Next Season

So I'll post first...

Last night was tough.

I hadn't seen the full details of the presentation beforehand - but had a pretty good idea what was going to happen. What did surprise me though was the mood of the rest of the fans. I didn't expect everybody to be dancing in the aisles, but the overall response was much better than I was expecting.

Like for many other people travelling to Deeside and Sheffield is a problem, so I wouldn't expect to make all the games. (I couldn't make one of last season's Deeside games.) I expect the situation is the same for most people, and would expect the regular turnout to be even lower than the occasional games we played at both locations last season.

Although Neil's a successful businessman, he ain't no John Nike and can't afford to bankroll the club indefinately. Finally it would be hard to get new people to come support Manchester Phoenix when we don't play in Manchester!

So, before I went to the meeting I'd already decided that I would rather see the club take a year out then lose more money than it already had.

I expected that I would be in the minority. I thought that most of the fans would rather have some hockey next season than none. I was surprised.

I'd like to applaud the people that stood up and admitted they wouldn't turn up to the alternate locations. Although I walked around the room with the microphone, I stuttered when I needed to speak into it (now you can see why Mike and Rev commentated, and I took care of the technical things - it doesn't matter if you stutter on a keyboard!) I don't think I'd have been able to stand up and say I'm not turning up.

The applause those people got quickly showed which of the choices most of the audience was behind. By the end of the meeting it was fairly clear which option had most support, and that was reflected in the conversations I had following the meeting.

Looking at the discussion on the forum today, I expect the decision will be more or less overwhlemingly to mothball next season and come back in a brand new building September 2005.

In fact I've even convinced myself it might be fun to hit the road again supporting Nottingham at Sheffield, and seeing some different teams...