The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

[Pretend Best Friend]

The incomparable Tony Kempster has summarised things pretty well for the conference and below here:

http://www.tonykempster.co.uk/playoff0708.htm

I might head along to a game Tuesday, although it's also the Reading beer festival on Saturday which may well rule out any of the games with second legs

What's the Wimbledon view on their chances btw?

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Semi 5 --- Tue 29th Apr --- Leamington v Rushall Olympic
Semi 6 --- Tue 29th Apr --- Stourbridge v Sutton Coldfield Town

Excellent - Leamington and Stourbridge are kept apart.

It's payback time (er, if they both get through their semi final)

[Gangster Octopus]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Mildly interesting to note that while the Conference main and Conference north both have three ex-league teams involved, there's none in the Conference south play-offs.

Anyway, Come On Sheffield!

[Purves Grundy]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

We've lost meekly in playoff semis each of the last two seasons and our form at the moment is poor. I'm keeping saturday clear just in case but don't really expect to spend any of it watching football.

[Bored Of Education]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

I would have popped along to the TeamBath game but I have a rehearsal on Tuesday night.

TeamBath will bottle it, they always do in big games

[NHH]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Come on, call them by their real name - Team Taxpayer

[Gangster Octopus]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

So what about Team Northumbria?

[My Name Is Ian]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

There's only one former League club in the Conference South (and I'm stretching the definition not far short of as far as possible by calling them that), and they blew it on Saturday, letting Braintree Town through instead. Hampton & Richmond, I think, will see off Eastbourne in that.

What has been going wrong at Wimbledon lately? Their form over the last couple of months has been really poor, and I fear for their chances against Hornchurch. I'll probably be travelling up for this one, by the way - it's not all-ticket is it? (I alway ask this)

[Bored Of Education]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

The club thatmy son plays for and I coach at is TeamBath Arsenal and are nominally part of TeamBath.

I have one of the Ladies team coaches assisting me, they let the lads into the games free and they have been great in helping me in things like the Sports Relief day when they let the lads play an match at half-time.

Our chairman particularly gets pissed off with the Team Tax stuff. He supports both teams (a concept I don't understand) with his argument that the TeamBath players and students pay tax as well

We have Bath City's main shirt sponsor's son playing for us and sponsoring our kit as well as Bath City's and there is a lot more crossover between the two clubs than is publically acknowledged.

Personally however, from a football supporter's point of view, I can completely see the arguments against TeamBath and understand why they are seen as some sort of "Franchise-lite".

I go and see them occasionally but haven't even been impressed by their football. As a team that is supposed to have superior training and modern attitudes towards coaching, they play too much of the long ball game.

On the other hand, I was astonished last year, after a great season by their team, how much time was wasted by Bath City fans pouring viriol on TeamBath, going along to games and supporting the teams playing against TeamBath etc

I can't understand this in the same way that I can't understand why anyone indulges in anti-Jack singing when we are winning in a FA Cup semi-final.

In saying this, I ma happy to go and watch Bath City as well, as much to see Scott PArtridge and occasionally they have anice kit.

At the end of the day though, I don't support either team.

[Ray de Galles]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Personally however, from a football supporter's point of view, I can completely see the arguments against TeamBath and understand why they are seen as some sort of "Franchise-lite".

Why is it again?

Is the 'Team Taxpayer' thing because they recieve funding as part of a University? Is every club who have failed to pay off the Inland Revenue in full when going through administration called the same?

[Purves Grundy]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

What's wrong at Wimbledon is that we have a geriatric centre-back pairing. And a team full of mentally fragile bigheads who think they only have to turn up to win against crap teams (5 points from 24 against the four teams that went down, for christ's sake) and who shit themselves whenever they get a big crowd at home for an imnportant game. Oh, and a manager who despite having had the job full time since July still doesn't know what his preferred starting eleven is. And he's given to impulse signings too which means that in recent games we've had as many as 5 loan signings (usually squad players from teams a division or two above us) who generally lumber round the pitch not giving a shit while trying to look like they're serious about regaining fitness after their broken leg/hernia/fit of the vapours (delete as appropriate) earlierr in the season. Oh, and we've forgotten what that big, stringy oblong thing behind the opposition's number 1 is for.

[Bored Of Education]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Harry,

I sent a long and involved reply and it hasn't turned up so apologies in advance if there is any duplication.

The main complaints appear to be that TeamBath put out a league team that are subsidised by the tax payers because they have no supporters and wouldn't survive otherwise.

As far as I understand it, they have quite a lot of money coming in from other income streams e.g. the commercial department through TeamBath merhcandise (rather than University Of Bath)

Secondly, people take umbrage as far the players being paid to play and train full-time so having an advantage over other teams in the league while doing spurious "Sports Science" degrees and whatnot.

Obviously, this is an accusation that could be levelled at most college basketball/baseball/gridiron players in American universities and I really do not know the ins andouts of how many players end up with the degrees.

I do not that the guy that organised my FA coaching course through TeamBath is an ex-TeamBath player so some of them must be doing something. I also deal with a couple of other ex-TeamBath players for certain issues and current players help out with lads on the match-days that I have mentioned

As far as the full-time playing and training goes, it doesn't seem to be doing them much good as they do seem to play the long ball game.

