Hi all,

I'm very objective when it comes to talking about football and always enjoy a hearty discussion surrounding it... I just want to put my two pennies worth on the current situation at our club and get other supporter views....

There is definitely an atmosphere of division at the club involving both supporters and officials alike and possibly now getting to the team....

Firstly, i'd like to thank Mr.Cunningham for his wonderfully worded column in the Kendal programme asking the disgruntled to shut up and keep their thoughts to themselves - these are people including myself who regularly pay their £8 to attend matches and in my opinion, are entitled to a say and to voice their opinions if they believe what's being served up is not acceptable. (If you paid for a meal and it was crap - would you expect the waiter to tell you to shut up and not listen to the complaint?) As officials of the club, surely you have to listen to genuine fan concerns - just because you're a fan doesn't mean you can't show concern...or would you prefer no one coming through the turnstiles?

Secondly, the manager, Mark Fell appears to be about as popular as a Blackburn Rovers fan would be at Turf Moor, and I can't see this changing anytime soon. I appreciate that it takes a lot of time, effort and commitment to be a manager of a club at this level and the fact he does it as a 'volunteer' is a credit to him, however that should not qualify you for a free ride and not to attract criticism when things appear not right. We're desperately lacking up front and need to sign a goalscorer to solve some of our problems, otherwise Ramsbottom Nil will be seen all to often this season (Dom Marie was supposed to be the answer and what happened to him?). I know proven goalscorers don't grow on trees, however, that's the Club management teams job to pull the rabbit out of the hat... Speaking of last nights game, I can't remember us having a single shot on target and substitutions were made 'like for like' without trying a change of system to change this.... There weren't many positives, if any, to take other than it's nice to see Regen and Harry back in the squad... No matter what, I believe Mark Fell is a square peg trying to fit in a round hole at Ramsbottom.

I'm not familiar of how contracting players now works at this level of football (I got £10 a week in 1985 with no questions asked but remained loyal), but surely we need to start contracting our better players - Luke Jordan springs to mind, one sniff from Bernard and Jonno and off he goes - one of a long line of players to follow this route and I believe not one penny going into the club other than a couple of loanees. Until the club change their ways - players like these will come into the shop window and go. I'd be happy to be corrected on this point if it's not correct.

I believe this will be another mid to low table mediocrity season and cannot see anything that will change my mind on that matter.

I'm open to constructive criticism and/or discussion on the above points or anything else anyone wants to add.

Tony

An excellent post, Tony, and several rather relevant discussion points raised

I actually bumped into Tony Cunningham in Bury yesterday and had a rather productive chat with him. Like you, and several other supporters, I was a little peed off with some of his comments in Tuesday nights programme (mainly due to the high regard we hold him as he is what can only be described as a ‘real football man) Part of the problem is that TC is the same as us in that he loves Ramsbottom United and only wants what is best for the club. I explained to him that he probably doesn’t get to hear everything that we do (and I do realise that everything on the rumour mill is not true), in fact he has more dealings with Mark Fell than he does with us. Enough said

The only reason I can see that Fell is still in charge of the club is that he is a cheap option and, in my opinion at least, a master manipulator who has made himself seem indispensable to Harry. All this at a time when Harry has enough problems, outside of the club, and can do without the upheaval that comes with a change in management. In my opinion, and it’s only an opinion remember, this is nothing but a Mark Fell vanity project and if he cared anything about Ramsbottom United he would walk away now. As for his programme column on Tuesday, well, I won’t even begin to go into dissecting that, but I’m sure we’re all wise enough to make up our own minds on that one. From where I’m standing, Fell is digging himself a massive hole, but the problem is it’s going to get so deep that he won’t be able to pull himself out of it.

If anyone finds this ‘nasty’ then I apologise, although I stand by every word of 'my opinion' and as Paramedic says I’m open to any constructive criticism and/or discussion.

Hello everyone,

I just want to have my say and thoughts on the situation at my very dear Ramsbottom United. Now, I know that I don't come up as much as I used to and have only seen one game this season - the away match at Mossley - but I still hold the club and everyone in it, really important to me. My reasons for not coming up, with the exception of change of circumstance, is that I haven't lost interest, just lost the enthusiasm to spend 8+ hours on the road, £xx in hotels etc to watch what I have discovered is nothing better than what I used to watch when I first started watching Rammy in about 2007.

