Boxing Day Borehamwood

[djwilf]

Going for a 2 1 home win.    Theyve lost 3 away games....here s hoping we can make it 4.

[No bull Towner]

I'm going for 1-0

[ETFC2001]

I’ll stay optimistic and hope us fans can be the 12th man to win today. By all means, I’d take another point also.

Adam Thompson out again for the third time. Seems like a nagging hamstring injury. 

[andyetfc]

0-2 down after 45 minutes. 

[ETFC2001]

The gap is now 10 points if all scores stay the same. It’s too far gone to even be thinking about staying up at the moment.

[Nobster180]

Not looking great is it, think we’re now half way through the season and it’s looking bleak for all four teams at the bottom because of the gap, doesn’t look likely any of us are going to go on a 3-4 game winning streak realistically does it.

If we lose at St Albans that is the end of the road for me, we’ve had it certain relegation! I’d go there two up front and see what happens and have a proper go but I reckon it will be safety first and try not to lose.

[Albury_Walker]

Never mind Townies . You still have your cup final V Amber's to look forward to next season.  You are 4 wins away from safety and that's assuming everyone else loses.  Can't see you have 4 wins in you to be honest  . Failure to beat saints will mean it's dig your grave time  .

[Towningaround]

It was a tough ask several weeks ago and we needed more than draws. It is now impossible. Which is why the managers insistence on playing one forward was only ever excusable all the time he only actually had one forward.

But he needs to be congratulated now. I mean he’s managed to take a forward….get him into some sort of shape fitness and then confidence wise and then knock the f~ing b0llocks out of him…..by replacing him…shortly after starting to score…..TWICE…(first soon after Chesham and now immediately after saving him his job at Tonbridge)....by signing another forward TWICE (first Shakloke and now Chukwu) who look like they have nothing to offer in front of goal to the point where the in form one now looks and feels out of form!

Genius that. 👏👏👏

[andyetfc]

Shame to say it but there was a big, big gulf between the two clubs today and it really shows what money can do. What I can’t understand is the club takes on a proven goal scorer who plays around the middle of the park and then gets substituted. He probably felt he wasn’t getting any service so needed to go and find the ball.

[No bull Towner]

The class difference was quite evident today but it was expected so I'm not disappointed. We looked better in second half but Wood didn't look like they were trying much then either, so not so much an improvement from us but more they knew we would never score so just let have the ball a bit more and flattered us. Likelihood is we are going straight back down (miracles aside) but did we really, really think we had a team that could be mid table? Seriously? It's a good learning curve for the club and instead of moaning non stop about it we should view it as we now know what is required to compete at this level....so in the coming few seasons, if we seriously want to try and bounce back up, then we need to invest in players whilst in the Isthmian that could play at step 2 (like Hornchurch did and walked the Isthmian and are holding their own in NLS). We know we will need a bigger budget so how can we achieve and maintain that? We need to look at increasing revenue first and build from there.

[ETFC2001]

We’re going to find life in Isthmian very difficult. 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

6 minutes ago, ETFC2001 said:

We’re going to find life in Isthmian very difficult. 

Damn right we are. I was pleasantly surprised when we made the play-offs. That was all down to one player - who, of course, wasn't recruited by Gavin - granted Gavin moved him into his best position. Take Marcus out of last year's side and we finish mid-table. And that is precisely the best we can hope for next season. Can you honestly see Gavin recruiting a 30-goal Step 3 striker? His recruitment has been nothing short of woeful since he brought in a handful of his ex Met Police players. I have very little hope that he can assemble a side to challenge the likes of Billericay, Cray Valley, Horsham, Dulwich again.

Everything has been so negative this season - the style of play, the post-match apologies, the whinges about the difficulties recruiting. Why why why why why WHY won't he play 2 strikers up front at home (at the very least)?! Give the opposition something to think about/someone to mark - rather than just worrying about how many we will concede? Do I expect us to beat Boreham Wood? No. But I do expect us to recruit players who will get bums off seats - think Johnny Bailey, Martin St Hillaire. I expect to walk away from the ground thinking that we have given it our best shot - win, lose or draw. Instead I've repeatedly come away thinking that both the manager and the players are out of their depth. 

Here's what I believe will happen: we'll be relegated. Gavin won't get the sack. He'll have to assemble a new squad next season (barring Sam Youngs and Micky P who would have to be surgically removed). We'll be somewhere around mid-table this time next year and will finish not too far above the relegation zone, at which point the clamour for a new manager will finally force the board to make a change - about 18 months too late.

[ETFC2001]

No doubt, crowds will take a hit also. 

We’ll always have a safe 500 people, but quite frankly I can see that figure getting lower if we haven’t improved from this year to next year.

Said it before, the difference from this season to last is we simply don’t have any chemistry to the fans bar a few like Sam and a couple others like RBR. Obviously the playoff final and the cup run helped but because we have had such a big clear out, we’ve lost the ‘vibes’ from last season and replaced them with players who are good, but don’t have any idea of what the club means to some people. They are there to collect a wage and it doesn’t really matter to them if we stay up or not because they will get opportunities elsewhere. 

No doubt in my mind Gavin will be here next season also. I’ve defended him at times about not trying Chukwu/Hutchinson up top but when your chasing a game etc at 2-0 down to arguably the best side in the league, what is there to lose? Our goal difference is already in the mud, just show a bit of fight and effort and switch a thing or two up. 

It was a season to build on but essentially the season is over and we’re not even past New Years. What a nightmare season from everyone involved. It’s going to be a long way back to get up here again.

[Frothy Coffee]

Stop bringing the Tottenham negativity It's only half way through the season. 

