Grantham Town will be relegated if they lose at Stafford Rangers next Saturday. They will also be relegated IF both Radcliffe (away to Stalybridge Celtic) & Basford United (away to Whitby Town) win, irrespective of their own result.
Radcliffe are also playing Matlock Town on Tuesday night.
Grantham Townâs relegation was confirmed on Saturday following their 4-1 defeat at Stafford Rangers.
With the way other results have gone, Wittonâs fate is no longer in our own hands.
Call me an optimist, butâŚ
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Probably down but not the end of the world. We need to re group, sort our finances out, get the board up to strength, appoint a decent manager and go for the play offs as Macclesfield are likely to buy the title.
Will still be tough! Still some good sides left: Marine, Runcorn, City of Liverpool, Rylands etc depending on who gets promoted but cannot see why we cannot be in the mix?, which has got to be better than this season for sure.
Disappointing to see a club official say âappoint a decent managerâ but like certain players you constantly have a go at, I shouldnât be surprised.
Itâs no wonder players/management donât interact with the fans with comments like that , this same manager is the one that in the last 3 seasons finished 9th 18/19 season, 14th 19/20 season & 5th 20/21 season, the last 2 seasons stopped due to covid and with games in hand but I suppose thatâs what happens when you have a short memory you remember what suits your agenda.
As a follower of only 6 seasons, this will be my last attending Witton Albion FC if club officials cannot outwardly support the management regardless of their personal thoughts, why should I waste my money.
I thought we were all supposed to be in it together?
I am not a club official I am strictly a volunteer, in saying a âdecent managerâ it was not meant as reflection on the current mgt if thatâs how you read it.
Carl is a good manager but has lost his way at Witton sadly for me his style of mgt is too dour and I feel we need a change and Iâm not on my own.
If Carl stays so be it, I will still volunteer and support the club.
As a supporter of nearly 50 years, it hurts dearly to see us in this position. At the end of the day football is a results based business and if results are not good all different aspects of the club suffer.
Runcorn are regularly getting crowds of 700+ because they are playing good attractive football, we are not and unfortunately people will vote with their feet.
No matter what, I will be a Wittoner till the day I die, irrespective of what happens.
To be fair Carl has been a great servant to this club. As a player he is one of the best right backs I have seen in my time watching Witton, and he steadied the ship when we ended up in the South. The side he had then was a decent squad the game away at Chester is one of the best Witton games I have witnessed (albeit we were robbed) this will live with me forever.
But like has been said, itâs a results business and unfortunately as we can all see we havenât been getting them, my opinion for what it is worth is that Carl is loyal to players that just arenât good enough and this has eventually been his downfall.
But I do think you would be hard pressed to find any Wittoner who has any hatred towards Carl like suggested above, and I for one will thank him should he move on this summer.
I think there is more to the position we now find ourselves in than just one bad season, or a failure by the management team. For the record I think Carl and his team have given great service to this club but are working within constrictions that make relegation an inevitability at some point.
Personally, I feel that this season is a culmination of years of under investment in the team and the fact that the club has a hand to mouth existence. Itâs an inevitable consequence that at some point the wheels will come off and we get relegated (again!). Thatâs not meant to be critical of individuals, many of whom volunteer and work their fingers off to support the Albion, but sometimes thatâs just not enough to bring success.
If we look at the teams who have successfully navigated promotion out of the NPL most, if not all, have had serious investment .
I think the question has to be asked as to how we can get a level of investment that will allow WAFC and football in Mid Cheshire to reach, and compete at, a higher standard. To do that I think we have to look at the structure of the club and the distribution of the shares. I know this is a holy grail for some supporters, but we need to ask ourselves whether we want to repeat this cycle of relegation and struggle, or whether we can create something that allows us to be a more competitive club.
Probably the best post I have read on this forum in a long time and I hope people take notice of it.
Iâm not sure how restructuring the shares can help or even be achieved if shareholders donât want to sell, or vote for a new system?
Extra income is of course essential to succeed at any level and realistically without a sugar daddy, it comes down to the club board and fans to raise as much as possible and then for the football manager to entertain on the pitch to bring fans in, and that should increase the cycle of growth but all easier said than done unfortunately.
C.J., financially what do shareholders get out of Witton? Surely this is an option that could be explored if itâs a possible money raiser or maybe look at a fan owned club like Scarborough and FC United. All options should be looked at to help move the club forward and compete on the pitch.
