Harrogate Railway Athletic.....

Agree with the above post.....I'm glad Ive rattled a cage or two...it shows we've still got passion. I'm merely expressing my frustrations at how we seem to have gone backwards in the last 12 months, I can only speculate on the reasons why but it certainly seems to have coincided with the changes at boardroom level. I guess that money is tight as always despite a reasonable run in the FA cup & that along with our location will always hinder our ability to attract quality/experienced players.
Struggling against the likes of (with respect) HRA, Radcliffe & Ossett Albion is a measure of our lack of progress.

I fail to see what the changes at Boardroom level have to do with us going backwards. You can hardly blame them for Rob Henry's illness, Ryan Elderton's work commitments and Steel going to Bamber Bridge. Only Neil Marshall is playing regularly from last season's back 4. Last season we would certainly have made the play offs if Simon Wills and Jordan Connerton had not gone to Australia. Now we have Tom Kilifin wanting away to of all places Kendal who he left to come here. Tom has improved loads under Darren as have other players. We have to accept that we will never have the money that some of the clubs in our division have. Of the games I have seen only once were we well beaten and that was with Spennymoor. Not for one minute do I think we will end up back in the North West Counties. The goal conceded yesterday was a dreadful mistake by Ben. Hopefully in time this back four will improve and cut the error's out but it takes time. Unfortunately most players will leave if another club wants to pay them more. We now have a bar on site which generates money for the club. We all want the same thing on this site and that is to see us get promotion hopefully next season will be better.

I suggested the slide COINCIDED with the boardroom changes.....this possibly indicates the two events may be coincidence.....or maybe the current board have less financial clout & experience of dealing with football matters at this level than the previous one. All speculation on my part I know as I don't expect to be grilling anyone over the balance sheet or their credentials.
Agree with the second half of your post.

First things first.

My (lack of) football knowledge is legendary (or perhaps I was watching a different game yesterday) but I would say that we were a long long way from being rubbish yesterday. We lacked confidence & a realistic goal threat, but second half we played some decent football against a side in recent good form. The goal we conceded was poor,but before anyone thinks of battering Ben H, yes, he should've done better,but ask first two questions 1/why pass to him in that position to start with? & 2/when he found himself facing his own goal why didnt he get a "man on" shout? I thought Aaron Taylor played pretty well,but he need a partner.Tom Woods does not currently have the build/strength/guile to play in this division. The team lacks any width,we try to play through a congested midfield & so are easy to snuff out.We were much better once Reece Pearce widened our game,making space in the middle of the field. Sam Bailey is not a wide-right player,just as Gavin Clarke is not a left fullback.

Gaz.....if you are criticising the directors, then I think that you are wrong. A lot of work is being done round the ground to improve facilities, some of which will not come to fruition for 6-9 months yet. Do you really think that conditions are worse now for supporters than they were 12/18 months ago? I heard a lot of complaints while walking round the ground on Saturday, I would imagine most of these are caused way the team are playing, which is what I would expect at any football club when the team arent winning. That isnt the directors fault,they dont pick the team, or decide how it plays.

Yesterday was encouraging and at times to watch us going forward, but unless it develops into goals very soon it doesn't matter one iota.

Taylor did ok I thought but his touch can be a bit like a brick wall. With a hole in it.

Sam Bailey should be playing in the middle, quite frankly. Granted, we are short of wingers, but he has too much quality to be out wide when there's a lack of it in the middle.

I carnt comment on yesterday's performance as I was at work,but on the games I have seen this season I can understand why gaz feels the football we have played is not good enough,in my opinion on the pitch we have gone a long way backwards, who have we signed in the last 18 months,players have arrived through being friends or family of players we already had,it is my opinion we need someone who as done it at this level to advise our manager on players who we could sign. I don't know what sort of wage bill we have now but I do believe it could be used better.of the pitch I won't have a wrong word said about our directors.The extension to the changing rooms,and extra room in the bar are excellent.i know like gaz we all want the best for our club and I believe it's ok for fans to have different opinions but results do not lie and I like gaz and many others think we carnt let this slide go on much longer or we could get dragged into a relegation battle

As well as being weaker in defence than at any time in the last few years we are also ultimately toothless in attack when we get close to the opposition area, despite showing a lot of skills in the build-up. It may be down to a lack of width - a good left-winger would improve us immensely - but it's also because I think our attackers need to let the defenders know they are there a bit more forcefully. I'm not advocating dirty play but a bit more physicality could make the opposition defenders a little less comfortable on the ball. At the moment Woods and Wearing are too slight and Taylor is perhaps a bit too nice. Killer, even if he becomes available again, doesn't quite fit the bill either. Connie did, but we are in dreamland if we think we can get him back at the Axe again. There may be no strong centre forward around that we can afford to sign, so maybe we should try to use our current players differently. Bailey has shown he can play anywhere in midfield as well as at full back - could he play at centre forward? Or am I just being silly?

CarefulWithThatAxe wrote:As well as being weaker in defence than at any time in the last few years we are also ultimately toothless in attack when we get close to the opposition area, despite showing a lot of skills in the build-up.  It may be down to a lack of width - a good left-winger would improve us immensely - but it's also because I think our attackers need to let the defenders know they are there a bit more forcefully.  I'm not advocating dirty play but a bit more physicality could make the opposition defenders a little less comfortable on the ball. At the moment Woods and Wearing are too slight and Taylor is perhaps a bit too nice.  Killer, even if he becomes available again, doesn't quite fit the bill either.  Connie did, but we are in dreamland if we think we can get him back at the Axe again.  There may be no strong centre forward around that we can afford to sign, so maybe we should try to use our current players differently.  Bailey has shown he can play anywhere in midfield as well as at full back - could he play at centre forward?  Or am I just being silly?

You're probably not, no. He's best in the middle but he doesn't seem to be getting a chance in the middle, so why not? However, it could be a waste if we don't have any of the ball.

I agree with Alasher regarding Gavin and Sam but with no Ryan who else can play left Back. If you put Sam in the centre who do leave out Gary or Billy as neither of them are wide players. I am sure that is why Tom was put out wide because he is the best wide player we have. Now Sam has been put out wide as I presume Lee Dodgson is injured again. Teams that get relegated usually get hammered quite a few times and we are not getting hammered every week. We do need to start winning league games though

The present management seems less keen on wingers than was Tony Hesketh. When we are attacking, we often seem to be crying out for someone wide on the right where Ryan Winder was playing before he was moved inside. Likewise, on the left, without Killer or Dodger, we are also missing Ryan Elderton's wing back play. So as has been pointed out, there is a general lack of width.
I don't blame Ben for Saturday's goal--it was a kamikaze pass which put him in an impossible position. Facing his own goal with a man on him, Bobby Moore would have struggled to deal with the situation.
Well done , Gaz, stirring up more considered debate than we've seen for a long time. Off the field, I think it's fair to say that, while people are working their proverbial socks off, nobody has quite the knack which Mick Hoyle had for squeezing money out of people--but remember how much stick Mick received in his time.
Also, as Billy says, the management need input from someone with knowledge of the local non-league players. And sad though it is, a successful club does seem nowadays to need a sugar daddy.