Just Back

We have somehow managed to be so bad that we made it look like we were playing in a hurricane.

Shite performance and it should be a wake up call for those fans who have buried their heads in the sand, although the other shite performances over the past 8 weeks should’ve done that.

Hurst is a bad transfer window from genuine pressure, no more excuses now because we’re sleep walking into mediocrity and it’s completely our fault.

Quoted from pontoonlew

We have somehow managed to be so bad that we made it look like we were playing in a hurricane.

Shite performance and it should be a wake up call for those fans who have buried their heads in the sand, although the other shite performances over the past 8 weeks should’ve done that.

Hurst is a bad transfer window from genuine pressure, no more excuses now because we’re sleep walking into mediocrity and it’s completely our fault.

Can you explain what you mean by ‘buried their heads in the sand’?

You couldnt wait to have a dig at those who differ from your point of view could you😂
Horrendous display, lack of any desire, Mcatee, Gav, Smith and Michee all had nightmares. Swindon targeted Amos and can see why. It genuinely could have been 9 or 10.

For goodness sake Paul, spend some money, Every other side has. Why arent we.

I hate to agree with you Hagrid but your pretty much right

I'm normally pretty positive on here and a big fan of Hurst I've no doubt he is the man to sort it out.. however I'm concerned with how weak we look all over the park think next couple of players brought in need to be good league standard players who might cost a bit..

Last 10 League Games:

W 2
D 1
L 7

F 9
A 21

Record season ticket sales with those fans being treated to a poxy 3 home wins in the league

A manager who knows his job is safe irrespective of results and performances

First half was pretty even. Could have been 1.0 up, should have equalised with Mcatees poor effort.
Second half was the worst 45 minutes I've seen from a Town side in ages. Couldn't get the ball often enough and when they did gave it away. Mcatee tried as did Maher and the mercurial Green but the rest stole a living today and let down nigh on 600 fans in the process.
Simply not good enough.

This season is a bonus season when you look at where we were at this point last season and the 95th minute at Notts County. We're not getting relegated, it's as simple as that. Obviously I'd prefer it if we were challenging for the play offs but we're not. Unnecessary drama

Quoted from pontoonlew

We have somehow managed to be so bad that we made it look like we were playing in a hurricane.

Shite performance and it should be a wake up call for those fans who have buried their heads in the sand, although the other shite performances over the past 8 weeks should’ve done that.

Hurst is a bad transfer window from genuine pressure, no more excuses now because we’re sleep walking into mediocrity and it’s completely our fault.

While I do agree that Hurst and the board need to get on with it and start acquiring some players up to standard instead of this conservative "wait and see" tactic that Hurst uses for everything from subs to transfers, expecting us to bounce back into L2 first time and be dominating the league is a bit ambitious. Unless we have a free spending chairman who is willing to bankroll a team of Championship standards, we aren't going to dominate in this league and not going straight back down will be a realistic goal. Fans on here go from one extreme to the other based on if we win or lose. If we win then we are close to the playoffs and we are going to finish in them, if we lose then we are doomed, Hurst needs to be sacked and our season is a disaster.

If anybody here seriously expected us to be challenging for promotion and doing a double promotion in as many seasons I'd be asking "what planet do you live on?".  

Quoted from immariner

This season is a bonus season when you look at where we were at this point last season and the 95th minute at Notts County. We're not getting relegated, it's as simple as that. Obviously I'd prefer it if we were challenging for the play offs but we're not. Unnecessary drama

I don't think we will either but today's performance (and others recently) suggest we shouldn't be complacent about this.

Swindon were a real cut above today and showed how far we have to go before we can genuinely compete at the top end of the table. We're not particularly strong in any area but, for me, today again showed how we don't have any full backs on the books good enough to take us forward.

Quoted from TwoLeftFeet

I'm normally pretty positive on here and a big fan of Hurst I've no doubt he is the man to sort it out.. however I'm concerned with how weak we look all over the park think next couple of players brought in need to be good league standard players who might cost a bit..

That’s pretty much what I was gonna post too.

I’ve actually really enjoyed having a ST this season but I am now concerned we’re getting dragged into a relegation dog fight. However, win next Saturday - which I think we will - and we’ll all (well, nearly all) be happy as Larry.

Some strong, experienced signings would be good though. The young loanees like Pepple and Simmonds just didn’t work out.

We need to put even more daylight between us and the bottom two.

Quoted from pontoonlew

We have somehow managed to be so bad that we made it look like we were playing in a hurricane.

Shite performance and it should be a wake up call for those fans who have buried their heads in the sand, although the other shite performances over the past 8 weeks should’ve done that.

Hurst is a bad transfer window from genuine pressure, no more excuses now because we’re sleep walking into mediocrity and it’s completely our fault.

The heads in the sand comment is pure hyperbole. I'm sat on the bus with 50 dedicated Town fans not one of whom doesn't realise we have significant problems.

Quoted from cardiffmariner

I don't think we will either but today's performance (and others recently) suggest we shouldn't be complacent about this.

Swindon were a real cut above today and showed how far we have to go before we can genuinely compete at the top end of the table. We're not particularly strong in any area but, for me, today again showed how we don't have any full backs on the books good enough to take us forward.

I thought Hutton was fantastic today for them. Probably not the done thing to be in praise of the opposition but to reference your point his delivery was excellent and it makes you wonder what sort of impact that could have for us if he were here.

That isn’t meant to be damning on Michee, I don’t think he’s stepped up just yet albeit with a few games that he excelled in.

Just listened to Paul Hurst going off on one against JT.

The guy just can't take criticism.

Quoted from immariner

This season is a bonus season when you look at where we were at this point last season and the 95th minute at Notts County. We're not getting relegated, it's as simple as that. Obviously I'd prefer it if we were challenging for the play offs but we're not. Unnecessary drama

Wish people would stop saying this, in football you can never just tick over you either strive to push on or get left behind there are no free passes

A poor post match interview from JT. He questioned Hurst about the Hartlepool game and Hursty snapped his head off, so JT backed down.

Quoted from gtfc_chris

I thought Hutton was fantastic today for them. Probably not the done thing to be in praise of the opposition but to reference your point his delivery was excellent and it makes you wonder what sort of impact that could have for us if he were here.

That isn’t meant to be damning on Michee, I don’t think he’s stepped up just yet albeit with a few games that he excelled in.

Agreed. And just to echo your point, I'm not into slating individuals etc and don't doubt that the current players are giving their all. Just think we lack the necessary quality and consistency in this area.

Quoted from immariner

This season is a bonus season when you look at where we were at this point last season and the 95th minute at Notts County. We're not getting relegated, it's as simple as that. Obviously I'd prefer it if we were challenging for the play offs but we're not. Unnecessary drama

You have to kick on. There is no such thing as consolidation - the club said as much at the start of the season when they said we are not here to make the numbers up.

We will be here to make the numbers up though if the message doesn't get through that being a force in league football, even in league 2 is a very expensive business. You need to invest a lot of money in proven players to have any chance at all, and it continually looks like we don't want to spend the money necessary.

If we cannot afford it, then fine, but we will not be a force in league football, because whatever your well-meaning motives if you don't give enough resources for players then other clubs will, and we will be back to square one.

For the type of player we are trying to attract, there is no excuse about location or anything like that - we attract loads of players to Grimsby but not enough of the quality needed.

