It's Goodbye from me (at least for the moment)

Quoted from GrimRob

PH was right. All those play-offs and we were spoilt with lots of meaningful games and exciting finishes to the season, desperately hoping for the right combination of results in other fixtures. The season all but over in February is not something we're used to.

This has hit the nail squarely on the head for me.

Supporting a football club is mostly seasons of nothingness and mid table mediocrity. Some years you are good and get to be one of the teams that go up and some years you are bad and get to be one of the teams that go down, but mostly for the other 18 teams that do neither, it's just jostling for position in mid table.

In that mid table battle, some weeks you are good and win the 50/50's and second balls, get the goals and win the game. Other weeks you are not so good and lose those battles and probably the game. Throw in some draws when neither team prevail and that's mid table seasons for you. When we win, the players are fit and strong and want it, the manager got the tactics right etc etc. When we lose, the players are lazy and disinterested, not fit and the manager is clueless. When you are mid table, there is a good chance that the other team, who also have instructions and want to win the battles, come out on top and get to be smiling like Cheshire cats for a week. Unless you accept that football is mostly like this, then you are going to be spending a lot of time p1ssed off and angry. In my 45 years watching Town, i've seen promotions and i've seen relegations but mostly i have seen middling teams battling it out in mid table with a few near misses along the way at either end of the table. Last season had a very good ending, this one probably won't and you either accept that and wait for another good season, or you don't and go do something else.

Quoted from ginnywings

This has hit the nail squarely on the head for me.

Supporting a football club is mostly seasons of nothingness and mid table mediocrity. Some years you are good and get to be one of the teams that go up and some years you are bad and get to be one of the teams that go down, but mostly for the other 18 teams that do neither, it's just jostling for position in mid table.

In that mid table battle, some weeks you are good and win the 50/50's and second balls, get the goals and win the game. Other weeks you are not so good and lose those battles and probably the game. Throw in some draws when neither team prevail and that's mid table seasons for you. When we win, the players are fit and strong and want it, the manager got the tactics right etc etc. When we lose, the players are lazy and disinterested, not fit and the manager is clueless. When you are mid table, there is a good chance that the other team, who also have instructions and want to win the battles, come out on top and get to be smiling like Cheshire cats for a week. Unless you accept that football is mostly like this, then you are going to be spending a lot of time p1ssed off and angry. In my 45 years watching Town, i've seen promotions and i've seen relegations but mostly i have seen middling teams battling it out in mid table with a few near misses along the way at either end of the table. Last season had a very good ending, this one probably won't and you either accept that and wait for another good season, or you don't and go do something else.

Top, top post.

Quoted from ginnywings

This has hit the nail squarely on the head for me.

Supporting a football club is mostly seasons of nothingness and mid table mediocrity. Some years you are good and get to be one of the teams that go up and some years you are bad and get to be one of the teams that go down, but mostly for the other 18 teams that do neither, it's just jostling for position in mid table.

In that mid table battle, some weeks you are good and win the 50/50's and second balls, get the goals and win the game. Other weeks you are not so good and lose those battles and probably the game. Throw in some draws when neither team prevail and that's mid table seasons for you. When we win, the players are fit and strong and want it, the manager got the tactics right etc etc. When we lose, the players are lazy and disinterested, not fit and the manager is clueless. When you are mid table, there is a good chance that the other team, who also have instructions and want to win the battles, come out on top and get to be smiling like Cheshire cats for a week. Unless you accept that football is mostly like this, then you are going to be spending a lot of time p1ssed off and angry. In my 45 years watching Town, i've seen promotions and i've seen relegations but mostly i have seen middling teams battling it out in mid table with a few near misses along the way at either end of the table. Last season had a very good ending, this one probably won't and you either accept that and wait for another good season, or you don't and go do something else.

I can accept that and have accepted it since 1977/8 and actually over the years I have come away from slightly more Town games happy than disappointed.

What I feel at the moment is that yes Marcus Bignot needs time to make us a side that can deliver success, "the one who's name I am not allowed to mention"  would have needed time and so would any other manager of this club after 6 seasons in tin pot where despite us thinking "we are a massive club" not only have we struggled to sign half decent non league players but also had minimal investment in the infrastructure. This resulted in it taking too long to get up and some poor football.

