlisle sacked was the only one IIRC. I know Paul Hornby gave MH that title on his return but the club never announced anything official or made it know in the clubs whois who on the website.

[blue nige]

Surely this is Brown (if he doesn`t get the Manager`s job ,which I don`t think the board should dive in just yet -no rush)?

Good god no. CEO of a football club is nothing like managing a squad of players.

What expertise have you got to back that statement up ? You know nothing about Brown in relation to him being a CEO but I don`t think we`ll have one Director of Football definately!

[Broughton Fan]

First thing I would do would be to take up the one year option on Matt Platt and extend it for another year,I don’t know what went on with platt And cooper but there was something that wasn’t right but under Brown after Cooper left he has looked a different player and in Browns time he has been our most consistent performer and is the sort of player to build a side around ,rumour is he signed a pre contract elsewhere but Brown if he stays knows his importance and I’m sure he will be going all out to keep Platt ,there is lots of dead wood to be pruned from the current squad who’s contracts expire so it should be able to be done financially

[SKIPPER]

The clamour for new faces on here will fall into the three usual suspects.
Returnees Cook,Quigley, Newby,Bennet et al, the 'no chance' Yates,Dunne, Smith and the frankly stupid nonsense Curtis,Cowps,Walker,Messi etc. I've seen a few National League games this season both on BT and odd visits with my SIL to Wrexham. Two players I have been impressed by are Notts Co striker Kyle Wooton and Solihulls' goalscoring midfielder Joe Sbarra. Both are I believe out of contract this summer and depending on the outcome of the play-offs may be looking to advance.

[chipmunx]

The clamour for new faces on here will fall into the three usual suspects.
Returnees Cook,Quigley, Newby,Bennet et al, the 'no chance' Yates,Dunne, Smith and the frankly stupid nonsense Curtis,Cowps,Walker,Messi etc. I've seen a few National League games this season both on BT and odd visits with my SIL to Wrexham. Two players I have been impressed by are Notts Co striker Kyle Wooton and Solihulls' goalscoring midfielder Joe Sbarra. Both are I believe out of contract this summer and depending on the outcome of the play-offs may be looking to advance.

both reasonable shouts - Wooton got mentioned on here in the January window i think.
just as long as we don't sign Sam Hart who was with Southend last season and Oldham this year.... we don't want to tempt fate like that.

[bluessupporter]

just as long as we don't sign Sam Hart who was with Southend last season and Oldham this year.... we don't want to tempt fate like that.

Third time lucky? Might bring us promotion rather than relegation!

[M6 BLUE]

The Prawns have training a pitch at the montezuma shed, plus I think they sometimes train on the arti at Heysham High School.

They train at Lancaster uni. They've got a decent partnership with the University.

Not anymore they don't they're now back at the Lancaster and Morecambe College facility with whom they've gone into partnership on a couple of other projects as well. They don't use the small artificial pitches at the ground as they don't own [along with the fact that they're trashed and need complete refurbishment ] them they never have they were owned by their former chairman Peter McGuigan whose company went into liquidation and they were bought at a knockdown price along with the gym in the corner of the ground last year by non-other than Tyson Fury.

[M6 BLUE]

Carlisle united own properties in the City where a number of players stay at during in the week making it easier for them to train at Carlisle.

"Out of interest, what do Carlisle United do? Fairly sure they train in Carlisle. Do they somehow get players to live locally? Is the killer for Barrow the left turn at J36 i.e. the supposed road to nowhere."
Apparently, yes 'some' of their players do live and train in Carlisle but 'some' travel from away as well.
"Is the killer for Barrow the left turn at J36 i.e. the supposed road to nowhere." No, that's a load of bollox perpetuated by lads mags years ago and used by twopence halfpenny journalists to have pops at the town-a great exponent of this rubbish is James Phillips.

Carlisle have never trained anywhere but in the city and contrary to what some on here would have you believe they are very stable with their facility use.

They have the pitch and a small indoor facility at the ground. After the first flood, they did a deal with the EA to move the training pitch from behind the East Stand to its present location which unfortunately is now on the wrong side of the new flood defences so is susceptible to being flooded at worst or at least very wet for most of the Winter. They also have use of the facilities at Creighton Rugby Club which were built for CRC by Fred Story in a land swap deal where he built houses on their old ground and built them the present set-up. At the time he owned CUFC so did a deal where they get a bit of rent from the football club which also oversee the maintenance of the pitches. Keith Curle was the last manager who actually based the team there for training full time now they seem to only use it when the pitch at BP is out of use. Last year they also did a deal to use a 4g facility just up the road in Gretna when they need that. I would be pretty certain that now Simpson is back he has already spoken about looking to bring things together a bit more.

As for what happens with the players historically its always been perceived as problem attracting players but it doesn't seem to be any worse now than its ever been. And in the past the club owned a dozen plus houses around the city and players moved up to live on 2 or 3 year contracts but the houses are long gone just like the longer contracts.They now own two large houses which have been adapted to provide 9 bedrooms and communal space and certain players choose to take one of these rooms to cut down on the travelling by staying over 2 or 3 nights a week or sometimes younger single players move up and live there too. Another thing they used to do [ not sure if they still do ] was to arrange car pools from the North East and Lancashire areas where if there were four players travelling together the club paid for the juice again that was a big well organised thing under Keith Curle and the players actually liked the arrangements with tales getting out of the crack that went on in the cars.

And don't think the arrangement your centre forward has is unique Jabo Ibrahere used to commute from his home in London on the train and was often seen trying to scrounge a lift home from away games from fans who lived in the capital.

I cant see a solution to your problem tho and its always going to be a trade-off between training in Barrow and getting the players to commute/move there and training in the Manchester area but I think BAFC need to find a better/more permanent facility than they have had since they left Hopwood [ they could do a lot worse than go back there now that the issues created by Covid that forced them to leave have gone away ] and combine that with extending the training in Barrow before a home game to the Mondays before a Tuesday night match as well as the Fridays before a Saturday home match.