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General Category => Altrincham FC First Team => Topic started by: AltyRobin on January 29, 2022, 04:09:37 PM
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Has he taken us as far as he can? 4-0 down at half time (10 men or not) is an embarrassment at any level of football.
He’s totally out of his depth and something has to change soon otherwise we won’t pick up another point all season.
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Got to improve in February
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The only positive I can take from today's result is 5-0 against 9 men looks a tiny bit better than 5-0 against 11.
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I really worry that he will try and make the board believe that we need to go full time but sure we can't afford to especially with criwds of less than 2000. We look totally lost
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I'm not sure how we managed to get to this point from the point we comfortably beat Maidenhead 2-0 at home in front of over 2,000.
The only positive I'll take from that is that things can improve just as quickly as they deteriorated.
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He won't making the believe we need to go FT, to they know.
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Both Neil and Phil have my personal full support to the end of the season to keep us up . At the start I said survival would be enough I stand by this . It's between us and Weymouth now
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Both Neil and Phil have my personal full support to the end of the season to keep us up . At the start I said survival would be enough I stand by this . It's between us and Weymouth now
This is my view.
How it's come to this is another matter
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Survival, as has been said all along, would be a great achievement however our recent form and performances are more than a cause for concern. I wanted an improvement on last year’s position ideally but limping on to the end of the season without going down seems to be the best we can hope for now. Phil has more than enough credit in the bank for me to believe he’ll steer us to safety this year. Hopefully he’ll then use what’s happened this season to help kick on next year if we stay up.
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Both Neil and Phil have my personal full support to the end of the season to keep us up . At the start I said survival would be enough I stand by this . It's between us and Weymouth now
100% this. Parkinson's red and white army.
Incidentally did anyone hear what he said at the end when he came over to the fans? As someone said, he didn't have to do that, and it took balls.
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I missed the first bit but something about ‘that first half’ and then ‘stick with us. We’ll sort it out’
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Thanks. I guess we'll find out on Saturday, a game we should hopefully have a chance in barring disasters. I'm sure Parky must be hurting as well now and we'll see what sort of reaction there is from the lads.
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Fair dos if the bloke came and spoke to the fans.
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Fair dos if the bloke came and spoke to the fans.
He did and he didn't.
He came over, said that first half was an utter disgrace.
Then said stick with me please we'll get it right whilst walking off.
For me, I'd have like to front up and hear the frustration and galvanise us, not a cheap one line.
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For what he's done at the club I think he should be afforded every opportunity to turn us around and should be supported to the very end, but I appreciate there's plenty of ground to disagree with me on that. Any other club would have changed things already, but I maintain that our situation is unique. We have invested in this management team as the one we want in our transition into full time football and to change path at this stage could set us back seasons.
It feels like as a club we're opting to grit our teeth and suck up this short term pain in the trust that Phil is the man for long term success. It was only a few months ago that we were worried about Stockport pinching him, it's incredible how we've ended up here.
We're in the middle of a massive transition. From 17/18 through to the end of last season we had a settled squad and I'd imagine with that came a great harmony and balance. I said a couple of months back that I thought we'd lost that this season, you've got the old guard on the two year deals mixed with the new recruits, many of whom have been part of a revolving door exercise.
It all seems so unsettled, forced by injury to an extent but lads like Williams, Sutton and Ceesay have been let go in the attempt to upgrade the squad and I am not sure we have achieved that? Fitzpatrick, Bunney, Furman, Dinanga - four signings that are either no longer with us or farmed out elsewhere. Pringle and Leitch-Smith clearly can't play 90 minutes. Jackson is crocked. Digie isn't up to the standard. Bringing Morgan in to replace Senior is a slap in Densmore's face. Too many players are in the side for 2/3 games then falling off the face of the earth.
It has been disastrous. You could say we're weaker now than when we came up and I'm massively worried about our capability to get it right in the summer if we do survive. We simply cannot afford to get it this wrong again.
Fwiw I think Marriott looks really handy albeit I only watched about 20 mins total of the game yesterday! There are gems around and we have shown we can pick them well, it's going to be one hell of a task in May-Aug if you look at how many could be on their way out.
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Without wishing to sound patronising, this is a very sensible and realistic post.
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I agree with practically all of your post Andrew. However, while changing the management would unarguably weaken our progress, getting relegated would be far worse.
