Saturday 20th August

[Gunit]

173 to us on easter friday in context we took 298 on a tuesday in november.

But as FG proved you’re not judged on your fanbase.

In context a far better effort from us than you given size of respective clubs. You likely have a fair few London way too. Ours all have to do the journey other than odd 1.

 

[Gunit]

but we were better than you, which is why we finished above you.

I’m not claiming anything, i’m stating fact.

Lol 1 point over the season. Not exactly conclusive. I’d say more representative of more resource/deeper squad. The side we got out on the day better than yours. I’m sure you’ll get some points this season though given you’re one of the better sides in the league.

 

[JaredSUFC]

Too be fair if I lived in Sutton I doubt I'd travel all the way to Cleethorpes when there are so many other options to do in London over a weekend; and I don't just mean watching football. So, well done to how many actually travel to watch them away, especially those that come up tomorrow.

Sutton were getting barely 500 to home games as recently as 2015 (I know, I was there!) so whilst our home attendances have increased, a lot of those will be newer fans who may yet have the desire to travel away or younger fans who lack the means. Back in our non-league days I was in away supports of less than 50 at quite a few places. In our first season back in the National League 2016/17 where we had more new places to visit than last season, we rarely if ever took 3 figures north of Watford, so it’s a growing away support, even if still relatively small.

We’ll probably have 150-200 supporters at Blundell Park tomorrow- we had a little over 200 at Doncaster the other week on a Saturday.

Tbh this is 4th tier Football, the fact that anyone travels to watch games at this level is a thing that should be celebrated, rather than mocked. I know some clubs have nothing going for them other than the number of people who want to travel and watch them but anyone who travels any distance to watch a game of Football at this level, especially in this current climate should be commended.

 

[JaredSUFC]

In context a far better effort from us than you given size of respective clubs. You likely have a fair few London way too. Ours all have to do the journey other than odd 1.

And some of us did the journey from South Wales. And missed kickoff and our opening goal due to the wonderful value for money British rail network…

 

[JaredSUFC]

After trying to avoid each other (when we were promoted to the National League in 2016 Grimsby were promoted to Football League and we then swapped places in 2021), Grimsby and Sutton finally meet.

Our away form so far this season is shocking. Played 3, lost 3 in all competitions away from Gander Green Lane. I thought we played well in parts on Tuesday however we looked a little toothless in front of goal. Unfortunately I can’t really see that changing before tomorrow. Whilst I don’t make predictions I’m not overly optimistic and right now a draw would be an alright result

 

[Casey]

Wimbledon wobble down the road to Crawley on Saturday (we will have had two of our biggest league crowds already this season with this)..

They've had an OK start to life in league 2. We've had our worst ever efl start! However, signs of life in the old dog on Tuesday and our fan base really doesn't like Wimbledon so there could be a few scrapping chairs in the library on Saturday.

Going to go for a narrow win for us for our first win of the season with Nadersan finishing a fine long hoof over the top from our keeper.

I could be wrong.

Casey

 

[Stocky]

Harsh to go in on Sutton. Their fans would admit they're a traditional Non League club if you like. They're a proper club not some hobby club like Salford, Forest Green, Fleetwood etc. They're batting above their traditional level but they've earned their place and their fanbase will only grow from this maybe to an extent where they can become a consistent league team.

 

[Conker]

Harsh to go in on Sutton. Their fans would admit they're a traditional Non League club if you like. They're a proper club not some hobby club like Salford, Forest Green, Fleetwood etc. They're batting above their traditional level but they've earned their place and their fanbase will only grow from this maybe to an extent where they can become a consistent league team.

It’s not fair to put Forest Green in the same sentence, they were a proper conference club atleast for years before EFL status. Salford, Fleetwood and Sutton were all lower down the pyramid.

Salford and Fleetwood in particular had about 80 fans between them before major investment.

