More Strong arm tactics to Survive ?

[Guest]

Having gone up into the Conference with basically a footballing side, it would have been nice to have continued in that style of play at a higher level, but unfortunately a lot of the players are just not quite up to `out footballing` sides in the Conference.

 

And, as one of the smallest clubs in the league we just can not afford to bring in Conference standard `footballing players`.

 

Chris Kinear at Margate drew on his previous Dover experience and has a side full of tough guys and workers and they will survive (not pretty to watch - but they have done the tripple over us this season and that proves the point). Welling did the same for years. If we are to just simply maintain Conference standard while the club grows off the pitch and finances improve, we must do the same. Typically Lou Watts was a good signing in the summer (a tough no nonsense Conference-hardened right back), unfortunately we played him out of position in every game he played and he has now gone.

 

So come Andy, sign a few more guys who will grind out the results and keep us in the top flight.

 

 

I'd love to see us play the pretty stuff at Stonebridge Road, but we haven't got Yeovil's cash have we ?

 

[FleetFanatic]

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Typically Lou Watts was a good signing in the summer (a tough no nonsense Conference-hardened right back), unfortunately we played him out of position in every game he played and he has now gone.

So come Andy, sign a few more guys who will grind out the results and keep us in the top flight.

I'd love to see us play the pretty stuff at Stonebridge Road, but we haven't got Yeovil's cash have we ?

Hmmm.....are you saying that Lew Watts chose to leave because of that.....
.....my sources reveal he didn't want to leave at all.

As for Yeovil, they've done it the Gravesend way - they don't make big signings.....
......not like the Chester's & Doncaster's of the world.

I don't recall them being an over-physical side.

We need a higher standard of quality overall, but not in a physical way.
Not if we want to do more than just survive.

Margate have come as far as they can get with strong-arm tactics.....
.....as for Welling - look where they are now.

[Guest]

i agree i think the chester game changed us we got bullied without macca we havnt got someone to get stuck in

[Bate'o]

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I don't recall them being an over-physical side.

As I recall, apart from the defence, they were all about 5'6".

[David Holden]

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Hmmm.....are you saying that Lew Watts chose to leave because of that.....
.....my sources reveal he didn't want to leave at all.

He didn't want to train either.

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As for Yeovil, they've done it the Gravesend way - they don't make big signings.....
......not like the Chester's & Doncaster's of the world.

Kirk Jackson £20,000 from Stevenage??????

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We need a higher standard of quality overall, but not in a physical way.

Not if we want to do more than just survive.

I agree there Darren.

[FleetFanatic]

What I meant to say was they got close to the top by doing what we have to do (after all, they are out in the sticks - hard enough to get some players to go there) - over the last few years they have had the dosh to go on from there...combination of rich people and huge crowds, I suspect (mind you, not much rivalry for support down there, eh?)

[Graham S]

When everyone is fit, I'd say we have enough muscle to survive. I'd also agree that during our recent slide we've looked a shadow of the 'big, physical side' other teams commented on at the start of thseason. The problem is that if we get sucked into signing players now, whose prime asset is physical presence, we'll lose sight of the long picture & upset the balance of the team. Then we'll be stuck with an outfit which can survive but which needs radically overhauling to do anything else.

 

So, do we have the capacity to go beyond what Margate have done & Welling did for quite a few seasons? The way our crowds have held up above the 1,000 mark, coupled with the building of Ebbsfleet & those 50,000 plus houses down the Thames Gateway (or whatever they call it) might suggest that we have been handed the long term potential to do so.

 

In which case it's a balancing act. It's no good suddenly finding we have a catchment area that is transformed out of all recognition, but a team that has been relegated out of the only non league division most people have heard of. Nor is it any good having a team that's still in the Conference, but playing in front of gates of 700 or so & which needs a sudden influx of ready money (which I doubt we'll ever have) to buy in the football players to replace the dour old hardmen, who've seen off a fair proportion of our supporters as well as the opposition.

 

My feeling is that our current chairman has a plan - not a silly ego-maniacal Graham Westley one - but an achievable one with sensible targets along the way & one that goes beyond merely getting by. I'll stick my neck out & say in 5 years time we'll still be in the Conference, but much better known nationally than we are now & not that far off from pushing for higher things. In 10 years? Who knows.

 

Graham S