Losing to Woking on Saturday is a chilling prospect. If we come back empty-handed from Norfolk the following week I believe we will be In serious danger of the trapdoor opening.
However, if we were to part company with our management team, who is there out there that is an improvement, and is available ?
We are truly between a rock and a hard place.
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I agree with practically all of your post Andrew. However, while changing the management would unarguably weaken our progress, getting relegated would be far worse.
Losing to Woking on Saturday is a chilling prospect. If we come back empty-handed from Norfolk the following week I believe we will be In serious danger of the trapdoor opening.
However, if we were to part company with our management team, who is there out there that is an improvement, and is available ?
We are truly between a rock and a hard place.
I'm struggling to think of anyone with National League level experience who would be available
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For what its worth I think we should stick with him until end of season. I truly believe we owe him that much.
Next season is a totally different ball game no matter what league we're in.
There's no escaping that the season on the whole and the recruitment has been abysmal.
Do Parkinson and Sorvell come as a pair ?
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PP leaving is not an option at this stage. That would simply be suicidal.
For what it's worth, I think we'll beat Woking on Saturday and then hopefully we'll be having a different conversation.
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PP leaving is not an option at this stage. That would simply be suicidal.
For what it's worth, I think we'll beat Woking on Saturday and then hopefully we'll be having a different conversation.
totally agree apart from the win Saturday I will be amazed if we get a point
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I agree with practically all of your post Andrew. However, while changing the management would unarguably weaken our progress, getting relegated would be far worse.
Losing to Woking on Saturday is a chilling prospect. If we come back empty-handed from Norfolk the following week I believe we will be In serious danger of the trapdoor opening.
However, if we were to part company with our management team, who is there out there that is an improvement, and is available ?
We are truly between a rock and a hard place.
I'm struggling to think of anyone with National League level experience who would be available
Jim Harvey ?
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PP leaving is not an option at this stage. That would simply be suicidal.
For what it's worth, I think we'll beat Woking on Saturday and then hopefully we'll be having a different conversation.
In what sense suicidal?
We lose every single week and have won one game in months. Even if a new manager came in a had the same run of form as PP, that still wouldn’t be worse than what we’re doing currently.
He’s a legend at this club and always will be, the way he lead us back from the Unibond onto the North and then the National has been nothing short of heroic and actually doing it whilst being pleasing on the eye.
However, we’ve hit rock bottom again, the free flowing confident football has disappeared and the recruitment, even recently has been horrific. The only way he should stay on is if the board think he is the best single person to turn it around, but what would they base that opinion on?
Our form is worse than most in the whole country in the last half of a season, and we had a couple of torrid runs last year too.
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PP leaving is not an option at this stage. That would simply be suicidal.
For what it's worth, I think we'll beat Woking on Saturday and then hopefully we'll be having a different conversation.
In what sense suicidal?
It would most likely cripple us, financially, I suspect.
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PP leaving is not an option at this stage. That would simply be suicidal.
For what it's worth, I think we'll beat Woking on Saturday and then hopefully we'll be having a different conversation.
In what sense suicidal?
We lose every single week and have won one game in months. Even if a new manager came in a had the same run of form as PP, that still wouldn’t be worse than what we’re doing currently.
He’s a legend at this club and always will be, the way he lead us back from the Unibond onto the North and then the National has been nothing short of heroic and actually doing it whilst being pleasing on the eye.
However, we’ve hit rock bottom again, the free flowing confident football has disappeared and the recruitment, even recently has been horrific. The only way he should stay on is if the board think he is the best single person to turn it around, but what would they base that opinion on?
Our form is worse than most in the whole country in the last half of a season, and we had a couple of torrid runs last year too.
Spot on. The trajectory of this club is downward. Uncomfortable and difficult decisions need to be made by those than run football clubs sometimes. To shy away from those can be equally catastrophic. I guess we’ll have to see how we get on Saturday. There absolutely has to be a huge improvement and a minimum of 3 points to convince me we are capable of staying up.
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I tend to generally agree with Andrew Flynn’s post
If things don’t get better I’m not sure replacing Parky and Sorvs would help in the clubs plight for the rest of this season to be honest.
I said on a different post. The key to our future in this league is getting positive results against those three teams who are in the bottom 3. If that happens, then we are safe.
Also, I’m not convinced we are going to go full time any time soon. The reason I say this is, who is on the horizon to finance that project? It would be nice but…..
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PP leaving is not an option at this stage. That would simply be suicidal.
