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Alfreton Town (A) Friendly - 22/7/14

Reports and reaction from the 2014-2015 season as Walsall finished 14th in League 1
EvenFlow
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Re: Alfreton Town (A) Friendly - 22/7/14

Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:51 am

Twelthofapenny wrote:Remember 1998/99? Our pre-season was apparently one the worst we've ever had that year. I myself was too young to remember it (being a baby stayaway, I had to prioritise learning to walk and talk coherently!), but people around have never had a high opinion of it. And yet, HOW well did we do that season? :wink:


Greatest season of my lifetime, bar none.

Clearly, we've still yet to fully recover from the Grigg/Brandy/Paterson exodus, but we're evolving steadily, and if a slightly lower league placing this season is the cost of placing a bit more emphasis on Flanagan, Bakayoko, Heath, Preston et al, then I'm more than willing to accept that, and don't believe that makes me a happy clapper.

Our genuine quality is going to have to come from within, a la Paterson, forever more with the way football in England has evolved. Yes, experience in necessary, but we have to blood the youngsters at first team level at some point, and they're going to be inconsistent. Some will make the grade, some won't, but the potential reward far outweighs the risk as far as I can see. I recall, not that long ago, we were trying to squeeze an extra year out of a finished Steve Staunton, while bringing in a myriad of loanees like Michael Leary, Kevin James, Scott Fitzgerald & Pablo Mills... at the same time, we were on the verge of letting Scott Dann drift off into (probably) non-league football, without a sniff of a first team berth.

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derbysaddler
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Re: Alfreton Town (A) Friendly - 22/7/14

Wed Jul 23, 2014 10:08 am

The real business starts first game of the season, still new bods to come in so not too concerned.

However, if after our first few games its become apparent that Smith has become too stubborn to understand that our lack of goals is killing us he should rectify ASAP or bugger off. I certainly feel he has used up all his 'third of season downturn' chances up now, no excuses.

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funk_hits_the_fan
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Re: Alfreton Town (A) Friendly - 22/7/14

Wed Jul 23, 2014 12:16 pm

You are correct re 1998-99. I recall Adie Viveash saying in an interview that before that season commenced and judging on the pre season he wondered what on Earth he had done in signing for us!

You are forgetting, football fans are short sighted & have no memories, we have this same tiresome episode every year.

philthesaddler
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Re: Alfreton Town (A) Friendly - 22/7/14

Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:36 pm

It's only friendlies, so nothing to worry about.

The squad does look desperately bare however. We need a striker or 2, centre half, midfielder and a winger, all need to be better than what we've got (according to Smiths mantra), so he still has a lot of work to do!

It's disappointing that despite receiving some hefty fees over the past 18 months we are not really seeing any proven "quality" come in to the club.

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Ancient Moaner
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Re: Alfreton Town (A) Friendly - 22/7/14

Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:15 pm

funk_hits_the_fan wrote:You are correct re 1998-99. I recall Adie Viveash saying in an interview that before that season commenced and judging on the pre season he wondered what on Earth he had done in signing for us!

You are forgetting, football fans are short sighted & have no memories, we have this same tiresome episode every year.



You are right, year in year out we approach the kick off with a thread bare squad, with all supporters uttering the same old mantra..."we could do with a striker, a centre back, a winger, a full back etc etc etc" ..............what do we get? nowt! We kick off WITH the same thread bare squad.
I don't think your comment meant that did it! :) :) :) I'll be in your bad books again..... :?

latviancheese
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Re: Alfreton Town (A) Friendly - 22/7/14

Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:12 pm

Id be more worried if he had played a first eleven for 90 minutes.

He hasnt.

So stop bleeding.

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