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[Amsterdam Alty]

Yes I can see that finishing 17th after losing most of your games is infinitely more thrilling than an FA Cup run which ends up playing a top club in the 3rd round. I guess it's all about what you go to football for.

no need for that,

most people who follow this club are aware of our previous mis-spendings and realise we are lucky to be playing at this level, so come on look at this from the welfare of the club, finishing 17th IS infinitly more exciting than a third round game, it means we have confrence football at the club for another year meaning top quality derbys for us to go to on boxing day

trips to 15,000 seater stadiums,

talk of facilitating 1000 away fans,

all that excites me more than going brighton to lose 8-0, or chelsea to lose 6-1 why would it not,

seeing lewis chalmers coming on to become a top quality player, and having steve bush in the center or and lets be honest colin little upfront (even someone so  alty would have to leave if we went down)

all in all if we end this year in 17th i'll be happy because were still here not in the conf north. There are teams like, it would seem, like farsley who can get in better players at a lower level due to money, so we are doing extremely well.

oh and UC i go to football because i support a club i love and would love at any level be it northwest counties or confrence and above one day (god willing). not for a oneoff game against the big boys

[Unemployed Coalminer]

Which would be why last season I went to 33 out of 45 league, cup, trophy and CSC games.

[gazwarrington]

not lacking ambition but a realistic aim.

I would say staying up this season is showing ambition, we are one of only a handful of part time teams and to stay up would be an achievement in my book.

I would imagine every fan would want us to win everything but circumstances dictate events and being part time in a mainly full time league and staying up would be a greater achievement than beating Scarboro, Alfreton and co in the Conference North.

What would be a bigger achievement, Getting in the play offs in the Conference North or staying in the Conference National ? We are one of the smallest clubs in the league and surely staying up is a great achievement for the club.

A few seasons of stabilising in the league and then maybe we can push for better things when we have a little extra income to use (next season).

Altrincham FC are AHEAD of schedule on and off the pitch and lets be honest very few of us (including me) expected Conference National football so soon. Surely to maintain Conference National football is what its all about this season ?

[Bob]

So the only ambition we should have is not get relegated each season. Marvellous.

No, but it is our priority.  Where have people said that we don't want the club to win things?  I think you are confusing ambition with expectation.  

[Unemployed Coalminer]

And some people are allowing their expectations to stifle their ambition.

[gazwarrington]

My ambition is that Altrincham FC will one day be a League side.

My expectations this season are for Altrincham FC to stay up. This does not mean I do not want them to progress but that I expect a hard and difficult season in a league that is full of clubs who are full time unlike ourselves.

If we had money then I would expect more but current circumstances means staying in the league is what I want us to achieve.

[Unemployed Coalminer]

That's more like it. All you missed out was winning the Trophy and reaching the 3rd round of the FA Cup next season.

[Amsterdam Alty]

UC i think you have been misreading realism for passion and ambition, which is why this thread has swelled to such a size

[Bob]

And some people are allowing their expectations to stifle their ambition.

Ambition is what you ultimately want. Expectation is what you think you should realistically achieve.

[Red N White Dynamite]

Yes I can see that finishing 17th after losing most of your games is infinitely more thrilling than an FA Cup run which ends up playing a top club in the 3rd round. I guess it's all about what you go to football for.

I didn't say "more thrilling" I said "more important".

[Unemployed Coalminer]

UC i think you have been misreading realism for passion and ambition, which is why this thread has swelled to such a size

I kicked off my rant because passionless and ambitionless way people seemed to be reacting to going out of the Trophy. It's not unrealistic to think that Altrincham could have had a chance of winning the Trophy this year when as a lower league club we reached round five.  What league were Burscough and Hednesford in when they won it?

Cue replies along the lines that not winning things is more important than winning things.

[Bob]

UC i think you have been misreading realism for passion and ambition, which is why this thread has swelled to such a size

I kicked off my rant because passionless and ambitionless way people seemed to be reacting to going out of the Trophy. It's not unrealistic to think that Altrincham could have had a chance of winning the Trophy this year when as a lower league club we reached round five.  What league were Burscough and Hednesford in when they won it?

Cue replies along the lines that not winning things is more important than winning things.

Yeah and where are Burscough and Hednesford now? Three figure crowds and you'll have to squint to see their results in some newspapers.  I am gutted that we are out of the Trophy, but I'm looking long term and trying to be positive out of the situation. Nothing wrong with that is there?

[Jimmy Hill]

Cue replies along the lines that not winning things is more important than winning things.

Or to put it in a less misleading way:

Cue replies along the lines that staying in the Conference is more important than winning the FA Trophy.

