Furloughed players, i assume applied for Grant/Loan... just signed a player from Bradford Undisclosed fee. Whole system stinks

I thought that was against the grant/ loan system.

Crooked spires

I hope the FA will scrutinise this scurrilous activity and refuse entry to the EFL from the National League this year.

Quoted from IlkleyMariner

I hope the FA will scrutinise this scurrilous activity and refuse entry to the EFL from the National League this year.

FFS

I guess what’s more frustrating, for the other teams perhaps is that this circumventing of the rules has seen them have relative success or certainly provide them a chance of promotion. They were doing well last time I checked...

Think we could be up against a good league nxt year , will a top half finish in first yr be a success , i personaly think play offs be classed as ok

Quoted from fishcake63

Think we could be up against a good league nxt year , will a top half finish in first yr be a success , i personaly think play offs be classed as ok

nope, im PH biggest fan but a top half finish would mean i'd be calling for his head, its play offs minimum

Quoted from Hagrid

nope, im PH biggest fan but a top half finish would mean i'd be calling for his head, its play offs minimum

Absolutely, cruising around mid table and 100% I will not be there

Seven of the top eight clubs in the NL were one time considered established FL clubs.
Hartlepool, Torquay, Stockport, Halifax, Wrexham, Chesterfield & Notts County.
This simply illustrates what a massive task lies ahead of us to escape from the NL.
Oh & as we all know the Solihull Moors, Bromleys' etc will be far from push overs.
Dagenham & Redbridge swept us out of the FA Cup this season.
We have no idea what the plans of the new owners are - but I foresee another lengthy spell in the cellar- again.
Hope I'm wrong.

Quoted from Heswall Mariner

Seven of the top eight clubs in the NL were one time considered established FL clubs.
Hartlepool, Torquay, Stockport, Halifax, Wrexham, Chesterfield & Notts County.
This simply illustrates what a massive task lies ahead of us to escape from the NL.
Oh & as we all know the Solihull Moors, Bromleys' etc will be far from push overs.
Dagenham & Redbridge swept us out of the FA Cup this season.
We have no idea what the plans of the new owners are - but I foresee another lengthy spell in the cellar- again.
Hope I'm wrong.

I'm sure you will be.

Quoted from Heswall Mariner

Seven of the top eight clubs in the NL were one time considered established FL clubs.
Hartlepool, Torquay, Stockport, Halifax, Wrexham, Chesterfield & Notts County.
This simply illustrates what a massive task lies ahead of us to escape from the NL.
Oh & as we all know the Solihull Moors, Bromleys' etc will be far from push overs.
Dagenham & Redbridge swept us out of the FA Cup this season.
We have no idea what the plans of the new owners are - but I foresee another lengthy spell in the cellar- again.
Hope I'm wrong.

You're wrong, we're not down yet.......but we will walk it if we do go down.
We will do it without losing a game, the Great Grimsby Invincibles. UTM.

Quoted from 140067

You're wrong, we're not down yet.......but we will walk it if we do go down.
We will do it without losing a game, the Great Grimsby Invincibles. UTM.

Are you on medication ?  ;D

Quoted from Sir Matt Tease

Are you on medication ?  ;D

Aren't most of us ?

If not we should be.

Quoted from Sir Matt Tease

Are you on medication ?  ;D

He'll realise when we get hammered away at Wealdstone....

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

He'll realise when we get hammered away at Wealdstone....

Tamworth away was the game last time we were non-league when it finally sank in for me.

We'd not had that good a start to the season including that embarrasing home defeat to Hayes & Yeading and getting stuffed at Rushden, but we had just beaten Histon and then Luton, so I thought we'd start tearing up the division but it really sank in stood on that horrible away terrace at Tamworth watching us get beat, thinking how the hell has it come to this!

i was just thinking out loud i suppose in hindsight just a top half finish would probably be a disaster for ph , so i'm going to stick my neck out & say deliver a top 3 finish to give us the best chance of promotion with the current play off format in national lge , agree to disagree folks utm

Quoted from Sir Matt Tease

Are you on medication ?  ;D

Medication is a wonderful word. Guinness, red wine, whisky lovely medication followed by Town survival. It's all a fantastic dream, but the Guinness, Red wine, and whisky are a reality.

Quoted from DB

Medication is a wonderful word. Guinness, red wine, whisky lovely medication followed by Town survival. It's all a fantastic dream, but the Guinness, Red wine, and whisky are a reality.

And don't forget DB, put those rose tinted glasses in the man drawer til next year...🤣

Quoted from Northbank Mariner

And don't forget DB, put those rose tinted glasses in the man drawer til next year...🤣

Keeping them polished my friend to a fine clear vision, yes I've just looked through them and we've been promoted back to L2.

Bug ger that red wine!

Quoted from DB

Keeping them polished my friend to a fine clear vision, yes I've just looked through them and we've been promoted back to L2.

Bug ger that red wine!

Red wine cures all ills, well it softens the blow at least...

Quoted from Sir Matt Tease

Are you on medication ?  ;D

Well it’s certainly not the aforementioned “Carlsberg”  :)

Some fans see success next season as being in the play-offs.  The play-offs are different in NL.

There are 6 teams in the play-offs, behind the automatic promotion spot.  I hope that we are in the top 7!

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Some fans see success next season as being in the play-offs.  The play-offs are different in NL.

There are 6 teams in the play-offs, behind the automatic promotion spot.  I hope that we are in the top 7!

I think it goes something like this :-

4th plays 7th at home

5th plays 6th at home

Then 3rd plays winner of 4th v 7th at home

And 2nd plays winner of 5th & 6th at home

And the winners of those games play in the final.

All games are one-off, there are no two legs which would mean if we were to finish in the top 7 (not top) we would have to do better than we have in the past as in our 4 play-off seasons we have only won the first leg once.

Nothing compares to that embarrassing night at Braintree when we lost 5-0.

Even Barralad shouted at Fenty who was sat close to us.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Nothing compares to that embarrassing night at Braintree when we lost 5-0.

Even Barralad shouted at Fenty who was sat close to us.

That I cannot believe! Mild-mannered Barra? 😆

I don't think our expectations have anything to do with 8 former EFL clubs in NL, or, we've only just come down. Surely will depend on the budget PH is given, no?

We have to go 'buy' nearly a whole team so likely lose a bit of togetherness/confidence at start of season. If we have a top 6 budget then missing the play-offs will be a failure but if say we have 9th/10th biggest budget and we don't finish in top 2 don't come bringing that to PH. He's a decent manager, decent team builder, honest/hardworking, plus, has good contacts. If we give him the resources to succeed I'll be gutted if he doesn't.

Play offs is definitely the minimum requirement as he got some significant advantages going into this season. Longer preseason to prepare, parachute payment combined with the financial mess the NL clubs are stuck in based on this season's funding shortfall.

He's an experienced manager I expect him to be able to build a team that can compete at the right end of the division.

National League last league is 29th May, the first play-offs 5th June, semi-final play-off 12th June and the final 19th June.
Season 2021/22 starts 21st August 2021.

Our last game 8th May, so plenty of time to get ahead of the game with signings, planning and pre-season matches.