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[Cheadle Hulme Alty]

As many of you know I stand with DAB and we had this discussion on Saturday and a considerable number of us believe it is the only way forward and we even appealed to Flynny (Brian not our centre back impressionist) to try and pursuade the board to look into it! As Chester progress and FCUM get their ground built then we will be very poor runners-up in attracting the better part-time players as these clubs will clean up by offering higher wages so lets make some viable plans to attract youngsters to the club by making the intention known that we are going full-time next season. There will be loads of lads released by the North West's league teams next summer so lets be right in the mix by being able to offer them the opportunity to stay as full-time footballers......it'll sure beat the dole queue!! The reason for doing it now in BSN is that if we do get promoted (after a couple of years of building) we may stand a chance of staying up......I'd fancy Stalybride to do well......whereas we're not going to see anything other than a big struggle if we go up as a part-time outfit again.

[Paul Cain's Chip Pan]

It's taken Jim Harvey a couple of seasons to bring things to fruition at Stalybridge and we might have to be patient if we decided to bring in younger players on a full time basis. It might mean another year or two in the wilderness before we get back to where we want to be. Having said that, I'm not knocking the idea, just saying it probably wouldn't succeed overnight.

Certainly food for thought.

[Cheadle Hulme Alty]

That's exactly what we said on Saturday......it won't be overnight success but we'd all rather be watching some young lads having a go than the dross we got and will probably keep getting this season unless the manager can pull some major signings from somewhere. By the way if any one is wondering about the wage level for this approach I believe from an extremely reliable source that Gloucesters number 11 is on 60 quid a week......so there are lads out there who will play for the right reasons!

[bighairedmike]

In the far off distant days when Alty were regarded as one of the "Best" non-league teams the part-time option was the only way.
Things have changed ...BSP is now more league3 than non league and BSN (andBSS) are going in that direction.
Although we have always (recently!) lived within our means being part-time must mean that we are destined to stay at this level
Young players willing to be part-time and hope for a scout from a big club to spot them are no more and one of our traditional
sources of revenue from transfers has gone with them.
We will soon have to make a decision....but not yet. full time in BSN is not yet  essential but in BSP it soon will be  unless we want to yoyo up and down every couple of years

In that case, why are Southport sitting third with almost half the season gone?

I don't think we can take half a season at Southport as proof that that model is the way to go.

[im not really here]

I think the proposal could work but it is likely we would need a new manager - lee lives in hull - i also don't think our safety first board would go for it.

[Jezza]

I'm also all for a half way house solutiuon with our best players clee, reeves etc training 2 or3 times a week backed by a promising bank of full time young keen players prepared to take a bit less money for full time football.......I was hoping when we got a new manager that we got an ex pro with good links to Utd/City/Crewe who had this vision.

Problem is with our budget we can only get 3 or 4 quality part time players....it would be as well to back this up with full time youth than part time dross.....in my opinion.....

next time we advertise for a amanger perhaps we should give this as a brief....

[PukkaPieman]

This will become the norm in BSS and BSN in a couple of years in my view. Yes, it would be a long term approach and it's success would depend on having the right manager and being able to attract the best young talent. The clubs youth policy/progress has never been healthier either.

What have we got to lose? It seems part - time teams are doomed in BSP (except the odd team for a year or so when they have some very good players). For me this has GOT to be the plan sooner or later.

[Ballers]

I think at some point it will have to be something we at least try. It might not work but we'll need to find out.

[Ginrail]

To a degree I agree what you say, but I am not it is at all about being full time. I do believe it is about passion and being there for the club, I ran the supporters club for many years, everyone was upaid and put money and time into the club. John King and Graham Heathcote had passion and would have died for the club as in a strange way would Gerry Berman, I know how much money he lost for Alty. Until we get a manager with passion then we will not get players.

[fuertes]

To a degree I agree what you say, but I am not it is at all about being full time. I do believe it is about passion and being there for the club, I ran the supporters club for many years, everyone was upaid and put money and time into the club. John King and Graham Heathcote had passion and would have died for the club as in a strange way would Gerry Berman, I know how much money he lost for Alty. Until we get a manager with passion then we will not get players.

