League 2 General Chat Thread

[Stagat]

I hope Chesterfield go down tbh. I don't want them to go bust though. In fact I hope they'd come back up again. But not straight away. We need our rivals but them having a few years in the Conference with modern day Luke Medleys and Michael Blackwoods running about the place before they got players good enough to come back would be great. Mainly for the ego reset it'd give their fans after how our rivalry has played out for the last decade. IMO and that.

 

[oakroader]

i have a healthy respect for fans of clubs that get relegated out of the league
my empathy goes out to all of those unfortunate enough to have suffered the
shock to the system that comes with the demise of your beloved team..
however...the likes of brovers and poxford and us to a degree will probably say that
things are better now as a consequence of those dark dark days of despair ....
"the rise of the phoenix" and "the sleeping giant awakes" are apt for a few who
get through it all....
oakey

 

[darren gregory]

I don't think Notts give a toss. They aren't rivals in any way shape or form.

Chesterfield fans took great enjoyment in our demise and ultimate relegation to the conference. So whereas Chesterfield are going through the same shit with a crap chairman like what we did, there'd be very little sympathy from our lot should the ultimate happen.

Fair point Adam, guess it is like us and Stoke.
Just out of interest as you not a million miles away, who are Notts rivals? Presume Forest and Derby don't give a flying fig about them so who actually does?
Don't mean that detrimental to Pies fans .

 

[AdamStag]

Fair point Adam, guess it is like us and Stoke.
Just out of interest as you not a million miles away, who are Notts rivals? Presume Forest and Derby don't give a flying fig about them so who actually does?
Don't mean that detrimental to Pies fans .

Tbh, no-one.

It's technically forest but given they've not played each other in the league in a generation it's hard to suggest they are, it's like suggesting bury are a rival to Bolton for instance. Local sides already had their main rival in place, us and Chesterfield, Lincoln and Grimsby etc.

There's no malice between us and county at all, there's a few kids who got giddy, but when we come to Notts there's in general a great atmosphere and have seen fans mixing well. The police always seem to think they'll be bother but they seldom (and thankfully) is any bother. It's what makes the days to Notts such a decent day out, they're a decent bunch

Burton are the same, but just from the other end of the scale, as they were non-league for so long there wasn't anyone there for them on promotion to the league

 

[Vanni]

I'm one who would like Chesterfield to stay up. I'm not feeling sorry for them but they are a proper club, sure Stags and Notts want them in oblivion, we lose there every season but i want them to survive.
Football has amazing turns and twists, having being there when it was full and they were heading to the title a few years back the downturn in a few years has been startling.
I hope they stay up but you can't choose who goes down or i'd be waving bye bye to the Vegan pie eaters and Barnet.

I didn't say I wanted them to go down, but that's mostly 'cos they are not the sort of unambitious club that's always struggling to stave off relegation to the NL every single year, so I'd rather see one of these perennial struggling sides go down instead. And yes, they're a proper club, but so were we and countless others before we had the dubious honour of sampling non league footy. So, most of us have been there and got the t-shirt.

(This bit is not directed at you Darren, but I need to get it off my chest )

Being regarded a 'proper' football club means sweet fa to me personally as footy is played on the pitch and not on the clubs history or lack of. I reckon it would get boring very quickly if we revert back to the re-election era. Just imagine always visiting the same old grounds and going to the same pubs and chippies over and over again, year in year out. Or think of the PL booting out the likes of B'mouth and Watford so Leeds and Sheff Wed (the 'proper' big clubs) can take their place instead.

