Ebbsfleet v Rovers

[Rockford's Love Child]

All of our recent games have run along similar lines, playing ok for about thirty minutes but failing to score. Then confidence gradually drains away.

Until we score first and get an early grip of the game, I don't think this pattern will change.

Failing to take responsibility on the ball and take risks in the opposition half are classic symptoms of low confidence, and ours is rock bottom at the moment.

 

[Ian]

Until we score first and get an early grip of the game, I don't think this pattern will change.

Exactly what Sutton was saying pre-match.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I didn't want to start a new thread just for this, so I am posting this thought here.

Last season, Gary Brabin got the sack after 11 games. We had 20 points and were in fifth position. This season, if we had earned the same number of points after 11 games, we would have been joint top!

You could argue that it makes GB's sacking unfair. I disagree, as I thought he should have gone after we failed to reach the play-offs. The point I want to make is that this year's league is much closer than twelve months ago. There are currently no clear favourites. As things stand, most teams have a chance of at least getting into the play-offs and several (including TRFC, if we pull our fingers out) could top the league.

 

[drwhoman]

I agree BBTC. Last season and the Wembley game were so frustrating. No surprise that FGR are third from bottom of League Two and Cheltenham fourth bottom. Lincoln, as you would expect, are going ok. There is a definite difference in standard and as the plaything of a rich man you wonder how FGR will go over the season.

In that context I am currently reading a book called 'On the Brink - A Journey through English Football's North West'. It is written by Simon Hughes who writes on local football for the Independent. He started his journalistic career writing for the Crosby Herald and Marine were his local team. He discusses the situation of all the local clubs, the geographic difficulties faced by the likes of Barrow and Carlile, the financial problems at Morecambe occasioned by some pretty dodgy ownership changes and the rise of Fleetwood and Fylde following investment by very rich men. There is a long interview with Mark Palios in which he talks about the financial challenges the club faces, the aim of cementing its reputation as a community club, the widening gap between the Premier League and the rest plus other issues. The book covers all the local clubs - well worth a read if you want to get a sense as to where they all stand in 2017. I bought my copy on Book Directory.

 

[drwhoman]

Book Depository not Directory!

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

It sounds a good read. When I was born, Merseyside and North Wales had seven league clubs. Now it has just two. When Everton and Liverpool were dominant in the sixties and early seventies, there were still five clubs. Then the arrival of the EPL seems to have caused a huge financial tidal wave, which has drowned the smaller clubs.

However, I have never understood why the same thing did not happen in the Manchester area. All the towns there still have an EFL club, apart from Stockport. Does the book shed any light on the reason for this difference?

 

[drwhoman]

The book does not spell out the difference but I suspect it is something to do with the fact that the likes of Bolton and Oldham have historically been significant industrially with the mills and the nearby mines. Southport is essentially a holiday town with a slightly upmarket Liverpool element while Chester is a pretty county town. Interestingly, Simon interviewed Tommy Banks who was Bolton left back when they won the Cup in 58 (after Nat Lofthouse barged the Utd goalie Ray Wood into the net!) and he talks about what an active town Bolton was in the 50s. At the same time, there were no prima donnas. He started life down the mines.

On the subject of starting life, many lower league managers rue the academy culture that the better young players absorb these days. They are trained as possible Premier League players with an emphasis on skill, keeping the ball on the ground etc and they get a real shock, if they are released, when it is all about winning the second ball, not being too pretty and getting the ball in the net. The poorer facilities hit them hard as well as the reduced wages! John Coleman at Accrington tells the tale that he signed a former academy player and the boy was still looking for the training ground a week later. Accrington do not have one! BTW, their budget in 16-17 was 690k. Less than ours I think. I sometimes wonder what Jack Dunn thinks about it all although he is probably as well off at Rovers as anywhere in the lower leagues.