[gazwarrington]

Its all about reassessing whats going on.

We can dwell on the trophy exit and let it effect us or we can dismiss it and just get on with the next job of staying in the Conference National.

Personally I'd rather forget about, not dwell on it and get back to our good league form.

Might as well take some positives out of it, ie less games to play than be worrying about it and being negative. That is my humble opinion, as I'm sure you all know by now  

Beating Tamworth would not have guaranteed us beating Welling anyway so we weren't going to definitley win the trophy.  Yes it would have been an extra couple of grand but at least now we know it wouldn't have effected our league position.

and YES staying in the Conference National is more important than winning the FA Trophy. You ask Burscough or Hednesford if they'd swap their FA Trophy win to be a conference national club, I'd bet they wouldn't have to think twice for their reply.


To use a Geoff Goodwin phrase "The past does not equal the future"
i think the older fans were very lucky to see altrincham as a successful non league club and still believe we should be there as the younger fans have never really seen the success so don't expect it.

Anyone who watched altrincham in the 70's & 80's (you lucky so and so's ... really jealous) seem to expect more than those that have been watching more recently.

You have seen the glory days and know what its all about, you probably still see Altrincham as that club. but I'm afraid we are not that club anymore. We are no longer the main club in the top flight of non league football and its took us a long time and hard work to get back to the standard of conference national. One day we will challenge again but its all about one step at a time and being realistic.

One trophy defeat to a team in the same league as us is not the end of the season, far from it. The hard work is still to be done on and off the pitch so maybe next season we can challenge a little better

[Ballers]

Unemployed Coalminer

A couple of points

1) 2 matches a week are not beneficial for a part time side in a full time league. Full time players with knocks get round the clock massage and treatment, they don't work and they travel down in comfort, a day off here a golf day there. Our lads with knocks have to go to work, even if they have a calf strain and if that involves sitting at a desk 9-5 or carrying carpets or something up flights of stairs then they still have to do it. We need 1 game a week, not every 2 weeks as we lose sharpness but no more than twice a week really. Do you think Eddie Hussin would have taken nigh on 2 years to recover had he been a full time footballer?

2) I think, I think I know what you are getting at (you haven't expressed it well) in that last season when we were getting beat 0-5 we jsyt said oh well what do you expect? I argued then that we could put up more fight and now we do. i don't think anyone is chuffed at getting beat by Tamworth but just rightly saying that its more improtant we stay up and at least if there is a good side to it we can concentrate on that now. You go on about £4,000, for Gods sake man we take that much extra almost in gate receipts for each Conf Nat game compared to Conf North.

3) A cup run every so often is essential, we haven't woken up the towns people, our achievements over the past few years have been massive but not realised. Now we are in a good league with attractive fixtures, is the time to try and capitalise on that. Those cup tie supporters are far more likely to come to the next game if it's against York City rather than Hucknall. However, it's bloody difficult. We've had some poor draws really, last home tie against lower league oppo? I wasn't at the game Stadee but all I can say is that Tamworth were a far tougher nut to crack at ML than they were when we beat thm in the league.

4) You would rather see us competitive in conf North. Fine, but why, surely the point of winning games there qwould be to get promoted here otherwise it's a hollow victory no?

5) Do you really think anyone at the club is trying to stand still? Seriously, fr Gods sake, we've strengthened the squad over the summer, we're a slightly better side, almost mid table as opposed to truly in teh bottom reaches. We just need to clear our debts. That £4k would have gone to them, once we're clear that would pay for a good left back for the rest of the season. It's just not particularly possible. Why do you think we're extending our community work? Why are we looking at redeveloping the ground? Why have we extended the playing budget from last year.

6) AND FINALLY, if I can be brutally honest, I think you're a bit weird. You say you've been to 33+ games last year whilst on confguide saying you just don't go anymore. I don't really know which, thats up to you but we'll say you've watched however amny games it is throughout the years. Well, if you have an argument to point out, I suggest you dn't fill it with utter sh*te like you did before with the weirdest staement I've ever heard.

'This is the least inspiring Alty team Ive seen since I started watching again in 1994'

Now I'll say that the lads dopn't have me in flashbacks of Sholwer and McKenna and the gang but I think you're just seeking attention here! Less inspiring than the relegation side of 1997 with ian Horrigan in midfield? The next years mob with Gus Waring on the right of midfield ratehr than Robbie Lawton? Less than the last relegation team we had? Less even than some of the nonentities that we had in our lowest Unibond years, like when we lost our first 4 games about 0-4? Dave Swanick? David Wills? Chris Barton? Nick Stephens? Chris Young?

I'm giving you a goodwin for that one