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[PukkaPieman]

49 points should be enough to stay up, who would have expected that early season now we have 9 games of the season left 

The question now is, how do we move on from here and progress next season?

I think Lee needs to start by getting the whole squad signed up for next season, apart from one or two obvious players who arent good enough, (Gillespie and Wilko).

We need to see if young Sinnott is good enough, not had enough opportunities yet and not sure if he thinks a league club might want him fulltime?

I think we need another striker and attacking midfielder.

[Jenga]

We have a good foundation to build on. We can not afford to stand still as that usually means we will go backwards as other teams progress.

I would like to see us challenging in the top 10 throughout the season and that for me means we need 3 good quality players of a better calibre than we have at present. In all honesty in general I don't care to much where those positions are as i do believe that 3 improvements on the pitch will see us do very well. Having said that i would prefer to see those improvements in midfield and up front.

I don't think we really need defenders, we have two good keepers.

So my preference would be a James Walshaw calibre of forward, a Nicky Clee type player on the right and a strong centre midfielder.

Pushing three of our usual first team players to the bemch and then removing two or three of less effective players. However those less effective players may still be needed to balance the books to allow us a decent size squad.

[Jimmy]

As well as we have done this season if we keep everyone apart from wilko and Gillespie we won't move on I'd get a keeper a wide player 2 forwards and midfielder

[cheshire cat]

It's a very difficult call.

If we were to improve some more we'd be chasing promotion. Promotion would be complete upheaval from the point of view of  having to go fulltime.

Hand on heart I don't think we have the resources to survive in the football league. Not with our principles intact anyway. 

[York Alty]

It's a recurring thought in my head about the No.1 shirt.  Dave Parton needs to be putting more pressure on Stuart, if we need to get another keeper in then so be it.  We need more creative play in mdfield, especially obvious when Nicky is out, so I'd look for another midfielder for that.  

[Bath Alty]

I agree that the bulk of the current squad is good enough and so we need to strengthen in the areas where the bench is weakest, ideally getting new first team and moving existing players to the bench.  We have no reserve full backs and are forced to move Scott out wide.  We have 5 good defenders at the club but that is not enough, one suspension when one of them has a niggle and we're stuffed.  I'd therefore be looking for a full back in the summer, preferably left back as it is easier for Scott to cover LB than RB and I still feel that Griffin in not as good defensively as Shaun, he gets done 1 on 1 too often.

The exception to this is RM where we need a Clee type player, I thought this was going to be Crowther but he seems to prefer LM.

So targets in priority order:

1) creative RM  (takes Wilkinson spot in squad)
2) left back (takes M Williams spot)
3) striker (Gillespie)

New players may be on slightly more than those leaving but hopefully CSH and some Duncan performance related stuff might fund it.

I think Parton is as good as we will get who is willing to fight Stu for a place in the team and I'd rather do this with a young keeper and have a natural transition rather than get a new no 1 and have Stu sat on the bench every single game.

Obviously if a player is available who will improve us I'd take it in any position but those 3 would be my priority and keep the rest of the squad as is. 

[Bath Alty]

It's a very difficult call.

If we were to improve some more we'd be chasing promotion. Promotion would be complete upheaval from the point of view of  having to go fulltime.

Hand on heart I don't think we have the resources to survive in the football league. Not with our principles intact anyway. 

Frankly I'd not be that bothered about going full time.  Go up & stay as we are, if we are good enough to get out of this league part time than we can give the league a go on the same basis - if it all goes wrong what's the worst that can happen?  We come back down to our natural level with a couple of years of parachute payments, which I'm sure the board would spend wisely on infrastructure, ground improvements etc as well as the squad.  One season of suffering against full time teams in a national division - it's not like we've not done that before in recent memory is it?

[Timperley The Best]

Wouldnt worry about going full time unless  we actually did go up , would be a very nice problem if it came about. Anyone of quality in any position would be beneficial but a wide player and striker should be priority imo.

[Nasha]

What next? Wrexham at home and 3 points. Use these 9 games to get as many points as we can,would be great to have a top half finish.

Also think a few players need to show in these games that they are worth a new deal. Crowther seems to be one in this bracket, and made a good impression yesterday.

[roytonmike]

What next? 1 - Achieve enough points to be mathematically safe. 2 - Keep rolling the dice, as the manager's mantra has it, & see where that gets us this season. 3 - There will clearly be a need to strengthen the squad in certain areas but both economically and in terms of the manager's preferences a figure of about 18 players is going to be what we work with. 4 - For Heaven's sake don't even mention promotion! Cementing our place in this league should be enough of an ambition and to try to go up another level would change this club into something I for one don't want it to be. To be blunt, if I wanted to watch Football League I could walk 20 minutes to Ice Station Zebra and watch Oldham Pathetic. I watch Alty because (a) they're my club and have been for more years than I care to count & (b) top level semi-pro is what I want to watch, to be honest. Rant over.

[Jimmy]

If that's the case you must be going some matches hoping we lose

[bighairedmike]

If that's the case you must be going some matches hoping we lose

Too right Jimmy. I also think Nasha is spot on when he says let's see how many points we can get.

I don't believe we'll get promoted, but I also don't believe we should only be ambitious to secure mid-table in the conference prem. You want your club to be as successful as possible, end of. If anybody tells me that they will support another team at our level if we get promoted I will happily call them a liar.

I am proud that I support a non-league team. Would I jack it all in and go and watch Hyde/Chester/Stalybridge etc just to watch non-league football if my club got promoted? Of course not. And for a "supporter" of 40+ years to claim such is ridiculous.

[JTH]

Happy for the dice to keep rolling, but only on the pitch. Wherever we are I don't want to be at another meeting selling SAFE t-shirts. I don't think it's any co-incidence that the Conf's stricter financial rules and their tough approach to those who transgress them e.g.Salisbury, has seen this Division's number of full-time clubs be as low as it has been for a decade. That LS has all but secured Premier status with essentially the same team which won promotion is testament to him and the players and all should be congratulated. If we can strengthen in the summer and eradicate the Blyth type performances we could well be looking at the top half of the table most Saturday nights next year.

[roytonmike]

If that's the case you must be going some matches hoping we lose

Nobody goes to any match hoping to lose - unless he/she has a bet on that result. Can I make myself crystal clear? I too want Alty to do as well as they can in any season at any level. At no point did I suggest that I would go elsewhere. There are down-sides to promotion - e.g. in this league the restrictions on where you can go within a ground, whether you can stand up or must sit, which I find personally irksome - but you 'take the hit'. I am not personally particularly comfortable with the atmosphere and environment of League grounds - temperamentally I prefer Barwell to Barnet - but if that were ever to be where we played regularly I would give it a go at least. JTH has it right, by the way - keep the dice rolling, but only on the pitch.

[Mrs Warbouys]

Id like us to get 27 points from the remaining games, as far next season, as the manager says in his interviews, progress again.This manager has made progress every season hes been here.For some a World Cup win would never be enough to accept him, for whatever reason.,But as long as we keep moving positively forward I will be happy. Improvement against lower league opposition in cups goes without saying. Theres been a number of sides whove done very well first season up. Dartford,Hyde,Welling etc then struggled and got relegated in the second season, so we have to approach that with a slight air of caution. But progress is the key