Lost [ Sat 6th Jan ] v Gresley Rovers, KO 3pm NPLD1M HOME

[MikeHunt]

I had a cheese toastie for lunch, it was bloody handsome!

[Bob's Bitch]

Make that 30 years of watching.

I'd love to go down memory lane (and my 20 years of following) and suggest some others, but this one is so depressing and worrying at the moment. See also: the situation down the road.

[fentiger79]

Unfortunately only 9 points from the next 3 games will do. Based on today I’m not sure even 3 points is possible.

[Olly]

That's pretty much it then, relegated and we're barely in January. Only we could have lost that one 3-0, ironically I thought we were the better side for most of the game and doninated possession, but like always we play okay and lose, I've never seem a team so bad in the opponent's box, even with the new players, we always find a way to lose and the writing is always on the wall when we keep conceding these pathetic early goals. You could moan about the joke of a ref sending is down to 9 men, but ultimately that would just distract from what has been a thoroughly depressing afternoon.

9 straight defeats, I would say get rid of the manager, but at this stage, there sadly probably is no point, it's too late.

I think Michael and Tom should be throughly embarrassed after that performance. Like Groundhog Day week in week out. We've gone backwards under them and to end up on the receiving end of a 3-0 result is horrid.

Yes, changing the management isn't going to make a jot of difference. Yes, there isn't anyone else waiting to take over but that does not give Michael and Tom a free pass to serve that up week in week out. Its totally inexcusable - and they should be shown the door off the back of this result.

This must be one of the lowest points from a purely footballing point of view in the last 15 years of R&D.

I agree, we sacked Burge after a dreadful result in a key game and poor results and we should probably do the same here, you would have thought an ex pro defender for a manager would be able to sort us out defensively and particularly sort us out conceding all these early goals, but we have actually got worse in defence over the past several games, can't defend, can't score goals, no wonder we only have 4 points!

[TheIncognitoKid]

Unfortunately only 9 points from the next 3 games will do. Based on today I’m not sure even 3 points is possible.

Not even that would be enough. 5 straight wins without rugby or gresley picking up a point in that time, would onky just get us out of the relegation zone. We only have 17 games left, so with those 5 games we need maximum points from would only leave 12 games, where again we'd have to win at least half of those to pull clear. We've won 1 game and we're asking for 10 victories which is just not going to happen. Today was the final oppotunity to salvage our chances of staying up. Its a case of at this early stage of the year of trying to build a side for next season, but how many of the current squad are going to want to stick it out? Without naming names, i would think at least 3 of the current squad will leave before the end of the season and may be a case of trying to build from the foundations in the summer, for the third season in a row. Sounds like a dire situation, but we've got to try and turn things around to climb back up the leagues

[rickthediamond]

This is going to be a long post… sorry. I just wanted to lay out my current thoughts regarding our situation, as someone who has only missed one game this season and has had to watch a lot of this misery.

Firstly, the board. Anybody trying to blame the board for what is happening at the moment needs to take a second before they do so. Given how we all feel about this situation as fans, how do you think the board feel considering they are not only fans but also give up their hard earned time free of charge to keep this club afloat? I honestly think the board had a really difficult task on their hands when they took over after the EGM in 22 and are working as hard as they can to make sure we are a success.

Secondly, the management. Trust me when I say, I DO NOT think Harriman is the right man for the job, but sadly a managerial change will not help us out at this stage now. I remember the lack of enthusiasm I had when he was appointed, but held on to the hope that he knew the players and could sure up the defence. Well… the defence has only got considerably worse. With that said, I also have no doubts that Michael and Tom are working tirelessly to improve our situation, but their lack of managerial experience is ultimately their downfall. I think at this point now Harriman will have to stick it out to the end of the season and then we can reassess in the summer. Any new manager that comes in will most likely also not be of the right standard and will only demand a whole new squad which is really not helpful at this point.

Thirdly, the players. Don’t get me wrong, when I watch performances like I did today, I get really infuriated, but to be honest it’s not always their fault. We know some members of this squad (including those that left) are not good enough, hence why we are rock bottom and many of them were signed from step 5 or 6 (even 7 in some cases). It’s not their fault that they play for us, or get picked - the only time I get frustrated with the players at this point is when they clearly don’t show the effort required, which for the most part (except a couple of them) is not often. I think some of the players we have signed recently are of the correct quality, but it’s too little too late.

So, we are facing a back to back relegation. People want to appropriate blame, but again, that helps absolutely nobody. All we can do as a club is try to move forward from this point onwards and learn from these things. There are many things I personally have learned from this season (and last). One being the fact that you simply cannot sign a wholly young and inexperienced squad, this may be a no brainer to most but for some reason I thought Nunn’s business was astute in pre season (how wrong was I). Another is that you shouldn’t always give a manager 10 games to prove themselves. I was an advocate for letting Chris have the first 10 games and in hindsight, it wasn’t the correct decision. The signs were actually there in preseason that we were going to struggle (think back to the Wellingborough game). Lastly, is saving budget always a good thing? I believe, as per some posts on here that for large parts of this season we were under budget. If that’s correct, it’s proved costly. We clearly have the money now to bring in some step 4 quality players but we’ve been left in a situation where no one wants to join. We have Emery now, but how long were we trying to sign a striker for?!

Lastly, I want to talk about the club in general and where we stand. To be honest as fans who watched RDFC in their glory days, since AFCRD was formed we have always had delusions of grandeur. I really hope that changes now, we have absolutely no right to be playing step 3 football or higher! Football is a tough ol business and we will go on to experience this again at some point in this clubs existence, that’s part of being a fan! You stick through the bad times, to deserve the good times. We’ve been absolutely spoilt with good times over the years. With that said, and on to a more serious matter, what is the actual likelihood that we are going to be in big trouble financially if we get relegated? I have had my suspicions that if we were to face relegation again that we as a club would once again face a significant shortfall. Is this true? If it is, can we please all start planning now to make sure we can get through this summer and still have a club to support for next season. We need to mobilise now. I think it would be good to maybe get a part owners update at some point around the eventualities and consequences of relegation.

Again, sorry for the long post. Love this club to pieces.

[sussexdiamond]

Disgraceful decision to interview Labour candidate and to draw politics into the club or can we expect Peter Bone to be interviewed on Tuesday,followed by the Greens, Reform and Lib Dems. As far as I am aware she has never been to a match,and probably never will again, pure electioneering. Shame on those responsible for this.

[rickthediamond]

Disgraceful decision to interview Labour candidate and to draw politics into the club or can we expect Peter Bone to be interviewed on Tuesday,followed by the Greens, Reform and Lib Dems. As far as I am aware she has never been to a match,and probably never will again, pure electioneering. Shame on those responsible for this.

Whatever you think of the decision, I’m pretty sure it is being done to garner support for the NH Project in the future.

[GreekDiamond]

Disgraceful decision to interview Labour candidate and to draw politics into the club or can we expect Peter Bone to be interviewed on Tuesday,followed by the Greens, Reform and Lib Dems. As far as I am aware she has never been to a match,and probably never will again, pure electioneering. Shame on those responsible for this.

Calm down, it’s already been mentioned on Twitter that the other parties have been in contact, with visits planned. Not to mention it’s all to highlight what the club does in the community and might come in handy for the new home project and how the club can work together with the future MP of the area. Which I think would be pretty important don’t you!?

[Dazzler]

Post match interviews with AFCRDTV