In all of this potentially damaging thread, at this stage of the season; which I sincerely hope neither the manager, his assistant or any of the team actually read because they will wonder why they actually bother. You are all forgetting Mike Williams' contribution. Had he been available, I feel we would also have won the league this season, but of course his serious injury has had a marked effect on us.
However, unlike some of you, I feel that many of our players have stepped up to the plate this season, such as Nicky, Shaun, Stuart, Luca, and also not least Scott Leather. Scott is a young, maturing player who is ably chivvied along by Luca and the other players, and will shortly mature into a fine centre back and a legend of the future. All this season the team have played great attacking football which has been great to watch. Whatever happens this seaon I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and found them a hugely entertaining team. We have no divine right to win every game, but I do believe they have done their best and do display complete honesty when things go wrong, starting with our captain doing his job and communicating with us via his programme notes. This is my favourite read in the programme and displays the sincerity we are all looking for. Our team never goes out to lose a game, but it will happen to any team and manager, including Liverpool, City and United. There are odd days when a team will play better than and we will have an off day. There are teams that find it affective to just play hoof ball and win from it such as Telford did recently. In this particular case I would rather watch Altrincham any day, as thery move the ball about this pitch effectively, and attack en mass. This has lead to us being the highest scorers in the league, but on occasions can leave us vulnerable at the back.
I would much rather us play like this, than watch a Telford every week. I took my brother and nephews to the match last Saturday, and they thoroughly enjoyed themsleves; the main reason being that they got what non-league football is about. They enjoyed a drink and banter with our volunteer staff in the bar, including a little banter with Foz when he was selling raffle tickets. They dug their hands in their pockets and bought raffle tickets, two guess the first goal timing tickets each, and pies each. They particularly enjoyed the Chicken Balti pies. Though we all found the first half uneventful and felt we were too wary of the opposition, the second half was totally different and they felt we put up a fine display of attacking football at pace. Now they are talking of going to the Histon game, and getting a group of local friends in Norwich to go with them. Histon is only around 1 hour from Norwich where they now live.
They all finished by saying it was nice to watch players who play because they have a deep love of the game, and not just for the money. They also appreciated the volounteers who work behind the scene, and more than anything else the meer fact that away supporters were in the same bar with us. They now get the attraction of non-league football and why I enjoy it so much. They also displayed amusement to the fact that we all swopped ends at half time and walked past the away fans without incident. Phil my brother thought that if this was Old Trafford whey would have killed each other.
You all know that unlike some of you I am a fan of Lee Sinnott and Tolly and what they have both done. we now play great football which is fabulous to watch, have scored more goals than any other club in this league, finished 7th in Lee's first season, but have been on the up since. I am sure the club and team will learn from last season's playoff, but we got a draw against another good side, who relied on their number 5 to prevent a defeat. Other sides are entitled to win against us as we against them, but it is only when our game plan is sussed because teams have had to do a lot of homework that we get beat. That has not happened that often this season or we would not be in a playoff position.
So in conclusion guys, I refuse to see this season as negative, and I will support my team ongoing. It ain't over til it's over, and not until it is mathematically impossible should any of us give up the title. To the players I say do not read this thread and it's negativity, but we all see the many positive aspects of your play, and the management. Go for it lads, because you have nothing to lose, and deep down we ALL have faith in you.
THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR!!!