The five year plan

[sufc695]

Essex has a population of 1,688,400 million people.

You sure about that? :stunned:

 

[Beefy]

League two with a new stadium would be a disaster. Going for promotion via playoffs or a automatic spot from league one with Fossetts Farm built much better, but not ideal. I would like to see us established as a lower middle half Championship side with the stadium built. Much like Ipswich. Reading got this spot on, I remember going to watch the Shrimpers at Readings old Elm Park. The ground was a shambles, ten times worse than Roots Hall with attendances to match. Look at them now.

Reading's first season in their new ground was spent in the third tier though. And whilst they had been an established Division One side in the years up until then that was a very different time. We were an established second tier side up until then too.

I think now, with parachute payments and so many huge Clubs in that second tier establishing yourself at that level as a small club is next to impossible. You might last a season or two but there's only so long you can swim against the tide. I don't see how we'll achieve it on 10,000 gates at Roots Hall. Even if we were in the new ground today with 20,000 average gates we'd still be one of the smaller clubs at that level.

Reading are a decent role-model, but Hull and Swansea are closer, IMO. Both got their new grounds when they were in the lower leagues, both had similar average gates to us prior to that and both were able to kick on from there.

 

[Shrimper]

You sure about that? :stunned:

Haha, it's 1.68million people.