Alfreton....Match Thread

Quoted from It Bites

It's because they can't bare to see an opinion without confusing it with a FACT . Grimsby Town are a Joke of a team that will be in the conference north in 2 years , guaranteed ........ Let's see how they cope with that opinion

The only joke is your post.

Quoted from It Bites

It's because they can't bare to see an opinion without confusing it with a FACT . Grimsby Town are a Joke of a team that will be in the conference north in 2 years , guaranteed ........ Let's see how they cope with that opinion

Alright John, calm down. We know you think you did a good job and you’re still annoyed someone exposes your little tryst with May and the mouthy one…sorted that tax issue yet?

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Of course there are several contenders for the top spot.

I want and expect us to be one of them, by signing top players. Isn't that the objective?

Those players to complete the jigsaw will cost money, and I fully expect the new owners to provide it otherwise all their grand dreams will not count for anything till we win the league, or at the very least go up via the playoffs.

I absolutely get the building for the future argument OFF the field, but on it is a different matter. We have a very experienced manager, new players with the key ones to come and a far superior regime running the club. I think even the new players have said promotion is the aim this season, and the only way to guarantee that is by finishing top..

I think what many people are overlooking is that what we also have is an almost entirely new team, and that makes for an uphill climb from the off. In our promotion season, we added the likes of Tait, Bogle, Amond, temporarily Townsend and latterly Nolan to a squad which already consisted of Macca, Gowling, Pearson, Toto, Disley, Clay, and Arnold to name just a select few.

The players we've retained from our relegation season are exclusively either in their 30s (Macca, Waterfall, Coke, Scannell and LJL) or relative youngsters (all aged <24) that have either come up through our youth system or via the lower non-league ranks. There is no way that this season's base is as good as the one we had in 2015, so in effect you need the majority of what will eventually be 15+ new signings to be roughly in the same league Tait, Bogle, Amond et al. I'm confident one or two, maybe even three, might make that grade, but most of them? That's a big ask.

This isn't a criticism of anyone currently at the club. I don't think I'm being pessimistic either - it's just a cold, hard assessment of the facts. Hurst inherited a horror show and the sad reality is that it will take time to recover from it. It's naive to think that we aren't some considerable way behind several clubs in this division, and I don't buy into the notion of "he gets us up this season or he has to go" - that's not a fair or reasonable expectation of anyone, Hurst or otherwise, under the circumstances we have entered this season.

This will be a tough, attritional season. A transitional season. I'm hopeful we can make the play-offs, but I don't think it should be seen as the end of the world if we don't. We are on a steady footing now and I believe the club will continue to make steady and consistent progress under new leadership, but it's not all about next season. Enjoy being back at the football with your mates. With your Town brethren. If we happen to have a banging season and go straight back up then happy days, but all the signs point to something a little less sensational.

As Celine Dion once said, that's the way it is.

As a club we are still in a tailspin.

Disastrous pre season, disastrous beginning of season, a change of manager and owners which made very little difference to results and then finished bottom of the football league and deservedly relegated to non league.

Changing this trajectory will be very difficult. I am confident we have the right people at the top now and it's been great to see the engagement and excitement levels build over the summer. I am not going to judge us on the pitch in pre season friendlies, but am hoping for a MASSIVE improvement from Hurst and the players this season as last season was pathetic and an embarrassment.

Quoted from Kris2

It's The Fishy. People overreact if we win or lose.

It’s the Internet. Not peculiar to the Fishy.

Quoted from Poojah

I think what many people are overlooking is that what we also have is an almost entirely new team, and that makes for an uphill climb from the off. In our promotion season, we added the likes of Tait, Bogle, Amond, temporarily Townsend and latterly Nolan to a squad which already consisted of Macca, Gowling, Pearson, Toto, Disley, Clay, and Arnold to name just a select few.

The players we've retained from our relegation season are exclusively either in their 30s (Macca, Waterfall, Coke, Scannell and LJL) or relative youngsters (all aged <24) that have either come up through our youth system or via the lower non-league ranks. There is no way that this season's base is as good as the one we had in 2015, so in effect you need the majority of what will eventually be 15+ new signings to be roughly in the same league Tait, Bogle, Amond et al. I'm confident one or two, maybe even three, might make that grade, but most of them? That's a big ask.

