A bit of perspective needed

[ninestein]

In the TV coverage of our final day win against Gateshead, Paul Fairclough was asked to comment on Tranmere falling through the L2 trapdoor. His response was: Football has no respect for reputations. How right he was.

The seasons seem to fly by, and a lot of those previous campaigns and players are a generation ago. We have to accept that right now we are NL, until we prove otherwise.

Oldham were once Premier League. But that means nothing now. It's just a statistic. Do i wish we were challenging at the top of L2, of course. Can we get there? Yes. But there's countless other clubs thinking the same. The natural order is what things are right now.

[Tuesds]

If you want to claim there's some natural order to where we " belong" solely based on past "glories, why should we be more successful than Rochdale, Oldham, Hartlepool, Torquay, Southend etc? Similar could be said about clubs in every division.

I’m pretty sure those fanbases, particularly those who get crowds of over 5,000 fully expect themselves to be playing at a higher division and rightly so. My point is, there’s a tinpot element of our fanbase that seems grateful to be where we are because we once played in the Alliance Premier or The Southern league over 50 years ago. It’s a tinpot attitude

Yes, fans of clubs with crowds of over 5,000 do indeed have every right to expect to be at the top end of the league and ultimately in a higher division. More fans through the gate means more money which means better players which, broadly, means better results. Our crowds are under 2,000, and are among the lowest in the division (a key difference with our periods of relative success you mention in the past).

Jason Puncheon gave us some good memories, but memories count for nothing in the 2023/24 National League Table.

[Berlinbee]

In the TV coverage of our final day win against Gateshead, Paul Fairclough was asked to comment on Tranmere falling through the L2 trapdoor. His response was: Football has no respect for reputations. How right he was.

The seasons seem to fly by, and a lot of those previous campaigns and players are a generation ago. We have to accept that right now we are NL, until we prove otherwise.

Oldham were once Premier League. But that means nothing now. It's just a statistic. Do i wish we were challenging at the top of L2, of course. Can we get there? Yes. But there's countless other clubs thinking the same. The natural order is what things are right now.

a fair point you make there. I guess honestly deep down, I’m still annoyed that we came down so naively after the high of 2014/15 champions season ha

[hoofer2]

I find this post rather patronising.

Of course we're delighted and pinching ourselves to still be second, but performances have been flat of late and we have not found a way to beat fellow teams in top 7. And there are some players who continue to put in lacklustre performances - RHJ, Coker, Brunt.

A team in second should be siezing more matches by the grollies rather than just doing enough in spite of injuries.

I really do hope we see Kabamba and Gorman restored to starting XI with Collinge not far behind

[Jdk103]

I find this post rather patronising.

Of course we're delighted and pinching ourselves to still be second, but performances have been flat of late and we have not found a way to beat fellow teams in top 7. And there are some players who continue to put in lacklustre performances - RHJ, Coker, Brunt.

A team in second should be siezing more matches by the grollies rather than just doing enough in spite of injuries.

I really do hope we see Kabamba and Gorman restored to starting XI with Collinge not far behind

Agree with most of this, I do normally tend to look to the positive but we are in need of our full strength team out to secure 2nd or 3rd

I’d only disagree on Coker who I think is giving exactly as much as we should expect from him.

But as you say Kabamba Gorman and Collinge, it was clear on Saturday how much better we look with them in the side. Danny moves with purpose from RCB and Nicke uses his body and movement way more effectively than GoD does

[BeesKnees99]

I find this post rather patronising.

Of course we're delighted and pinching ourselves to still be second, but performances have been flat of late and we have not found a way to beat fellow teams in top 7. And there are some players who continue to put in lacklustre performances - RHJ, Coker, Brunt.

A team in second should be siezing more matches by the grollies rather than just doing enough in spite of injuries.

I really do hope we see Kabamba and Gorman restored to starting XI with Collinge not far behind

Agreed.

The Woking performance was most concerning because the players just didn’t look up for it. DB said so himself. If they’re not motivated at this stage of the season then God (not GoD) help us.

The understudies have done OK but it’s time for the big guns to get us over the line.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thebeekeeper]

I have to say, I disagree somewhat with the sentiment of this post. We’ve won this division more times than anyone else (joint with Macclesfield) and have played in the football league more in our recent history than a lot of clubs in this division. I expect and hope others feel so too, that we should be challenging at the top of this league every season, to try and get back into the football league. Heck, I’d expect us to be challenging for the play-offs in League Two if we ever go up. After all, we did so on several occasions in the 90’s before our relegation in 2001.

I’d say 3 years ago, we suffered a recruitment glitch with some bad decisions by TK in terms of Peter Beadle, Tim Flowers and Harry Kewell and the players each of those ‘managers’ brought in. It should be erased from memory, not used as a post of reference as if we’re fortunate to be challenging this season. If anything, it’s clubs like Bromley who only in 2008 were promoted to The Conference South, who should be pinching themselves and seeking perspective when their fans are disappointed after a lacklustre performance or having dropped points. 2008. Could I remind people that in 2008 we were competing in League Two and had Albert Adomah and Yannick Bolasie on the wings? The season beforehand we had Jason Puncheon. That’s football heritage, as Mourinho said during his tenure at Man Utd.

Brennan should of course be commended for transforming the squad to be back challenging up at the top but we shouldn’t behave as if we’re lucky to be doing so. It’s order restored in my opinion.

Now with this season we’re having and with this current group of players, we should believe we are good enough to go up. We are and that’s the expectation. The expectation should be for the players to perform like a side who’s second and going for promotion and fans (without huge exaggeration) are right to feel disappointed or upset when we can’t get a result at Woking or how inconsistent we’ve been at times this year. Brennan and the management team would probably agree, such is the expectation they’ve set from the group of players. We need to get back in the football league.

