www.altyfans.co.uk

Well, I'm glad to say I was wrong to be worried about our attendances this season.

In fact, three quarters of us were wrong, with only 25% predicting increased attendances this season! In hindsight, one could point to several reasons for this. Still, to get crowds of over 2,000 a game finishing 14th - very nearly as many as an FC Halifax Town side challenging for promotion - is remarkable. What an achievement, and what a bright future could await us. Congratulations to all who made it happen, and thank you.

Dunham do an Alty Ale.

Don’t think our beers come from Thwaites Steve, their beers are mainly brewed by Marstons these days.

They used to do "Altrincham Pilsner" but I wasn't aware of one since then.

Mousehole....squeak....I see what you did there 😉

That reminds me, when Keynsham were due to play there midweek recently, they complained that it was further to go there than to go to Manchester. For a step five team! I suppose these geographically peripheral areas will always be problematic. Still, if it was up to me, I would allow leagues like that to reduce to ten or twelve teams to reduce travelling, at least at step 6. I suppose it would muck up the pure pyramid if they did it at step 5. (To be fair, the South Western League does have East and West divisions.

Wasn't so long ago that Carlisle City were having to travel to Oswestry in the North West Counties second division. Things are a little better now (well, apart from the Isle of Man). Still, there's perhaps one or two more things that could be changed at steps five and six.

And Bangor .

My first ever Alty match back in 1990.

I'd love to know why Barrow took us so seriously. That inhaler...

Quote from: HashtagAlty on May 04, 2022, 10:38:29 PM

I'd keep 15 of the squad:
Thompson (Drench), Mullarky, Morgan, Cooper, Jones, Perritt, Ferguson,
Mooney, Kosylo, Colclough, Pringle, Marriott, Osborne, Hulme

Happy to stay, expect may go: White, Densmore, Gould, Moult, Hancock.

Lose: Hampson, Hannigan, Densmore, Sutton, Digie, Morgan, Jackson.

Unsure: Hall, Miller, Dinanga

Think this is fairly accurate, albeit there may be the odd surprise departure. The players in the squad in the autumn of their careers such as Moult, Densmore, Sutton I can’t see this being right for them and the slightly younger ones who we know have good jobs outside of football-Hancock & Hannigan spring to mind-again part time probably suits their lifestyle better. I’m sure there’s quite a few Conference North/NPL sides who read our announcement with interest.

The spine of the team now Thompson-Mullarkey-Marriot/Osborne-Hulme I would expect all to be here next season. Hopefully both Colclough & Mooney but you can see us losing one of those two. I wonder who Stockport won’t be taking with them to League 2 as well-must be some opportunities there perhaps. All in all I’d expect a younger more stable squad with fewer ins and outs & loans next season. The fact that we’ve known since early March that we weren’t going down means we’ve had plenty of time to track players & move quickly in the summer I hope.

Interesting if people take it for granted that Hulme will leave Fylde for us. Does anyone know anything for certain about this - or may it depend on whether Fylde win the play-offs?

I suspect a lot depends on whether Halifax go for third (and thus one game less for promotion) or save for the play-offs. At any rate, they're one of the few teams in this league who ought to have a chance of beating County, so far from certain.

Quote from: Saughall Robin on April 08, 2022, 08:11:19 PM

Quote from: One Foot in the Grave on April 08, 2022, 07:24:29 PM

Lots of ex League clubs below us too. York, Kidderminster, Southport, Gateshead, Boston, Hereford, Bradford PA, Chester, Darlington, Bury, and errrmmm Macclesfield.

Don't forget Gainsborough Trinity and Glossop! 😉

Or South Shields, Gateshead, Washington, Aberdare Athletic.....

South Shields, I think, actually finished above Manchester United one season. I reckon there's massive potential for that club (South Shields that is, though I dare say there is for Manchester United too!).

By my reckoning there are 14 teams from the 1978-1987 racket who are currently not in the football league. I must say that the introduction of automatic promotion has bee n a huge success for all clubs involved. Every single club relegated from the league (rather than being voted out) currently playing in the non-league (with the exception of AFC Rushden and Diamonds, who are hardly a typical example) is getting average crowds over 1,000. This was hardly ever the case in the election days. Overall crowds have been boosted in both football league and non-league. Almost every season, the average crowds for the new clubs (i.e. not in the FL 1978-1987) has been around 3,000 or more, which compares favourably with the smaller football league clubs in the 1970's and 1980's. In the non-league, we have average crowds in the National League ov over 3,000, higher  than in the 4th division at the end of the election era; average crowds over 1,000 at step two; over 600 in the NPL Premier (higher than when we won that league in 1999); and over 400 in the NPL West, approximately equivalent to the NW Counties league of the 1980's.

As for the old days, it always astonished me that New Brighton had two separate clubs in the football league, and now have to make do with a West Cheshire league team!

I found a very interesting article the other day, commenting on some work done by a learned group at the University of Malta, following research done by 50 universities. How good is that?

It would seem to uphold my long-held belief that the earth is flat - why else would they have throw-ins at football matches? No club can afford to keep losing balls over the edge.

The article is here:
https://www.um.edu.mt/think/the-earth-is-flat/

Obviously I can’t prove this but there must be some truth in it. Why else would people keep disappearing off the planet? Clearly there is some strange phenomenon at work - some people call it death - but I don’t subscribe to the view that people get ill and die. No, they get too close to the edge and fall off.

Horses do too.  Where is Shergar? And Chris Senior? What more proof do we all need?

This article is good too:
https://www.um.edu.mt/think/misinformation-and-how-you-can-avoid-being-the-april-fool/

Ah, reminds me of the days when we used to have fake Alty sites set up by Runcorn supporters. I think it was people like that who eventually made registration necessary. But never mind, they were very very funny...

I understand that in the past, poison pen type stuff used to be illegal, but apparently it's big and clever theses days, because people are  so much wiser and more civilised now. Or something.

And no word on what counts as actual evidence either. Another person who's all mouth.

Seriously, you want nuts, take a look at Scotland's first minister cutting the bottom off classroom doors!

I know what I've seen since 12 June 2021 (16 months after this virus was detected in the UK). I know I didn't see it in the 16 months before then. Yes there was less (but not no) football and fans before then. But an article from August 2020 about covid causing myocarditis, while a start does not answer all my questions. Any useful information is welcome. However, larking about is the modern equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns.