Retained list

[durhampie]

Agreed. The talk of 'major surgery' would be understandable if we'd just been relegated but we finished 12 points off the top and 6 points behind second place, and both of those teams spent heavily. Unlike in the past, the fundamental problem is not with the players we've got, it's with the players we're still missing i.e. height, strength, aggression and dominant personality in midfield. Stick the current equivalents of Neal Bishop and Ricky Ravenhill (or Paul Harding) in our midfield and you've got the missing ingredient.

With this clown as manager we will never sign that type of player..

[uysapie]

With this clown as manager we will never sign that type of player..

Or with data identifying tranfers.

[Glad2BeAPie]

Or with data identifying tranfers.

Or with others having a say in who to sign

[drillerpie]

Unless we get a silly offer we need to retain Ruben and build the team around him.

Amen to that!

[nw6pie]

Luton are the ones we should take hope and faith from that we can and will rise again. They spent three seasons at this level finishing 5th, 7th and then 1st.

Yes it’s disappointing and frustrating that three times we’ve fallen at all levels of the playoffs the final, semi and now quarter stages but we are not that far off. 82 points from a 44 game season is really good. We were only two wins short of the magic 2 points a game which normally would be enough to win the title. It’s only due to the machine that Dave Challinor made Stockport that big spending Wrexham haven’t won the title and they’ve pushed them all way. Likewise Neal Ardley has done an excellent job at Solihull Moors as did 38 year old Pete Wilde the manager of Halifax (worth a look if IB goes?) . The competition this season has been fierce and whilst it’s tough due to only one automatic promotion space it’s been even tougher which such a strong group of seven teams. Grimsby and Cheaterfurlough have all led the pack.

Apprenticeships usually last four years. I’ve always seen it that our owners are on an apprenticeship with the club while we are in non-league learning their trade. They are now three years in. With each passing season they learn more and become more experienced and therefore better owners.

I would suspect that this season will be completely analysed and this is where I’m looking forward to us addressing our shortcomings over the next two months (as the season starts early) ready for an assault on the title next season.

Agree with this. Let’s see if the Reedtz can recognize why we’ve fallen short three years in a row and tweak accordingly - more pace, more height, more strength through the backbone of the team.

Worth noting, too, that Luton were actually in non-league for five seasons and kept on missing out in the playoffs before finally going up as champions in 2014.

If Wrexham do go up, next season looks like being a more even division and we’ll have no excuse not to be competing for first place.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

Agree with this. Let’s see if the Reedtz can recognize why we’ve fallen short three years in a row and tweak accordingly - more pace, more height, more strength through the backbone of the team.

Worth noting, too, that Luton were actually in non-league for five seasons and kept on missing out in the playoffs before finally going up as champions in 2014.

If Wrexham do go up, next season looks like being a more even division and we’ll have no excuse not to be competing for first place.

I stand corrected you are right Luton were in this league for five seasons starting from the 09/10 season which was our Munto season.

What’s remarkable is that their journey at this level was similar to ours thus far. They finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th before finally finishing top. So like us season on season they slipped and it took them four seasons to get it right before doing it in season five. Perhaps when they finished 7th they realised and it was a reality check that they needed to get out of here before sliding further or had learned exactly what was missing and what was needed to be champions at this level. Perhaps the novelty of being “the team to beat” had wore off. Whatever it was we should take note.

We have finished 3rd, 4th and 5th. If we are following Luton’s path then I would take finishing 7th next season and then win the title the season after. For us I think it all depends how much changes over the summer and who stays or goes as to whether we can jump a season compared to Luton and do it in season four. Without Wrexham we would stand a far better chance in season four than if they do stay down here.

Like Luton I think we might need to accept it’s a slow burner and a long term thing. Someone said it on here you can’t have 20 years of decline and expect it all to be sorted in two or three seasons. It took Luton ten years from being relegated to this level to get back to League One. But look where they are now some 13 years later a championship playoff semi final. This decade might well be about getting us back to our natural level which is mid table league one.

