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Post by rcb on Nov 30, 2020 19:34:19 GMT
Recruitment doesn’t come any better than George Horan, Michael Wilde, and Antoni Sarcevic. The manager(s) find them and the board should capitalise on them. In that regard I remain bitterly disappointed that we failed to get any reward from the departure of Ben Heneghan and latterly Asante. We could also have “sold” Burr when Eastleigh came calling, instead of keeping him only to sack him later and pay off his contract, I hear for about £80k. We progressed continuously for three seasons under NY, and, in my view, foolishly tried to continue when we should have consolidated. Been going backwards ever since, and I lay that at the feet of successive Boards in allowing money to be wasted. You are correct, it’s all about budget! This c word .. consolidation keeps cropping up. Can you expand on what you mean and what we should have done when we hit NL? With hindsight perhaps we should have sacked Neil Young and brought in someone with better knowledge of the league (nb I say with hindsight). I think we had a 450k budget that season, but we recruited badly in key areas, plain and simple. The following season was our best since reforming. We were an established mid table club, playing attractive football. The biggest mistake imo was retaining McCarthy after the disastrous end to his first season in sole control. There was wide support for a change but we just skeepwalked into relegation. What I don't see is any lack of consolidation, just a few poor decisions. That doesn't make us unique. I think he was a bit dazzled in the headlights and went for glory, signing too many big time Charlie’s, rather than aim for mid table security, with sensible signings. To be fair to him we lost too many of the title winning squad who, I think, were good enough. As regards McCarthy, he stood alongside Burr and should have gone at the same time. Of all the mistakes, that is the key one.
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Post by agl on Nov 30, 2020 20:11:47 GMT
This c word .. consolidation keeps cropping up. Can you expand on what you mean and what we should have done when we hit NL? With hindsight perhaps we should have sacked Neil Young and brought in someone with better knowledge of the league (nb I say with hindsight). I think we had a 450k budget that season, but we recruited badly in key areas, plain and simple. The following season was our best since reforming. We were an established mid table club, playing attractive football. The biggest mistake imo was retaining McCarthy after the disastrous end to his first season in sole control. There was wide support for a change but we just skeepwalked into relegation. What I don't see is any lack of consolidation, just a few poor decisions. That doesn't make us unique. I think he was a bit dazzled in the headlights and went for glory, signing too many big time Charlie’s, rather than aim for mid table security, with sensible signings. To be fair to him we lost too many of the title winning squad who, I think, were good enough. As regards McCarthy, he stood alongside Burr and should have gone at the same time. Of all the mistakes, that is the key one. Not sure they were big time Charlies....Jarrett, Mcintyre were past their best. But it was up front where we messed up...if Jamie Reed had worked out we might have got away with it. Ben Mills was well short of NL quality. Seddon was our main goal threat. More a lack of knowledge of that league.
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Post by rcb on Nov 30, 2020 20:55:05 GMT
I was thinking about Jarrett, Reed, and Seddon, and agree with you about Mills and McIntyre, also Linwood. Lack of knowledge of that league a good call.
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Post by Lobster on Nov 30, 2020 21:02:06 GMT
We were harsh on Young, I don't think there's any question about that. He deserved the luxury of one dodgy season.
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Post by agl on Nov 30, 2020 22:23:02 GMT
I was thinking about Jarrett, Reed, and Seddon, and agree with you about Mills and McIntyre, also Linwood. Lack of knowledge of that league a good call. Jarrett had other issues, Seddon was a decent player....don't know much about why it never worked out for Reed. He was discarded quite quickly. I thought Linwood was also good enough...if anything it was Horan who was the weak link. Superb for us as we rose up through the leagues but maybe NL a step too far. Had we kept Sarcevic and McGinn we would have been OK. Jarrett and McIntyre were poor replacements. There was also the fall out with Higginbotham, who had helped steady the ship, but decided to go.
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Post by Anders on Nov 30, 2020 22:26:52 GMT
I think he was a bit dazzled in the headlights and went for glory, signing too many big time Charlie’s, rather than aim for mid table security, with sensible signings. To be fair to him we lost too many of the title winning squad who, I think, were good enough. As regards McCarthy, he stood alongside Burr and should have gone at the same time. Of all the mistakes, that is the key one. Not sure they were big time Charlies....Jarrett, Mcintyre were past their best. But it was up front where we messed up...if Jamie Reed had worked out we might have got away with it. Ben Mills was well short of NL quality. Seddon was our main goal threat. More a lack of knowledge of that league. NY might have really wanted him for all I know but the clamour from our fans for his signature was insane. Still annoys me now.
Lived off one good spell at Bangor City.
