OK, lets 'say' we do get promoted this season....

[RebelsAndBlues]

Reading threads over the recent weeks and seeing the debates and disappointment we all are feeling with results and league position, (genuine question) putting it another way.

 

Let's say we do manage to finally crawl over the line and get promoted this season, how do you think we would genuinely do in the league above next season with current squad / Manager?

 

Bedworth, who I personally thought were not a bad side in our league last season, struggling second from bottom now, yet St Neots, who we went head to head with most of the season, sitting comfortably in mid table.

 

Yes, I'd love us to get promoted like all other Slough fans, but looking at the bigger picture, there would be no point in going up and 'getting out of this god damn league' if we do not have the foundations there next season to consolidate.

 

Last thing we would want is to go up and come straight back down (stating the obvious) but what I am trying to get at .... in fellow Slough fan opinions, for whatever reasons / excuses come up, are we not as mentally strong (or lacking the same quality) in this run-in as we had in business end of previous seasons?

 

Are we as fans, confident of staying up, compared to if we went up sometime over the previous three seasons.

 

You could point towards our cup wins / performances against higher placed sides, but these are one off games.

 

I'd REALLY love us to climb the league pyramid and get as high as we can, but not if it means up one season, down another (one step forward, two back).

 

Thoughts....

[Cookham Rebel]

This is going to seem odd but I think our squad is more suited to the above league if I'm honest, it would not surprise me at all if we were in or around the play off places as we seem to raise our game against teams we know are of a better standard... I think I've even posted the above before, you can have a scenario that players are too good technically for a certain standard and struggle in that league as a lot of teams, and pitches, stifle your natural ability!

[HP9]

This is going to seem odd but I think our squad is more suited to the above league if I'm honest, it would not surprise me at all if we were in or around the play off places as we seem to raise our game against teams we know are of a better standard... I think I've even posted the above before, you can have a scenario that players are too good technically for a certain standard and struggle in that league as a lot of teams, and pitches, stifle your natural ability!

 

I can't believe what you have written !!! (Apart from "This might sound a bit odd") It certainly does.

Not a chance in hell of play offs in the division above with this squad, they are also most definately not too good/suited for this league. You have to have a bit more about you than a bit of technical ability to do well in any league. Lets just hope we sneak through the play offs and get some better players, suited for the league above.

[Martin]

The thing is though this squad, held Mansfield twice and were unlucky to lose on penalties. Had we won that day, Paul Cox would have been sacked as manager of Mansfield. Since then, they have lost twice in the league, lie second, just off top spot with three games in hand and are favourites for promotion back to League Two.

 

Football, it's a funny old game.

[3spirit]

Very hard to call because you don't know what new players would come in,if promoted.

 

It's glaringly obvious that we would need a couple of better defenders to add to the defence than we have now and also our midfield would need to be beefed up.

 

Not much wrong with our strikers.Though,would look to add to it.

 

The current squad would struggle but with one off games, they have proven they can upset the odds against so-called higher opposition.

 

Changing the subject slightly, it would be interesting to see how Steve Bateman would cope,if he didn't have the resources and was at the lower end of the table.

Funny really,as he's a victim of his own success,in the fact that he has kept Slough in the top 5 these last 3 seasons and also straightened out Slough, when he first arrived to replace Derek Sweetman.

 

We have such high expectations for Slough,given our history.

Perhaps some of us are unrealistic but then again,he doesn't always get the best from the players at his disposal IMO, but I'm not sure I would want him to leave the club entirely either, if we fail this season to get promoted again.

I think he would make an excellent Director of Football of all the Slough sides.

 

I must admit I would like to see Keith Scott as our manager at some point in the near future,though. Especially as we seem to be stuck under SB in this Groundhog Day scenario,when it comes to getting promotion ! ! If Steve Bateman was manager of someone like Ashford or Northwood,he would be given a lot more time.

I suppose it all depends on what each of us deem as success for our beloved club.

[Nathan]

It's interesting that you mention that Bateman would be given alot more time at Ashford or Northwood 3spirit. He's already had 4 years, which is 4 times as long as Derek Sweetman got before we all but ran him out of the club on a rail!

[3spirit]

It's interesting that you mention that Bateman would be given alot more time at Ashford or Northwood 3spirit. He's already had 4 years, which is 4 times as long as Derek Sweetman got before we all but ran him out of the club on a rail!

 

Exactly Nathan. It's all about perspective.

 

Bateman is a better man manager than Sweetman and has a wider range of contacts and has higher level non-league experience from that of Sweetman. He has also achieved more than DS, hence his 4 years.

[Irishadrian]

Martin what on earth do you mean by "unlucky to lose on penalties" Nothing to do with luck We lost because we didnt have a clue how to take them The Mansfield lads were absolutely clinical giving Warro no chance We had clearly not practiced any The shambles at the end of last season after we had just beaten St Neots convinced me that lots of the team had no stomach for playing in a higher league didnt want to accept the higher demands on fitness and dedication nor the extra travel involved and frankly gave up trying I think the same applies this season When will we play a game again where we clearly want the result more than our opponents? Didnt happen against Barton or Burnham or Northwood Lets hope for some real effort and interest at Royston.

