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Now that the season is over, what are your highs, lows, best goals, worst games, best player, worst player? etc etc

Discuss....

Worst game, a flip between Brighton at home, and Histon away. Best was probably leicester away for me. Another good bit was keep meeting forum posters from here and MOS, to a man/woman top people.

Glad its over - a season to forget but I have hope for next season. Lowlights were Malpas and Aljofree. Where was the leadership?  Best goal for me was Cox home v Walsall. Best player Cox by a country mile. Worst player was Aljofree by a country mile - captain invisibale and even worse, lets blame Ifill for everything. Ifill, however, is not blameless and has regressed this year.
Highlights - Morrisons development and Paynters form under Wilson. Wilson has an eye for a player but tactically is erratic but did a bloody good job. And we stayed up.
Other highlights - I really like Fitton, Watkins & Co. Off the field we are contenders. We'll get the club we can afford - no prolems with that. They've laid their money down - its up to us to do the same. I think they've made a couple of mistakes and they'll learn from them.  I think they've made a couple of unwise statements about the fans expectations and they fucked up big time over Malpas and appopinting a successor.
Roll on next season and lets try and forget about this one.

Most enjoyed goals - Carlisle away, cox's hat-trick at noton and the three in quick succession at brighton.

Worst game - cheltenham away, hartlepool home.

Best away days - today, noton, leicester.

Brighton at home was a shocker.
Enjoyed Milton Keynes home, Leicester away - good atmosphere and games.

How many points have we lost late in games, enough I would imagine to have put us close to the play-offs.

Actually, even though it has been a disappointing season on the pitch, I have enjoyed this season. After all the gloom and fanbase and boardroom fighting of the last five or so years, fans and club officials have gone around with smiles on their faces.

It does make a change to only have footballing worries for a season

If someone had told me we had a striker who scored 29 lge goals....and not even made the playoffs i would have been amazed...Northampton away was good,thaught the Leeds home match was pivotal,should have won that match and we might have pushed on...the highlight for me really is seeing DW try to play football and next season cant come quick enough for me.

Last 2 games of the season were the best for me.

Just glad to be looking forward again. Well positive for next season. When I think about it, weve stayed up, won ourselves a place in a cracking league. Hopefully weve got a bit of a bounty in cox, with which to rebuild the team, so lots of new players next season! Finally we are tearing down some of the financial skeletons in our closet. Sorry to go off topic, but if theres a choice of looking back over the last 12 months, or looking forward to the next 12 months, I know what I would choose to do!

<noddy smiley thingy> that's been the highlight for me. And what spence said

I only went to two games this season, which is lots less than normal, the two games i went to were brighton and hartlepool at home, which were the worst two performances I have ever seen at the County Ground. Glad its all over, and very optimistic about next season with a different squad, if only we could hold on to our cox....

I did a quick count on this and reckon it's 15 points...still a way short of the PO's but comfortable mid table, which is where most thought we'd probably be at the start of the season.

Late goals are where you find out who the real determined winners are.

Thats why last season, Craig Easton and Barry Corr were two of my favourite players, they were always busting a gut, looking for a late winner. Where did the late winners come from this season? Just Cox, vs Rovers, and you could say Northampton too. No coincidence.

Wilson must install an absolute determination to win in all our players.

the goal against leicester felt as good as a winner? i see what you're saying though spencer

when you see loads of other clubs struggling in administration, to be in a situation where we're talking about the football and not off-field problems is really uplifting.

More lows than highs, but I'm really positive about next season. I like Wilson, I like the players he's brought in so far, so feel confident we'll have a good squad.

Highs:
Optimism after Tranmere
The improved County Ground
Morrison
Cox was a joy to watch - good luck to him whatever he decides to do. That goal v Walsall nearly made me do a sex wee.
Franchise away
Leicester home & away
Northampton away
Brighton away
Gordon Greer
Danny Wilson
Paynter under Wilson

Lows:
lack of atmosphere at home games
The time it took to replace Malpas
Malpas
The keepers
The demise of Ifil
The late goals
Orient home
Hartlepool home
Brighton home
Histon
Aljofree
lack of a centre midfield

Yes I think one of the greatest high points has been the continuing improvement of the County Ground! In the Don Rogers alone it was nice to see all turnstiles open, all the under-the-stand food outlets being open and the appearance of the mini club shop!

