Well the dust is settling and we’re out of the FA Cup!
I wonder if the players/team either felt that much pressure they froze and lost the game in their heads knowing that the club were relying on prize money, or the announcement of poor governance meaning budget cuts were on the way, meaning some of them would be leaving, either way I think the publicity and timing of some of the recent off the field announcements was poor and I don’t think I’ve ever been to a Witton game where all the talk before the game is of who’s going to be axed.
Ask yourself it that was your potential last day in a job would you give it your all or go through the motions.
Like I say I haven’t got the answers, just mulling over recent events, and apologies for posting something on a forum for discussion if that offends!
Or they felt complacent in that playing a team 2 leagues lower would be easy ! Yes lots of rumours yesterday but not going to discuss details of that on the forum, but I would be surprised if players knew they were leaving and be even more surprised if they were selected when we had players on the bench that should have been good enough to beat Runcorn.
Well like Andy I don’t know the answers but trust the club and Sheens to start the process of change and budget trimming and just hope we don’t lose too much in the process.
I think its important to just clarify that it isn’t a case of the budget being cut, more that its being brought back in line as we have been running over since the start of the season.
Have to agree though that it was a conversation to be had this morning had we been beaten (as has transpired), and certainly not one that should have been made public before the game that could have had a big sway on keeping some of these players.
I don’t think we underestimated the opposition - they had given us a game pre-season don’t forget.
Some players wont be missed either way.
I do however think we need to cut Titch some slack. He has been struggling with an injury since the back end of last season - one which he played through despite his obvious discomfort as he was determined to help keep us up. He’s now operating at about 40% of his fitness, and yet we’re still expecting him to be the same explosive player he was a few seasons ago. Give him time, he will get there.
Agree on Titch, he just doesn’t look fit yet, when he is we will be better i am sure but then why not start Bakkor yesterday He never lacks effort or fitness that seemed strange to me. the balance of the squad does need addressing as we trim, we need a back up centre back- Gards should not be playing there for so long he needs to beat right back allowing Moyo to move to left back, heard Barnes might be out sometime yet ? And now Koral is fit we seem to have too many strikers and possibly Walker to return as well ! Good luck to Sheens in sorting this out I hope he does sooner than later.
Bags of ability but appears to be his own worst enemy.
I love watching him play, but he needs to realise that he’s got a fantastic opportunity at this club, and could quite easily go on to bigger and better things. But he’s young, and will hopefully learn sooner rather than later.
I also think yesterday was seen as an opportunity to give Titch some much-needed game time. Possibly something that back-fired, but he’s never going to get fit if he doesn’t play games either.
As GE put in another thread why not put titch in the reserves to get game time? We have 2 centre backs and 2 centre mids (that we’re prepared to start with) Barnes is out injured and Powell is playing injured. Then we have 3 left mids? Just doesn’t seem to make financial sense. Unless left mids are a lot cheaper than other players.
I do know what you are saying Robbo but a 40 percent it Titch should not be starting important games ! If Bakkor is doing it on the pitch ( and he was ) then sort his issues out when we can afford to . we could even have started Howard behind Harvey with Dawson on the wing that would have been a bit better IMO use the reserves to get fit that’s partly why it’s there !
I don’t understand why we keep talking about money all the time. We know we are skint so why bring it up all the time? Every club is struggling to pay the bills and don’t think that Runcorn Town have a bigger budget than us. Maybe the ground is the issue and the cost of running it or that we think we are bigger than we are. Get used to it. We are in the right league and should not spend what we don’t have, simples.
That’s a business term not sure it applies in our level of football we can go up a division down a division and have done for years but we are still Witton with mostly the same fans.
If you remember when we went down from the Conference we kept falling until we nearly went out of business. Stability is what we have and what we need to maintain whilst still moving “ONWARDS AND UPWARDS.”
WHS.
Sorry WHS but that is surely rubbish. It was going into the Conference that got us into a mess. The money from the ground could have kept us going for years in the NPL but that’s old history. We are Witton and we lose more than we win. We still support them though whatever league they are in.
I cannot agree with the idea that going into the Conference got us into a mess, it was going in the way we did, spending money we had not got that did that. Yes we had cash from the ground sale but it was wasted on buying players we could not afford to keep paying on our gates. Just staying put will NEVER satisfy supporters, you have to go for success, but in a sensible way.
WHS.
Staying put has to do for lots of teams all over the world, there are usually one or two top teams that win most things with very occasional upsets, I don’t think many Witton fans relish the prospect of conference National football but maybe in the future to establish in the conference north will suffice for most fans and then you enjoy it match by match ! so once you reach your natural level then that has to be good enough for many.
Its a tough one really, yes we all want success but at what cost? While the idea of playing in the National Conference is an exciting prospect the reality is that now it contains many ex league clubs and with these come the gangs of hooligans who are relishing the non league scene, YouTube has many clips of fans fighting in the Conference, Lincoln, Wrexham, Bristol Rovers, Grimsby just to name a few and Nuneaton even made the top 10 of fans with banning orders in the Country including Premier and football league clubs!
Do we really want to attend games at Wincham Park with heavy Police presence and segregation?
The Conference North is probably as far as our club should go, still a lot of travelling but some decent team’s and a lot less hassle than the Conference.
I love the league were in tbh, some great away trips like Matlock, Whitby and FCUM and with Flixton Vics doing well they could be joining us next season!!
You know, if everyone at the club, from the top to the bottom and the fans got themselves into the social club tonight for the sportsmans and next week for the comedy then everything would be much better.
Laughter Certainly is the best medicine! And it’s a truly cracking line-up.