Relegation Thread 2017/18

[George Reilly's Hairpiece]

The bad news (good news for ShrimpsMeltdown) is that we've recalled our better youngsters from loan and had a few on the bench yesterday but none got on the pitch.

With no Uche (Jambo) or Jabo and Barry Corr probably only fit for 30 minutes or so once a week, Matt Foy and Tom Knowles may well get a run out on Tuesday - possibly Harry Darling and/or Little Leon Davies as well.

I thought you might make it at the expense of Grimsby but didn't envisage Morecambe failing to reach 50 points.

The most likely result from our day on the beach and visit to Happy Mount Park is a draw - which leaves the onus on you and Mad Dog to win the last two. I think/hope Jim Bentley will probably send you down on saturday - after all, he once bought me a pie and a pint.

I don't have a problem with you trying out a few younger players - you've earned the right to do that and we shouldn't be in a position where we are looking for other teams to do us favours. What happens tomorrow is probably more down to Morecambe's mindset than anything.

Although if Yeovil could see their way to getting their game against Forest Green postponed to next midweek so we know how Grimsby got on at home to Notts County, that would be appreciated.

 

[GTFCfish]

That is unbelievably poor. Hope the player gets a ban for it.

Whilst it was a shocking penalty decision I don't think it was a dive either, he caught his own leg and went down thinking that he had been tripped by the defender.
I think so anyway.

 

[BeesKnees]

Whilst it was a shocking penalty decision I don't think it was a dive either, he caught his own leg and went down thinking that he had been tripped by the defender.
I think so anyway.

I think you're being generous. He tripped himself to make it look like the defender clipped him.

 

[PaulHaddock]

Aye, Akinde has never gone over when he shouldn’t have...

These things even themselves out, we don’t make a habit of doing it.

 

[BeesKnees]

Aye, Akinde has never gone over when he shouldn’t have...

These things even themselves out, we don’t make a habit of doing it.

Good luck trying to find a clip of Akinde going down without contact.

If he did then I'd want him booked and not a penalty awarded.

 

[springerbfc]

Any contact by the Swindon defender was outside the box, so even if there was a slight contact causing the striker to trip over his own feet, it should only have been a free kick. Oh well.

We can only blame ourselves if we go down - we had the chance to appoint Allen with plenty of time to spare and we didn't. We've blown more leads this season than I can ever remember, including crucially against Grimsby last week, and that is what has cost us, not a somewhat dodgy looking penalty decision for Grimsby at Swindon.

Our only genuine hope now rests with Morecambe imo. If they fail to win tomorrow, we are set up for a bit of a showdown next week, with them being in the awkward position of knowing that a draw is good enough, whereas for us its win or bust.

If we take it the final day, I'd fancy our chances. Allen might not be everyone's cup of tea but he is far and away the best in the business at keeping a side up from a position of total desperation.

 

[Chris FGR]

Allen's done well, but Barnet have got some good players so weren't as shit as the table made them look. Any decent manager would have given them a chance imo.

 

[George Reilly's Hairpiece]

Allen's done well, but Barnet have got some good players so weren't as shit as the table made them look. Any decent manager would have given them a chance imo.

Exactly right.

There will be more than enough time for a full post-mortem should we go down, but it's been a catalogue of errors since Allen left the previous time to go to Eastleigh and here we are back in the same boat again. Until the chairman finally realises that the most important signing a club can make is the manager, and ends this cycle of instability, we will continue to go backwards.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Allen's done well, but Barnet have got some good players so weren't as shit as the table made them look. Any decent manager would have given them a chance imo.

Yeah, our squad is unbalanced with some weaknesses but players such as Coulthirst, Akinde, Brindley and Weston are certainly more than good enough for League 2. Injuries and bizarre team selections by McGhee and Westley made us look far worse than we actually are.

 

[Habbinalan]

I don't have a problem with you trying out a few younger players - you've earned the right to do that and we shouldn't be in a position where we are looking for other teams to do us favours. What happens tomorrow is probably more down to Morecambe's mindset than anything.

Although if Yeovil could see their way to getting their game against Forest Green postponed to next midweek so we know how Grimsby got on at home to Notts County, that would be appreciated.

Our recalled youngsters will be chasing silverware tonight rather than travelling north. Our Development team take on Ely City in the Cambridgeshire Invitational Cup Final. So we'll be fielding our strongest available team and bench at Morecambe - which still means we're struggling to field a decent striker but will be giving it a go and aiming to keep a clean sheet..

Not sufficient motivation to send me up the M6. Instead I'll be offering some moral support to Barra at Bromley as they cling on to National League status by their fingernails, with the AGM Cup as a back-up plan.

 

[#Beebot]

Aye, Akinde has never gone over when he shouldn’t have...

These things even themselves out, we don’t make a habit of doing it.

