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Farnborough v Slough
rebelbrewer and 14 others reacted to Neil Baker for a topic
Not posted on here for a while for obvious reasons, but just wanted to come on here and thank those for a nice reception yesterday, was great to see some familiar faces Tuesday and yesterday. Scottie continues to do a brilliant job, and whilst the result didn’t go your way yesterday it was an extremely close game with not much between the two teams. Had Slavi scored his header it might have been a very different game from our perspective, either way the Rebel army were in fine voice as per usual and really got behind the lads, I sincerely think that with some of the exciting players Scottie has bought in you can have a really good season, and it is the first result I look for after a game. Will look forward to the return fixture at Arbour Park, Bakes15 points -
Fines List (social media)
Russ_Rebel and 13 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
Some of the comments 😂 who invited the fun police?! That’s our fines list and all very normal for a football club to have similar ones to that. A bunch of lads finding any way in which possible to make some money for the Christmas do.14 points -
v Bath City
Bernie Gogan and 12 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
Your agenda is baffling. Yes, finished 10th, the squad (not me) massively overachieved. Lost 6 from the starting 11 to what you could call bigger clubs. Rebuilt a new team and have avoided being in the relegation places for over 16 months. If we had finished 15th last season and 15th again this year, then people would have seen that as okay. If anything, we are a victim of last years success but fortunately the club know what the remit is and what we face on a weekly basis in a league tougher than ever before. Also sold Leon for a phenomenal amount of money for a player at this level. No two seasons are ever the same. Look at Aveley.. playoffs last season and now look destined to go down. Be careful what you wish for. Oh wait, I know what you want. I’ll save that line for someone else 👍🏼13 points -
Players signed, retained, left the club
Rebel Wokingham and 12 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
Genuine question SirRebel… why do you keep putting a laughing emoji in response to everything I say? I don’t get what’s funny, unless I’m missing something? I come on here to try and engage with the supporters the best I can, and to be honest and transparent with what’s happening behind the scenes. Your ‘support’, and I say that in inverted commas is somewhat peculiar. To everyone else, thanks for your ongoing support and I look forward to seeing you over the coming weeks.13 points -
Fans Forum
DonnyNo6 and 11 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
Lenchy wouldn’t have been happy being a squad player, that’s for sure. It’s not only that, but he would’ve been an expensive player for the bench. Lenchy and I are still good friends, but like I said last night, I just felt as though Leon would’ve been the one to make way for him in that midfield which I didn’t believe was the right thing to do! Leon is now attracting attention from some big clubs in the EFL so the decision I made, whether it was applauded or hated, has proven to be the right one at that moment in time. Regarding ‘10th highest’, I honestly don’t know where that has come from! I just had to double check that I was the only person that didn’t hear it! That definitely wasn’t said! I think Ash’s message, along with mine, is that ‘if’ I can get our recruitment correct with the budget we have then we can achieve a top half finish and over achieve. You only have to look at the cost of Leon, David and Slavi to see that there are some exceptionally good players who don’t cost stupid amounts of money. The issue with that is that they won’t always work as well as those 3 have! Its down to me now to try and get that correct! As you’ve now heard, I was offered the opportunity to go and work with two bigger budgets in this league and turned it down as I have no affiliation with those clubs. The work Ash and the board are doing is absolutely brilliant and I want to be a part of that. It’s not an overnight fix, it’s a slightly longer term plan which I’ve certainly got the patience for and I hope you guys have too! Thanks to those that came along. Really enjoyable evening.12 points -
Eastbourne Borough 18th Jan H
rebelbrewer and 11 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
I did say I’d come off the forum, but I’ll answer a couple of points to give a bit of clarity which I think is fair. Lexus recently has had personal issues going on which I don’t believe is fair to say post match on an interview that will go far and wide. It’s nothing drastic, he’s okay but he’s told us that he’s not been his normal self. He’s also our joint top earner, on a non contract and travels in from south London which takes just under 2 hours at times. If you look at the games in which Dan and Lexus have played CB together in a 4, we haven’t won a single game. The analysis that I do compared to your opinions over the course of watching the game live for 90 minutes, there will be a lot of unseen things. Lexus’ two best games were Tonbridge and Maidenhead at home both as a right back. With the regards to Bayliss, we’ve spoken at length and he feels much more comfortable in a back 3 as does Guy. Probably worded it wrong, but what I meant is that we get the best out of Bayliss in a back 3 as he has the security to go and attack the ball knowing full well that he has two centre halves inside him. Our results last season as a back 3 were much better than playing a 4 and it’s something we want to try and get back to. Bringing Guy back was only possible with the outgoings of one or two, hence the decision that we have made as a management team, and hopefully that was backed up with his performance yesterday! Also, we are hopeful of a left back signing this week, which probably gives even more clarity once again in terms of what the decisions.12 points -
Josh Jackman
DonnyNo6 and 9 others reacted to SloughFlyer for a topic
What a great achievement and what a player he has been for us over the years. A brilliant servant of the club and long may it continue. Congrats on 300.10 points -
v Truro City
DonnyNo6 and 9 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
Absolutely not, I’d love to win every game but that’s not possible. Surely you have to look at things as a whole? It’s unfair to ignore that we have 22 points in total. This time last season we had 13 points and were sat in 21st position, 3 points from safety, 11 points off the play offs and 19 points off top, yet this season the division is even more difficult.10 points -
Hampton and Richmond 1 Hx 3
Digger. The. Cat! and 9 others reacted to cup of tea for a topic
Really was a game of two halves. Don’t know if we were overawed by the situation or Hampton did well , we certainly were competing but the opposition definitely had the better of it. Shame to see that the refs are of a similar quality. Second half we came out of the traps fast. Femi did make a difference but the whole team looked more alive. Great individual goal from Liam hope we get to see the second goal by Charlee as it was a screamer into the top corner and the third was a really well constructed effort. Great start real confidence booster. Know it’s early days but hopefully it shows that we are not out of our depth in this league. Think actually we should end the season now with the league positions 🤣 great day at the office and really vocal support today.10 points -
Players signed, retained, left the club
Bernie Gogan and 9 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
It’s really difficult to give updates regarding players. If you do that then it makes other clubs aware of the situation with players at that present time. There’s absolutely zero benefit to doing that whatsoever! If we do that then sometimes it just allows other clubs to get their offers into players who have yet to commit. Sometimes clubs will just assume that they’ve stayed at the club as nothing else has been said. However, having said all of that, it’s looking positive re Lenchy 👍🏼10 points -
Difficult as there are so many worthy recipients but i think for me there are supporters who not only support but go way above and beyond, especially when we most needed them at the end of the 00s...... Names that spring to mind in this category are of course the likes of Chris Sliski, Kay Lathey, Mike Lightfoot, Adrian Gomm etc. Definitely have to say that Warren Carter is a great shout too. I remember a game away at Farnborough.....must have been 2007 and we were 4 or 5 down at half time with barely a team scraped together. He gathered those who were there at half time and brainstormed how supporters could help the club, the passion he spoke with that day really struck me as to how much he cared.9 points