For what it's worth, I think we'll beat Woking on Saturday and then hopefully we'll be having a different conversation.
In what sense suicidal?
It would most likely cripple us, financially, I suspect.
Almost. Like a 3 year contract was a stupid idea.
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I mean, there are so many reasons why it would be suicidal, but the most obvious one would be the need to pay off a couple of 3-year contracts!!!
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I mean, there are so many reasons why it would be suicidal, but the most obvious one would be the need to pay off a couple of 3-year contracts!!!
This is what I mean about having the financial backing, if people are worried about having to pay off a couple of severance payments then there is no way we will be going full time.
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I agree with practically all of your post Andrew. However, while changing the management would unarguably weaken our progress, getting relegated would be far worse.
Losing to Woking on Saturday is a chilling prospect. If we come back empty-handed from Norfolk the following week I believe we will be In serious danger of the trapdoor opening.
However, if we were to part company with our management team, who is there out there that is an improvement, and is available ?
We are truly between a rock and a hard place.
I'm struggling to think of anyone with National League level experience who would be available
Rowe at Chesterfield could be available soon......not that I would want him.....and not that I think we are at the point yet to replace PP
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I agree with practically all of your post Andrew. However, while changing the management would unarguably weaken our progress, getting relegated would be far worse.
Losing to Woking on Saturday is a chilling prospect. If we come back empty-handed from Norfolk the following week I believe we will be In serious danger of the trapdoor opening.
However, if we were to part company with our management team, who is there out there that is an improvement, and is available ?
We are truly between a rock and a hard place.
I'm struggling to think of anyone with National League level experience who would be available
Rowe at Chesterfield could be available soon......not that I would want him.....and not that I think we are at the point yet to replace PP
I'll despair if we ever got someone like Rowe... the guy's clearly a wrong'un (look at why he was sacked by West Ham).
There is one very obvious (and realistic) candidate for me, and that would be Andy Morrison. He's also best mates with Andy Preece, who has all the top coaching badges and apparently the brains of the operation over at Chorley who are going well again this season. I think they've worked together in the past, that could be a good duo.
Whilst I absolutely trust Parky to get us out of this, I must admit I feel a bit relieved that clearly life will go on after him, he's not invincible and hopefully he himself, ironically, has put us on a platform to appoint a better calibre of manager next time out anyway (whenever that might be).
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Andrew F's post sums up much of how I see things. A core strength of any team is based on the bond that exists between the players; this season, like others when we have done poorly, there has been far too much chop and change. Obviously player injury has played a part in this, but I do think there have been too many games when team selection, combined with on-field strategy, has resulted in confusion on the pitch. I can't help thinking also, that the off-field shenanigans that were designed to grow crowd attendance, but resulted in TBC limiting capacity and forcing us to employ more stringent security, may have proved to be a distraction we could have well done without.
That aside, we should be mindful that of our last 13 league fixtures, 8 have been played against teams that are currently top 10 in the NL, including 4 against teams in the top 5. Given the history and financial backing many of the teams in this league enjoy, perhaps a dose of realism is what is required. And for those calling for a change of management, you need to find a better prospect than what we have already.
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Andrew F's post sums up much of how I see things. A core strength of any team is based on the bond that exists between the players; this season, like others when we have done poorly, there has been far too much chop and change. Obviously player injury has played a part in this, but I do think there have been too many games when team selection, combined with on-field strategy, has resulted in confusion on the pitch. I can't help thinking also, that the off-field shenanigans that were designed to grow crowd attendance, but resulted in TBC limiting capacity and forcing us to employ more stringent security, may have proved to be a distraction we could have well done without.
That aside, we should be mindful that of our last 13 league fixtures, 8 have been played against teams that are currently top 10 in the NL, including 4 against teams in the top 5. Given the history and financial backing many of the teams in this league enjoy, perhaps a dose of realism is what is required. And for those calling for a change of management, you need to find a better prospect than what we have already.
No, the board need to find rhem.not people calling for the club to reassess things.
Remember when people wouldn't change Rowley incase the world ended.
