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General Category => Altrincham FC First Team => Topic started by: Jimmy Hill on April 29, 2018, 11:25:24 AM
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Phil continued, "Next season will 100% be about consolidation, weighing up where we need to improve, and then the following season we will have a good go at it. There's a lot of full-time teams in the National League North. We need to weigh up the direction we're going as a football club".
Reading between the lines here, it looks like Parkinson might be pushing for a move to full-time football. This would obviously require a boost in revenue and 'investment', but it's interesting to see someone at the club hint towards going full-time.
If our aim is to get back into the Conference then going full-time would be a logical step. Although I do have some sympathy for the argument that it's better to have the best part-timers over the worst full-timers.
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BPA have just reached the play offs in national north if we ge two or three quality players in next season maybe we could do similar
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Parkinson’s changed his tune. Where’s the “let’s buuld momentum and see where it takes us.” Aka Chester from pre-season. Snowballing he called it.
Next season should be about aiming for the top 7. Bar sepnnymore and Blyth mini collapse over the last month, both would have made playoffs. BPA (a nearly relegated side) will be in them.
I’m not asking for a “we’re going for the title” but look at stalybridgs consolidating this year.
Next year with the squad morale and momentum may be our best chance to bounce back up.
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BPA finances are under pressure for next season apparently.
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BPA finances are under pressure for next season apparently.
Believe they're trying to ground share with Bradford Bulls
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Parkinson’s changed his tune. Where’s the “let’s buuld momentum and see where it takes us.” Aka Chester from pre-season. Snowballing he called it.
Next season should be about aiming for the top 7. Bar sepnnymore and Blyth mini collapse over the last month, both would have made playoffs. BPA (a nearly relegated side) will be in them.
I’m not asking for a “we’re going for the title” but look at stalybridgs consolidating this year.
Next year with the squad morale and momentum may be our best chance to bounce back up.
Spot on. In my book we already have the spine of a team who would be good enough to compete for the play offs in the NN, with a few additions I think we should aim high for next season. Blyth & Spenymoor were top 10 all season and both should really have made the play offs so that shows us nothing to fear. We’ll start the season as the newly promoted team with momentum which we should build on.
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Altrincham FC should not be aiming to consolidate in the conf N ffs...
We should be aiming to win the league!!!.....play offs minimum this season...and a decent trophy and fa cup run to make up for this season where we fans fully took being knocked out by lowly teams on the chin and put everything behind the league.
Has Rowley mind washed the normally ambitious PP and got him into the "we cant compete with the likes of spenymoor and brackley" mindset already?.....
So play offs....trophy semi and fa cup 2nd round minimum please Parky....we know you can do it ;D
PS forget the CSC as per norm please
This isn't Stalybridge.....
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Phil continued, "Next season will 100% be about consolidation, weighing up where we need to improve, and then the following season we will have a good go at it. There's a lot of full-time teams in the National League North. We need to weigh up the direction we're going as a football club".
Reading between the lines here, it looks like Parkinson might be pushing for a move to full-time football. This would obviously require a boost in revenue and 'investment', but it's interesting to see someone at the club hint towards going full-time.
If our aim is to get back into the Conference then going full-time would be a logical step. Although I do have some sympathy for the argument that it's better to have the best part-timers over the worst full-timers.
If the Club's objective to get back to the top of the non league game is to be achieved, and more importantly, to be sustained, then I don't see that there is any other option at the moment - it has to go full time. It also needs to look very hard at its infrastructure, and whether this is capable of sustaining a professional Club, both in terms of playing and spectator facilities and the all important commercial activities. Now is the time for some serious investment.
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Wow, you really are damned if you do and damned if you don't...
Sinnott was (quite rightly) criticised for his '20/20' target before the season in which we ultimately went down.
PP will NOT be short of ambition, nor will he have been brainwashed by Rowley (sorry for those on that particular agenda).
For the record I think we'll do very well next season and PP's realistic targets will be aprt of that.
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I would be perfectly happy to "consolidate" in the league, and bin off the Trophy, provided we get to the 3rd round of the FA Cup and pull out a plum draw.
