what a year

[Come on Pitmen]

I hope this does not get deleted because this is my first post and believe I deserve a say.
Hednesford have gone down hill this calender year, it is a fact just look at the stats, We keep bringing in new players instead of giving the old ones time to show what they can do. There is no encouragement from the club to the fans, our support is taken for granted more than anything which annoys me.
This club could be huge and we could get close to the 1000 mark in attendances if we were succsessful. Look at the Leek game in August, there were over 600 for that one.
If things stay as they are then there is no point talking of promotion or anything like that as it wont happen, we will either be sucked into a relegation battle or just stay mid table and watch the season pass us by.

[terrymc]

Why should your post be deleted, CoP? You are making very valid comments, in a proper manner and they deserve an answer. Please bear in mind though I can only offer my opinion, which does not have any more, or less, authority than anyone else who cares to post.
Your statement about the team performances in this calendar year is absolutely correct, generally poor overall but with brief good spells, (sounds a bit like the weather!).
The lack of stability of the playing staff is a problem that I also recognise but that is a feature seen at many clubs as the tendency at our level at present is to keep the playing budget 'flexible' by not having players on long contracts, ( don't forget we have gone down that route in the relatively recent past and that was not a successful policy either)!
I do not know what you mean about the club not giving encouragement to the fans, or taking the support for granted, you would have to expand on that one for me.
I think that you do, however, overestimate how big Hednesford Town FC could be. Even in the Conference days we struggled to maintain gates much above 1000 and the budget required to compete effectively at that level now could be prohibitive, (Look at the experiences of Tamworth, Stafford Rangers etc.).
I believe that we should have the ambition and resources to aim for the Conference Northern, with average gates of possibly 800 but I think even that will be very tough to achieve from where we are at present.
The Manager knows exactly where the club is aiming to be and we have to try to support him and the players to get us there.
Unfortunately, I do not believe that the chanting of 'Starbuck out !' and the booing of the Man of the Match award for a deserving Ross Dyer will help anything.

[Bod]

Would the football club like to explain why the three players that have moved on are scoring goals for other clubs,one at a higher level,but couldn't do it here.Could it be something to do with the management abilities,training,motivation etc ?

[Come on Pitmen]

I disagree Terrry MC, I think that is part of the problem. We can be big, we can get that many through the gates if we were offering a showcase on the pitch.
The problem is that we as a club seem to be stale. We have no real direction from the manager down about where we want to be going. I would like to hear words like we will get promoted, we will make ourselevs a force in the league above.
This club is to big to be where it is in the league pyramid and like Bod points out we are turning over good players who are doing it for other clubs.
It comes to soemthing when the likes of Rory May and Joe Williams do not want to join us as they would rather stay in the leagues below.
We should we snapping up players like that and others as well and then keeping them in the side. Not so much rotation!

[Markeg]

I can probably name 200 extra people who would come if we were moderately successful. Lets not forget the 3000 we had less than a year ago against Telford. The 400-500 we still get is better than most the teams in the league above. There should be no overestimating our size, as that Boro fan said in another post our away following at Middlesbrough has been beaten twice in 11 years. You can't say we dont get the better players from lower leagues either, because we do and 9 times out of 10 they suck.

I think my thread about food has been deleted. Don't care who deleted it but id make sure that's raised at a commitee meeting because it was terrible last night.

[Andy]

I have given myself time before posting today but I was quite frankly disgusted by the attitude of some of our fans last night.No football team has the right to 100% of the ball all game or to score in every match.Their constant moaning,griping and more importantly barracking are driving people away from coming to watch the football.This was a team packed with talented teenagers trying to make a way for themselves but every mistake they made was greeted with derisory cheers and unconstructive comments.
I particularly felt for Tom Marshall who came in for some awful stick.This is a young man who gives 100% every game and who could play at a higher level in time but who is having the confidence drained from him by moronic abuse.
We wont replace him easily when he gets a chance to go and I for one would not blame him if he left.
I have to disagree with Terrymc Hednesford Town is a football club with good facilities and a lot of potential.I can remember us getting 2500 for a senior cup match and if we had a winning team the fans would come back.
People will not come to watch ,however ,while miserable people moan and groan constantly for 90 minutes.I know folk pay their money and are entitled to an opinion but last night I really felt they were over the top.

Finally,if these people had just watched the game for what it was they would have been entertained .Buxton played well and deserved to win but I also thought at times,particularly early in the second half ,we played some very good football.I thought it was a good advert for our league.


Saturday`s game is now crucial to our season.For those going please get behind the lads they need your support more than ever.