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V St Albans H 22nd Oct
Jack Joshman and 8 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
This shouldn’t even be a debate. Lenchy was brilliant for Slough and for me, and yes he did well last night! I actually said to him that I think he suits St Albans style of play. St Albans are a possession based team who will dictate the ball against anyone, that’s their philosophy. We aren’t a possession based team but we do have the highest XG (expected goals) across the north and south with chances created. We average a shot every 18 passes (lowest pass per shot rate in the north and south), St Albans every 55 passes. If possession wins games then it’s a new rule to me. We’re happy to be without it as we know what our strengths are. 👍🏼9 points -
v Truro
DonnyNo6 and 7 others reacted to Holyport Rebel for a topic
(continued) Truro's new ground, as I've said, is right beside a very large "Park and Drive" car park, with space for dozens and dozens of cars. It sits alone in an area which has plenty of scope for development. It felt a bit "open" to the elements, and on a day with not much wind elsewhere, the corner flags were fluttering quite a lot suggesting that on the pitch there was quite a breeze blowing. There isn't a great deal of cover for fans around the ground if it rains.. There's the main stand of course, and a decent covered area behind one of the goals, but if it had been raining yesterday, a lot of the 1,700+ fans would have got wet. Myself and "Bonjour" took our place among the other Slough fans in the covered stand behind the goal Slough were attacking in the first half. Surprisingly, there were plenty of Truro fans remaining there too despite their team attacking the other end. They didn't seem to want to change ends as is usually the case at non-league matches. The game hadn't been going very long, when the ball seemed to spend too long in our penalty box, and the next moment our net bulged and Truro had scored. Being at the other end of the pitch I would find it hard to describe the goal, but a goal it was despite a few failed attempts to clear the ball away. The Truro tannoy announcer was a real pain. Worse I felt than the bloke at St. Albans. He was another cheer-leader. I definitely wouldn't swap him for our Tony Randall. The first half we had several great chances to equalise. Their goalkeeper sadly made a fantastic save I thought from Edon, but all other reports say it was from Slavi, when a header from only a few yards out was somehow kept out of his net by the goalies fantastic reactions. A yard more either side and it would have been 1-1. John Gilbert had an effort cleared off the line by not one but two Truro defenders. Not that it was one way traffic ,Truro had chances of course too, but half time came and a level score board I feel would have been fair. Probably one of the highlights of the first half, was Warren, who again had managed to find a big plastic bin and drag it to where the other chanting Slough fans were, continued to beat this bin with his drumsticks even as the security marshal was dragging it away from him and taking it back to where Warren had found it ! You couldn't make it up ! We changed ends at half time, and I had a nice chat with Nige (Windsor Rebel), who was staying down in Cornwall for a long weekend. A lot of other Slough fans were doing the same. Second half we never created as clear cut chances as we had in the first. A great ball in across the area found David, who had a great first touch on his right foot about eight yards out. For a second he had a perfect view of goal, and I was shouting SHOOT ! So frustratingly he took another touch, and got swallowed up by the Truro defenders. Truro had a few decent chances second half, to be honest much more than we did, but even so the ball flashed across the Truro box on more than one occasion with no Slough player able to get on the end of it. Truro's second goal looked a strange one from my view at the other end of the pitch. I haven't seen the video highlights so my original thoughts may be completely wrong, but it reminded me at the time of that cheating Argentinian Maradona's goal v England in Mexico at the 1986 World Cup. The ball appeared to be high in the air with Charlie getting to it to make a easy catch, when suddenly this Truro player seemed to be in front of Charlie and just headed the ball into the net. Then the Truro tannoy announcer came over the airwaves. Not just announcing the name of the scorer in delirious, excited tones, but shouting out loudly that it was now " Truro City TWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!! Slough Town nil " Yes mate, we can count. People from Berkshire can count up to two. Perhaps people in Truro can't. Really unnecessary I thought. We had one more half chance, a great cross into the middle that Slavi headed over. And that was that. The ref ( who I thought had had a decent game), blew his final whistle and we had lost ,2-0. Usually, the Slough players and management only come over for high fives with us fans when we have won, but pleasingly they came right over to us and went along the line of Slough fans to do so even though we had lost. No disgrace at all today. We had battled hard and, given the breaks, another day could have come away with a point I thought 2-0 flattered Truro. For a team near the top of the table I was quite disappointed in them. They do not have the "flair" or "skill" of say a Dorking or Worthing, one of their best attacking options is a bloke with a great long throw, but what they do have I thought is a very strong, tough and difficult to break down defence. They smothered and were all over our attacking players all match, both by fair means and quite often by foul. It works for them. Leaving the ground , myself and "Bonjour" walked in the day's late sunshine to the train station. Arriving there, I went to look at a departure board, and was very pleased to see that the train we were catching that should have taken us all the way through to Reading, was now showing all the stops the train would make including those after Bristol. If it was going to terminate at Bristol I wouldn't expect any stations after that to appear on the screen, but they did. I rang my wife, and she told me that yes, it did seem as if everything was as it should be with regard to the train, so that was great news. The train arrived on time at 18.31, and us fans and the team got on. It was a nice journey for the first hour and a half, until we got to Bristol. I ate my grub. I much prefer eating my food on the way back from matches. I read the Truro match programme. In it, it reported that coming back from their match at Tonbridge last Saturday, the team bus broke down at Cobham Services, on the M25. A mechanic came out, couldn't fix the problem, and they had to wait until 11pm for a replacement coach to arrive. That would have been a VERY long day. Then we pulled into Bristol Temple Meads station, at just after 10pm. At the time we were running about three minutes late, and I only had nine minutes from the time the train was supposed to arrive in Reading, to when my train to Maidenhead was supposed to leave. So I had six minutes leeway. Going slowly along the platform at Bristol before coming to a stop, I could see literally hundreds of people on the platform, all wanting to get on our train. "Oh for crying out loud" I thought to myself. It had been a nice, fairly quiet journey back so far. Not any more. These hundreds of people weren't just people. They were worse than that. Flippin' rugby fans. And even worse than that. STUDENT flippin' rugby fans. There were so many that our train pulled out of Bristol now nine minutes late, which meant that this train would pull into Reading just as my train to Maidenhead was pulling out. Doh Doh Doh ! I'd had enough of students when I worked at the train station at Egham for years and had to deal with hoards of them from the nearby Royal Holloway Uni. More got on the train at the next stop, Bath Spa. We never made up any of this lost time before we pulled into Reading station, about 80 minutes later. Getting off the train at Reading, John (Bonjour) looked across the platforms and saw that the Maidenhead train was still at its platform. "Great, just in time for us to see it go" I thought, and we didn't rush over to it 'cos we were sure it was about to depart. Taking our time to walk to the stairs, not rushing along the stairway to get to the other platform , and then slowly starting to walk down the stairs to where the Maidenhead train would surely have just left, we saw that it was still there ! We dashed gratefully on board, as did Trent and Scott and a few other players. First stop was Twyford, where all of the Slough players and management on board got off, not without first saying a very pleasant "cheerio" to us fans. God knows what time they would get home. Next station was Maidenhead, when myself and John got off the train and walked to the station exit. John waited there for his wife to pick him up, while I walked the ten minutes to my car, and drove the short distance home. Walked through my front door a few minutes after midnight. Non football fans might think this sort of behaviour "mad". On trains for about 11 hours, travelling over 500 miles, to watch a game lasting 90 minutes which we don't really expect to win. It was great though ! What a fantastic day! Any Slough fan who didn't go yesterday, next season, if there is no supporters coach ,[and provided of course you can find the money for the train fare, which isn't easy these days ) go on the train to Truro when we play away to them. (Unless Truro do us all a favour and get promoted !) I'm sure you will have a great time. Believe me, I'm very, very pleased I went yesterday, even though we lost. .8 points -