We are now on the back foot a bit in this window; had we made our intentions clear on January 1st and got one of the seemingly endless players Hurst "is aware of" it sets the tone.

Swindon are the best team I've seen all season. We could have scored a couple first half but they dominated throughout, especially once we'd gone down to 10. Midfield runners, winger who can cross, a striker who can header...
We move on.

Quoted from pontoonlew

We have somehow managed to be so bad that we made it look like we were playing in a hurricane.

Shite performance and it should be a wake up call for those fans who have buried their heads in the sand, although the other shite performances over the past 8 weeks should’ve done that.

Hurst is a bad transfer window from genuine pressure, no more excuses now because we’re sleep walking into mediocrity and it’s completely our fault.

Yeah, if only we were all as savvy as you.

We are a middling league 2 side who just got our bottom$ handed to us by a much better team. It happens

We need new and better players. The fans know it, the board know it and the manager knows it. You haven't spotted anything most fans don't know.

Quoted from immariner

This season is a bonus season when you look at where we were at this point last season and the 95th minute at Notts County. We're not getting relegated, it's as simple as that. Obviously I'd prefer it if we were challenging for the play offs but we're not. Unnecessary drama

The form over the last 10 games means that this isn't a certainty.

Quoted from cardiffmariner

I don't think we will either but today's performance (and others recently) suggest we shouldn't be complacent about this.

Swindon were a real cut above today and showed how far we have to go before we can genuinely compete at the top end of the table. We're not particularly strong in any area but, for me, today again showed how we don't have any full backs on the books good enough to take us forward.

I completely agree about the full backs being our weakest area (other than obviously strikers). Efete and Amos simply are never going to get forward and put crosses into the box like he can. We need to stick to 3 CBs too, we're too weak as a 4.

I'd also say for how well stocked we are in the middle we just don't have anyone like Saidou Khan. So composed on the ball, always turning out of tight spaces, getting on the front foot. Just the sort of player we need.

Quoted from Hagrid

You couldnt wait to have a dig at those who differ from your point of view could you😂
Horrendous display, lack of any desire, Mcatee, Gav, Smith and Michee all had nightmares. Swindon targeted Amos and can see why. It genuinely could have been 9 or 10.

For goodness sake Paul, spend some money, Every other side has. Why arent we.

I like that people have different points of view and I enjoy the debate that brings (except maybe with you, given how much you take everything to heart).

What boils my urine is when opinions are lambasted as negative and just dismissed. People are paying damn good money for this and it’s absolutely abysmal.

Quoted from immariner

I completely agree about the full backs being our weakest area (other than obviously strikers). Efete and Amos simply are never going to get forward and put crosses into the box like he can. We need to stick to 3 CBs too, we're too weak as a 4.

I'd also say for how well stocked we are in the middle we just don't have anyone like Saidou Khan. So composed on the ball, always turning out of tight spaces, getting on the front foot. Just the sort of player we need.

Yep. IIRC we played 3 centre backs against Stockport with two full backs to create a back 5 when needed. We dug in and (deservedly) earned a scrappy 3 points without too much football. It isn't pretty but with the players we currently have I think it's our best way forward. And yes, that would have meant Pearson coming in today without Waterfall being available.

I get the whole idea of a season of consolidation but it really feels like we've failed to kick on. Our recruitment hasn't been particularly great and if we continue that trend over the next two windows then we're going to struggle next season and the ending of this season could become uncomfortable.

It really feels like we've learnt nothing from previous seasons and as much as it pains me to say, I'm not sure we can say that our recruitment has improved under the new owners.

Quoted from immariner

This season is a bonus season when you look at where we were at this point last season and the 95th minute at Notts County. We're not getting relegated, it's as simple as that. Obviously I'd prefer it if we were challenging for the play offs but we're not. Unnecessary drama

No, no, no and no. The play offs were a bonus because we were shite last season too. Winning them was a superjackpot bonus because of the manner we won them in. 5000+ people bought into it in the form of purchasing a season ticket and gave us a huge fund to build from. This completely surprise sequence of events should have been capitalised on and we’ve squandered it big time. I’d love to be more positive about it but it’s very, very hard to currently.

Poor showing today our defence never looked comfortable. Definitely need some improvements especially at right back and a target man up front to hold up play and bring in our attacking players.

Hurst's embarrassing post-match interview is here:

https://twitter.com/HumbersideSport/status/1614320076949229570

Him getting shirty with JT has been covered above, but the most bizarre part of it for me was how he answered the question about keeping Kiernan. In previous interviews about new signings he's talked about wanting to bring in players on permanent deals for the long term, yet this evening he's contradicting that by saying things like "I wish we could have more loans if i'm honest", and moaning about teams below us spending money on new signings. How about spending some of the money we supposedly have as a result of record season ticket sales and our highest average attendances in decades Paul?

Quoted from Mariner93er

I get the whole idea of a season of consolidation but it really feels like we've failed to kick on. Our recruitment hasn't been particularly great and if we continue that trend over the next two windows then we're going to struggle next season and the ending of this season could become uncomfortable.

It really feels like we've learnt nothing from previous seasons and as much as it pains me to say, I'm not sure we can say that our recruitment has improved under the new owners.

I kind of agree and disagree, just cast your mind back to the players that say Jolley has to bring in, we’ve moved on maybe not to the level we’d all like but we’re actually offering/paying fees for players which wasn’t the case.

Quoted from Quagmire

Last 10 League Games:

W 2
D 1
L 7

F 9
A 21

Record season ticket sales with those fans being treated to a poxy 3 home wins in the league

A manager who knows his job is safe irrespective of results and performances

Not sure that argument completely stacks up - the alternative being that managers constantly at risk of the sack tend to perform better?

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

You have to kick on. There is no such thing as consolidation - the club said as much at the start of the season when they said we are not here to make the numbers up.

I've not implied we don't need to kick on. Each window should lead to improvement and we've still got 2 weeks left of this one, to hopefully get 2 or 3 decent players in. I think we're a competitive if limited league 2 side.

I don't want to be blasé or complacent about the prospect of relegation but of the games we've lost recently, we've been unlucky in a fair few of them. Today was our only really bad overall performance but we looked in the game with 11. What happened after we went down to 10 wasn't good enough but it can happen. I just think we'll pick up without ever being spectacular. And I'm not accepting being crap, I want us to be better than we have been recently, I'm just trying to look at the bigger picture. Stockport for all the money they've spent are not so far ahead of us

Quoted from Chrisblor

Hurst's embarrassing post-match interview is here:

https://twitter.com/HumbersideSport/status/1614320076949229570

Him getting shirty with JT has been covered above, but the most bizarre part of it for me was how he answered the question about keeping Kiernan. In previous interviews about new signings he's talked about wanting to bring in players on permanent deals for the long term, yet this evening he's contradicting that by saying things like "I wish we could have more loans if i'm honest", and moaning about teams below us spending money on new signings. How about spending some of the money we supposedly have as a result of record season ticket sales and our highest average attendances in decades Paul?

I think Tondour deserved it, he’s the master of dumb behind questions. The bit you missed out was that he knows his targets which hopefully we can secure.

Don't think the interview was that bad considering PH had just seen us get hammered and probably wasn't in the best of moods.

Something and nothing for me.

Plus the £200k plus from the FA Cup run, we are in a position to seriously start thinking about a really good push for next season, and that starts with a good transfer window this January and again in the summer. If people do not see any ambition then season ticket numbers will be back to 3000.

