Player of the season

[carols52]

26 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

Getting into the play-offs next season will obviously depend on player retention and player recruitment.

Not easy but I think we can all be confident that our managers will get this right with their minimum target being to reach the play-offs.

Looks like all the teams coming down from the National League next season will end up in our division,going to be very tough.  

[Windsor Rebel]

They will most probably switch two teams to National North

[GlenSTFC]

All 4 may well come into our league but the 2 most northern clubs (not necessarily any of the 4 relegated) will be moved into the North division. So the likes of Gloucester, Braintree, Oxford City, Chelmsford, Billericay even St. Albans and Hemel could be at risk of swapping divisions.

[Reading Rebel]

Not sure about the others but certainly Oxford City, Hemel and Gloucester must be the first sides to go north.

I might be wrong but I think I read somewhere that the national north and south divisions will be increased to 24 teams.

[3spirit]

23 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

Getting into the play-offs next season will obviously depend on player retention and player recruitment.

Not easy but I think we can all be confident that our managers will get this right with their minimum target being to reach the play-offs.

Quote 'With their minimum target being to reach the play-offs' ! Are you for real, Reading Rebel?

I think the second season in a division is always a hard one to predict. Success for me, will be to finish higher than we did this season. The minimum we need to do is to stay out of the relegation places.

I do agree with you, though, that player retention and player recruitment is key to how we do next season, as obvious as that sounds, if we were to lose about 4 or 5 of our better players to other clubs, we would be in trouble.

I believe we have a great core of players [7 to 9 players] plus [3 to 4] squad players worth keeping around. There's no need for wholesale changes to the squad IMO but I would say about 3 to 5 players,depending on affordability and quality need to be brought in. The good thing is we do not have to rush recruitment as our squad isn't broken, so we can afford time to recruit wisely. 

    

[Reading Rebel]

12 hours ago, 3spirit said:

Quote 'With their minimum target being to reach the play-offs' ! Are you for real, Reading Rebel?

I think the second season in a division is always a hard one to predict. Success for me, will be to finish higher than we did this season. The minimum we need to do is to stay out of the relegation places.

I do agree with you, though, that player retention and player recruitment is key to how we do next season, as obvious as that sounds, if we were to lose about 4 or 5 of our better players to other clubs, we would be in trouble.

I believe we have a great core of players [7 to 9 players] plus [3 to 4] squad players worth keeping around. There's no need for wholesale changes to the squad IMO but I would say about 3 to 5 players,depending on affordability and quality need to be brought in. The good thing is we do not have to rush recruitment as our squad isn't broken, so we can afford time to recruit wisely. 

    

3spirit, Bakes and Unders are ambitious managers and I'm pretty sure they will be targeting the play-offs as a minimum for next season.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Reading Rebel

[3spirit]

15 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

3spirit, Bakes and Unders are ambitious managers and I'm pretty sure they will be targeting the play-offs as a minimum for next season.

They say that most seasons but you and I know when it's realistic target, and when it's not.

I never for one minute believed we were going for the play offs this season, and we will see how likely it is by our recruitment policy over the summer. Next season if we can slightly improve on this season by not dropping silly points to those teams below us and continue to do well against those teams around us and near the top, I will be more than satisfied.

To me, there's no point getting in the play offs,when we haven't got a squad ready for going up.  I know you don't agree with me on this, RR but that's your prerogative.

[GlenSTFC]

I personally don’t think club as a whole (squad quality, crowd levels, finances) is ready to go up this and maybe even next season but would you not take it if it was offered to you? It could be more damaging to play in the National and get beat most weeks and then get relegated. Or slowly improve everything and say by the 5th season to be in a position to be ready for promotion.

[3spirit]

42 minutes ago, GlenSTFC said:

I personally don’t think club as a whole (squad quality, crowd levels, finances) is ready to go up this and maybe even next season but would you not take it if it was offered to you? It could be more damaging to play in the National and get beat most weeks and then get relegated. Or slowly improve everything and say by the 5th season to be in a position to be ready for promotion.

Personally I would rather Bakes and Unders do what they do best and build a team that is ready to compete in a higher division. No point going up if the club as a whole isn't ready for it, or we have a team that is just a flash in the pan who comes straight back down.

