Season review 2017 -2018

[GTFCfish]

Best fans to visit your ground: I didn't go to many home games due to uni, but the consensus on our forum is that Coventry were the best fans.

Any idea how many away fans Coventry took as I don’t recall any of them mentioning it at the time.......?

 

[King Kev]

Club supported: Bury

Best moment of the season: That is like asking what was my favourite Friday afternoon Maths GCSE lesson.....The opening day 1-0 win against Walsall, we missed two penalties and didn't play particularly well.
Wait until we get in gear, many of us thought and said in the pub after the game.
Things certainly looked good for our 'playoff charge' that our joke of a chairman declared as a minimum aim before the season started.

Low point: In a season of lows there are a few nominations. The 0-1 defeat to Charlton under Lucketti, the lineup, formation, tactics and substitutions made no sense at all, and we looked completely clueless. I think, whilst many still blamed the players, at seven straight defeats and not a single league goal scored, it was also clear that Lucketti's spell as manager was not akin to the second coming as we all hoped.
However we did pull some form together under Lowe, we finally got off bottom, started playing some decent stuff once certain players had been carted off. We made it one defeat in eight, battling to some real hard earned points. Then came the double whammy.
2-0 up against Oldham and thinking the great escape was on, only to let in a ridiculous goal on HT then concede again to draw 2-2. We still had time to miss several more chances to win it. The Oldham fans celebrating like they'd won the league made their end of season relegation rather more amusing.
It was this draw though that sealed our fate. The following Tuesday we played Posh at home, we tried and battled but never looked like scoring and conceded a late, late winner.
Before the Oldham game, fans were confident of four points minimum from the two fixtures. We ended up with 1. We then lost our next seven games and went down without a fight.

Best Away Day: Only did a few local ones. Blackburn away was fun despite the result.

Best fans to visit your ground: Bradford

Pantomime villain: Lee Clark, the biggest joke of a manager to ever sit in the Gigg Lane dugout. Followed closely by our chairman.

Players you'd drive to their next club: The list is too long....

Have you moved forwards? Since our joke of a chairman turned up in 2013 he pledged a five year plan to get us to the championship and claimed we would be ran properly hence forth with the club's future never being put in jeopardy again.
Five years and record breaking losses made each year since, coupled with a fair number of winding up petitions and CCJs, we are back in league two.
Chairman says he has written some of our losses off, many of us are cynical about this. We do have our highly rated youth setup though.

Hopes for next season: The chairman sticks to his word and keeps his gob and his web of spin and questionable information away from the media.
Bury fans are given genuine assurances of our future and get regular dialogue with our board.
Many exciting kids are blooded, Lowe develops as a manager and we have a nice safe, carefree season in midtable playing some exciting, attacking football.

 

[Moomin]

Club sorted: Exeter City

Best moment of the season: Has to be the playoff semi final home win against Lincoln. We played really well and scored two of the best goals I’ve seen in ages. Honourable mention to scoring two injury time goals away at Crewe to win 2-1.

Low point: without question losing the play off final with such a wank performance, which basically threw away a season’s hard work within 20 minutes. Still fuming.

Best away day: I didn’t do any away games this season other than the play off final, but can’t say I enjoyed it much!

Best fans to visit: tough to say this year due to the small numbers of away fans due to our ground redevelopment. I was impressed with Chesterfield’s numbers considering it was a Tuesday night and they were as good as relegated.

Pantomime villain: easily Matt Rhead. We had the pleasure of seeing him twice at SJP...The first time he acted like a cock when we were trying to setup our defensive wall for a free kick and the second time he acted like a pussy every time someone touched him. The bloke is a disgrace.

Players to drive to their next clubs: Craig Woodman but he will hopefully retire; Lloyd James who’s a waste of a shirt...Can’t tackle, is slow, has now skill and gives the ball away a lot. Lastly Ryan Brunt. He’s apparently a decent player but has been injured all season and hasn’t played since March 2016 due to a knee injury. It’s a shame but he needs to go.

Have we moved forward: Yes. Well, we lost at Wembley for the second year running but we attained our highest points total for nearly 30 years. The club is in a good place financially and the ground is going to be finished by October. Obviously, we’re entering a new era with Tisdale leaving so who knows what will happen.

Hopes for next season: Well I am chuffed Matt Taylor got the manager’s job and I think he will do well. However, it’s hard know how we will fare next season. If we keep our key players and add a couple of good’uns then we should do well. Stockley is going to score plenty and we have a solid back line, I just hope we add some pace as we lack that. Overall, I am optimistic and we’re in a good place.

 

[Chris FGR]

Club supported - The famous Forest Green Rovers

Best moment of the season - Winning the El Glossico game at Whaddon Road. Vital and historic win.

Low point - Getting smashed by Colchester's reserves/Exeter/Cambridge/Newport/Wycombe etc. Also seeing both Coopers sent off in the same minute v Wycombe at home.

