League 2 Promotion Play-off dates 2020/21

[Chris FGR]

Yep, the good new managers have to come from somewhere.

We don't have a great record with first time managers though, Spink, Owers and Hockaday weren't exactly wildly successful. We don't have a huge amount of footballing knowledge on our board, so the chances are a flashy presentation and impressive technical wording/statistical analysis will be enough to dazzle them.

Vince has said he wants a modern, progressive young coach, when for me, the best route to success at this level is someone who really knows the division. Otherwise you're basically taking a punt and hoping someone can adjust from coaching elite kids to coaching senior pros over a long gruelling season on heavy pitches.

 

[Greenacres]

Hockaday was an interesting one, he was a pretty decent coach...quite a few of the young players he brought in did improve whilst at the club...however there was the rub, tactically he was a bit one dimensional, tending to shout "squeeze" from the technical area when things weren't working, and allegedly kept falling out with the more senior players (who may have challenged his way of doing things). There was also his side-kick Gary "swearword" Seward...I could go on!

 

[Laker]

We don't have a great record with first time managers though, Spink, Owers and Hockaday weren't exactly wildly successful. We don't have a huge amount of footballing knowledge on our board, so the chances are a flashy presentation and impressive technical wording/statistical analysis will be enough to dazzle them.

Vince has said he wants a modern, progressive young coach, when for me, the best route to success at this level is someone who really knows the division. Otherwise you're basically taking a punt and hoping someone can adjust from coaching elite kids to coaching senior pros over a long gruelling season on heavy pitches.

Yeah no one wins promotion with a young manager....

 

[FGR Stroud]

Yeah no one wins promotion with a young manager....

Cheltenham would disagree with that statement.

 

[Thefutureswhite]

Cheltenham would disagree with that statement.

Sarcasm is lost on you.

 

[FGR Stroud]

Sarcasm is lost on you.

Well stop being sarcastic then.
Problem solved.

 

[FGR Stroud]

For the past decade FGR have regularly appeared in the play-offs, be them Conference or EFL2.

One win in five attempts might be considered poor return and in some ways it is. On two separate occasions when FGR had almost guaranteed a place in play offs, Chairman Dale Vince OBE sacked the manager who had guided team to their lofty position. And on both occasions FGR lost.

One wonders if Mr Vince had held his nerve in 2016, Ady Pennock would have led FGR into the Football League a year earlier than it happened. Pennock is an excellent manager: under him FGR created a record of winning the first nine games of the season in Conference and although they did not win title FGR were the best of the rest by a mile.

Vince sacked Pennock a week before play-offs because FGR had not won in seven matches, ignoring fact that auto promotion had been lost and Pennock was by then juggling team in preparation for play-offs.

Since then Pennock has won the prestigious Singapore Premier League title in his first season as manager of Brunei. Not bad for a so called loser.

Vince did the same with Mark Cooper, sacking him within weeks of end of season. The team that won a place in play-offs and competed in them were all Mark Cooper’s boys. We will never know if he could have done better, but the odds would be in his favour.

Neither Ady nor MC were the fans favourite, which might have possibly influenced Vince to sack them at crucial periods of the season. He should have waited a month before giving them the boot.

 

[chipmunx]

For the past decade FGR have regularly appeared in the play-offs, be them Conference or EFL2.

One win in five attempts might be considered poor return and in some ways it is. On two separate occasions when FGR had almost guaranteed a place in play offs, Chairman Dale Vince OBE sacked the manager who had guided team to their lofty position. And on both occasions FGR lost.

One wonders if Mr Vince had held his nerve in 2016, Ady Pennock would have led FGR into the Football League a year earlier than it happened. Pennock is an excellent manager: under him FGR created a record of winning the first nine games of the season in Conference and although they did not win title FGR were the best of the rest by a mile.

Vince sacked Pennock a week before play-offs because FGR had not won in seven matches, ignoring fact that auto promotion had been lost and Pennock was by then juggling team in preparation for play-offs.

Since then Pennock has won the prestigious Singapore Premier League title in his first season as manager of Brunei. Not bad for a so called loser.

Vince did the same with Mark Cooper, sacking him within weeks of end of season. The team that won a place in play-offs and competed in them were all Mark Cooper’s boys. We will never know if he could have done better, but the odds would be in his favour.

Neither Ady nor MC were the fans favourite, which might have possibly influenced Vince to sack them at crucial periods of the season. He should have waited a month before giving them the boot.

true - and we ended up with Ady Pennock sometime after that - and might do the same with Cooper IF the betting is to be believed

 

[Indian Dan]

Maybe they had a promotion bonus in their contracts plus an extension and Vinny boy didn’t fancy coughing up either.

