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[MargateFan]

Griping on and on about the past does nothing to solve our present predicament.

At least KP is trying to rectify the situation, and I cannot think of many people who would have had the tenacity and strength in the face of all the difficulties and set-backs the club has faced to keep going and keep going like Keith does.

Once the club is back at Hartsdown Thanet will have the opportunity to have the football it deserves if it supports it by supporting the local teams. That after all is where the clubs get the resources to build, unless a sugar daddy with bottomless pockets comes along.

I would have thought that anyone who loved the game would applaud what the club is trying to do.

[michael]

As margate fan says-rayw-one stage at a time.

 

Do not foret either that we all want success and conference is for grown up seasoned pro's.

 

Hardly any conf. clubs-even those with youth set ups bring players through to the first team.

 

Its also the way of world today-people are mobile and not tied to one town.

We've just taken 2 canadian players, and at other end of scale, my son is off to Shanghai and is trying to find a junior team out there to play for.(maybe he could bring a couple of chinese players back and Margate could get tv coverage in shanghai)

[Guest]

Has your son got a work permit?

[michael]

Yes thanks-teaching

[Guest]

Thanet may be the size of Ipswich and Blackburn but they do have long standing League teams. Young players will of course aim to play at a club as high up the scale as possible.

Might be the reason we let local boy Gary Plaister through our fingers (or was it just he thought he would get on faster by missing out the local level of football.

[Guest]

Yes agree griping about the past can be a pointless exercise, but only if things have really changed. Truth is that Piper has to be judged on his record and the last few years have been awful.

I would have thought anyone who loves the game would be worried that he's still in charge.

 

And yes OK Margate may have never had the success of Blackburn or Ipswich. But that is no reason why it shouldn't in the future.

And i agree Conference clubs have been really poor generally at developing young players.

I think most of them have been thinking in a very short term way. But i reckon the best way forward for al those clubs is to develop local talent.

Barnet seem to have done this better than most and they are top of the league.

 

If Margate could find the next Keiron Dyer, that would help the finances no end.

But time and again promising local players are overlooked for journeymen from London.

Not just Pullman but Takaloo, Yorath etc.

Perhaps not suprising with the club training and playing miles away from Thanet.

 

I think even if people do trust Piper they should still ask him difficult questions and if he is any good he will find it helps not hinders in improving the club.

[Guest]

I am not unsympathetic to what you are saying, however, you say the last few years have been "awful". Well, we have been playing at our highest standard of football ever, the Conference. I don't regard an era in which we won at places such as Yeovil, Stevenage, Barnet, Boston and Chester as "awful". Go back a few years and that would have seemed unthinkable.

Yes, much of the credit is down to CK, but he has been backed all the way by the board. If our board were really that useless, do you really think CK would have stayed so long? He could get a job anywhere in non-league.

You are closer to the mark on the youth set-up. Even when we were at Hartsdown I thought things could have been handled better. However, Thanet has a very elderly population and no history of professional football, so a comparison with Ipswich and Blackburn is a little unfair.

Plus, if the likes of Pulman, Yorath, Tako, etc, are so good why haven't they gone on to have success elsewhere?

The one Margate lad who really has made the grade, Leroy Lita, went to Bristol City. Again, given Thanet's aged population I'm not sure there is enough talent out there to field a mostly local team that could survive in Conf South.

However, I do agree with you that we should all ask difficult questions of the club.

[Guest]

Talent is a prescious commodity,but talent alone is never enough. Along with talent you have to have the will to succeed. This is what sorts the great and good from the chaff. If you want to live in the pub and club,turn up for the pre season overweight and live the look at me lifestyle you won't make it. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/bow.gif" alt="" />

[michael]

Do not forget that a proper youth scheme needs even more funding-where dos that come from-its difficult for club to keep current status going.

 

If anyone hasa spare £500K to set up a proper youth academy-then great-and if by chance you produce the one in 500 player who can make it big time, you may just get a small return on the investment.

 

I do not wish to be cynical, but it all costs money.The idea is fine-the practice and realit in a harsh business climate are somewhat different.

 

In fairmess, Jim Parmenter did state that with a proper commercial set-up backing the clu could look a ladies/youth football.

 

For now , i think we need to support the club in its current set up.

 

One stage at a time.

[Guest]

A youth set up is not expensive. There are lots of grants for youth football and lots of coaches willingly give their time for free.

A good youth set up will pay for itself. More kids and parents will take an interest and support the club and if the talent is nurtured well, it will come through.

 

As for Thanet having an elderly population well so has Torquay but they have had a league club for years.

And yes it was good that Margte had one season playing at Hartsdown in the conference.

The support that season showed the potential the club had. Maybe if they had decided to take the rebuilding of the ground stage by stage.

We could have been watching League football at Hartsdown this season. Not conference south football at bloody Kingsnorth.

[Guest]

But let's be fair to all concerned - hindsight is a wonderful thing. I don't doubt that Keith wishes we hadn't had the old stadium knocked down when we did. But all you can do is make the best decision you can at the time.

[TonyM]

Wellsie said

[Guest]

Hello, I'm Wayne from Old Trafford<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/ufo.gif" alt="" />

[Guest]

go away you cheat

[Guest]

The only cheats are Thanet DC

[Guest]

We in the Conservative party are not cheats

[Guest]

Oh cobblers

[Guest]

rayw is a right wally <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/greenapple.gif" alt="" />