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Bateman driving fans away.

Sir Rebel1965

By Sir Rebel1965
in Slough Town Forum

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michaelSTFC Enthusiast

michaelSTFC

Posted
Posted

We need a degree of perspective here. We are still essentially in transition as a club; exiled for a decade and a half, trying to bridge fifteen year old injustices with the new vision of Slough Town returning to its home borough.

 

When no one else with capital enough would, Steve Easterbrook put his time, money and faith in to this club to put it on a firm financial footing and is – after years of aimless drifting -- actually steering the ship in the right direction towards a secure future for the club. He is the first Chairman in my living memory who actually seems to have the club at heart and runs it accordingly. Surely his investment mirrors that of the fans, who have gone through many dark days of financial uncertainty, but have kept paying, kept coming and kept the faith. Under his leadership, I trust him to make the right decisions. If he feels a change in personnel is necessary, a change will be made. Until then, the team surely deserves the right balance of support and constructive criticism.

 

Voting with your feet might work at Blackburn Rovers or some other club truly being run in to the ground through incompetence and delusion, but at this level, with a budget probably not as big as some people seem to think, it will only have a detrimental effect on the club. Are any crop of players/manager worth compromising the long-term future of Slough Town FC?

 

I can understand fans have frustrations with different aspects of the club, but anyone watching Slough Town consistently for ten years plus at our current level cannot be counted as fair-weather. Most of us have seen some great Slough sides and some truly atrocious ones. Some of us have endured season after season with unfavourable managers, players, even Chairmen. I for one never felt any run of results or performances would have stopped me from turning up the following week because, well, I believe that’s what supporters are meant to do. The club is dead without that never-ending bond. We were there long before and will be there long after they’ve gone. Cliched, but true.

 

Just one voice, though, I suppose. I hope my comments are not undermined by the fact that I have not attended a game for several years after moving overseas – a decision certainly not influenced by a manager’s tactical ability or a poor result in a Cup game, of course! My last two Slough games back in 2004 were actually stinkers -- a 0-4 thumping at Staines, followed by an insipid 0-1 defeat at Cheshunt, where injuries and general holes in the playing staff meant we played with one player upfront – the rather immobile central/right midfielder Ryan Spencer. Desperate performances, but had my travel plans changed, I would have been there at Stag Meadow the following Tuesday to watch us lose 1-4 to Eastleigh. And so it goes.

 

Seriously, I’d urge Clive and others who have fallen by the wayside already to reconsider their decision and return to support the team. Monitoring the club’s progress from the website/forum/Twitter – whilst a fantastic option from a well-manned service – is great, nothing beats moving through that turnstile and seeing YOUR players.

 

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Sue Newbie

Sue

Posted
Posted

Oh I couldnt agree more epicrebel, what a brilliant idea, love it !

 

Michael's post is brilliant. I wish I could write like that unfortunately my brother got the dibs in that department.

 

Let's get behind our team on Saturday and win or lose let's have have a good time.

 

Come on Clive you know you will enjoy yourself when you get there and Marcus, we need your big mouth.

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3spirit Mentor

3spirit

Posted
Posted (edited)

A very well written piece,MichaelSTFC,with many valid points.Particularly with regard our chairman,Steve Easterbrook,who all Slough Town fans want to believe in and hope will continue to be our leading light out of the bad times.

 

All Slough supporters know we won't win every week and don't expect to.The majority are happy that Slough are a Non-League club,as I am. However,many of us remember when Slough was at the top of the Non-League pyramid ie Vauxhall Conference and I wouldn't think many fans would turn down the opportunity of watching Slough back there [bSBP], than watching the current team in the Central division,if you could make it happen by magic.

 

The Blue Square Premier is miles off from where we are now and is an unrealistic target for us to aim to,currently but the Southern Premier or Ryman Premier isn't.That is reachable.If teams like Harrow,Hendon,Wealdstone and Chesham can do it,then so can Slough.

Getting out of this division is the hard bit.We've come so close over the last three seasons under Steve Bateman and at the first half of last season I thought we had our best opportunity, out of his three and half year tenure, to have what it takes to achieve promotion.Unfortunately,the momentum faded,the team work fizzled out and we failed again.Not for the want of trying,though.

