Still seething about the display on Saturday and Mike’s injury. The game was really lost at Brigg and at home to Glapwell where Henry and Foster both got themselves sent off through lack of discipline. Therefore these two were missing and needn’t have been on Saturday.Their presence might have helped the cause. The thing that really hurts is that the players don’t seem to care judging by the way they just sit in the club after the match. Gary has now allowed the situation to slip back to when he was here before with a lack of discipline costing us dear. He himself has been sent from the dug out twice in recent weeks.
Frankly I’m fed up with the lack of application from certain players and I think its time for a clear out and that includes the Manager. Gary seems great at getting players in but once they get here doesn’t seem able to motivate or get them playing as a team. You can tell by the body language of certain players that they just don’t give a monkey’s.
Obviously I exempt certain players from my critisism obviously Pritch, Ryan who has been brilliant, Super Mike who again gave his all on Saturday and suffered as a consequence. Heler worries me because he noticeably stepped up a gear in the second half but why could he not play like that 1st half and his was never a sending off offence!! McCallister seems to have some enthusiasm when he comes on and even Tai Hogan did more than some when he came on!!
I thought it was really good of Mark Harris to come over and apologise to us for the dismal performance in the club after. I feel for him but unfortunately he’s made two bad choices for the managers job now and maybe needs to get some advice from someone when picking the next guy. Mark was really disgusted himself and I get the impression that he will be taking action this week. I can’t really see us making the play offs unless we have a sudden injection of enthusiasm from our so called players!! I would like to see the wage bill reduced till the end of the season, maybe introduce some local cheaper players and look round for a good manager for next season now, and build up for then!!
I know its not nice to speculate here but the team and the club are going down the drain fast and we need to arrest this now. When we do get succes on the field the gates do go up as has been proved so I feel a new manager bringing in hopefully some new players next season would give us the lift we need. Lets face it this is a poor league so any decent manager worth his salt would get us out of it.
So go for it Mark bite the bullet lets get someone in and in the meantime perhaps Terry Murphy, Gil Prescott or someone local in football could help us out until we appoint some one. There has to be ways and means to break the contract situation the discplinary side of things is a disgrace so maybe that might be a means to tear up a contract!
I’d dearly love to see Carl Macaulay, Danny Johnson or The Newcastle Town manager given a go but realise its probably an impossible dream i.e Money!!. Right now I don’t envy Mark but I know he was not a very happy man and was determined he’d act to sort it out on Saturday!!
Fingers crossed that Mark can do something!!
Can’t argue with any of the above Mona.
Only 48 hours ago I was talking to someone and suggested Gil Prescott and Terry Murphy could both be great assets from a scouting perspective, they perhaps would not be best choices as manager but could be invaluable to the set-up as a whole.
I too feel sorry for Mark and frankly I think he is the one being let down more than anyone, he has ran the club extremely efficiently and with great dedication over the last 18 months or so. He has backed the current manager and given all the support a chairman could provide. I don’t agree with every decision made (including the one to appoint Gary in the first place) but I think we are very fortunate to have Mark as chairman.
The position now is difficult as Gary has a season to go on his contract and financially paying this off is another sum we can’t afford. I actually think Gary should offer to resign and not burden the club with this cost. The gate on Saturday is unlikely to get much above 160 to 170 (which is 300 less than the average from just a couple of seasons ago when we were top of the Prem)! People don’t want to come and watch a poor product and despite my love of the club I’m not looking forward to Saturday. Once this becomes the view of the majority then changes need to be made.
I support Mark to make the right decision, he has supported the manager as long as any chairman should.
I cannot see Mr Finley resigning, why should he, he has a contract with a good club, we all know that most people who leave Witton regret it quite quickly and as Mr. Finley would be viewed a failure if he left now, which club would take him on? I do hope he sorts out the discipline within the team, his own included, and also that his “luck” and Witton’s changes over the final weeks of the season. New Manager? Let’s wait until the end of the season and see what is available and what we can afford. As for the Chairman, only one word comes to mind, “committed” and you can ask no more from the man.
WHS.
Great memories of the seventies. We were always there or thereabouts, and used to win the odd trophy. Used to beat teams like Radcliffe Borough 7-0, and teams like Glapwell/Carlton were off the scale, not even heard of.
Felt sorry (with a bit of schadenfreude mixed in) for a great club like Mossley when they dropped down to insignificant leagues. Now we’re there as well. Are other clubs like Droylsden feeling sorry for us and shaking their heads, thinking back to great games they’ve had against us in the past?