Well that was absolutely shocking, no hiding that - just not acceptable.

A few going to have to have a look in the mirror over next few days. Just not good enough and too many had poor games and seemed to accept that.

Hugely disappointing especially coming off the back of two good results and two clean sheets.

Looked terrible both with and without the ball. Didn’t want to close crosses down enough, couldn’t string anything together or keep the ball. Defensively we looked petrified when they had the ball..

Trying not to get too down or consumed by this result I think it’s clear we are an average team in this league - which is a huge step from where we were 18 months ago. However that just cannot be the extent of what we want and we can’t be content with that.

Window massively important. We know the aim is constant and incremental improvements (as said by JS) and now is where we need to ensure we improve, we can’t afford to slip backwards.

Well done to the 500 or so who travelled and had to watch that!

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

You have to kick on. There is no such thing as consolidation - the club said as much at the start of the season when they said we are not here to make the numbers up.

We will be here to make the numbers up though if the message doesn't get through that being a force in league football, even in league 2 is a very expensive business. You need to invest a lot of money in proven players to have any chance at all, and it continually looks like we don't want to spend the money necessary.

If we cannot afford it, then fine, but we will not be a force in league football, because whatever your well-meaning motives if you don't give enough resources for players then other clubs will, and we will be back to square one.

For the type of player we are trying to attract, there is no excuse about location or anything like that - we attract loads of players to Grimsby but not enough of the quality needed.

We are now on the back foot a bit in this window; had we made our intentions clear on January 1st and got one of the seemingly endless players Hurst "is aware of" it sets the tone.

Can you explain, ‘there’s no such thing as consolidation’ given we’ve just gone up a league and are mid table with half a season left and an FA cup 4th round game to play..?

Quoted from Chrisblor

Hurst's embarrassing post-match interview is here:

https://twitter.com/HumbersideSport/status/1614320076949229570

Him getting shirty with JT has been covered above, but the most bizarre part of it for me was how he answered the question about keeping Kiernan. In previous interviews about new signings he's talked about wanting to bring in players on permanent deals for the long term, yet this evening he's contradicting that by saying things like "I wish we could have more loans if i'm honest", and moaning about teams below us spending money on new signings. How about spending some of the money we supposedly have as a result of record season ticket sales and our highest average attendances in decades Paul?

Bizarre interview, we’re back to pleading poverty again

Quoted from Chrisblor

Hurst's embarrassing post-match interview is here:

https://twitter.com/HumbersideSport/status/1614320076949229570

Him getting shirty with JT has been covered above, but the most bizarre part of it for me was how he answered the question about keeping Kiernan. In previous interviews about new signings he's talked about wanting to bring in players on permanent deals for the long term, yet this evening he's contradicting that by saying things like "I wish we could have more loans if i'm honest", and moaning about teams below us spending money on new signings. How about spending some of the money we supposedly have as a result of record season ticket sales and our highest average attendances in decades Paul?

Some tabloid type selective mis-interpretation there. He clearly said we know us targets (for permanents) and we’ve two games a week for most weeks coming up so clearly loans alongside the permanents would be useful. He wasn’t moaning about the teams below spending either. He said it was expected to happen in this window and that improved results could happen.

We need some experience and quality incoming and I’ll judge at the end of the window.

Quoted from Chrisblor

Hurst's embarrassing post-match interview is here:

https://twitter.com/HumbersideSport/status/1614320076949229570

Him getting shirty with JT has been covered above, but the most bizarre part of it for me was how he answered the question about keeping Kiernan. In previous interviews about new signings he's talked about wanting to bring in players on permanent deals for the long term, yet this evening he's contradicting that by saying things like "I wish we could have more loans if i'm honest", and moaning about teams below us spending money on new signings. How about spending some of the money we supposedly have as a result of record season ticket sales and our highest average attendances in decades Paul?

Maybe the money actually isn't there for him? Think we need to consider that too.

The money is there, JS has said as much. I can’t see any reason to not believe him. Hurst also clearly said we have our targets and will be working on bringing them in this week - think a few have selectively interpreted his comments.

Can give abit of leeway and benefit of the doubt in the summer window. Taking into account the turn around and having the shorter pre season etc. But we cannot have those excuses this window and improving is a must.

Personally I understand Hursts comment re JT. JT described Harrogate at the time as a good performance with some defensive errors and asked him at the time “how did you lose that”

You can’t then turn round and say it was a poor performance and not expect Hurst to say “hang on a minute John”

Quoted from gtfc98

Maybe the money actually isn't there for him? Think we need to consider that too.

If the money isn’t there after record ticket sales and a semi lucrative cup run then serious questions need to be asked.

Quoted from chaos33

Can you explain, ‘there’s no such thing as consolidation’ given we’ve just gone up a league and are mid table with half a season left and an FA cup 4th round game to play..?

No. My post explains why.

Quoted from lukeo

Swindon are the best team I've seen all season. We could have scored a couple first half but they dominated throughout, especially once we'd gone down to 10. Midfield runners, winger who can cross, a striker who can header...
We move on.

Midfield runners, wingers who can cross, strikers who can head and score are all basic requirements of any decent team
Think we’re lacking in two of these areas

The team were crap today yes. But I'd like to take a moment to talk about our support. Were you sat in this section?

[img]https://i.ibb.co/HpBM7Xt/IMG-20230114-162822776-HDR.jpg[/img]

If so, give yourself a slap on the back for getting there and paying your entrance fee but nothing else because you may as well have not bothered turning up. Pathetic support from you every single person in that section. What's the point of taking 500+ to Swindon when the only time two thirds of that gets up is to go to the toilet?

I felt embarrassed walking away from the match today. Not because I've watched Town get spanked. I've seen that many times before. I felt embarrassed that I was in the same stand as such a bunch of corpses. Utterly terrible support.

SIT DOWN.

FOR THE MARINERS.

Quoted from ginnywings

Don't think the interview was that bad considering PH had just seen us get hammered and probably wasn't in the best of moods.

Something and nothing for me.

Only because JT in his usual way backed down when Hurst got shirty, he should have asked why are recent league form has been shite.

Really wanted Dave Burns to ask those sort of questions as he doesn't normally back down like JT.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

No. My post explains why.

Except it doesn’t, hence the question. No worries.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I kind of agree and disagree, just cast your mind back to the players that say Jolley has to bring in, we’ve moved on maybe not to the level we’d all like but we’re actually offering/paying fees for players which wasn’t the case.

Jolley brought in good players, far better than Hurst has this time around. He was just a rubbish manager.

Quoted from chaos33

Except it doesn’t, hence the question. No worries.

The definition of consolidation is the process of making something stronger. A couple of tight 1-0 wins against a largely depleted Stockport and relegation-bound Burton aside, where in our performances over the last few months or recent recruitment have you seen this consolidation?

Quoted from pen penfras

Jolley brought in good players, far better than Hurst has this time around. He was just a rubbish manager.

And person. Bloke was a complete buffoon

Quoted from LH

No, no, no and no. The play offs were a bonus because we were shite last season too. Winning them was a superjackpot bonus because of the manner we won them in. 5000+ people bought into it in the form of purchasing a season ticket and gave us a huge fund to build from. This completely surprise sequence of events should have been capitalised on and we’ve squandered it big time. I’d love to be more positive about it but it’s very, very hard to currently.