The tannoy speaker above where I sit didnt work for the first few weeks of the season, then one game it was all ok again and Nick Watkins appeared in the stand. Some geezer asked him what he was looking at and Nick said that they'd had a call about the speaker and they'd got someone out to fix it and he was just making sure that it was all ok now.... and that was the chief exec taking timeout to do that...superb!

Can't imagine Diamond Mike or any of that entourage doing something similar!!

The whole professionalism of the club is fantastic - the club shop being smartened up, the decent sponsors being attracted (442 & EA Sports) the whole Stand By Me thing.... the national exposure (Soccer AM and 442) its just sooo not what we're used to!!

Highlights for me:

Cox's goals - all of them thus keeping us up
Getting Greer on loan
Leicester and Posh away
Rovers at home
New Sponsor
Appointment of Danny Wilson
Morrison into the first team

Disappointments:

Like most - the time it took to get rid of Malpas
No cup runs whatsoever
Lack of defensive ability
The amount of late goals conceeded

It seems like a lifetime ago that we last had a decent cup run, it was under McMahon wasnt it?

94/95 13 mins from a second LC final...I actively dislike Bolton.

And John McGinlay who is a cunt..

oh yeah, wasnt it Mixu Paaaaaatelainen that scored the decisive goal?

Paatelainen got the equaliser and that cunt McGinlay got the winner with 4 minutes to go if i remember rightly.

5th Round of the FA Cup in 95-96 wasn't bad for a League One outfit.

More a jog than a run I grant you.

McGinlay looks like he's piled on the pounds -

http://www.cincinnatiunitedsoccer.com/Home/CoachingDirectors/tabid/5459/Default.aspx

Still a total wanker.

E-mail him and vent.

I might keep it slightly obscure and pretend I'm Mark Robinson, I'll tell him that I'm still angry about him getting me sent off for smacking him one....I'll mention that I'm visiting Cincinnati this summer and I've got scored to settle and he's got to name the car park to meet. Sorry, make that 'parking lot' to meet.

Staying up is the highlight. We absolutely got away with taking 6 weeks to appoint a manager.

Oh and Cox's goal v Walsall was good as well. Really enjoyed that one.

I think Southend home was one of the highlights of the season, the first half anyway. It showed what we're capable of and how good the football can be under Wilson. Barnsley fans didnt sing 'its just like watching Brazil' for nothing under his reign.

I think Brighton and Hartlepool at home were the lows, closely followed by either of the Cheltenham games.

With a decent pre-season and some good acquistions I think we'd be on for a good season next year. I think Wilson already has targets and will move quickly.

A lot of what I'm reading seems to be quite similar to what I read at the end of last season - here's hoping Wilson gets it right.

A point I was making on Friday night in then pub...at the end of last season there were a number of positives going into the new season....quite probably more than this time given the likely departure of Cox.

My optimism last season was not high at all, I didnt have any confidence in the manager, I think I mentioned it at the time that I didnt think Malpas had any managerial nous and didnt have the contacts to bring in any quality players.

This mainly came from chatting to my Dumfries based Motherwell supporting mate, it took him months to stop gut laughing at Malpas' Swindon appointment.

With the likes of Casal, Nalis being bought in alarm bells were ringing. I got the distinct impression that Malpas watched some of the pre-season games rather differently to me, cos I never saw anything in Casal or Nalis that made me think they were going to do a decent job - which turned the alarm bells into a full blooded air raid siren.

I feel Wilson will do a lot better, hence my renewed optimism!

Positives - Finally some progress on the pitch, improved away performances and we seem to be harder to beat now.

Negatives - Malpas' management got even worse, Histon away was the lowest point.

You know you've had an utterly mediocre season when losing to Histon is only mentioned within a series of lows. Histon is the one that should really stick out - we got away with that one because mighty Leeds lost there too.

At this moment my optimism was better last year. Could easily change by the time August arrives.

It really does depend on the comings and goings and we'll have an idea on how radical the changes will be when we discover how many of the 17 out-of-contract players - which will probably be within the next week or two. Plus how we potentially replace the others linked with moves away (Cox, McGovern and Aljofree)

Let's see what the summer brings first. We got a bit excited last pre-season when we actually looked quite good and had Fitton and Co in charge for their first full season and look what happened. With Wilson though and also possibly some money to spend from the Cox sale now we don't have to pay Bill Power off it could be a very interesting team next time out.