 

This season we all have fresh hopes but are already 11pts behind Godalming and Guildford and 8pts behind Burnham in 3rd place with only one game in hand. Our cup runs haven't helped with League progress but have swelled the coffers.

Going out of the FA Trophy is the least of our worries but the way we exited it,is a big concern.

The team has only functioned well in glimpses in the games we've played so far and the teams we've beaten[except for Hungerford] have been pretty ordinary.

 

So we're going to need a monumental effort from the team this weekend and for October's league games to turn our fortune's around.

Can Steve,Fred and their squad do it? ............watch this space...........

Edited by 3spirit
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Windsor Rebel Collaborator

Windsor Rebel

Posted
Posted

Yes Hotspur attended those games, in fact Hotspur has attended most Slough games since 1958.So you can deduce that he has an idea what a good player and or team looks like.And while He has stated many times these Slough teams of the present day cannot hold a candle to the great teams and players of the non league scene of the past-He concedes its a different game nowadays but a good player will always be a good player in any era.Having said all that and while not a great Steve Bateman fan he has done his best on limited resources, but He would still like to see some one like Terry Brown ( a proven manager ) installed before its to late.

Having had his father and especially his uncle play for top Slough sides of the past Hotspur has Slough Town tattooed into his DNA.

 

I view Steve Bateman and Fred Cummings as the Cameron and Clegg of non-league football. Just as Cameron and Clegg are

doing a good job managing our current economic climate with its austerity measures, so Steve Bateman and Fred Cummings are

doing a god job managing Slough on a limited budget.

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readingrebel Newbie

readingrebel

Posted
Posted

I'm sorry but i don't expect to have to give up 12 hours of my day watching Slough win. What am i supposed to complain about? Until Slough start losing again, then i'm never coming to a game again.

 

 

Goes to show what an over-reaction it was from some people after the Gosport defeat.

 

Every team from the premiership downwards have an off day. It's how you respond to it that counts.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Stuntman Mark Enthusiast

Stuntman Mark

Posted
Posted

Having come back home from watching yet another 2 dimensional product of the Steve Bateman book of tactics, it has confirmed to me that he has totally run out of ideas of how to set up a team to take on different opponents. It is the same old, same old that sometimes works if he is lucky, but is now known by those who have played against his teams before and is easily countered by any manager worth their salt.

 

We are now in our fourth season under him and there is still no more likelihood of us getting up this season than the last 3.

 

We must have one of the largest budgets, if not the largest for this league and it still makes no difference. Steve Easterbrook must wonder why he puts so much into the club for so little reward, and even more so with the reduction in those attending games and lower season ticket sales.

 

I was one of those who did not renew my season ticket this year, after being a regular for over 10 years, but have paid on the gate for games attended.

 

However it is with regret that I now have come to the decision that whilst Steve Bateman is the manager of Slough Town I will no longer be parting with my £8 to attend games or the £5 for the Barmy Army fund.

 

I will monitor the website and forum to see how Slough Town fair and hope that Steve Easterbrook makes the move to change the team management and allow the club to move forward from the stagnation Steve Bateman has bought about.

 

Clive Tuck (Staines Rebel).

 

So what did you think of the game today Burger and Chips? Worth the 15 quid admission?

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Sir Rebel1965 Experienced

Sir Rebel1965

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No it was not worth £15

 

Being forced to be seated when there clearly was no safety issue and then stewards being total anal when one fan stood up and putting him on the naughty step to think about how bad he was being.

 

Also not being issued tickets when you handed cash over at the turnstile has to ask questions about the true gate size and the share that STFC will get.

 

As for the football Slough went out and played a cup game where 1st half we held our own and asked questions of Mansfield, but second half it was a much tougher test for us and we ended up having to play very deep which limited the number of chances on goal.

 

So Stuntman Mark - value for money wise I saw no goals and very few shots on target, but would not have missed the atmosphere of being in amongst the crowd behind the goal and coming away with a replay for anything!

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