Best Away Day - Gotta be Cheltenham. local decent pubs great banter before, during and after. Got totally shit faced. Great day.

Best fans to visit your ground - Crewe. They took our home end. Nuff said.

Pantomime villain - Liam Noble. The way he forced his way out, meaning we missed out on a good fee and then scored the winner and took the piss when Notts beat us annoyed a lot of our fans, although I still quite like the bloke. His wumming is exceptional. Sure to get a load more stick next time. .

Players you'd drive to their next club - None. Have you seen the price of petrol? The useless fuckers can drive themselves.

Have you moved forwards? - Well we got promoted so given we stayed up I would say yes, although most thought we would do a bit better then we did.

Hopes for next season - 16th would be awesome. Maybe a cup run.

 

[shoddycollins]

Well we got promoted so given we stayed up I would say yes, although most thought we would do a bit better then we did.

As you've discovered, it is difficult down here for us famous old clubs with creaking old stadia, fractious fans and massive overheads when you have to compete with bankrolled village teams. I'm sure FGR will be able to rise again like a phoenix from the ashes though.

 

[The Jovial Forester]

Club sorted: Exeter City

Great to hear you've got a club sorted so early in the summer. What sort of contract have the Grecians given you?

 

[Moomin]

Great to hear you've got a club sorted so early in the summer. What sort of contract have the Grecians given you?

Ha! It’s a lifelong contract full of eternal hope but little reward. The joys of being a fan of a lower league team!

 

[shoddycollins]

Ha! It’s a lifelong contract full of eternal hope but little reward. The joys of being a fan of a lower league team!

Can they not give their fans two years notice?

 

[connorpie]

Club supported Notts County

Best moment of the season: I think the 4-1 win against Lincoln at Meadow Lane when we picked them apart, or the 3-0 away win to Exeter, by that point we won 6 in a row and conceded 1 goal.

Low point. Losing Yates definitely hindered us, and his replacements weren't of the same quality, but Mason Bennett's injury was a huge blow, meaning we had to rely on 2 strikers with the combined age of 71 for goals.

Best awayday: I only went to Mansfield and Lincoln last season, so Lincoln, good game (not one for the purists) and great atmosphere, and it's a nice city as well.

Best fans to visit your ground: I think Accrington's fans were pretty good on a Friday Night trip. Crawley were also brilliant for a Tuesday night.

Pantomime villain: The play off officials definitely

Players you'd drive to their next club: Haven't been impressed with Noble at all, and he's presumably a big earner. The rest have gone.

Have you moved forwards? Unarguably, Hardy has transformed the club and got stayaway fans back with good initiatives, good PR and most importantly playing a manager who isn't negative and plays good football.

Hopes for next season: If Notts keep Nolan there's no reason we shouldn't be top 3, especially with some actual strikers who can play up front.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Club Supported: Crewe

Best moment of the season: Toss up between going to Sincil Bank and turning over Lincoln 4-1 or going to Field Mill and going 4-1 up against Mansfield in 25 minutes.

Low point: The inexcusable collapse against Exeter when we went 1-0 up in the 89th minute and lost 2-1. Honourable mentions to similar collapses at Swindon, Forest Green and Wycombe too. The collapses angered me more than being thumped by the likes of Carlisle and Lincoln at home.

Best awayday: Carlisle will always win in this respect. Honourable mentions to Grimsby, Lincoln, Mansfield and Newport though. Some cracking aways in this league!

Best fans to visit your ground: Did all the home games this season except for Luton and Coventry but I was very impressed with the decent turnouts from Exeter and Notts County considering they were midweek games.

Pantomime villain: Shaun Derry for once against mastering a further two victories against us despite struggling to beat other sides. Unsurprisingly was sacked mind.

Players you'd drive to their next club: None of the current squad which is surprising. Usually there's three or four I want fucking off sharpish.

Have you moved forwards?: Despite finishing only two places higher than last season, I would say that we have. After a large portion of our misfits were released or chose to move on to pastures new last year, Dave Artell has worked wonders rebuilding and developing a new core of the squad, some of which had only made a handful of starts, into a very competent and competitive bunch by the season's end. Despite the first two thirds of the season being poor given injuries to key players and basic errors from our inexperienced squad being punished, we really did play some fantastic football in that final third of the season which should be a springboard to greater things next year round. The fact he's managed to tie down the more experienced home grown players such as Charlie Kirk, James Jones and Callum Ainley to long-term contracts is a sign of the fine work he's done to eradicate the mess that Steve Davis put us in, where goals weren't scored, talent wasn't developed, income wasn't coming in and we were staring non league in the face.

Hopes for next season: I'd be very happy with a top half finish and playoff challenge. I don't expect us to finish in the Top 7 at all next year but I'm very confident our run of relegation battles is over now and that we'll be one of the more competitive sides next season.