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Post by agl on Nov 30, 2020 22:29:02 GMT
Not sure they were big time Charlies....Jarrett, Mcintyre were past their best. But it was up front where we messed up...if Jamie Reed had worked out we might have got away with it. Ben Mills was well short of NL quality. Seddon was our main goal threat. More a lack of knowledge of that league. NY might have really wanted him for all I know but the clamour from our fans for his signature was insane. Still annoys me now.
Lived off one good spell at Bangor City.
Ditto Ben Mills....way out of his depth at National league
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Post by Anders on Nov 30, 2020 22:38:05 GMT
NY might have really wanted him for all I know but the clamour from our fans for his signature was insane. Still annoys me now.
Lived off one good spell at Bangor City.
Ditto Ben Mills....way out of his depth at National league Agree that Mills was out of his depth but I can forgive that one as I can see why it happened.
Reed had proved at York he wasn't up to that much outside of Wales, we were even warned by their fans. The signing had to happen at whatever the cost though simply because he was from Chester.
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Post by Lobster on Nov 30, 2020 23:14:56 GMT
Pretty much all I remember about Reed was him skying that chance out of the ground at Southport when clean through. One the most awful misses ever, don't even know what he was trying to do!
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Post by Rio Doherty on Nov 30, 2020 23:36:13 GMT
Haven’t had a proper chance to give my views on the game until now so I thought I’d do so anyway, despite me being a couple of days too late! Even two days on, I’m still bitterly disappointed about that outcome because it was so hard to watch at times, and was just a generally dismal performance. It’s very not like us to put less than 100% effort in, as our current group are a very good bunch of lads who always bust a gut and care immensely about our club - somewhat the polar opposite to the dirge of 2017. However, a lack of effort was surprisingly apparent on Saturday as particularly in the first half we were chasing shadows, only had a couple of opportunities, and we could barely string a few passes together which concerned me.
We can’t really use our break as an excuse now as our lads know how to play football and should have the nous to beat anyone in our league, although in recent matches the likes of Brad Jackson, John Johnston, and Joel Taylor (not involved on Saturday) have underperformed hugely, when realistically they should be our best performers. I’m not going to hit the panic button just yet, but it’s still obvious we are in a poor patch (which hasn’t happened too many times under Bern and Jonno). We are still in one though which needs sorting out very soon. One win in seven is simply not good enough for a side who, barring an inconsistent attack, has play-off quality so we really must be doing better. Gateshead were a superb side who bullied us in the first half with their high-energy pressing and expansive, quick football, and were the best to come to the Deva in a while. We can have no complaints so huge credit to them, although that doesn’t hide away from a dire showing from us.
The first half was difficult to endure, as it was a really unpleasant sight to see Gateshead play us off the park on our own patch. We just could not live with The Heed as they were a yard quicker than us, didn’t let us have any time on the ball, and on the whole we were quite fortunate to not be a few down at the break. A couple of decent chances by Danny Elliott and George Glendon was the best it got for us, because they were the only real periods where we were able to get out of our own half (which is sad to say). Jordan Preston stunned us to make it 1-0 to Gateshead by beating Louis Gray on the edge of the area, who should be saving those. That goal deflated us as the Gateshead onslaught continued throughout the half, with our defence being in sixes and sevens.
Our second half showing was an improvement which, to be frank, wasn’t that difficult to achieve after an anonymous first half, but to our credit we were much more involved in the game with our increased grip of possession. Simon Grand glanced home a header less than ten minutes in to get us onto level terms, after nice work by George Glendon. That goal was an incredibly lucky escape because in theory we did not deserve to be on level terms, but from that moment onwards we really should’ve seized on that opportunity to get another. It was harsh on Gateshead but we had the perfect chance to destroy their momentum, although in the end it was them who had the bottle to steal a winner with not long left on the clock. Macaulay Langstaff slipped in to make it 2-1 to the North East outfit after a terrible back-pass from Simon Grand, which was somewhat very similar to Leamington’s consolation here last month. Even though at the beginning of the day I declared this as a must-win a draw wouldn’t have been too bad given how badly we performed, but it’s typical we had to gift Gateshead the win with only minutes left.
This result now leaves us in 10th place which isn’t the end of the world, and I suppose it’s best for us to make our mistakes early on in the season rather than when it really matters later on. Another positive is that we have plenty of games in hand with us sitting only one point outside the play-offs. This can only last for so long though, so it’s vital we put this to the back of our minds with a win tomorrow which will hopefully put us back in the top seven. Although we haven’t been up to standards lately I’d be delighted if we are back in the mix again, so the important thing is that in order to stay there we must start cutting out our sloppy errors and win against the better teams. Let’s hope for a much more enjoyable evening tomorrow to put us on our road to recovery.
