Next 6 League Games

Quoted from arryarryarry

Sorry but I completely disagree, for me it is down to the size of the club and/or budget we should have.

Why do you think FGR are up amongst the favourites each season, it is because of the wedge they have to spend not because they have been crap these past few seasons.

As regards improving year on year then we failed to improve last year as we lost at the same stage in the play-offs as the previous season.

Improvement doesn't just necessarily mean finishing position in my opinion, you may disagree.

Lincoln are one of the bigger clubs in this league but are never anywhere near the favourites.

Quoted from mariner91

Improvement doesn't just necessarily mean finishing position in my opinion, you may disagree.

Lincoln are one of the bigger clubs in this league but are never anywhere near the favourites.

You've completely lost me on that one surely improvement must mean you did better than the previous season, what else could it mean?

More than likely because they don't have the budget that some of the clubs have which proves my point really.

Quoted from arryarryarry

You've completely lost me on that one surely improvement must mean you did better than the previous season, what else could it mean?

It's all hypothetical but you don't need to improve on your league position necessarily to have shown improvement. Over the course of a season you might get unlucky with injuries, suspensions, postponements etc which could leave you with less points than you might have otherwise gained. But if you've played better in general than the season before, the team is more cohesive or tighter at the back, although you haven't improved on your league position you have still shown improvement in your overall play and it is sign of progress.

Ron makes many good points. Satisfaction with our current plight is a classic case of lowering your expectations. And a refusal to accept the evidence of your own eyes.

Quoted from mariner91

It's all hypothetical but you don't need to improve on your league position necessarily to have shown improvement. Over the course of a season you might get unlucky with injuries, suspensions, postponements etc which could leave you with less points than you might have otherwise gained. But if you've played better in general than the season before, the team is more cohesive or tighter at the back, although you haven't improved on your league position you have still shown improvement in your overall play and it is sign of progress.

Clutching at straws here. Football is about tangible progress, points in the bag and league positions. My only sympathy in all of this arguing is with youngsters who have never seen the club doing well because that is bound to colour their judgement about the present position. Those who know what the club is capable of will never accept that it should be struggling to crawl out of non-league. Therefore they look at the important things like Barnet, a club of similar resources, being clear at the top while GTFC is failing to beat minnows and seems to have settled for a creep into the playoffs.

Now, unless we see a turnaround in attitudes (not necessarily personnel or even tactics) then that position is the best we can hope for.

Maybe the club should forget the Parkway and think about re-locating to Little Grimsby.

Talk of past 'glory' is bunkum. We live in the here and now and it doesn't matter one jot what we were doing five, ten, twenty or fifty years ago.

The facts are that we probably have a top 5 budget in the Conference and have finished in the top 5 for the past couple of seasons. We're well-set to do the same this season so we're operating within reasonable expectations. Do I think we ought to have done better in general since our relegation? Certainly. Our first two seasons only saw a mid-table finish and this wasn't nearly good enough. Since then, we've done well here and there but the two play-off defeats have been poor, though last season you'd have to say that we did at least play OK in the two games but for refereeing decisions and individual errors to cost us.

If people want to criticise Hurst's cautious approach to the game, fair enough, but you have to accept that we don't have any divine right to do better just 'because'. We don't operate in a vacuum and we simply don't have as much money to spend as several of the teams currently in the Conference with us. In fact, most of the teams promoted out of the Conference since we were relegated spent a heck of a lot of money to achieve this task.

Barnet are doing well this season, but they are hardly romping away with things and there is still a long way to go yet. Don't forget that just a couple of years ago, Newport were about 9 points clear in November yet only the season finished in 3rd place, well behind the top two teams. Lots to play for yet.

That said, I'm disappointed we don't have more points on the board already. I think the general standard of the squad is improved over last season, but I do still worry that this team can just inexplicably fail to put in anything like a performance, even when on a good run. I think Hurst's failure to sign an attacker or two more earlier in the season has cost us a few points as we just haven't had the depth on the bench to change things when Plan A isn't working. Hopefully, this is something which will be rectified once the transfer window reopens or perhaps Watson will turn out to be a good option.

Regardless, we've only played OK for much of the time this season. This leaves a lot of room for improvement and it won't take too much for us to begin picking up more points and climbing the table. As long as we're in touch with the top with ten games to play, anything can happen.

Quoted from Maringer

Talk of past 'glory' is bunkum. We live in the here and now and it doesn't matter one jot what we were doing five, ten, twenty or fifty years ago.

The facts are that we probably have a top 5 budget in the Conference and have finished in the top 5 for the past couple of seasons. We're well-set to do the same this season so we're operating within reasonable expectations. Do I think we ought to have done better in general since our relegation? Certainly. Our first two seasons only saw a mid-table finish and this wasn't nearly good enough. Since then, we've done well here and there but the two play-off defeats have been poor, though last season you'd have to say that we did at least play OK in the two games but for refereeing decisions and individual errors to cost us.

