The Play-offs-reality or pipe(r)dream

[michael]

I started thinking this was nonsense ,and not a hope; but looking into it a bit more, it could just be on:

 

Generally ,70 points would be there or thereabouts.

 

We have 21 so 49 needed.

 

25 games to go,so we need to win all 12 home games and 4 away to give us 48 more points and get us to 69 points

 

Arguably, we have on paper played the toughest teams at home. Only Wimbledon and Braintree to play who would be regarded as top teams.

It will never happen in practice, but we could therefore on paper win all 12 home games.

 

That leaves 4/5 away games to win.Again, we have played many of the top teams away aswell, so again, 4/5 away wins should be on.

 

Win 16 games out of 25 total-not silly.

 

Average 2 points per game.Again, tough but possible and no different to what the current top 4 have achieved season to date .

 

I started off thinking it was a piperdream, but find myself thinking it could just happen.

For once, we need a 6 point Xmas.We always seem to [****!!****] up over the bank holidays.

 

Or will this post just look stupid come saturday at 3.30pm

[blueblood]

Reality. 9 points behind.not a big gap in this anyone can beat anyone league.

[Coffin Ender]

A couple of weeks ago everyone was moaning and suggesting CK should go, now there is talk of the play-offs! We will finish mid-table.

[JeremyJacobs]

CE, I think we can reach the play-offs. A lot will depend though on our results in December. I believe we can win 3 out of the next 4 matches.

[Hempstead Gaz]

Follow our example. Don't run before you can walk.

Build slowly from the ground up, ie , imcrease ground capacilty and facilities, encourage supporters = generates interest = bigger gates = more money = better players = play offs in 2-3 years.

Very simplistic, but it has been proven time and again that it sometimes (financially) better to be successful in a lower league than to be a struggler in a higher league.

Sorry if that is not very optomistic, but sometimes a reality check is needed.

Only 3 months ago you were almost out of business following 2 relegations and no ground.

Build slowly and steadily from what you have, but build wisely this time.

[Coffin Ender]

This is a season to find our feet. Only the bottom three are automatically relegated (and those places look already booked). To make the play-offs we need 70-plus points, in other words an average of two per game over our remaining 25 league matches. So far we have averaged just over one point per game.

[I am Spartacus]

Yes the play-offs would be nice and would generate some needed cash. However, I agree with CG it would be better to have a good firm base for next season and go up as champions rather than struggle and get another relegation. I am sure CK would prefer a more settled side next season and our target for next season must be to get a reserve team to keep fringe players happy and fit and combat injuries. Heaven knows how we have dealt with injuries and suppensions so far this season.

[BlueGate Alan]

Chris Kinnear & Kevin Raine I reckon, thats how. They deserve medals the way they have stuck with Margate over these last few seasons & long may they continue.

[blueblood]

here,here Taffy-A.In answer to Coffin ender,Whats wrong with ambition?. Chatham Gary,you may have more time to hang around than some,by your method a lot of us may have passed on before the gate feel they are good enough to dare to dip a toe outside this league. we want to go beyond where we were 2 seasons ago. Not to follow Gravesend into the land of eternal mid table fodder.Thats not for me, we need to push upwards and onwards to become the best team in kent and beyond.

[Coffin Ender]

Nowt wrong with ambition, but this thread is about whether the play-offs are a realistic hope or not.

I'd rather people didn't get carried away by one win and burden the team and management with unrealistic expectations.

[Hempstead Gaz]

Quote:

blueblood said:
here,here Taffy-A.In answer to Coffin ender,Whats wrong with ambition?. Chatham Gary,you may have more time to hang around than some,by your method a lot of us may have passed on before the gate feel they are good enough to dare to dip a toe outside this league. we want to go beyond where we were 2 seasons ago. Not to follow Gravesend into the land of eternal mid table fodder.Thats not for me, we need to push upwards and onwards to become the best team in kent and beyond.

Don't get me wrong, Graeme. We ARE ambitious - but not to the point of bankrupting ourselves and risking all for short term gain.
Our progress IS slow, I admit, but it sure has been steady over the last 10 years.
Frankly I'd settle for that, we are now full/part time and a new stadium is a realistic proposition.
Maybe the Play offs will take us 5 years - we at Fleet will settle for that.

[Cookie]

Quote:

Coffin Ender said:
A couple of weeks ago everyone was moaning and suggesting CK should go, now there is talk of the play-offs! We will finish mid-table.

Only ONE person mentioned something about CK gong Coffin ender. How many times does that have to be said. EVERYONE was NOT asking for him to go at all. Facts please!

The moaning & groaning was concerning some of his team selections and tactical play. That is nothing like the same thing.

