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Post by ggl on May 8, 2024 7:34:38 GMT
I personally think that Andy K has summed up my thoughts and feelings perfectly so in that respect I offer my thanks to him with nothing to add to his post .
. Looking forward I hope that we can make a serious challenge to regain our League status again next season but at the moment I have my serious doubts , mainly because we are not a club that has previously , or can afford to , buy ourselves out of trouble . In this respect I look forward with fingers and toes crossed to news of new signings and I am sure that a lot is going on behind the scenes with this regard .
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Post by jamesc on May 8, 2024 7:46:18 GMT
I post this as a supporter that joined in our first L2 season, after my son fell in love with the club and caused me to.
Yes, this club valued loyalty of the manager who not only saw us promoted but to an astonishing....simply astonishing first year in the EFL.
That loyalty undoubtedly cost us our EFL place. That said, I can't blame the board for loyalty, we need more of it.
There comes a time though where sense must prevail. That time was Salford at home. The worst, most gutless, lethargic, awful game I've had the displeasure to watch, and the only game ever I've walked out early from.
It was abundantly clear at that game that the players Matt had in that pitch simply didn't care. For the club or him.
The early players cost us the season.
Yes, Matt needs to take the recruitment blame. But nobody, no footballer ever, puts in a performance like Salford and then Stockport by accident.
Loyalty lost us a few too many points. But the players before December cost us the season.
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jr
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Post by jr on May 8, 2024 9:29:55 GMT
Looking back now I actually think our relegation stems from the second game of the season. Not necessarily with Smith being sent off but in the second half and 1-0 up Patrick is clean through with just the keeper to beat. If he scores then we win the game instead of losing it and are still top of the league. We'll never know but I think the season would be a little different had he scored. I think the following games may have played out a little differently. Anyway it's done and we can look forward to next season meeting some old friends and foes and a couple of new ones.
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kpinwp
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Post by kpinwp on May 8, 2024 10:13:17 GMT
I was in our dressing-room before the home draw with MK Dons on 23 September (part of a prize won at an auction earlier in the year). This game followed a run of seven successive league defeats, but I detected no evidence whatsoever that Matt had "lost the dressing-room". The mood in the room felt positive and businesslike. Perhaps they were putting on a good face, as they had visitors? I like to think that they would have in that situation. Dirty laundry, and such like.
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kpinwp
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Post by kpinwp on May 8, 2024 10:27:13 GMT
I post this as a supporter that joined in our first L2 season, after my son fell in love with the club and caused me to. Yes, this club valued loyalty of the manager who not only saw us promoted but to an astonishing....simply astonishing first year in the EFL. That loyalty undoubtedly cost us our EFL place. That said, I can't blame the board for loyalty, we need more of it. There comes a time though where sense must prevail. That time was Salford at home. The worst, most gutless, lethargic, awful game I've had the displeasure to watch, and the only game ever I've walked out early from. It was abundantly clear at that game that the players Matt had in that pitch simply didn't care. For the club or him. The early players cost us the season. Yes, Matt needs to take the recruitment blame. But nobody, no footballer ever, puts in a performance like Salford and then Stockport by accident. Loyalty lost us a few too many points. But the players before December cost us the season. I'm not sure I'd put the blame so completely at the door of the players, although I do understand what you're saying. But I also saw the Salford match as the writing on the door. I fully accept, as others have pointed out, that very little could have done in temrs of player change at that specific point. But that was the time to make the managerial change, nonetheless. Some differences could have been made, and made the sooner. Board loyalty (however understandable) cost us.
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Post by paz on May 8, 2024 12:24:35 GMT
I was in our dressing-room before the home draw with MK Dons on 23 September (part of a prize won at an auction earlier in the year). This game followed a run of seven successive league defeats, but I detected no evidence whatsoever that Matt had "lost the dressing-room". The mood in the room felt positive and businesslike. Perhaps they were putting on a good face, as they had visitors? I like to think that they would have in that situation. Dirty laundry, and such like. We know at the close of the previous season that Matt certainly did lose the dressing room, his silence on wishing certain players well was quite loud. And the season just gone a few others and I witnessed some arguing between various players and management from the pitch, which I had never witnessed before. While few players would come out saying, "all hells broken lose with the players and management" I am pretty convinced things were not rosy. No player wants to get a rep of giving a manager agro as they have a career to look after. Its also not always about arguing, but also that the players can just lose faith in the managers ideas and lose confidence in him.. I thought the team played with less angsiety the moment Jason took charge..