Then there's also the fact that all clubs have got to start somewhere don't they? FGR could end up being called a 'proper' club in say 30 years time

 

[Vanni]

Darren - who are Notts' rivals?
Adam - TBH, NO ONE

 

[gijsbert_bos]

Wycombe reject Barnsley's approach for Gareth Ainsworth. Any thoughts Chairboys? I know a few of you weren't keen on Sir Gareth earlier in the season but seems he's doing a good job for you on what must be a pretty limited budget. I know his style of play isn't especially easy on the eye (but then he played under John Beck and at the tail end of the Crazy Gang period at Wimbledon).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43060628

 

[darren gregory]

I didn't say I wanted them to go down, but that's mostly 'cos they are not the sort of unambitious club that's always struggling to stave off relegation to the NL every single year, so I'd rather see one of these perennial struggling sides go down instead. And yes, they're a proper club, but so were we and countless others before we had the dubious honour of sampling non league footy. So, most of us have been there and got the t-shirt.

(This bit is not directed at you Darren, but I need to get it off my chest )

Being regarded a 'proper' football club means sweet fa to me personally as footy is played on the pitch and not on the clubs history or lack of. I reckon it would get boring very quickly if we revert back to the re-election era. Just imagine always visiting the same old grounds and going to the same pubs and chippies over and over again, year in year out. Or think of the PL booting out the likes of B'mouth and Watford so Leeds and Sheff Wed (the 'proper' big clubs) can take their place instead.

Then there's also the fact that all clubs have got to start somewhere don't they? FGR could end up being called a 'proper' club in say 30 years time

i know exactly what you mean Vanni , maybe i'm too old school.
Just feels that when i've been to Chesterfield or Lincoln, County, Luton i actually feel like i've been to a game where it matters.
It's only my opinion which counts for Jack, but i don't get that feeling when i've been to the likes of Burton, Morecambe , FGR etc....
Maybe it takes time but some of the ' newbies' have had no increase in crowds since coming into the Football League and are purely stagnating.
I point to 8000 at Wrexham v Tranmere as two proper clubs on hard times still bringing huge crowds.
Your point is totally valid that crowds or club size is not what matters but give me a day out at Wrexham or Tranny every time than a day in Gloucestershire.

 

[mowgli]

Wycombe reject Barnsley's approach for Gareth Ainsworth. Any thoughts Chairboys? I know a few of you weren't keen on Sir Gareth earlier in the season but seems he's doing a good job for you on what must be a pretty limited budget. I know his style of play isn't especially easy on the eye (but then he played under John Beck and at the tail end of the Crazy Gang period at Wimbledon).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43060628

He's finally got us playing entertaining football as our goals scored this season is only 2nd to Luton,i wanted him out for some time since our last day escape at Torquay 4 seasons ago,it's taken him 5 years to realise we have decent players who can a style of football that isn't hoofball in most games so i want him to stay to try and win promotion this season which seems to be views of a massive majority of fans on our boards. I don't think i was wrong in my view of him in previous seasons but even i can admit he's doing something right at the moment which i applaud him for.

 

[gijsbert_bos]

Do you think the club's public refusal of permission likely to be a sign he wants to speak to Barnsley?

 

[mowgli]

Do you think the club's public refusal of permission likely to be a sign he wants to speak to Barnsley?

No but had it been Preston who he played for or Blackburn who he's supported since a lad he'd be off like a shot and i wouldn't blame him. Why would he go to a struggling basket case of a club who we could be playing in League 1 next season?

 

[darren gregory]

No but had it been Preston who he played for or Blackburn who he's supported since a lad he'd be off like a shot and i wouldn't blame him. Why would he go to a struggling basket case of a club who we could be playing in League 1 next season?

Basket case? Haven't they got new Chinese investors after the owner died?
Also no disrespect at the moment it is all conjecture, the clubs are 2 divisions apart.
Aston Villa or Port Vale as a fixture....no brainer

 

[mowgli]

Aston Villa or Port Vale as a fixture....no brainer

Agreed but i reckon he doesn't have enough managerial experiance for 2 divisions above and tactically he'd be out of his comfort zone at Wycombe where he and the chairman are best mates which helps,maybe in a few years time he could move higher but not yet imho.

 

[GTFCfish]

Agreed but i reckon he doesn't have enough managerial experiance for 2 divisions above and tactically he'd be out of his comfort zone at Wycombe where he and the chairman are best mates which helps,maybe in a few years time he could move higher but not yet imho.

