Scunny

This obsession with the pub team down the road is a little embarrassing, can we just forget about them. They have never been our real rivals

Quoted from Dave Gilberts Left Peg

This obsession with the pub team down the road is a little embarrassing, can we just forget about them. They have never been our real rivals

Agreed wish them no harm when they are in their rightful position ( below us) I have always said our main rivals are hull but these matches don5 come to often

They have signed two experienced midfield players so it looks like their playing budget isn’t too bad. I would imagine they will be able to hold their own down there but a play off place will be very tough to get.

When I started watching Town (very late 80's/early 90's) I felt Barnsley were our rivals simply because they were the closest team we played on a regular basis.  We then had that Buckley-led few seasons with West Brom and later something with Sheffield Wednesday, which was partly location/partly the fact we were both scrapping in the same relegation battle.

After that it was few and far between.   Little bit with Lincoln under Slade, little bit more in the Conference, I dare say there's been as much needle with clubs like Stevenage, Cheltenham, FGR as there has been with more local rivals.  

I didn't see Town play Hull until my 8th season of watching Town and even that was in the Auto Windscreens, still to see us play them in a league fixture.  Scunny the same length of time to play them and I think it's only six times in the last 30 odd years we've met them in the league, with a few cup games in there too.  Lincoln is definitely the more frequent game of our localish sides, but I struggle to see them as a rival.

I'm not sure who I'd class as our rivals to be honest.  

Quoted from RonMariner

They have signed two experienced midfield players so it looks like their playing budget isn’t too bad. I would imagine they will be able to hold their own down there but a play off place will be very tough to get.

They've done their budget on 5 players . The rest are last season's failures and kids . They will struggle mate . They are a couple of injuries away from relegation imo

Quoted from RonMariner

They have signed two experienced midfield players so it looks like their playing budget isn’t too bad. I would imagine they will be able to hold their own down there but a play off place will be very tough to get.

Whitehouse is in last chance saloon.  Too many injuries for someone of his age.  He's a good player and I liked him here, as he has been well liked wherever he's played.  But I can't imagine he's in a position where he's demanding mega money.

Butterfield looks, on paper, a top drawer signing.  But as has been pointed out his past few seasons don't look fantastic.  I also note the lack of any detail on the length of his deal.  Wouldn't at all surprise me if he's signed a short-term deal as a favour to his old mate Keith Hill.  Any remote resemblance of decent form will see him snapped up by someone else.

There seems to be a massive surge of optimism at Scunny in the last few days, probably since they beat a pretty decent Sheff Utd side at the weekend and with this hope that Swann is selling up.  For their sake I hope Swann is moving on, but I don't think he is and nor do I think a pre-season win means they'll do anything but struggle.  We all know the demands of the Conference and their squad is absolutely paper thin.  A long season ahead for them.

Forget them up the road. On a downward spiral !!

Concentrate on how Town are going to play and develop this year in a higher league.

They will have enough people panicking about their plight living off the M181, now downgraded near their stadium to the A1077, much like their infrastructure and team in real life !!

Quoted from diehardmariner

Whitehouse is in last chance saloon.  Too many injuries for someone of his age.  He's a good player and I liked him here, as he has been well liked wherever he's played.  But I can't imagine he's in a position where he's demanding mega money.

Butterfield looks, on paper, a top drawer signing.  But as has been pointed out his past few seasons don't look fantastic.  I also note the lack of any detail on the length of his deal.  Wouldn't at all surprise me if he's signed a short-term deal as a favour to his old mate Keith Hill.  Any remote resemblance of decent form will see him snapped up by someone else.

There seems to be a massive surge of optimism at Scunny in the last few days, probably since they beat a pretty decent Sheff Utd side at the weekend and with this hope that Swann is selling up.  For their sake I hope Swann is moving on, but I don't think he is and nor do I think a pre-season win means they'll do anything but struggle.  We all know the demands of the Conference and their squad is absolutely paper thin.  A long season ahead for them.

Isn't that the human nature of football fans at the start of the season? Leaping onto any small bit of positive news? When we won at Orient in the relegation season after having won at Cheltenham in midweek I was thinking (for a short time) maybe Holloway has pulled something off here with smart recruitment from lower leagues, when actually it turned out to be offering contracts to pub players on a random basis.

Butterfield could turn out to be a Futch type bit of recruitment, but it could also be like Scans.

Butterfield has the potential to be a 'John Welsh' / 'Danny Rose' type signing.
Known to most fans, played at a decent level, but after 2/3 defeats, He will soon just want to hang his boots up.

He could also be a John Oster for Gateshead type.

I think Butterfield is a better player than Welsh or Rose, who were always good work horses who did exactly what was asked of them and usually gave it to someone better.  That's not a slight on them either, at their best they were very effective and all good teams have them.  It's just once their legs go, that's it.  There's not the technical nous to fall back on at a lower level.

Butterfield was, whenever I saw him, a proper player.  Someone who could control and dictate the game from the middle.  He's only 32 still and despite a poor last few seasons, should still have some life in him but with younger lads around him  maybe will free him up to be that one who pings the play about.

I don't think he'll be there long enough for anyone to find out though.