This isn't a criticism of anyone currently at the club. I don't think I'm being pessimistic either - it's just a cold, hard assessment of the facts. Hurst inherited a horror show and the sad reality is that it will take time to recover from it. It's naive to think that we aren't some considerable way behind several clubs in this division, and I don't buy into the notion of "he gets us up this season or he has to go" - that's not a fair or reasonable expectation of anyone, Hurst or otherwise, under the circumstances we have entered this season.

This will be a tough, attritional season. A transitional season. I'm hopeful we can make the play-offs, but I don't think it should be seen as the end of the world if we don't. We are on a steady footing now and I believe the club will continue to make steady and consistent progress under new leadership, but it's not all about next season. Enjoy being back at the football with your mates. With your Town brethren. If we happen to have a banging season and go straight back up then happy days, but all the signs point to something a little less sensational.

As Celine Dion once said, that's the way it is.

That makes sense but it’s all very well to say what happened last time when promotion took us 5 years to achieve and most fane and the manager blamed the regime for a low budget.. I thought the new owners and certainly the fans were looking towards an improvement on that. We got it for a week or two and we are still optimistic and grateful for the new spirit and off field happenings. Nevertheless our squad does not look powerful.enough to be challenging in general this season..No doubt you are right, there will be further signings but it is pointless making yet more signings that are only going to give us a season of attrition. They need to be players with the ability to take us beyond that ……. Now.

Quoted from psgmariner

As a club we are still in a tailspin.

Disastrous pre season, disastrous beginning of season, a change of manager and owners which made very little difference to results and then finished bottom of the football league and deservedly relegated to non league.

Changing this trajectory will be very difficult. I am confident we have the right people at the top now and it's been great to see the engagement and excitement levels build over the summer. I am not going to judge us on the pitch in pre season friendlies, but am hoping for a MASSIVE improvement from Hurst and the players this season as last season was pathetic and an embarrassment.

Nail on the head from me, certainly not going to reach any dizzy heights this season, but with money from ticket sales and transfers etc, we must invest in a decent striker otherwise like previous seasons we will playing catch up

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

That makes sense but it’s all very well to say what happened last time when promotion took us 5 years to achieve and most fane and the manager blamed the regime for a low budget.. I thought the new owners and certainly the fans were looking towards an improvement on that. We got it for a week or two and we are still optimistic and grateful for the new spirit and off field happenings. Nevertheless our squad does not look powerful.enough to be challenging in general this season..No doubt you are right, there will be further signings but it is pointless making yet more signings that are only going to give us a season of attrition. They need to be players with the ability to take us beyond that ……. Now.

The objective, I'm sure, will be more than just consolidation. I was simply offering a realistic viewpoint that consolidation might be what we ultimately end up with given the mess the club was in, and that predictions of league titles in this first season are wildly premature.

I think we've already seen a number of tangible improvements from the new owners, it's just that it's going to take a little while longer to filter through to the playing side. I'm sure Hurst will be backed in terms of his playing budget but what these guys aren't going to be doing, and have never promised to do, is throw millions or even hundreds of thousands of unsustainable cash at the first team.

I'm not convinced that would be in the long-term interests of the club anyway. If they have a finite amount of money to invest then I do believe that's better spent on long-term infrastructure that will serve the club for years and decades to come, not lumping big on one season (a tactic we've seen fail many a time). Furthermore, if we were ever to do that I'm not sure this season is the right time to go all in given the relative point of weakness we're starting from.

There are parallels with the Operation Promotion pre-season in terms of the new found optimism amongst the fanbase, but in terms of squad maturity we're not even close. I think people are possibly conflating the optimism then and now with our chances of going up next season, whilst overlooking the fact that the squad simply isn't anywhere near as good - and that's the fault of no one but the chancers long since gone.

Quoted from Poojah

I'm sure Hurst will be backed in terms of his playing budget but what these guys aren't going to be doing, and have never promised to do, is throw millions or even hundreds of thousands of unsustainable cash at the

From what was said, it does appear hurst has been backed with a healthy budget. But that doesn’t really reflect in the team for me at the minute. I can’t help but compare to the team that won the play offs (but only finished 4th), and this doesn’t look as good, which it should if we’ve got a better budget now. And I don’t think a good striker will change my opinion on that.

Don't think the squad is good enough yet to mount a serious promotion challenge but it is important we are winning plenty of games and playing some entertaining stuff otherwise a lot of the new found enthusiasm will be gone the following season as people say same old same old and season ticket sales could bomb