Happy Jack

Sorry for confusion

I am only suggesting one team, either an Alliance side (U16 or U18) or a Ridgeons Youth side(U18).

Sutton Fan, As someone who was on the pitch before tuesday night's game I felt it impossible not to comment in reply to your posts.

To start with, the League and FA have accepted and agreed that no warmups shall take place on our pitch throughout the season. All clubs, last season and this, were notified at the beginning of the season of this and so it should have been known to your management not to go on there at all pre-match. The fact they allowed their players onto the pitch, and in some circumstances encouraged them shows both poor management skills and a lack of respect.

To begin telling AFC fans' what their own training pitch is like is surely more than a little demeaning. Our teams train and warm up on the practice pitch every week and have done for years. Its not one rule for one and one rule for another, it is the same for all away teams as well as ourselves. Our own management team would not take their players onto a surface that was dangerous. We would not expect you to of done so if this was the case.

To follow on from your claim that the practice pitch was dangerous, this was the only reason given by a member of your club as to why they were on the main pitch attempting to warm up. Once the lights were turned off, players were encouraged to kick a ball around in the dark. Training on an un-light field with third parties also on the field is surely more dangerous? This is another point that your club seems to accept double standards in favour of themselves!

In reply to the claims of being childish, what other form of action do u suggest we could have taken to resolve the situation? The members of your club that were on the pith were more than happy to enter into confrontation using threatening behaviour and yelling expletives at our officials who were trying to resolve the situation. Do they not posses the ability to have a civilised debate?

Finally, match officials running around the outside of the pitch does not affect the playing surface at all. However kicking a ball about on the pitch, especially in those conditions, would have a severe impact on the playing surface. You slated and criticised state of the pitch during the match, surely even you can comprehend how bad the pitch would of been if teams were allowed to warm up pre-match. There is no way of justifying one rule for your club and another rule for everyone else.

i don't usually get involved on these threads just read the comments with interest. But I just want to put on record that Danny Crosbie does a wonderful job of preparing the pitch throughout the whole season. As a treat for the Grassroots teams at the end of the season they are allowed to play friendly matches, with league games last season as well, on the main pitch.
And this is after a whole season of continuous use the pitch and is still in a very good and playable condition; it wouldn't be like that if it wasn't for the hard work Danny and his team of assistants do after every match and pre-match.
Danny you are one of a many unsung heroes at AFC Sudbury who do a lot of for this club. Thank you

I have never posted on a Sudbury website since I left the club as I felt it would be inappropriate, but having read some bits from this thread I felt I might make a couple of points.

From pretty much the start of the joining of the Town and The Wanderers the story of AFC has revolved around large loud support, great games and success; this was the 'mystique, surrounding the club. Sudbury were the bench mark, it was where every non-league club wanted to be and supporters loved the ride.

I read critisism of Smudger and Lurch, what a joke. These are good guys who have been the victim of the wrong decisions made at board level. Should the club have a new facility? Of course. Should the club develop the Academy? Of course, but should it have happened by dismantling the 1st XI that was the envy of most clubs in the region? Absolutely not.

I listen to complaints from certain Directors about the league, but I dont hear this from Bury and being involved in a club looking to move up the pyramid, we dont have players not wanting to join us on that adventure.

In a recent AFC Sudbury notes in the Green Un online, Marshman wrote, "For our part the heady days of a record three successive Vase finals and five successive Ridgeons Championships are slowly becoming but a distant memory. However like politics and the Stock Market football is cyclical and fans can rest assured we will be back although it will be on a platform of self sufficiency and not dependent on the whims of ego based investment as after all we have been there". What a load of cobblers!

Don't really want to comment on the last point (although not sure what a loyal servant and backer of the club thinks about it?) but surely ensuring Smudge had the funding to keep the 1st XI strong and maybe (like BTFC) battling for promotion would have kept the crowds coming and increasing. That gives fixed income and with it brings the potential for ongoing success. Lead on from that and add the excellent new facilities and a youth set up, maybe adding an astro turf pitch, even looking at making it an every expanding business; all things that could be achieved??

However, maybe at the crux of the matter what was needed was a bit more Town and a lot less Wanderers.

Evenin' Mark,
Although i agree with the majority of what you say, i still think some of the demise of AFC has to lie with the manager, i.e the quality and quantity of some of the loan players and signings, and, moreover the performance on the pitch, (you need to come and see for yourself). Having watched both AFC and Bury this week the gap in quality is a mighty casm! Apart from Defty the loanees have been average at best. Ifeel sorry for the quality players like Heath and Bloomfield who looked totally out of sorts in a team playing route 1 football. 150+ missing home fans cant all be wrong. I wish the board would back the manager to improve the squad with more quality players but as you know, it aint gonna happen.