The debate really is, do we risk the form not improving and staying up by default, for a shot at long term footballing progression, or do we change and bring in a motivated, hungry manager to get us over the line, and then find someone in the summer for the next 5 years
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The short termism of some posters on here is nuts. It’s not about which manager might get us a few more points in the next ten games. It’s about a manager who buys into what the club is doing and where it’s going. The club is on an upward trajectory and a run of 20 poor results with a few shockingly bad performances doesn’t change that. There have been a whole heap of extenuating circumstances. What we learn now is how good is Parky at turning round a disheartened dressing room? So far not great it he did it when he first arrived, albeit by clearing the decks and starting again so may not be so easy this summer depending on who is on long term deals.
For my money keep Parky is still in the no brainer category. You don’t make 5 year decisions of the back of two months experience and ignore the other three years!
In the short term just tell them to put there foot through it when it’s in our area. All 4 first half goals yesterday followed us having possession in our own box and making poor decisions on what to do with it. Don’t piss about back there clear the thing properly.
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In Parky I do still trust.
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Indeed, some seem to enjoy sticking the knife in on here.
ParkysRedAndWhiteArmy
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The short termism of some posters on here is nuts. It’s not about which manager might get us a few more points in the next ten games. It’s about a manager who buys into what the club is doing and where it’s going. The club is on an upward trajectory and a run of 20 poor results with a few shockingly bad performances doesn’t change that. There have been a whole heap of extenuating circumstances. What we learn now is how good is Parky at turning round a disheartened dressing room? So far not great it he did it when he first arrived, albeit by clearing the decks and starting again so may not be so easy this summer depending on who is on long term deals.
For my money keep Parky is still in the no brainer category. You don’t make 5 year decisions of the back of two months experience and ignore the other three years!
In the short term just tell them to put there foot through it when it’s in our area. All 4 first half goals yesterday followed us having possession in our own box and making poor decisions on what to do with it. Don’t piss about back there clear the thing properly.
I think it's about balancing the short and long term. This club can't get relegated, it sets the 5 year plan back 4 years.
The 2 year contracts are proving to be a farce, as is the 3 year contract for Phil, be a lot more motivation for players and managers if they were on the dole come July.
For those calling it short short, we won 4 in 22 at the 2nd half of the last season. We've won 1 in 21 this season.
He'd be gone at every other club in the country.
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The short termism of some posters on here is nuts. It’s not about which manager might get us a few more points in the next ten games. It’s about a manager who buys into what the club is doing and where it’s going. The club is on an upward trajectory and a run of 20 poor results with a few shockingly bad performances doesn’t change that. There have been a whole heap of extenuating circumstances. What we learn now is how good is Parky at turning round a disheartened dressing room? So far not great it he did it when he first arrived, albeit by clearing the decks and starting again so may not be so easy this summer depending on who is on long term deals.
For my money keep Parky is still in the no brainer category. You don’t make 5 year decisions of the back of two months experience and ignore the other three years!
In the short term just tell them to put there foot through it when it’s in our area. All 4 first half goals yesterday followed us having possession in our own box and making poor decisions on what to do with it. Don’t piss about back there clear the thing properly.
Its fair to say this situation has elicited a wide range of opinions, which I respect, but this post sums up my own feelings perfectly.
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The short termism of some posters on here is nuts. It’s not about which manager might get us a few more points in the next ten games. It’s about a manager who buys into what the club is doing and where it’s going. The club is on an upward trajectory and a run of 20 poor results with a few shockingly bad performances doesn’t change that. There have been a whole heap of extenuating circumstances. What we learn now is how good is Parky at turning round a disheartened dressing room? So far not great it he did it when he first arrived, albeit by clearing the decks and starting again so may not be so easy this summer depending on who is on long term deals.
For my money keep Parky is still in the no brainer category. You don’t make 5 year decisions of the back of two months experience and ignore the other three years!
In the short term just tell them to put there foot through it when it’s in our area. All 4 first half goals yesterday followed us having possession in our own box and making poor decisions on what to do with it. Don’t piss about back there clear the thing properly.
Its fair to say this situation has elicited a wide range of opinions, which I respect, but this post sums up my own feelings perfectly.
it feels like groundhog day being an Alty fan . Shades of GH and LS it's been noted on some other posts to truly take the next step we need to compete financially on a full time basis . I wonder if we will falter again . Up the reds
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It’s very different to GH and LS. In both cases we were their last job at this level and that surprised very few people. Parky and Sorvs will be very popular and if we were daft enough to get rid would get another top NLN or even NL gig in the summer if not before. There is no one out there good enough to come in, get to know the players and the players gain faith in them fast enough to make any material difference to our points haul this season.