Eastbourne Borough 18th Jan H
Holyport Rebel and 7 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
Thank you for all the messages regarding the birth of my daughter too! Feel extremely lucky, my wife and Millie are doing well. It’s been a much better week than the previous couple, but let’s hope that we can now back it up Tuesday. See you all then!8 points -
V Chatham Town FA Trophy H
Kaiser Gibbs Batman (KGB) and 7 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
Bit of perspective. We’ve just played 5 games in 14 days with a small squad, and at a hell of an intensity on Tuesday evening! In the 5 matches, we’ve played 2nd, 5th, 6th and 20th, plus a cup game yesterday. We’ve ultimately won 3 (yesterday was all about winning the tie) out of the 5, drawn 1 and lost 1. It’s a gruelling schedule this month. I thought we deserved to come away from Woking with something, but we didn’t and that’s cup football for you. To this day I’d still rather we had played dreadfully and won, like we did yesterday! We aren’t going to be great every week but I take huge confidence in the fact that the boys never gave up and we live to fight another day. If they gave up fighting then I’d be worried but they certainly didn’t. First half was poor but second half was one way traffic in our favour for large parts! Thanks for sticking with us, now let’s hope for a good draw tomorrow! 👍🏼8 points -
Slough Town FC Most Loyal Supporter
Rebel Wokingham and 7 others reacted to sdelaney2308 for a topic
Home and away from Swindon I always travel down to get on the coach really enjoy the away days meeting up with the lads. 🚗 🚌 ⚽️. COYREBELS.8 points -
v Enfield Town
Bernie Gogan and 7 others reacted to Father Jack for a topic
The highest compliment that I can pay Slough is that they seemed more like a full time outfit than Torquay did the other week. We were simply unable to handle the physicality, sharpness and pace , and gave up any hope of getting anything out of the game with a collective outbreak of naivety just before half time. Anyway, well done once again; with a bit of luck we'll be better equipped when we visit you. We are still a work in progress, and learned an awful lot about ourselves last night All the best for the season8 points -
Christ Sir Rebel that's a bit harsh isn't it? I'm sure Scott's ability to sort the squad out for this season wont be dramatically effected by popping on here for a few minutes and updating us the best he can. 🤷♂️8 points
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Players signed, retained, left the club
DonnyNo6 and 7 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
It isn’t the clubs fault that the paper have announced it. The paper called me asked to do an interview and I chose to fill them in on the blanks, probably from a place of frustration where it’s been quiet, and people are probably thinking that I’m sat on a beach somewhere sipping a cocktail, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. I wanted to get something out there to hopefully add some positivity to what’s been a tough and unexpected summer so far. 4 new signings will be in tomorrow with a possible two more on the way in the next week (I hope). Some clubs have been very busy, not many, but some have been extremely quiet in what’s been a slow summer for the majority of managers I’ve spoken to. The guys that run our social media are incredible people but are extremely busy with work and family, so sometimes working with the local paper and having a good relationship can take the pressure off others, like in this situation. Hope that explains it. Scotty.8 points -
New Club Captain
sdelaney2308 and 6 others reacted to SloughFlyer for a topic
Announced for 25/26 yesterday by Josh as Henry Ochieng. Great player and seems like a leader in a similar vain to Josh. Not the most vocal on the pitch but certainly is a top end performer. Another good addition to the squad for next year so nothing but positives behind that one.7 points -
A couple of non league snippets
Bernie Gogan and 6 others reacted to Holyport Rebel for a topic
I read on the club's twitter/x page, that our very recent loan signing Jaiden Bartolo won't be available for tomorrow's match because he has been called up to be in the Gibraltar squad for their two forthcoming World Cup qualifiers. I guess it isn't an option to postpone the game? 😄 See, that's what happens when you deal with Satan's very own football club, who play in light and dark blue and come from Bucks. It doesn't take long for them to let you down. 😄7 points -
Dorking v Slough
DonnyNo6 and 6 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
We’ve scored 133 league goals in 76 games. Only Worthing have scored more than us during that time, since the beginning of last season so that argument doesn’t exist in my opinion. Third highest goal scorers this season behind two of the powerhouses. We’ve just conceded too many of late. Once we get a settled back line with everyone back fit I’m sure we will have a good balance to our team. As for finding another Leon, you don’t find those every day. He was third lowest paid player in the squad who just went about his work brilliantly well and reaped the rewards that come with it.7 points -
Leon
Bernie Gogan and 6 others reacted to SloughFlyer for a topic
I think he deserves his own thread - A brilliant young footballer with a great potential future and been great to see him this season start to realise his potential. I'm sure he'll do great things for Southend and be a big success. As Scott said, a little bitter sweet as he was brilliant for us this season, but hopefully Scott will get some of the funds (even if its in wages) to replace him within the squad and everyone will win from the deal.7 points -
A couple of non league snippets
sdelaney2308 and 6 others reacted to Holyport Rebel for a topic
As I write down these ramblings, there isn't much left of 2024. It's the time of the year when you look back at what happened in the previous 12 months, and wonder what may lay in store for us in the new year ahead. Our footballing year started with the disappointment of a last minute defeat at Hampton on New Year's Day, and it ended in a surprisingly flat 1-1 draw at home to Chesham on Boxing Day. ( Cracking goal by Scott, mind. ) In between it was 12 months that saw us incredibly only lose two games at home. 12 months that had a season ending in a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful chase to gain a play-off place, and a new season starting which has seen us mostly looking towards the upper rungs of the table from the very first league game in August. 12 months that have quite often seen home attendances of 1,000+. 12 months that have seen us win through a few rounds of both the FA Cup and FA Trophy. The season's come and go so quickly now. They never used to ! Season 23/24 is already despatched to the history books, and it won't be long, as time goes so damn fast ,before season 24/25 is too. I really enjoy the section in our match programme called "From the Archives". Every home game match programme continues to tell the story of a particular season in Slough's past. The one being told presently is season 1991/92. ( By the way I find it hard to believe that there was a glaring mistake in it on Boxing Day ! Commenting on that famous 3-3 comeback game against Reading at Wexham Park in the FA Cup, the article says that our late, late equalising third goal was a penalty scored by Steve Thompson. Errrrrrrr.......no it wasn't. It was a powerful header from Paul McKinnon that went in via the woodwork ! ). Anyway, I love looking back at season's past. The scary thing is though, these current years will be looked back on from the future all to quickly from a distance of five, ten, or even twenty+ years. (Youngsters may think that 10 years is an awfully long time to pass, but believe me, the last 30-40 years of my life have passed in a flash. ) How will these current seasons be remembered then? Others of course may well think differently to me, but I think these last couple of years will be