Relegation Thread 2017/18

[S42 Stag]

Just a friendly visitor to this thread. It is amazing how one result can lift an entire camp, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Grimsby beat a Stevenage side that have nothing to play for and are in transition.

Chesterfield by all accounts were impressive yesterday and seem to have acquired the swagger which was last evident at Field Mill for the 2nd half of our game in November, the difference this time is that they saw the victory through. But games in hand aren't as good as points on the board, they're a dangerous side as is evident with results against several teams in the higher echelons of the league, but are poor against some of the so called lesser sides. An interesting run in for them.

Barnet I fear are already gone, with the Allen appointment coming 2 months too late, but they too have some interesting games lined up. I think they'll fall short but still have all sorts of implications by taking points from relegation rivals.

Vale have been resilient of late, a tough nut to crack but also toothless in attack. A brilliant result for them at high flying Wycombe at the weekend, aside from the 5-1 embarrassment at Cheltenham, they've only come unstuck against 3 of the better sides in the division and only by the odd goal since the middle of January. Easter weekend is huge, take 4 points and I think they'll just about have enough. 2 points wouldn't be a disaster, but any less would be bad news.

I think FGR and Morecambe will guide themselves clear, both had good results at the weekend. The team that have a nightmare run in is Yeovil, what a horrendous set of fixtures. I think this will go right down to the wire!

 

[Dave-Vale]

If we went down I’d say we were quite well placed in terms of having a manager with experience at that level. We do, however, have an absolutely mental owner who would no doubt claim our budget is the biggest ever seen at that level and all that garbage.

 

[genesimmons]

After seen chesterfield yesterday they did not look like relegation fodder. Watch port vale beat them 3-0 or summat good friday. And yeah the managers that have done well in national league tend to be those that have had experience in non league. Look at gary johnson of cheltenham for example. Mind even proven managers at that level like gary mils have still failed

 

[GEORGE]

I didn't cry last year when we went down cos you know, I'm not 12 years old but it was a definite gut punch feeling leaving the ground, especially as we were safe before Newport scored and won in the 88th minute.

The Conference is certainly an eye opener, it's actually pretty funny at times, strikers are shite and miss absolute sitters several times in a match, the tin potter's especially seem to employ defenders that look like fat Barry from the over 40's park league and don't get me started on the standard of reffing, if you think League 2 is bad you ain't seen nothing.

Totally agree with your comments. This is why you need to get back at the first attempt. If we hadn't we would have died.

 

[Westbars_Spireite]

Delighted that Grimsby fans are so utterly downbeat. Hopefully a little of that drip feeds into the players, if it hasn't already.

Despite our off-field issues and the consequent on-field ones it does seem that during the 90 minutes our support for the team has been pretty solid.

 

[GTFCfish]

Delighted that Grimsby fans are so utterly downbeat. Hopefully a little of that drip feeds into the players, if it hasn't already.

What do you reckon?

 

[darren gregory]

Congrats in order Fish i thought we were bad

We have had 2 runs this season August to October 11 without a win, now surpassed by Dec to March 14 without a win.

Yet 5 points in 18 games makes us look world beaters

 

[Chris FGR]

That form table looks much better for us, happy to see how much we've improved over quite a long period. Keep that form up over the next 7 and we'll be fine.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Draw with Barnet on Friday and they're definitely not overtaking us. Beat Vale Monday and that's us safe. Our form has been the best out of the relegation fodder and key players who have had large spells out with injury are coming back into the side which will stand us in good stead for the last 8 games.

I can see us losing to Barnet cos Martin Allen is one of those shithouse managers that always gets a result against us along with Shaun Derry, Gary Johnson and Russell Slade (though the latter didn't in January) but I fancy us to beat Vale at home which will more or less see us safe. If we were to lose our next two, suddenly the pressure is on us to get something at Mansfield and Luton away. Despite me reckoning we'll beat Vale, the pessimist in me thinks of our notorious habit of always doing things the hard way, so it wouldn't surprise me if we lost our next four in a row...

Think people are overrating Chesterfield a bit, the home form is good of late but away from home they need to start picking up wins. Notts were godawful at our place and we won with ease for instance, so it's not exactly a flash in the pan result. It'll all come down to the 6 pointers in April for most so Grimsby might not be goners just yet.