I think there are two sides to this.

On the one hand, we need to acknowledge that Brennan took over a team that were at a remarkably low ebb and has had a transformational impact on our fortunes. I think that's been done on a relatively modest budget too, so we're probably punching above our weight in that regard - and certainly compared with our current attendance levels.

(I suspect that the budget is still far better than the likes of Peter Beadle had to work with during COVID, so perhaps worth keeping that in mind, but I don't think it's massively relevant - his tenure has undoubtedly been a success).

However, I do think we can hold the club to a higher standard overall, while acknowledging Brennan's achievements. Our crowds mean we're punching above our weight, but should our attendances be what they are? They are, at least in part, down to years of mismanagement (on and off the field).

If we rewind back to the point when TK bought Barnet - and in the few years that followed - we were a stable, and sometimes even playoff chasing, League Two team with crowds that (despite being at the lower end) weren't completely out of place in the division. Now we find ourselves a league lower, with attendances towards the bottom end of the fifth tier.

So it's fine to say we're punching above our weight, and to appreciate that achievement, but really that shouldn't be the case. With the potential this club has, I would like us to consistently be a mid-table League Two team as a minimum. Hopefully a move back to Barnet will be the catalyst for making that happen.

[Beesting]

I have to say, I disagree somewhat with the sentiment of this post. We’ve won this division more times than anyone else (joint with Macclesfield) and have played in the football league more in our recent history than a lot of clubs in this division. I expect and hope others feel so too, that we should be challenging at the top of this league every season, to try and get back into the football league. Heck, I’d expect us to be challenging for the play-offs in League Two if we ever go up. After all, we did so on several occasions in the 90’s before our relegation in 2001.

I’d say 3 years ago, we suffered a recruitment glitch with some bad decisions by TK in terms of Peter Beadle, Tim Flowers and Harry Kewell and the players each of those ‘managers’ brought in. It should be erased from memory, not used as a post of reference as if we’re fortunate to be challenging this season. If anything, it’s clubs like Bromley who only in 2008 were promoted to The Conference South, who should be pinching themselves and seeking perspective when their fans are disappointed after a lacklustre performance or having dropped points. 2008. Could I remind people that in 2008 we were competing in League Two and had Albert Adomah and Yannick Bolasie on the wings? The season beforehand we had Jason Puncheon. That’s football heritage, as Mourinho said during his tenure at Man Utd.

Brennan should of course be commended for transforming the squad to be back challenging up at the top but we shouldn’t behave as if we’re lucky to be doing so. It’s order restored in my opinion.

Now with this season we’re having and with this current group of players, we should believe we are good enough to go up. We are and that’s the expectation. The expectation should be for the players to perform like a side who’s second and going for promotion and fans (without huge exaggeration) are right to feel disappointed or upset when we can’t get a result at Woking or how inconsistent we’ve been at times this year. Brennan and the management team would probably agree, such is the expectation they’ve set from the group of players. We need to get back in the football league.

Couldnt have put this better myself. Sick of people constantly referring back to where we were during the Covid era.

[djhdjh]

I have to say, I disagree somewhat with the sentiment of this post. We’ve won this division more times than anyone else (joint with Macclesfield) and have played in the football league more in our recent history than a lot of clubs in this division. I expect and hope others feel so too, that we should be challenging at the top of this league every season, to try and get back into the football league. Heck, I’d expect us to be challenging for the play-offs in League Two if we ever go up. After all, we did so on several occasions in the 90’s before our relegation in 2001.

I’d say 3 years ago, we suffered a recruitment glitch with some bad decisions by TK in terms of Peter Beadle, Tim Flowers and Harry Kewell and the players each of those ‘managers’ brought in. It should be erased from memory, not used as a post of reference as if we’re fortunate to be challenging this season. If anything, it’s clubs like Bromley who only in 2008 were promoted to The Conference South, who should be pinching themselves and seeking perspective when their fans are disappointed after a lacklustre performance or having dropped points. 2008. Could I remind people that in 2008 we were competing in League Two and had Albert Adomah and Yannick Bolasie on the wings? The season beforehand we had Jason Puncheon. That’s football heritage, as Mourinho said during his tenure at Man Utd.

Brennan should of course be commended for transforming the squad to be back challenging up at the top but we shouldn’t behave as if we’re lucky to be doing so. It’s order restored in my opinion.

Now with this season we’re having and with this current group of players, we should believe we are good enough to go up. We are and that’s the expectation. The expectation should be for the players to perform like a side who’s second and going for promotion and fans (without huge exaggeration) are right to feel disappointed or upset when we can’t get a result at Woking or how inconsistent we’ve been at times this year. Brennan and the management team would probably agree, such is the expectation they’ve set from the group of players. We need to get back in the football league.

Couldnt have put this better myself. Sick of people constantly referring back to where we were during the Covid era.

It almost exactly coincides with when the current manager got involved so funnily enough when discussing how he has done, the time immediately before he got here does come up.

It's rather more sensible than saying that we should be challenging for promotion in the league above when we have only finished in the top half of the league above once in the last 24 seasons.

It's all possible with good management, Paul Fairclough showed that here, Martin Allen showed that here. In the league above John Coleman showed it at Accrington, John Still showed it at Dagenham, both of which are smaller clubs than we are. But it's good management that makes it happen, not some "order" restoring itself.

Anyway, we've got a team that has shown itself very capable in this league. Time for them to get back on it. We urgently need this top 3 finish.