Chances this season.

[Markeg]

So how does everybody think we will do this year? My heart says we will win the league but my head says we will finish mid table. If im honest I can see us making a poor start and picking up near the end of the year. I hope im wrong....

[Dobba]

I think we'll finish 3rd.

[dave jarvu, mystery man]

It's a tough one. we've brought a lot of new players in and a lot will depend on how they gel. Let's have a look at 'em pre-season before making any predictions we may regret later.
We all go into the season hoping we'll win it though.

[Hallo]

I think we'll definately be up there, think Witton are going for borke this season so they should be up there too.

[darrenw]

I think we will win the league pants down for sure. Can't see any team anywhere near in touching distance of our great side. We will win it by a country mile for sure.

[MikeM]

I think we'll definately be up there, think Witton are going for borke this season so they should be up there too.

If Borke hasn't signed for Witton yet I think we should outbid them; it's been ages since we had a Scandinavian in the side

[fozzie]

Last year at the local bookmakers I got odds of 28/1 for Hednesford to win the league, Odds not out for a week or so think I be lucky to get 5/1 this season?
As a matter of interest click on Blue Square Premier , Stafford are 13/8 relegation favourites.


http://www.oddschecker.com/football/non-league/unibond-premier

[Perton Pitman]

I reckon we'll finish 9th. I read some articles the other week which gave the indication that Gateshead were throwing money around (5 grand signings from York etc). They are my dark horses, but I guess we'll see the likes of Witton, Marine up there again this season.
It is right to reserve judgement, but I think the fact that we are picking up young-ish lads from lower leagues indicates that we are not in a position to compete financially with some of the other clubs. I'm not saying we should - this is just reality.

[iainthepitman]

i think phil should be given 3 years to get out of this division. last season was the start of building a decent squad, maybe getting a nucleus of good players for this season (which in my opinion he's done). this season a play off place should be achievable but i wouldnt be too unhappy with not getting promoted as long as we can build on the squad so next season we can go out and win the league. i think we'd stand a better chance in the division above if we can win the unibond rather than going up thru the play offs.

[MikeM]

Do we really have three years to spare given the costs of our excellent facilities? I think that we need to be back in Conference National by 2012 to avoid terminal decline and downward spiral as seen by too many non-league clubs who had the meteoric rise that we had in the 80s and 90s.

[iainthepitman]

Do we really have three years to spare given the costs of our excellent facilities?

i thought the club was almost self sufficient? do you know differently mike?

i dont think we'll ever play in the conference national again.....

[Adam Hill]

Hednesford seem to be achieving Terry Brumpton's aim of moving away from dependency on Steve Price's money. E.g Teambuilder and the new sponsors.

I feel positive about the new season. We have a good manager and a
decent shirt sponsorship deal. I also think that the Rene Gilmartin loan is a good move. I would imagine that Walsall are paying the majority of his wages
and if he gets injured he can get treatment at Walsall. Also in the week he will train with Walsall so he should be very fit for our league.

I think we have learnt the lessons of the past e.g Robbie Dennison. What a
waste of money on someone who was unfit and just turned up to collect the money.

[Perton Pitman]

Yes, it is highly unlikely we will ever scale the heights of Conf Nat again. Even to get into Conf North may be beyond us as the required wage structure would inevitably put an end to any chance we may have of being self-sufficient.
Clubs at that level (conf north) need either big gates (1000 plus) or a sugar daddy prepared to throw money at it - or both! I don't think we will get either for the forseeable future and we should content ourselves with our lot which is striving to be competitive at this level.

[abacus]

Q With the third best defensive record in our league last season have we improved the defence or not? I believe it will be as effective as last season.Q With Burrscough (80) and Telford(72) did we score enough goals (49)?Obviously not as many posts on the previous site would confirm if only they could be accessed! Has the manager not signed a Goalscorer(Knox) who is capable of 20+ goals? Another striker from Leek and a goalscoring midfielder too? Surely others who remain and promoted youth players will chip in too - so problem solved? Of course it is not as simple as that but put it another way with Telford moved on the league is there if these players perform whereas last time out we did struggle for goals.

[Markeg]

I dont think conference north is out of our sights. The standard of football is higher but not to a level we cant compete with, last time we had the wrong approach but I think if we got there again we would be able to survive. We have a better set up and bigger gates than alot of conference north teams, so I definately would say that is a level we "deserve" to be at.

In terms of getting back to the conference national I dont think it is impossible. If we were get back to the conference north it only takes one good season to get us back up there. I dont think we would stay there very long but do think we could make it back there.

Regarding teams like Gateshead having people chuck money in, ok it may win them promotion, but in the long run on average gates of 160 the "investors" will soon get bored.

Getting gates of 1000 is far from impossible. If you look at the telford game last year we probably have potential for 1500-1800. I just think we need to get a positive feeling in the community and the gates will increase.