 

Edited March 28, 2019 by 3spirit

[kirk]

Quote

32 minutes ago, 3spirit said:

Personally I would rather Bakes and Unders do what they do best and build a team that is ready to compete in a higher division. No point going up if the club as a whole isn't ready for it, or we have a team that is just a flash in the pan who comes straight back down.

 

I don't understand the lack of ambition with some fans,we should always strive to improve. One way might be to spend a bit of that money from the last two years from the cup runs.

 

[Reading Rebel]

I'm afraid to say I'm with Kirky boy on this.

For our first season in the National South league we have a squad that has proven that it is good enough to beat most teams in the division and will more than likely finish around half-way.

If we keep the players we want to keep and make a few tweaks in the right areas I see no reason why we can't reach the play-offs next season.

Now, if we get to the play-offs next season and are lucky enough to win them of course that squad will more than likely not be ready or possibly good enough to survive in the National League.

So it goes without saying that players would then have to be signed that are good enough to hold there own in the National League which is of course what Maidenhead did. 

As for crowd levels/finances, Maidenheads crowds have  increased considerably since they got promoted and are getting consistently over the 1,000 mark so I see no reason why we wouldn't do the same to offset some of the extra costs involved.

Edited March 28, 2019 by Reading Rebel

[HEAVY TRUCKER]

lot of ifs there rr

[Neil Baker]

We enter every season with lofty aspirations, and that will be with ambitions of play offs, and next season will be no different and we will try our hardest to improve, however we also need a sense of realism that this can sometimes not happen, there are big sides that have been at this level for years, so to assume just as we have had a good first season, that we will improve immeasurably and make the play offs as a minimum, is maybe not taking into account what else we will have to contend with.

There will be plenty of decent teams looking to do exactly the same as us, and with it looking like Aldershot, Maidstone, Havant and Braintree coming down it is already shaping up to be what could be one of the most competitive ever at National League South level, two of these sides coming down will average closer to 2000 next season, so more than double our income, and one is heavily funded.

There are a lot of people who think yes let’s just use the FA cup money, however those people are also the ones that have no idea what it takes and costs to run a football club especially in the modern day, we always talk about sustainability, it is so important not to get stung like so many sides in the past, yes you can decide to have a real go and chuck a load of money at it and hope it happens (doesn’t always), however what then when that money is gone? 

Despite two brilliant FA Cup runs a promotion and the exposure we have had over the last two years our crowds are still no where near averaging 1000 people, and in reality I would say we have a core of about 600-700, it is great from where we have come from, but we are still progressing as a club and hopefully these will steadily increase, but sometimes you need to grow organically as a club, so that you don’t make the mistakes that so many have made in the past chasing success.

Dont get me wrong as a manager I want nothing more than managing in the National Premier, and will be doing everything we can to try and get there, and I am sure that as a club if we get there we will adapt.

 

[Martin]

Spot on Neil. I think we need to grow the club before getting carried away. 

We have a lost generation of supporters stemming from the years of ground sharing. If you look around the ground there are very few 20-35 year olds and they are the ones often with the time and disposable income to really impact on a club. We need to find away to encourage that age group through the turnstiles and into the fundraising events etc.

For me next season a mild flirtation with the play offs would be good but essentially being competitive and steering well clear of the bottom 4 is the main aim. Another decent cup or trophy run would be nice.

This year for me POTS is Jack Turner. Not because we've been under the kosh time and again in games but because there have been a lot of tight games and in many of those there is often a memorable save or two. Just feels like he may have had the greatest individual impact on the number of points collected. 

[Irishadrian]

I think the point RR makes about Maidenhead is very valid Over 4 years they went from 600/700 to an average of just over a 1000 in their promotion year crowds will always increase when success and the chance of promotion is possible In their first National season they averaged 1450 well over 40% increase  Even now during a poor season they are getting 1230 average because people will come to see the higher quality teams especially those that are ex Football league

Only a successful team followed by a change of status will grow our gates and income  to the level a town like Slough deserves

[3spirit]

On 28/03/2019 at 16:10, kirk said:

 

I was responding to Kirk but the box doesn't show anything. Anyway, I feel like responding to Reading Rebel, Neil, Martin,Heavy Trucker and Kirk et all.

Kirk says he doesn't understand why fans lack ambition. Neil has pretty much answered for me, in what he said on his reply.

I find a lot of Slough fans never satisfied but then again I find a lot of people in life not satisfied about anything these days. [ Oh no! Perhaps I'm getting to be an old fogey ! Gulp].