Having made the effort to come up (and because I was seeing Early Doors at The Lowry that night), what I saw at Mossley wasn't the Ramsbottom United that I have been used to, know and love in more recent times. There was a lot missing, none more so than the huge chasm in the relationship between the supporters and the manager/coaching team. The supporters have become disillusioned with what is going on from what I can gather and feel that Mark Fell is like a kid playing 'Football Manager' in his bedroom, but with a real football team in a real league. The team on the pitch don't really look like they were playing for him, they were playing their own game in front of him and no matter how much shouting he does, they don't take an awful lot of notice. To not win a game being 1-0 up against 10 men for the best part of 75 minutes is unacceptable ... and 2-0 up away at Kendal yesterday and not win ... frustrating.

Now, of course, those of us who were around in the Golden Era were spoiled supremely but those days are unlikely to return. But all that we want is to see are approachable people, working hard to improve the club, give us some hope that we can challenge at the top end of the table rather than just plodding along, satisfied with a mid-table position, the odd win here and there. That does seem to be all we are settling for right now. We are not getting the best out of what looks like a very good set of players.

Is it time for Mark Fell to go? As some have said, he does a very good job of talking an extremely good game and doing a lot behind the scenes but then so does Brent Peters at our old rivals Bacup Borough, and do we really want to be like them where the manager is completely indispensable and cannot be removed???

A pretty good summing up of our club and, most importantly, evidence from our ever dwindling support base as to why they no longer have the passion to attend games. Can’t say I’m too concerned about success on the pitch as I realise where our place in the grand scheme of the non-league pyramid is, but losing people like Richard (and many others who I consider as friends) is quickly erasing the joy of going to watch Rammy. Can’t say I blame him for not having the desire to travel for 8 hours and If I hadn’t got myself a season ticket, I’d be questioning whether it was worth the 8 minute stroll I have to make to get to the ground.

On the subject of the players, I’m sure that all this discontent must be having an effect on them and hope they realise that the supporters are still 100% behind them. However, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the manager is not getting the best out of them. A bizarre recruitment policy, tactical ineptitude and an inability to respond to what is happening on the pitch must be having a more detrimental effect than our criticisms and that’s before we bring his man management skills into the equation. I’m sure the players, many with vast experience of playing the game at an even higher level than this, don’t go out to not try and win games, but find it hard to believe that there is much respect for him within the dressing room. And that’s before we get to the absolute nonsense (or bullshit as less forgiving souls than me have described it) he seems to come out with every time he opens his mouth

Despite my continuing criticism about Mark Fell, I’d much rather be coming on here and discussing the club in a positive manner. The club were made fully aware of the supporters feelings towards the end of last season and even if they are not listening to us, I refuse to quietly sit here and allow him to drag our club further into the mire without making comment

Some interesting and thought provoking points in the above posts!

We all know that a lot of time and effort go into running any football club, particularly at this level, where money is in short supply.

At the end of the day though, it is results, or perhaps more importantly, the team performances, that matter to the supporters.

Last season, our team (for whatever reason) was constantly swapped and changed, using around 50 different players, thereby not allowing any sort of consistency to develop. In my opinion, there were too many short-term "loanees" displacing would be "regulars", who then voted with their feet and all too often came back to punish us!

The overall result was a mediocre season, thankfully boosted somewhat by a reasonable finish in April.

What to expect this season? After 9 games last season we had 19 points; this season - 12. At present we have 2 "loanees" who are becoming an integral part of the team. What happens when they go?

At present, we have just 3 league matches (and at least 1 FA Trophy match) this month. Let's hope for an improvement in the team's performance. Without doubt, we have proven players in the squad and it's time they got their act together, do the basics right, and give the fans something to cheer. Too many points conceeded whilst playing against 10 men, 2 cup exits on penalty shoot-outs by missing the target from 12 yards and no shots on target for long periods of games is just not good enough.

All that said, there have been some excellent individual performances but it is time to put in solid team performances and "step up to the plate"

COYR! COYR!! COYR!!!

Ah well! Loanees gone! Manager gone! So "Something's Going On"