Think everyone was optimistic last close season, because we finished strongly, and we knew if the right players came up AF would shell out, unfortunately they didn't and we ended up with not much really. This should be different as we have lots that will be leaving and either way we should have a few quid to spend, and a manager who knows the players and the leagues, and has a good rep, really cant see us bothering the bottom next season. (famous last words!)

Playing Devil's Advocate here, but last season we finished quite strongly,  had a decent looking pre season, most felt that the squad looked semi decent with a couple of stars in Macca and Cox, and we had no loan players and only a couple to bed in.

We started well beating Tranny, who very nearly got to the PO's.

The coming season we'll be losing Cox, which is more or less half our goals...even with Greer, we've tended to ship silly goals still, something done all through the season.

I just feel it will take a while to build up a winning mentality at the club...despite being able to ship out a few we've still a goodly number contracted next season who aren't good enough for a promotion push.

Im glad there won't be all the playoff hype there was last season (admittedly i got caught up in it as well).

for me this season has been a complete let down and a year wasted.the appointment of malpas was a piss poor one for starters.add to that the large number of people who took up the season ticket option,who were soon regretting their purchase.they were badly let down.
i honestly think we are worse off now than at this time last year.we will lose our prize asset in cox, who without this season we would have been relegated.
the poor form of previous better players has also been a major minus.most notably easton and the dire ifil.aljofree is a poor skipper,and our keepers have struggled.

wilson i think is a half decent manager but will need considerable funds to get us anywhere near the playoffs.we will also be down on season ticket holders, so form will be key to get people to turn up on the day.

I'd be happy with a season of consolidation which is my expectation. Eventual promotion can be achieved but I don't think it's realistic to expect a promotion push after such a crap season

neither do i, which is why i feel this season is a wasted one.we should be looking for promotion but it doesn't look like will will.

Good shout Si, I actually bought a season ticket for the first time in eight seasons for 08-09.  This was down to Bushey - and that prat never shelled out for the second half of his!  I had previously refused to pay out money to the robbing greek bastard but was full of optimism which quite frankly was never fulfilled.  I really see this as a season wasted by myself, many others and AF and co.  Oh, and that fucking pa system in the DRS is still as bad now as it was at the start of the season!

My expectations for next season are the same as ofr this one. Mid table mediocrity, blood a coupleof youngsters, decent cup run. We're a year behind schedule.

Really?

How boring,if thats all there is to look forward to I wont be back next season either.

The big question is whether Wilson is capable of turning the team round properly next season. He didn't have the immediate new manager effect which culminated in us leaving it pretty late to escape relegation and about his only saving grace was bringing in a few decent players on loan that made a major difference on the pitch.

This season was a wash out due to a shit manager not being sacked and replaced quickly enough.

I don't have a clue how next season is going to go but I think and hope our squad is going to look considerably different.

This is Wilson's opportunity to show he is the man for the job, if he can't produce the goods after a preseason with his own squad then we aren't going anywhere soon.

I don't expect big money to be spent but I expect our wage bill to be taken up with players that can play at this level and higher, rather than wasted on the likes of Casal.

It wasn't a brilliant season , but the main thing was it was football and not behind the scenes that took centre stage, i  got the bug back this year and had my highest season total of games since 1992. Hopefully now we are stable a few others will get back into going, which will help the on the day sales, god knows i know enough of them.

me too.

I think I went to exactly the same number of league games, and probably less cup games as we didn't have as many.

WHAT???????????????????????????

Are you telling me that cunt lives and works in Cincinnati????????

If only I'd known.......

You're not gonna tell me you've been there recently and missed out on the opportunity of paying him 'a visit' ??

 We can take a bit of heart from Millwall....they had a poor season 07/08. Jackett a bit like Wilson a journeyman with a patchy record, did a bit of wheeling and dealing in the summer, got in a few without spending much if anything, and turned them into a PO side.

 Gary Alexander seemed to be the catalyst, yet if MM had signed him, he'd have been royally slagged off.

