Lost [ Sat 16th Dec ] v Spalding Utd, KO 3pm NPLD1M HOME

[AFCRD_Dan]

Regarding George Rose, it was always going to be hard to come in after we had a quality keeper in Dean Snedker, a goalkeeper who saved our arse so many times last season.

[rickthediamond]

Regarding George Rose, it was always going to be hard to come in after we had a quality keeper in Dean Snedker, a goalkeeper who saved our arse so many times last season.

Agreed, but we are settling for average AT BEST now - I suppose that’s no different from the majority of the rest of the team.

[AFCRD_Dan]

Regarding George Rose, it was always going to be hard to come in after we had a quality keeper in Dean Snedker, a goalkeeper who saved our arse so many times last season.

Agreed, but we are settling for average AT BEST now - I suppose that’s no different from the majority of the rest of the team.

Average is all we can attract at the moment, we were spoilt in terms of quality under Andy Peaks. There was always going to be a downwards spiral once he left.
I have the utmost respect for the board, and what they’ve done, but you have to ask yourself is the fan owned model really working? Or do we need to consider other avenues?

[rickthediamond]

Regarding George Rose, it was always going to be hard to come in after we had a quality keeper in Dean Snedker, a goalkeeper who saved our arse so many times last season.

Agreed, but we are settling for average AT BEST now - I suppose that’s no different from the majority of the rest of the team.

I have the utmost respect for the board, and what they’ve done, but you have to ask yourself is the fan owned model really working? Or do we need to consider other avenues?

Quite frankly, not for me anymore. It’s becoming a greater and greater task in the world we all live in for the fans to run and fund a club that doesn’t have many income streams (no ground etc), especially as our fanbase continues to dwindle. Add to that the fact that Rushden is not a demographically privileged part of the country, even the county at that - it’s a lot to ask for when people are already struggling to keep roofs over their heads. Having said that, that’s why it’s vital for everyone to try to stick together and keep the club going in these difficult times - although the football is crap at the moment I’m positive the majority of our fans cherish the social aspect of coming to the games. I think BartonRaz said a while back that we might reach a difficult decision regarding the fan ownership model some point soon, I’m in agreement but until that day comes we need to give support to those in charge to get us through this patch.

[BartonRaz]

Regarding George Rose, it was always going to be hard to come in after we had a quality keeper in Dean Snedker, a goalkeeper who saved our arse so many times last season.

Agreed, but we are settling for average AT BEST now - I suppose that’s no different from the majority of the rest of the team.

Average is all we can attract at the moment, we were spoilt in terms of quality under Andy Peaks. There was always going to be a downwards spiral once he left.
I have the utmost respect for the board, and what they’ve done, but you have to ask yourself is the fan owned model really working? Or do we need to consider other avenues?

It's a conversation I think we will have to have at some point. Whether we go ahead with it or not is another matter. The stress at the moment on the shoulders of relatively few battling to deliver something resembling the AFCR&D you've all come to expect is frankly ridiculous for a volunteer role so to be accused of contributing to the destruction of the Club is a bit much, but I take solace in the fact its come from Adrian.

A couple of things incoming that I probably shouldn't say on a public forum but here goes. Talk of replacing the manager is arguably fair enough albeit I would say we have seen a drastic improvement in some areas since Michael took charge. Obviously in other ways things have arguably continued to go backwards but across the piece I'm content that Michael is doing what he can to turn things round.

I think people are of the impression that we are in some way appealing to other managers. That isn't the case. When Chris left, we had less than 20 applications and of those, only 1 candidate had any experience at our current level of football. That candidate was in charge of a Step 5 club that were in the relegation zone and has since left that Club. We reached out to 6 people. Some in our league and at our level. Others from the level below. 4 declined to be interviewed. 1 would agree to interview if we increased the budget by around 15% (a budget by the way that is no way near the worst in the league and is already 30% higher than his current budget at this level), and 1 other agreed. That 1 interviewed relatively well to be fair, but was strangely sacked by his Club one week later despite doing, on the face of it, a very good job.

In short, nobody really wants it. Let's not forget that for the last 18 months the Club had been presented as (out of necessity go raise funds) and looked like, a basketcase.

On the playing front, we have submitted probably as many 7 days in the last 2 months than we did during the whole time Chris was in charge. A couple of weeks ago, we made an offer to one of the highest goalscorers locally at Step 6 and made him an offer that would have made him one of our highest paid players. The player declared he was happy where he was and wasn't interested. Again, that is where we are at. That is the reality but we continue to work to bring more attacking options in to the Club and have some more irons in the fire this week.

I don't want to sit here from a position of knowing all the goings on, preaching to everyone that some of you need a reality check, but sadly I think the more vocal ones amongst you seem to. Hopefully the above serves as that. Surely we have done enough over the last year to have earned your trust and/or a break from constantly being moaned at having people walk around us as matches making snide comments without stopping to chat.

