www.altyfans.co.uk
General Category => Altrincham FC First Team => Topic started by: GrahameRowley on May 11, 2008, 11:59:49 AM
-
Having spoken to Geoff Goodwin this morning, with regard to the article in the non-league paper, he has asked me to apologise to our fans for the way the article has mis-reported his comments. When asked about the Halifax situation, he did not state "I don't want to be saved", but said that he felt sorry for the players of Halifax who are losing their livelihoods through no fault of their own. He wants Altrincham to play at the highest league possible, but continuing to play within our financial means. Geoff will be contacting the NLP regarding the article, to lodge his displeasure.
-
Having spoken to Geoff Goodwin this morning, with regard to the article in the non-league paper, he has asked me to apologise to our fans for the way the article has mis-reported his comments. When asked about the Halifax situation, he did not state "I don't want to be saved", but said that he felt sorry for the players of Halifax who are losing their livelihoods through no fault of their own. He wants Altrincham to play at the highest league possible, but continuing to play within our financial means. Geoff will be contacting the NLP regarding the article, to lodge his displeasure.
After the Weymouth "quotes" and now this I think the NLP needs to have a serious look at how it is reporting on things! It simply isn't acceptable to keep misquoting people in this way.
-
Here is the report as it was printed:
Alty Chief: I don’t want to be saved!
Altrincham chairman Geoff Goodwin insists he takes no pleasure from the demise of Halifax – even though it will give Alty a BSP reprieve for the third year.
Incredibly, Graeme Heathcote’s side have finished inside the relegation zone in each of the last three seasons but survived due to the other clubs’ problems.
Last year Alty finished 21st but escaped when Boston were relegated from League 2 and plummet into NSN due to financial problems. A season earlier, the Lancastrian (sic) side finished rock bottom, only to see Scarborough go bust and Canvey Island resign from the league.
Whilst most chairmen would feel blessed, Goodwin admitted he was sad to see Halifax go and says staying up could do his club more harm than good.
“I take no pleasure from the situation and it doesn’t do us any favours,” he said “We could have done with a few years in Blue Square North to get our breath back.
“I’m not negative but I’m not happy that we’re back in it because I don’t want to be in it. It’s really hard work in the conference and the pressure does make people push the boat out as Halifax have found to their cost.
“But however unhappy I am, I’m twice as unhappy for them. I feel sorry for Halifax fans, I really do.
“Whether you support Halifax, Altrincham or Real Madrid you have the same passion for your club and they must be gutted.
It makes me feel sick that they’ve gone out of business because they were a good, long-standing club”
Hucknall, relegated from the BSN, will also get a reprieve, with the liquidation of Halifax having a knock-on effect throughout the pyramid.
....
Lancastrian FFS!
-
How can a national newspaper misquotes somebody that badly. The club should consider some form of action because this is happening on a regular basis.
-
I'd actually come on the site this morning to write an 'open letter' to GG about the comments attributed to him in this morning's NLP.
It's an enormous relief to know he didm't actually say them.
I don't wish to be controversial - or extremist - in my opinions, but if a chairman of Alty ever did say them, (i.e. wished we would be relegated) I would never go through the turnstiles again until he had left the club.
GG should seriously consider either suing the NLP or at least demanding that they publish a retraction/explanation.
I was choking on my muesli this morning! ::)
-
Having read through it three times the only thing I can see wrong with what the NLP printed was the heading, which was probably put in by a sub-editor who hadn't read it properly.
I haven't bought the NLP since the play-off win over Kettering where the match report was written by someone who obviously wasn't there.
If you want all the Conference news you only need to read John Laidlar's work on the club website.
-
“I take no pleasure from the situation ans it doesn’t do us any favours,” he said “We could have done with a few years in Blue Square North to get our breath back.
“I’m not negative but I’m not happy that we’re back in it because I don’t want to be in it. It’s really hard work in the conference"
Please please please can someone confirm that he did not actually say this!??
-
it's only the same opinion he expressed when the same thing happened last year
-
I think we just need to find out from Geoff exactly what he did say, and ask him at the Forum on Thursday
-
“I’m not negative but I’m not happy that we’re back in it because I don’t want to be in it. It’s really hard work in the conference"
Please please please can someone confirm that he did not actually say this!??