Fortunately Weymouth and king’s lynn are in more trouble than we are and we will be ok this year mainly due to their failings. I don’t think we’ll do much better than 20th if at all. But that will do as long as Parky learns from it. He’s new to this level and we need to give him time to grow into it. He’s earned that
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Something inside of me says there is room for another kind of contract. Two years is OK as long as the appetite is still there. Not sure how to achieve this.
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I would say we "should" be okay rather than we "will" be okay due to Weymouth and King's Lynn's failings. We could obviously do with a win, but, as has been said, it's all too plausible that we could draw with with the relegation rivals and still stay up.
Also, t wasn't too long ago that the worry was of Phil Parkinson being poached by a bigger or richer club. I think, in fact I am sure, he's got enough footballing credit in the bank to remain in charge - I always thought motivation was one of his greatest skills, but he really needs to apply this now to a team and supporters low n confidence.
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And there's also the issue that if weymouth and kings lynn get relegated this year its us next year.
I still believe the beat part time players should be able to out perform the fulltime dropouts.
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Next year, it will be exactly the same - half a league of haves and half a league of have-nots squabbling around for survival.
Decent part-time players can compete with full-time drop outs for part of a season, but not all (as we are testimony to). Full-time football is a must. Whether we can afford is, is debatable.
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If we aspire to be in this league (or higher) long term, then full time is required. End of.
If we can't afford it with average gates over two thousand we never will.
Oh and by the way, let's keep backing the management team because we're never going to get a better one. Some very short memories on here.
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If we aspire to be in this league (or higher) long term, then full time is required. End of.
If we can't afford it with average gates over two thousand we never will.
Oh and by the way, let's keep backing the management team because we're never going to get a better one. Some very short memories on here.
I'm sorry but never going to get a better one? That's nonsense. If they left tomorrow, we'd have a better calibre of manager apply than when Sinnot left. And the reason we went to NOLm
As much as we won the NPL, We've lost 3 games by 5 goals. At what point do we stop talking about something from the previous decade?
Parkinson is a good manager and when we click, that is our best chance of EFL, for now, but that philosophy could continue under others.
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PP is a very good manager at NPL and NLN level his record proves that. At NL level however I feel it is a step too far too soon.
We haven’t kept a clean sheet since October 9th. That’s 23 games!!
2 clean sheets all season = relegation
We have conceded 2 or more goals in a game on 21 occasions from 31 games in all comps which is very worrying.
Since PP and NS have gone full time we’ve got worse not better
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PP is a very good manager at NPL and NLN level his record proves that. At NL level however I feel it is a step too far too soon.
We haven’t kept a clean sheet since October 9th. That’s 23 games!!
2 clean sheets all season = relegation
We have conceded 2 or more goals in a game on 21 occasions from 31 games in all comps which is very worrying.
Since PP and NS have gone full time we’ve got worse not better
I prefer to look at the positives of this, i.e. the bizarre league conditions meaning they've effectively had lots of free practice.
They'll be all too aware that time will soon start running out - potentially if we start next season slowly.
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Question for those on here who know their stats: I we ranked all the teams in NL and NLN in order, and indicated which were FT and which PT, whereabouts would Alty be?
I really struggling to understand why Hashtag and (some) others are so outraged; if you look at what we are up against, is it really any surprise we are where we are?
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Question for those on here who know their stats: I we ranked all the teams in NL and NLN in order, and indicated which were FT and which PT, whereabouts would Alty be?
I really struggling to understand why Hashtag and (some) others are so outraged; if you look at what we are up against, is it really any surprise we are where we are?
Which part of 1 win, 2 clean sheets in 23 games would you. Like me to be happy about?
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We are very much a small edible fish in a pond inhabited by large sharks and piranha. We were once top of the non-league food chain and earned our keep by shocking some of the countries most famous clubs with our FA cup performances. Replays against Everton and Spurs meant that approximately 140,000 people altogether attended these four games and Alty got half the gate receipts. The money we received funded our rise to the pinnacle of non-league football
We were the envy of all the non-league and our ground funded in the greater part by Noel White & Peter Swales in the late 60s was by far the best at our level and passed muster for football league status. Macclesfield, by contrast, were languishing near the bottom of the NPL during the decade that we were at our best.
When Alty returned to the National league two seasons ago I held out hope that we just might be on course for a return to something akin to those halcyon days. We, the fans, really do deserve something good to happen. We have waited such a long time, however, I feel that our wait is still a long time from over and maybe beyond my lifetime.
