Commiserations

[Stagnificent]

Yesterday was an awful day for Nottinghamshire football. While we were suffering in our promotion 'final', it doesn't compare to what you have experienced. I've been there and know how it feels. It will hurt for a while, but you'll soon get into the novelty of non-league football and dare I say, even enjoy it at times. The key is to not stay down there too long. That novelty wears off after 2 seasons. I hope you find a quick way back to join us again and play what has been my favourite fixture for years. All the best down there.

[upthemaggies]

Yesterday was an awful day for Nottinghamshire football. While we were suffering in our promotion 'final', it doesn't compare to what you have experienced. I've been there and know how it feels. It will hurt for a while, but you'll soon get into the novelty of non-league football and dare I say, even enjoy it at times. The key is to not stay down there too long. That novelty wears off after 2 seasons. I hope you find a quick way back to join us again and play what has been my favourite fixture for years. All the best down there.

In my experience, missing out on promotion feels every bit as bad, if not worse, than relegation. You're used to winning all season, so it hits that much harder when it goes wrong. It's hard to pick yourselves up when you've dropped into the play-offs rather than made inroads into them from the other direction, but it's not like you've got a face a club the size of a Portsmouth or a Plymouth. You're definitely still in with a very good chance.

[Bohinen]

This feels a little like a battered wife seeing her husband jailed for a long time. 'At last he can't hurt you now, luv'. It's almost a sense of relief.

Waits for an actual battered wife to come along and say it's not like that. Or a Guardian reader.

[sidders]

This feels a little like a battered wife seeing her husband jailed for a long time. 'At last he can't hurt you now, luv'. It's almost a sense of relief.

Waits for an actual battered wife to come along and say it's not like that. Or a Guardian reader.

Here I am, Bohinen. I thought your above post made a witty metaphor.

[Stagnificent]

This feels a little like a battered wife seeing her husband jailed for a long time. 'At last he can't hurt you now, luv'. It's almost a sense of relief.

Waits for an actual battered wife to come along and say it's not like that. Or a Guardian reader.

Except in this metaphor, the wife hooks up with a new bloke and after an relatively OK start to the relationship, it soon turns sour and he is worse to her than the previous guy. Non league is hell I'm afraid. Hope you return soon.

[bridpie78]

Except in this metaphor, the wife hooks up with a new bloke and after an relatively OK start to the relationship, it soon turns sour and he is worse to her than the previous guy. Non league is hell I'm afraid. Hope you return soon.

except in this story we've gone off men altogether and we're running off with our hot hairdresser and not coming back

[Stagnificent]

In my experience, missing out on promotion feels every bit as bad, if not worse, than relegation. You're used to winning all season, so it hits that much harder when it goes wrong. It's hard to pick yourselves up when you've dropped into the play-offs rather than made inroads into them from the other direction, but it's not like you've got a face a club the size of a Portsmouth or a Plymouth. You're definitely still in with a very good chance.

Still a good chance but we're big game bottlers. Bottled it in front of big crowds all season so I don't have much faith in us changing that now. Having experienced relegation to the conference and losing a play-off final on penalties, I don't agree that missing out on promotion is just as bad.

[rorylee]

Cheers. Good luck in play offs....hope you get a better ref than we did!

[slack_pie]

Still a good chance but we're big game bottlers. Bottled it in front of big crowds all season so I don't have much faith in us changing that now. Having experienced relegation to the conference and losing a play-off final on penalties, I don't agree that missing out on promotion is just as bad.

Haha no, I agree, I'd much rather miss out on promotion than get relegated.

It's a strange one though. After both Coventry matches last year, I felt such a burning sense of injustice. I mean I was so ****ing angry I could hardly sleep. Despite having a decent season, the way it ended really, really hurt.

This relegation, on the other hand, just left me feeling drained. All the negative emotion had gone by the last game - if anything, the dominant feeling I had was a sense of pride at the way our fans held their heads high and sang as we went down.

So in terms of raw emotion, missing out on the playoffs was way harder in the moment. But of course, for the future of the club and all that, I'd take playoff heartbreak over relegation any day.

[Stagnificent]

Spot on Slackie. There's more frustration in the moment with a play-off loss, but going down is a long drawn-out agony. Especially to the Conference. Hopefully you enjoy the novelty for a year or two and come back before it gets really bad. Give Chesterfield a good spanking while you're there too please.