Yes, That's the bit which stuck in my throat.
-
“I’m not negative but I’m not happy that we’re back in it because I don’t want to be in it. It’s really hard work in the conference"
Please please please can someone confirm that he did not actually say this!??
Yes, That's the bit which stuck in my throat.
It's extremely hard to swallow as a supporter of the club, surely he can't have been taken out of context to the extent that he didn't say something along those lines!??
I know Geoff has done alot of good for the club but surely we have to be more ambitious, especially as we've got another bite at the cherry in the conference! We should be striving to play at the highest level we possibly can and finish as high as we possibly can, as players, as fans, as the board!!!
-
I 100% agree with you, Longman.
Not only that, when you think what our gates would drop to and the loss of other income associated with being in the BSP, I can't think that we would be very much better off anyway, would we?
-
I felt annoyed when I first read this article this morning.
As said, the whole ARTICLE needs clarification, not just one sentence. ???
-
Having spoken to Geoff Goodwin this morning, with regard to the article in the non-league paper, he has asked me to apologise to our fans for the way the article has mis-reported his comments. When asked about the Halifax situation, he did not state "I don't want to be saved", but said that he felt sorry for the players of Halifax who are losing their livelihoods through no fault of their own. He wants Altrincham to play at the highest league possible, but continuing to play within our financial means. Geoff will be contacting the NLP regarding the article, to lodge his displeasure.
After the Weymouth "quotes" and now this I think the NLP needs to have a serious look at how it is reporting on things! It simply isn't acceptable to keep misquoting people in this way.
I have still to see any article in the Non League Paper that apologises for attributing those post Weymouth match comments to GH.
Surely they are obliged to print a retraction if they have been found to have invented quotes?
-
If they have miss quoted him then it is one hell of a big miss quote.
This report has me worried about any ambition we may have, surely a report can not be miss represented to such a degree.
-
If they have miss quoted him then it is one hell of a big miss quote.
This report has me worried about any ambition we may have, surely a report can not be miss represented to such a degree.
Exactly. It's not like it was one word, or a sentence, that was mis-reported. How on earth could they have made a mistake on the whole quote?
???
-
If they have miss quoted him then it is one hell of a big miss quote.
This report has me worried about any ambition we may have, surely a report can not be miss represented to such a degree.
That's what I thought, surely some of the stuff quoted must have been said, which concerns me.
-
If they have miss quoted him then it is one hell of a big miss quote.
This report has me worried about any ambition we may have, surely a report can not be miss represented to such a degree.
That's what I thought, surely some of the stuff quoted must have been said, which concerns me.
The quote that GR picked out is one that it would appear has not been said. The rest of it has been mis reported. Either way, I'm sure GG will explain in due course.
-
I would suggest that no one holds their breath for an explanation !
-
What GG said last year
2nd May 2007
However, Altrincham "received a massive boost after the disappointment of relegation, when chairman Geoff Goodwin reversed his decision to step down...saying: 'Relegation will be a godsend, it will be the making of the club. We are taking a step back to take a step forward. It is a new horizon. There are a lot of positives - we are debt free, have a good pitch and a good set of players. We had expected we would need 50 points to survive - unfortunately, although we got 51, it was not enough. It was inevitable that we would get relegated eventually because if you are not full time you will not survive in that league (Conference National). If we had stayed in the Conference I would not have wanted to stay on. One of the main reasons I was stepping down is I can't give the club what it needs in the Conference - a massive input of money. I would rather see Conference North football with us winning every week'... Promotion to the Conference National in 2005 had arrived before the club was ready to thrive. But the now debt-free Robins would be in a far stronger position to survive when they next win promotion'".
3rd May 2007
Following the report in SAM earlier this week, (see below) Alty chairman Geoff Goodwin has clarified his view on the club's relegation from Conference National. Geoff has confirmed that he would have liked the club to have retained its Conference National status and to play at the highest level achievable but he is determined to look positively at the consequences of being relegated to the Conference (Blue Square) northern division. Having attracted the best attendances to Moss Lane for 16 seasons during 2006-07, the Alty chairman is keen to retain the vast majority of those spectators next season. He points out that, even if we had stayed up, the new counter-attraction of live weekly Blue Square Premier matches on Setanta TV next season may have impacted negatively on our gates in any case. But with supporters having been well entertained by the games at Moss Lane in the past season, he is hopeful that they will continue to come and watch live, untelevised football in their numbers at Moss Lane next season.