Like I have said before I reckon we can judge what Marcus can deliver once he has spent some more of the Omar money he has been/will be allocated, money which he is fortunate to have as in relative terms no GTFC manager for a long while has had such funds to draw on. He then will need time to gel whoever he brings in with existing players, to me late November 2017 should tell us this. If we have stability (mid table?) then fine if we face a relegation battle back to tin pot then the board will need to take a view. Personally I think from what I have seen so far we will be "mid table" for a good while yet.

On a personal note what I sensed early on when Marcus was appointed was a manager who saw the sound byte part of the job as a much bigger thing than what it actually is as he went on a "charm offensive" which was potentially a good call as "the one who's name I am not allowed to mention" never really did. I was wary that he was telling some "supporters" what they wanted to hear, maybe, maybe not time will tell on that one I reckon.  

However the charm offensive has just become plain offensive as it has not been backed up with the performance level that Marcus intimated he could deliver and he is in danger of falling into the trap of blowing smoke up the backsides of the "supporters" to mask unacceptable performances which actually I find a bit patronising after watching some of the football served up. Amongst other things he uses his pre match press stuff as a vehicle to engage supporters and it's becoming at times pretty engaging but his post defeat interviews have been embarrassing, that worries me as regardless of what people say the players get a sniff of that inconsistent behaviour and can find it destabilising.  

In summary I am still a "supporter" of both Marcus and the team so when we have done well I will praise them but when they do badly please again as a fee paying supporter I will come out and say what I feel. So back to the OP some people express their frustartions on message boards and in the pub and some vote with their feet, that's their right we should respect it..  

I am a supporter of Marcus but I don't quite understand what his intentions are --some of the time.  When he gave his speeches he gave me the impression that we were going to see all out attacking football and either win or lose matches 5-4 instead of the defensive regime of Mr. Hurst. I will still give you more time - but please get the attacks going forward- try somebody who can hold the ball and slow the game down instead of all this tear arsing about. If you are going to copy somebody make it Arsenal instead of Hartlepools

Our attendances from when we were a top end of the table conference side, were not that much different to when we were a mid table Championship side.

Can't say i'm surprised after reading this thread!

In reference to the post regarding MB playing "his system" , could anyone obviously more clued up than me tell me if any other team plays this way- but successfully? It would seem to me to pretty obvious that to emulate those teams riding higher than us ,we should also adopt a similar style of play as the system we use now is not bringing success at all and would appear to be alien to the players.

Quoted from Stranger in the Park

In reference to the post regarding MB playing "his system" , could anyone obviously more clued up than me tell me if any other team plays this way- but successfully? It would seem to me to pretty obvious that to emulate those teams riding higher than us ,we should also adopt a similar style of play as the system we use now is not bringing success at all and would appear to be alien to the players.

It would be good if anyone could identify what system we are trying to play first before we start to try and copy others!

What would people gripe about if we did change the system to a good old 4-4-2 and still stayed as inconsistent as we are now? Fans always think the answer to everything is change. Change the system, change the players, change the manager, just change something. It's got to be the answer hasn't it?

Quoted from ginnywings

What would people gripe about if we did change the system to a good old 4-4-2 and still stayed as inconsistent as we are now? Fans always think the answer to everything is change. Change the system, change the players, change the manager, just change something. It's got to be the answer hasn't it?

I'm not that bothered about shape & systems but want to see us getting more balls into the box and players in there to convert them into chances. We cant do both or either. Seems to me that's what's missing at the moment, bit simplistic I know but we are just not giving opposition keepers difficult days.

Keep the Faith Mariner Rob Been a loyal Town fan for 46 years  and traveled from the London area for  37 of those and still going  even the bright lights of Chelsea  The bottom. Or Spurs  could  not change my  Loyalty  when you live far away  it's easy to give up .I know you'll be back your loyalty iS on the back burner I understand  your frustration just make sure you don't get used to not going UTM