TOWN on TOUR! Altrincham FC

Couldnt agree more with the previous comments. Ive been watching town now since Aspins last season,so all ive really known is the weaver era. Its the same every season.
Something is fundamentally wrong without doubt.

Well for the first time in years we have a new assistant Manager in the dugout!

Who I presume will have a bit of a say in any potential new signings for next season.
So in that respect things have changed!!!

Correct, but with all due respect to Thirlwell, wasn't this a safe appointment by the Weavers? A 'beginner' who would not challenge Simon? I was desperately hoping we would be bold and appoint an assistant ( dare I say joint) manager with real experience at this level or higher: I was obviously foolish to imagine such a thing! Despite everything it's a plaything for the Weavers: sorry.

The "building a foundation" stuff is starting to wear thin on me. All I hear is "simon fails but its ok we are building a champion league stadium and have corporate £££££ hanging out of our backsides"...but what good is that if you can only fill the ground by inviting the local army youth (who I will add, will end up scattered around all over the world so wont ever follow Harrogate) and serve up complete shite on the pitch. Oh and then if we do have an ok week on the pitch it is marred by either a blunder by mr communicator or the security people. I have just had enough!

Infact I would rather all of this went away and we dropped a league, at least then I could enjoy my few hours at the footy, hence why I am going to seek that somewhere else.

That's fair enough Trev, free country and all that. I hope we don't drop any divisions and build a strong team for next season. Thirlwell is a good choice, has bags of experience and is driven. Next batch of signings are critical.

I don't think it's the next batch of signings that's the most crucial thing. I don't think that the 'ship 'em in , ship 'em out strategy is necessarily the answer.It doesn't matter who is in or out, if we don't play any football - and for a while we' haven't, we don't need to bring in anyone else with any ability or talent to just kick the ball in to the air and run after it: We have those now on the whole. Players have come and gone with alarming regularity in my opinion and that hasn't worked particulatly well so far. I believe that the more crucial thing is deciding how we actually want to play and then look carefully at each individual player to decide whether or not they have the capacity, potential and the right attitude to move us forward. I wouldn't want full time status to become all about how much money a player can earn.

Agreed blinker. My point about the next set of signings follows your points. As mentioned elsewhere, our choice of striker for instance will dictate some of the play i.e. a Denton type attacker. We desperately need continuity with our players but we need the right ones. Either as a group we have underperformed this season or we need new players in. Season end will tell I suppose but this league is formidable and only going to get tougher. At the moment we are competing with Tamworth, Gloucester and Brackley. That still leaves 7 teams above us who are getting out of sight!

Agree Blinker. Every year we bring in 'star' signings and every year I get excited (I never learn!), and they usually under perform and rarely last more than a season, sometimes less. Brayson? Walshaw? Kirk Jackson? Many others. We obviously need a spine of decent players, but they need to be youngish and with scope to develop. I am hoping that Agnew will be such a player, would like to have seen him get more playing time. Of the current squad Kerry is surely worth another year, as his Colbeck and Leesley. I had high hopes of Thanoj (the star signing of the summer I thought), and he hasn't been a bad player, but hasn't been the dominant force I thought he would be. I guess Turner and Crook and Shiels will stay (assuming they want full time football). Ainge as well (but please Simon not as our main striker!). Pittman has goal scoring potential, but needs specialist striking support. Sad for Knowles, but he is surely too injury prone to persevere with (what do people think?).

As I have said before we really need to get the striker situation sorted, otherwise nothing else really matters. This year was farcical, unavoidable to some extent, but the club appeared to have no fall back strategy. Pittman, yes, and three other youngish, hungry strikers, with no history of long term injuries. Maybe one of the three could be an older player, but the choice of new strikers will be crucial in these close season, in my view.

A good mix of rising stars and waning moons, properly managed is needed in my opinion