Alright, so what does 5800 season ticket holders guarantee? A "huge fund"? Sorry mate but the maths doesn't stack up on that. It's little to no more revenue than 3500 season ticket holders and 1700 paying on the gate. It's not some massive war chest at all. The two best supported (much better than us) sides in the division, Bradford and Swindon are battling it out on the edge of the play offs but they should be first and second by a country mile then I guess.

This time last year we were what, 9/10th in the Conference. 16th in league 2 is demonstrably an improvement on that. No reason why with a couple of good signings we can't push on from here and hopefully finish the season strongly. I always thought that if we could finish higher than 14th, which would be our highest finish since 2007, that i'd be alright with that. I still think that. Maybe I'm unambitious or maybe I'm a realistic lower league football fan. Probably a bit of both

After promotion, we’ve established ourselves in L2 and have had some good results. Sure, we’ve had some bad results too, but we are closer to the play offs than relegation. There you go. Consolidate means, to establish and sustain.

To be fair to Hurst, he's raging about today, then JT (who I have infinity respect for) asks a question which contradicts what he's previously said. Hurst was right to tell him so aswell IMO

Quoted from chaos33

After promotion, we’ve established ourselves in L2 and have had some good results. Sure, we’ve had some bad results too, but we are closer to the play offs than relegation. There you go. Consolidate means, to establish and sustain.

But it's a continuing process of making ourselves stronger. It's all well and good getting some decent results at the beginning of the season but it's how we build from there. For me it's not necessarily about our position (so long as we're not in a relegation fight) as much as it is about our recruitment and how we're building for the future. I genuinely believe we'll be in for a tough season next year unless our recruitment improves.

Given we've just brought in a head of recruitment obviously they see a need for substantial improvement in this area too.  They've only been in the building a few weeks though so I guess that may not bear fruit this window.

£67 I spent on my ticket and coach travel.
The £67 would have been better spent on anything other than that!
But I’ll be there next Saturday and at Crawley and no doubt the rest of the season but we never know what to expect.
Grimsby Town are a Dr Jeckell and Mr Hyde side this season.

Quoted from Son of Cod

The team were crap today yes. But I'd like to take a moment to talk about our support. Were you sat in this section?

[img]https://i.ibb.co/HpBM7Xt/IMG-20230114-162822776-HDR.jpg[/img]

If so, give yourself a slap on the back for getting there and paying your entrance fee but nothing else because you may as well have not bothered turning up. Pathetic support from you every single person in that section. What's the point of taking 500+ to Swindon when the only time two thirds of that gets up is to go to the toilet?

I felt embarrassed walking away from the match today. Not because I've watched Town get spanked. I've seen that many times before. I felt embarrassed that I was in the same stand as such a bunch of corpses. Utterly terrible support.

SIT DOWN.

FOR THE MARINERS.

I've seen some cuntish posts over the years, cracking effort fella.

Quoted from GYinScuntland

I've seen some cuntish posts over the years, cracking effort fella.

People might not like what I said but it's true. The vast majority of our fans may have not bothered turning up because they didn't make a peep. I get that not everyone makes noise but you're talking about 70/80% of our support today quiet as mice.

So, just got home and had dinner.
That was the worst collective performance by a town side I've seen for a long time. Even before the sending off Amos got fried by their right winger about 4-5 times and we lucky to be only one behind despite the odd rare chance we had. After the sending off we were chasing shadows and to be honest Swindon could easily have scored 7 or 8
I've never seen a town team give the ball away so often and punt so many aimless balls into empty space. First half we abandoned playing out from the back and went hoofball into a howling gale. Crocombe might as well have just kicked it into touch while we reset.
Substitutions were too late as I thought either Green or McAtee looked like getting sent off throughout the second half. Difficult to judge O'Neill based on that showing but he's not a line leading centre forward.
Special mention to the Swindon number 23, Khan who I believe was at Chesterfield last season. He was majestic and oozed quality in everything he did.
The highlight was the ref being knocked unconscious by a ball in the face, but I do hope he's ok! His replacement was being hammered by the people around us but I thought he did ok. We were so bad, and most of our tackles were so mistimed we left him few decisions to make
We need a couple of quality recruits and sharpish before we get sucked into a dogfight

Quoted from Son of Cod

People might not like what I said but it's true. The vast majority of our fans may have not bothered turning up because they didn't make a peep. I get that not everyone makes noise but you're talking about 70% of our support today quiet as mice.

It's not true it's simply your opinion with a snidey photo.
Much the same as your plucked from the air 70%

OK I'm finally home and my original post was kind on the players.
To build on that I think Smith needs to be replaced with Pearson for next game. Mcatee should have come off alot sooner than he did aswell.. I said it the other week but he's not half the player he was before his op, not skill wise just body language and movement around the pitch.
On a positive I felt the new lad looked good. Just needs support around him.

Quoted from gtfc_chris

I thought Hutton was fantastic today for them. Probably not the done thing to be in praise of the opposition but to reference your point his delivery was excellent and it makes you wonder what sort of impact that could have for us if he were here.

That isn’t meant to be damning on Michee, I don’t think he’s stepped up just yet albeit with a few games that he excelled in.

The 2 Centre midfielders drove forward regularly with the ball,
Winger put in some great crosses and the bold bloke was always finding gaps. Very good side and well supported.

Quoted from lukeo

OK I'm finally home and my original post was kind on the players.
To build on that I think Smith needs to be replaced with Pearson for next game. Mcatee should have come off alot sooner than he did aswell.. I said it the other week but he's not half the player he was before his op, not skill wise just body language and movement around the pitch.
On a positive I felt the new lad looked good. Just needs support around him.

If Hurst trusted Pearson anymore, he would have played three centre backs today..

Quoted from pen penfras

Jolley brought in good players, far better than Hurst has this time around. He was just a rubbish manager.

Like who?

Andrew Fox - Alright I guess, didn't do anything special. Most well known for getting sent off against Crystal Palace after 2 minutes making us play a whole match with 10 men.

Gary McSheffrey - Veteran mercenary bought in on a desperate short term deal. Did nothing.

Jordan Cook - Netted a few goals, spent a fair amount of time injured and then dropped down to non league where his injury problems continue.

Harry Davis - Fairly forgettable average player, not great but not bad.

Jake Hessenthaler - Short and lightweight midfielder who was regularly bullied off the ball. Think he got a goal under Holloway once.

Louis Robles - Crap. Made like one appearance as a sub where he didn't look like a professional footballer.

John Welsh - Fairly rubbish veteran player. Punched a lesbian.

Elliott Whitehouse - Spent a season injured after a bad pre season injury, came back and was never the same as he was before joining us. Still a decent signing.

Alex Whitmore - Who? Player who Jolly worked with at youth level with Burnley. Joined Fylde after being released from us where he added to his list of relegations dropping from NL to NLN.

Sam Russell - Goalkeeping coach and backup keeper in one. Did okay when called upon as a backup.

Charles Vernam - Technically Jolley didn't discover him, it was Slade who signed him on loan and Jolley inherited him but he did choose to pursue a permanent deal in his first full season in charge. Was pretty rubbish in his first season scoring just 3 league goals and couldn't make the team by his second season, got shipped out to Chorley where he bagged 3 goals in 4 games coming back with much more confidence and becoming a fan favourite in the second half of the season bagging 7 goals. Left us to join League One Burton after that. Will give this one his best signing of the list so far.

