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And lest we forget, of course Heathcote has ability at this level, he was assistant manager in 1991 when we should have got promotion. And of course he will have learnt anything there is to learn from John King, some of which will relate to football. Barroiw/'Coate is the best ticket we have had since and personally I can hardly believe our luck in having two such respected names at the club.

We'd better all go in the mainstand then, (to the annoyance, perhaps, of their ridiculous stewards) where some will go come what may!

Regards,
Bum

You win some, you lose some, I'm just glad we won the one at Stoke, because there was a time when I despaired of ever seeing Conference football at Alty again. At the end of the day, we are basically in the same situation as last season , with a lot of new players, except this time they are slightly better hence 5 points from six games instead of three from ten (after which we still nearly stayed up).

Frankly I've got better things to do than get into arguments about Heathcote's suitability. Personally I prefer to celebrate the fact we got back to the Conference and stayed there despite everything that's been thrown at us (and that includes a certain Accrington chairman). If other people prefer to slate Heathcote's record then that's their problem.

Unfortunately for Heathcote this sort of nonsense goes with the territory, and I have great respect for him sticking it out despite the same stuff year after year. Btw, I'm convinced we will stay up. Honestly, we haven't even been in the bottom 4 yet. If we had an extended spell in the bottom 4 then people might have an excuse for whinging. Then again, maybe not as there's only about 4 part time teams in this league. Life's difficult, Alty will lose some matches, get used to it!

PS I wonder how many people are asking for the manager out at Oxford, Torquay, Stevenage?

As someone who has supported Heathcote as manager right from a certain night at Burscough some years back when loads of people were saying it was a stitch up, can I take previous years into account too?

Year 1: we were headed for relegation but finished comfortably after our hero took over.

Year 2: we got "promoted" to Conference North despite on pitch problems and a limited budget.

Year 3: the "greatest man in history" (in 2005 AD) gets us promoted with, well, not an awful lot of money (up to £2500/week by then was it?)

Year 4: we are headed for consolidation in 18th place before the Accrington error turns up.

Year 5: Having had huge preseason disruption in a mainly full time league we still come within a goal of staying up.

Year 6: See year 5. NB all this is a result of Stannerley.

Year 7: With about 10 new players we have managed a creditable start, and I would settle for our current position at the end of the season. NB Kiddy wasn't as bad as all that, reminded me very much of Nuneaton when they got a defender sent off conceding a penalty and went on to lose 3-0. We were always going to be up against it away to a full time team after that penalty was given. Having said that Saturday was much better and can hopefully set a standard.

Heathcote in!

I mean with rising costs (food, petrol etc.) there's more likely to be robberies, but people are also less likely to be able to afford United tickets, and we should make a big effort to win people over, for example with an offer for the Wrexham game (cut prices or whatever), which could be our biggest league gate since Barnet in 1991.

No I don't want druggies to sign for Alty, look what happened to AFC Fylde (and Grays).

And yes I'll keep off the grass!

Sorry, I was thinking of Meecham (heavy bruising). Stuart Coburn has a groin strain.

And they run the line too, don't forget that.

Memorable heckling of the linesman at Stevenage:

"She's doing her best, you big bully, Julian!"

At the end of the day, Geoff, Graham etc. have got this club back to the Conference, which I feared we may never see again in past years.

In a sense it doesn't really matter too much what Geoff said as long as he's not planningt otell the Conference to give any reprieve to Stafford instead now. If we stay up, we should all pull together and try and make the best of it.  And at the end of the day we are a solvent club who would expect to stay up next season with a very respected management team (don't underestimate the pull of Graham Barrow with his experience and contacts) and I think we will be able to get the players we want as far as is possible for a club in our position.