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Post by steveh21 on Jan 27, 2023 11:49:24 GMT
It’s bonkers that the biggest controversy in an abysmal season is people bigging up an injured player and berating his replacement. It matters not one jot who the better keeper is when the man you worship is regularly unable to be selected. We are not going to be relegated because one goalkeeper was absent. We are going to be relegated because the whole team is not good enough. Much as I agree about the pointlessness of the GK 'debate', and personally I've had more than enough of this toxic Dave-baiting, I would argue with your last point. The team have shown that they ARE good enough - or at least they can be. They did well at the start of the season, and again, briefly, when Binnom-Willians came back and Greenidge arrived, and then again when George first took over. Given a chance they can play well enough to have easily kept us up. Our problem has been poor management. Poor selection of new players, ditto with loanees (and then a failure to make use of them), poor strategy and tactics, personality problems, and then, ultimately, the loss of the dressing room. It was obvious some time ago that Hak wasn't the right manager for us in the NL, but it took us too long to admit this and get someone new in. And now we are paying the price. ... Good enough? We are bottom of the league FFS :-)
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Post by jdl on Jan 27, 2023 12:35:24 GMT
Much as I agree about the pointlessness of the GK 'debate', and personally I've had more than enough of this toxic Dave-baiting, I would argue with your last point. The team have shown that they ARE good enough - or at least they can be. They did well at the start of the season, and again, briefly, when Binnom-Willians came back and Greenidge arrived, and then again when George first took over. Given a chance they can play well enough to have easily kept us up. Our problem has been poor management. Poor selection of new players, ditto with loanees (and then a failure to make use of them), poor strategy and tactics, personality problems, and then, ultimately, the loss of the dressing room. It was obvious some time ago that Hak wasn't the right manager for us in the NL, but it took us too long to admit this and get someone new in. And now we are paying the price. ... Good enough? We are bottom of the league FFS :-) Ahem. Did you actually read my post?
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Post by steveh21 on Jan 27, 2023 13:37:38 GMT
... Good enough? We are bottom of the league FFS :-) Ahem. Did you actually read my post? ha.. I did. I am just judging this team on its real position, not what we think/may/could happen. The match against Aldershot demonstrated to me how far off we are even some of the very very average teams in this league. If the players really are good enough it is about time they started showing it? Eight defeats on the spin does not fill me with confidence. Why did the players not play for George on Tuesday? Hak might have been correct with some of his post-match comments re players and commitment to the cause??
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Post by yorkshirestone on Jan 27, 2023 13:49:19 GMT
Dover have already managed that... 20-21 and 21-22 although they did only go down on the second attempt. I appreciate that is pedantic, but the closest other occasion is Telford who finished way down the table consistently a good few years ago. 2011/12 5th bottom (stayed up) 2012/13 bottom 2014/15 2nd bottom AFC Telford haven't been promoted again since. So, despite winging it and not checking, it seems I was still correct! Like I'd dare to contradict you?
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Post by yorkshirestone on Jan 27, 2023 14:01:21 GMT
Going part-time is not the answer. The theory is we could attract the best part time players. That may work for one season but if we managed promotion we would have to buy a new squad as part time players will not want the long journeys midweek that the National league demands. The other problem is training. You cannot mix part time and full timers unless you train in the evening which means we would lose revenue from the evening lettings. If we have no ambition part time is an option but if wer want to build a team to compete in the National league they need to be professional. Yet Wealdstone have been doing just that for 3 seasons at this level and having no problems whatsoever. They're challenging for the playoffs why our attempt at "full time" is about to lead us to our second relegation from this level. Trying to be "full time" when we can't do it properly clearly isn't working for us, so we need to do something different. As for needing to change the whole team if we get promoted, well we kept the whole National South team after being promoted and that didn't help us one bit, most of them should have been let go not retained. I have to say that for all that Wealdstone is only 45 miles away (as the crow flies, centre spot to centre spot) that makes travelling to the vast majority of NL clubs a hell of a lot easier for players they recruit there. Geography means we are potentially restricted to players who live in a relatively small geographic area influenced by traffic (remember that time we couldn't field a team because of the Dartford crossing being closed?). When you talk about part time players, there is a huge number of junior clubs for a half decent scouting network to cover just in the Greater London area alone - again with a world class mass transit system. Of course I could be wrong and I'm just be going stir crazy with it being a Friday afternoon and finding myself as a Leeds fan with something to look forward to on FA Cup 4th round day
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Post by Raymondo316 on Jan 27, 2023 14:06:59 GMT
Yet Wealdstone have been doing just that for 3 seasons at this level and having no problems whatsoever. They're challenging for the playoffs why our attempt at "full time" is about to lead us to our second relegation from this level. Trying to be "full time" when we can't do it properly clearly isn't working for us, so we need to do something different. As for needing to change the whole team if we get promoted, well we kept the whole National South team after being promoted and that didn't help us one bit, most of them should have been let go not retained. I have to say that for all that Wealdstone is only 45 miles away (as the crow flies, centre spot to centre spot) that makes travelling to the vast majority of NL clubs a hell of a lot easier for players they recruit there. Geography means we are potentially restricted to players who live in a relatively small geographic area influenced by traffic (remember that time we couldn't field a team because of the Dartford crossing being closed?). When you talk about part time players, there is a huge number of junior clubs for a half decent scouting network to cover just in the Greater London area alone - again with a world class mass transit system. Of course I could be wrong and I'm just be going stir crazy with it being a Friday afternoon and finding myself as a Leeds fan with something to look forward to on FA Cup 4th round day Dover were also part time at this level for years and did fine, their best years at this level were actually when they were part time. They only went full time when Hessenthaler took over as manager in 2018.