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Post by Rio Doherty on Nov 30, 2020 23:52:05 GMT
Match highlights:
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Post by midfieldgeneral on Dec 1, 2020 4:35:52 GMT
Elliott has got potenial His movement is good and he gets himself, in decent scorimg positions I would be happy, if he could get 10 or 12 goals The main problem, is that he cant play, as a lone striker, he needs either Waring, Goodwin etc, up there with him He is better with the ball playefd into the channels and off the shoulder of the last defender. Like the look of Goodwin he is a lot more mobile than Waring and I think it would be a poor show if Elliot as the main striker playing every week couldn’t get nearer 20 goals. I think you need to look at where Elliott is in his development. This is his second full season. He has pace and movement. What he doesnt have is guile and experience
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Post by rcb on Dec 1, 2020 7:38:42 GMT
Haven’t had a proper chance to give my views on the game until now so I thought I’d do so anyway, despite me being a couple of days too late! Even two days on, I’m still bitterly disappointed about that outcome because it was so hard to watch at times, and was just a generally dismal performance. It’s very not like us to put less than 100% effort in, as our current group are a very good bunch of lads who always bust a gut and care immensely about our club - somewhat the polar opposite to the dirge of 2017. However, a lack of effort was surprisingly apparent on Saturday as particularly in the first half we were chasing shadows, only had a couple of opportunities, and we could barely string a few passes together which concerned me. We can’t really use our break as an excuse now as our lads know how to play football and should have the nous to beat anyone in our league, although in recent matches the likes of Brad Jackson, John Johnston, and Joel Taylor (not involved on Saturday) have underperformed hugely, when realistically they should be our best performers. I’m not going to hit the panic button just yet, but it’s still obvious we are in a poor patch (which hasn’t happened too many times under Bern and Jonno). We are still in one though which needs sorting out very soon. One win in seven is simply not good enough for a side who, barring an inconsistent attack, has play-off quality so we really must be doing better. Gateshead were a superb side who bullied us in the first half with their high-energy pressing and expansive, quick football, and were the best to come to the Deva in a while. We can have no complaints so huge credit to them, although that doesn’t hide away from a dire showing from us. The first half was difficult to endure, as it was a really unpleasant sight to see Gateshead play us off the park on our own patch. We just could not live with The Heed as they were a yard quicker than us, didn’t let us have any time on the ball, and on the whole we were quite fortunate to not be a few down at the break. A couple of decent chances by Danny Elliott and George Glendon was the best it got for us, because they were the only real periods where we were able to get out of our own half (which is sad to say). Jordan Preston stunned us to make it 1-0 to Gateshead by beating Louis Gray on the edge of the area, who should be saving those. That goal deflated us as the Gateshead onslaught continued throughout the half, with our defence being in sixes and sevens. Our second half showing was an improvement which, to be frank, wasn’t that difficult to achieve after an anonymous first half, but to our credit we were much more involved in the game with our increased grip of possession. Simon Grand glanced home a header less than ten minutes in to get us onto level terms, after nice work by George Glendon. That goal was an incredibly lucky escape because in theory we did not deserve to be on level terms, but from that moment onwards we really should’ve seized on that opportunity to get another. It was harsh on Gateshead but we had the perfect chance to destroy their momentum, although in the end it was them who had the bottle to steal a winner with not long left on the clock. Macaulay Langstaff slipped in to make it 2-1 to the North East outfit after a terrible back-pass from Simon Grand, which was somewhat very similar to Leamington’s consolation here last month. Even though at the beginning of the day I declared this as a must-win a draw wouldn’t have been too bad given how badly we performed, but it’s typical we had to gift Gateshead the win with only minutes left. This result now leaves us in 10th place which isn’t the end of the world, and I suppose it’s best for us to make our mistakes early on in the season rather than when it really matters later on. Another positive is that we have plenty of games in hand with us sitting only one point outside the play-offs. This can only last for so long though, so it’s vital we put this to the back of our minds with a win tomorrow which will hopefully put us back in the top seven. Although we haven’t been up to standards lately I’d be delighted if we are back in the mix again, so the important thing is that in order to stay there we must start cutting out our sloppy errors and win against the better teams. Let’s hope for a much more enjoyable evening tomorrow to put us on our road to recovery. I like your optimism, but I am concerned that we have been giving away unnecessary goals all season, including in the play offs at Alty. We had enough trialists during preseason to address the issue, but it seems the managers can’t or won’t see beyond Grand and Livesey as a pairing. I think the days are shortening when Chester is seen as an attractive destination for quality players. How long can we attract an Asante, or a Glendon?
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Post by Frank Owen’s Paintbrush on Dec 1, 2020 7:49:51 GMT
It’s strange as they have proven to be ruthless at times with other clubs and also with us in the first season but at the same time appear to have been “too” loyal. The lack of a backup centre half is concerning for me.