The Akinde diving claims are all a myth really. He won a huge number of penalties in his first two seasons, especially in the NL, because keepers and defenders underestimated his pace and mistimed tackles as a result, as he's deceptively quick for a player of his size.

Akinde's loss of pace as a result of injuries is one of the reasons we win far fewer penalties now.

 

[#Beebot]

Let's not forget that Allen was prepared to take the job around Christmas time, but didn't after falling out with the chairman when he disagreed with the chairman's ludicrous target of the playoffs, despite us sitting in the bottom two at the time.

TK then ignored our DOFs alternative recommendations for managers and appointed Westley solely based on a chat with Barry Fry, who hasn't had a stake in the club for 25 years but still seems to wield a lot of influence over the chairman.

The bulk of the blame lies at the top.

 

[PaulHaddock]

Good luck trying to find a clip of Akinde going down without contact.

If he did then I'd want him booked and not a penalty awarded.

Pretty sure he got sent off for diving at some point in the Conference.

Are you saying you wouldn’t take the penalty if you were in our predicament?

 

[LongEatonPie]

Lester has gone from Chesterfield.

 

[GTFCfish]

Just checked and Akinde has never been sent off for Barnet although quite a lot of yellows for a forward though......

 

[PaulHaddock]

Just checked and Akinde has never been sent off for Barnet although quite a lot of yellows for a forward though......
View attachment 8177

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31423818

 

[#Beebot]

Pretty sure he got sent off for diving at some point in the Conference.

Are you saying you wouldn’t take the penalty if you were in our predicament?

Whether you or I would take it or not isn't really relevant, it's the referee's job to get the decisions right.

I won't blame Grimsby, the striker should have been booked but I don't blame him for chancing it, it's the refs who need to sort their shit out.

 

[BeesKnees]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31423818

Good.
If you dive you should be booked and not awarded a penalty.

 

[Richard Cranium]

The refs are never going to get every decision 100%. It’s the cheating fuckers diving to give referees the chance to get these key decisions wrong why we are being subjected to VAR. They came out at the start of the season and said players guilty of doing it will be punished and it’s not changed at all. I’d ban them for 5 games.

 

[Douglas_Valley_Reds]

If it is the current bottom 2 who go, who is in a better shape to come back sharpish, Chesterfield are obviously the bigger club, but that does not always count for much in that league, Barnet are past masters of dealing with the rigors of the national league, but will old Mad Dog jump ship again for the 10000th time and they have to start from scratch?

 

[Luke Imp]

Whilst it was a shocking penalty decision I don't think it was a dive either, he caught his own leg and went down thinking that he had been tripped by the defender.
I think so anyway.

Penalty aside, I've never really understood that statement.

I mean, was competent football player manages to catch his own leg whilst running without meaning to do so?

 

[barnet_pls]

So, interestingly how many point have we dropped from winning positions - most of those having ended up as defeats - not draws. My reckoning :

Tue 12/09/17 LET Barnet 1 - 2 Exeter City ........ 1-0 up until 78th minute . . . . lost = 3
Sat 16/09/17 LET Carlisle United 1 - 1 Barnet ........ 1-0 up until 84th minute . . . . lost = 2
Sat 21/10/17 LET Barnet 1 - 1 Yeovil Town ........ 1-0 up until 81st minute . . . . lost = 2
11/11 Barnet 0 v 1 Colchester........ 0-0 up until 80th minute . . . . lost = 1
18/11 Barnet 0 v 1 Port Vale ........ 0-0 up until 83rd minute . . . . lost = 1
Sat 09/12/17 LET Chesterfield 2 - 1 Barnet ....... 1-1 up until 93rd minute . . . . lost = 1
Sat 30/12/17 LET Exeter City 2 - 1 Barnet ....... 1-1 up until 91st minute . . . . lost = 1
13/01 Crawley 2 - 0 Barnet ...... 0-0 up until 75th minute . . . . lost = 1
Sat 20/01/18 LET Barnet 1 - 1 Lincoln City ....... 1-0 up until minute . . . . lost = 2
Sat 27/01/18 LET Cheltenham Town 1 - 1 Barnet ....... 1-0 up until minute . . . . lost = 2
Tue 20/02/18 LET Barnet 1 - 3 Carlisle United V ....... 1-0 up until 50th minute . . . . lost = 3
Sat 10/03/18 LET Coventry City 1 - 0 Barnet 0-0 up until 75th minute . . . . lost = 1
Tue 13/03/18 LET Barnet 1 - 1 Port Vale....... 1-0 up until 51th minute . . . . lost = 2
Sat 14/04/18 LET Grimsby Town 2 - 2 Barnet 2-1 up until 81th minute . . . . lost = 3

........ I make that 25 points lost from mostly winning postions . . . .how different the table would look . .. . that would have put us in 9th place . . . .