 So it can be done.  The key is the Cox replacement. When SSP went Kingy tried to replace him with a proven goalscorer namely Cureton...I'm not sure we can do that..I'd rather we went for a big target man, who might score us a few, but not necessarily an out and scorer....think a bit like the Chief.

 This would then free up Paynter, who might be capable of scoring a few more.  In addition, a centrocampista, who can score a few would be a massive help.

 What's Fallon doing?

Luckily we have a habit of turning unproven strikers into top scorers;Steve Finney,Peter Thorne,Chris Hay,Sammy Parkin Rory Fallon and now Cox for example.Hopefully DW can unearth someone similar,I trust him to do it.

Kind of. I spent 3 years living in Dayton, 45 minutes up the bloody road. Grrrrrrrrrrr.........

I'm not saying it can't be done, just that we shouldn't really set our expectations so high until we know who will be in the squad and see what we can do in the first 10 games.

Replacing Cox will be tricky, but our options up froint need a massive overhaul anyway. Aside from Cox, all I would keep is Paynter. Peacock will be useful as backup but mainly as a midfielder. So assuming Cox leaves we need 3 more strikers. What happened to Joyce, did he get injured? I expect us to use our younger players more often next season.

I think we need to improve as a whole, we scored 5 more goals this season compared to last, yet have 8 points less.

I completely disagree with you si.

Peacock is in no way useful for anything.

I've seen him have the odd good game in midfield, when he seemed up for it. But overall I think we could survive without him and there are better options out there.

I reckon we'll be going after another Simon Cox - someone young at a big club, Premier League or top of the Championship who needs games and we'll be using Simon Cox going nuclear as a selling point. Maybe someone on a season long loan rather than an outright sale.

He hasn't been brilliant this season but he's still under contract and I'd sooner have played him rather than Easton, Nalis or Pook. Will cost to much to get rid, he can do a job if we have injuries or need to hold the ball up a bit more in the latter stages of games.

We do need a player like Kanu though, more selfish but can make things happen. He scored one every 5 games which isn't a bad return and will help us out if our central midfielders don't get forward so much.

agreed, but kanu with a right foot if he's planned to play right wing please

I fucking hate that cunt for conning the ref for Robinsons red in the Semi v Bolton.....

I might be wrong but it seemed to me that most (if not all) of HRK's goals came when he played on the right wing and cut inside.

Putting to one side his abject performance against Rovers, I'd like to see him here again next year.

We'd probably have to see Reading go up for that to happen though.

Im actually very dissapointed at how trim he looks. Hardly any fatter then when he was playing!

To be honest, I thought that Fitton would do something about Malpas in the summer. Because it was already blatent that the bloke was totally out of his depth. Then watched in horror as practically every player turned us down until we were signing players off youtube. I was stunned at how easily we beat Tranmere, took me about a week to believe it. Went to Cheltenham all gee'd up, got back to the pub and sat head in hands realising that we were crap after all. Worse, was the reaction of the players. They didnt have a clue that they had been beaten by far the worst team in the league, and they didnt care. Thought they could milk the applause from the fans after the game.

The next 3 months were just torture waiting for Fitton to get fed up with the rubbish he had appointed. At one point I honestly thought he would let Malpas finnish the season. In the end it was only the failure to provide cup run wonga that caused Fitton to act and to be honest I was gutted he let it drag on so long. Watching players like Easton (who could have been good) decay into squad filling rubbish.

This time weve got a man who can get us top 6. For me last season was fake excitement. We didnt want to let Fitton down with the season tickets. This time everyone knows how tough the league is and what they have to do.

i know you're right but i think right foot on right wing, left foot for left wing..ideally

Thierry Henry a right footer plays on the left for Barca, Messi a left footer plays on the right...seems to work for them.

Don Rogers was right footed and played on the mostly on the left.

again i know you're right reg, but that's taking into account supreme talent we'll not see at the CG for quite some time if at all

i think comparing HRK to messi is amusing though

 I thought HRK looked a decent player with room to improve, don't think we've much chance of getting him for next season.

If Reading go up we do, as he wont get in their team in the prem.

yeah, but not to messi's standards. you seem to have ignored my point!

I thaught Kanu looked more effective when playing in a central position...would love us to sign a midfielder who can run at and beat players rather than a passer.