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[Jacko]

Straight question, without being able to spend money to sign players?

[jimmyhank]

If we are unable to attract investment and subsequently increase the playing budget then just staying in the BSP will be fantastic work.

[York Alty]

Yes, if we find ourselves with a spare half million quid.

otherwise no.

[Mrs Warbouys]

I believe football has a strange way of righting its wrongs,and maybe not as champions,but the year we sneak in the playoffs we will take our rightful place in the football league,probably when we least expect it.luton and grimsby were the two sides that never bother to vote at the agm in the year we were due to go up,thus their non votes kept rochdale in the league,look where those two will be playing thier football this season....

[Jezza]

Last year if matty had stayed, if tom and dale hadn't got injured I think we may have sneaked the play offs.

The answer is yes it's possible, our defence is rock solid, we just need to unearth a couple of midfielders and get lucky with a striker from the NWCL...............until then staying up is an achievement.

[roytonmike]

Let's stay in the real world. To retain our status in this league is achievement enough and will remain so for the foreseeable future - be satisfied with that. Too many people have inflated ideas of where we could or should be. Let's accept what we are - solvent, sensibly managed and at the highest level we can realistically sustain given our low crowd base - and be very grateful for it.

[Bob]

With the infrastructure and support base that we have in place in relation to other clubs in the league, it would take an incredible effort to challenge for the top places - particularly in terms of squad strength in-depth.  So unless we have a big benefactor coming along to cover the six figure losses every year, the answer is probably no.  But I'm proud of what we're doing with what we have.

[Bangor on Dee Robin]

I agree we have to be realistic but without any dreams ? always the chance we could sneak a play-off place and get promotion, that's happened before I'm sure 

[Jacko]

I can tell it annoys a lot of alty fans that we have to make the excuse of not having the same budget and it feels as if we are like a horse in the national that has been penalized with heavy weight every year!! One day I pray this burden ends

[Mick]

Let's stay in the real world. To retain our status in this league is achievement enough and will remain so for the foreseeable future - be satisfied with that. Too many people have inflated ideas of where we could or should be. Let's accept what we are - solvent, sensibly managed and at the highest level we can realistically sustain given our low crowd base - and be very grateful for it.

Sensible post.

I cannot understand why we keep asking ourself the same question........It's almost like asking me if I will ever win the lottery ? Well I might do because I enter every week, but seeing as I only stick a few quid on, I probably won't

My hopes are to see the club get to the 4th round of the FA cup (big TV game) and the FAT final at Wembley. We can then see how we do from there. You never know - look at Burton

[baldrick]

To everyone who says staying in the BSP is a good achievement, that may well be true, but if the club want to increase attendances and attract new fans they have to understand that people want to watch a team with a higher ambition than finishing 20th.

[distancetraveller]

A week ago after the news that Chris Senior had left the club, people were saying that they would be happy to survive in the BSP next season.

I too would like us to finish higher up in the league, but in truth I expect the reality will be a mid table finish again.

Basically it is all about money coming into the club and until we get substantial long term investment or a very good cup run I fancy it will be mid table safety for us again next season.

We will also be watching teams spending monies they havent got and going the way of Salisbury and Northwich.

15th in the black is a lot better than 5th and then not being able to pay the bills.

[Darren]

Maybe its the lack of ambition thats keeping the investors away.

[Bob]

I'd say it's more about a lack of investors so we keep our ambitions in check.

[casper]

People talk about investor’s, are we talking about one person, or group of people coming in? are we looking for someone to spend money without the guarantee of getting much back, or for a group of businesses to invest over the long-term in order to benefit the whole community?

Personally, I wouldn’t like to see a person coming in and suddenly spending thousands on players, unless we had assurances about long-term commitments. The last thing any of us wants is a Salisbury/northwich/chester situation.

I think we need to consider ourselves in a unique position. We don’t have any debts, we are managed financially very well. Certainly to develop ourselves we need to perform better in cup matches, which in turn brings in the extra cash needed to purchase a player or to sustainably increase the playing budget.

I think we also need to remember we have a lot of higher division clubs around as competition for football, even man city have been offering season tickets for £250. We market ourselves as well-run, part-time and friendly club, certainly we still can develop relationships in the community, in addition to supporting charities, hosting end of season matches, and coaching youngsters.

I believe we need to realise were effectively a smaller club within this league. We cannot compete for the best players, and as such, our coaches have to look for players capable of competing as a team.