 

[GTFCfish]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31423818

Guess that statbunker site needs a bit of an update then!

 

[George Reilly's Hairpiece]

........ I make that 25 points lost from mostly winning postions . . . .how different the table would look . .. . that would have put us in 9th place . . . .

Sign of a really poorly organised team. If my cursory adding up is correct, we've only taken 6 points from games where we've fallen behind.

 

[JJ1532]

Lads, you aren't going to beat the Alex. We have dropped 31 points from winning positions and only gained 6 points from losing ones. The fact we are 17th and safe is a miracle.

 

[OneDecentLester]

So Jack Lester has decided to walk after allegedly feeling compromised at the boards plans to cut the majority of the coaching staff. I hope Jack knows his reputation as a spireites legend won't be tarnished by his reign as manager here, as our fan base understand that the majority of the blame lays far deeper....

Saturday was an unbelievably sad day for so many reasons, but to see my hero and all time favourite player close to tears as he walked past our fans with a despairing, helpless look on his face as he felt he'd let us all down... that was truly devastating for me and I'm sure many other spireites that were there Saturday. My message to Lester would be that although things didn't work out as our manager, our fan base will always be behind him and support him in anything he chooses to do, a real top bloke thrown to the lions and put in a near impossible situation by those at the top!

Regarding our future, I'm worried. As has already been mentioned, our playing budget being cut by over 50%, tied with the fact we already have a whole host of absolute drivel tied down to 2 year contracts, I fear that our next manager is going to have his hands tied next season! Unless we manage to get the majority of this spineless, gutless squad out the door I can only see us struggling again in the 5th tier, and our boards recent managerial appointments don't fill me with confidence that we'd get the right man in to steer us back to the football league where we belong anyway

All in all, what a shambolic 3 years us fans have had to endure. Mistake after mistake alongside scandal after scandal has left us feeling more disconnected from the club than ever before. Hopefully dropping out of the league is as bad as it gets and we don't continue our plight through the leagues into oblivion, but I'm not holding my breathe!

For now, it's over and out! I'm off to the non league forum, hopefully we'll see some of you next season during our crazy FA cup run flying the flag for the national league

 

[valefan16]

We must have dropped an awful lot from winning positions alone.

Crewe 2-2 injury time equaliser
Grimsby 1-1 injury time equaliser
Grimsby 2-1 when 1-0 up
Accrington 2-1 and 3-2 when ahead in both ties.
Swindon 3-2 when ahead 1-0
FGR 1-1
Crawley 2-1 when 1-0 up
Yeovil 1-1 when 1-0 up

24 points lost from winning positions i make it!

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Mansfield 2-2 (pegged back twice on opening day)
Wycombe 3-2 (2-1 up with 2 minutes to go and lost)
Colchester 3-1 (took the lead and lost)
Lincoln 4-1 (1-0 up at HT, lost)
Forest Green 3-2 (2-1 up with 9 minutes to go, lost)
Wycombe 3-2 (1-0 up for most the game, 2-2 in injury time, lost)
Swindon 4-3 (3-1 up with 24 minutes to go against an appalling side booed by their own fans and collapsed soon as they started hoofing it)
Notts County 4-1 (1-0 up early on, lost)
Exeter 2-1 (Score in the 89th minute to go 1-0 up and still lost)
Port Vale 2-2 (1-0 up and all over them, play one of those silly sideways passes across the box that we love doing, conceded a penalty, game changed)
Luton 3-1 (1-0 up then they woke up and put 3 past us)

I wonder what the Football League record is for most points dropped from a winning position. Because 31 is a staggering total.

 

[dedwardp]

Points dropped when scoring the first goal (obviously doesn't include going behind first, then going in front and dropping points):

Stevenage 26
Crewe Alexandra 25
Cheltenham 24
Chesterfield 23
Port Vale 21
Barnet 21
Yeovil Town 19
Mansfield 19
Newport 19
Exeter 17
Swindon Town 16
Carlisle Utd 16
Colchester 14
Lincoln 13
Forest Green 12
Cambridge Utd 11
Crawley 11
Grimsby 11
Morecambe 11
Notts County 10
Wycombe 8
Luton Town 8
Accrington 6
Coventry City 4

According to this, at least: http://www.soccerstats.com/table.asp?league=england4&tid=l

 

[LondonOrn]

Wycombe 3-2 (2-1 up with 2 minutes to go and lost)
Lincoln 4-1 (1-0 up at HT, lost)
Forest Green 3-2 (2-1 up with 9 minutes to go, lost)
Swindon 4-3 (3-1 up with 24 minutes to go against an appalling side booed by their own fans and collapsed soon as they started hoofing it)
Exeter 2-1 (Score in the 89th minute to go 1-0 up and still lost)

That's insane.

Without all those dropped points from that lot alone and a few more points from one other of the games you've thrown away, and you would be in play-off contention.