Wes Thomas - Decent veteran journeyman striker who came with a lot of experience at a higher level. Our top scorer and probably kept us up himself since we didn't have anybody else who could freely score goals.

Luke Hendrie - Good January signing as Jolly looked to shore up the defence. Put in some good performances during our decline back into the NL.

Sebastian Ring - Part of Jolley's Swedish experiment. Was not up to the standard and struggled to get a place in the team before leaving by mutual consent so he can return to Sweden.

Ludvig Öhman - Tall Swede who did better than Ring but constantly dogged with injuries. Pretty good at scoring own goals.

Matt Green - Journeyman signing most known for several spells at Mansfield Town. Known for being a lazy failure in most other places and was no different for us. The only thing worth remembering was a goal against Chelsea in the cup.

James Hanson - Towering Yorkshireman who won every single header that came his way,  well past his best but did actually try.

Elliott Hewitt - Decent utility player who slotted into defence or midfield. Took a while to find his best position by which time nobody cared.

Luke Waterfall - You'd probably forget he was a Jolley signing by now, did pretty awful under Jolley and then Holloway and Hurst. Hurst told him he could leave after we got relegated but he chose to stay and fight for a place. Ended up being our best player in a playoff winning instant return to league football. Dire as a Jolley signing initially though.

Moses Ogbu - Another piece of the Sweden puzzle, had played under Jolley in Sweden where he was pretty prolific. Had a cool sounding name and goal celebration but since he only scored twice for us we didn't get to see it much.

Jolley made some decent loan signings in his first season: Embleton, Pringle, Famewo Grayson. He also signed desperation signing Kristian Dennis in his bit to avoid the drop who was crap for us.

I think Hurst signed some good players on loan too when he came in but the difference is we didn't avoid relegation that time after Hurst inherited probably the worst squad we've ever had. Rollin Menayese, Jay Matete, El Mizouni looked good until injury. The first two almost kept us up on their own along with bringing in veteran Giles Coke and LJL who scored a couple of goals. He did sign Joe Bunney and Stefan Payne though so he's hardly crime free for transfers after coming back. In any case I don't think Jolley's signings were of a particularly higher standard than what we've got in the squad now. We were keen to keep most of last season's squad intact after a previous promotion winning squad was ripped apart and we achieved that minus Ben Fox. We are perhaps missing one or two experienced players but as we see on Jolley's list of permanent signings experience doesn't always equal good and we'd grown sick of mercenary signings by that point.

Hessenthaler was a good player. I disagree with some of the other comments about players to some degree, but you're way off target about him.

Quoted from Kris2

Like who?

Andrew Fox - Alright I guess, didn't do anything special. Most well known for getting sent off against Crystal Palace after 2 minutes making us play a whole match with 10 men.

Gary McSheffrey - Veteran mercenary bought in on a desperate short term deal. Did nothing.

Jordan Cook - Netted a few goals, spent a fair amount of time injured and then dropped down to non league where his injury problems continue.

Harry Davis - Fairly forgettable average player, not great but not bad.

Jake Hessenthaler - Short and lightweight midfielder who was regularly bullied off the ball. Think he got a goal under Holloway once.

Louis Robles - Crap. Made like one appearance as a sub where he didn't look like a professional footballer.

John Welsh - Fairly rubbish veteran player. Punched a lesbian.

Elliott Whitehouse - Spent a season injured after a bad pre season injury, came back and was never the same as he was before joining us. Still a decent signing.

Alex Whitmore - Who? Player who Jolly worked with at youth level with Burnley. Joined Fylde after being released from us where he added to his list of relegations dropping from NL to NLN.

Sam Russell - Goalkeeping coach and backup keeper in one. Did okay when called upon as a backup.

Charles Vernam - Technically Jolley didn't discover him, it was Slade who signed him on loan and Jolley inherited him but he did choose to pursue a permanent deal in his first full season in charge. Was pretty rubbish in his first season scoring just 3 league goals and couldn't make the team by his second season, got shipped out to Chorley where he bagged 3 goals in 4 games coming back with much more confidence and becoming a fan favourite in the second half of the season bagging 7 goals. Left us to join League One Burton after that. Will give this one his best signing of the list so far.

Wes Thomas - Decent veteran journeyman striker who came with a lot of experience at a higher level. Our top scorer and probably kept us up himself since we didn't have anybody else who could freely score goals.

Luke Hendrie - Good January signing as Jolly looked to shore up the defence. Put in some good performances during our decline back into the NL.

Sebastian Ring - Part of Jolley's Swedish experiment. Was not up to the standard and struggled to get a place in the team before leaving by mutual consent so he can return to Sweden.

Ludvig Öhman - Tall Swede who did better than Ring but constantly dogged with injuries. Pretty good at scoring own goals.

Matt Green - Journeyman signing most known for several spells at Mansfield Town. Known for being a lazy failure in most other places and was no different for us. The only thing worth remembering was a goal against Chelsea in the cup.

James Hanson - Towering Yorkshireman who won every single header that came his way,  well past his best but did actually try.

Elliott Hewitt - Decent utility player who slotted into defence or midfield. Took a while to find his best position by which time nobody cared.

Luke Waterfall - You'd probably forget he was a Jolley signing by now, did pretty awful under Jolley and then Holloway and Hurst. Hurst told him he could leave after we got relegated but he chose to stay and fight for a place. Ended up being our best player in a playoff winning instant return to league football. Dire as a Jolley signing initially though.

Moses Ogbu - Another piece of the Sweden puzzle, had played under Jolley in Sweden where he was pretty prolific. Had a cool sounding name and goal celebration but since he only scored twice for us we didn't get to see it much.

Jolley made some decent loan signings in his first season: Embleton, Pringle, Famewo Grayson. He also signed desperation signing Kristian Dennis in his bit to avoid the drop who was crap for us.

I think Hurst signed some good players on loan too when he came in but the difference is we didn't avoid relegation that time after Hurst inherited probably the worst squad we've ever had. Rollin Menayese, Jay Matete, El Mizouni looked good until injury. The first two almost kept us up on their own along with bringing in veteran Giles Coke and LJL who scored a couple of goals. He did sign Joe Bunney and Stefan Payne though so he's hardly crime free for transfers after coming back. In any case I don't think Jolley's signings were of a particularly higher standard than what we've got in the squad now. We were keen to keep most of last season's squad intact after a previous promotion winning squad was ripped apart and we achieved that minus Ben Fox. We are perhaps missing one or two experienced players but as we see on Jolley's list of permanent signings experience doesn't always equal good and we'd grown sick of mercenary signings by that point.

All 100% correct, to be fair to Jolley Getyourfactsstraight gave him very little money to play with and clearly his scouting network was p1ss poor.

We now have a head of recruitment and “some” flexibility in terms of being able to pay a fee, in all honesty we should be able to improve the squad even if it takes a couple of windows.

Quoted from Kris2

Like who?

Andrew Fox - Alright I guess, didn't do anything special. Most well known for getting sent off against Crystal Palace after 2 minutes making us play a whole match with 10 men.

Gary McSheffrey - Veteran mercenary bought in on a desperate short term deal. Did nothing.

Jordan Cook - Netted a few goals, spent a fair amount of time injured and then dropped down to non league where his injury problems continue.

Harry Davis - Fairly forgettable average player, not great but not bad.

Jake Hessenthaler - Short and lightweight midfielder who was regularly bullied off the ball. Think he got a goal under Holloway once.