I think that Parky deserves the chance to preserve our place in the National League. Our position is somewhat precarious but I think that that will be case no matter who we have at the helm until the end of this season. We still have plenty of winnable games left yet.
One thing is for sure, unless we receive significant inward investment we have no future at this level. I feel that the club is broken and there may be more hurt ahead as things continue to fall apart.
There is no easy way to say this, but the ground is a dump and needs major redevelopment. If the fanszone project is anything to go by then then God help us.
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Question for those on here who know their stats: I we ranked all the teams in NL and NLN in order, and indicated which were FT and which PT, whereabouts would Alty be?
I really struggling to understand why Hashtag and (some) others are so outraged; if you look at what we are up against, is it really any surprise we are where we are?
That’s because I don’t support happy clapping fc. Like it or not, I’m an Altrincham fan not a PP fan.
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We are very much a small edible fish in a pond inhabited by large sharks and piranha. We were once top of the non-league food chain and earned our keep by shocking some of the countries most famous clubs with our FA cup performances. Replays against Everton and Spurs meant that approximately 140,000 people altogether attended these four games and Alty got half the gate receipts. The money we received funded our rise to the pinnacle of non-league football
We were the envy of all the non-league and our ground funded in the greater part by Noel White & Peter Swales in the late 60s was by far the best at our level and passed muster for football league status. Macclesfield, by contrast, were languishing near the bottom of the NPL during the decade that we were at our best.
When Alty returned to the National league two seasons ago I held out hope that we just might be on course for a return to something akin to those halcyon days. We, the fans, really do deserve something good to happen. We have waited such a long time, however, I feel that our wait is still a long time from over and maybe beyond my lifetime.
I think that Parky deserves the chance to preserve our place in the National League. Our position is somewhat precarious but I think that that will be case no matter who we have at the helm until the end of this season. We still have plenty of winnable games left yet.
One thing is for sure, unless we receive significant inward investment we have no future at this level. I feel that the club is broken and there may be more hurt ahead as things continue to fall apart.
There is no easy way to say this, but the ground is a dump and needs major redevelopment. If the fanszone project is anything to go by then then God help us.
lots of good stuff in your post . The hard thing about the ground is as well there is only so much you can relaistically do with the ground due to its location .
As we know the local residents have never really been that open to significant change . They don't even like lots of cars on match day for example
We need significant and substained investments in the ground and team to push on the likes of which we have never seen before here
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We are very much a small edible fish in a pond inhabited by large sharks and piranha.
One thing is for sure, unless we receive significant inward investment we have no future at this level.
Pretty much sums it up.
We are punching far above our weight in almost every match we play. And equating realism with 'happy clapping' need to give their head a wobble.
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Question for those on here who know their stats: I we ranked all the teams in NL and NLN in order, and indicated which were FT and which PT, whereabouts would Alty be?
I really struggling to understand why Hashtag and (some) others are so outraged; if you look at what we are up against, is it really any surprise we are where we are?
Indeed, I( was watching a broadcast by Stephen Howson, a Man U fan, member of the Stretford Paddock Man U supporters Youtube site and manager of the Stretford Paddock non league team. He expressed how impressive the NL and NLN are with the quality of football and described the logjam of so many very good teams fighting for positions in the league.
As a semi-pro team we have a significant disadvantage against whet he described as "League 3" of the EFL
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We are very much a small edible fish in a pond inhabited by large sharks and piranha. We were once top of the non-league food chain and earned our keep by shocking some of the countries most famous clubs with our FA cup performances. Replays against Everton and Spurs meant that approximately 140,000 people altogether attended these four games and Alty got half the gate receipts. The money we received funded our rise to the pinnacle of non-league football
We were the envy of all the non-league and our ground funded in the greater part by Noel White & Peter Swales in the late 60s was by far the best at our level and passed muster for football league status. Macclesfield, by contrast, were languishing near the bottom of the NPL during the decade that we were at our best.
When Alty returned to the National league two seasons ago I held out hope that we just might be on course for a return to something akin to those halcyon days. We, the fans, really do deserve something good to happen. We have waited such a long time, however, I feel that our wait is still a long time from over and maybe beyond my lifetime.
I think that Parky deserves the chance to preserve our place in the National League. Our position is somewhat precarious but I think that that will be case no matter who we have at the helm until the end of this season. We still have plenty of winnable games left yet.
