Halifax at home

Would be nice if our Director of Communications actually, you know, communicated with us. A lot to ask I know.

paulstreet wrote:Would be nice if our Director of Communications actually, you know, communicated with us. A lot to ask I know.

Ha ha. Good luck with that one.

The guy is an absolute idiot. He and Garry Plant have ruined the great relationship which was made last season.

Not sure how many season ticket holders we have however I'm pretty certain it will be in decline next season if these buffoons are still in situ.

They waltz around the place like they are a different class to everyone else. I can handle the **** football but I don't want to see the club I supported before those prats were born run to the ground.

Looking in from across the pond and i must admit this last 2 months has made pretty dismal viewing indeed. I hear people saying the injury list has been bad, and yes after a long season this tends to happen. But hey, suck it up buttercups, there are 22 other teams in this league who also have to play the same amount of games as us and all have the same injury problems. But be all and end all answer is simply that we are not good enough to be in a promotion push and at this time of the season the table doesn't lie i'm afraid.
Town have fell short yet again and as i have posted in the past this is all down to poor management of the team. In the past it could have been said that Town were punching above their weight !! but surly this is not the case anymore? we now have the infrastructure in place and the financial backing to be pushing for promotion, so what has happened at Town. Yes, this was a much tougher nut to crack what with some heavyweight teams around this season, but still we have gone backwards not forwards. I have been following football or soccer as they say over here lol, and one trend i find is that the form you tend to finish your last ten games always seems to carry over into next season. This may not always be the case but it really does seem to be the case in most leagues.
This whole situation with Simon as Manager really has to be addressed, its pretty easy for me to be saying this from 4000 miles away in snowy Canada, but it is the fans whole have to deal with this now, after all it is our club and without you guys who turn up week in week out there would be no club. Fan power is everything and it works!!!!!

I think most of us agree that the principle 'problem' is that we don't have the right manager in charge. after 7 years, 6 with a decent budget, probably one of the best in the league, and with shedloads of quality players being shipped in every year, nothing ever really changes. Yes, we achieved a play off place last season, and I was prepared to change my mind about Simon, I thought he might, finally, have 'got it'. That is why this season has been a massive disappointment. We started well and then from the end of the year it has more or less collapsed. Yes we have had injuries, but, as you rightly say Crowbar, so do other teams. In fact we were able to field strong teams pretty well every game I seem to recall.

With hindsight you could argue that last season was a 'blip', helped by the unlikely goal scoring feats of Daniels. This season seems like a return to normal. The sad truth is that, year after year, good players come in, and, for whatever reason, fail to live up to their billing. It cannot be a coincidence. What is the one constant in all of this? Yes, the manager. I sincerely hope that Agnew breaks this habit next season!

Remember that bookies aren't daft and we were clear second favourites at the start of this season. I think most of us thought (including me) that the play offs were a minimum requirement.

Was it Einstein who said that the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Never knew he was a Town fan! Well, full time IS something different so let us see what happens. Sadly changing the manager is outside our control. The club sees attendances going up so will doubtless feel smug about the situation. As I have said before I love the club, so will keep going regardless. Hoping for a miracle, hoping that, somehow, Simon manages to get it right eventually. It will be interesting to see what quality of player comes in, and what the bookies make of our chances come August. Doubt we will be second favourites again.

Hi Paulstreet,some good points as always, so i guess we all get to watch the annual Harrogate Town player cull and revolving door yet again. Even more so with full time looming. So we start again next season carrying the end of this seasons poor form with us and a whole new team again lol. I agree the early bookies betting odds in a few months time should make very different reading indeed, there will still be some big clubs hiding around each corner with the likes of Kiddy, Halifax, Darlo and the rest of the playoff group still hanging around minus one of them.
Hypocritical as it seems with being so far away, i still believe that fan pressure is the only way to get Simon to move up to D of F, or to quit altogether. I personally think he would do a good job as a Director of Football. The fan base has taken an up would turn and we are getting numbers through the turn stiles which is something we have struggled to do in the past. I think this is mainly down to the better facilities now and Town has had a pretty sleepy bunch of fans in the past with very little or no singing, this seems to have changed a bit with a small group of vocal funs making it a more fun experience during match days, also there are bigger more well supported teams especially away support which will affect our crowd averages substantially. I have a feeling that as people get used to the new surroundings and if results continue to trend downwards then so will the attendances. A few Simon for D OF f banners and chants is pretty peaceful and making a point lol.

Yes Crowbar, the DoF solution seems the 'obvious' one to pretty well everyone except, it would seem, the one who really matters: Simon's dad! I think Simon would be good as the DoF. He is articulate and would make a good 'public face' for the club. There is after all a lot, football wise, going on: the various junior teams, the ladies team, all the involvement with the Community etc. He would certainly be kept busy!

We could then appoint a First Team Coach/Manager. It would be essential that he was given full control of first team matters. Clearly he would liase with the DoF re: signings etc. but after that he would have full responsibility. The advantage, of course, would be that if he failed he could be replaced much more easily! The bugbear I guess would be would any decent candidate feel they had the freedom to manage as they wished?

One of the frustrating things about Simon's stranglehold on the manager's job the last 7 years (it only feels longer), is that we have never had the chance to see what another manager could have done with the budget, facilities etc. Billy Heath performed miracles to get Ferriby up (wonder what the budget was?), Adam Lockwood and Mark Bower have been impressive. And that is only to mention the local names. A club with Town's money and ambitions would surely attract high quality applicants, especially if they were given full control of first team matters.

Oh well, dream on Mr Street! Still, if anyone from the club read this, maybe you could smuggle a print out to Irving! It preserves Simon's role at the club (indeed enhances it), but gives us a chance to break the deadlock of the last 7 years, and really take the club forward.

You know it makes sense!

paulstreet wrote:Yes Crowbar, the DoF solution seems the 'obvious' one to pretty well everyone except, it would seem, the one who really matters: Simon's dad!  I think Simon would be good as the DoF. He is articulate and would make a good 'public face' for the club. There is after all a lot, football wise, going on: the various junior teams, the ladies team, all the involvement with the Community etc. He would certainly be kept busy!

We could then appoint a First Team Coach/Manager. It would be essential that he was given full control of first team matters. Clearly he would liase with the DoF re: signings etc.  but after that he would have full responsibility. The advantage, of course, would be that if he failed he could be replaced much more easily!   The bugbear I guess would be would any decent candidate feel they had the freedom to manage as they wished?  

One of the frustrating things about Simon's stranglehold on the manager's job the last 7 years (it only feels longer), is that we have never had the chance to see what another manager could have done with the budget, facilities etc. Billy Heath performed miracles to get Ferriby up (wonder what the budget was?), Adam Lockwood and Mark Bower have been impressive. And that is only to mention the local names. A club with Town's money and ambitions would surely attract high quality applicants, especially if they were given full control of first team matters.  

Oh well, dream on Mr Street!   Still, if anyone from the club read this, maybe you could smuggle a print out to Irving!  It preserves Simon's role at the club (indeed enhances it),  but gives us a chance to break the deadlock of the last 7 years, and really take the club forward.

You know it makes sense!

Don't want this serial loser anywhere near this club he's had his chance and failed

Again, well put Paulstreet and to your point rangerider, yes i am with you there but we all know this ain't going to happen any time soon so moving on up to DoF is pretty much the best that can happen out of a shitty situation, and as mentioned he actually might be pretty good at the job lol.