Louis Robles - Crap. Made like one appearance as a sub where he didn't look like a professional footballer.

John Welsh - Fairly rubbish veteran player. Punched a lesbian.

Elliott Whitehouse - Spent a season injured after a bad pre season injury, came back and was never the same as he was before joining us. Still a decent signing.

Alex Whitmore - Who? Player who Jolly worked with at youth level with Burnley. Joined Fylde after being released from us where he added to his list of relegations dropping from NL to NLN.

Sam Russell - Goalkeeping coach and backup keeper in one. Did okay when called upon as a backup.

Charles Vernam - Technically Jolley didn't discover him, it was Slade who signed him on loan and Jolley inherited him but he did choose to pursue a permanent deal in his first full season in charge. Was pretty rubbish in his first season scoring just 3 league goals and couldn't make the team by his second season, got shipped out to Chorley where he bagged 3 goals in 4 games coming back with much more confidence and becoming a fan favourite in the second half of the season bagging 7 goals. Left us to join League One Burton after that. Will give this one his best signing of the list so far.

Wes Thomas - Decent veteran journeyman striker who came with a lot of experience at a higher level. Our top scorer and probably kept us up himself since we didn't have anybody else who could freely score goals.

Luke Hendrie - Good January signing as Jolly looked to shore up the defence. Put in some good performances during our decline back into the NL.

Sebastian Ring - Part of Jolley's Swedish experiment. Was not up to the standard and struggled to get a place in the team before leaving by mutual consent so he can return to Sweden.

Ludvig Öhman - Tall Swede who did better than Ring but constantly dogged with injuries. Pretty good at scoring own goals.

Matt Green - Journeyman signing most known for several spells at Mansfield Town. Known for being a lazy failure in most other places and was no different for us. The only thing worth remembering was a goal against Chelsea in the cup.

James Hanson - Towering Yorkshireman who won every single header that came his way,  well past his best but did actually try.

Elliott Hewitt - Decent utility player who slotted into defence or midfield. Took a while to find his best position by which time nobody cared.

Luke Waterfall - You'd probably forget he was a Jolley signing by now, did pretty awful under Jolley and then Holloway and Hurst. Hurst told him he could leave after we got relegated but he chose to stay and fight for a place. Ended up being our best player in a playoff winning instant return to league football. Dire as a Jolley signing initially though.

Moses Ogbu - Another piece of the Sweden puzzle, had played under Jolley in Sweden where he was pretty prolific. Had a cool sounding name and goal celebration but since he only scored twice for us we didn't get to see it much.

Jolley made some decent loan signings in his first season: Embleton, Pringle, Famewo Grayson. He also signed desperation signing Kristian Dennis in his bit to avoid the drop who was crap for us.

I think Hurst signed some good players on loan too when he came in but the difference is we didn't avoid relegation that time after Hurst inherited probably the worst squad we've ever had. Rollin Menayese, Jay Matete, El Mizouni looked good until injury. The first two almost kept us up on their own along with bringing in veteran Giles Coke and LJL who scored a couple of goals. He did sign Joe Bunney and Stefan Payne though so he's hardly crime free for transfers after coming back. In any case I don't think Jolley's signings were of a particularly higher standard than what we've got in the squad now. We were keen to keep most of last season's squad intact after a previous promotion winning squad was ripped apart and we achieved that minus Ben Fox. We are perhaps missing one or two experienced players but as we see on Jolley's list of permanent signings experience doesn't always equal good and we'd grown sick of mercenary signings by that point.

Care to compare the above with Pepple, Simmonds, Orsi and Wearne. Arguable that Hessenthaler is a better player than either Green and Holohan too.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Care to comp the above with Pepple, Simmonds, Orsi and Wearne. Arguable that Hessenthaler is a better player than either Green and Holohan too.

Not for me, I think we have several midfielders better than Hessenthaler this season. But I do wonder if Clifton might actually be the answer in the middle? I’m not 100% on that, but he’s a warrior, no doubt.

I’m just praying Hurst gets the starting 11 right against Harrogate….

I've got to get this off my chest, Macatee is half the player we had last season, if we'd signed him this season I honestly think we'd be questioning why.
The desire, grunt, full bloodiness, heart just doesn't seem to be there for me, he's missing chances he buried last year.
Now, I understand he's playing out of position, I get that, but I'm not having that as an excuse for his poor performances.

And on to today....why on earth did Hurst go away from the back 5 that worked so well against Stockport, Burton and Salford(at their place not ours).
Glennon  is definitely a better left back than Amos and his deliveries far superior.
Holohan worked his nuts off but can't pass,
Green just did what Green does
Efete was poor, time n time he let's the ball bounce rather than meeting the ball on the fall, something Maher is excellent at.
Clifton, not one of his better days it has to be said.
Smith, probably his worse performance in a town shirt tbh.
Mikey O'Neill, has good feet and looked comfortable receiving the ball, tidy player but doesn't seem to have any real pace.
All in all, it's the first time I've left early (85 minutes) and that game hurt,  that performance hurt but what really hurt was knowing mad gav will be having a beer laughing his t!ts off tonight!!

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

I've got to get this off my chest, Macatee is half the player we had last season, if we'd signed him this season I honestly think we'd be questioning why.
The desire, grunt, full bloodiness, heart just doesn't seem to be there for me, he's missing chances he buried last year.
Now, I understand he's playing out of position, I get that, but I'm not having that as an excuse for his poor performances.

And on to today....why on earth did Hurst go away from the back 5 that worked so well against Stockport, Burton and Salford(at their place not ours).
Glennon  is definitely a better left back than Amos and his deliveries far superior.
Holohan worked his nuts off but can't pass,
Green just did what Green does
Efete was poor, time n time he let's the ball bounce rather than meeting the ball on the fall, something Maher is excellent at.
Clifton, not one of his better days it has to be said.
Smith, probably his worse performance in a town shirt tbh.
Mikey O'Neill, has good feet and looked comfortable receiving the ball, tidy player but doesn't seem to have any real pace.
All in all, it's the first time I've left early (85 minutes) and that game hurt,  that performance hurt but what really hurt was knowing mad gav will be having a beer laughing his t!ts off tonight!!

First thing I said to my wife at the end of the game. The thought of Gunning laughing at us really pishes me off.

Quoted from immariner

Alright, so what does 5800 season ticket holders guarantee? A "huge fund"? Sorry mate but the maths doesn't stack up on that. It's little to no more revenue than 3500 season ticket holders and 1700 paying on the gate. It's not some massive war chest at all. The two best supported (much better than us) sides in the division, Bradford and Swindon are battling it out on the edge of the play offs but they should be first and second by a country mile then I guess.

This time last year we were what, 9/10th in the Conference. 16th in league 2 is demonstrably an improvement on that. No reason why with a couple of good signings we can't push on from here and hopefully finish the season strongly. I always thought that if we could finish higher than 14th, which would be our highest finish since 2007, that i'd be alright with that. I still think that. Maybe I'm unambitious or maybe I'm a realistic lower league football fan. Probably a bit of both

An unprecedented 5800 paying up front, during a summer transfer window? That number would be top 10 in the division on it’s own. Couple that with McAtee’s transfer fee (whilst maintaining his services) and it is a big budget at just the right time to invest. We’ve now got the guarantee of cup prize money to come too and we’ve been slow to move in the market. Again. Our main income comes from the football side of things and not commercial activity. That should be priority one and the other stuff afterwards. If we want to progress we need to maintain those season ticket numbers.