seen as a really fantastic spell in Slough's footballing history. We have an exceptionally popular player/manager with the talent and ability to create a formidable "never say die" team spirit, as well as having a special bond with the supporters, and also having a footballing philosophy of trying to win games by playing good to watch, attacking football. We have owners who were able to secure the future of Slough Town at Arbour Park with a 50 year lease. Also we are playing at a very high and prestigious level of football. I'm very happy watching Slough compete at Level 2. The National League is a different animal compared to the top level Conference League we had many memorable seasons in 30 years ago. The thing is, almost every year the National League gets bigger and more professional teams in it ,and is more expensive to compete in, and this will in turn each year I think make the National League North and South Divisions harder to survive in. We'll have bigger, richer teams than us being relegated into our division from above, and they won't all be able to get promoted back up to the National League straight away, and we'll also of course as always, have ambitious and well financed teams getting promoted up to our division too. Things are not going to get any easier. Standing still will only lead to us going backwards. That's why I think these years are flippin' good years for us. Competing well in a very competitive and strong League. So we're off to Kidderminster soon. I have good memories of going there in our Conference days. Some clubs you get a good feel for, others the opposite, but Kidderminster I've always (so far) had a very positive reaction to. I see they won again on Boxing Day, and have gone top of the National League North. Doh! Bloomin' typical. Not the best time to be playing them ! I can well remember going there for our last game of the 97/98 season. Matty Stowell scored from 25 yards out. Top right hand corner of the net I'm sure it was. I was watching on the terraces from behind the goal and was right in line with the shot if my memory isn't playing tricks with me. A great 1-0 win there to finish 8th in the Conference and an unlucky semi-final defeat in the Trophy that same season as well.. All us Slough supporters left that game full of optimism and confidence for the next season ahead. Little did we know what surprises and disappointments lay in store for us that summer, and the completely new and unknown team we would have in August for that first game away at Sutton back down in the Isthmian League. That's why I'm relishing what Slough are doing now. Nobody knows what is around the corner, and being I think a glass half full type of person rather than a glass half empty one I'm very happily enjoying so very much what we have at this moment in time. Other's may disagree, and want us to aim for promotion some time in the future. Based on our experiences as away fans at current National League clubs Bromley and Woking, and an imminent trip to a previously well established National League club Boreham Wood who have banned Rebels Radio and seemingly very reluctantly allowed us to use their facilities, I think our supporter away days would be much less appetising in the National League than those we have now in the National League South if we were ever to go up ! Good times like I think these are can be taken away from you so quickly and unexpectedly for many differing reasons, as we have seen with our own eyes in the past. And these I would say again are very good days. I say long may these current times last, because sometimes football has a nasty habit of being a very fickle mistress. To finish, I'd just like to wish everyone connected to our special football club Slough Town........... A very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Let's hope 2025 is a good one for all of us.7 points -
V Chelmsford City 30th Sept A
Bernie Gogan and 6 others reacted to Holyport Rebel for a topic
Thank God that's over. Sorry Chelmsford fans, but when the fixtures come out in the summer, there are some games I look forward to going to, and others that don't appeal very much, and to me Chelmsford away is probably the least anticipated match of the season. (Especially when it takes place on the eve of winter!) My memories of going to Croydon are worse though, and I never had the "privilege" of going to Gateshead in our Conference days which looks equally dismal, but Chelmsford is so unappealing. At least we only have to go there once, the poor Chelmsford regulars have half a season there. At least they can call it a home I suppose,, which in the great scheme of things means quite a lot, as we all well know. In their favour they have a decent club house and at least the terraces behind the goals couldn't be closer to the pitch . Travelling down on the coach, word went around that Charlie was going to have to be very careful today, as a booking would mean he would miss the big one next week. After the disappointment of last week ,we then had two very tough away games to play, and I was concerned that we may lose both of them and go into the Maidenhead game on a bit of a downer. That fantastic 3-0 away win at Chippenham put that fear to bed, and I thought if we got anything from the Chelmsford game that would be a bonus. I got through the turnstile at Chelmsford having paid my £15.44 for an online ticket, saving me only £1.56 because of the booking fee ,compared to their on the day price of £17-. Not much of a saving compared to their match day price, but something I suppose. I headed straight for their programme kiosk. When I got there I noticed a small sign saying " Programmes £3.50". "THREE POUND FIFTY ?" I said to the man in the kiosk. In a friendly, joking way he said " Yes, £3.50 but it has just won the award for the best programme in the league." " OK" I said, " BUT THREE POUND FIFTY?" He then said in a friendly way that I could come back and tell him what I thought of it after reading it. I handed over my whopping £3.50, and then headed for their clubhouse. Inside, on reading their "award winning programme" it was first of all apparent that it was a double edition, covering both our game with Chelmsford AND their game v Boreham Wood on Monday Dec 2nd. So half of it wasn't even relevant to our fixture. Also, inside it, it said we were playing In YELLOW shirts !!!!! Chelmsford, we do NOT play in yellow shirts. Farnborough do. We play in AMBER shirts ! So much for their "award winning flippin' programme". Nearer to kick off the teams were announced, and it became clear that two of our players who performed very well at Chippenham were not in the squad. Disappointingly the new full back Kwadwo who played on Tuesday, had received a knock during the game and was to miss out. Doubly disappointing was the news that there was no Dan Roth, ( or Dan Rith according to the award winning programme ), absent through illness. I thought about going back to the gentleman in the programme kiosk to point out the faults in their celebrated match programme, but to be honest, I couldn't be arsed. The game kicked off and the ball spent most of the time down at the other end. Charlie worried us when he went down injured right after taking a drop kick which went into touch. Thankfully after treatment he got up and to me seemed to be ok for the rest of the game. One occasion when we got to the halfway line , John Gilbert made a silly tackle and to my eyes got a deserved yellow card, which obviously for the rest of the game put him at risk of receiving another one. Especially with the way the Chelmsford players reacted to incidents like this. We would definitely not want John red carded at any time, but even more especially when numbers seem so stretched and with a massive game coming up next week. Scott didn't play midweek v Chippenham, and having seen the photo of his ankle on the Saturday evening I would doubt if that swelling had disappeared completely by kick off time yesterday, but I wondered if Scott played because he felt there was no other option ? When I was at my playing peak many years ago, playing for Barclays Bank Slough Queensmere branch mixed 7- a-side team, if my ankle looked like Scott's did last week, and I knew I'd be playing the following weekend against Standing Order clerk "Big Bertha" of Windsor branch , I think I'd have pulled a "sickie". Sorry, I got distracted thinking about "Big Bertha." And did you see the size of those Chelmsford attackers ? Not much in it between them and Bertha. I often hear retired Premier League players saying that in their careers they rarely played when they were 100% fit. And that's with all the money in the world to pamper these pro's to get them match ready. What chance do our semi-pro lads have then, when they have a full-time job to do as well during the week ? We on the sidelines can't really have any idea what knocks or strains these players are playing matches with. On one of our rare