 

[valefan16]

Hard to tell, Notts beat us 1-0 at home but were arguably the worst side to visit on the day, absolutely awful and scored with their only chance whilst we rattled the woodwork, had one off the line and another which looked over the line not given.

We’re Chesterfield good, Notts really bad or a mixture. That said they won’t be gifted goals like the first two very often!

I’m nervous after yesterday but hoping their away form keeps up! From our point of view we are 14 without a win which followed by far our best performance which was our last win, the complete annihilation of Luton 4-0. Haven’t won since and you can hardly enter this run with a better result and performance.

 

[Chris FGR]

It's funny the different impressions you get of teams, thought Notts looked a strong side when they played us. Hard to break down, passed it well and had some good experience up top that caused us problems.

But there's been a few defeats this season where I've come away impressed with the opposition and fairly happy with our efforts, only for their fans to say they were poor by their standards. When Cambridge and Colchester blew us away at their places, thought they looked like top sides but talking to their fans after they weren't happy with their manager/squad and said they only looked good that day cos we were one of the worst teams they'd ever seen. Which was a bit deflating tbh.

 

[PaulHaddock]

We will not beat a nothing-to-play-for Stevenage. Because they will at least be semi-organised and have a goal threat. And once we go a goal down, there is no coming back.

Delighted that Grimsby fans are so utterly downbeat. Hopefully a little of that drip feeds into the players, if it hasn't already.

Despite our off-field issues and the consequent on-field ones it does seem that during the 90 minutes our support for the team has been pretty solid.

Seriously? We haven’t won in 18 games and fan mentality is what’s going to send us down?

I’ll be devastated if we’re relegated. Not because it’s the Conference, as I’m used to the teams, tinpottedness and 2 promotion places. It’s because it was all so avoidable. 5 points from 18 games - how can a group of players become so inept?

 

[Westbars_Spireite]

I didn’t say that did I?

 

[Chris FGR]

Tbf the good thing about some of the smaller Conference grounds is that if your club sells out their allocation you can still have just as good a view as fans who've got tickets.

 

[Si Robin]

I've not cried for any of the three relegations I've witnessed as a fan. 02/03 from Division 2 was probably the closest, but that was because we so nearly stayed up despite a shocking start to the season. 08/09 from League 1 we went down with a few games to go and I was away when it was confirmed.

Relegation from this division in 2015 was tough, but around February time it was so nailed on that when Shrewsbury finally did put the nail in the coffin in the penultimate game there was actually an air of relief. A thank God we don't have the hope on the last day. I don't think I could have beared that. It is the hope that kills you really, every time a team above you loses and you gain a point on them, there's that inkling you might catch them, then you get battered the next week and they win pulling further away. Any one of us, Tranmere and Hartlepool could have gone down and, in fairness, all 3 of us deserved to go down.

The fact that we had the right man in place to throw the whole squad out (only 2 players from the 14/15 season made an appearance in 15/16) and get the right players in made our drop seem not so bad. We came straight back as champions because we backed the right man to get us back. Johnson came in with 6 games to go with a brief to try and keep us up, but don't worry if you don't because we're expected to go down. He brought in Conference experience down the spine (Downes and Parslow at the back , Storer and Hall in the middle and Wright and Morgan-Smith, later Holman up front) and supplemented it with some decent young players. The club stayed together, fans got behind the club, the board backed the manager and we went up as a unit. Bristol Rovers did the same. I don't think it's any coincidence that we both came back in the way we did.

Ultimately, it has to be right off the field to go back up on it.

 

[Luke Imp]

Just the one relegation for me, which was one to many.

We were all mentally prepared for our relegation because it was coming a mile off, so you had 8 or 9 games to get your head around it. When whispers starting coming out of Tilson falling out with players and then having to rely on them again because of injuries to others, you knew it wouldn't end well because he wasn't exactly a popular manager amongst the squad.

We also had that injury crisis that most relegated sides seem to have. We lost RB Gavin Hoyte to an ACL in the second half of the season and was never seen again, Stephen Hunt, LB, on loan from Notts County did his ankle and ultimately had to retire from that injury, Adam Watts, CB, broke his leg at Grimsby, Delroy Facey was a perfect foil for Ashley Grimes (20 odd goals) but when Facey ruptured his thigh, Grimes stopped scoring. Never saw Facey again and Grimes did nothing for the rest of the season other than get a 3 match ban with 4 or 5 games to go for kicking someone. Captain Scott Kerr ended up going to York because he and Tilson fell out (Kerr got promoted back into the FL with York the next season).

