non league paper

a bit of information harrogate town got a report in the non league paper yesterday from the game against corby at the keepmoat near the back page by the groundhopper in case anyone wants to have a look good luck for remainder of season

Yep, saw that. Apart from a snide comment about the programme (what did he expect for #1.50?), he didn't really mention Town at all (even the 6 goals barely got a mention), mostly whinging about the Keepmoat. I used to like sadhopper as well!!

Couple of bad results for us Saturday: Alty won AGAIN (5 in a row ) and BPA won too: 4-0 away (ouch!). Altrincham's form worries me I hate to say. We really can't afford any slip ups.

looks like its between us Alty and Halifax, home results have let us down 17 points dropped at home would have seen us in second place

We need to put this into perspective though. The football club is currently in one of it's best seasons since Simon Weaver has been at the club.

Nobody more than me would like to see the club get into the playoffs, and there is still a lot to play for, but I cant help but think that the form of Altrincham, and the games in hand that Halifax have on us, may be just a bit too much for us.

If we did finish outside the playoffs, I think from a personal perspective it may benefit the club. If the focus was on resolving the pitch issues over the end of season break, and making the modification required to bring the ground up to Conference Standard, get some decent players in from the released lists that will no doubt throw up a few surprises, then make a real run for Automatic Promotion next year.

This IS the best season by far under Simon!! We need to go for it now no messing. All the teams in the top six have to play each other and will drop points. We are in a great position.COME ON TOWN.

I'd be inclined to agree with Neil on this one. Also, don't underestimate the gulf in difference between conference north and premier. Unless teams are full time then the chances of survival in the premier are slim. Town have performed better than they would probably have imagined this season, there's no shame in.admitting that. Let's build on the achievements of this season and prepare ourselves for a promotion challenge next season. Still areas to work on both on the field and off it. Happy for Halifax to make the play off final only to get stuffed by Guiseley, who in my opinion are the best of all the play off candidates.

You never know when your next good season is going to be!!
So you have to make the most of this season & go for it!
Despite the state of our pitch

We have only finished in a play-off position once since this league was formed.
Gives you an idea of how hard it is to achieve!!!!
And it is only going to get harder.

POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE CHAPS. We have the team to get us promotion and the Chairman to keep us in the Conference. Some of you have no bottle.

You will find that a lot of people have a positive mental attitude, and I dont doubt that if we did get up, the Chairman would make the necessary investment to improve the squad to keep Harrogate in the Conference.

I'm quite insulted by the fact you say some of us have no bottle, so you are totally incorrect in your assumption.

The way I look at it is that we dont have the fanbase to sustain a team playing in the Conference Premier. Irving is a very astute businessman, and will be aware of this. I also think the amount it would cost to improve the ground in the off season would be considerable.

I would like nothing more than to see Harrogate Town FC in the Conference Premier, I just think from a business perspective, that if the club goes up, our Chairman will end up putting his hand in his pocket, once again. He is building to make the club a sustainable, profit making business.

What I believe is best is that we make some of the improvements in the off season, make a push for automatic promotion next season. Try and sustain another good run in the FA Cup. With good results, it will improve the profile more locally to begin with, this in turn will improve attendances, improved attendances bring more money through the turnstile, which in turn, will be put towards improving the facilities further.

If we went up next season, and Irving spent a lot of money making the improvements, then we were to go on a really bad run of 15 games without a win, is the fan base going to be there? No. Will we get enough money to sustain running the club on a level, sound financial running? No.

At the end of the day, the club has to be run as a business, not a plaything that money can be thrown at. Irving will also be aware of this.

Rome wasn't built in a day, I just believe that it needs to be a gradual process. But I have total faith that we will get there.

Some of you may agree, some may disagree. That is just the way I think about the situation.

paulstreet wrote:Yep, saw that. Apart from a snide comment about the programme (what did he expect for #1.50?), he didn't really mention Town at all (even the 6 goals barely got a mention), mostly whinging about the Keepmoat. I used to like sadhopper as well!!

Couple of bad results for us Saturday: Alty won AGAIN (5 in a row ) and BPA won too: 4-0 away (ouch!). Altrincham's form worries me I hate to say. We really can't afford any slip ups.

Go on then, I'll bite - what did he say about the programme - I haven't seen the paper yet so don't know!

One step at a time ball and socket. The wages that are paid out in the conference premier are such that you really need a minimum of 1,300 people through the gates to be sustainable. Do you think the club could easily achieve that at present? There are a number of ex league clubs struggling with fan bases and budgets substantialy bigger than ours. It's not about havibg no bottle. It's pure economics!

Pure something TS. Some people seem to be easily offended!! Teams that get promotion see an increase in their gates for two reasons. Firstly there is the local interest and increased publicity and secondly many of the teams we play at home will bring a healthy away support. Simple economics.

You'll need to try harder than that to offend me ball and socket! The club needs to be sustainable - Irving won't be around forever. Fotherby sunk in excess of a million on town and we still couldn't get promoted. The likes of Bolder and Killock don't come cheap and we'll need a team of them if we're to compete with the bug boys in the conference premier.

town supporter wrote:One step at a time ball and socket. The wages that are paid out in the conference premier are such that you really need a minimum of 1,300 people through the gates to be sustainable. Do you think the club could easily achieve that at present? There are a number of ex league clubs struggling with fan bases and budgets substantialy bigger than ours. It's not about havibg no bottle. It's pure economics!

Cant disagree with this assessment. Do you really think Ball and Socket, in all true honesty, that if we did get promoted, that an extra several hundred fans would appear from thin air? because I dont. The attendance may improve by a few hundred, yes, but not enough to financially sustain the club in the Conference Premier.

I'm no businessman, and not an economist, but this is just the common sense approach.

