A question

I asked this question on a different discussion last week . The response I got seemed a little confused so here goes

Are we any better on the pitch then the last time we came up from the NL ?

Forget Fenty
Forget AP and JS
Forget all the brilliant improvements around the ground and training ground
Don't consider the Future
Forget Back room staff

I'm talking about performances on the pitch , that's all .

It's just a question that's all . My answer is No , we are no better on the pitch than last time we came up.

Okay well i’ll say back to you, what do you expect?

PH did an excellent job last season getting us back up at the 1st time of asking. We all said, before the season started, we’d take mid table. We are mid table

You cannot just expect success. I dont know if this idea comes from the growth of social media, but there seems to be this obsession that you must expect success instantly. Football doesnt work like that, things take time.

Am i happy with the home form? No I’m not, but not going to home games during covid, seeing us relegated, it hurt me beyond words, im more than content to consolidate this season, and build again. A bit of patience  hurt no-one

I would say our squad is as good as it was last time, better? Maybe not. But you can't ask a question without any facts. Still forgetting the other people away from the footballing side..
Last time we went up we was expecting/ expected to go up and was more equipped and ready for it. This time it was our first season and in transition and didn't expect promotion.
This is just one of the things you need to consider

Last time around we had a proven goal scorer in Bogle, who was firing them in week after week. The rest of the squad was of broadly similar ability, but that’s the difference that a goal scorer makes

How do you define ‘better’? How can you ignore the other aspects when they do heavily influence each other? Opinion on this will be all over the place depending on your expectations of where you want to be.

My initial thought was ‘no’, the 16/17 side was ‘better’.

Having now reminded myself who was in that squad, I would only take the strikers (a younger, fitter, more motivated Bogle, Kayden Jackson (although, only the current version) and Vernon (but only because we don’t currently have a fit CF)).

Possibly Danny Andrew at LB.

The rest of them, I prefer the 22/23 vintage.

Everyone is aware of the deficiencies in the current squad and hopefully we can rectify them in the window. As Hagrid says, it’s not a mad rush for L1.

Piano piano.

Quoted from blundellpork

Last time around we had a proven goal scorer in Bogle, who was firing them in week after week. The rest of the squad was of broadly similar ability, but that’s the difference that a goal scorer makes

This. Without Bogle that year, we would have finished bottom third.

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

My initial thought was ‘no’, the 16/17 side was ‘better’.

Having now reminded myself who was in that squad, I would only take the strikers (a younger, fitter, more motivated Bogle, Kayden Jackson (although, only the current version) and Vernon (but only because we don’t currently have a fit CF)).

Possibly Danny Andrew at LB.

The rest of them, I prefer the 22/23 vintage.

Everyone is aware of the deficiencies in the current squad and hopefully we can rectify them in the window. As Hagrid says, it’s not a mad rush for L1.

Piano piano.

I'd snap your hand off for a Danny Andrew-alike. Glennon and Amos are both decent enough players in their own ways, but Andrew was good enough that season that we didn't even need to play with a left-sided midfielder half the time.

Wee finished 6th National League last season
Then got promoted through (let's face it) a series of 100/1 events that won't happen again in our lifetime
So, all things considered, I'd say we were doing OK
Only thing wrong - no consistent and clinical cutting edge
And I'm not talking every match - won't happen at this level - but instead of 1 in 4 matches it needs to be 1 in 3

Mid table will eb fine as we grow as a club on and off pitch - but it leads to inevitable highs and lows and at the moment we are all a bit fed up, nervous, anxious especially when we remember the run we had last season

Our record is W6 D6 L6 - perfectly sums up why we are where we are

But I do believe if we had a striker like Donny's the other week (sorry, forget his name) we'd be a lot higher

Still nearer the play-offs (points wise) than we are to the relegation places.