Then there was Trevor Carson who decided to leave to sit on the bench at Brentford, so instead of Tilson going with Joe Anyon (who he also fell out with and sent out on loan to Morecambe), he signed a young lad called Elliott Parrish who was like a lost boy and conceded 6 to Rotherham on his debut.

We also ended up relying on Patrick Kanyuka, still the butt of many jokes to this day, who, bearing in mind he was a CB, mistimed that many headers it was funny and gave away FK's for fun. I'm not just talking slightly late, I mean he was jumping for a header on a Saturday for ball played up to him on a Tuesday!

We also had a lad called Tom Kilbey for a bit who ended up being on one of these Essex, Chelsea, Newcastle type programmes.

Our best player in those final games was Lincoln lad and 47 year old left back Jamie Clapham who ended the season in CM because Kerr was sold!

Still look back at that and a dodgy penalty for Crewe at Gresty Road. That wasn't the only incident (conceded in the last minute of injury time away at Macclesfield, for example, after Ben Hutchinson (remember him, Stags?!) got sent off for dissent or something) or reason we got relegated - by and large we got what we deserved for that brain-fart of a final 12 games. I'm sure many Imps still look back on that final quarter of the season and wonder what the hell happened.

 

[Luke Imp]

TL;DR - We were shit beyond belief in those final 8 or 9 games.

 

[Davidimp]

Seen us relegated four times 85/86 from div 3, then the following season when we became the first team to be automatically relegated out the league (Des Lynam was pleased cos Burnley stayed up!).
1998/99 instant relegation back from the third to fourth tier straight after promotion. Then the utter debacle of 2010/11.

 

[Chris FGR]

I guess that getting relegated out of league 2 feels a lot worse then getting relegated out of league 1, or even the Championship does.

I even know fans of Premier League sides who weren't too fussed about going down, it was a chance to see their team win more games at a level they could compete for honours, rather then scrapping to get 40 points every year with half your games at shit times or on Sundays.

 

[Laker]

Just the one relegation from the league for us. It was coming for months but still the worst day of my football supporting life. The fact we went down on a 0-0 home draw with Rochdale summed up how bad our season was.

My memory of that season is losing copious amounts of games by one goal. Might be wrong but that’s my memory.

 

[Imp in Branston]

TL;DR - We were shit beyond belief in those final 8 or 9 games.

Followed by years of shit in the NL too, no wonder the crowds got to 2000ish levels.

 

[Impish]

Grimsby will get sub 2000 every week when they go down. 1500 if they're lucky. Most of their lot aren't gunna wanna go through all that again they had 6 years of it they did their time.

Genuinely think it'll be the end of them as a club. Crying shame but luckily for me I'll have Scunny fans on the league 1 forum when we go up, may well cross swords with Sir Lance of House Stoe

 

[Soup Ladle]

Can I ask, out of the fans here, how many of you cried when you got relegated from the football league?

I was a mess but only in a mate's kitchen at a house party after having a nice beer/wine/neat gin combo the whole day/evening/night/morning. Never would I cry in the ground and humiliate myself on national TV. Only in kitchens with the blinds shut and a fucking Toon fan giving me a hug will I cry.

 

[OneDecentLester]

We've been a bit of a yo-yo team between league 1 and 2 over the years tbh, so I've seen plenty of relegations and promotions over the last 15 years!

But, if we got relegated to the conference it would be the darkest day in our clubs history, especially as we've never been outside the football league! So I think if the unthinkable did happen and we went down this year id probably be closer to tears than ever before !! What makes it all so much worse is that 3 seasons ago we'd have more than likely been promoted to the championship had we not sold eoin Doyle in January who already had 20 + goals by that stage

Thankfully we have a chance of getting out of this situation when a couple of weeks ago I was already resigned to relegation and was starting to look up where places such as Bromley and Eastleigh are!! Majority of our best players are fit now with just Hird and Evatt still out and Lesters been able to play his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation where we can actually get control of the midfield and play some decent stuff!