 

[PuB]

Pennock was a terrible manager for us, also you’ve omitted the fact he had a £5m+ budget the season you mention.

 

[FGR Stroud]

Pennock was a terrible manager for us, also you’ve omitted the fact he had a £5m+ budget the season you mention.

In three years at FGR, Pennock achieved the highest positions the club had ever been.
He had similar budget as previous manager who could only manage 10th best!

Yes, Pennock was not a success at Gillingham but it's not unusual for managers to come a cropper at some clubs but do well at others.

 

[FGR Stroud]

Maybe they had a promotion bonus in their contracts plus an extension and Vinny boy didn’t fancy coughing up either.

I was reliably informed that Cooper had a big fat promotion bonus included in his contract.

 

[Indian Dan]

As much as I dislike Cooper that’s a shitty thing to do. Not the only owner to do that recently by the look of it.

 

[Bone Idle]

So our ST holders and trust members have only taken up 2,000 tickets which leaves 2,000 to go on general sale tomorrow, the majority of our season ticket holders are shall i say the more mature supporter so it looks like the fear of the old kung flu is deep rooted, i can't really blame them after watching the cup final where fans of both sides massed together in 3 or 4 blocks and the stewards done fuck all to stop it.

 

[Bone Idle]

Seems like our non st holders snapped up the remaining tickets in no time at all.

 

[Bone Idle]

Its mind boggling to me that only 10,000 are allowed in to an 80,000 capacity stadium just 2 weeks before the first game there in the euros where talk is there will be a full capacity for that game.

 

[Roger Stone]

Ticketmaster is a shambles. I see some fans have been sent tickets for L1 final by mistake, system has confirmed it’s a sell out when tickets still available, unable to buy more than 1 ticket together etc etc.

 

[ShrimpsMeltdown]

It's been a mess on our side as well, you'd think being a worldwide company Ticketmaster would have a decent system in place, obviously not.

 

[denzel ecfc]

I wonder if the Newport fans will boo God Save The Queen like Swansea fans did...and will they be singing along to Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

 

[Indian Dan]

Good to see the Welsh lads in the Swansea side belting out their national anthem.

 

[Bone Idle]

I wonder if the Newport fans will boo God Save The Queen like Swansea fans did...and will they be singing along to Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

 

[Bone Idle]

Bet you had to google the spelling denz!!

 

[Bone Idle]

I wonder if the Newport fans will boo God Save The Queen like Swansea fans did...and will they be singing along to Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

I will be singing both!! and as i was brought up a good boy scout i will throw in a couple of choruses of gin gan gooly for luck.
But seriously i don't think national anthems have any place at playoff finals and should be kept for international games only, its morcambe v newport county FFS not england v wales.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Bet you had to google the spelling denz!!

Dwi'n hoffi coffi

 

[County1]

Dwi'n hoffi coffi

Da iawn Denzel!!

 

[shoddycollins]

Interesting that since the semi-finals, the BBC has published six articles about Newport, about Flynn, about Ellison, about them being a phoenix club and other Newport related stuff, and zero articles about Morecambe. Morecambe just not of interest to the London media or are they purposefully trying to fly under the radar?

 

[denzel ecfc]

Interesting that since the semi-finals, the BBC has published six articles about Newport, about Flynn, about Ellison, about them being a phoenix club and other Newport related stuff, and zero articles about Morecambe. Morecambe just not of interest to the London media or are they purposefully trying to fly under the radar?

The BBC is Salford media, not London.
Probably just finding something to fill their Welsh pages with

 

[Bone Idle]

Interesting that since the semi-finals, the BBC has published six articles about Newport, about Flynn, about Ellison, about them being a phoenix club and other Newport related stuff, and zero articles about Morecambe. Morecambe just not of interest to the London media or are they purposefully trying to fly under the radar?

You should watch bbc wales, they give us zero coverage!
We could get promoted today but bbc wales will find a bigger story about wrexhams lawnmower breaking down.

 

[Boz]

I wonder if this has something to do with the BBC having a Wales section and journalists. Recall on their NL thread Wrecsam seemed to get more coverage and match reports up first.

 

[FGR Stroud]

I suspect most will be interested in Play-off Final today.
I have a sneaking bit of support for Newport after they were part of probably the best EFL2 match of season when they won 2nd leg of semi against FGR.
Whatever result, lets hope it is a good game and neither side freeze in most prestigious match of season.