Cardiff City

[Sidsockett]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/art...xy1xl03edo

Quite an interesting read on how relegation to League 1 has been a catalyst for positive change. The online poll shows that 89% of voters felt that relegation to League 1 has been a positive for them. There's a renewed optimism as the team are winning a lot; lapsed supporters both young and old have returned to the club, there's a nucleus of young, homegrown players that have been injected into the squad and they look on course to bounce back into the Championship. 

Not suggesting for a second that relegation is preferred, but if it were to happen could it be an opportunity for a reset? You might see a more positive fanbase experiencing a winning feeling and more importantly there's a chance to bring through players who are homegrown and have a deeper connection with the club. 

Whatever Patel's shortcomings might be, he's got to be better than Vincent Tan. So, who knows, maybe relegation can be a blessing in disguise...

Anyway, the article is worth a read...

[Borin' Baggie]

The club doing well in League 1 will revitalise the fanbase.

The problem is what happens if the club doesn't do well. Look at Coventry, at the top of the Championship and their best season in 25 years, back playing in Coventry under a local owner who has put the club in a great position financially and they still can't sell the home end out in a one-team city with the same population as Newcastle and Leicester that it is in its own urban conurbation. Blackburn, Bolton, Sunderland until last season etc. There will be real issues if we stay down there for more than one or two seasons.

[Sidsockett]

The club doing well in League 1 will revitalise the fanbase.

The problem is what happens if the club doesn't do well. Look at Coventry, at the top of the Championship and their best season in 25 years, back playing in Coventry under a local owner who has put the club in a great position financially and they still can't sell the home end out in a one-team city with the same population as Newcastle and Leicester that it is in its own urban conurbation. Blackburn, Bolton, Sunderland until last season etc. There will be real issues if we stay down there for more than one or two seasons.

Yep, can't disagree with any of that. There's no doubt that going down and staying down longer than two seasons would have serious implications in terms of diminishing fan base over the long term. In Coventry's case, I'd say the move to St Andrews would have probably turned away a large section of fans for good. 

Just looking on the positive side, if Patel was willing to invest, which you'd assume he is, there's the potential for a bit of excitement and positivity. Just trying to think positively :-)

[MancBaggie]

The club doing well in League 1 will revitalise the fanbase.

The problem is what happens if the club doesn't do well. Look at Coventry, at the top of the Championship and their best season in 25 years, back playing in Coventry under a local owner who has put the club in a great position financially and they still can't sell the home end out in a one-team city with the same population as Newcastle and Leicester that it is in its own urban conurbation. Blackburn, Bolton, Sunderland until last season etc. There will be real issues if we stay down there for more than one or two seasons.

Spot on. Plenty of serial failures to balance the revivals of Chaventry and Sunlun

[SW4Baggie]

The club doing well in League 1 will revitalise the fanbase.

The problem is what happens if the club doesn't do well. Look at Coventry, at the top of the Championship and their best season in 25 years, back playing in Coventry under a local owner who has put the club in a great position financially and they still can't sell the home end out in a one-team city with the same population as Newcastle and Leicester that it is in its own urban conurbation. Blackburn, Bolton, Sunderland until last season etc. There will be real issues if we stay down there for more than one or two seasons.

This is where I’m at. I do not want us to go down, but I don’t really fear it. Every club of our size that’s gone down to League One has come back quickly. Not always in one year, but they’ve always come back. Wolves, Blues, Norwich, Ipswich, Sheff United, Forest, they’ve all made their way back into the Championshop and in many cases up again. Those teams that haven’t have usually been beset by horrendous financial issues or owners actively bleeding them dry.

As a club we’ve gone stale and forgotten what it’s like to be successful. It’s been 6 years since we won games with any real consistency, and whilst I don’t believe we’ll automatically piss League One, I’m optimistic we would find our way back soon enough.

I really hope Ramsay has learned from these couple weeks, and has used his football intelligence to find a system to eek points out of this squad as the thought of relegation to the THIRD level is sickening, but I don’t fear it, as others have said, it could be the catalyst we need to make some real change.