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Post by Andy K on May 8, 2024 12:31:29 GMT
I'm never comfortable when its suggested that there was one reason we were relegated. The Board don't make on pitch tactical decisions, or pick the team, or decide when to use subs. I said at the time that I'd hoped that Matt would have realised earlier that what he could do didn't work, but I got the impression that he didn't realise that. Maybe it wasn't "board loyalty" in terms of sacking him earlier was the issue, but maybe the board could have been more pragmatic to help Matt realise this for himself, which even after Stockport he didn't seem to take much responsibility for.
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Post by Andy K on May 8, 2024 12:34:33 GMT
Perhaps they were putting on a good face, as they had visitors? I like to think that they would have in that situation. Dirty laundry, and such like. We know at the close of the previous season that Matt certainly did lose the dressing room, his silence on wishing certain players well was quite loud. And the season just gone a few others and I witnessed some arguing between various players and management from the pitch, which I had never witnessed before. While few players would come out saying, "all hells broken lose with the players and management" I am pretty convinced things were not rosy. No player wants to get a rep of giving a manager agro as they have a career to look after. Its also not always about arguing, but also that the players can just lose faith in the managers ideas and lose confidence in him.. I thought the team played with less angsiety the moment Jason took charge.. I think it's pretty much an open secret that really involved 1 or 2 players (namely Bugiel and Randall). I wouldn't say that's indicating a loss of the dressing room as a whole.
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Post by paz on May 8, 2024 12:43:25 GMT
I'm never comfortable when its suggested that there was one reason we were relegated. The Board don't make on pitch tactical decisions, or pick the team, or decide when to use subs. I said at the time that I'd hoped that Matt would have realised earlier that what he could do didn't work, but I got the impression that he didn't realise that. Maybe it wasn't "board loyalty" in terms of sacking him earlier was the issue, but maybe the board could have been more pragmatic to help Matt realise this for himself, which even after Stockport he didn't seem to take much responsibility for. While it's reasonable to say sacking Matt quicker would have been a better decision, sacking a manager can cost money and the right people needed, and these are things we do not have to weigh up like the board do. They were dicing with Matt in the hope he could turn it around. It didn't work out but It was a reasonable risk to take. Its not as if Christmas is too late to allow a new manager to get to work. So was it a mistake? perhaps, but not the cause. If I was to be critical then there obviously must have been mistakes made that led to such deterition of our form, which was bassilcly a complete collapse. What these errors were I am sure they are more aware than we are..
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Post by Andy K on May 8, 2024 13:50:32 GMT
Totally agree about the point about sacking costing money. And I have no doubt that was an element to it.
Maybe if Matt realised sooner that he'd done all he could, then perhaps there could have been a better outcome financially for us. And arguably, performance wise too.
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billy
1st team skipper
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Post by billy on May 8, 2024 14:40:48 GMT
I would like to thank everybody concerned at Sutton United for giving us three seasons of league football.As i said before,i first started going to GGL in 1965 and for at least 50 years and probably even longer nobody dared to dream that this would happen ,let alone mention it.Incredible.
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Post by swedishchapter on May 8, 2024 15:21:48 GMT
We can not defend, that is why we are back in National League. The defending under Matt this season was poor and it has not been much better under Steve. We still concede a lot of silly goals. The fact that almost all defenders are still in our squad for next season makes me a bit nervous... I know that defending is a job for midfielders and even strikers as well, but I am not impressed with the current defenders. There might very well be changes in the backline, we just have to wait and see...
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Post by garethl on May 8, 2024 18:54:29 GMT
Personally for me it was the loss of Bugiel. For sure you can’t put everything on one thing but I knew at the time he was absolutely fundamental to the system and how we played. We went from playing with 12 when defending to a team with offensive minded players not so good at the hard yards. Matt likely thought we would be able to keep our solidarity but add a bit extra in the final third. What happened was we became very easy to play through. Add playing under pressure for the whole season and a collapse in confidence and we got to where we got to. We had enough to be lower half and comfortable that is the frustrating thing.
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