My gut feeling is that we're going to get out of this situation through the skin of our teeth as grimsby look to be down and out atm! If we do, then I trust lester to get the recruitment right in the summer and we'll be back challenging the top end of the league next season as we always have done at this level! But we will see, don't think my nerves would be able to take another season like this one!!

 

[AdamStag]

I guess that getting relegated out of league 2 feels a lot worse then getting relegated out of league 1, or even the Championship does.

I even know fans of Premier League sides who weren't too fussed about going down, it was a chance to see their team win more games at a level they could compete for honours, rather then scrapping to get 40 points every year with half your games at shit times or on Sundays.

Of course, as you aren't any longer a league side. For those that have been a league side all their history - which is still most - the stigma of being non-league itself is bad enough, and that's before you start being introduced to sides in there you've never heard of.

Apart from the premiership - Winning the conference is probably the hardest of all the leagues to win

 

[OneDecentLester]

Of course, as you aren't any longer a league side. For those that have been a league side all their history - which is still most - the stigma of being non-league itself is bad enough, and that's before you start being introduced to sides in there you've never heard of.

Apart from the premiership - Winning the conference is probably the hardest of all the leagues to win

It really shouldn't be the most difficult league to win though, especially for the bigger clubs that end up there with the fan base that they have and the ability to attract the best players!

I guess the problem tends to be that those bigger clubs that end up there is 9 times out of 10 a result of mismanagement at boardroom level creating that negativity all the way through the club (Something that our fans can relate to atm!!) , and just ends up creating a vicious cycle that so many clubs don't seem to be able to get out of... how long have Wrexham been down there now then there's your Stockports and Hereford's, can't see either of those clubs playing at this level for a long time now! Some clubs get it right though at the first attempt, look at Bristol Rovers and Cheltenham, albeit they are the only two that spring to mind!

God that is depressing, praying with everything I've got that we get out of this situation quickly

 

[TimeyWimey]

Draw with Barnet on Friday and they're definitely not overtaking us. Beat Vale Monday and that's us safe. Our form has been the best out of the relegation fodder and key players who have had large spells out with injury are coming back into the side which will stand us in good stead for the last 8 games.

I can see us losing to Barnet cos Martin Allen is one of those shithouse managers that always gets a result against us along with Shaun Derry, Gary Johnson and Russell Slade (though the latter didn't in January) but I fancy us to beat Vale at home which will more or less see us safe. If we were to lose our next two, suddenly the pressure is on us to get something at Mansfield and Luton away. Despite me reckoning we'll beat Vale, the pessimist in me thinks of our notorious habit of always doing things the hard way, so it wouldn't surprise me if we lost our next four in a row...

Think people are overrating Chesterfield a bit, the home form is good of late but away from home they need to start picking up wins. Notts were godawful at our place and we won with ease for instance, so it's not exactly a flash in the pan result. It'll all come down to the 6 pointers in April for most so Grimsby might not be goners just yet.

I think we could stay up even if don't win again this season so I'm not worried in the slightest. I thought 45 points was the max we'd get this season not so long back, so very pleased to near enough hit the target with a few games to spare. It did all rest on this month and it was basically our easiest month of the season so hard to get carried away in the long term still.

I think we'll win one of the games at the weekend, then it'll be interesting to see how the team reacts to the pressure being off.

Then, interested to see what the summer plans are. Hard to see what's stopping us being in the same position next season other than Hassall pissing off.

 

[Indian Dan]

Can I ask, out of the fans here, how many of you cried when you got relegated from the football league?

I cried with laughter for a week when Oxford got relegated.

 

[GTFCfish]

It really shouldn't be the most difficult league to win though, especially for the bigger clubs that end up there with the fan base that they have and the ability to attract the best players!

I thought that when we went down, and then the reality kicked in when we lost at home to Hayes and Yeading with their 17 away fans in our second home game.

 

[FGR Stroud]

Grimsby will get sub 2000 every week when they go down. 1500 if they're lucky. Most of their lot aren't gunna wanna go through all that again they had 6 years of it they did their time.

Genuinely think it'll be the end of them as a club. Crying shame but luckily for me I'll have Scunny fans on the league 1 forum when we go up, may well cross swords with Sir Lance of House Stoe

Grimsby's average attendance for the 6 years in Conference varied from 4357 (2016) down to 3308 (2012).
Doubtful it will go below 3000 should they get relegated.
Too much support and history for them to disappear.