Neil and TS are correct the fans would just not come. The average attendance for the Conference Premier is 1,896 which is considerably more than anything Town have.However, this figure is greatly increased by the likes of Luton Town who bring in 5,000 plus but Gateshead average is 548 so i'm not quite sure how a club operates on such low attendances. The next lowest is Braintree on 645 and then Alfreton Town with 726.

Well Petet. he (sadhopper in the NLP), made a comment about the programme being re-cycled from the postponed game, and his whinge was that their wasn't even an insert to bring it more up to date. Called £1.50 a 'rip off'! Those are his thoughts by the way not mine!!

Re; the debsate about promotion, its a really difficult one. I want to win evey game and get promotion (as Big Lundy says, may not happen again for a long time, just as getting to the 2nd round of the FA Cup may not happen again for many years), but I also (regretfully tend to agree with T.S. and Neil, that maybe its a step too far this season.

Not that despondenmt about attendances, by the way, we did build them up to about 600 or so under Mr. Aspin, so I think its possible (assuming the pitch is OK and we have a 'normal' winter ( ), we could get 600/700 in...some teams (Hyde, Gateshead) can survive on that. Not ideal I know.

I suppose I'd like to see us at least make the play offs and maybe go out in the final, all guns blazing, to Guiseley (who lets face it) probably deserve that 2nd promotion place. Incidentally, what crowds would THEY get in the Premier?

One last thought: some part time teams CAN survive in the Premier: Hyde and Nuneaton (Braintree, Barrow?) spring to mind, but its always gonna be a struggle.

If its a step TOO FAR this season it will be any other season. The Chairman, Board and particularly the Manager want Conference football asap not in 2-3 years. Some of us might not be around ling enough if we wait for the RIGHT moment/time. Regardless of the higher level the club my play at in the future it appears that most of the forum think the home support that will come down to Wetherby Rd will be minimal. I believe that playing in a higher more prestigious league and staying there will help the club build a home support. ONWARDS AND UPWARDS you doom mongers. COME ON TOWN. COME ON YOU SULPHURITES. Maybe Irving will put his thoughts for the future of the club in one of the programmes before the end of the season. The home game in the first play-off would be appropriate I feel

paulstreet wrote:Well Petet. he (sadhopper in the NLP), made a comment about the programme being re-cycled from the postponed game, and his whinge was that their wasn't even an insert to bring it more up to date. Called £1.50 a 'rip off'! Those are his thoughts by the way not mine!!

Cheers Paul.

Damned if I do, damned if I don't!

A lot of our supporters have been waiting for us to play in a decent league for years, look around a lot of us are in the twilight of our lives so a five year plan might be to late for us, it is these people who have kept Town going for all these years so it can't come soon enough for me, if we have any chance at all to get promoted then i say GO FOR IT once we are promoted we will attract younger supporters to the club by playing teams like Grimsby, Lincoln,Stockport County, Luton, Wrexham, teams i remember from the old 4th division i want to see these teams at Wetherby Road and the sooner the better

Ball and Socket wrote:If its a step TOO FAR this season it will be any other season. The Chairman, Board and particularly the Manager want Conference football asap not in 2-3 years. Some of us might not be around ling enough if we wait for the RIGHT moment/time. Regardless of the higher level the club my play at in the future it appears that most of the forum think the home support that will come down to Wetherby Rd will be minimal. I believe that playing in a higher more prestigious league and staying there will help the club build a home support. ONWARDS AND UPWARDS you doom mongers. COME ON TOWN. COME ON YOU SULPHURITES. Maybe Irving will put his thoughts for the future of the club in one of the programmes before the end of the season. The home game in the first play-off would be appropriate I feel

I feel you are incorrect in your assumption that 'The Chairman, Board and particularly the Manager want Conference football asap not in 2-3 years'. Unless they come out and say that, then I dont believe that assumption. And I don't believe that anyone at the club would come out and make that statement.

I do believe that the attendance rises (if promoted) will be a couple of hundred, maybe 300-400 at most. The away support will also improve this either, but to run this club sufficiently in the Conference Premier, without Irving having to put his hand in his pocket again, we need 1000+ at every home game. That just wont happen, and I dont care about other clubs in the BSP attracting less support. How they run their finances is their business.

We are not being doom mongers (intersting choice of words), I am just being realistic, and I truly believe that we should be looking at the bigger picture. If we get to the playoffs, or promoted, I would be very happy. But there are a few tough fixtures to come.

We are all behind the team, but it needs to be done the right way, which is one step at a time.

i remember being told in the early sixties by politicians that it will be hard times before the good times well i'm still waiting for the good times, fortune favors the brave

Hear hear RR. One step at a time makes it sound like a marathon. I've ran plenty of them so I know what one step at a time involves. Decent footballers will WANT to come to our club if we do well and get a reputation for playing decent football with a manager and board who look after the players. Its not rocket science. A good team with experience and youth will get promotion. Having the committed Chairman which we have will see us move up the pyramid. Harrogate Town FC need to make a move now and see where it takes us. Irving would love the club to get promoted this season if it happens. Simon would learn also how to manage in a more competative league. Bring it on.

Good players who can compete in the conference premier will want paying accordingly and who can blame them. Teams that sustain themselves tend to be full time which would cost the club substantially more than they can realistically afford. Being a respected business person I'm sure Irving wouldn't want to leave the club dangerously close to financial ruin! I'drather the club got promoted when everything was in place to sustain the club in that league rather than do a farsley (similar attendances to us before their demise) and end up in the prat-stick league!

or we could do a Crawley town and go through the leagues, never heard of them up till 3 years ago but look at them now, are they a bigger town than Harrogate?

The botton line with any football club is how deep the owner is prepared to dig into their pocket. Every football club starts from scratch and develops as they grow in terms of success and reputation.