 

[JaredSUFC]

It’s not fair to put Forest Green in the same sentence, they were a proper conference club atleast for years before EFL status. Salford, Fleetwood and Sutton were all lower down the pyramid.

Salford and Fleetwood in particular had about 80 fans between them before major investment.

Apart from 3 seasons at the end of the 00s when we were in step 3 of the pyramid we were a step 1 or 2 team from the mid 80s (when the Isthmian started to promote teams to the Conference/National League) until our promotion to the EFL on 2021

 

[Gunit]

It’s not fair to put Forest Green in the same sentence, they were a proper conference club atleast for years before EFL status. Salford, Fleetwood and Sutton were all lower down the pyramid.

Salford and Fleetwood in particular had about 80 fans between them before major investment.

No way FGR got to the conference without someone spunking a chunk of money (they were very much regional leagues until back to back promotions in the 90’s). No other way to explain their rise with minimal crowds, including a brand new stadium along the way. Without Vince’s money they wouldn’t have survived at Conference level. Not a chance.

 

[Conker]

No way FGR got to the conference without someone spunking a chunk of money (they were very much regional leagues until back to back promotions in the 90’s). No other way to explain their rise with minimal crowds, including a brand new stadium along the way. Without Vince’s money they wouldn’t have survived at Conference level. Not a chance.

Vince investment got them to the EFL for sure, but I’m pretty sure they were like one of if not the longest serving clubs at conference level?!?! Think they already had the current stadium before he came along, Dale Vince brought a club established at conference level for a long time.

 

[AdamStag]

Lol 1 point over the season. Not exactly conclusive. I’d say more representative of more resource/deeper squad. The side we got out on the day better than yours. I’m sure you’ll get some points this season though given you’re one of the better sides in the league.

Yes which is why you won on the day and we were better over the season. We struggle with big physical sides who have emphasis on the long ball, that was a big weakness for us which is why we struggled against harrogate too, very similar to big sides you used to get in the conference.

 

[Gunit]

Vince investment got them to the EFL for sure, but I’m pretty sure they were like one of if not the longest serving clubs at conference level?!?! Think they already had the current stadium before he came along, Dale Vince brought a club established at conference level for a long time.

They were but they didn’t get there by magic and had financial issues when Dale came in. Not sure if he was involved as a sponsor before taking ownership or not. Either way Forest Green Rovers would have been nowhere near the Conference without being bankrolled. I think losses were close to £3m in his early days!!

 

[Kauto Star]

187. Pretty decent given that’s likely getting on towards 10% of our regular supporters.

I wasn't knocking or mocking your support. I was just replying to the Grimsby fan who seems to be expecting a fair few travelling support to Cleethorpes as its a new ground for you. I was merely lowering his expectations based on last seasons numbers travelling north

 

[Conker]

They were but they didn’t get there by magic and had financial issues when Dale came in. Not sure if he was involved as a sponsor before taking ownership or not. Either way Forest Green Rovers would have been nowhere near the Conference without being bankrolled. I think losses were close to £3m in his early days!!

I cannot remember FGR being bankrolled pre-Dale Vince, but you’d have to ask a FGR fan to be sure.

 

[GTFCfish]

So; which other managers are available at the moment, and importantly, within our budget ?

 

[JaredSUFC]

I wasn't knocking or mocking your support. I was just replying to the Grimsby fan who seems to be expecting a fair few travelling support to Cleethorpes as its a new ground for you. I was merely lowering his expectations based on last seasons numbers travelling north

Given Grimsby’s recent spell in the National League, with the likes of Kings Lynn, Eastleigh and Bromley, 187 would be a decent number in their away end.

I guess it’s a sense of perspective

 

[AdamStag]

I cannot remember FGR being bankrolled pre-Dale Vince, but you’d have to ask a FGR fan to be sure.

they weren’t, from what i recall they dodged relegation once due to another club going under/being docked points, they were a very mid table side

 

[Gunit]

I’m not saying they were pumping multi millions in the same way as Wrexham are now but they were definitely over spending in a major way. Historically a regional side until mid 90’s, much of their history low enough for the Vase. They were bust when Vince came in. Reprieved twice in the conference from relegation.