Let's get real people, we are not Manchester City of non-league football and are never likely to be, well not in my lifetime, or probably Kirk's or Reading Rebel [assuming here,lads?] Don't know about Martin,Irishadrian or Heavy Trucker[as can't guess your ages].

To me Slough as a club, are well run. We are extremely fortunate to have a chairman as good as Steve Easterbrook. We have an excellent supporting cast on the board. We have two managers[joint] who not only know their football inside out but are nice blokes on and off the field, and they have built a team/squad who haven't been disgraced by any other team /squad in this division[ even Torquay ! eleven against eleven] and we also have a terrific bunch of unsung heroes/volunteers who are willing to put themselves out for the club.

So Kirk, Reading Rebel, anyone?  What have we got to moan about?

I love a moan myself. Perhaps that is what being British is all about?  But come on fans of Slough Town FC,  this is as good as it has been for a long time, and we fans need to see the wood through the trees and be realistic in our expectations.

Edited March 30, 2019 by 3spirit

[3spirit]

Just one other thing ........How come we only drew 2-2 against that pile of rubbish St Albans? ! ! ! ?

[Reading Rebel]

30 minutes ago, 3spirit said:

I was responding to Kirk but the box doesn't show anything. Anyway, I feel like responding to Reading Rebel, Neil, Martin,Heavy Trucker and Kirk et all.

Kirk says he doesn't understand why fans lack ambition. Neil has pretty much answered for me, in what he said on his reply.

I find a lot of Slough fans never satisfied but then again I find a lot of people in life not satisfied with what they have.

Let's get real people, we are not Manchester City of non-league football and are never likely to be, well not in my lifetime, or probably Kirk's or Reading Rebel [assuming here,lads?] Don't know about Martin,Irishadrian or Heavy Trucker[as can't guess your ages].

To me Slough as a club, are well run. We are extremely fortunate to have a chairman as good as Steve Easterbrook. We have an excellent supporting cast on the board. We have two managers[joint] who not only know their football inside out but are nice blokes on and off the field, and they have built a team/squad who haven't been disgraced by any other team /squad in this division[ even Torquay ! eleven against eleven] and we also have a terrific bunch of unsung heroes/volunteers who are willing to put themselves out for the club.

So Kirk, Reading Rebel, anyone?  What have we got to moan about?

I love a moan myself. Perhaps that is what being British is all about?  But come on fans of Slough Town FC,  this is as good as it has been for a long time, and we fans need to see the wood through the trees and be realistic in our expectations.

3spirit I think you've made a good case for why we can make a real go of it next season and get to the play-offs!

I think what myself and the others you've mentioned are saying is that we've proved this season that we are a match for most of the teams in this division and with a bit of tinkering why can't we give it a real go to get into the play-offs?

Yes, there are no guarantees that our second season in the National South will go to plan or in fact be as good as this season but why not be optimistic and give it a go. I'm sure the players that remain with us and any new players will be signing with one aim in mind and that is to be successful and to reach the play-offs.  

Edited March 30, 2019 by Reading Rebel

[3spirit]

3 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

3spirit I think you've made a good case for why we can make a real go of it next season and get to the play-offs!

I think what myself and the others you've mentioned are saying is that we've proved this season that we are a match for most of the teams in this division and with a bit of tinkering why can't we give it a real go to get into the play-offs?

Yes, there are no guarantees that our second season in the National South will go to plan or in fact be as good as this season but why not be optimistic and give it a go. I'm sure the players that remain with us and any new players will be signing with one aim in mind and that is to be successful and to reach the play-offs.  

Agree, best to aim high, RR but why are we rushing? 

No secret, we need a couple of proven Conference South/North forwards to really get us firing but they don't come cheap.

I see our team as a work in progress. I don't see us as ready for the play off's just yet, and we need at least 3 new established players to get close but of course, I live in hope.   

[Reading Rebel]

3 minutes ago, 3spirit said:

Agree, best to aim high, RR but why are we rushing? 

No secret, we need a couple of proven Conference South/North forwards to really get us firing but they don't come cheap.

I see our team as a work in progress. I don't see us as ready for the play off's just yet, and we need at least 3 new established players to get close but of course, I live in hope.   

But we are not that far off the play-offs this season and hopefully (no guarantees of course) we can improve next season with this seasons experience behind us.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Reading Rebel