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Hi Aaron, its all about opinions. Mark is right that Badger and Lurch are decent blokes, but that wont get us points. and i have to disagree that they are doing a decent job..... too many loan players and too much lump it football for my liking, hence no consistancy. With Heath, Emmanuel, Walker, C. Hughes and Bloomfield all being skillfull players the ball needs to be at their feet not up in the air, Bloomfield never stood a chance with the ball being launched at his head from all angles.
They have had a season and a half to build a settled side but we are still nowhere near that.
After Marks' departure, surely the players still had the option to sign on again? How can that be Marks' fault?
See you saturday...

Good evening all, Surprised one thread starts so many topics!

Its a funny old game, club does well:players get the limelight, club has a bad patch fans blame players, then managers, then commitee, then directors, if your AFC you also get to blame clubs that don't exist anymore!

Two sides to all stories MM, you mention how you have players who want to play higher-Kevin Horlock had that chance at bury, he turned it down for a better offer! What about your new goalie?

Using my basic maths some of them Wanderers had to have voted for you to get the job, as well as your budget increase, perhaps what happened to the next request shapes your thinking?

We will never know what all previous AFC managers have offered to players, what we do know is that NS is the first "football" not £ manager we have had.

What worries me is our league position, 12th having played a lot more games than some, with poor football, home form relegation!

I don't wish to bore regulars re: youth at the moment and lack of chance, I didn't expect nothing from last year-some of the passing football then was superb in games, we have not progressed this season.

What happens next year? we dont know league, (or tier) budget will be less. (although a lot of clubs will be saying that) If £=position I worry what could happen.

As the comments go above I like the management-we have to pay higher due to geography, its so annoying seeing us play with JD up front scoring, we have been creating chances this season, but with a toothless front line, i'll mention that later. The same defensive mistakes happen as well.

Why mention bury? If someone can get to A14 in 30 mins from Sudbury they are lucky, (that means a return trip is a hour essex from btfc) We are not the £ club people think we are now.

As for Green'un that paragraph set my alarm bells ringing, in 20 years reading BT comments that is the most crass I have ever read, I normally concour with him. I agree MM there might be a very good friend to (me and) this club who wonders as well.

I will finish with story-if anyone thinks i'm wrong please say so:

Club X was doing well in the league, had a few injury problems upfront, manager Y wanted to get players in, despite his last signing of a unfit "king" (history/norfolk coast) he acheived to get a increase in budget, Y wanted more, to get fwd Z, in it didn't happen. Y was a spin doctor who fooled 2 simple fans who have gladly left, Z signed for X after Y had left, Z didn't do very well for X.

I still wonder about if? re:that harlow play-off game- we wouldn't be in a midland league now!

It is sad how £ seems to win at all levels- yes AFC had it-thats long gone, even local rugby has it now.

I think thats all!

Regards Gavin.

I dont think there is any need to labour the point Gavin, but dont know why there was any need to bring up issues around my time at the club that you do not know about (unless you've been told) are not relevant to the points I made.

All I was trying to say was that the club has lost it status within non-league football in the region because there was no 'speculate to accumulate'. This is an opinion made on a public forum where I felt there was a need to support Smudge and Lurch and give an view from someone who likes the club and miss them being the force they have always been.

That is reflected in the reduction in the crowds and if the management were given sufficient funds to be at the top of the division then the large crowds would have continued which means a continuation of a fixed income etc etc etc. I have a number of ex Sudbury fans who now come to Needham and speak to me on a regular basis. That is their choice and I am not going to repeat what their reasons are.

Having opions about the club and having them aired on the club forum was always part of the attraction of the club. Was there any forum in non league football like the old AFC forum? I miss the Jester and a few of the others but that was another part of the club that was dismantled, wrongly in my opinion.

Anyway I believe I have made my point, although I did like the story of the X, Y and Z people however inaccurate it was.

Afternoon all,

MM I was intending to post a majority of what I had on here before you posted, but ended up down sunny salisbury plain instead. The rest was as a reply to what you had posted.

Fans cant compare NS managment with anyone previously, due to £ and league geography. As fans you have to take the good times with the bad, to go to watch someone else certainly doesn't interest me. Would be nice to be entertained though!

It would be interesting to know how are wages compare with other clubs in this league, although we have to factor in the extra traveling.

Is this forum not linked to the club website, with anyone able to post? very similar to the old one then!

All the best for the rest of the season MM, good result yesterday!