As for the play-offs I think we should hold fire on that one until we see some kind of consistency with our results.

[seasidesteve]

no chance

[Margate Martian]

I reckon just outside playoffs. That to me is realistic but if we do better thats great! All we need is a settled side!!

 

Come on the gate!!!!!!!!!!

[Graeme H]

Agree with MMartian. To get in play offs would require hell of a run, and I don't feel side is settled enough yet. Think we will do well post Christmas and finish strongly, and just watch next year.......

[TonyM]

All this talk about the play-offs,I dont think so.Chatham Garys words make sense,lets be honest with ourselves we would like to be where Gravesend are now,and we will be but Rome wasnt built in a day,we have to give CK time to get the right sort of players to win promotion and stay in the higher leagues,when that happens I am sure we will be one of the best sides in Kent.

[Hempstead Gaz]

Good sense there Tony. If you look around at the Kent non-league scene you will see virtually nothing but failure over the last decade or so.

Maidstone, somehow got into the football league with a dodgy chairman and no ground - doomed to failure.

Dartford - paid the price for groundsharing with a dodgy chairman . Went out of business - only just coming back.

Sittingbourne - ludicrous wages, mammoth ground billed by their over ambitious chairman as the "Anfield of Kent" -doomed.

Dover - so long in the Conference - where did it all go wrong?

Welling - Never quite good enough or well supported to sustain Conference football.

Margit - only you boys will honestly know what happened, but you turned success to abject failure in the space of three short years. But a big well done for not going under.

Fleet - Southern league south 10 years ago. 2 promotions and really slow steady progress (crowds up from 500 to 1300 but ground still derelict).

As for the rest - most are mediocre at best - Tonbridge A, Ashford, Hythe, Bromley, Folkstone all flatter to deceive - one cannot realistically see any of them making a bid within the next 5 years for senior football.

To summarise my rather long ramble, the one common denominator appears to be the over ambition of chairman.

football clubs will (normally) be around long after chairmen, clubs are not toys or financial play things, they are living community assets and shouldn't be asset stripped or gambled with.

Get the Chairman right and the club will progress.

[michael]

I started the thread and in fairness at start of season i would have been happy with mid table (and still would be).

 

However, we do have some quality players so you do wonder if we can achieve more and get to the play-offs.

You could possibly even argue that having signed quality players, CK and KR should be getting quality results.

 

Its the 'hope ' that keeps us enthusiastic and indeed will keep the attendances up so success is important.

 

Neither would a top 5 finish be punching above our infrastructure.

Crowds and infrastructure are conf south dimension ,and really we are a conf south type club in a division below our true weight.

 

Agreed we are not a conf. national type club these days-that is 2-3 years`away.

 

Frankly, we never ought to have been relegated-e last year, the team was better than bottom 3 despite the loss of 10 points through administration.

We blew too many games unecessarily -that cost more than 10 points.

 

MFC need to make every effort to get back asap.

It is so much easier to go down than go up.You need to take every half opportunity to go up, and it will not be any easier next year.

 

So again, i'm delighted the club are around and making progress, but maybe ,just maybe, we can do better still this season.

[suggzy]

I'm inclined to agree, to some extent, with Michael.

 

Last year's relegation, though a thing of incontrovertible fact, did feel unwarranted. We were only in that league after being booted out of the Conference after another steady finish there, and then we were hampered by a whole load of administrative drain throughout the Conference South season.

 

It isn't the right way to think, but a big part of me considers us a Conf. South club, and not a Ryman Premier club. We earned what we had in the past, and it wasn't wholly football that took it from us.

 

Therefore, I reckon going straight back up would be marvellous. Next season might be a struggle, but it would be one carried out on a stronger footing than when we first arrived in that league. You can wait a long time between opportunities to progress, and really they should be grabbed whenever they appear.

 

However, we are just over 10 points behind and currently getting excited because of a couple of wins after a string of defeats. Let's see if the gap has closed much more by January 2nd.

 

Head says a top 8 or 10 finish would be a good showing. Heart says that some tough games are behind us, we're out of administration, so let's hope we go pell mell at the playoffs and pull off something miraculous.

 

The day before the next match always sees my heart ruling my head, anyway. Presumably we'll win 8-0 tomorrow, which is generally my predicition.

[Ian D]

Ermmmmmmmmm.... wasn't last season supposed to be one of staying alive, maybe reaching the play-offs and building from there?

 

Surely you play to win and not avoid relegation! I think reaching the play offs from now will be exciting, challenging, achievable and exactly what the team, management and directors should be aiming for.

 

In a hyperthetical situation, we reach the play offs and win through for promotion, CK has previously rebuilt teams through the summer to prepare for whatever faces him the following season, so why not again?

 

Onwards and upwards!