We ARE Staying Up !!!

[wilson]

Bedford won the Southern League Central. They are even further north than Hemel Hempstead. Then there’s still the playoffs to come. Hopefully that will keep us out of any National League North discussion. Even considering a suburb of London to get put in a “Northern” division would seem strange.

[BleedBlue]

18 hours ago, Albury_Walker said:

Did somebody mention my name 🤔 

Begrudged congratulations for now 🤬🤬🤬

How fortunate that there was 4/5 clubs as rank as you lot. 🤮

 

There's and old saying my townie friends "Every dog has his day"   ✊

at least I'll have the pleasure of seeing another struggle next season and more moaning and howling for Gavs head .  Hopefully money bags  Billericay will get through the playoffs to put 2 more defeats your way . Anyway enjoy the summer break .  Unkind regards A .W. 😡😡😡

You truly are an idiot 🤣

[Albury_Walker]

8 hours ago, BleedBlue said:

You truly are an idiot 🤣

Then I'm in good company on here with you  lot.  This forum in particular is full of them 😁😁😁

 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

1 hour ago, Albury_Walker said:

Then I'm in good company on here with you  lot.  This forum in particular is full of them 😁😁😁

 

Truly exciting times for you guys - there's the chance you might have a proper derby again next season against some true rivals. Fingers crossed the mighty Wabbey can make it through the play-offs!

[Barney]

Wasn't sure whether to post this on the Worthing thread, or this one, but this seems as good a place as any. First of all, massive (genuinely massive) congratulations to Gav, the management team, the players and the board for the turnaround since the start of February - it's been nothing short of remarkable. Our form since then has probably been upper mid table, if not pushing for the play-offs! I'll readily admit that I said that we were down, and had given up hope after the late equaliser that we conceded against Weymouth, which I had down as a must win game. The fact that the management and the team clearly hadn't given up, and were willing to scrap in every game shows enormous charachter, and to pull ourselves out of the position we were in is so much more of an achievement than winning promotion last season (as others have said). I think it's possible to distil all this down into that one performance at home to Truro as a perfect example - a goal down to the eventual league winners after 90 minutes, and we came away with 3 points (just gutted I wasn't there to celebrate).

Talking about where we go from here, I don't think we need wholesale changes - as I've said already, our form after January has been good enough, and we've had a largely settled side, with some additional quality added (including loanees), so I think we aren't far away from being able to hold our own at this level. Clearly there are positions we need to strengthen - if you look at the list of goalscorers, that's pretty obvious (although easy to identify, probably a lot harder to fix). But if we can retain the players we want to retain from this season, and add a few who are good enough at this level to improve us, given that we are a lot more prepared 12 months later, and know better what to expect from this level, we'll hopefully go into 25/26 with a more settled side made up mostly of the players who dug us out of the hole we were in from the first part of the season.

I'm not so keen to call out individual players on here, but I think post season is a good time to do so - the experience and nous of Thompson made him a massive signing, and I think all 3 CBs deserve a lot of credit, none of them look out of place at this level, and I hope we retain them for next year. Peake is an exciting player, who can and does make things happen - his injury came at a bad time for us, and he probably didn't quite get back to his best form after that, but an important player for us. Leonard as well was a player who grew on me over the season - given that he started as an attacking wide player, his defensive work has come on massively, and he seems well suited to wing-back, with plenty of energy to get up and down, and affect play in our attacking third too. Parcell and Brown in CM as well made a huge difference, neither of them are necessarily 'pretty' footballers, but they're effective and exactly what you need in a relegation scrap. Parcell got my vote for player of the season, but there were a few not far behind him. Bates as well made a difference, with his ability on the ball, energy and possibly most importantly, his set piece delivery - I remember the first game I saw him, we looked like scoring from each of our first 5 corners, and in a side where goals are at a premium, that's so important to have. Lastly, obviously Youngs deserves massive credit - I still don't know exactly where best to play him, but whilst he's fit enough, he obviously has to play - having a goal record like that from midfield in a struggling side is so impressive, and he, as much as anyone, dragged us out of the bottom 4 with his goals.