Shareholders do not gain financially, the only benefit is helping the club and a vote in AGMs for big club decisions such as election of directors, ground sales or other extraordinary events such as groundshare, mergers etc.
The shares are pretty much sold out as is so a rights issue might be one way to raise funds, but it requires shareholder approval as would converting to being fan owned but with the exception of a couple of larger shareholders not involved nowadays, most shares are owned by fans so it really is fan owned.
Iâm sure the new board when it settles will explore more avenues for income, as fans all we can do is get involved and help where possible.
Thanks for the explanation.
There currently isnât any market for WAFC shares and the question of whether shareholders would sell has never been tested to my knowledge. My personal view is that if the right person came forward and made a realistic offer for shares then some people would sell, especially if it enabled the club to progress. There is nothing to recommend staying with the current situation whereby the future of the football club looks as though it is confined to being in the doldrums of the lower reaches of the NPL. A new owner has gone into Macclesfield and revitalised the club. It is possible that the same could be done with WAFC if the shackles were removed or even released.
I appreciate that some supporters have grave reservations about majority shareholders. But what is clear is that the investment required to deliver success on the field cannot be delivered in a fan owned club. Thatâs not a strike out at 1874, to all intents and purposes we are in the same boat. Even FC United are now struggling, despite their large fan base. To my reckoning, the clubs that have succeeded - Fylde, Fleetwood, Salford etc - have all had significant shareholder backing.
If we want this club to compete, then we HAVE to do something differently. We have to consider all the options and I would venture that includes all the Mid Cheshire teams. Heresy to some, but I want to be able to see a football team compete at higher levels, and judging by the gates now being experienced by any of our teams, many others do too.
But we tried that approach with Terry Warrender 25 years ago. It ended in tears and we nearly lost the club completely .
Not Quite, Terry was a large shareholder but not an actual owner/majority shareholder which is what Roger is suggesting! Our constitution does not allow for that to happen under current rules. As we potentially sit on a future housing estate Iâm not sure we want a single owner who can exploit that for gain itâs too big a risk.
If we carry on as we are there is also a risk that we will lose the club completely as debt erodes the assets, the number of supporters dwindles and calls for money arise more often and are supported less. There is always risk, some of which can be offset by contingencies - but they can never be erased completely.
If the Memorandum and Articles of Association are so restrictive, then they need to be reviewed and amended. In any event we surely cannot allow the club to continue within this cycle of decline.
Since the halcyon days of the early nineties we are now some 4 leagues lower than we would have been if we had maintained Conference status. Add to that our abject lack of success in cup competitions and the indicators only point one way. You may think that maintaining that status to be unrealistic, but winning it back is an absolute none starter from where we are now.
I donât know all the reasons and implications of what happened with Terry Warrender, whether it could have been handled differently or better. However one thing is now certain - that 30 years later we are so afraid of taking risks that we we are committing an act of self harm. We cannot progress as a football club with the current arrangements. If our sole aim and purpose is to just survive, then we have landed in a very sorry place indeed and I am sure that those who constructed those arrangements meant to secure the future of the club, not to lock it into terminal decline.
There are good people out there, whom I am sure would relish the challenge of breathing new life not just into this football club, but Mid-Cheshire as a whole. If we want future generations to enjoy live football at a level we have seen the past, then we need to do something to make it happen. Something needs to change. The Board is currently going through the process of reforming. I think we should remove all the shackles and offer to support the Board to do whatever it takes to provide a Mid-Cheshire team playing at the highest possible level within the pyramid. Doing the same old thing, the same way isnât going to produce different results. We all know that really, so lets be a bit braver and just see what we can do, rather than just trying to survive !!
I agree with Knutsfordian something needs to be done because standing still at best isnât going to help the club, better players wonât come and even some of the current players wonât stay unless they see some ambition.
Fans will stay away if no ambition is shown and instead of standing still the club goes backwards. IF the team get relegated the division below is a tough division with no guarantees of coming straight back up.
All possible avenues should be explored towards getting the club pushing towards the Conference North in the next 5 years.
Yeah, Letâs make 10,000 new share allocation, an 1874 member buys the lot & 1874 have a ground at last. Knutsfordian & his mate James are happy!
Are you having a laugh Knutsâ? Have you already ââgone overââ to the other side?, not seen you at WITTON recently!