[SteveW]

I think my thread about food has been deleted. Don't care who deleted it but id make sure that's raised at a commitee meeting because it was terrible last night.


You are welcome to comment on the catering at the ground if you wish.

Please do it without the sarcasm and the lengthy double act with the other poster which wasn't amusing at all though. That's why your thread was deleted, not because you had a crap burger and wanted to tell the world.

I remember having a rock hard hot dog a few weeks ago. If I'd tried to take it into a league ground it would have been confiscated as a dangerous weapon. They've all been okay since then though so I guess it was just a one off. I'm sure if you get a bad one they'll cook you another no problem.

BTW, good post Andy. The forum tends to be dominated by people who are unhappy and want to let off steam and it gives a distorted view of the overall support that the club has. I wish there were more that would look at the wider picture.

[Dorinda]

Excellent post Andy.

I do wish people would reaslise that constant barracking of players is not going to improve them. I've said it countless times before that if it was a relation of yours playing and they weren't having a good game you wouldn't stand on the sidelines and tell them how rubbish they were you'd encourage them to keep going.

Last nights performance I thought was better than Saturday and with a bit more luck on our side (lets face it we must be due some) it could have been a different story.

Phil is very aware of the situation and was as gutted as anyone last night which is not something we've always seen from Managers in the past and the players were also just as gutted as the rest of us.

Masha had a great game last night (even excellent in the fact the ball didn't end up over the roof!!) despite his injury and saved us at the back on countless occasions. Ross Dyer also played well as proved by his man of the match votes with a well taken goal. Steve Palmer battled throughout and Lyndon Dovey I thought played well after he came on.

Lets all go to Willenhall and get behind the team as a whole including the Management and show our support and not moan for 90 minutes about every little mistake. The players are only human and we all make mistakes everyday we just need time to rectify them.

[Bod]

Excellent post Andy.

I do wish people would reaslise that constant barracking of players is not going to improve them. I've said it countless times before that if it was a relation of yours playing and they weren't having a good game you wouldn't stand on the sidelines and tell them how rubbish they were you'd encourage them to keep going.

Last nights performance I thought was better than Saturday and with a bit more luck on our side (lets face it we must be due some) it could have been a different story.

Phil is very aware of the situation and was as gutted as anyone last night which is not something we've always seen from Managers in the past and the players were also just as gutted as the rest of us.

Masha had a great game last night (even excellent in the fact the ball didn't end up over the roof!!) despite his injury and saved us at the back on countless occasions. Ross Dyer also played well as proved by his man of the match votes with a well taken goal. Steve Palmer battled throughout and Lyndon Dovey I thought played well after he came on.

Lets all go to Willenhall and get behind the team as a whole including the Management and show our support and not moan for 90 minutes about every little mistake. The players are only human and we all make mistakes everyday we just need time to rectify them.


I won't be moaning Sat because I'm not going,but sometimes you win games with a little luck but not with performances like last night I would be very surprised if we get beat on Saturday and if we do then that would be the final straw (in my opinion for the manager) but the board would have to think seriously about that one.We have conceeded 5 goals in two games a familiar pattern which we are used to, i can't see how that anyone in defence could have had a good game ?

[Markeg]

Surely thats a joke? Masha fell over the ball about 10 times yesterday, and two of the goals I would but down to mistakes from him. Ask on the Buxton forum if they thought our captain had a good game....

[HTFC4Life]

Should have been man of the match last nite... Again. At least when he loses the ball he tracks back and gets it back. Unlike Palmer and simms who just stand there and have no intention of chasing back. If you lose the ball you should do your best to get it back. I was at last nites match and people were shouting Starbuck out, im not his biggest fan but he remains our manager, and therefore needs all the support he can get. I understand people's disappointment but people were making comments 2 mins into the match, but again it was an awful performance. If it wasnt for Masha and adams we would have lost by a greater margine. Although Wolliscroft, Tim and Lee did impress me as they gave 100% which is more than I can say for Mario. I wasnt frustrated when he returned as he has never impressed me but ive always sed im more than happy to be proved wrong but he has done nothing but prove me right :mad:

[Andy]

My sentiments entirely HTFC4Life and he was carrying an injury.Palmer and Nagington also probably were not 100% and were only playing to try and support the youngsters.I am glad I am not the only one with blinkered vision where Tom is concerned and feel that he Robinson and Adams form a pretty good back line when fit.As I and others have said we need a specialist left back and quick!!

[arthur]

Surely thats a joke? Masha fell over the ball about 10 times yesterday, and two of the goals I would but down to mistakes from him. Ask on the Buxton forum if they thought our captain had a good game....