So, what can we expect from next season? I personally think we'll again be one of the more favoured teams to go down, but maybe less so than last season. The second season after promotion can prove to be tricky (just ask Aveley), however we do go into next season with our eyes open, and a better understanding of what's needed at this level, and hopefully at least some of the players to help us execute. As much as I'd love for us to play expansive, passing football with two up front, I think we need to accept that Gavin and the management have concluded that we're most likely to pick up points by scrapping and disrupting, being good at set pieces, and being hard to break down - and based on the last 3 months, it's hard to argue with that (and I'm fully onboard). So I think next season will be more of the same, starting in August, and hopefully with a few extra players of the required standard, and ideally at least one other reliable source of goals. I don't think any of our forwards are bad, and a lot of them put in a shift, and make runs/create space to allow the likes of Youngs to get the ball in positions to score, but it would be a lot less worrying if we had a forward who could score 12 or 15 goals a season as well as put in the hard yards (a young Scott McGleish would be lovely). I think we'll continue to struggle against the top sides, as those 6 or 7 full time pro sides proved to me that they're the best sides in the league, and the table doesn't lie in that respect - I wasn't at the Truro or Dorking games where we picked up points, but I saw enough of the other sides up there to know that we're not going to get many points against them. Worthing on Saturday was a prime example of this - they had 11 players on the pitch who were better man for man than our 11 players, and they were all supremely comfortable on the ball - you have to just hold your hands up and applaud their passing and movement, and 1-5 didn't flatter them (Mo's 2nd wasn't bad either). We ended up looking a bit leggy in the last 3 games (probably after all the efforts that came before), and it's maybe a good thing that the season ended there.

What I really hope for is that the fans are onboard with how we play, are more realistic about where we're likely/expected to finish and continue to back Gav and the team through thick and thin. I know a lot of people were questioning him at times this season, and I'm sure he'll be the first to admit that he got it wrong, and we were underprepared early on, but to turn that around tells me that he has the players backing, knows what he wants to do, and has a plan of how to do it. We should respect that, as there will be times next season when results aren't good, where we are on a poor run, where players aren't in form, and we should be backing them to the hilt at that point (with the knowledge of what happened this season as a reminder), and being that 12th man to help get us over the line.

I'm also looking forward to the summer, and a break from all this - it's been a stressful season as a Town fan, and I've definitely never had as many sleepless nights worrying about football in the club's existence as this. A couple of months off for a complete reset will probably do me as much good as I'm sure it will the players and management, but before I sign off, a final 'well done' to everyone involved! 👍

Edited Tuesday at 09:31 by Barney

[The Crowing Cockerel]

I may be completely and utterly wrong, but I can't see us having as bad a first half of the season next year as we did this. Some astute acquisitions and perhaps we may even be able to think about playing differently. I'd like to think that we might be able to retain some of the squad, but it could be an interesting summer. Will Thompson be playing next season? (I'd hope so!) Will any clubs be looking to poach any of our players? (Billy Leonard's old manager at Hendon is, of course, now at Hemel. Henry Hawkins might've caught the eye of other managers.) Who should we be thinking about signing? (Zane Banton/David Longe-King at St Albans? Perhaps bring Josh Keeya or Manny Harvest back?). And just imagine if Gavin found a couple of really good strikers...?!!

[Benjrider10]

Two things that I'll be keeping half an eye on during the off-season:

1) who do we bring in up front?

2) will any of the Chairmen / owners of the full-time clubs who either didn't reach the playoffs, or who don't end up getting promoted after the play-offs, start to question the amount of money they are putting in to those clubs? I still find it astonishing that a third of the 24 clubs in this league (maybe more with Chelmsford from next season) can afford to be full-time. Surely pockets are only so deep? 🤷‍♂️

[Benjrider10]

18 hours ago, Albury_Walker said:

Then I'm in good company on here with you  lot.  This forum in particular is full of them 😁😁😁

 

You keep posting, Albury ☺️. Nothing wrong with friendly (?!) banter between local rivals. I think you'll find most of us on here miss the local derbies against Cheshunt, Haringey, Potters Bar, Wingate etc.