excursions into Chelmsford's penalty area, we nicked a goal to go one -up. Very similar I thought to the 3rd goal on Tuesday, great play by Slavi on the touchline, who pulled it back across the face of the goal for Sam to smash in. Sadly we couldn't hang on till half time , and Chelmsford got a deserved equaliser. Couldn't complain really. Second half was a bit more even I thought, but two quick goals by one of their subs with 25 minutes left, more or less secured for sure the 3 points for the home team. The Chelmsford players all through the game I thought were trying to get the Slough players into trouble with the referee, especially their number 6 and the number 16. Any touch and they would go to ground for a free kick, in apparent agony. The number 16 was particularly embarrassing, as in one incident when the game was halted, he stood in front of John Gilbert. John raised his arm to wipe his brow or pick his nose or something , a nothing movement, and the number 16 went down pole axed, holding his face. So embarrassing. His team mates must surely be ashamed of him, it was so pathetic. Soon after that, John was subbed, a sensible decision after what had just gone on. I thought the new full back Noah had an encouraging debut. He made several attacking overlapping runs on the outside of Chelmsford's penalty area which sadly came to nothing, but I thought he should be pleased with his performance. So we lost, 3-1. Still, in my eyes it's three points out of six from two very tough away games. I would have settled for that for sure after the Welling defeat. Better tally than getting two draws and only two points ! Maidenhead next week. I'm really looking forward to it, as are all of us.(?). Delighted to see that the Magpies got their wings clipped 6-2 yesterday, and their captain got a straight red card. Surely that means he misses our tussle ? As someone else on here has eluded to, now only 6 sleeps to go. Bring it on !.7 points -
V St Albans H 22nd Oct
sdelaney2308 and 6 others reacted to Jack Joshman for a topic
Fortunately for Matt Lench, his manager, his fans, our manager and our players all seem to disagree with you (so do I, quality of his control and passing were very good and his competitiveness/ball control in the middle were a factor in the reason we never really had control of the game). Edited to add: I also thought Leon was great, probably our 2nd best player last night after Charlie, and has been brilliant this season.7 points -
'Rebels' Bar
DonnyNo6 and 6 others reacted to John Ellis for a topic
Glad you like it Glen, lots of time and effort went in to get it right for the fans. Massive congratulations to Ashley and Steve for there desire to get this done and the delay was by no means the fault of the clubs. Such an honour to have been involved and a proud moment for me when it opened today, enjoy Rebels.7 points -
Players Left
DonnyNo6 and 6 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
I wouldn’t have signed Franny if I didn’t believe him in. I believe the penny has dropped and he’s realised that he needs to get his career back on track. The fact he reached out to me and said he wanted to come back to Slough as that’s where he believes he will play his best football with the way we play was enough for me. We’ve got a frightening talent on our hands if that proves to be the case! But like you said, let’s see! For me, it’s a a small risk worth taking!7 points -
v Eastbourne Borough
sdelaney2308 and 6 others reacted to KevinEBFC for a topic
If I may tiptoe in on your forum.... Thanks so much, Holyport Rebel, for your very engaging account of Rebels' day at the seaside. Most enjoyable "fan's view" that I've read for ages! Not to disagree that Borough's manager came across as less than generous, but in defence of managers generally, we reporters often have to collar them within literally ten minutes of the final whistle (I was writing the NLP report and I needed instant quotes from both managers.) And emotions can still be running a bit high! Adam Murray is actually far from a serial mseryguts - he's witty, articulate and in love with the game, and probably one of the best three managers I've ever worked with (in about sixty years!). And of course passionate for his own team - and at that moment also more cross with his own strikers who could have put the game to bed, than with the opposition! Scotty also was good enough to give me a minute of his instant wisdom and was probably, on balance, the happier manager. So definitely no whinges! Everyone on the circuit knows SD as one of the good guys, and yours is a lovely club which - like Borough, I hope - one which never makes enemies. Best of luck for the season.7 points -
v Enfield Town
Bernie Gogan and 6 others reacted to Robsven for a topic
I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at your viewing experience this evening. The elevated main stand affords an excellent view, and the covered terracing behind each goal leaves you closer to the pitch than most stadiums in the league. You can literally touch the goal nets from behind the goal. Even the terracing at the side of the pitch behind the dugouts is a decent view, but it’s uncovered and therefore not ideal when it’s raining. As has been commented already, even Enfield Town fans were skeptical about moving to a stadium with a running track. But only having 6 lanes makes a huge difference, along with obviously the covered stands behind each goal being inside the running track. The club are preparing to spend approximately £120k on a new 400 seated stand, additional turnstiles and gates/fences to segregate supporters when required. We’ll also be taking our old seated stand, removing the seats, splitting it in half, and adding them equally to the terraces behind the goals as they are the same dimensions. The majority of this has been covered, but the final £35k portion has to be raised by ourselves as we are a purely fans owned club. We’ve hit £16k after about ten days. We are also very aware that our clubhouse can only comfortably cater to about 50-80 people at any one time with a somewhat awkwardly located bar. The building itself is beautiful, but it’s also listed and therefore we can’t touch it without someone in a suit watching what we do and invariably rejecting our plans. A good example of this is the word CAFE written on the outside part of the building which encapsulates our spiral staircase. We wanted to repaint this to ETFC and the idea was quickly rejected. We also wanted to upgrade the windows to double glazed ones and that was rejected too - we have to retain the original style single paned ones that aren’t really suitable in this day and age and increase the heating costs. You’ll have a nice view from the standing balcony outside the spiral staircase by the way. We should have a second small bar outside to keep everyone beer happy, and our food vendor, whilst struggling to keep up with demand at half-time like most clubs do, have had pretty good reviews. We have early plans for a new large clubhouse/offices and classrooms, but again we have to find the money ourselves through grants, loans, and donations. It’ll take quite some time, but it’s achievable. Every season we do something new off the pitch, and that success has helped us be promoted three times since 2001. Slow and steady wins the race, and we’ve done it all by ourselves with no single person actually owning the club. Enjoy your evening and please don’t judge us too harshly - we’re aware of any issues you could possibly bring up. It’ll be a pleasure to have a decent amount of away fans, and good to see you all again - I think I last saw an Enfield team play Slough back in the 1990’s at Wexham Park! Leave us the 3 points please 🙂7 points -
v Enfield Town
Bernie Gogan and 6 others reacted to The Crowing Cockerel for a topic
13 years ago we were playing on a roped-off park pitch, so I'll take the 'inconvenience' of the running track at the QE2/Dave Bryant Stadium. Much like you, I was initially skeptical about a pitch within a running track, but 6 rather than 8 lanes makes a difference and I guess you get used to it! Plenty of things to improve this season, but its home. Being fan-owned we'll never have a Sugar Daddy - plus I'm not sure it'd even be possible to build a new stadium in the borough. We're gradually getting an Enfield team back where we like to think they belong and its a pleasure to be playing the likes of Slough once again!7 points -
Players signed, retained, left the club
rebelbrewer and 6 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
Cor, the audacity! 😂 Just thought I’d ask the question, and polite may I add, as to what was funny? Now I’ve got a slightly better understanding re your comments previously. Will park it here and choose to let any further posts sail way over my head in future. 👍🏼7 points -
Players signed, retained, left the club
3spirit and 6 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
