A couple of non league snippets

[Rebellier]

Every summer there seems to be some sort of revolving door for players going between those Kent/Essex clubs in our league??

[Reading Rebel]

4 minutes ago, Rebellier said:

Every summer there seems to be some sort of revolving door for players going between those Kent/Essex clubs in our league??

A lot of these players have agents and it generally boils down to which club is prepared to offer the most money.

[Reading Rebel]

Barnet have announced Harry Kewell as their new head coach with ex Wealdstone manager Dean Brennan as head of football.

Kewell's record at the previous 3 clubs he's managed is 16th, sacked, sacked.

 

[Shredding Green]

3 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

Barnet have announced Harry Kewell as their new head coach with ex Wealdstone manager Dean Brennan as head of football.

Kewell's record at the previous 3 clubs he's managed is 16th, sacked, sacked.

 

Compared to their form since his term of office, Harry Kewell was quite successful at Oldham Athletic from 1/8/20 to 7/3/01 with 17 wins, 6 draws and 18 defeats.

What a job it's going to be for all the clubs aiming to return to the EFL. Only two go up each year and two more come down each year. And then at least AFC Fylde, Dorking Wanderers and the mighty Maidstone United hope to force their way through to the EFL as well.

Rebels will need to have a great team if and when they get promoted to National. League.

[3spirit]

17 hours ago, Shredding Green said:

Compared to their form since his term of office, Harry Kewell was quite successful at Oldham Athletic from 1/8/20 to 7/3/01 with 17 wins, 6 draws and 18 defeats.

What a job it's going to be for all the clubs aiming to return to the EFL. Only two go up each year and two more come down each year. And then at least AFC Fylde, Dorking Wanderers and the mighty Maidstone United hope to force their way through to the EFL as well.

Rebels will need to have a great team if and when they get promoted to National. League.

The Rebels will not only need a great team, they will also need big financial clout added to the board, to get promoted and to stay promoted. 

Being a realist, I don't see why the club in it's current guise would want to try for full time football. To me having a council owned ground limits what is possible and what is not. Times change, and so now it doesn't necessarily have to be about a sole rich benefactor owning a club and self financing it but the advantages are easily evident.

If the pandemic hadn't hit, Slough would have been nearer to the dream of a return to the National League but I always had misgivings about why the club are so desperate to get there, when they have a limited chance of being able to compete with the 'big boys' and in all likelihood, would be fighting it out with the lower standard teams to stay in the division. Is it realistic to believe Slough will make it to the full time ranks within the next ten years?

At the moment I see Slough's placing in the National League South as the correct position for the club. This season I'd be more than happy with a mid table finish, with a couple of noteworthy 'scalps' of the bigger teams seeking promotion, as reward of our efforts. Keeping away from the relegation battle has to be the club/managers priority.  Longer term aims should be 'shelved' for the time being. 

 

[GlenSTFC]

29 minutes ago, 3spirit said:

The Rebels will not only need a great team, they will also need big financial clout added to the board, to get promoted and to stay promoted. 

Being a realist, I don't see why the club in it's current guise would want to try for full time football. To me having a council owned ground limits what is possible and what is not. Times change, and so now it doesn't necessarily have to be about a sole rich benefactor owning a club and self financing it but the advantages are easily evident.

If the pandemic hadn't hit, Slough would have been nearer to the dream of a return to the National League but I always had misgivings about why the club are so desperate to get there, when they have a limited chance of being able to compete with the 'big boys' and in all likelihood, would be fighting it out with the lower standard teams to stay in the division. Is it realistic to believe Slough will make it to the full time ranks within the next ten years?

At the moment I see Slough's placing in the National League South as the correct position for the club. This season I'd be more than happy with a mid table finish, with a couple of noteworthy 'scalps' of the bigger teams seeking promotion, as reward of our efforts. Keeping away from the relegation battle has to be the club/managers priority.  Longer term aims should be 'shelved' for the time being. 

 

Have to agree with that, unless a rich benefactor comes in or our crowds start averaging 1,500 we’ll be at this level (or lower hopefully not) for the foreseeable future.

[Shredding Green]

41 minutes ago, 3spirit said:

The Rebels will not only need a great team, they will also need big financial clout added to the board, to get promoted and to stay promoted. 

Being a realist, I don't see why the club in it's current guise would want to try for full time football. To me having a council owned ground limits what is possible and what is not. Times change, and so now it doesn't necessarily have to be about a sole rich benefactor owning a club and self financing it but the advantages are easily evident.

If the pandemic hadn't hit, Slough would have been nearer to the dream of a return to the National League but I always had misgivings about why the club are so desperate to get there, when they have a limited chance of being able to compete with the 'big boys' and in all likelihood, would be fighting it out with the lower standard teams to stay in the division. Is it realistic to believe Slough will make it to the full time ranks within the next ten years?