[Father Jack]

16 hours ago, Towningaround said:

It was a tough ask several weeks ago and we needed more than draws. It is now impossible. Which is why the managers insistence on playing one forward was only ever excusable all the time he only actually had one forward.

But he needs to be congratulated now. I mean he’s managed to take a forward….get him into some sort of shape fitness and then confidence wise and then knock the f~ing b0llocks out of him…..by replacing him…shortly after starting to score…..TWICE…(first soon after Chesham and now immediately after saving him his job at Tonbridge)....by signing another forward TWICE (first Shakloke and now Chukwu) who look like they have nothing to offer in front of goal to the point where the in form one now looks and feels out of form!

Genius that. 👏👏👏

Eh? Chukwu has played two games! Surely he needs a few games to bed in.... hang on, I've read that before somewhere...

[The Crowing Cockerel]

1 hour ago, Frothy Coffee said:

Stop bringing the Tottenham negativity It's only half way through the season. 

True. But its a challenge to stay positive during this run of results.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

16 hours ago, Albury_Walker said:

Never mind Townies . You still have your cup final V Amber's to look forward to next season.  You are 4 wins away from safety and that's assuming everyone else loses.  Can't see you have 4 wins in you to be honest  . Failure to beat saints will mean it's dig your grave time  .

Here's a serious question for you, Albs: given that your little village team have been in Town's position and suffered a similar fate, what would/should Cheshunt do differently if they were to be promoted again in the future?

[ETFC2001]

1 hour ago, Frothy Coffee said:

Stop bringing the Tottenham negativity It's only half way through the season. 

It’s warranted to be negative or worried at this point, don’t you think? 

 

[Barney]

28 minutes ago, ETFC2001 said:

It’s warranted to be negative or worried at this point, don’t you think? 

 

Worried, of course - we're probably at peak worry at the moment with the size of the gap to safety. I just don't see any point in being negative, we don't gain anything from it in my view. 2 games ago, everyone was talking about us having a good chance of getting out of trouble, having picked up 4 points from 6, and were being very positive (even the two or three ultra pessimists on here). Our next two games were against two very good sides, and we've been beaten in both - was this wholly unexpected? What's changed? We still need to be beating the sides in and around the bottom if we're to have any chance - picking up a few points against the better sides will help, and we've taken 4 points from 4 games against 4 very good sides (in my view). Of course we have to start winning games like St Albans next up, but we're not dead and buried even if we don't... of course it's a massive massive ask to get ourselves out of trouble, but stranger things have happened, and the only thing that's really changed between that equaliser against WSM and now is that other teams above us have picked up points.

If we do go down, life goes on - we reset and go again. Of course it'll be very difficult, and will require a rebuild. It might take a number of seasons to be ready to challenge again to go up, but that's the nature of being a fan owned club. You need patience, and to accept that the overnight quick fix and rise up the leagues isn't going to happen (but on the flip side, we own our club, and there's no chance of the money taps being turned off, and us dropping down the divisions as a result either). Spend some time in the Isthmian, build up our infrastructure, increase our fan base, improve the revenue streams, and take onboard everything we've learned about these last 6 months to give us a better chance of being sustainable at step 2 when the opportunity next presents itself. Yes it's not a great situation, but that's football unfortunately - we've been very lucky that almost all seasons we've been in existence, we've been challenging at the right end of the table, but we have no divine right to be in a certain division, and as we're finding out, we need to be fully ready to be up here. I do think that longer term we can sustain ourselves at this level, but I'm not sure when that will be. It will be interesting to get the board's take on things at the next members meeting, as I'm sure there are a lot of things going on in the background that we've not even considered as casual supporters.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

25 minutes ago, Barney said:

Worried, of course - we're probably at peak worry at the moment with the size of the gap to safety. I just don't see any point in being negative, we don't gain anything from it in my view. 2 games ago, everyone was talking about us having a good chance of getting out of trouble, having picked up 4 points from 6, and were being very positive (even the two or three ultra pessimists on here). Our next two games were against two very good sides, and we've been beaten in both - was this wholly unexpected? What's changed? We still need to be beating the sides in and around the bottom if we're to have any chance - picking up a few points against the better sides will help, and we've taken 4 points from 4 games against 4 very good sides (in my view). Of course we have to start winning games like St Albans next up, but we're not dead and buried even if we don't... of course it's a massive massive ask to get ourselves out of trouble, but stranger things have happened, and the only thing that's really changed between that equaliser against WSM and now is that other teams above us have picked up points.

If we do go down, life goes on - we reset and go again. Of course it'll be very difficult, and will require a rebuild. It might take a number of seasons to be ready to challenge again to go up, but that's the nature of being a fan owned club. You need patience, and to accept that the overnight quick fix and rise up the leagues isn't going to happen (but on the flip side, we own our club, and there's no chance of the money taps being turned off, and us dropping down the divisions as a result either). Spend some time in the Isthmian, build up our infrastructure, increase our fan base, improve the revenue streams, and take onboard everything we've learned about these last 6 months to give us a better chance of being sustainable at step 2 when the opportunity next presents itself. Yes it's not a great situation, but that's football unfortunately - we've been very lucky that almost all seasons we've been in existence, we've been challenging at the right end of the table, but we have no divine right to be in a certain division, and as we're finding out, we need to be fully ready to be up here. I do think that longer term we can sustain ourselves at this level, but I'm not sure when that will be. It will be interesting to get the board's take on things at the next members meeting, as I'm sure there are a lot of things going on in the background that we've not even considered as casual supporters.

I'm curious to find out whether we will make a profit or a loss from our time at Step 2? (Higher attendances Vs further travel/'Step 2 player' wages etc)