My final question regards the management commitee. In picking the new manager and introducing the team builder, what else have they done? This is a general question and im not trying to upset anyone as I dont really know what they have done.

[darrenw]

Hi Mark it’s Darren one of the supporters on the Hednesford Town Committee. Your comments were discussed at the meeting tonight and it was agreed that you could come to the next meeting if you wish to. If this is something that appeals to you then drop me a line via email on darrenwoodhall@btinternet.com

If any other supporter would like to attend future meetings then by all means contact me at the email address above or alternately contact the club direct.

[MikeM]

I agree with Mark that gates of 1,000+ are not impossible so long as we play football that is both successful and good to watch, something which we have done before. There is a huge population of younger football supporters priced out of the Prem and Championship by admission and travel costs, who could become serious supporters enjoying the occasional away trips with the extra camaraderie you get away from home and become long time Pitmen addicts, just as I did at their age. We are in al arge conurbation, unlike a lot of the hick towns in our current league and most of the Conference North. Four figure attendances would put us in the top six or so of Conference North (or South) for income, which is where our ground and history suggest we belong.

[SteveW]

Going back to the original post, where do you think the team will finish this season..... I can feel a POLL coming on here. In fact there are two new polls in the Polling Booth section so lets see how you all think we'll get on and who the main rivals will be.

It might make interesting viewing later in the year.

[Markeg]

Darren.

I will email you in a minute to discuss this further. What comments were discussed? Are we on about the attendances?

[darrenw]

Mark, sorry I did not make myself clear to you but here are the comments you mentioned that were discussed at the Committee Meeting tonight.

"My final question regards the management commitee. In picking the new manager and introducing the team builder, what else have they done? This is a general question and im not trying to upset anyone as I dont really know what they have done"

Those were the ones I am talking about. You are welcome to the next committee meeting so you can see for yourself what is discussed and what the committee do for the club.

[iainthepitman]

why not print the minutes from the meeting instead of inviting people along?


oh yeah, i think we'll finish 5th

[Markeg]

Ok. I mean in a more general sense though. What other sort of things do you work on?

[darrenw]

Yes that could be arranged. I’ll ask Steve if I can have a page on the web site where I can upload the minutes of the meeting but it would be great if anyone can spare a couple of hours or so to see how things work first hand.

[Markeg]

I dont think the minutes of the meeting would need to be published, although a page set up for the commitee would be an excellent idea. If we have an idea of the issues from the club we can then go about takling them. Im sure 99% of people who post on this message board can come up with at least 5 ideas to better the club. Darren I hope you dont think im knocking your work, im not.

[darrenw]

No I don’t Mark. I have always found your comments very constructive and all the committee would like to hear new ideas from supporters. The Committee meetings are like a think tank. We discuss ways of how we can raise extra income for the football club to move it on to the next level. Certainly a lot of members have given their time to help the club raise extra revenue. For example Keith H gives his time to arrange and host quiz nights to bring in extra income. Steve keeps the web site updated and travels to nearly all home and away games taking pictures for the club. Mark Littler just does about everything that is ever asked of him so the list goes on. The club are always looking for volunteers so if anyone is interested in doing anything that would be great. Mark by all means if you want to come to the next meeting that would be great. Bring a friend. Don't forget my email address: darrenwoodhall@btinternet.com

[Real Ale Fans On Tour]

As a relatively new member of the committee as a representative from the Travel Club, echo what Darren has stated and there is a lot of hard work that goes on ‘behind the scenes’.
It is good that a dialogue has been started as we are all striving to move the club forward and, greater involvement from supporters can only assist with this process.
Various ways have been suggested on the message board to progress this further and integral to this is communication between the club and supporters, other suggestions would be appreciated.

[Keith H]

As an older member of the committee :doh: I feel that something that was on open discussion at last nights meeting is of great importance.
We informally discussed the lack of young blood coming on board to assist and all agreed that in 20 years time what position will this club be in if us older heads have had to stand down etc etc.
What we need is young people to come forward and help in any way they can so that in 20 years or so those same young people may be in a position to carry forward the proud tradition of Hednesford Town Football Club.
Mark eg you have got us all thinking with your comments yesterday and I really do hope you come along to the next meeting.Also to all you younger ones out there give it some thought about bringing some fresh blood into the club and possibly new ideas as well,you will be surprised at what only a few hours help can do for the club and yourselves. Once you get involved it becomes a bit of a bug and it is a super feeling knowing you are doing your bit for the club no matter how small.
This club will actually stand or fall over the next few years on what interest behind the scenes is shown by todays younger generation.

[Markeg]

Just a quick question for Dobba, what happened to the myspace page you had set up? I think you need to go on an adding spree, could be a good idea?