It is very important to put the club in the public eye, and thereby encourage serious long term investment. And money from televised games would massively aid our revenue streams.
Get all of that achieved next season, and we can look at going full time, and winning North in 2019/20.
Once we're in National as a full time club, we should be in a good enough fettle to seriously target the Football League within a 3-5 year period.
I just could live long enough to see it !
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Wow, you really are damned if you do and damned if you don't...
Sinnott was (quite rightly) criticised for his '20/20' target before the season in which we ultimately went down.
PP will NOT be short of ambition, nor will he have been brainwashed by Rowley (sorry for those on that particular agenda).
For the record I think we'll do very well next season and PP's realistic targets will be aprt of that.
Sinnott's 20/20 idea was actually eminently sensible....it was what was needed....but to make the statement then sign no players who could deliver this change was what was derided about the statement....
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Altrincham FC director, Bill Waterson, penned the following "From the Boardroom" article for Saturday's Robins' Review, which encapsulates the Club's off-field ambition over the next twelve months...
"Today we welcome the board, players, officials and supporters of Hednesford to the J Davidson Stadium for the final game of the long but immensely satisfying Evo-Stik Northern Premier League season. In doing so we welcome back James Lawrie to Moss Lane, who gave us so many incredible memories in his time at Moss Lane.
So here we are, Champions of the Northern Premier League. We topped the table from early October with the most wins, fewest defeats, most goals scored (two more needed for a league century), fewest conceded, best supported team home and away. This is an incredible achievement and one which should not be undervalued. I hope to say more on this after the game, if appropriate.
Already the club are planning for next season. Our intent on the field is to selectively strengthen the squad so that we can mount a challenge in our first season back in the National League North. And this clearly defines our off-field priorities. We need to raise enough revenue to provide Phil Parkinson with a higher playing budget than this year.
Given we intentionally ran at a deficit this season, this means that the revenue we need to raise is significantly higher than the rise in the playing budget itself.We need to expand our commercial functions to give us every opportunity to achieve this. The board are meeting next week for a commercial planning day where we will put into effect our plans in this area. This includes our admission and season ticket pricing strategy and let me thank you for your input to this process. We only raise around 30% of our revenue from admission prices, and we have no plans to change that, except perhaps downwards over time.
In addition, we have plans to improve our infrastructure and therefore we will also be looking at ways of funding such activities. Thank you all for your contributions that allowed us to purchase the pitch covers, and in that context, we have also laid out our plans to improve the pitch drainage. We will also be looking at improvements to the media gantry and therefore to the Popular Side.
We announced the arrival of a new website and work continues building the platform. I would like to express our wholehearted thanks on behalf of the club, and on behalf of the fans to John Laidlar for his magnificent contribution over many years. The content of the website is so complete that it puts many others to shame. We do not intend to lose this content as we move to a new platform, instead we are opening ourselves to new commercial opportunities as we drive new revenue streams from Digital.
Finally, we lost another dear friend and extraordinary fan this week with the passing of Jacqui Forster, who lost her long battle with cancer. She has been a major actor in football across League and non-League clubs for many years and was our Honorary Head of Inclusivity and Diversity. It is amazing how much Jacqui and Jordan Tyms were able to achieve this season given Jacqui’s declining health. She will be missed.
Thank you for your magnificent support this season, and I look forward to seeing you all in a couple of months.
Enjoy the game, Bill Waterson".
You can see from this article that the club is looking to fund a squad capable of mounting a challenge next season. This will have been discussed with Phil and I am sure like us that is his ambition to push for promotion. From there and in future planning the full time/part time debate will continue.
I for one am looking forward to next season.
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Wow, you really are damned if you do and damned if you don't...
Sinnott was (quite rightly) criticised for his '20/20' target before the season in which we ultimately went down.
PP will NOT be short of ambition, nor will he have been brainwashed by Rowley (sorry for those on that particular agenda).
For the record I think we'll do very well next season and PP's realistic targets will be aprt of that.
Sinnott's 20/20 idea was actually eminently sensible....it was what was needed....but to make the statement then sign no players who could deliver this change was what was derided about the statement....
