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ah well Shane, never mind.........

agree with you though - especially about CH. i said we'd go down with him as manager.........

and Im not convinced hes still the man for the job in the conference.

we will be lucky to finish in the top half of the division.

Never thought I would join one of these debates but I just want to say I have never read so much negativity about our team.
I am not a glory hunting supporter but 1 who has followed United for over 50 years.
Get behind the team and complain at the end of the season if it goes t**s up.
We are a bit like England building ourselves up to be something we are not so let's wait and see.

Well said Leetufc, agree with all youre comments we have moved on a lot of dead wood. mansell was woeful
to put it mildly , I hope we keep Chapple , and downes both good players , just get rid of Benyon ,,,,, he is absolute shite ,,,, with a capital S , the problem is he thinks he's **** brilliant . Hawley is a good footballer never had chance as the loanees he played with were worse than Benyon... tongue is crap..... this year I hope sully will come of age as he is a natural goal scorer.
Some of the comments on here about us finishing below halfway. .... this league is shit ....
surely we cant be that bad..
I think we will piss the league ..... so get on at 7/1 ..

Apologies Pete, but that's how I feel. And expressing opinions (however unpopular) is kind of the point of message boards such as this. It incites debate. I'll be sure to sugar-coat any subsequent posts.

'We will piss this league'. Based on what? We've only got half a team! At least wait until we have a squad before making outlandish statements. If a Rovers fan said that...

Strangely I feel happier about things this time round than last time we were relegated. Why? I'm not sure, maybe because last time it seemed like the end of the world when we went down but when we started playing it was much better than expected and we saw some good football and a promotion challenge and a realisation that there could be a way back.
This time round I'm more relaxed about it all even though realistically we probably have less chance of bouncing back. I'm encouraged by who CH has got rid of or tried to get rid off but the proof of the pudding will be in a few weeks time when we know who he has signed.
I hope to be at Dorchester in a couple of weeks to see how things are shaping up but even then it will be early days.
Realistically I'm looking for some better football than we've seen for a few years and hopefully a few things to cheer about along the way. we've got out of this league before so why not again, it may take a while but it's the hope that keeps you going.

Peter Yeovil, welcome to the forum neighbour.

Fonda wrote:Apologies Pete, but that's how I feel. And expressing opinions (however unpopular) is kind of the point of message boards such as this. It incites debate. I'll be sure to sugar-coat any subsequent posts.

You didn't respond to my message to you, only, it seems, to those who are offending you - so, with that in mind, you are a negative arse who needs to get in the real world.

Prick

What a brilliant way of camouflaging abuse. Kudos Scott.

Luke Young and Louis Briscoe are certainly reasons to feel a bit more positive than if nothing had happened.

It's a very fair point Rob. Certainly Luke Young is potentially a great bit of business. More of the same please.

Apologies all. I'm pretty fearful about our prospects next season (as you'll have guessed), but had I not been in a completely unrelated foul mood today, I'd not have gone to the effort of compiling the opening post and evidently upsetting everybody. I'll keep my dark thoughts to myself in future.

According to Thea Bristow Hargreaves has exactly the same budget that he had last year so perhaps its not as bad as you think. Obviously we could struggle to offload some of the higher wage earners which will cause us problems but as FL said no team in the Conference has really signed that many players.
Even mighty moneybags Eastleigh have slowed down on the spending front. They have added Reid (who was released by Northampton) and is awful.
They will need Midson and Constable to score about five between them every game because with Reid and Chris Todd at the back they are going to concede a shedload.
Compare those two to Pearce and Downes and it shows we might not be that bad after all.
I can't accept that we will finish bottom half at all.
Anyone who thinks that this league is as strong as League 2 is seriously mental. We lost alot of games 1-0 last year and presumably there is every reason to think we might play with more confidence this year.

Brucie

According to Thea Bristow Hargreaves has exactly the same budget that he had last year

Are we sure this is correct Brucie ? Those such as myself who only have the video of the Fans Forum to go on, hear her say that the budget for the new season would have been identical irrespective of whether we had stayed up. Perhaps this extra detail stating that amounts will remain the same as last season was something that didn't make the 34 minute highlights.

No, Alpine Joe is correct.THose highlights stated the case whereas I got edited out !

I think there are reasons for feeling pessimistic and optimistic.

Essentially, at the moment - we have last year's dross minus a few players that some would have kept. The signings of Briscoe and Young are promising but essentially we still have the misfiring - well not even misfiring, just plain, kaput - forward line of fallover Benyon and oil tanker Hawley. We are not going to score, even in the Conference, with that pair. It is likely that we are going to have at least one more painful year.

However, on the other hand, this league is not very good. Luton walked the division with Alex Lawless in their team. Even the players we have, should be able to hold their own.

I don't think we will challenge for the play-offs, nor do I think we are likely to be relegated. Somewhere around 14th is my reckoning - which is still pretty depressing in non-league football but until Knill's stars have gone, I think that is the best we can hope for.