At the moment I see Slough's placing in the National League South as the correct position for the club. This season I'd be more than happy with a mid table finish, with a couple of noteworthy 'scalps' of the bigger teams seeking promotion, as reward of our efforts. Keeping away from the relegation battle has to be the club/managers priority.  Longer term aims should be 'shelved' for the time being. 

 

"To me, having a council owned ground limits what is possible and what is not."

Comment : The City of Manchester Stadium where Manchester City play is owned by Manchester City Council.

"Times change, and so now it doesn't necessarily have to be about a sole rich benefactor owning a club and self financing it but the advantages are easily evident."

Comment : A rich benefactor owning a club and self-financing it is of no advantage to anything or anybody unless it is guiding a club through a period until it becomes self-financing. Otherwise, a rich benefactor eventually pulls out or dies (they do have that choice) and the club collapses.

[3spirit]

28 minutes ago, Shredding Green said:

"To me, having a council owned ground limits what is possible and what is not."

Comment : The City of Manchester Stadium where Manchester City play is owned by Manchester City Council.

"Times change, and so now it doesn't necessarily have to be about a sole rich benefactor owning a club and self financing it but the advantages are easily evident."

Comment : A rich benefactor owning a club and self-financing it is of no advantage to anything or anybody unless it is guiding a club through a period until it becomes self-financing. Otherwise, a rich benefactor eventually pulls out or dies (they do have that choice) and the club collapses.

SG, is Manchester City, the best club you could find to argue your point? ! The Sheikh that owns it is one of the world's richest men !

I did say that ' a club doesn't necessarily have to be about a sole rich benefactor ' but most clubs are.

I just think it is sensible to view Slough as a non league club and one of those with the history and pedigree to be highly thought of as among the best of what non-league, semi pro football has to offer. What is wrong with that? 

The club has survived through thick and thin and I hope it survives for untold years to come but my opinion of the desire of professional football for Slough Town FC is an over-rated pipe dream. 

Edited June 11, 2021 by 3spirit

[Bernie Gogan]

We've experienced what it's like having a benefactor, Wexham Park is a testimony to that.

It's frustrating seeing clubs with someone else's money to burn aspiring to greater things, but I'd rather the Rebels continue to exist at the highest possible level without resorting to what happened with the Thornes.

[Reading Rebel]

Unless a money man comes in there is practically no chance of Slough ever getting into the football League.

But that shouldn't prevent us doing our damnedest to achieve what the vast majority of supporters want/dream of, including our managers, and that is to get the club into the NL.

Yes, we may well find ourselves towards the bottom end of the division fighting to stay up but surely having the opportunity to play at the top table against some big ex league clubs on a regular basis, with televised games in front of larger crowds, is something most clubs and supporters with any sort of ambition should surely aspire to? 

Without our own ground there's a slim to none chance of us ever getting a rich benefactor so for the supporters who say 'the club are not ready yet' when would the club be ready to make that next step up?

Unless someone with money comes in, as far as I can see our position as a club isn't going to change so if the chance comes I think we've got to grab it with both hands and see where it takes us.

If the club is run sensibly and we don't spend what we haven't got, getting relegated from the NL shouldn't be a disaster for the club just an opportunity to re-group and go again. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by Reading Rebel

[3spirit]

I don't see anything wrong with fans or the club aspiring to get into the National League, I just don't see why it has to be the ' be all end all' of Slough functioning as a club.

[3spirit]

Bracknell have signed an old Slough face of the past, that of Dominic Rhone. He used to play as a left wing back for Slough but now aged 31 he seems to have reinvented himself as a centre back.

[Sir Rebel1965]

Not often I agree with 3spirit, but seeing how much money is being splashed around at the top of the NLS, we are miles off of that.

 

If you then want a big money man you have to sell the soul of the club to them, and after the many years of Steve Easterbrook getting us to being as fan run as possible, I think it would be like selling your granny to hand the club over to a money man for his play thing and boost his ego.

 

I would even be happy if we went down a level to get away from the scum directors of the NL as having seen their true colours this season, I do not see it being compatible with the ethos of STFC.

 

If you chase the money you then get the mercenary players and agents who want to empty the clubs bank account, rather than have local lads who actually want to play for the club and the fans.

And for those new to the club who did not experience the Martyn Deaner fiasco – “let’s build a ground on top of a hotel where the bus station is” and his many other mad plans, along with not paying the rent of Wexham park and getting us kicked out and relegated, well look at the history books and understand where we have been to understand what is the wise way to go forward.