I get that the owners want to build the club to be self sufficient etc but the wave we should have been riding has knocked us off and lifeboat might be launched soon. And yes you are being a bit unambitious because we’re absolutely junk at the minute and have been for a while which isn’t acceptable.

Quoted from LH

An unprecedented 5800 paying up front, during a summer transfer window? That number would be top 10 in the division on it’s own. Couple that with McAtee’s transfer fee (whilst maintaining his services) and it is a big budget at just the right time to invest. We’ve now got the guarantee of cup prize money to come too and we’ve been slow to move in the market. Again. Our main income comes from the football side of things and not commercial activity. That should be priority one and the other stuff afterwards. If we want to progress we need to maintain those season ticket numbers.

I get that the owners want to build the club to be self sufficient etc but the wave we should have been riding has knocked us off and lifeboat might be launched soon. And yes you are being a bit unambitious because we’re absolutely junk at the minute and have been for a while which isn’t acceptable.

So do you want sustainability or not? Gillingham and Colchester aren't operating sustainably at the minute, they're spunking loads of cash in a panic. Do we honestly want to do the same? It might feel nice for the next few months or a couple of seasons even but what about in 5 years? I've read people say they have no sympathy for Scunny fans as they lorded it up when they overspent their way into the Championship but it appears to be exactly what a number of people want - 'show some ambition'.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

So do you want sustainability or not? Gillingham and Colchester aren't operating sustainably at the minute, they're spunking loads of cash in a panic. Do we honestly want to do the same? It might feel nice for the next few months or a couple of seasons even but what about in 5 years? I've read people say they have no sympathy for Scunny fans as they lorded it up when they overspent their way into the Championship but it appears to be exactly what a number of people want - 'show some ambition'.

It’s different - all we want is to spend to ensure we’re not sucked into a relegation fight. Scunny spent like kings to chase the championship pound. Our desires, right now, are not even in the same ballpark, and shouldn’t be seen as too much to ask.

So we're 23rd in the 10-match form table. Whichever way you cut it, that has to be a concern.

I think it's quite evident now that we're lacking in most areas. That's expected to some extent given that we carried a lot of our National League side into this season after our miracle promotion, but we have a lot of work to do.

We have very little quality in midfield. Not one of them has both the physicality and ball control to turn away from pressure and reliably make good passing decisions. Morris sort of can but he's been injured and is out of form at present. Holohan and Clifton were great earlier in the season when they were at the heart of our energetic performances and, while we never blew away sides with sheer quality, we were able to press, win the ball high up the pitch and compete. But as we've entered the winter months and the pitches have got heavier, that energy has drained away and we look weak. All of our midfielders turn over possession far too easily.

All four full backs have given me reason to doubt they're good enough for this level. Glennon has a quality delivery on him to be fair and Efete's power is a great asset when he uses it, but their defensive positioning is woeful at times. Improvements needed.

And then there's the striker situation. It was definitely an error to completely base our system around an ageing Taylor with a history of injuries.

I like the personalities in the squad and I don't want to be too harsh given what many of them have achieved. It's not a time to overreact and I trust Hurst and the recruitment staff to continue pursuing the targets they identified. But yeah, there's no 'consolidating' in this league, we learned that last time. We'll quickly get stuck and start circling the L2 drain again. We should aim to be consolidating in L1 within 4/5 years, it's time to be a bit ruthless.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

So do you want sustainability or not? Gillingham and Colchester aren't operating sustainably at the minute, they're spunking loads of cash in a panic. Do we honestly want to do the same? It might feel nice for the next few months or a couple of seasons even but what about in 5 years? I've read people say they have no sympathy for Scunny fans as they lorded it up when they overspent their way into the Championship but it appears to be exactly what a number of people want - 'show some ambition'.

Aye. Bury spring to mind too.

Gillingham signed 4 players and played them all today. The new striker scored one and made one and they won 2-0. Happy days, but if in a year or so they are in admin, then the fans will be moaning long and loud.

It's a balancing act and we see what can happen when you get it wrong.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

So do you want sustainability or not? Gillingham and Colchester aren't operating sustainably at the minute, they're spunking loads of cash in a panic. Do we honestly want to do the same? It might feel nice for the next few months or a couple of seasons even but what about in 5 years? I've read people say they have no sympathy for Scunny fans as they lorded it up when they overspent their way into the Championship but it appears to be exactly what a number of people want - 'show some ambition'.

Gillingham have got an idiot American who thinks they’re a sleeping giant signing the cheques and Colchester have got no fans and a stadium to pay off. These aren’t good examples of the point you’re trying to make.

We’ve got fans already bought into the idea we might do something and we’ve rewarded them with crap at home all season.

Quoted from ginnywings

Aye. Bury spring to mind too.

Gillingham signed 4 players and played them all today. The new striker scored one and made one and they won 2-0. Happy days, but if in a year or so they are in admin, then the fans will be moaning long and loud.

It's a balancing act and we see what can happen when you get it wrong.

If we sign a striker who’s on double the money of the left back (we won’t), would that left back be drunk off? Probably not, as long as he was getting his win bonus 😉

Quoted from immariner

I completely agree about the full backs being our weakest area (other than obviously strikers). Efete and Amos simply are never going to get forward and put crosses into the box like he can. We need to stick to 3 CBs too, we're too weak as a 4.

I'd also say for how well stocked we are in the middle we just don't have anyone like Saidou Khan. So composed on the ball, always turning out of tight spaces, getting on the front foot. Just the sort of player we need.

We did we go to four at the back?

Quoted from gtfc_chris

I thought Hutton was fantastic today for them. Probably not the done thing to be in praise of the opposition but to reference your point his delivery was excellent and it makes you wonder what sort of impact that could have for us if he were here.

That isn’t meant to be damning on Michee, I don’t think he’s stepped up just yet albeit with a few games that he excelled in.

He was.  Simple football really.  If you put in balls like Hutton did, your team is gonna score. Even if your front line is crap,

Quoted from lukeo

OK I'm finally home and my original post was kind on the players.
To build on that I think Smith needs to be replaced with Pearson for next game. Mcatee should have come off alot sooner than he did aswell.. I said it the other week but he's not half the player he was before his op, not skill wise just body language and movement around the pitch.
On a positive I felt the new lad looked good. Just needs support around him.

McAtee looks like a man who is moving on.   Nonchalant at times.

Quoted from Maringer

Hessenthaler was a good player. I disagree with some of the other comments about players to some degree, but you're way off target about him.

Tbh I always preferred James Tilley as our short midfielder who could pass a ball but got easily pushed around.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Care to compare the above with Pepple, Simmonds, Orsi and Wearne. Arguable that Hessenthaler is a better player than either Green and Holohan too.

Sure. The first two being young loan signings that are worse than most of our previous young loan signings. Orsi not been impressed whenever I've seen him but who on this list would I take over him? Wes Thomas I guess then I don't know. Taylor and Hanson are pretty similar players both past their best. Jury out on Wearne if he's going to come back and impress after getting game time on loan or flop. Honestly I never thought Hessenthaler was all that and probably a player who got better in the minds of fans after he left. Both Green and Holohan have impressed on their day so maybe will see how things work out for them by the end of the season. But no Orsi not up to the standard we need from a striker for me and seemed more like a backup option but with no big ticket signings coming off all summer he's somehow become all we have with a couple of kids the only other options. Pepple clearly in need of more development and Richardson having talent but still being young and not somebody we should be putting under pressure as our main outlet.