We haven’t even signed a keeper yet 👍🏼 That’ll put it to bed. 😂7 points -
V Hornchurch
sdelaney2308 and 5 others reacted to Holyport Rebel for a topic
Continued.............. Half time was very frustrating ,thinking how we should have been level but somehow had managed to end up being behind again. As always, at half time I moved to the other end of the pitch, to be near the goal that Slough would be attacking in the second half. I went across to the other side of the pitch, where most of the Slough fans has gathered under another small covered stand. Hornchurch has a running track around the pitch, but I felt it was a better ground than Chelmsford, who also have the same handicap. Unlike at Chelmsford though, where you can get close behind both goals despite the running track, you can't do this at Hornchurch, but I felt that the covered stands along both sides of the pitch at Hornchurch made it a much more appealing and less dismal place than Chelmsford. Waiting for the second half to begin, I felt surprisingly warm in the March sunshine, which was unexpected and welcome. The second half began, and it wasn't long before Hornchurch had an opportunity to extend their lead, but thankfully didn't take it. While it was still 2-1 we were still right in this game, and our attacks gave me hope that we could get ourselves back on level terms. Then, with about 30 minutes to go, we equalised. Johnny Goddard scored. Except he didn't. From the touchlines it looked an easier opportunity to put the ball in the net than when Gordon Smith had that chance to score for Brighton against Man Utd in the last minute of extra-time in the 1983 FA Cup Final and win the game, and the BBC radio commentator Peter Jones famously said "And Smith must score....!"' Gordon Smith didn't score then and neither yesterday did Johnny. Johnny put it over the bar. We were never going to get a better chance than that to score. Warren again was his usual self, once again finding a big plastic bin to bang, and once again a jobsworth steward stopped his fun. Why did we have three stewards hanging around us ? I'm not sure what they thought we might do. The ball was quite regularly in Hornchurch's half, and after one of our effort's had gone into the large expanse of nothingness that there was behind the Hornchurch goal, the ball boy who was stationed there decided to waste time by taking forever to get the ball back to the Hornchurch goalie for the resultant goal kick. Comments were shouted towards the ref and the ball boy about obvious timewasting tactics, and we just hoped time would be added on for this annoying and frustrating ploy. Then, with about 15 minutes left, we won a corner, which was taken by John Gilbert right in front of us Slough fans. What a corner. Aimed at Jeanmal who twisted his neck muscles and headed the ball past the Hornchurch goalie and into the net ! Great header. Deservedly level at 2-2. Things got even better not long after. Hornchurch headed clear a Guy Hollis long throw into the box and all their players started to run out of their penalty area. The ball was softly mis-kicked back towards the Hornchurch goal by I think John Gilbert, and a Hornchurch player, running out, possibly hindered by an odd bounce of the ball on the dodgy pitch, sliced his clearance backwards towards his own goal where Slavi was waiting to pounce. Not offside because a Hornchurch player had played the ball last, Slavi calmly placed the ball into the corner of the net. 3-2 ahead ! Oh my God ! Cue ecstatic scenes among the Slough fans ! It wasn't long after this that the ball boy who had tried to waste time earlier by taking so long to get the ball back to the Hornchurch goalie when it had gone out of play, walked past right in front of us Slough fans. He was greeted with comments suggesting that he could now take as long as he wanted to get the ball back in play. He looked across at us, with a sheepish look on his face. Time passed, and we entered six minutes of added time. Not sure where those six minutes came from. Slavi had the ball near the Hornchurch by line, but rather than turn into the Hornchurch penalty area, he sensibly turned the opposite way to head towards the corner flag in front of us. Chants of "Sla-vi to the cor-ner, Sla-vi to the cor-ner " broke out among the Slough fans. Hornchurch launched a couple of long free kicks into our area with the time running out, but we defended them very efficiently, and the ref lifted his whistle to his lips and blew the final whistle. Blimey. We'd won. Away from home. 3-2. I'd forgotten what this feeling felt like. As always the players and management came over to where us Slough fans were, and this time it was tremendous to be able to celebrate an away league victory with them. Winning any game is always nice. To win a game like that is even nicer. To win a game like that away from home when you haven't won an away league game since November is even better ! It was a very enjoyable and quick coach journey back to Slough. When I got home my Saturday night pie and chips tasted the best they had done after an away game for a hell of a long time. A very enjoyable Saturday evening ensued. I bet/hope Scott had a good night's sleep after that victory, new little one permitting ! A deserved win, and a very very welcome three points.6 points -
v Bath City
Sharpediver and 5 others reacted to Holyport Rebel for a topic
I know I shouldn't, but I can't help but feel a lot of responsibility for our defeat away at Bath yesterday. It's stupid, but I should have known I shouldn't have gone ahead and done it. Too late now. I can't take it back. I'll explain more a bit later. There had been no supporters coach to Bath last season, no supporters coach to Chippenham this season ( which is closer than Bath), so when I was aware that a supporters coach to Bath this season was "subject to numbers", I guessed that there wouldn't be enough numbers to make a coach worthwhile so I decided to go there by train. Unlike Truro, when I booked my train tickets near to the departure date, I booked my train tickets a few weeks in advance, and got a better price for doing so. (It was still more expensive though than the supporters coach would have been.) Parking my car in the same lay by I had for Truro, I made my way to Maidenhead train station on foot and caught the train to Reading, where I was booked on the 15.55 train to Bath. The journey to Reading was quiet and uneventful, and after a short while waiting on the Reading platform, my train to Bath pulled in. Booking advance train tickets means you get to choose your seat, and I had deliberately chosen a forward facing seat by a window, with a table. Getting on my carriage , I made my way to "my" seat, and found a lady sitting there, with a blanket covering her up to her neck. I looked around, and although the carriage wasn't busy, there were no other seats which were forward facing, by a window with a table. If there had been I wouldn't have said anything, but there wasn't, so I said to her "I'm sorry, but you're in my seat." She looked up at me , she must have been about 30, and said, with an air that suggested she wasn't used to people questioning her, " Are you serious?" " Err....yes" I said back to her. She replied in a disparaging way " I don't believe it." She looked around the carriage and said "Can't you sit somewhere else ? I can't believe you want this one." None of the other available seats were as good as the one she was sitting in ( which was why she had chosen it in the first place), and I told her I had made this booking weeks ago. Very reluctantly she got up, saying that she was going to have words about me to the on train manager. " You can say whatever you like to him, I don't give a monkey's." I replied. I was eventually able to enjoy the journey to Bath. Getting to Bath just before 5pm, I had time for a stroll around the city centre. Very nice it was too. It's a 35 minute walk to the ground, which is almost in a straight line from the train station. When you get close to the ground you can see the glow of the stadium floodlights. I like going to Bath. It's a proper old fashioned non-league ground, with lots of decent concrete terracing. It's looking like we may be losing this season two other old fashioned proper non-league grounds that I like visiting, St. Albans and Weymouth, so for that reason alone I hope Bath stay up. Hearing the team line up for the first time about 20 minutes from kick off, I realised immediately that Lewis wasn't playing, and that we had three youngsters on the bench. It will be great to see how these youngsters get on with plenty of playing time, ONCE we are perfectly safe from the threat of relegation. We still need just a few more points to achieve that. Hopefully we'd get a point or three tonight. The game started and after a few minutes Henry had the ball smashed against his arms inside the area which I feared might bring the punishment of a penalty kick, but thankfully the ref