After the disaster of the close season the team had to be rebuilt and the task was given to Nigel,who made a mid-table start which I think everyone would have settled for come end of the season. I think the Buxton away game was the one that showed the flaws in some of the players signed and after the defeat at FC United of Manchester some of the fans reacted IMO quite poorly. The chairman & the board IMO should have given Nigel more time to put things right but decided to bring back Gary to rescue us from relegation. After a good start the teams performances fell away and we can have no argument about going down - the league table does not lie. IMO Gary has not done what he was brought in to do and I think next season is an opportunity for a fresh face with new ideas. If the board decide otherwise then I will of course respect their decision and give my full support. I think we can all learn from this season and come back stronger and wiser and with the help of our great supporters I’m sure it will not be long before we are back in the Premier Division.
Have to agree with most of however there must be something in the water around here this year that… Witton, Vics, Winsford are wobbling as are Barnton and Knutsford down in the Cheshire league then Chester have just lost league status, Crewe struggling and all in the shadow of 2 or 3 of the richest clubs in the world.
Its not great in the immediate area,
Chesters league 2 players are reported to be on £90 per week, yet three leagues up players are on a 1000 times that.
The game is upside down at the moment and as in society the rich get richer. What would a weeks wage of Frank Lampard do for a club like Witton?
I have to disagree with most of what Eli has said. Nige was the only man for the job in the summer when many players said they would stay if he took the job. That they then chose to walk out on us anyway was not Nige’s fault, and we certainly could not of then taken the job away from him.
However, the players he brought in were just not good enough. Some of the players he chose to put on contract were terrible signings and have since cost us money to get rid of them. Of all the players that came and went in Nige’s time, how many of them are playing at Unibond Prem level now? I can’t think of any. There are only a handful that are even getting games in the league below!
At half time in the FCUM game it was clear to me personally that Nige’s team would take us down. They had just ‘gone’, and they were not going to turn it around. I said at the time that if we lost our next game against Lairds then unfortunately a new manager was the only way forward. We lost that game, but Nige was kept on. We then went on a 10 game losing run.
Every player - bar Saul - that Gary has brought in has been streets ahead of the players that we had earlier in the season. We were bottom and losing every week when Gary took over, he may not have kept us up but he’s prevented us from finishing bottom and he kept us hoping for a little bit longer than we otherwise would have done.
What has cost us was our faliure to score against Matlock away, Prescot at home, and Whitby twice. Infact, in home games we haven’t beaten any of the other bottom 4 sides.
At the end of the day Gary has failed in what he came here to do. However, he was given a budget when he came in that was reduced 2 weeks later. You only have to look at our bench to see that the squad was not strong enough, which is due to the money we are able to pay out. We’ve also been unfortunate that we have seen good players come in to he Club under Gary but not see out the season for a variety of reasons. John Moore, Mark Smythe, and James Olsen may of helped keep us up.
Agree Gary should stay, Nige left us rock bottom despite his best efforts.
Gary had a better half of the season than Nige did and I believe if Gary came in earlier we may have survived.
Gary had the ability to attract the better players than Nige did.
Anybody who says Nige should have had longer and Gary should go because he didnt do what was required please explain, because from where I’m standing Gary pulled out a hell of a lot more results than Nige did and we seemed to have a lot more motivation coming from the bench but hey ho its all over now!
