1st of January 2010 - where were we?

[Greenacres]

You’ve got to realise the vast majority of fans (myself included) never heard of Forest Green Rovers until we actually played them, and got beat

...that is our first tactic, the element of surprise...it is hard to prepare to face an opponent if you know nothing about them!

 

[Si Robin]

We were just getting over the disastrous spell of Martin Allen. He'd finally pissed off in December and Mark Yates was just settling into the role.

The club was in a mess and in serious danger of administration. 2 years later we were top of League 2 and ended up making the playoff final.

 

[Kim Mitten]

Re: Apathy amongst your fans, it’s been there for years. Ron Martin gets let off the hook on SZ time and again, but the way he’s run the club since Fossetts Farm was first mooted has been - in this semi-impartial observer’s opinion - borderline grotesque.

SZ is a haven of morons, you're not allowed to have any kind of stance on there that may question how Ron runs the club. It's why I only put messages in post match threads.
Ron's issues started the season after our improbable trip to the 2nd tier, he couldn't believe just how much money we made and wanted it again. To this day he continues to chase the ££££.

In 2007-08 we were in the black, 11 years later over £20M in debt. Transfer fees and wage bill come nowhere near explaining where all that money has gone.

A few months ago an estimated £10M-£15M was wiped off our debt, all bank overdrafts paid, loans to various companies paid, the money we owed Sainsbury's from all that time ago (about £4M) paid.
Ron's line has been there's been some shuffling of finances. As he does not have the kind of cash to wipe out debt, who did it? It's another question most of our fans seem unbothered by, who this mystery benefactor is and why someone would want to pump so much money into a club that losses £2M-£3M every 9 months.

 

[northstandexile]

Apparently on the 1st Jan 2010 (Friday) we should have played York at home in the Conference. However this game was postponed due to York having a third round FACup game away at Stoke on the Saturday. They lost 3-1 after taking the lead, but were seen as tin pot as they didn’t arrive at the ground until 3pm and kick off was delayed by 30 minutes.

 

[Valeite]

Apparently on the 1st Jan 2010 (Friday) we should have played York at home in the Conference. However this game was postponed due to York having a third round FACup game away at Stoke on the Saturday. They lost 3-1 after taking the lead, but were seen as tin pot as they didn’t arrive at the ground until 3pm and kick off was delayed by 30 minutes.

I remember that game and if I recall correctly York were delayed by snow. They were managed by two Vale legends Martin Foyle and Andy Porter, who were both there before the team as they still live local. Most Stokies I know were relieved they didn`t put themselves in the team given their good records for Vale against Stoke.
Stoke were as usual playing the big I am and saying that York should have travelled the night before but Foyley pointed out that his club couldn`t afford it and some of the players had to work, which put into context the narrow win for the then premier league Potters.

 

[AdamStag]

...that is our first tactic, the element of surprise...it is hard to prepare to face an opponent if you know nothing about them!

I can agree with that with a bit of sense of humour.

Your main selling point is you don’t make yourself look a twat like Chris.

 

[Vanni]

You beat us 7-0 that season. the heaviest defeat I've ever seen.

Long miserable fucking trip back that was.

Yep, total capitulation by FGR in the the second half, cos iirc it was only 1 or 2 nil to us at the break. But that was also, what the 5th? or 6th? game of the season and we were in the play offs at the time. We then had an appalling 3 month long spell - from November up til January - and we slipped down the table into the drop zone.

It was a 2nd season (I think down there) for mansfield, we finished 9th down there. Embarrassingly losing to forest green in the fa cup.

The conference was really strong back then, it’s remarkable how poor the last few seasons conference has been with abject sides in it. The quality of it is so much worse than when we won it.

Yep, the connie was much stronger back then, and I remember thinking at the time that some matches could've passed for league ones such was the quality of the better sides in the league. In fact, there were quite a few years when a good 5-7 sides would've fared well in L2 such was their strength. IMO, the level of footy in the connie started to go up around 2007, was at it's peak for a good three years (2010-2013) and then started to drop slowly afterwards, when most of the bankrolled clubs like Fleetwood and Stevenage were no longer down there.