What’s happened to Witton Albion? Is this still the same club? Discuss.
Some of us never sampled the glory days billywho. Some of us weren’t even born when we got into the Conference :unsure:
Left Pegger wrote:
That’s the thing, Left Pegger. When I watched in the seventies they weren’t “glory days” for us, but we were always a decent side, never languishing in the lower half, never any relegation fights - not that I remember anyway. Not like now. The period of the early nineties was nice, I’ll admit, but I enjoyed it more in the seventies at the Central Ground.
I have sympathy for you. You haven’t witnessed the Witton eras that some of us have. With the state of football (and Witton) nowadays, we’ll almost certainly never experience those times again. In the days when we first started to struggle, we could still rely on our “name”. Times have moved on, and I’m not sure we have that “name” any more. In the seventies, when Vics started to get the upper hand in the town, people used to remind us how, in the fifties (not so very long ago then!), Witton were the dominant team. And in the twenty years since then we had remained a feared club. Whenever Northwich, Macclesfield, Altrincham, and the like played us, it was a huge match for them as it was for us. How time moves on… that’s over thirty years ago now.
Very good post Billy.I made my Central Ground debut in 78 ,against Lancaster City stood along side my dad who looked like Elvis.
Times have rapidly changed,but thank God we are sensible and still battle under our original name.
The teams that survive in this present climate have one common denominator,they take a step back and cut their cloth accordingly.
Sadly that does not leave many of us left standing.
FORZA WITTON AND ALL WHO SAIL IN HER.
My central ground debut was 66 against Chester Reserves with a dad who looked like Elvis
(costello).
“My Debut” was March 1958 against Wellington town (AFC Telford now), we won 1-0!!
I am really concerned about the state of our club at the moment. Its not so much the getting beat but the way we get beat,the discplinary record, and lack of enthusiasm from so many players!! I’m sorry to bang on about it but feel we and more especially those who do a hell of a lot for the club Mark H, Neil W, Pete R ,Pete Robinson, Tony W, Sprucie and others are being very badly let down. Thats why I disagree with WHS on the manager’s position (Sorry WHS). He’s gotta go now and we have to find a way of doing this without denting us financially. We need to plan for next season now and not leave it until the end of this season. The RIGHT Manager is key to us progressing because we have to get it right on the field and get the gates and the morale of the club up again.
The Right manager is someone who can work on a low budget and who can bring in young players and improve them maybe alongside someone experienced who would be good on the field. I’d like to see Pritch involved in this if he has time. As someone who has been so tremendous all these years it would be a shame not to utilise his love of the club and his knowledge of Non leage soccer. He is also an intelligent guy. I’m not mooting him for the managers job as that would be too demanding alongside Pritch’s demanding career but certainly as a member of the board who is the dressing room link and could help the new manager he would fit the bill and is still doing it on the field.
It could possibly be that we need 2 men a Paul Ogden type father figure with contacts and a younger track suited guy who coaches and runs the team. Nige Deeley would have been great with an older guy who had the contacts and people management experience. Not suggesting Nigel comes back. Any recent success we’ve had has had two people doing it and I thinks thats whats needed now. It might be that Gary is ok at coaching etc but needs someone who has people management skills so maybe that could be an answer bringing in someone who might be able to do that side of things who Gary can work with.
Sorry to speculate on here but just trying to be constructive with an idea or two if its not possible to change the manager!!
Won’t tell u when my first match was I might give away my youthful looks !
This is not the time of the season to be getting rid of the manager MONA - if we were getting shut it should have been around Christmas time - while we still have a faint chance of the play-offs. A resounding win on saturday would be a good start and would be a good present for Super Mike !
I often wonder how we’d have faired with that V*nce team in the BSN. Looking at Fleetwood I don’t think we’d have been too bad although I suppose the Cods have more money and larger crowds than us…
Have to disagree Eli. At xmas we still had a shot at the title, had recently turned Sheffield over, and had put in a great performance at Matlock with 10 men (sounds familiar…).
It would have been premature to sack the manager at that point.
The time to act is when we are out of the title race, out of all the trophies, and out of the play off positions. Bring on the Barnton…
Mona, I have no problem with anybody disagreeing with me, the wife does it every day! I agree that what we really need is a good coach who can bring on kids, a la Dario Gradi, but finding one is not that easy. I do feel we should give more young lads a go; local lads if possible, but first we need a coach who is great with kids, anyone know one?
WHS.