One thing is for sure, unless we receive significant inward investment we have no future at this level. I feel that the club is broken and there may be more hurt ahead as things continue to fall apart.
There is no easy way to say this, but the ground is a dump and needs major redevelopment. If the fanszone project is anything to go by then then God help us.
I agree with a lot of what you say - however to go as far as suggesting the 'club is broken' is really unfair in my opinion.
We reached this level quicker than we thought we would, and we're now playing catch up as a result.
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We are very much a small edible fish in a pond inhabited by large sharks and piranha. We were once top of the non-league food chain and earned our keep by shocking some of the countries most famous clubs with our FA cup performances. Replays against Everton and Spurs meant that approximately 140,000 people altogether attended these four games and Alty got half the gate receipts. The money we received funded our rise to the pinnacle of non-league football
We were the envy of all the non-league and our ground funded in the greater part by Noel White & Peter Swales in the late 60s was by far the best at our level and passed muster for football league status. Macclesfield, by contrast, were languishing near the bottom of the NPL during the decade that we were at our best.
When Alty returned to the National league two seasons ago I held out hope that we just might be on course for a return to something akin to those halcyon days. We, the fans, really do deserve something good to happen. We have waited such a long time, however, I feel that our wait is still a long time from over and maybe beyond my lifetime.
I think that Parky deserves the chance to preserve our place in the National League. Our position is somewhat precarious but I think that that will be case no matter who we have at the helm until the end of this season. We still have plenty of winnable games left yet.
One thing is for sure, unless we receive significant inward investment we have no future at this level. I feel that the club is broken and there may be more hurt ahead as things continue to fall apart.
There is no easy way to say this, but the ground is a dump and needs major redevelopment. If the fanszone project is anything to go by then then God help us.
I agree with a lot of what you say - however to go as far as suggesting the 'club is broken' is really unfair in my opinion.
We reached this level quicker than we thought we would, and we're now playing catch up as a result.
5 year plan was, so we surely must have had a contingency of "well the challenge in year 3 might be successful"
NPL - Year 1
Con North - Year 2
Conference North Challenge - Year 3
Conference North Challenge - Year 4
Conference Prem - Year 5
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We are very much a small edible fish in a pond inhabited by large sharks and piranha. We were once top of the non-league food chain and earned our keep by shocking some of the countries most famous clubs with our FA cup performances. Replays against Everton and Spurs meant that approximately 140,000 people altogether attended these four games and Alty got half the gate receipts. The money we received funded our rise to the pinnacle of non-league football
We were the envy of all the non-league and our ground funded in the greater part by Noel White & Peter Swales in the late 60s was by far the best at our level and passed muster for football league status. Macclesfield, by contrast, were languishing near the bottom of the NPL during the decade that we were at our best.
When Alty returned to the National league two seasons ago I held out hope that we just might be on course for a return to something akin to those halcyon days. We, the fans, really do deserve something good to happen. We have waited such a long time, however, I feel that our wait is still a long time from over and maybe beyond my lifetime.
I think that Parky deserves the chance to preserve our place in the National League. Our position is somewhat precarious but I think that that will be case no matter who we have at the helm until the end of this season. We still have plenty of winnable games left yet.
One thing is for sure, unless we receive significant inward investment we have no future at this level. I feel that the club is broken and there may be more hurt ahead as things continue to fall apart.
There is no easy way to say this, but the ground is a dump and needs major redevelopment. If the fanszone project is anything to go by then then God help us.
Condate, I agree with most of what you say and certainly when we were top dog in NL was completely different ball game to today. The NL is non league by name but certainly not with the teams that have sank into it over the last decade or more. The majority are full time as we know and have big budgets mostly fed by investors with deep pockets, and even so, only 1 is assured promotion and the other a play off lottery. Its definitely harder this year/season, with the money Wrexham and Stockport have to recruit to name but 2. PP is correct in saying we punch above our weight and money is not the means for success but it certainly helps. Up until the last few months I've enjoyed PP approach to the matches we have a go and play some good football. That has changed, down to injuries, covid, bad recruitment, players moving on etc maybe, but we need to go back to basic's, tighten up at the back, start to close and put pressure on the ball and get back to quick passing football with slight plan B so were not always playing from the back. Confidence is low and its fine margins to success. In the medium to longer term we need more investment on and off the pitch to fulfil our dreams of league football that we have deserved in the past, but the goal is moving further away I feel, certainly this season. Hopefully PP and the team can get the MoJO back and we can pick some points up soon.