let it go. We had a couple of half chances early on, which gave me encouragement. But now was the time I cost Slough the game. Stupidly, I turned to my fellow Rebel fan standing beside me and said to him " The match programme says that Bath haven't scored at home in their last three home league matches". Why did I say it ? Talk about tempting fate. Yes, you guessed it, no more than two minutes later Bath scored. Charlie in goal tried so hard to stop me having to curse myself, but the onslaught was too much for him and at the third attempt Bath got the ball into our net. Me and my stupid mouth. We had a few chances to get back into the game before half time. Jeanmal had a great opportunity to get a shot on target from close range, but so frustratingly, rather than get a quick shot off with his right foot, tried to turn inside onto his weaker foot, and in doing so allowed the Bath defenders to close the space down and snuff out the chance. Half time came and most of the Slough fans congregated in a covered stand along the touchline, near the corner flag, for the second half. Once the second half commenced it seemed like an over officious steward tried to stop the Slough fans from standing up in this covered part of the ground. Not sure why, as it only contained Slough fans, but things seemed to cool down soon after. Second half we started very brightly. Lots of possession, but once again not being able to get the ball between the goalposts. Bath made quite a few substitutions, one was taking off their number 9 and replacing him with their number 5, so I guessed they were replacing a forward with a defender, and doing all they could to make sure they hung on to the win. A second goal from Bath about ten minutes from the end really spelt the end of the game for us. The highlight of this last ten minutes for me was watching a cat running full pelt down the touchline in front of us to the corner flag, jumping high up the perimeter boards and over onto the terracing beyond. I had arranged for my wife to send me a text at 9.30pm, to tell me if the train I was booked on which left Bath at 22.55 was still down to run ok. This was the last train leaving Bath for Reading that evening, and if it had been cancelled I'd have really had to have rushed to the station before the game finished to get on board the second last one of the day. Her message told me that all was ok, the train was listed as being on time, so I could relax and watch out the remaining few minutes of the match. Final whistle went, and we had lost 2-0. I had a leisurely 35 minute stroll from the ground to the train station, and when I got there the departure boards thankfully showed the 22.55 as running on time. Great. Soon after things started to change. The departure board started to show a 6 minute delay. Then 12 minutes. Then 18 minutes. There was then a platform announcement saying " The train hasn't yet left Bristol Temple Meads due to it having to wait for a member of train crew who has been delayed by a late running previous service. I will tell you when this train has left Bristol ". Thankfully soon after this we were informed that the train had indeed left Bristol, but was going to arrive at Bath 28 minutes late. This meant it was due to arrive at Reading one minute after my connecting train, the 00.19 to Maidenhead had left. . Oh great. . If we gained a couple of minutes en route to Reading I'd be ok. Typically, we pulled into Reading now 33 minutes late, and my Maidenhead train had long since departed. That meant I had to wait another 50 minutes for the 01.15 train to Maidenhead. At least I had a nice warm waiting room all to myself until my train arrived. The 01.15 train arrived on time, and I got out at Maidenhead station and walked the 10 minutes to my car. It was so quiet at that time of the morning. Eerily so. I drove home, and walked through my front door just before 2am. The joy's of being a football fan ! .6 points -
v Bath City
Sharpediver and 5 others reacted to Ian g f for a topic
What from ground sharing at Beaconsfield 2 division below what we are now 50 year lease at Arbour park Give your head a wobble6 points -
v Truro
DonnyNo6 and 5 others reacted to SloughFlyer for a topic
Wasn't able to make the trek yesterday so can only go on Twitter, the comments on here and Scott's interview but I think regardless of form or otherwise, away v Truro with 0 points return is expected. It sounds like we played ok with some changes enforced on the side as well so one of those games that's good to get out of the way. As for 5 year plans etc, one of the worst things that happened with the fan base was us overachieving and finishing 10th last year. It's clearly massively over inflates people's expectations, especially when you look at the amount now of full time and hybrid sides in our division. For me, the work that is going into the club both on and off the pitch is setting us up for long term success and as long as this continues, the overall growth of the club is assured. Things have to be done the right way and that is what, IMO, is going on with the club at the moment. To be competing on the pitch the way we are is a testament to Scott, the squad and the club as a whole and how everyone is moving in the right direction. We need to keep growing and the playoffs, league wins etc will come, just have to be patient.6 points -
v Worthing
DonnyNo6 and 5 others reacted to SloughFlyer for a topic
It doesn't get much better than that. A fantastic performance from the entire team, making a very good Worthing side look less than ordinary. MoM for me was David Ogbonna but apart from Horlock (who didn't really have anything bar 1 decent save in the 2nd half) you could make a case for any of the starters today. Gilbert looked much more like the Gilbert from before his suspension as well which is another plus point. Tactically we were excellent and had clearly learnt the book on how Worthing wanted to play and stopped them doing so. All in all a fantastic performance, capped off with 4 brilliant goals and another step towards 50 points completed. What more could you want on a Saturday.6 points -
v Maidstone
Bernie Gogan and 5 others reacted to RebelVilla for a topic
Great game to watch. Highly competitive. Well done to Scott, the management and the team, this result was well overdue. Thought the ref had a good game as well, let the game flow and only gave out cards where necessary; more to the point neither team could say he favoured the other side. Good to see us finally get 3 points.6 points -
Scott's interview - The Squad
Bernie Gogan and 5 others reacted to Curtis for a topic
It’s now official that Leon has signed for Southend United…… I wish him all the very best & hope he continues to develop & gets to play in the Football League in the next couple of seasons. I also hope Scott gets the bonus of using the additional funds (if not this season, then next season)….. he has a great eye for not only identifying talent but also creating an environment for it’s development, and this should be a signal to lots of other talented youngsters that Slough Town is a club where you will get opportunities to thrive & possibly the chance to move on to full-time football.6 points -
Lewis Miccio - new player
Twyford Rebel and 5 others reacted to SloughFlyer for a topic
Well there's a turn up for the books following some negative news. Left sided defender (LB or CB), vast experience at this level and a decent age at 26 so fits Scott's profile of player. Love that and looking forward to seeing him play tonight.6 points -
Weymouth 1-1 Enfield Town
No bull Towner and 5 others reacted to Barney for a topic