I do not think 20/20 was sensible...........a target yes, but he should have been realistic
I think I posted several months later that over the previous ten Conference seasons very few clubs had improved their goal difference the following season by scoring twenty more and conceding twenty less.
I cannot remember the exact details, but I think that only Crawley ever achieved it and since AFC failed to gain a mystery Chinese billionaire backer in the close season, then the target was frankly ridiculous
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IF we are to get back to the national lge then full time is a must, but don't lets kill ourselves to do it . We have been there far to often in the past, would hate to be AFC Altrincham . For us to survive in conference Nth as a competitive full time club last Saturdays crowd would need to be the norm. We don't have a sugar daddy or an oligarch in the wings
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IF we are to get back to the national lge then full time is a must, but don't lets kill ourselves to do it . We have been there far to often in the past, would hate to be AFC Altrincham . For us to survive in conference Nth as a competitive full time club last Saturdays crowd would need to be the norm. We don't have a sugar daddy or an oligarch in the wings
....and that hasn't been achieved on a consistent basis since we won the APL in the first 2 seasons (37 years ago....sh*t I'm old).
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The only way we'd sustain full time football would be with a board of directors committed to underwriting the potential six figure losses every season. Even then, we'd need a stronger hardcore fan base and much sharper commercial approach to keep those losses to a minimum. That's a fact of life for full time clubs at this level. Extra fans in the bar and a revamped golden goal isn't going to make much impact.
I genuinely believe we are making inroads on the commercial side, but PP makes a very valid point when he asks what direction we want to go in. Up to the chairman and board I guess.
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Without wanting to turn this into a Rowley out thread, a lot of dissatisfaction is gleaned from the perception (maybe fairly, maybe unfairly) that his concern is staying as chairman at a level he is comfortable with, rather than getting to the conf national level we could/should be at where he has proved not to be comfortable, as the required openness and investment wasn't sought after enough.
That may be unfair (I'm sure he'd want the best of both) but the point I'm trying to head to is, although going full time has risks and rewards, I was surprised there appeared to be no ground work or plan for ever doing so. Particularly as we were potentially (and still are) sitting on a watmore sell on.
We had a great opportunity to break of the shackles off our wetness and fear and move forward. However, that's gone so we can only move forward as we are. But if going full time is what needs to done long term for us to grow then we have to grasp that. The weak and the cuckolded who are so fearful and think we should stay at conference north level with our current twee state need to give their heads a bit of a wobble.
I'd suggest if we want to improve our core base we should renconcile with the alienated long term supporters first.
Still, enough ranting, let's see what the board come up with
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Are we changing our opinions on full time football? In many previous threads we have slated many teams who have gone full time and suggested they will be bust by Christmas etc etc. Yet now we are saying we must go full time?
The club, with recent additions to the board, seem to be making the right noises about the business side of the club. promoting the club and capitalising on revenue streams available to us. So perhaps the long term plan is to go full time? Personally i do believe it is the only way to go even in Conference National now, nevermind the football league.
I also see that comments made about consolidation are bewildering along with comments that Sinnots 20/20 was not acheiveable. Playing devils advocate, i believe that PP has ambition, the club wants to be in the National league, but in the same token if we say we are going to gain promotion and fail the board will be critisised when if we dont. I think a sensible approach is consolidate with hopes of promotion being there. But by saying consolidation it keeps the powder dry allowing us to over achieve rather than under achieving if we dont go up.
I hope for play offs next season, but realisitically top half for me would be a reasonable result, but not one i would be particularly happy with.
A lot of mixed feelings around at the moment, but either way we need to push on as much as we can and get this club back to where we belong and that is mid table National.
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Borehamwood, beaten twice by Altrincham the year we went down from the conference, and escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth. Took stock, learned from it, took proactive action and sit 90 minutes from the football league this evening. (Average gate 655). Anyone got a second hand lawnmower we can have?
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Borehamwood, beaten twice by Altrincham the year we went down from the conference, and escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth. Took stock, learned from it, took proactive action and sit 90 minutes from the football league this evening. (Average gate 655). Anyone got a second hand lawnmower we can have?