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I agree with a lot of what is said here. This is now effectively FL3 in my view, and the movement of clubs up and down the divisions is more striking and fluid than ever. You can't compare this division now even with the old conference of the 90s and certainly not with the NPL of the 60s and 70s. The structures and set ups were completely different.
There is no way this is a broken club, the attendances and off the pitch commercial action show that. Over 3,500 for a midweek game with Solihull spoke volumes about how we have progressed. This is a very different club from the one a few years ago and it's far better for it.
But as has been said, we have come a long way in a very short time and things have caught up with us. I am optimistic that we will come through this, the overall mood is positive and pragmatic on the whole and I think we have the right people at the top.
As for PP, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now but this season has been appalling at times (money or not) and what he has done at lower levels can only count for so much.
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There is no way this is a broken club
I agree with a lot of what you say - however to go as far as suggesting the 'club is broken' is really unfair in my opinion.
I have to say I found it very difficult to say that the club is broken and it is not intended as a slight towards those who work and volunteer so hard at the club.
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There is no way this is a broken club
I agree with a lot of what you say - however to go as far as suggesting the 'club is broken' is really unfair in my opinion.
I have to say I found it very difficult to say that the club is broken and it is not intended as a slight towards those who work and volunteer so hard at the club.
Broken ? No. In need of lots of Elastoplast ? Yes.
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The "Club" is probably in the best nick its been in in years. There are still lots of problems from previous years of mis-management such as the ground falling down, but hopefully we are on the right path.
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You've got to be careful not to let the poor form blinker your view of the club overall, I feel. Very easy trap to fall into. It's still the most excited I've ever been to be a fan of Alty.
I definitely agree with other posts touching on our rapid progression, and the idea that it may have caught us out in some areas that were underprepared for, both on and off the pitch. No blame or animosity is required really, I would imagine that in comparison to other boards we possess a relatively young and learning board of directors - and management team for that matter.
I see our advertisement for an Operations Director as a big step forward. It could be a critical role.
I think they know what they're doing, they've gotten us this far after all.
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I think that a more considered view of the situation results-wise will only be possible when we have played some of the teams that are not likely to be vying for promotion play-offs at the end of the season, say in a month or so. At that point I expect some calm to have been restored, which will give us the opportunity to look to next season secure in the knowledge that we will remain a part of the NL. I'm pleased that the majority posting on this topic are still backing PP; I can't help thinking that one or two others must exist in a state where they are permanently at odds with everything going on around them.
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OK so we've taken some hidings but there aren't many games in our recent stretch where we'd have expected to pick up points - even if we were safely in mid-table.
Southend (H) was a disappointment, and in better times we might have expected something from Torquay (H).
The late equaliser at Barnet was the biggest sickener - and it sounded like we dominated most of that game.
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I agree with a lot of what is said here. This is now effectively FL3 in my view, and the movement of clubs up and down the divisions is more striking and fluid than ever. You can't compare this division now even with the old conference of the 90s and certainly not with the NPL of the 60s and 70s. The structures and set ups were completely different.
There is no way this is a broken club, the attendances and off the pitch commercial action show that. Over 3,500 for a midweek game with Solihull spoke volumes about how we have progressed. This is a very different club from the one a few years ago and it's far better for it.
But as has been said, we have come a long way in a very short time and things have caught up with us. I am optimistic that we will come through this, the overall mood is positive and pragmatic on the whole and I think we have the right people at the top.
As for PP, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now but this season has been appalling at times (money or not) and what he has done at lower levels can only count for so much.
Some very sensible observations there.
If the adjective 'broken' could ever have been applied to the club in recent times, then I suggest that it would have been when we had just endured two successive relegations and found ourselves slumming it in the Evo-Stik League rather than as a synopsis of our current predicament.
Notwithstanding our recent on-field woes, we still enjoy a nine-point advantage over Weymouth and February does present us with a decent opportunity to allay any relegation concerns.
I suspect that the close season will witness a major reorganisation, as next season will surely present an even more daunting task if we do remain as a part-time team (especially if two full-time teams from the trio of Gateshead, Kidderminster Harriers and AFC Fylde should get promoted).
I would hope that the board will scrutinise the performance of the management team, particularly in light of the substandard recruitment this season. The tail should not be allowed to wag the dog.