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[RocketDan]

1) Be realistic in our expectations, particularly given squad size, budget etc

is it an unrealistic expectation for us not to f**k up a 2-0 lead everyweek?

Also considering the size of our attendance (which is double most in the league) and a higher admission prices, is it not only right we should expect one of the largest budgets in this league and be competing for play off spots?

[Toff Apple]

I know that I'm getting on a bit and the memory isn't what it was.

However, I'm seeming to remember that when we appointed the current management people were happy(ish) on the whole and were being quite unusually reasonable with regard to their expectations.

Before a ball had been kicked pre season the concensus seemed to be that this would probably be a two year project - We had been out of this level of football for some time, the Club had spent the past few years fighting relegation and had around it a pessimistic air (on the field) and most importantly we had a new management team, new players and consequently would be having to find a way to combine old and new players into what may have been a different system for many of them.

Then we have the pre seasons and, on the whole things went not too badly, we performed okay against a Man City side operating at about 40 - 50% of capacity, beat a poor Tranmere side, struggled for half a game against Trafford then battered them for 45 minutes. Were dissected by Stockport and played a fairly typical Barrow team (World beaters one week then worse than a pub team the next)

People's expectations looked up!

We are now seven games into the season with a squad of sixteen plus three youth teamers and the Assistant Manager and yet already the knives are out.


This is a hard league - it has changed significantly from the one we escaped from via the play offs. Can we not just step back a bit, put this superiority complex (pub teams, tinpot league etc) out of our minds and do the following

1) Be realistic in our expectations, particularly given squad size, budget etc

2) Give the Club (players, management, staff etc) time to resolve the issues. If we can see them then I'm bloody sure they can and I'm also bloody sure that they are doing everything in their power to resolve them

3) Our fans over the years have in general given magnificent support even when things have been less than ideal. Can we please carry on doing so?

You are spot on ATS, this doesn't mean you can't express your opinion after a  poor performance but I'm a bit irritated by the lack of time given to sinnott before the knives have come out

[whopper]

Sinnot obviously has realistic expectations too that's why he's changed things so drastically so you won't have to wait he has already seen faults while u lot were busy saying let's be patient, try again....

[Narcissist]

Agreed.  Let's put it this way. Who on here was genuinely opposed to Sinnott's appointment? Who moaned when jones was signed? Dissenting voices over pre season? Not a lot.

I'm not happy with how things have started, but I'm not just thinking about now. It's perfectly natural to moan after a poor result. But we have to stay optimistic and think long term. Sinnott needs to be left to get on with it. He is no worse a manager now than he was last month.

Also, I want us promoted, I want us to win every match possible. But we are not too good or big for this league and for as long as a small section of fans stick their noses up at it and call it tinpot or a hellhole then I suspect we will be staying longer than we'd like. 

I concur with the sentiment that we should avoid acting like Billy Big Bollocks. However, the attitude of fans at matches and on this forum will have pretty much no impact on whether we get promoted or not.

I will never forget Andy Reid coming up to the Alty fans at Colwyn Bay many years ago in the Trophy and said 'Lets just get the win and get out of here, what a dump.'

Needless to say we didnt win and had to go to a little needed replay. One might argue that our sentiments do travel into the dressing rooms from time to time.

Possibly, although players and managers do have minds of their own.

They're perfectly capable of thinking a team/ground/league is sh*t without encouragement from supporters.

I think that, on occasion, we can overestimate our importance in terms of what we think and what our attitudes are. If the players and management have any degree of professionalism about them they should give a moments thought to what is written on this forum.

Agree, but it's not to say we never have an impact. We believe our positive energy helps them, ie support, why not the negative side too? Also, general sentiment of fans isnt necessarily unparrallel to that of club staff including players. True tho that it's blown out of proportion.

[Narcissist]

Sinnot obviously has realistic expectations too that's why he's changed things so drastically so you won't have to wait he has already seen faults while u lot were busy saying let's be patient, try again....

What does go on in your dome man?

[Butty]

1) Be realistic in our expectations, particularly given squad size, budget etc

is it an unrealistic expectation for us not to f**k up a 2-0 lead everyweek?

Also considering the size of our attendance (which is double most in the league) and a higher admission prices, is it not only right we should expect one of the largest budgets in this league and be competing for play off spots?

I know, lets sack off football, and make league tables based upon entry revenue alone. Some clubs in the league may have better non matchday facilities, higher paying sponsors, ect. so we may not neccessarily have one of the largest budgets in the league.

[York Alty]

everything is not hunkydory in the garden, we know that and so does Lee and so do the players.

