Without the nightmares of the 80s and 90s where would we be now ?

[its a Barm]

I reckon those nightmares are the reason our owners bought us. They thought this fan will stick by us no matter What, god forbid even failure. Worry over for all concerned.

I agree, we as fans have earnt it.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I agree, we as fans have earnt it.

Which makes it more of a shame that some don't seem able to enjoy it.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I'm not sure GDM. Unless the various redevelopments of Maine Road would have been significantly better then the chances are that CoMS (as it was) would have still been a major improvement.
We could have built bigger and better in Moss Side but were always hemmed in by Thornton Road.

I was working on the basis that the redevelopments would have been better, because we had a degree of success on the pitch to fund/justify it. A lot of other clubs developed their grounds in the late 90's (Forest, Spurs, Everton, Newcastle) when they were all doing relatively well - and better than us. With the exception of Spurs, it's worth noting that none of those grounds have undergone any significant development since the end of the 90's, partly because they are 'good enough' or fit for purpose, which Maine Road palpably wasn't when we left. I think if we'd have developed Maine Road more ambitiously in the early 90's (the Umbro Stand was a bad joke) and beyond into the late 90's (North and Main Stands) then the imperative to leave Maine Road in the early 21st Century wouldn't have been so pressing - and the takeover much less likely to occur.

 

[andyhinch]

I was working on the basis that the redevelopments would have been better, because we had a degree of success on the pitch to fund/justify it. A lot of other clubs developed their grounds in the late 90's (Forest, Spurs, Everton, Newcastle) when they were all doing relatively well - and better than us. With the exception of Spurs, it's worth noting that none of those grounds have undergone any significant development since the end of the 90's, partly because they are 'good enough' or fit for purpose, which Maine Road palpably wasn't when we left. I think if we'd have developed Maine Road more ambitiously in the early 90's (the Umbro Stand was a bad joke) and beyond into the late 90's (North and Main Stands) then the imperative to leave Maine Road in the early 21st Century wouldn't have been so pressing - and the takeover much less likely to occur.

Are you saying we could of ended up with a matching roof that circumferenced the ground, that would have been worth seeing.

 

[shemnel]

it's always darkest before the blue dawn..... blah blah blah

 

[bluegray]

Didn't Franny have a pull out in the programme of what Maine Road would look like with the new kippax built all around the ground?

 

[Xiphos]

Until things took a turn for the better, I was always analysing what went wrong right at the end of the 70s, the 80s and 90s. No need to think like that now. Without those dark days I have no doubt that we wouldn't have what we have now. Am I being too philosophical ?

Nightmare? Dark days? i thought the 70s, 80s, and 90s were brilliant, made me proud to be a downtrodden Blue and was character building

 

[lancs blue]

I was working on the basis that the redevelopments would have been better, because we had a degree of success on the pitch to fund/justify it. A lot of other clubs developed their grounds in the late 90's (Forest, Spurs, Everton, Newcastle) when they were all doing relatively well - and better than us. With the exception of Spurs, it's worth noting that none of those grounds have undergone any significant development since the end of the 90's, partly because they are 'good enough' or fit for purpose, which Maine Road palpably wasn't when we left. I think if we'd have developed Maine Road more ambitiously in the early 90's (the Umbro Stand was a bad joke) and beyond into the late 90's (North and Main Stands) then the imperative to leave Maine Road in the early 21st Century wouldn't have been so pressing - and the takeover much less likely to occur.

Any chance of those redevelopments taking place would have hinged on getting rid of Swales much earlier - to a large extent our fate for the 80s and 90s was sealed when Mal returned and we ripped apart the squad that had finished 2nd and 4th in successive seasons. We were on a downward spiral from then on despite the odd blip such as the '81 Cup Final and a couple of top 6 finishes under Reid.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Any chance of those redevelopments taking place would have hinged on getting rid of Swales much earlier - to a large extent our fate for the 80s and 90s was sealed when Mal returned and we ripped apart the squad that had finished 2nd and 4th in successive seasons. We were on a downward spiral from then on despite the odd blip such as the '81 Cup Final and a couple of top 6 finishes under Reid.

I think if Judas would have stayed we could have had a shot at a title but it would have been short term as most of the team were Everton reserves, we'll never know but he was certainly much better than Reid who basically just played Kendal's players and had as you say 2 top 6 finishes.

 

[lancs blue]

I think if Judas would have stayed we could have had a shot at a title but it would have been short term as most of the team were Everton reserves, we'll never know but he was certainly much better than Reid who basically just played Kendal's players and had as you say 2 top 6 finishes.

I'm not sure about a title shot, we still lacked a bit of quality in that squad though Kendall would probably have pushed us a couple of places higher had he stayed.