-
Umm I thought something similar was said last year, this defoo needs clearing up
-
It does occur to me that if the attitude at the very top of the club is "we don't even want to be in this league", it makes a complete mockery of trying to put together a team capable of staying in it. How much of this apathy towards survival filters through to the players?
There should be a clear mission statement issued by our chairman stating our absolute determination, not only to survive, but to finish as high as we possibly can in this league. If that is 5th from bottom then so be it, but in the longer term we have to have more ambition than "just surviving". The most important thing about the aforementioned mission statement is that there should be a mood of optimism and determination all around the club instead of the negative soundbites about not wanting to play at this level. It might seem like a small thing but I think psychologically it makes a vast difference.
-
It does occur to me that if the attitude at the very top of the club is "we don't even want to be in this league", it makes a complete mockery of trying to put together a team capable of staying in it. How much of this apathy towards survival filters through to the players?
There should be a clear mission statement issued by our chairman stating our absolute determination, not only to survive, but to finish as high as we possibly can in this league. If that is 5th from bottom then so be it, but in the longer term we have to have more ambition than "just surviving". The most important thing about the aforementioned mission statement is that there should be a mood of optimism and determination all around the club instead of the negative soundbites about not wanting to play at this level. It might seem like a small thing but I think psychologically it makes a vast difference.
Correct, Negativity breeds, as does POSITIVITY !!!!
-
I'm not really looking forward to being in the Conference next season(subject to confirmation). But sometimes it's the parties you don't want to go to but you have to go, tend to be the best parties to be at.
-
We should be signing players now - In other words, we should be assuming that we have the reprieve - rather than waiting.
Perhaps we're scouring the market right now, but I don't think so.
It would be nice to be told that we were to give us all a bit more heart for this coming year.
I go into every season believing that we're going to do OK (at least) but just for once in the BSP, I'd like us to have made ourselves safe, on the pitch, before the end of the season.
It wouldn't cost the earth to do this, but we do need a quality left back, wide player and striker.
Actually, I'd settle for the last of these if we could only have one because how many times have teams played against us with very attacking formations knowingthat, really, only Colin would be a serious threat to them? If we had other options, teams might stand off us a little more - like they did more in previous seasons - and that in itself would take some pressure off the defence.
If we don't sign any of these three requirements, there's no doubt in my mind that we're going to be next season's Stafford/Droylsden/St Albans.
How ever hard Geoff thinks it is to stay in this league, let me say that it's a f**k sight harder to get back into it!
-
I'm not really looking forward to being in the Conference next season(subject to confirmation). But sometimes it's the parties you don't want to go to but you have to go, tend to be the best parties to be at.
And that fat ugly girl always looks better after the sixth pint.
-
Thing is that Unemployed Coalminer would be stood outside that party saying "there is another one down the road..its well better..there is only three people in it but its still good" ;)
-
:-X
-
We should be signing players now - In other words, we should be assuming that we have the reprieve - rather than waiting.
Perhaps we're scouring the market right now, but I don't think so.
It would be nice to be told that we were to give us all a bit more heart for this coming year.
I go into every season believing that we're going to do OK (at least) but just for once in the BSP, I'd like us to have made ourselves safe, on the pitch, before the end of the season.
It wouldn't cost the earth to do this, but we do need a quality left back, wide player and striker.
Actually, I'd settle for the last of these if we could only have one because how many times have teams played against us with very attacking formations knowingthat, really, only Colin would be a serious threat to them? If we had other options, teams might stand off us a little more - like they did more in previous seasons - and that in itself would take some pressure off the defence.
If we don't sign any of these three requirements, there's no doubt in my mind that we're going to be next season's Stafford/Droylsden/St Albans.
How ever hard Geoff thinks it is to stay in this league, let me say that it's a f**k sight harder to get back into it!
you have it spot on tired of hearing negative sh*te whether gg quoted or not