 

[Conker]

I’m not saying they were pumping multi millions in the same way as Wrexham are now but they were definitely over spending in a major way. Historically a regional side until mid 90’s, much of their history low enough for the Vase. They were bust when Vince came in. Reprieved twice in the conference from relegation.

Didn’t they reach conference late 90s though? And basically were at that level for like 20 years? I mean where do we draw the line?

 

[Gunit]

Well you tried to differentiate them from say Fleetwood. How exactly are they any different other than being meat free? Without someone pumping millions in over the years they’d never be where they are.

 

[Grumpy Grecian]

Were you around in the Conf 10 or 20 years ago (as we were) you'd know that FGR should have been relegated TWICE but we're "reprieved" because the League Board judged other clubs should take their place due to perceived "irregularities" - Northwich Vic due to "ground issues" and, later, by Salisbury. "Financial" ones.

Although, to be fair, that was before Mr Vince took an interest. And I'm sure that it was a total coincidence that their head honcho at the time was also on the Conference League Board. There was certainly a lot of disgruntlement at the time in NL circles about their apparent magic immunity from relegation.

Still they (and we!!!) are at least for the moment happily esconced in L1. And there are only two reasons for my current dislike of our relatively local rivals.
1) They pipped us to last year's title by goal diff
2) THAT BLOODY HILL!!!

 

[Son of Cod]

Is there Hartlepools Bradford BEEF or something?

What happened then, i remember you winning at our place 1-0 with 10 men and it all being some massive love in, what exactly happened?

I mean clearly it didn’t go to plan if you went down but it did seem like a new dawn at the time

In addition to what BlackHaddock has said, the season before we went down we looked very good and that's what the love in was all about. We had Billy Clarke, Charlie Vernam, Elliot Grandin, Mattie Pollock, James Hanson, Jake Hessenthaler all purring and we were playing good attacking football. But then COVID kicked in and our strategy was absolutely pish. We had an option for an additional year with Vernam who was our best player which we opted to NOT take up because the rest of the squad had taken a paycut and as per the terms of the contract we had to offer Vernam the same money to activate the additional year but Fenty/Holloway decided that we needed to keep parity with the rest of the squad. We brought shite in that summer. Absolute shite. Players from steps way down. And lots of sub-par loanees from Championship/Prem clubs. We brought them in with the idea of playing the ball on the deck...but furloughed the ground staff so come September and the first spot of rain the pitch was atrocious. Mid-winter it was a bog and these kids just couldn't play in it. We partnered two tanks at the back in Mattie Pollock and Luke Waterfall which was a disastrous CB combo. We were completely toothless up top. It was just a complete and utter shitshow. The only saving grace was that we were only spending a tenner a match and not having to get train/match tickets and pub beers and food every week! It's a massive testament to the new owners, Hurst and the squad that we bounced straight back as it was dire that season.

 

[hellogregory]

Stevenage away. Tough game, they’ve started the season really well and look a confident, experienced team.

We’re no win in 4, our last and only win coming end of last month.

Can we end our winless run? It will be a tough ask against an in form experienced team. Once again with our patched together weak defence, it’s going to be an uphill battle. Quite honestly I’d take a point but with all the injuries resulting in the lack of height in our team to compete I can’t see us taking anything.

Stevenage 2-0 Carlisle

Preying we don’t pick up any more injuries and hope the current ones start to clear up. We really need some better luck on that front.

 

[AdamStag]

Sutton were getting barely 500 to home games as recently as 2015 (I know, I was there!) so whilst our home attendances have increased, a lot of those will be newer fans who may yet have the desire to travel away or younger fans who lack the means. Back in our non-league days I was in away supports of less than 50 at quite a few places. In our first season back in the National League 2016/17 where we had more new places to visit than last season, we rarely if ever took 3 figures north of Watford, so it’s a growing away support, even if still relatively small.

