Barney

Interesting thread, reading between the lines, I think it's difficult for club of our size / resources to wholly develop players ourselves when there will be a steady flow of ex-pro club academy players who have been playing/training/being coached by top level coaches on a more regular basis coming down the pyramid. It probably makes more sense financially for us to pick the best of these when they become available than it does to 'grow our own' from junior level. I can't think of many players that haven't started at a pro academy that have come through our youth set up who have gone on t

Thanks to those who posted constructive feedback from the game - as someone who can't get to many games, I rely on people's views to get a feel for how we played. Sounds like the better side won, but we gave a decent account of ourselves in tricky conditions. Tend to agree that from what I've seen, we go long too often, and it's a pity, given the quality of player we have both in the side and on the bench. As mentioned in the other thread, we have an important 3 or 4 fixtures coming up, which will give a much clearer picture of where this season is heading - I'm definitely not jumping to any "

I can't speak for BU, but I'm not convinced he's trying to stir things... I don't think anyone has any issues with people making observations about our management teams style of management, where they're strong and where they're lacking - ultimately if Andy was the perfect manager in every department, he'd probably not be managing a team in the Isthmian Premier. For example, your observations that we don't retain the ball well enough, or sometimes go long too often I think are valid. As has been said several times (by at least 3 people now): there are some posters on here (of which you ar

Completely agree with this and your other posts BU - I wasn't at Hadley, but obviously very pleased with the result and the prize money it brings the club. I do wonder whether some on here give enough credit to the sides we are facing - there are very few sides that are just going to roll over, and clearly Hadley are a very decent side at the level they're playing from looking at their record this season, who were bang up for these two games. We shouldn't expect any easy games in any competition, and if we're not absolutely at our best and up for each game, we are going to get found out. Fortu

Cheers FJ, and good to hear - I wasn't saying it happens all the time, just something I have seen previously. Would be very happy to hear that this is no longer an issue, as I don't think it reflects well on the club.

I do wonder whether the quality of referees is affected by the number of referees deciding to call it a day due to the abuse they get from the sidelines. Ultimately if just a few referees at each level decide that it's not worth the bother, lower ranked referees will need to be promoted to fill the gaps. We've been through this before, I'm definitely not saying that the crowd shouldn't use its home advantage to influence referees decisions, question bad decisions etc. (I certainly do) but what's not OK in my opinion is fans seeking out the referee at the final whistle, surrounding the tunnel a

Speaking personally, I can give 100% support to the team - being an Enfield Town fan, I have always fully supported the side irrespective of who is manager. Edit to add: perhaps I should have said "backing the manager", rather than "supporting" - ultimately AL is in charge, and I want Town to do well, so by extension I want AL to be successful and win games. I'm relatively time poor, and can't commit any time to the club as a volunteer, so as such, I trust the board to make decisions in the best interests of the club, including managerial appointments.

Perhaps unsurprisingly you choose to comment on this thread when we are 0-3 down 4WF, after no comments at all on the threads of the previous 4 or 5 games where we've played reasonably well, and had good results. It's a shame that you can't get past your fairly obvious anti-Leese agenda, as it's pretty clear to me that you're knowledgeable about football, and when you do express opinions about tactics, formations, players etc. they're usually bang on the money. In my view, there's a lot to be said for supporting the manager, even if you don't completely agree with their style (and I don't

My first game of the season, and a decent showing - defensively we looked pretty sound, with all of the back four doing well positionally, winning their duels and limiting Dereham to very few chances. The midfield 3 worked hard, tracked back and broke up place nicely and Percy brings us lots of energy. Whilst we have Mo in the side, we're always going to have a goal threat, but I thought Coker was deservedly MoM - he's quick, direct and looks like he has a final ball too. Still early days, but a lot to be optimistic about if we maintain these levels.

I saw this on Twitter, and actually had to stop and think whether it was April 1st... interesting times

This isn't a binary choice - it's entirely possible to miss non league football and watching ETFC whilst still caring about those affected by the pandemic. Taking your logic to its conclusion, we should never post on this forum, as there's always something more important happening in the world 😐

Hope you're all having a good Christmas, aren't too bored and most importantly are staying healthy. A year or so ago, I put together an ETFC XI based on the best team on paper had the players played for us at the peak of their powers (for example someone like Greg Heald wasn't the player he was when he moved to Peterborough when he re-joined Town, and likewise Mark Cousins was a decent young keeper for Town, but went on to much greater things). 1. Mark Cousins 2. Lee Protheroe 3. Al-James Hannigan 4. Bradley Quinton 5. Darren Purse 6. Greg Heald 7. Jonat

If we'd brought our shooting boots we would have been out of sight by 80 minutes in a game which we largely dominated. Just needed a bit more game management towards the end to see out what should have been a comfortable win. Credit to M&T, they kept at it for 90 minutes, but we were very much our own worst enemy tonight, despite playing pretty well in the most part.

We don't have either player on contract as far as I'm aware.

Although if we don't enter said arrangement, and hold on to the player for 7 days so they can't play, I suspect that the player would be much less likely to return because things aren't amicable. I think we're ultimately between a rock and a hard place, and that what we've done is probably the better of the two options as it might encourage one or both players to show some loyalty.