We must get behind Michael and the team which I appreciate it getting tougher by the week. I think back to 13/14 months ago as a run-of-the-mill fan who had been disenchanted by a combination of Burgess and the Maxwell appointments and can completely empathise with the way you will all be feeling. I feel the same.

[STAGMAN]

Thanks for the post Alex helps put things more in perspective for people

[davealbon]

Mitch white and agemoh-davies were on Wellingborough's bench yesterday, what does that say about the current situation? It's obvious that lads would rather get 20 minutes in the ucl than play 90 for us.

Or maybe they're not good enough for Step 4 so Harriman allowed them to dual reg for Wellingborough now we've got the two Northampton loanees in? They are two of the weaker players in an already weak squad, and I certainly won't be losing any sleep if neither of them played for us again. Stop looking for problems that don't exist.

[Ricky330]

Agreed, but we are settling for average AT BEST now - I suppose that’s no different from the majority of the rest of the team.

Average is all we can attract at the moment, we were spoilt in terms of quality under Andy Peaks. There was always going to be a downwards spiral once he left.
I have the utmost respect for the board, and what they’ve done, but you have to ask yourself is the fan owned model really working? Or do we need to consider other avenues?

It's a conversation I think we will have to have at some point. Whether we go ahead with it or not is another matter. The stress at the moment on the shoulders of relatively few battling to deliver something resembling the AFCR&D you've all come to expect is frankly ridiculous for a volunteer role so to be accused of contributing to the destruction of the Club is a bit much, but I take solace in the fact its come from Adrian.

A couple of things incoming that I probably shouldn't say on a public forum but here goes. Talk of replacing the manager is arguably fair enough albeit I would say we have seen a drastic improvement in some areas since Michael took charge. Obviously in other ways things have arguably continued to go backwards but across the piece I'm content that Michael is doing what he can to turn things round.

I think people are of the impression that we are in some way appealing to other managers. That isn't the case. When Chris left, we had less than 20 applications and of those, only 1 candidate had any experience at our current level of football. That candidate was in charge of a Step 5 club that were in the relegation zone and has since left that Club. We reached out to 6 people. Some in our league and at our level. Others from the level below. 4 declined to be interviewed. 1 would agree to interview if we increased the budget by around 15% (a budget by the way that is no way near the worst in the league and is already 30% higher than his current budget at this level), and 1 other agreed. That 1 interviewed relatively well to be fair, but was strangely sacked by his Club one week later despite doing, on the face of it, a very good job.

In short, nobody really wants it. Let's not forget that for the last 18 months the Club had been presented as (out of necessity go raise funds) and looked like, a basketcase.

On the playing front, we have submitted probably as many 7 days in the last 2 months than we did during the whole time Chris was in charge. A couple of weeks ago, we made an offer to one of the highest goalscorers locally at Step 6 and made him an offer that would have made him one of our highest paid players. The player declared he was happy where he was and wasn't interested. Again, that is where we are at. That is the reality but we continue to work to bring more attacking options in to the Club and have some more irons in the fire this week.

I don't want to sit here from a position of knowing all the goings on, preaching to everyone that some of you need a reality check, but sadly I think the more vocal ones amongst you seem to. Hopefully the above serves as that. Surely we have done enough over the last year to have earned your trust and/or a break from constantly being moaned at having people walk around us as matches making snide comments without stopping to chat.

We must get behind Michael and the team which I appreciate it getting tougher by the week. I think back to 13/14 months ago as a run-of-the-mill fan who had been disenchanted by a combination of Burgess and the Maxwell appointments and can completely empathise with the way you will all be feeling. I feel the same.

If players at clubs are not willing to come even with a decent offer, are we perhaps not better off trying to get a young striker in on a loan from our connections to the local league clubs Mk, Posh , Cobblers?
(Hopefully, we are already exploring that option)

[@fan89footy]

Putting aside that fact that the last paragraph of Adrian's post is one of the most insulting and frankly ignorant posts ever, it may be time to reconsider where the club should be based on it's income streams.

Grassroots football is getting harder, bang average players are expecting £50 a week, decent players double that and around here you have clubs that can pay that.

I've seen posts saying get a Step 6 striker in, well the best local Step 6 striker is getting a decent weekly whack plus a goal bonus.

Just out of interest who do you think the best Step six striker locally is? I watch a lot of R&H (getting humped mostly!), so I see quite a bit of the local step six talent, just wondered who you reckon it is?

[SouthRushdenJFC]

Nat Ansu is banging them in for Moulton, he didn't play against us but he's an old school number nine.

The other three are more second strikers/number ten's in Lewis Irwin at Chenecks, he played deeper as a youngster and was overshadowed by Brandon Williams a bit.

For me the two that could easily cut it at Step 5, Step 4 with good players around them are both injured. Kobi Bivens at Sileby and Dan Camacho at Moulton.