Probably 400-450 ish home fans on average
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Conf National was the norm not the ambitious expectation for Alty.
Let's get back to it and not be satisfied with mid table mediocrity in the Conference North.
The revenue from having people in the away end will be very useful.
You never know, we may even get a game on the telly.... ( Don't hold your breath on that one)
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When was conference national the norm? Before all the foreign players arrived and set up an International division. Conference north is the old conference.
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When was conference national the norm? Before all the foreign players arrived and set up an International division. Conference north is the old conference.
It's that sort of attitude that will see the club go stale.
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When was conference national the norm? Before all the foreign players arrived and set up an International division. Conference north is the old conference.
It's that sort of attitude that will see the club go stale.
Quite. The top half of this seasons Conference table had 5 what I would call traditional NL sides in it. The only thing that will hold us back is a failure of imagination and a risk averse culture.
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When we were the champions of non league football nearly 40 years ago, overseas players were practically non existent in English football. Now they're commonplace even in the National League.
There were 92 full time clubs then - there are more like 120 now. I know a handful of part time clubs get along OK at level 5, but basically the dividing line for our club is where it has always been : at the break point between full time and part time football.
As part timers we can realistically hope to make it into the National division. The hard part will always be staying there.
Remember how we scoffed when Boreham Wood went full time on gates of 400 ? Who's laughing now ? Patience is needed, because I'd rather continue as we are and still exist, than overreach and go down the pan.
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When was conference national the norm? Before all the foreign players arrived and set up an International division. Conference north is the old conference.
I get the impression that some folks would seem to be happy seeing us pottering about in the lower echelons of non league football with one man and his dog in the away end
We have coped in the national league before and can again.
It's called ambition ffs
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I wouldn't call being serial relegation fodder for twenty years coping. Altrincham FC would need a massive overhaul of it's finances and infrastructure before being able to challenge for the National League.
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We need vision, ambition, charisma and an unquenchable thirst for getting into the football league (Also need deep pockets). Danny Hunter, Borehamwood's chairman, has done a fantastic job so far. I wish we were in the same position as them.
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We need vision, ambition, charisma and an unquenchable thirst for getting into the football league (Also need deep pockets). Danny Hunter, Borehamwood's chairman, has done a fantastic job so far. I wish we were in the same position as them.
Those deep pockets have to be full of moola though ! Hence my previously stated wish for a high profile FA Cup run this season.
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We need vision, ambition, charisma and an unquenchable thirst for getting into the football league (Also need deep pockets). Danny Hunter, Borehamwood's chairman, has done a fantastic job so far. I wish we were in the same position as them.
Those deep pockets have to be full of moola though ! Hence my previously stated wish for a high profile FA Cup run this season.
Yes, that would be great, even a low profile FA cup run will do - anything but another Shildon!
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When we were the champions of non league football nearly 40 years ago, overseas players were practically non existent in English football. Now they're commonplace even in the National League.
There were 92 full time clubs then - there are more like 120 now. I know a handful of part time clubs get along OK at level 5, but basically the dividing line for our club is where it has always been : at the break point between full time and part time football.
As part timers we can realistically hope to make it into the National division. The hard part will always be staying there.
Remember how we scoffed when Boreham Wood went full time on gates of 400 ? Who's laughing now ? Patience is needed, because I'd rather continue as we are and still exist, than overreach and go down the pan.
A succinct and accurate summary of the position. To reach the National division is a realistic goal; to be solvent and extant is, however, my highest priority for the club.
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When we were the champions of non league football nearly 40 years ago, overseas players were practically non existent in English football. Now they're commonplace even in the National League.
There were 92 full time clubs then - there are more like 120 now. I know a handful of part time clubs get along OK at level 5, but basically the dividing line for our club is where it has always been : at the break point between full time and part time football.
As part timers we can realistically hope to make it into the National division. The hard part will always be staying there.
Remember how we scoffed when Boreham Wood went full time on gates of 400 ? Who's laughing now ? Patience is needed, because I'd rather continue as we are and still exist, than overreach and go down the pan.
A succinct and accurate summary of the position. To reach the National division is a realistic goal; to be solvent and extant is, however, my highest priority for the club.