Very much an on the fence comment as usual, but I don't think our struggles this season boil down to any one issue, it's a combination of all of the following in no particular order (and I'm sure everyone will have an opinion on which of these carry the most weight): 1. We were blind-sided by promotion, I think we recruited Gavin with the medium term in mind, and we expected better football than under Leese (tick), whilst being competitive at step 3 (tick) and having a management team who were a bit less passive and more fan friendly than previous team (also tick). Getting Gavin and team in was a project, maybe for 3 or 4 seasons, as we built, strengthened, and hopefully moved closer to step 2. Whilst the playoffs were a realistic target, winning promotion was beyond people's expectations (fans, board, management), and we just weren't prepared for it as a club, it does feel like there was a collective of "oh sh*t, what now?" once the dust had settled. 2. The management team have clearly made mistakes throughout all this, I was of the opinion that in a much tougher league, we would be better off continuing last season's fundamentals of keep things tight and defensively compact first, frustrate the oppo and build on that foundation, but it's not really played out like that. At times we have had no outlet, have been backs to the wall inviting pressure, and defeat has really felt like it was inevitable. There have only been a few occasions where this has worked well (I'm thinking Tonbridge, Weston, Dorking), but as I've said many times, this is a really tough league, we're now at the sharp end of non-league football, and we're closer to the pro game than we are to our ESL/Isthmian North beginnings. There are games at this level that we're just not going to win, no matter what we do, as we're playing full time pros who are well drilled, fitter and better from 1-11, but there are games where we could and should have won, where we aren't a worse side, but still failed to do so. 3. Recruitment has been a real issue, and both the management and the board have pretty much said as much. At step 3, it seems like getting a player was very much a case of speaking with said player, agreeing terms, putting in an approach and that player is running out in your colours on Saturday. From what people have said, step 2 involves agents, contracts and a whole host of other factors that just aren't at play in the division below. We've admitted that we should have appointed a head of recruitment to help navigate all of this, however I suspect a person with that skillset isn't easy to find/attract. Coming into the start of the season in the position that we were in couldn't have been much worse in terms of preparation, and I think at the end of the season it'll be the results in the first half of the season that sent us down, rather than what we did in the second half. 4. Players - I think there was a naivety that the players that got us promoted would form the basis of the team that would keep us up this season, and the buck for that largely stops with the management. Last season, we were a good (not great) step 3 side, with a very good forward. The whole team contributed to our success, and I don't subscribe to the "we'd have been nothing without Marcus" viewpoint, but if you compare us to Hornchurch, who finished 20 odd points above us, they'd put together a side (with clearly more budget than us) with a view to being competitive at step 2, whereas we had a side that were competitive at step 3, and very quickly a lot of those players were found out at step 2. The side we have now, compared to the side at the start of the season is night and day, and I actually think we have a reasonable side now, which, had we had a pre-season with, and hit the ground running, we'd be a lot closer to Welling in 20th than we are now. How much we could have done about this is questionable, clearly we had to learn and react quickly, but without any direct experience of management at step 2, it's maybe difficult to know who can step up and who can't. Of the squad last season, Youngs looks up to it, but took a long time to adjust and start scoring goals, Parcell has been fairly solid all season, and Rhys is a step 2 player that could even play higher. There are a couple of others who I think are good enough as fringe players (Dylan and Payne of those that are still with us spring to mind), but they're not really starters at step 2. 5. Game management - this is where the players are at fault, and possibly the management. The much talked about dark arts of slowing things down, feigning injury, berating the ref to get marginal decisions, an unnoticed shirt pull to gain an advantage at a set piece, knowing when to just get rid of the ball, put it in the corner, go direct, adjust the formation on the pitch. I don't see many leaders in the starting 11, Thompson I would say is one, but we're missing players who can manage games, and the players we started the season with (and many of those we brought in), whilst good enough, maybe aren't savvy enough compared to other sides in the league. With better decision making throughout the season, we could easily have managed our way through some of the winning positions we've thrown away late on, and could be in a much more healthy league position (Weymouth yesterday being the latest in a long line of examples of this). I'm sure there are other things that I've not mentioned at play here, but I honestly think it's a combination of the above. The key is what we do with the knowledge gained this season, and how we move forwards - will we do a Concord and potentially go down another step, or will we quickly rebuild, recover and be competitive at step 3 in the short/medium term with a view to being back at step 2 again when we're ready? This is the biggest challenge facing the club at the moment, and we really need at some point soon, to pivot to making decisions around what's best for next season, rather than how many points we can gain this season. I really hope I'm wrong, but I have us relegated now - even if we go on a run, I can't see how we're going to extract ourselves from this predicament, as we've given other sides too much of a head start. Sad times, but life goes on, the club will still be here, and we will eventually come back stronger from this - all I ask is please don't get too disheartened, and don't give up supporting the team and the club, we need to pull together and continue our support in good times and bad.6 points -
Tonbridge Angels 1-3 Enfield Town
The Crowing Cockerel and 5 others reacted to cup of tea for a topic
Keep believing guys, you are not the worst team in this league . Great result6 points -
V Welling H 23rd Nov
sdelaney2308 and 5 others reacted to Jack Joshman for a topic
Not sure if I watched a different game to others on here, but they scored 3 from about 3 shots and we dominated most of the game. I'm not saying that we were great or even that we 'deserved' to win - but for people to be so critical in a game where we had 25+ shots to their 5 or 6 is strange to me & smacks of a massive overreaction and also working backwards from the scoreline - on another day with a similar performance we win that 2-1. Also obvious from the game is how much the players care. Hope Scott & players ignore the (very few) critical voices and keep putting in committed performances like they have been doing!6 points -
FA Trophy 3rd Round Draw
DonnyNo6 and 5 others reacted to Holyport Rebel for a topic
This is a message to Lexus. Lexus, if we are 1 nil up and in the 90th minute of the Trophy game against Maidenhead, and a black and white shirted ++++ is bearing down on goal with only Charlie to beat ,( similar to what happened v Chatham), TAKE ONE FOR THE GREATER GOOD ! I'm a great believer in fair play and playing to the spirit of the game, but this is Maidenhead we're talking about !6 points -
v Dorking Wanderers
Connor McNeish and 5 others reacted to Reading Rebel for a topic
Just watched the highlights and imo a definite push on Slavi for a penalty. Also the quality and length of our highlights seem to have improved immeasurably. Also have to say Gary Thomas as a stand in commentator has done a pretty decent job.6 points -
Matt Lench
C'est la vie and 5 others reacted to Nathan for a topic
1. Lenchy was/is a Rebels legend. 2. His recent shock departure is still raw. 3. Him joining St. Albans is directly relevant to our upcoming match on Tuesday. 4. No-one can make people here talk about the match if they don't want to. And I don't understand the attitude of some on here that nothing can be talked about except the last match???6 points -
Matt Lench
the leatherhead lip and 5 others reacted to Reading Rebel for a topic
We don't often disagree on much SF but I'm pretty certain 99% of the Slough support will say you're wrong on your opinion of Matt Lench. For a number of seasons Matt Lench has been our best midfielder bar none and to say Dan Bayliss is a better player in his position is TBH a bit laughable. I like Bayliss and consider him to be an excellent addition to our squad but there is no comparison. Henry Ochieng looks a very good player but is a holding midfielder who breaks up attacks so any comparison with what Lench brought to the side is just not comparable. Oggy on his day is excellent but does blow hot and cold and again no comparison.6 points -
Players signed, retained, left the club
3spirit and 5 others reacted to Scott Davies for a topic
I’ll always aim high but within reason. Marc White has said that Dorking are the ones to beat. You’ll never hear me say that will be in the top 7 as I could be left standing here with egg on my face looking rather stupid. There will be the best part of 15-20 clubs expecting to finish above us this season, as there probably was last year too! Anyone wanting to predict the NLS is a lunatic! 😅 Let’s just wait and see 🤞🏼6 points -
I would have thought the majority of season ticket buyers would be those that have been committed & loyal to the club for several seasons, and most of those would have seen numerous good players come & go, and as such I would be surprised if their decision about whether or not to buy an early bird season ticket will be influenced by what Goddard & Lench decide to do.6 points