[Nathan]

True, but even so I've never felt that we've treated Sweetman and Bateman by the same standards.

 

Sweetman took over towards the end of the 2007/08 season having inherited a right load of dross (no other word for it!). He had to almost rebuild the team from the bottom upwards: hence the haphazard 2008/09 season for which he took the sole blame. Yes, his team of that year wasn't very good, but it was better than the previous 2 years. We'll never know if it would have got any better, because (maybe because we had had enough of the rubbish we'd had for the previous 3 years) we panicked, performed a knee-jerk reaction and got rid of him just under a year after he too over.

 

Bateman took over, when the club wasn't quite up the proverbial creek it had been when Sweetman took over. To be fair to him, he performed miracles in his first full season, and the team he build almost from scratch was significantly better than that built by Sweetman. But in 3 years, I don't think we've progressed at all!

 

Maybe it's because we've spent much of the stagnation in and around the play-offs, but the fact remains that Bateman has had far more time and resources to get us promoted that we would have ever given to Sweetman.

[3spirit]

Yes I agree to most of what you say,Nathan, but I do believe we have progressed. We are now rated as one of the best teams in the Central division and thus made favourites every season.Steve Bateman/Steve Easterbrook has established this fact.However,there lies the problem.Every team wants to get one over on us because they think we are big time Charlies and to a certain extent, some of our players think they are.

 

Would the Slough supporters have been happy,if he had cleared the decks and built from scratch a young team,like Windsor have done. If he had of done this,we would not have made the play-offs for a number of seasons,if at all successful.

Bateman gets established players but making them into a winning team just isn't easy.To my mind,he has too many ego driven players and hasn't achieved the right balance, between young players who are hungry and want to prove they are better and the seasoned non-leaguer.

 

Trouble is it's easy to be critical because none of us can predict, if another manager would have anymore success than Steve Bateman.

Doesn't matter what manager we have, supporters will never be happy with something or other,myself included in this statement.

Saying that,though,SB has made mistakes and some of his players have let him down, when it matters. Perhaps a stronger character is needed in such a pressurized non-league lower level job.That's why I think Keith Scott would be good but I have no crystal ball to know whether he would be.

 

I still believe we have the nucleus of a title winning squad.

 

Maybe if Steve Bateman does stay for another season,he should look to bring in an assistant manager,to go with Fred as coach,to give Steve some new,fresh ideas to his own, as we do seem to have become bogged down with the same old,same old.

[HP9]

The thing is though this squad, held Mansfield twice and were unlucky to lose on penalties. Had we won that day, Paul Cox would have been sacked as manager of Mansfield. Since then, they have lost twice in the league, lie second, just off top spot with three games in hand and are favourites for promotion back to League Two.

 

Football, it's a funny old game.

 

It does prove that Mansfield are consistently good but struggled against a lower level team in the FA Cup but did get the job done, and that Slough are capable of raising their game occassionally for the odd big game but are generally very inconsistent and not really good enough. Slough Town are playing one step above park football (So sad) and with the money we pay should be capable of getting out of this terribly low level of football. Get in Terry Brown or Steve Cordery, pay similar money to what we pay now and they will get us promoted with better players than we have now.

[3spirit]

Yes I agree to most of what you say,Nathan, but I do believe we have progressed. We are now rated as one of the best teams in the Central division and thus made favourites every season.Steve Bateman/Steve Easterbrook has established this fact.However,there lies the problem.Every team wants to get one over on us because they think we are big time Charlies and to a certain extent, some of our players think they are.

 

Would the Slough supporters have been happy,if he had cleared the decks and built from scratch a young team,like Windsor have done. If he had of done this,we would not have made the play-offs for a number of seasons,if at all successful.

Bateman gets established players but making them into a winning team just isn't easy.To my mind,he has too many ego driven players and hasn't achieved the right balance, between young players who are hungry and want to prove they are better and the seasoned non-leaguer.

 

Trouble is it's easy to be critical because none of us can predict, if another manager would have anymore success than Steve Bateman.

Doesn't matter what manager we have, supporters will never be happy with something or other,myself included in this statement.

Saying that,though,SB has made mistakes and some of his players have let him down, when it matters. Perhaps a stronger character is needed in such a pressurized non-league lower level job.That's why I think Keith Scott would be good but I have no crystal ball to know whether he would be.

 

I still believe we have the nucleus of a title winning squad.

 

Maybe if Steve Bateman does stay for another season,he should look to bring in an assistant manager,to go with Fred as coach,to give Steve some new,fresh ideas to his own, as we do seem to have become bogged down with the same old,same old.

 

On that last sentence,I do think Slough need someone who leads by example [so could be a player or an ex-player/manager/coach],has passion and fire in his belly and the respect of others and shows his enthusiasm and will to win from the bench.

[readingrebel]

On that last sentence,I do think Slough need someone who leads by example [so could be a player or an ex-player/manager/coach],has passion and fire in his belly and the respect of others and shows his enthusiasm and will to win from the bench.

 

 

Sounds just like the job for Wilko

[Mark44]

Hes absolutely awesome

In our defensive foursome

From corners he will score some

Its .......

[Sir Rebel1965]

....Matty Miller?