Sunday Statement

[MCB]

And Macclesfield (RIP) travelled to all their games by Virgin Trains who sponsored them.

Dover famously do, and that includes travelling via London on HS1.

My point was that top level players always used to 'room' with someone else. I wonder why /if players at this level have to get their own rooms these days?

And teams won't be getting hotels in Central London either - cheaper hotels with motorway connections half an hour north.

This also puts forward an argument for the Hive's hotel expansion - being so quiet, so close to Wembley, Spurs, Arsenal, Watford etc, with training and bespoke catering facilities.

It was mentioned last season that our budget includes some overnight stays, so the manager can choose to increase player budget by decreasing overnight stays.

[barnetpete]

Our players were sharing rooms at the now infamous pub/bnb before the Yeovil play off.

[beew]

No club at our level would contemplate a 4 hour+ train journey on the morning of a match, as the players would be knacked before kickoff. Coach and overnight hotel all the time, I sometimes use premier Inn and the average price for an overnight stay with dinner and breakfast is £90, so £5000 would be about right but I'm sure they'd have to support any claim with receipts.

You say no club would contemplate a four hour plus journey but Grimsby requested a 5 30 kick off at Orient at the weekend so they could travel down on the day of the match.

Pretty much proves my point. Traveling to 3pm KO with a 4.5 hour+ train journey involving many changes along the way would mean the players meeting at 6am to start the journey. Would you really want to place your faith in late northern trains to get you there on time. Clubs are paying huge salaries to get out of this league but you really think they’d scrimp and save on an overnight stay when the journey is so arduous and risky?

Grimsby obviously wanted and extra couple of hours to ease the burden on players having to wake so early.

My Premier Inn prices were based on pre Covid times, but I’ve just seen there are some great deals out there, if you wanted an away day at the football.... but hang on there’s the problem!

[becbee]

Yes but the great deals only apply to non-refundable bookings. The prices rise substantially for the flexible bookings, which at the moment I'd have thought it was prudent to make.

[moortownbee]

I thought your point was coach and overnight stay everytime?

So I'm unsure how a team requesting a later kick off time so they can travel on the day of the match and thus eliminate over night accommodation costs proves your point.

[beew]

I thought your point was coach and overnight stay everytime?

So I'm unsure how a team requesting a later kick off time so they can travel on the day of the match and thus eliminate over night accommodation costs proves your point.

Sorry maybe I’ve been misunderstood.

My point is, any game where you have a 4 hour+ coach journey to get a game at 3pm warrants an overnight stay. Many players who sit on a coach for so long will not be 100% come 3pm and it would question the business plan of spending so much money on an annual playing budget to get promoted.

I know now that some clubs adopt the cheap option (Dover?) But are they contenders for promotion....

[TorME]

I thought your point was coach and overnight stay everytime?

So I'm unsure how a team requesting a later kick off time so they can travel on the day of the match and thus eliminate over night accommodation costs proves your point.

Sorry maybe I’ve been misunderstood.

My point is, any game where you have a 4 hour+ coach journey to get a game at 3pm warrants an overnight stay. Many players who sit on a coach for so long will not be 100% come 3pm and it would question the business plan of spending so much money on an annual playing budget to get promoted.

I know now that some clubs adopt the cheap option (Dover?) But are they contenders for promotion....

The season when we last got promoted, didn't we travel by bus on the matchday to Chester for the first league match? I remember that the support's coach got caught up in traffic and only arrive 20 minutes into the match, and we were 2-0 up. I seem to remember that the team-bus had also been delayed, or is that a false memory?

[MCB]

I know now that some clubs adopt the cheap option (Dover?) But are they contenders for promotion....

The season when we last got promoted, didn't we travel by bus on the matchday to Chester for the first league match? I remember that the support's coach got caught up in traffic and only arrive 20 minutes into the match, and we were 2-0 up. I seem to remember that the team-bus had also been delayed, or is that a false memory?[/quote]

You are completely right Tor, players warmed up on the coach, and more or less straight into the game, MA talked about it a fair bit as being the players mutual decision to save the cost of the overnight stay so it could be spent on strengthening the squad (probably helped us sign Lee Cook early on!). Chester is probably 45 minutes closer than Hartlepool though.

[letchbee94]

Your right Tor, Martin talked about that in his interview with Trevor over lockdown, the players was asked if they wanted to delay the kick off but said no way.