Q&A with Gary and Downesy.

[teddiebear]

Laural and hardy spring to mind. Same old slapstick

[Dutchgull]

Well you were correct with your Aldershot prediction, our old friend SG
Far too many here are unfamiliar with our league days to remember the likes of Mahoney, Sandercock and Boulton ect.
You are correct we’re all Gulls fans and we all have an opinion.

Mike Mahoney the first keeper I got to see regularly, the Sandercock brothers and the ever reliable play anywhere Clint Boulton. Although we never really challenged for promotion except for the first half of 79-80 we never sunk low enough to fall foul of the re-election places either until Mr Webb turned up in the mid 80s !

To think that we have sunk this low is totally embarrassing.

I realise that no club has a God given right to Football League status but to drop to below "Conference " level TWICE is bloody humiliating especially when you see the success of our Devon neighbours !

To all who think that GJ walks on water and is the only possible manager who can get us out of this league I think it's far more to do with the fact that our 3 person board would not have a scooby doo as who to who to put in his place so we continue our descent downwards.

I so hope to be proved wrong but this season will be far harder than the stroll we had in 2018-19 !!l

[Cheddargull]

This is the thing, I post my views, people can agree or disagree, but what's with the insults and sarcasm?, I had it last season from Southampton Gull because i believed Aldershot would stay up, anyhow, if I disagree with or read something that I think is untrue, I don't get on this forum and start throwing insults about, we're all Gulls fans, but some of us are highly frustrated at everything we see, and I hate "spin" GJ does it a lot, to much for my liking..Just a shame we are in the 6th tier again.

Southampton Gull also said GJ would save us from relegation.

[Taelee73]

Next season will be one we want to forget whatever happens. If we stay in the NLS, it'll be hard to see us getting out soon, win promotion and we're still back in a league we don't want to be in. But I'd take that in 12 months.

I'll enjoy the fact we still have a club, hopefully the high scoring games I'll see and the chance to build. Is it embarrassing to be playing Weston etc, yes of course, no disrespect meant as we are in this division because we deserve to be, and all these sides will raise their games against us.

Games against Exeter etc now seem a long long way off, maybe never to be repeated. Who's to blame? Johnson, the owners, the smallish crowds and so income we recieve, our geological position, our lack of producing and selling on players, not tying our better players to longer contracts?

I'd suggest all.

Would another manager have done better? What's the point in even going there, we'll never know. He's given us highs and lows, I'm still (just) in the opinion he's our best chance to only stay in NLS for one season. Hopefully we start strongly otherwise the pressure will crank up on players and management.
All we can hope is to win promotion and then build a stronger side for NL around a core of players we have contracted to us.

Either then with Johnson in charge or without.

Without him, we start all over again and that means more time to get a team together.

[DevonBee]

Southampton Gull also said GJ would save us from relegation.

You beat me to making that comment.
But in fairness so did many others. How wrong they were.

[teddiebear]

Yawn

[Southampton Gull]

Southampton Gull also said GJ would save us from relegation.

Err no I didn't but don't let facts get in the way of your little whine

[MellowYellow]

As much as things do change, a few things do remain constant - yawn!

[SuperNickyWroe]

Southampton Gull also said GJ would save us from relegation.

I think you'll find, that if you look back, SG - like many others - just stated that at the time, GJ was the best man for the job...

[Cheddargull]

Err no I didn't but don't let facts get in the way of your little whine

From the 'Gary Johnson, Stick or Twist' thread. 27th November 2022, Southampton Gull said "I'm standing behind an experienced manager to add a couple of players to see us ease up the table to safety with a few games to go".

[Southampton Gull]

Southampton Gull also said GJ would save us from relegation.

So I didn't then.....

[DevonBee]

I think you'll find, that if you look back, SG - like many others - just stated that at the time, GJ was the best man for the job...

When as proved he clearly wasn’t ….FACT

[Chelston TUFC]

With the new season kicking off on 5th August its probably time to start looking forwards rather than backwards. We've got a decent enough team (although not sure about squad depth) and it'll be good to get back to seeing some home wins. I'm looking forward to a competitive season ahead, hopefully a promotion and a springboard to carry that momentum into a play off push in the NL.

[Dave]

All opinions are valid, however, when we say; 'yawn' 'move on' 'don't look back' etc, etc, that is in a way, to deny history, when we pretend everything is ok, when we pretend it'll just be alright, that is also to deny history, we all know, when we deny history we fail to learn from history.

When we fail to see where we collectively have got things wrong, where we could do better, then we just compound everything that's not right, so whilst we now have to look at the fast approaching new season, it's vital, we keep pushing forward our opinions on what we perceive to be wrong, then hopefully, lessons will be learned.

When Mr Tea808 says '.I think next season maybe a real wake up call to everyone' I think there's some truth in this statement, we're not the only full time team, this time around, Yeovil will have more than a big say in where the title ends up, they're now ahead of us in the recruitment curve, and signed a young Bristol City starlet on loan yesterday, something we've talked about but not yet actually done.

Dartford managed by Alan Dowson, we know him, we know his teams are big, strong, physical, never scared to turn any match into a battle finished second last season, maybe unlucky not to have gone up via play-offs.

Havant, NLS champions themselves the season prior to us winning it, always strong along with Chelmsford, and like Oxford City last season, there's always the unknown surprise package.

I'd expect to see us in the top 4 and challenging for promotion, anything less would be an absolute disaster, but fair warning to at least 50% of our entire fan base already to preparing for the trophy presentation, it will not be as easy, as last time around.

[Dave]

Loanee youths more miss than his?

Goodwin
Wearne hit first time around, miss on second spell
Da Silva at best 50/50, had some good games, some not so good
Nico Lawrence
Collins Stobbs

There were a couple of misses but it was certainly more hits than misses

But also we could talk about;
Hughes
Smith
Okoli
Thompson
Aguiar
Crole

These are just some loanees we've over the last two season, I'm sure there's others I could add, who were a complete waste of time.