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Post by steveh21 on Jan 27, 2023 15:05:13 GMT
Being part time with a great part time budget is really a no brainer in NLS where we will be next season. We can really take that league by storm. I know the owners have considered part time in recent years but been swayed by some players and manager who preferred daytime training.
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Post by jdl on Jan 28, 2023 1:41:59 GMT
At its most basic level, how a football club gets on is down to three things:
a) A good manager
b) Good players
c) The money to fund a) and b)
The rest is detail. As far as the NL goes, we have the potential (gate money, sponsorship, etc) to fund a decent NL side.
All we need is the players and manager to put that money to good use. And, as the manager brings in the players, builds the team and oversees coaching, strategy, tactics, etc, that effectively means that any team can do well in the NL if they have enough money - and a good manager.
With the right manager, we'll do well, without the right manager, we won't. It's that simple.
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Post by pigbag on Jan 28, 2023 17:03:11 GMT
The problem is not full time or part time but the quality of the players. There is a bigger pool of players who want full time. Part time players would come from players living locally. How many of the Tonbridge team would we want or Margate, Hernebay? Where are these better part time players? The truth is our recruitment and injuries have been abysmal. After losing again today the season is finished (unless we go to Wembley).
We must be saving money on win bonuses so perhaps can have a treasure chest for the close season.
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Post by holysmokes66 on Jan 28, 2023 17:10:00 GMT
The problem is not full time or part time but the quality of the players. There is a bigger pool of players who want full time. Part time players would come from players living locally. How many of the Tonbridge team would we want or Margate, Hernebay? Where are these better part time players? The truth is our recruitment and injuries have been abysmal. After losing again today the season is finished (unless we go to Wembley). We must be saving money on win bonuses so perhaps can have a treasure chest for the close season. I can genuinely see us getting relegated but actually getting all the way to Wembley... and then getting humiliated 5 or 6 nil to some part time Raydon League Division 2 North team from God knows where. Fast forward to next season, please.
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Post by andrewthehat on Jan 28, 2023 18:33:42 GMT
In my world, the best amateurs are considerably better than the worst professionals. As you move off the bottom rung is the professional ladder, you very quickly rise above the level of the top amateur - but it costs. Maybe the Wealdstone formula is the right one for us?
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Post by pwoodstone on Jan 28, 2023 18:43:27 GMT
In my world, the best amateurs are considerably better than the worst professionals. As you move off the bottom rung is the professional ladder, you very quickly rise above the level of the top amateur - but it costs. Maybe the Wealdstone formula is the right one for us? Wealdstone have a bigger budget than us. FT or PT, the budget is the detail.
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Post by Raymondo316 on Jan 28, 2023 18:52:23 GMT
In my world, the best amateurs are considerably better than the worst professionals. As you move off the bottom rung is the professional ladder, you very quickly rise above the level of the top amateur - but it costs. Maybe the Wealdstone formula is the right one for us? Wealdstone have a bigger budget than us. FT or PT, the budget is the detail. Its well known that Wealdstone are not spending mega money, they haven't got someone heavily bankrolling them, for crying out loud the supporters donated to help them sign a player in the summer. They certainly aren't spending 750-800k this season like we are.
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Post by daveu on Jan 29, 2023 11:44:20 GMT
Wealdstone have a bigger budget than us. FT or PT, the budget is the detail. Its well known that Wealdstone are not spending mega money, they haven't got someone heavily bankrolling them, for crying out loud the supporters donated to help them sign a player in the summer. They certainly aren't spending 750-800k this season like we are. How do you know what Wealdstone's budget is? And your estimate of our budget is only speculation as no one in the know has ever stated a figure. Completely pointless comparison of two unknown variables.
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Post by nws on Jan 30, 2023 11:43:00 GMT
Its well known that Wealdstone are not spending mega money, they haven't got someone heavily bankrolling them, for crying out loud the supporters donated to help them sign a player in the summer. They certainly aren't spending 750-800k this season like we are. How do you know what Wealdstone's budget is? And your estimate of our budget is only speculation as no one in the know has ever stated a figure. Completely pointless comparison of two unknown variables. Apart from that do you think he has a fair point?
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