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Friday, November 8, 2024

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  • #14937
    Windlesham Don
    Participant

    A decent point on Tuesday night at a ground which has been a graveyard for us over the years.

    However, I need to have a rant about the goal we conceded having watched it several times on the highlights…

    We apparently have employed a ‘set piece coach’ and the last time I looked up the definition, an opposition corner would count as a ‘set piece’?

    The defending and keeping for the Shrewsbury goal on Tuesday defies description, but I’m going to have a go anyway…

    In several recent games the opposition have taken short corners. On each occasion we have been slow to realise this and presented the opposition with a great chance to attack us. Once again this occurred on Tuesday and once again our defenders resembled startled rabbits as (too late) they came running out to meet the pair of attackers.

    With a couple of defenders advancing to the ball, it seems that no one considered the opposition player stood 15 yards outside of our box awaiting a simple pass. When he received the ball another shockwave seemed to pass through our defenders when they spotted the acres of space he had to advance into…

    From 25 yards one might consider his shot ‘speculative’ – that is until the positioning of our ‘keeper’ is taken into account!

    Despite the ball having moved approximately 30 yards across the pitch from its starting position at the corner flag, for some reason our keeper remained rooted to his spot within touching distance of his near post!?

    This is truly staggering. Praise was heaped upon the Shrews’ player for his shot, but he had almost half the goal to aim at – Walker didn’t get close to the shot, but it was fully a yard away from the post when it crossed the line! The opportunity was so good that any half decent player would have had a crack.

    Lord only knows what our set piece coach made of all this and indeed where he would start in correcting the mindset that would produce the behaviour of both the defenders and our keeper. Certainly his addition to the coaching team is currently showing a negative return…

    If we are to get out of the hole we have dug for ourselves, we are going to need to stop conceding from such ‘schoolboy’ defending. Our keeper is also going to have to start showing us why we got rid of a perfectly decent keeper in January…

    #14938
    MacWomble
    Participant

    I wonder when was the last time we had five draws in a row? We are becoming a team you would select on the Littlewoods pools (if that even exists anymore).

    #14946
    Windlesham Don
    Participant

    We are approaching a crucial time, both on and off of the pitch.

    The overwhelming vote in favour of the London Broncos’ ground share puts in place a vital future source of income.

    We currently have a bridging loan in place to cover the fit out of the ground before our match day revenue streams kick in. These short term loans typically come with a very high interest rate (I understand that Southampton in the Premier League have a short term loan and are paying 9% pa interest). The club have not revealed our interest rate, but it is likely to be at least as punitive.

    We desperately need to replace this loan with long term funding, and although the Broncos’ money will help we cannot realistically achieve this until the go ahead is given for full crowds next season.

    Regardless of which league we are in, if full crowds are not permitted for next season then we will be in severe financial trouble. We will not be the only ones of course as this situation could be the straw breaking the camel’s back for many lower league clubs.

    However, if the slow and controlled release out of lockdown continues and the club’s test event all go to plan, then by the start of next season we could start to get significant revenue streams from another block of season tickets and from significant match day income. The £200k+ pa from the Broncos will add to this.

    With our back story supplementing the financials, we should be able to secure long term funding at a manageable rate of interest to replace the bridging loan.

    This is the aim, but we need everyone to remain sensible and the horrible pandemic to ‘play ball’ in the meantime…

    #14947

    Though I’m an optimist, yesterday saw the light at the end of the tunnel extinguished. 97 minutes of football. 9 shots and not 1 on target. Rivals Bristol rovers managed 18. 9 on target. Look at the fixture list – can you see more than one win for AFCW? I can’t. I am tired of matchday disappointment that fans have had for almost all of the past 20 matchdays. Relegation is now certain. I shall not look at any results until the League 2 fixture list is released. This will give me optimism that we can start winning more matches than we lose.

    #14963
    MacWomble
    Participant

    What a turnaround! We can almost start to believe again. Well done to the squad for picking up from what seemed like certain relegation!

    #14964
    onyadon
    Keymaster

    Certainly is some turnaround, MacWomble… Looks as though Mark Robinson’s coaching/mindset is rubbing off on the players – many of whom were under him during their Academy years. Still five games left, we’re not over the line (yet)… but reasons to be optimistic.

Viewing 6 posts - 1,483 through 1,488 (of 1,494 total)
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