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Post by superhans on Dec 1, 2020 9:58:40 GMT
Wow, two of the poorest goals I can remember us conceding. I didn't watch the match on Saturday, but hope we were testing their keeper with high balls in the box as he looks about 16. Agree what others have said above, Elliot is a great prospect but he can't do it all himself. Players like Dudley have been getting an easy ride for far too long IMO. Though with most players reportedly taking a pay cut to re-sign, I don't harbour much hope for us replacing them with anyone better. Finishing in Play-offs will take a massive shift in attitude and work rate from some of the current misfiring players, but not holding my breath, maybe just don't have the quality.
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Post by Rio Doherty on Dec 1, 2020 10:06:17 GMT
Haven’t had a proper chance to give my views on the game until now so I thought I’d do so anyway, despite me being a couple of days too late! Even two days on, I’m still bitterly disappointed about that outcome because it was so hard to watch at times, and was just a generally dismal performance. It’s very not like us to put less than 100% effort in, as our current group are a very good bunch of lads who always bust a gut and care immensely about our club - somewhat the polar opposite to the dirge of 2017. However, a lack of effort was surprisingly apparent on Saturday as particularly in the first half we were chasing shadows, only had a couple of opportunities, and we could barely string a few passes together which concerned me. We can’t really use our break as an excuse now as our lads know how to play football and should have the nous to beat anyone in our league, although in recent matches the likes of Brad Jackson, John Johnston, and Joel Taylor (not involved on Saturday) have underperformed hugely, when realistically they should be our best performers. I’m not going to hit the panic button just yet, but it’s still obvious we are in a poor patch (which hasn’t happened too many times under Bern and Jonno). We are still in one though which needs sorting out very soon. One win in seven is simply not good enough for a side who, barring an inconsistent attack, has play-off quality so we really must be doing better. Gateshead were a superb side who bullied us in the first half with their high-energy pressing and expansive, quick football, and were the best to come to the Deva in a while. We can have no complaints so huge credit to them, although that doesn’t hide away from a dire showing from us. The first half was difficult to endure, as it was a really unpleasant sight to see Gateshead play us off the park on our own patch. We just could not live with The Heed as they were a yard quicker than us, didn’t let us have any time on the ball, and on the whole we were quite fortunate to not be a few down at the break. A couple of decent chances by Danny Elliott and George Glendon was the best it got for us, because they were the only real periods where we were able to get out of our own half (which is sad to say). Jordan Preston stunned us to make it 1-0 to Gateshead by beating Louis Gray on the edge of the area, who should be saving those. That goal deflated us as the Gateshead onslaught continued throughout the half, with our defence being in sixes and sevens. Our second half showing was an improvement which, to be frank, wasn’t that difficult to achieve after an anonymous first half, but to our credit we were much more involved in the game with our increased grip of possession. Simon Grand glanced home a header less than ten minutes in to get us onto level terms, after nice work by George Glendon. That goal was an incredibly lucky escape because in theory we did not deserve to be on level terms, but from that moment onwards we really should’ve seized on that opportunity to get another. It was harsh on Gateshead but we had the perfect chance to destroy their momentum, although in the end it was them who had the bottle to steal a winner with not long left on the clock. Macaulay Langstaff slipped in to make it 2-1 to the North East outfit after a terrible back-pass from Simon Grand, which was somewhat very similar to Leamington’s consolation here last month. Even though at the beginning of the day I declared this as a must-win a draw wouldn’t have been too bad given how badly we performed, but it’s typical we had to gift Gateshead the win with only minutes left. This result now leaves us in 10th place which isn’t the end of the world, and I suppose it’s best for us to make our mistakes early on in the season rather than when it really matters later on. Another positive is that we have plenty of games in hand with us sitting only one point outside the play-offs. This can only last for so long though, so it’s vital we put this to the back of our minds with a win tomorrow which will hopefully put us back in the top seven. Although we haven’t been up to standards lately I’d be delighted if we are back in the mix again, so the important thing is that in order to stay there we must start cutting out our sloppy errors and win against the better teams. Let’s hope for a much more enjoyable evening tomorrow to put us on our road to recovery. I like your optimism, but I am concerned that we have been giving away unnecessary goals all season, including in the play offs at Alty. We had enough trialists during preseason to address the issue, but it seems the managers can’t or won’t see beyond Grand and Livesey as a pairing. I think the days are shortening when Chester is seen as an attractive destination for quality players. How long can we attract an Asante, or a Glendon? It’s strange because their aren’t many better defences in our league on paper, and given ours has plenty of experience it’s odd they’re making schoolboy errors. Maybe it’s a sign that Livesey and Grand are a season over the limit, although I hope they buck up soon as they’ve still been really good servants for us. A Lack of any back-up options means that they may well have to play every game which could prove to be challenging given their age. What happens if, god forbid, any of them get injured? The best alternative option would be to place Kevin Roberts in the centre with Jamie Morgan on the right, as Harrison Burke is too raw to be thrown in just yet. Given our limited finances I can’t see us bringing in a replacement unless it’s an emergency loan after the New Year.
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