If people want to criticise Hurst's cautious approach to the game, fair enough, but you have to accept that we don't have any divine right to do better just 'because'. We don't operate in a vacuum and we simply don't have as much money to spend as several of the teams currently in the Conference with us. In fact, most of the teams promoted out of the Conference since we were relegated spent a heck of a lot of money to achieve this task.

Barnet are doing well this season, but they are hardly romping away with things and there is still a long way to go yet. Don't forget that just a couple of years ago, Newport were about 9 points clear in November yet only the season finished in 3rd place, well behind the top two teams. Lots to play for yet.

That said, I'm disappointed we don't have more points on the board already. I think the general standard of the squad is improved over last season, but I do still worry that this team can just inexplicably fail to put in anything like a performance, even when on a good run. I think Hurst's failure to sign an attacker or two more earlier in the season has cost us a few points as we just haven't had the depth on the bench to change things when Plan A isn't working. Hopefully, this is something which will be rectified once the transfer window reopens or perhaps Watson will turn out to be a good option.

Regardless, we've only played OK for much of the time this season. This leaves a lot of room for improvement and it won't take too much for us to begin picking up more points and climbing the table. As long as we're in touch with the top with ten games to play, anything can happen.

I don't disagree with reality. My take on the past glories is not that it is bunkum but that it is an indicator of what this club has achieved and what it could achieve again.

I don't disagree about budgets. My take on "in the top 5 budgets" is that we did well in the old Div.2 with a bottom 5 budget. The key isn't how much money you have but how well you spend it.

I do agree with you that there have been some strange selections and tactics, there has been some good play and it is still to play for and that Barnet could come tumbling down. My take on the future this season is that if we have a mindset that says playoffs = good then playoffs will be the most we achieve. Which takes us back to square one - we have shown what can we achieve with a really positive and aggressive outlook on and off the field in the past regardless of money, so why not now?

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

I don't disagree with reality. My take on the past glories is not that it is bunkum but that it is an indicator of what this club has achieved and what it could achieve again.

I don't disagree about budgets. My take on "in the top 5 budgets" is that we did well in the old Div.2 with a bottom 5 budget. The key isn't how much money you have but how well you spend it.

I do agree with you that there have been some strange selections and tactics, there has been some good play and it is still to play for and that Barnet could come tumbling down. My take on the future this season is that if we have a mindset that says playoffs = good then playoffs will be the most we achieve. Which takes us back to square one - we have shown what can we achieve with a really positive and aggressive outlook on and off the field in the past regardless of money, so why not now?

Lock Stock and Barrel

Quoted from Garth

Lock Stock and Barrel

Because 20 years ago money didnt matter as much as it does now.

The gap between the clubs at the top and bottom of most leagues is massive. Yes we did well in the Championship/Division 1 for a while, but how long did we feasibly sustain it for each time?

Even in the late 90's/early 00's, when we probably had a bottom 5 budget for the league.....we usually finished bottom 5.

1998–1999     Division One     11th     –     
1999–2000     Division One     20th     –     
2000–2001     Division One     18th     –     
2001–2002     Division One     19th     –     
2002–2003     Division One     24th     

Clubs will almost always end up in a league position based upon their relative wage/transfer spending in the modern era.

Quoted from biggles9999

Because 20 years ago money didnt matter as much as it does now.

The gap between the clubs at the top and bottom of most leagues is massive. Yes we did well in the Championship/Division 1 for a while, but how long did we feasibly sustain it for each time?

Even in the late 90's/early 00's, when we probably had a bottom 5 budget for the league.....we usually finished bottom 5.

1998–1999     Division One     11th     –     
1999–2000     Division One     20th     –     
2000–2001     Division One     18th     –     
2001–2002     Division One     19th     –     
2002–2003     Division One     24th     

Clubs will almost always end up in a league position based upon their relative wage/transfer spending in the modern era.

Ultimately that is true. Barnsley, Watford, Wimbledon, Bradford ........ and others got to the top division and couldn't sustain it. The Mariners team that Dave Booth almost got up there was a fluke combination of quality local young players maturing together plus a few judicious signings on the way started by John Newman. Booth knew it needed strengthening, Ramsden knew the only way to get money into the club was with a great fundraiser. That nearly worked but in the end even Trevor Wymark wasn't enough.

I accept that. But football is ups and downs. The art is not to get so far down that you can't get up again when the next good manager assembles a group of players that he inspires to play above themselves.

Are we too far down? Not far off I'd say. If ever we needed some inspiration from the dugout and some aggression and belief on the pitch it is now.