Its all well and good blaming a teenage lad who's low on confidence, this will do him the world of good and improve his next game immensley!

Give him a chance, it was not so long ago he was part of a team who went on that unbeaten run which saw us top the leauge for a short while last season.

The problem I feel is that to many new faces have been drafted in with little time to gel together, compare last nights starting line to to lets say the one who played against Ilkeston at home around this time last year, how many of those players were on the team sheet last night?

[coalman]

Before Saturday we had had an unbeaten run of 5 games. One poor performance and the end of the world has come. If the players read this forum it's no surprise that they were low on confidence last night against Buxton.
As for the Rushall match, now that so many of our players seem to come from all over the place, were they aware that Rushall had so many ex-pitmen on their staff and were sure to throw everything at us? It didn't seem like it to me. Let's face it, it was always going to be a battle.
Against Buxton, we went back to that strange defensive formation when Robinson isn't playing - Dyer at right back and Simms alongside Masha. After the 2 Alfreton games and the math with Ossett which had the same defence - i.e. Simms, Adams, Wooliscroft, Marshall and Robinson, Gilmartin seemed to be gaining confidence in controlling his area, so why, if just 1 player is out, make 3 changes? Why not just put Palmer in Robinson's position? These changes seemed to affect Gilmartin's confidence, and, in my opinion, Masha didn't seem so assured with Simms playing beside him, either.
As for scoring goals, well, we must have the shortest forward line in the league, and looking at the size of some of the opposing defenders, we are not going to get much by pumping hopeful high balls down the middle! Maybe that's where Ross Dyer should be playing. I would like to see Mario Pedro on the right wing, where he seems to be able to create chances to get crosses in, and it would give the mid-field players another option of where to pass the ball. It has been mentioned somewhere else how narrow we seem to play, and when the opposition have corners and freekicks we need to leave players up-field to stop the ball being booted straight back into our area as it is at the moment.
As I said at the start, before last night it was one defeat in six matches, surely the team deserved more support than it got last night, both during and after the match.
:tape::tape:

[Bridgtown Buck]

Should have been man of the match last nite... Again. At least when he loses the ball he tracks back and gets it back. Unlike Palmer and simms who just stand there and have no intention of chasing back. If you lose the ball you should do your best to get it back.

In fairness to Palms, that's one criticism you can't level at him. He is a hard-worker who fights for every ball when he's fully fit. Remember he barely played for us this season so is probably a little short of match fitness and he's also walked straight into a team who are clearly desperately low on confidence, which is never easy.

Returning to the topic of the thread, you have clearly gone backwards a long way considering you were second in the league at Christmas. Although I felt that probably flattered you a bit, it's a real shame for you guys that for whatever reason you haven't been able to build on the squad you had then....

[Bod]

In fairness to Palms, that's one criticism you can't level at him. He is a hard-worker who fights for every ball when he's fully fit. Remember he barely played for us this season so is probably a little short of match fitness and he's also walked straight into a team who are clearly desperately low on confidence, which is never easy.

Returning to the topic of the thread, you have clearly gone backwards a long way considering you were second in the league at Christmas. Although I felt that probably flattered you a bit, it's a real shame for you guys that for whatever reason you haven't been able to build on the squad you had then....

he was poor last night,lost a lot of possesion and played stray balls every where

[terrymc]

I have to disagree with Terrymc Hednesford Town is a football club with good facilities and a lot of potential.I can remember us getting 2500 for a senior cup match and if we had a winning team the fans would come back.


Hi Andy,
In my post that you say you disagree with, I never mentioned the facilities at Keys Park, which I believe are as good as anything at our level of football and better than most!
I also believe, as you do, that our club has loads of potential, so it doesn't appear that we disagree on that one either!
What I did say was that I feel that some of our supporters overestimate how big we are, or even can be, as a club at present. Even in the 1997/98 season, which was when we were still flushed with the successful FA Cup run of the previous season and with a squad full of ex Football League players, we only averaged 1,393 as a home gate and the gates dropped alarmingly in the following couple of seasons.
An average gate of 1,393 would currently put us 13th in the average attendances for the Blue Square Premier, where there are seven clubs that average over 2,000 for their home gates.
I think it would be more likely that we would get average gates like Stafford Rangers (816) or possibly at a push Northwich Victoria (852).
I honestly believe that if anyone thinks we could put a team together, with current resources, that could produce an average home gate of more than this, he is deluding himself.
I am far more optimistic about the future for Hednesford Town FC than some of the 'doom and gloom' merchants that regularly post but I think that you have to be realistic about what can actually be achieved.