We’ll probably have 150-200 supporters at Blundell Park tomorrow- we had a little over 200 at Doncaster the other week on a Saturday.

Tbh this is 4th tier Football, the fact that anyone travels to watch games at this level is a thing that should be celebrated, rather than mocked. I know some clubs have nothing going for them other than the number of people who want to travel and watch them but anyone who travels any distance to watch a game of Football at this level, especially in this current climate should be commended.

that’s a fair point, when you’re stupid enough to traipse across the country to watch mansfield when you’ve man utd and city on your doorstep you need your head testing.

 

[AdamStag]

Is there Hartlepools Bradford BEEF or something?


In addition to what BlackHaddock has said, the season before we went down we looked very good and that's what the love in was all about. We had Billy Clarke, Charlie Vernam, Elliot Grandin, Mattie Pollock, James Hanson, Jake Hessenthaler all purring and we were playing good attacking football. But then COVID kicked in and our strategy was absolutely pish. We had an option for an additional year with Vernam who was our best player which we opted to NOT take up because the rest of the squad had taken a paycut and as per the terms of the contract we had to offer Vernam the same money to activate the additional year but Fenty/Holloway decided that we needed to keep parity with the rest of the squad. We brought shite in that summer. Absolute shite. Players from steps way down. And lots of sub-par loanees from Championship/Prem clubs. We brought them in with the idea of playing the ball on the deck...but furloughed the ground staff so come September and the first spot of rain the pitch was atrocious. Mid-winter it was a bog and these kids just couldn't play in it. We partnered two tanks at the back in Mattie Pollock and Luke Waterfall which was a disastrous CB combo. We were completely toothless up top. It was just a complete and utter shitshow. The only saving grace was that we were only spending a tenner a match and not having to get train/match tickets and pub beers and food every week! It's a massive testament to the new owners, Hurst and the squad that we bounced straight back as it was dire that season.

Aye coming back up after 1 season is a remarkable achievement though you pushed your luck in the playoffs (though guess you have to).

When you see sides down there for the time they have, wrexham are 12 years now i think, i’m not sure i’d have the will to go on being in that thing for that length of time, the pros of being in the conference after more than 1 season are few and far between.

 

[Conker]

Well you tried to differentiate them from say Fleetwood. How exactly are they any different other than being meat free? Without someone pumping millions in over the years they’d never be where they are.

Fleetwood were playing on a park covered in dog shit in front of 50 people before they got took over by whatever his name is, FGR were a established conference national club before Dale Vince so yeah I see a pretty significant difference for christ sake and so should you!

Let’s clarify, FGR are conference national tinpot cloggers. Fleetwood, are unibond/unistick/bostick Chad Sunday youth league tinpot cloggers.

 

[AdamStag]

Fleetwood were playing on a park covered in dog shit in front of 50 people before they got took over by whatever his name is, FGR were a established conference national club before Dale Vince so yeah I see a pretty significant difference for christ sake and so should you!

I was thinking the same, kinda not the same at all.

 

[Fedora Dale]

Player/coach Jim McNulty takes temporary charge for Dale at Swindon. Dunno what team he'll pick, but I'd go for:
Slicker
***
Seriki, Nelson, Ebanks-Landell, John
***
Diagouraga
***
Kelly, Brierley
***
Rodney, Henderson, Odoh

Subs:
O'Donnell, Graham, Taylor, Ball, Sinclair, Tulloch, Charman

 

[Gunit]

Ok you think they’re different because Fleetwood were heavily backed a little later in the day. FGR were in the Fa Vase early eighties and in the Hellenic League. They were then in the regional southern league (i.e. step 3) until the mid 90’s.

I don’t think they’re any different as big cash has been laid out to get them way way over their natural level. Without their current backers they would either be bust or several levels lower.

I’ll agree to disagree and leave it there!