Glory at a higher level is one thing, but having a club which is there for the fans and community in the long term is another.

[Banny]

Re "Sir Rebels" comments on Martin Deaner.

Alan Thorn was responsible for getting kicked out /Relegated from the Conference.

Martin Deaner saved the club at the 11th hour with cooperation from Alan Turvey, then Isthmian League chairman for a place in that competition.

While Mr Deaner`s way of running our club was "unconventional", without him at that time the club was dead & buried.

 

[Matt]

On 11/06/2021 at 10:39, 3spirit said:

I always had misgivings about why the club are so desperate to get there

Unless I’ve missed something, who at the club has made it clear that the club is ‘so desperate to get there’ (i.e. the National League)?

[C'est la vie]

27 minutes ago, Matt said:

Unless I’ve missed something, who at the club has made it clear that the club is ‘so desperate to get there’ (i.e. the National League)?

Wasn't there a forum last year that people said the aim was to make not only the National League but League football?

[Sir Rebel1965]

1 hour ago, Banny said:

Re "Sir Rebels" comments on Martin Deaner.

Alan Thorn was responsible for getting kicked out /Relegated from the Conference.

Martin Deaner saved the club at the 11th hour with cooperation from Alan Turvey, then Isthmian League chairman for a place in that competition.

While Mr Deaner`s way of running our club was "unconventional", without him at that time the club was dead & buried.

 

Barnny - please get your facts right.

Deaner oversaw the 2006/07 relegation from the premier league 

 

Also fundamental in the bottom 2 finish which saw Slough reprieved by Halifax.

 

He also got us kicked out of Wexham park owing £70,000 and caused the nomadic future due to the council not being able to trust him, until Steve rebuilt the trust required of the council and we came to Arbour Park.

 

He also regularly failed to pay players and everything financial was “see me in two weeks”

 

So if you call that “unconventional” then he did a splendid job.

 

Yes Thorn was destructive, but Deaner was not the clubs saviour.

[3spirit]

3 hours ago, Matt said:

Unless I’ve missed something, who at the club has made it clear that the club is ‘so desperate to get there’ (i.e. the National League)?

Matt, the season before last[or was it the season before that?] when Slough was trying to go via the play offs to gain promotion, there was a lot of talk about getting into the National League on this forum, and didn't the club have a JustGiving page to raise money to help with the costs of trying to get there?

If you have the time I'm sure if you look through the back pages of this forum for 2019/20 season you will find mention of it [ it might be 2018/19 season?].

Since the pandemic arrived people have changed their tune on what is important but if you do take a look back you will see a lot of fans,managers and club men were touting for the priority of promotion whether the club could afford it or not.

It's all water under the bridge now and I wasn't looking to stir up trouble, I was only commenting on Shredding Green's post that it will take a great Slough team to get promotion,when we all know it takes an awful lot of money to do so these days as well. 

[3spirit]

SirRebel1965, at this rate we might become buddies! ha ha ha !

Like you, I am happy and grateful we still have a non-league football club representing Slough after all these years of ups and downs.

I don't agree that Alan Thorne or Martin Deaner were terrible for Slough Town Football Club. Both in their own unique way kept the club afloat, when many on Slough's council didn't give a damn about it.

It was Alan Thorne's son Byron who sold our club down the Swanee.

I agree Martin Deaner didn't do things by the book but under his chairmanship we got a lot of quality players to the club and a lot of them were ex professionals who would have needed paying from somewhere, so Mr Deaner must have footed a lot of the bills in his time regardless. He was also at our club for a long period which saw us evicted to Windsor FC [and he still funded the club].

The breath of fresh air for our club was Steve Easterbrook, who took a sensible, pragmatic approach to running our club. I dare say he let his heart rule his head at times for the betterment of this club and it's fans, and I'm sure you won't get many Slough fans/staff who have a bad word to say about him. Perhaps in some ways we have been spoilt by having him as a chairman, as he did a wonderful job for us all.

I don't know much about the club set up now,other than what I've learned from these forum pages/SloughFC website over the last couple of seasons. Everyone's trying their best from what I can see,so who can argue with that? As long as the club doesn't bite off more than it can chew, that's all I worry about, as over the years of following Slough Town's fortunes, I've learned it's better to have a functioning club, than winning any promotion.    

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by 3spirit

[Nathan]

14 minutes ago, 3spirit said:

I agree Martin Deaner didn't do things by the book but under his chairmanship we got a lot of quality players to the club and a lot of them were ex professionals who would have needed paying from somewhere, so Mr Deaner must have footed a lot of the bills in his time regardless.

As I remember, many of those made up the team that got relegated from the old Ryman Premier in 2001.