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

I've got to get this off my chest, Macatee is half the player we had last season, if we'd signed him this season I honestly think we'd be questioning why.
The desire, grunt, full bloodiness, heart just doesn't seem to be there for me, he's missing chances he buried last year.
Now, I understand he's playing out of position, I get that, but I'm not having that as an excuse for his poor performances.

And on to today....why on earth did Hurst go away from the back 5 that worked so well against Stockport, Burton and Salford(at their place not ours).
Glennon  is definitely a better left back than Amos and his deliveries far superior.
Holohan worked his nuts off but can't pass,
Green just did what Green does
Efete was poor, time n time he let's the ball bounce rather than meeting the ball on the fall, something Maher is excellent at.
Clifton, not one of his better days it has to be said.
Smith, probably his worse performance in a town shirt tbh.
Mikey O'Neill, has good feet and looked comfortable receiving the ball, tidy player but doesn't seem to have any real pace.
All in all, it's the first time I've left early (85 minutes) and that game hurt,  that performance hurt but what really hurt was knowing mad gav will be having a beer laughing his t!ts off tonight!!

Well said.  McAtee did the job for us last season.  We were waiting for the "great hope" to come back from injury to get our season back on track.  Alas, he doesn't have that fire in his belly anymore.  He's made his move upwards.  Yes, we see flashes, but he isn't consistent.   I don't blame him.  I am grateful what he did but IMO he should have come off earlier. But I have the benefit of hindsight.

Quoted from LH

Gillingham have got an idiot American who thinks they’re a sleeping giant signing the cheques and Colchester have got no fans and a stadium to pay off. These aren’t good examples of the point you’re trying to make.

We’ve got fans already bought into the idea we might do something and we’ve rewarded them with crap at home all season.

They are good examples of the point I'm making - it's why I used them. We have a large squad and some decent length contracts. We're also investing in infrastructure which will take longer to show dividends. We're not chucking money around in a blind panic but trying to build a more sustainable approach. If people think the squad is excrement that's fine but again do you want the owners to try to develop a long term sustainable strategy for the club or not?

Improving the squad and improving the club aren’t mutually exclusive. They definitely won’t have budgeted for the increased ticket sales. Agree to disagree.

Quoted from Son of Cod

The team were crap today yes. But I'd like to take a moment to talk about our support. Were you sat in this section?

[img]https://i.ibb.co/HpBM7Xt/IMG-20230114-162822776-HDR.jpg[/img]

If so, give yourself a slap on the back for getting there and paying your entrance fee but nothing else because you may as well have not bothered turning up. Pathetic support from you every single person in that section. What's the point of taking 500+ to Swindon when the only time two thirds of that gets up is to go to the toilet?

I felt embarrassed walking away from the match today. Not because I've watched Town get spanked. I've seen that many times before. I felt embarrassed that I was in the same stand as such a bunch of corpses. Utterly terrible support.

SIT DOWN.

FOR THE MARINERS.

I think it's you lot down south SoC (not you personally of course). I thought the noise at Wimbledon was a bit weak for the great numbers (1000+ for a 12.30 KO), northern games seem to generate better noise. Are our southern exiles more polite happy clapper types?

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

I think it's you lot down south SoC (not you personally of course). I thought the noise at Wimbledon was a bit weak for the great numbers (1000+ for a 12.30 KO), northern games seem to generate better noise. Are our southern exiles more polite happy clapper types?

Yeah, this has been talked about before to be honest and I think there's definitely something in it. Agreed Wimbledon wasn't great but it was better than yesterday. I was in the corner bit there though as I got in late. Having said that, one of the flattest atmospheres I remember was away at York on a Tuesday one year when we lost 1-0, packed away end but weirdly silent. Whereas, one of the best away days for noise last season was Torquay so there are definitely expectations to this but I do think the Southern away ones are more likely to be quieter.

Son of cod you need to calm down. Not everyone is their to vocally back the team. I was sat in that section and most around me were over 50 if not 60.  Also until we went 2/3-0 down I think you'll find most of us joined in, just didn't stand up every time.

Hard to get excited as a fan when you get battered.

Quoted from LH

An unprecedented 5800 paying up front, during a summer transfer window? That number would be top 10 in the division on it’s own. Couple that with McAtee’s transfer fee (whilst maintaining his services) and it is a big budget at just the right time to invest. We’ve now got the guarantee of cup prize money to come too and we’ve been slow to move in the market. Again. Our main income comes from the football side of things and not commercial activity. That should be priority one and the other stuff afterwards. If we want to progress we need to maintain those season ticket numbers.

I get that the owners want to build the club to be self sufficient etc but the wave we should have been riding has knocked us off and lifeboat might be launched soon. And yes you are being a bit unambitious because we’re absolutely junk at the minute and have been for a while which isn’t acceptable.

How do you know what PH and the recruiting staff have been doing?  PH said the other day that he had an offer for a player turned down, how do we know he hasn't made other offers too?  We don't, unless we live in his office with him. Every transfer window we get these sort of posts which don't take into account the numerous problems that I'm sure the club has to deal with to get a player to sign on the dotted line.  I've said this before and will say it again, the Transfer Window is not a supermarket where you see something you want on a shelf, and pick it up and drop it in your basket and it's yours!

Quoted from Son of Cod

People might not like what I said but it's true. The vast majority of our fans may have not bothered turning up because they didn't make a peep. I get that not everyone makes noise but you're talking about 70/80% of our support today quiet as mice.

Unbelievable. In the great quadrilateral of what is needed for a successful football club Manager, Players , Owners Fans there is one group that’s performed miles ahead of the rest this season.

Quoted from lukeo

Son of cod you need to calm down. Not everyone is their to vocally back the team. I was sat in that section and most around me where over 50 if not 60.  Also until we went 2/3-0 down I think you'll find most of us joined in, just didn't stand up every time.

Most of the people in that section joined in? With all due respect, that's absolute nonsense and you know it. It's not an age thing either, there were older people at the back and down the left hand side making noise and there were plenty of younger people in that large section in my photograph. Like I said, I get that not everybody is gonna stand and chant for the entire match but you want that to make up the minority of the support not the majority. I realise posting that pic last night was a very provocative way of raising the argument so apologies if it upset people, but I stand by the sentiment that it upset people because it was bang on. The truth hurts and all that. People don't want to be told that their support isn't good, yet we're the first ones to wax lyrical about ourselves when we're loud. Yesterday our support vocally as a collective was abysmal. Anyone arguing the toss against that is deluded.

Quoted from ginnywings

Hard to get excited as a fan when you get battered.

Were we getting battered in the first half?

Quoted from 123614

How do you know what PH and the recruiting staff have been doing?  PH said the other day that he had an offer for a player turned down, how do we know he hasn't made other offers too?  We don't, unless we live in his office with him. Every transfer window we get these sort of posts which don't take into account the numerous problems that I'm sure the club has to deal with to get a player to sign on the dotted line.  I've said this before and will say it again, the Transfer Window is not a supermarket where you see something you want on a shelf, and pick it up and drop it in your basket and it's yours!

How do I know we’ve been slow to move in the market? Its halfway through the month we get to sign players and we’ve made one loan signing (after being told we were looking at permanent signings). I don’t need to be sat in an office to see that.