I see another late winner for you guys last night mate, before long you'll be coming to expect them as a given!

 

[GTFCfish]

Would be interesting to see a table of how it would stand without 88+ mins goals, Wycombe seem to score them every week and Chesterfield seem to concede them every week whereas ourselves I genuinely cannot remember one late winner or late defeat goal this season which is quite bizarre to not have any for or against.

 

[Maple Hatter]

i have a healthy respect for fans of clubs that get relegated out of the league
my empathy goes out to all of those unfortunate enough to have suffered the
shock to the system that comes with the demise of your beloved team..
however...the likes of brovers and poxford and us to a degree will probably say that
things are better now as a consequence of those dark dark days of despair ....
"the rise of the phoenix" and "the sleeping giant awakes" are apt for a few who
get through it all....
oakey

Unlike Rovers and Oxford, clubs who also have a fairly decent fanbase, we didn't get relegated due to having the least points in a season. We were given the death penalty at the start of the season the consequence of which was that the new board had to save the club from going out of business at the last hour and then rebuild it from the bottom up. Had the correct action been taken, that is punish those that committed the crime (the far from fit and proper people who exploited the club) we would not been relegated and could have recovered a lot quicker than we did. Not that I don't think our time in non league was wasted. It helped us (the club and fans) understand more about grass roots football. The problem is that the conference is a very difficult to get out one promotion spot and the play off lottery which we were hopeless at, especially when faced with small non league clubs chucking money at promotion to the football league. At one time the conference almost looked stronger than league 2 with a number of clubs there that have seen a lot better days. Today non league has Tranmere, Wrexham, Orient, Stockport, York (RIP), Hartlepool and even the likes of Chester and Torquay (probably forgot one or two) that have previously had a long history of league football but are an example of what can happen with the pressures of the modern game.

 

[GTFCfish]

Just looking at the League 2 table it seems maybe a stint in the Conference can do a team some good as 6 of the top 8 have been in it at some point. In fact of the 24 clubs in league 2 only 6 of them have never been non league which surprises me.

Only Notts County, Swindon, Crewe, Chesterfield, Port Vale and Coventry haven't had the pleasure. (Yet )

 

[SkyBluesRose]

Only Notts County, Swindon, Crewe, Chesterfield, Port Vale and Coventry haven't had the pleasure. (Yet )

We were playing in the Southern League before 1919. Surely that would count as non-league?

 

[Kenneth E End]

Unlike Rovers and Oxford, clubs who also have a fairly decent fanbase, we didn't get relegated due to having the least points in a season. We were given the death penalty at the start of the season the consequence of which was that the new board had to save the club from going out of business at the last hour and then rebuild it from the bottom up. Had the correct action been taken, that is punish those that committed the crime (the far from fit and proper people who exploited the club) we would not been relegated and could have recovered a lot quicker than we did. Not that I don't think our time in non league was wasted. It helped us (the club and fans) understand more about grass roots football. The problem is that the conference is a very difficult to get out one promotion spot and the play off lottery which we were hopeless at, especially when faced with small non league clubs chucking money at promotion to the football league. At one time the conference almost looked stronger than league 2 with a number of clubs there that have seen a lot better days. Today non league has Tranmere, Wrexham, Orient, Stockport, York (RIP), Hartlepool and even the likes of Chester and Torquay (probably forgot one or two) that have previously had a long history of league football but are an example of what can happen with the pressures of the modern game.

Am I allowed to say I quite enjoyed it?*



*Sometimes.

 

[AdamStag]

Am I allowed to say I quite enjoyed it?*



*Sometimes.

You did really well, until it got the the playoffs

The fa trophy won't ever be remembered fondly, but us beating you 3-2 in extra time even though you completely shafted us in both games was a great highlight.

