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[ioko]

I got off my death bed and walked to Moss Lane on Saturday to watch 90 mins of absolute drivel. It was cr*p of the highest order. However, little did I know that the poor performance was largely down to the poor crowd ......

In the NL Paper today, Graham Heathcote says of yesterday's Trophy game, "I come from an era when the Trophy was important to this club. But we had 620 here when the average gate is 1000 so people obviously don't think it's that important. There was no buzz about the place and that contributed to a flat game".   

Im sorry, but as 1 of the 620 there who paid to watch the Sunday League performance, I expect more than that from Heathcote - he was the one last week who was downplaying the FAT.

I know he is viewed as untouchable in many eyes, but for his side to produce that and then refer to the crowd is a joke. If he had wanted to encourage the crowd a little, maybe bringing Bowler on for O'Neill and thus going from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1 wasnt the best idea - albeit for a short period. 

Sorry, but I think thats pretty p1ss poor of him.

[Daycare Dan]

I know he is viewed as untouchable in many eyes, but for his side to produce that and then refer to the crowd is a joke. If he had wanted to encourage the crowd a little, maybe bringing Bowler on for O'Neill and thus going from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1 wasnt the best idea - albeit for a short period. 

Sorry, but I think thats pretty p1ss poor of him.

Looked to me like Robbie went along side Little during that period so it was still 4-4-2.

[Alty Dave]

GH is not untouchable, how the players perform is not just down to him, the players should have needed no motivation from GH.

I agree it was a poor performance, and why we contributed I do not know, perhaps he was deflecting his dissappointment at us, I am sure the players will have had a talking too!

We need to move on and regroup for tomorrow, lets hope thay are more positive?

[Unemployed Coalminer]

My view is probably a very unfashionable one. I'd rather see Altrincham compete in a league where the budgets available allow them to do that - compete. Scratching around in the Conference with players who are not up to standard, and then not having the money to replace them with anyone better is no fun for anyone.

[Mrs Warbouys]

Surely we will be able to compete better next year once the debts have gone, everyone has their own opinions ,but for my money beating sh*t like worskop 4-0 infront of 602 is tiresome.Give me 300 exeter fans on the away end and trips to the likes of oxford any day.

[Timperley The Best]

lets hope the creaney deal goes through and some money all be it sensibly can be spent on brining in 2 or 3 new faces which are much needed imo

[Bob]

For all the struggles we'll have in this league, it is still much preferable to Conference North. The actual profile and stature of the club is much higher now.  Also, if we dropped down there is no guarantee that we'd stay as a big fish in the smaller pond.

I am vehemently opposed to us getting into debt just to stay in a higher division, but to say we'd be better off in a lower division is ridiculous.

The key is the Craney deal and the Chequers deal as to the short term and then long term future.

By the way for Graham to attribute Saturday's snoozathon to the crowd is bizarre.  We got promoted on similar gates!

[Mick]

I agree; your view is an unfashionable one, albeit I fully appreciate what you mean !

However where would you draw the line with this view............I put a lot of the 'success' of FC United (novelty aside, cheap version of Man Utd for youngs kids aside) down to the fact that they can 'compete' every game with their opposition ie hammer them cos they can afford better players.

Surely we want to compete at the highest level possible without going bust in the process. Derby's with Vics (and Macc) rather than 35 coming here from Droylsden and Hyde. We will be competing soon with a team that won the League Cup not long ago.

Your point is a good one though, because footy fans are normally fickle. The danger with just staying up each season (fantastic by the way -  heres hoping) is that the floating fans stop coming once a team is not seen to be winning every week

[Unemployed Coalminer]

Don't get me wrong, I'd hate to see us relegated, I just sometimes wish we hadn't got promoted yet, but then again I wouldn't have missed that roller coaster run the play-off final victory for anything. But while Altrincham FC is part-time and the Conference is full-time it will always be this much of a struggle. And until Altrincham has the support or backing for full-time football i'd rather see us in a part-time league. I just wish the Conference was still part-time.

As for FC United, they are (were) steamrollering their league until recently but they've had setbacks. To be fair to them (yes!) they could never have predicted how much they would be able to budget for their playing squad, and they didn't choose to start where they did. They had 1800 for the FA Vase game against Quorn  on a day when MUFC were at home, so that is probably a reflection of their hardcore support which is more than some people (can't think who) predicted. They need to be in Unibond Premier or higher before things will get realistic. Their recent bad results have probably been as a result of some predictable complacency. I mean how hard do you train if you think you are going to win 8-0 every week?

[Jenga]

Altrincham is Conference Club and it should stay like that.

The last thing we need is to get relegated.

Oh and Graham, your comment on the fans is not the best way to motivate the paying public to come and watch football.

Lets face it, can we turn it around perhaps. You say the club is steeped in history in the FA Trophy. Should it therefore even need the crowd to get the players up for the match?

Yours Disappointingly
Jenga

[Daycare Dan]

Yes we are a conference club, but we should not try and keep this status at the expense of the long term stability of the club. We are clearing the debts and living within our means, do you really want to go back to the situation of being £100k's in debt and not knowing if the club will still be there next Saturday?

[hsmith1]

As one who watched the team when GH played i know what he means just by 600+fans being in the ground the atmostphere is not going to be the same as 1000,but remember that most of that crowd were alty fans as Tamworth on brought up about 50 and it was the week before xmas.But remember we are not doing bad,how may teams will come away from the likes of Oxford with a point this season.Alright we have dropped into the relagation zone,but we have had some tough games of late.We will pick points and the Conferance is right for now,2nd division would be better lol

[ioko]

Maybe GH could have thanked those 620 who did pitch up .... and maybe apologised.

[SW]

The early rounds of the Trophy have attracted low gates for years, especially since it moved from Wembley. Look at Saturday, 349 at Grass Green Rovers, 881 at Stevenage. Even the 1576 at Exeter is poor by their standards and the 2600 or so at Aldershot was boosted by 1200 or so AFC W fans. Don't forget its nearly Xmas plus season ticket holders must pay and are only counted if they come along too!

[CB]

*We* know the reason for the low turnout, it's a shame GH doesn't.