I still believe this is a 2 year project (I may be wrong but who knows) - have confidence and remember there is only

ONE ALTY

[TheCultOfIanTunnacliffe]

This is a hard league - it has changed significantly from the one we escaped from via the play offs. Can we not just step back a bit, put this superiority complex (pub teams, tinpot league etc) out of our minds

Whilst I agree with this sentiment, I do feel obliged to point out that during the pre-season Q & A session in the NWS, our current Assistant Manager was extremely disparaging about the standard of football that we could expect to see played by other teams in this league whilst intimating that, in contrast, we would be pursuing football of a much higher quality.

From what I've seen so far, he seems rather to have misjudged things!

Whilst we have enjoyed some spells of decent play, there has been far too much default hoofing from us and that has been truly disappointing.



 
 

[whopper]

i dont think you can have a two year project with part time players unless you are succesfull, all im saying is if we dont get promoted this season then we mayl have to wait a long time,
are best players will leave and we are at risk of being swamped by higher rollers fc united, chester etc

[Saughall Robin]

i dont think you can have a two year project with part time players unless you are succesfull, all im saying is if we dont get promoted this season then we mayl have to wait a long time, are best players will leave and we are at risk of being swamped by higher rollers fc united, chester etc

Just a couple of points to make here;

1. The two year project, as I understood it was for the Club on the basis of the first year being a consolidation season paying back the overspend of last year and staying in the black whilst trying to remain competitive - hence the signing of Sinnott, a manager with lots of BSN experience

2. It seems an accurate assessment that if we don't get promoted this year it may be a long time but we shouldn't throw money at it because of (1)

3. If we won promotion this year (which aint going to happen, realistically, although I still fervently hope it does) we would undoubtedly be in the same position as the last few years i.e. fight rearguard actions every week.

3.  The only way to go up and stay up is to have a strikeforce which has tons of goals in it - i.e. when Colin was here and Senior, Denham etc were chipping in. Look at Hyde this year with Spencer. Look at recent examples like like Southport and Fleetwood. I know the money situation is totally different between these two but the one who got the strikers did well (obviously!). Even FGR have realised this with over the years a series of prolific strikers such as MacDonald and Mangan - the latest of which is Styche, to score them the goals to keep them up. Bath was another example from last year I think.

4. FCUM and Chester ARE looming but there's nothing we can do about that and, as other posters have noted, just having bigger support doesn't necessarily mean success (otherwise we'd be in the top six now!)

5. Yes, it IS sh*t watching the Supers come unstuck more often than we all expected but we've got to believe that the team and management don't like what's happening as much (if not more) than us. That being the case, they will be trying to change things for the better as soon as they can.

6. I think we've got to accept that the phrase "two year plan" is a euphemism for "as soon as we can build a team that is good enough" and try not to get obsessed by timescales.

[Mick]

I am loathed to mention this again; but as things currently stand in the Conference, is there any place in the Conference for teams with average attendances below 1500 who do not have a major benefactor ?

Without the above, it can only be sustainable by generating income from cup runs (not guaranteed) and by other teams around overspending and being kicked-out (almost guaranteed)

None of the above though is a reason not to try and get promoted. It just means that it is so hard to stay up for any longer than a few seasons.

[hsmith1]

Tinpot league,we should be beating teams like this,i have heard these statements before somewhere and remember some of the comments when the likes of Luton said those words.Lets not fall into that trap.

[Saughall Robin]

Tinpot league,we should be beating teams like this,i have heard these statements before somewhere and remember some of the comments when the likes of Luton said those words.Lets not fall into that trap.

Think it's too late for that. Quite a few already have! The best thing to do now is to draw a line under that attitude and move onwards and, hopefully, upwards.

[Uncle Globnasty]

Tinpot league,we should be beating teams like this,i have heard these statements before somewhere and remember some of the comments when the likes of Luton said those words.Lets not fall into that trap.

Think it's too late for that. Quite a few already have! The best thing to do now is to draw a line under that attitude and move onwards and, hopefully, upwards.

Alas, I fear some have emotional issues and are unable to move on....they still believe in Father Xmas, the tooth fairy, a divine right to superiority and a bottomless pit of money based on some half-baked notion of a popularity linked financial status.

[Ballers]

Tinpot league,we should be beating teams like this,i have heard these statements before somewhere and remember some of the comments when the likes of Luton said those words.Lets not fall into that trap.

Yes, and we knew that Luton had no idea what league they were going into. We on the other hand have been here before for 5 years, so we know what it's about and it's still reasonable to view it in those terms.

There's a big difference between being unprepared for clubs with 1200 fans who have resources to build a team and being unable to cope with clubs of 200 fans.

Having been told that attendances, budgets etc make a difference for the past 5 ears the same should apply now. I swear if we got relegated into the Unibond Premier some of the brainwashed on here would come up with exactly the same stuff.