[matt_magpie]

I stand corrected you are right Luton were in this league for five seasons starting from the 09/10 season which was our Munto season.

What’s remarkable is that their journey at this level was similar to ours thus far. They finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th before finally finishing top. So like us season on season they slipped and it took them four seasons to get it right before doing it in season five. Perhaps when they finished 7th they realised and it was a reality check that they needed to get out of here before sliding further or had learned exactly what was missing and what was needed to be champions at this level. Perhaps the novelty of being “the team to beat” had wore off. Whatever it was we should take note.

We have finished 3rd, 4th and 5th. If we are following Luton’s path then I would take finishing 7th next season and then win the title the season after. For us I think it all depends how much changes over the summer and who stays or goes as to whether we can jump a season compared to Luton and do it in season four. Without Wrexham we would stand a far better chance in season four than if they do stay down here.

Like Luton I think we might need to accept it’s a slow burner and a long term thing. Someone said it on here you can’t have 20 years of decline and expect it all to be sorted in two or three seasons. It took Luton ten years from being relegated to this level to get back to League One. But look where they are now some 13 years later a championship playoff semi final. This decade might well be about getting us back to our natural level which is mid table league one.

That’s it in a nutshell, none of us like the stigma of being a non league club but that’s where we’re at the moment, we’ve been a top tier club but this is where we are now. If this type of owners had taken us over after Pavis I’m pretty certain we’d be in the championship or L1 at worse, it’s what followed that killed us not what’s happening now.

[upthemaggies]

I stand corrected you are right Luton were in this league for five seasons starting from the 09/10 season which was our Munto season.

What’s remarkable is that their journey at this level was similar to ours thus far. They finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th before finally finishing top. So like us season on season they slipped and it took them four seasons to get it right before doing it in season five. Perhaps when they finished 7th they realised and it was a reality check that they needed to get out of here before sliding further or had learned exactly what was missing and what was needed to be champions at this level. Perhaps the novelty of being “the team to beat” had wore off. Whatever it was we should take note.

We have finished 3rd, 4th and 5th. If we are following Luton’s path then I would take finishing 7th next season and then win the title the season after. For us I think it all depends how much changes over the summer and who stays or goes as to whether we can jump a season compared to Luton and do it in season four. Without Wrexham we would stand a far better chance in season four than if they do stay down here.

Like Luton I think we might need to accept it’s a slow burner and a long term thing. Someone said it on here you can’t have 20 years of decline and expect it all to be sorted in two or three seasons. It took Luton ten years from being relegated to this level to get back to League One. But look where they are now some 13 years later a championship playoff semi final. This decade might well be about getting us back to our natural level which is mid table league one.

3rd, 5th, 5th for Notts so far. Luton reached the play off final twice in the first three seasons.

How many different managers did Luton have in their 5th tier era (not including caretakers)?
Mick Harford
Richard Money
Gary Brabin
Paul Buckle
John Still

What would have happened if they'd stuck with one of the first four? Maybe they'd have gone up earlier, maybe they would stayed down for longer.

[applepie2]

That’s it in a nutshell, none of us like the stigma of being a non league club but that’s where we’re at the moment, we’ve been a top tier club but this is where we are now. If this type of owners had taken us over after Pavis I’m pretty certain we’d be in the championship or L1 at worse, it’s what followed that killed us not what’s happening now.

A lot of the frustration I see appears to come from not accepting that we are a non-league club. It doesn’t matter what we ought to be, we are what we are.

We do have a proud history, but we also have an embarrassing history. At present we have stability and off-field improvement, which is surely a big step up from the last twenty years? We have also been consistently in the promotion mix for nearly three seasons; that’s frustrating because we haven’t been quite good enough, but it’s not a terrible place to be. At the start of the first season in this league, many of us feared dropping even lower.

[upthemaggies]

A lot of the frustration I see appears to come from not accepting that we are a non-league club. r.

No, the frustration comes from not accepting that we REMAIN a non-league club, with the club falling further away from the goal each season. Huge difference.