In fact, Cheshunt (and Bishop's Stortford) are good examples of the downside of promotion to National League South (or North, in BS's case) and not managing to survive the first season. You both finished 15th this season - pretty disappointing? Promotion set you guys back by a couple of seasons.

Now our yardstick needs to be Aveley. Can we survive a second season?!

 

[cup of tea]

Don’t really want to say I told you but but erm I told you so 😊 Congratulations on a remarkable second half of this season and see you next season. 

[djwilf]

16 minutes ago, cup of tea said:

Don’t really want to say I told you but but erm I told you so 😊 Congratulations on a remarkable second half of this season and see you next season. 

Well done also on a strong season.   You were right.

[Barney]

1 hour ago, djwilf said:

Well done also on a strong season.   You were right.

Yep, seconded, strong finish for you guys too - one of these days we might take some league points off of you... at the very least we get another two goes next season

[Albury_Walker]

On 28/04/2025 at 20:12, The Crowing Cockerel said:

Truly exciting times for you guys - there's the chance you might have a proper derby again next season against some true rivals. Fingers crossed the mighty Wabbey can make it through the play-offs!

Yeah I don't mind wabby being in the same league as us . BTW they can't stand you lot either 🤣🤣🤣

Did you see what happened to Haringey and Hitchin ...both relegated to step 5 😵‍💫 W T *'s going on there ???

[Albury_Walker]

2 hours ago, cup of tea said:

Don’t really want to say I told you but but erm I told you so 😊 Congratulations on a remarkable second half of this season and see you next season. 

You guy's at Hornchurch must be a bit relieved the townies have stayed up.   That's one relegation place you urchins don't have to worry about next season    🤣🤣🤣

Edited Tuesday at 20:26 by Albury_Walker
Added a couple of words.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

2 hours ago, Albury_Walker said:

 

Did you see what happened to Haringey and Hitchin ...both relegated to step 5 😵‍💫 W T *'s going on there ???

 

Haringey have gone in to complete free fall - wasn't long ago they were riding high at the top of the Isthmian Prem. Hitchin are still getting decent crowds despite their terrible results. With St Albans drawing in crowds of 4,000+ and dropping to Step 3, just goes to show how tough it is to get everything right in non-league. No derby against Wabbey for Chesericay next season, I'm afraid.

[symptomless]

Rumour: Haringey fans reckon the end of the Sunday car boot sale in their carpark spelled the end of the funds for the club. Not sure if that's true but... 🤷‍♂️ Giving away free season tickets can't have helped.

Edited Tuesday at 22:44 by symptomless

[cup of tea]

8 hours ago, Albury_Walker said:

Yeah I don't mind wabby being in the same league as us . BTW they can't stand you lot either 🤣🤣🤣

Did you see what happened to Haringey and Hitchin ...both relegated to step 5 😵‍💫 W T *'s going on there ???

My brother lives in Hitchin said they were terrible this season 

[Albury_Walker]

11 hours ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

Haringey have gone in to complete free fall - wasn't long ago they were riding high at the top of the Isthmian Prem. Hitchin are still getting decent crowds despite their terrible results. With St Albans drawing in crowds of 4,000+ and dropping to Step 3, just goes to show how tough it is to get everything right in non-league. No derby against Wabbey for Chesericay next season, I'm afraid.

Oh well Wingate & Finchley  🤮.

and  Potters Bar it is then 🫤

Edited 20 hours ago by Albury_Walker

[The Crowing Cockerel]

Are Boreham Wood / Hornchurch our 'local derbies' next season? (Depending upon the play-offs for BW)

[The Crowing Cockerel]

On 27/04/2025 at 15:33, Albury_Walker said:

Hopefully money bags  Billericay will get through the playoffs to put 2 more defeats your way.

Alas not, my little orange friend.😯

[Comet]

On 28/04/2025 at 06:07, Comet said:

Was looking at the teams coming down for National League. Only Fylde Northern. 
 

I think we will be ok and Hemel if anyone potentially going north.