TeamBath coaches are all supposed to be coaching our teams but, as far as I know, I am the only one with a full-time coach and she is ex-TeamBath Ladies. This, however, may be as much down to the other managers' "I know what I am doing" attitudes as anything with the players.

A lot of criticism came from TeamBath fielding Andy Tilson ex-QPR, Bristol Rovers etc and obviously not a student but he was signed as player/coach and is now full-time coach. His situation is similar to Brian Parkin who is also ex-Rovers and is a coach there. Make of that what you will.

THere has been some criticism for TeamBath or, at least, their players playing in university and BUSA games which has come form the University element. I don't know about this but I do know there is a seperate University Of Bath team.

The situation closest to Franchise is actually TeamBath Ladies who, until this season, were Bristol City Ladies but City cut ties with them and they were on the verge of dissolving but TeamBath took them over, folded their Ladies team and took Bristol City's position two leagues higher.

Again, make of that what you will but there would have been no Bristol City Ladies team if this hadn't happened.

As I say, from a supporters point of view, I can see the criticisms but from a parent and coach's point of view, I have had very good dealings with them and am impressed with the TeamBath approach to a lot of sports and a lot of kids, specifically, are doing a lot of sports through TeamBath.

AS far as Bath City are concerned, they get a good income from the groundshare, I assume, use of TEamBath's excellent training facilities and, when they are in the same league, a pretty much guaranteed six points every season as well

[noj]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

I might be going to Burton v Cambridge U on Friday night, but I suspect I'll only be able to get a ticket in the Burton end on my own so not sure I'll bother.

I may instead save up my brownie points and hopefully go the final should Cambridge get there (such a policy would inevitably result in a Burton win).

[Gangster Octopus]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Aren't you in a bit of a win-win with that tie?

[EIM]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

We're at home on Wednesday. Which was vital as no one would have turned up if we'd been playing on Tuesday night.

I've never done play-offs before. I'm probably going to cry, aren't I?

[Purves Grundy]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

They're horrid. They bring out the worst in most of our players and many of our fans, too.

[EIM]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

I'm hoping we just breeze through them. We finished second so have home advantage, we're in good form compared to the rest of the teams in the play-offs, we're a 'big game' team, and we can't be doing with more NPL div 1 North mentalness next season.

But the fact I'm able to go to the final on Saturday should see to it that we lose to Bamber Bridge.

[My Name Is Ian]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

I coped with the Conference South play-off final two years ago by getting horribly, horribly drunk on the train from Brighton to Stevenage in the morning of the match. It turned out to be quite one-sided. Obviously, I don't recommend this plan of action for anybody going to a play-off match over the next few weeks.

[brian potter]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Bored Of The Dance wrote:

TeamBath will bottle it, they always do in big games

I don't think they will, Bashley didn't look all that against Mangotsfield a couple of weeks ago, even though we had to resort to playing 2 youth team players just to raise a full XI. Canham will do the business for TB.

Chippenham always bottle it though, and I fully expect Halesowen to get through that one.

As for the team tax thing, it's a bit tired and lazy now. A quick look at Bath Universities latest accounts shows that Central funding only accounts for 75% of the University's income. When I worked for a Research Council, we had very clear guidelines on how our funding was spent, I'd imagine HEFCE are even stricter than we were.

I don't understand the animosity from Bath City fans either, after all before TB allowed Bath City use of their training facilities and started paying rent for Twerton, City were drifting along aimlessly, even struggling, in the Southern League and were a very poor shadow of their former selves.

[noj]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Aren't you in a bit of a win-win with that tie?

Kind of. I'd still prefer Cambridge U to win, but Burton going up would be quite cool.

They'd only go and put up their prices though..

[Bored Of Education]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

I can understand the animosity, obviously they are local rivals, it is the level I can't understand especially in a season when they got promoted.

At last year's play-off final, I took a load of our lads to play on the pitch at half-time and they were walking around the ground in their team tops which are basically the TeamBath strip and a load of Bath City supporters who were supporting whoever TV were playing started hassling them.

Luckily, Marley, for one, wasn't bothered and gave them a load of lip back and these guy were obviously just a bunch of cunts (the BC supporter not my lads) but, you know, going along to support the opposing side of a rival is OK but you only get away with it in non-league and having a go at a load of kids? Wankers (again, not my lads)

Having said that, I will go and see both teams but it certainly makes me think that I can't be bothered going gung-ho for Bath City

[Bored Of Education]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Well done, brian, you were spot on in pretty much all your post. 4-1 to TeamBath, Canham with a hat-trick.

I may pop along to the final at Tweron Park on saturday

[David Agnew]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Cavalry Trouser Tips wrote:

Semi 5 --- Tue 29th Apr --- Leamington v Rushall Olympic
Semi 6 --- Tue 29th Apr --- Stourbridge v Sutton Coldfield Town

Excellent - Leamington and Stourbridge are kept apart.

It's payback time (er, if they both get through their semi final)

And they do.

[Duncan Gardner]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

I'll be at Leamington on Saturday. The ground's in a field three miles from town, so it'll be good preparation for HMP Maze.

[Gangster Octopus]

The end of season lottery of the playoffs thread

Nowt from the AFCW lot?