It would be succinct and accurate if it wasn't total bollocks to be fair.
Does this influx of foreign players and expansion of full time clubs only affect Altrincham?? Is our line always to be drawn from whatever other people do? If Wythenshawe Town go full time do we happily sit back cuckolded while they rise above us and we settle down to our nice little level?
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When we were the champions of non league football nearly 40 years ago, overseas players were practically non existent in English football. Now they're commonplace even in the National League.
There were 92 full time clubs then - there are more like 120 now. I know a handful of part time clubs get along OK at level 5, but basically the dividing line for our club is where it has always been : at the break point between full time and part time football.
As part timers we can realistically hope to make it into the National division. The hard part will always be staying there.
Remember how we scoffed when Boreham Wood went full time on gates of 400 ? Who's laughing now ? Patience is needed, because I'd rather continue as we are and still exist, than overreach and go down the pan.
A succinct and accurate summary of the position. To reach the National division is a realistic goal; to be solvent and extant is, however, my highest priority for the club.
It would be succinct and accurate if it wasn't total bollocks to be fair.
Does this influx of foreign players and expansion of full time clubs only affect Altrincham?? Is our line always to be drawn from whatever other people do? If Wythenshawe Town go full time do we happily sit back cuckolded while they rise above us and we settle down to our nice little level?
Sorry Ballers, you're missing my point. The majority of players in Conference National these days would have been playing in League 2 (or the 4th Division) had we not introduced Johnny Foreigner and his pals into the English game on the back of obscene amounts of money being pumped into it.
The barrier for us was always traditionally the point where full time football ceased to be the norm, and players had other jobs outside the game. AND IT STILL IS !
Unfortunately the number of full time clubs has increased by about 30%, and we will struggle to break into the clique unless we go full time. Right now we don't have the money to do that, so we need to make it our biggest priority to attract extra finance.
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I agree the influx of foreigners almost created a new league and shifted everything one down....
So the national league N is the equivalent of the old APL .....and there are a few full time teams in that....probably at the top end not as high quality but bottom half a higher quality than the old APL stragglers...
The national league is very much the equivalent of the old div 4 and is probably a higher standard at the top end although the bottom half is probably similar standard.
As a part time team we should be striving to be the best which is probably bottom half national top 5 national north.....
So yes investment or clever plan/strategy required.
So everyone is right....group hug...
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When we were the champions of non league football nearly 40 years ago, overseas players were practically non existent in English football. Now they're commonplace even in the National League.
There were 92 full time clubs then - there are more like 120 now. I know a handful of part time clubs get along OK at level 5, but basically the dividing line for our club is where it has always been : at the break point between full time and part time football.
As part timers we can realistically hope to make it into the National division. The hard part will always be staying there.
Remember how we scoffed when Boreham Wood went full time on gates of 400 ? Who's laughing now ? Patience is needed, because I'd rather continue as we are and still exist, than overreach and go down the pan.
A succinct and accurate summary of the position. To reach the National division is a realistic goal; to be solvent and extant is, however, my highest priority for the club.
It would be succinct and accurate if it wasn't total bollocks to be fair.
Does this influx of foreign players and expansion of full time clubs only affect Altrincham?? Is our line always to be drawn from whatever other people do? If Wythenshawe Town go full time do we happily sit back cuckolded while they rise above us and we settle down to our nice little level?
Sorry Ballers, you're missing my point. The majority of players in Conference National these days would have been playing in League 2 (or the 4th Division) had we not introduced Johnny Foreigner and his pals into the English game on the back of obscene amounts of money being pumped into it.
The barrier for us was always traditionally the point where full time football ceased to be the norm, and players had other jobs outside the game. AND IT STILL IS !
Unfortunately the number of full time clubs has increased by about 30%, and we will struggle to break into the clique unless we go full time. Right now we don't have the money to do that, so we need to make it our biggest priority to attract extra finance.
The change at the top level of football only affected us because we have not changed accordingly in order to at least maintain our position on the football ladder. We hold fast to the part-time model as team after team around us has found a way to go full-time or semi-full-time and flown past us.