Sorry, I don't like to be rude, but this is one of my biggest pet peeves.

Why the f**k does everyone always mention 'passion' when things aren't going well? You've just said Heathcote was passionate, but we started appallingly under him last season. Ken McKenna was extremely passionate, but he couldn't save us.

Is it not more likely that we suffered some terrible luck (Doughty and Kearney suffering career-ending injuries) and didn't have the budget (hence losing Senior and Young) to compete, coupled with the signing of some players who simply weren't good enough.

Likewise, I don't think Sinnott's passion levels have anything to do with why we're struggling. It's much more likely that some of the squad he inherited weren't good enough and it's taking the squad a while to adjust his preferred tactics. Maybe some of his signings have been sh*t, but I think we need to wait beyond November of his first season to start slagging the man off.

[Paul Cain's Chip Pan]

To a degree I agree what you say, but I am not it is at all about being full time. I do believe it is about passion and being there for the club, I ran the supporters club for many years, everyone was upaid and put money and time into the club. John King and Graham Heathcote had passion and would have died for the club as in a strange way would Gerry Berman, I know how much money he lost for Alty. Until we get a manager with passion then we will not get players.

I hear what you're saying about passion for the club and the people you have named above are certainly people who have laid it on the line for Altrincham FC time and time again. However, we cannot keep revisiting the same names forever and a day; at some point new faces have got to come in and stamp their mark on our club and write a new chapter in the club's history. From your post I assume you think our current manager lacks passion? (Please correct me if I am wrong). What leads you to this conclusion? Is it because he isn't the most vocal manager during games? Not all managers go about their business in this way, instead preferring a more calculated approach. Do we know what he's like in training or in the dressing room? He might give the players both barrels in a more private environment for all we know.

A lot of the criticism of Lee Sinnott is unwarranted but some is also valid. I tend to think back to Graham Heathcote's first year or two in charge between 2002 and 2004. During that time we just about survived in the Unibond League and then just about scraped into Conference North. It was only in his second full season that things clicked and we started really doing the business on the pitch. Hence, managers need time to make their mark on a club. Very rarely does it all click into place straight away.

Let's not be too quick to write people off. There are things which badly need sorting out at present but I think Lee Sinnott recognises that every bit as much as we do.

[Bob]

To a degree I agree what you say, but I am not it is at all about being full time. I do believe it is about passion and being there for the club, I ran the supporters club for many years, everyone was upaid and put money and time into the club. John King and Graham Heathcote had passion and would have died for the club as in a strange way would Gerry Berman, I know how much money he lost for Alty. Until we get a manager with passion then we will not get players.

Are you saying that the people involved now - and I mean across the club from boardroom through to terraces - don't have the Passion that king, berman and heathcote had? 

[im not really here]

Yet another supporter who can't let go of the past. Yes King, Heathcote and Berman gave a lot to the club during their tenures but they all left leaving the club in a mess , individually- neither left with their head held particularly high.
There seems to be a lot of negativity about Lee Sinnott creeping in at the moment a lot of which I believe is unwarranted, the guy can see whats wrong and is trying to get in reinforcements within a tightly constrained budget.

[Jezza]

Gerry Berman, I know how much money he lost for Alty

So does everyone else who fundraised for the following ten years....

[ManagementGuru]

One of the things Lee Sinnott promised us when he came was that he would put a smile back on our faces.

I am sure those of you that were at the 6-1s and witness to our attacking prowess were smiling.  I know I was when I watched the Youtube highlights.

Its a balance after all - I remember a Peanuts cartoon where Charlie Brown was lying on his back having lost another baseball game.  "Never mind Charlie Brown, you win some you lose some"

"That would be nice" he replies

That was us last season.  This season we do win some (and how) but have not solved all of the problems of last year.  And we are budget constrained for this season - so next season we will have more funds to strengthen and a manager who would have been in place for a season.

I am quite prepared to write this season off as rebuilding - for us to come screaming out of the traps next season