Things I liked from Saturday night:
* Leaving aside the issues around the actual timing of the forum, the board took questions for around 2 hours. They could have easily hidden behind the excuse of 'scheduling' to cut it short. But they didn't. And that should be commended.
* I thought they dealt with the Griffiths situation admirably at the forum. They could have pushed the full blame on the player and used it as an excuse for relegation, but they didn't. They accepted mistakes were made and the signing was rushed. What's happened has happened, but I felt reassured that the lessons had been learnt and steps would be taken to avoid a similar situation in future.
* The offer to pay the supporters coach to Braintree was a great gesture. Watching us away this season hasn't been easy, and it also shows an effort to try and build bridges with the fans.
Parts I wasn't so keen on:
* The constant reference by the board to "hindsight" when questioned about NT appointment. Funny how everyone else at the club apart from the board had the "foresight" to see exactly how it would end - with the most avoidable relegation we've ever had. Given that GR was clearly so devastated by LS departure (despite winning 2 games in 5 months and us heading for the drop), and then appointed NT (who's only previous job as a manager was the 3 years he spent trying to relegate Hyde Utd/FC), I've zero faith in the judgement of the board when it comes to employing the next football manager. I judge that on their recent track record, not on anything personal. Let's hope I'm wrong. Also, the nonsense about not wanting to upset the current squad by bringing a new manager in was poor. Seriously, how soft are we? In "hindsight", the appointment we did make doesn't seem to have done much for squad unity anyway.
* We banged the drum about being one of only 3 clubs in the league with no paid (non-football) employees. Small club mentality, again. Besides, I thought we had a few paid staff on the community side who worked at the football club everyday? We wouldn't judge other clubs as 2 separate entities and we shouldn't look at ourselves in such a way. While I wouldn't want to underestimate the workload that is picked up by unpaid volunteers sacrificing their time for free, we do have paid employees and (as was pointed out by someone on Saturday night) we need to stop belittling ourselves at every opportunity.
* I wasn't keen on GR listing the decline in the football club fund raising year on year, and the claim fans weren't supporting club events. It didn't take into account the fact that a lot of the fund raisers now are in aid of the sports hall, that would have previously gone towards the football club (eg the bike ride to Braintree, or the gang doing the Manc 10k - correct me if I am wrong there as I haven't double checked his before writing). We also seem to have more fundraiser events held at the club than ever before. I don't disagree with fund raising to pay off the hall or for any other initiative, that is a separate argument, just don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. To be fair, that point did seem to be accepted by the board.