Beating poor barrow 7-0 and 8-1 at home in successive seasons was ridiculous

We then lost. to Darlington in the fa trophy final, which was the worst game of football I've ever watched, and by some margin

 

[Kenneth E End]

You did really well, until it got the the playoffs

The fa trophy won't ever be remembered fondly, but us beating you 3-2 in extra time even though you completely shafted us in both games was a great highlight.

Beating poor barrow 8-2 and 7-1 at home in successive seasons was ridiculous

We then lost. to Darlington in the final, which was the worst game of football I've ever watched, and by some margin

I hear Matlock Town was quite a laugh too.

In all five seasons in oblivion, we never lost to a side in the regional leagues.

 

[AdamStag]

I hear Matlock Town was quite a laugh too.

In all five seasons in oblivion, we never lost to a side in the regional leagues.

Matlock town was a great laugh. It chucked us out of the fa trophy in the first round.

The same season we won 21 out of 25 games to win the conference title.

Please find me Matlock again

 

[Luke Imp]

Agreed but i reckon he doesn't have enough managerial experiance for 2 divisions above and tactically he'd be out of his comfort zone at Wycombe where he and the chairman are best mates which helps,maybe in a few years time he could move higher but not yet imho.

Barnsley seem to be finding it difficult to get anyone to take an interest in the job.

Ainsworth and Cowley will be looking at the job as young managers and wondering whether there's much scope for improvement there and I'm not sure there is. The amount of money in that league now means it'll be a hell of an effort to get Barnsley to even a mid-table position.

That, and a two division jump in management is a big one, especially with lower than average resources relative to the division.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Matlock town was a great laugh. It chucked us out of the fa trophy in the first round.

The same season we won 21 out of 25 games to win the conference title.

Please find me Matlock again

Please find me where the FA Trophy registers on my radar?

 

[Forza Imps]

I hear Matlock Town was quite a laugh too.

In all five seasons in oblivion, we never lost to a side in the regional leagues.

Lucky. We lost to Carshalton, Ferriby (4-0 at home), Whitehawk, Bradford Park Avenue in various FA Trophy and Cup games.

Don't get relegated.

 

[Luke Imp]

And in the league, Bath, Hayes and Yeading (already relegated!)...

 

[Kenneth E End]

Lucky. We lost to Carshalton, Ferriby (4-0 at home), Whitehawk, Bradford Park Avenue in various FA Trophy and Cup games.

Don't get relegated.

We had some terrible results in the league. The worst for me was losing to Hyde FC 2-1 at home in front of about 4,500 fans on a freezing cold Tuesday night. With their fans kept in a corner by the infamous SKF Clock. That's our only sub-5,000 attendance in the league I believe since the 1990s.

Going to Braintree and Barrow and any other northern shithole used to really be bogeys for us.

 

[Luke Imp]

I hope Chesterfield go down tbh. I don't want them to go bust though. In fact I hope they'd come back up again. But not straight away. We need our rivals but them having a few years in the Conference with modern day Luke Medleys and Michael Blackwoods running about the place before they got players good enough to come back would be great. Mainly for the ego reset it'd give their fans after how our rivalry has played out for the last decade. IMO and that.

Luke Medley. Deary me. He was basically a sprinter and that was it.

Or Nialle Rodney. He was that bad, I don't think he ever got into double figures in appearances for any Club he played for. My favourite Rodney moment, and I can still picture it now, was him and Jefferson Louis (J'Lo to his fans) tackling each other just passed the half way line in front of the Echo Stand in injury time, in a game we were losing against Cambridge with the commentary of it below. They just had their heads down and genuinely just took each other out and didn't realise it was their own team mate. No opposition player around them.

https://embeds.audioboom.com/posts/...tary-last-night/embed/v4?eid=AQAAAJ9AcFo3TwsA

 

[GTFCfish]

Or Nialle Rodney. He was that bad,

He sounds like a right plonker.

 

[AdamStag]

Please find me where the FA Trophy registers on my radar?

Well you quoted Matlock who beat us in the fa trophy.

On that basis it must have been on your radar.