Astro

What exactly do you disagree with? It would be handy to know, rather than relying on boring cliches such as suggesting Barry Owen lurks behind every account in this forum.

If the players and manager are getting held to account, then the same should be done to the very top of the club, and that means Rothwell has questions to answer. We can't continue with this infantile fawning over him; he's a multi-millionnaire businessman, looking to make a profit, so we should handle him as such. Mistakes have been made, many within the club derive their authority from Rothwell, and there's a naivety there. A significant improvement is required at every layer because final third of the season has been absolutely unacceptable.

Barring a highly unlikely turnaround, this is the end of our season, and while I've been firmly behind Mellon this suggests something isn't right and we need someone to start asking the proper questions rather than the puff-piece sort we get from inside the club.

Either that or they are revelling in holding one of the longest, sickest grudges in the history of the sport!

I seldom see others commenting that we possess a far superior squad of players. In fact, most comments are measured and put across the reality of our situation: we have an inconsistent group of players and that is to be expected given the level we are at. What doesn't help is how whenever we sign a player, they get hyped up. This happened with Lundstrum, Conlon etc and that view becomes crystallised based on a Player of the Year award for one season or reading other supporter forums. I'd like that to stop because time and again the pedestal isn't warranted, leading too far much expectation. Our task is simple: win five of our last six to have any hope of a PO spot. I'm afraid to say Mellon and the players have squandered a massive opportunity, not deliberately of course and perhaps it's a stretch too far this year. I must say I'm closer to the view that we won't make it. Such a shame. I said yesterday that today almost felt like a must-win. Fylde is now most definitely a game we have to win. EDIT: Wasn't there but listened and the in-game commentary on here i.e. that we were poor, described what I was hearing.

While not a stone cold must-win tomorrow, it isn't far off and it feels like a crucial game in our season.

Well, the human side of football is that we've all got to fork out for what is a bloody expensive hobby. Subsidised travel and ticket price restrictions would go a long way to beefing up attendances, especially given the absurd sums of money swilling around the game, but the working class has long ceased to be considered in football governance. The hard reality is that a lot of us cannot afford it or at the very least have to pick and choose the games, although I appreciate the general point that this is a game against a Play-off rival and they usually have a buzz around them.

Having logged on the board and read these posts, can someone confirm that it was just the sound that was faulty and not the visual, as I don't recall us losing 5-0, but drawing 0-0, against the side who started the game second in the league? As if any football manager hasn't thought "if I play 4-4-2, with wingers, I'll win a football match". That is astonishingly naive and amateurish and reduces football to a question of a basic formation, ignoring the dozens of other factors that go into playing and managing in the sport. Then I read some nonsense about demanding Mellon signs top-class footballers in a system made up of markets, half-way into a season. It's like me going to a Sunday market, hoping to find a diamond in the rough. You might do, but mostly you come away with little of significant worth. There is a reason why all of that gear is on sale at a Sunday market. Some are frustrated and that is fine and understandable, but berating Mellon for anything and everything is not going to change the reality of our situation. I thought last night was a tough game but oddly our intensity, perhaps provoked by Bromley's historic traditions of playing non-league football, was precisely what would see us beat the sides down the bottom and lacking in confidence. We tired towards the end but it wasn't a bad point really.

Tough one, naturally, but I fancy us. Home games against those sides struggling provoke a nervousness around the ground, but the reverse is often the case for sides up the top, so expect a bit of unsaid excitement. They're about as confused away as we are at home. 3-1 Latics.

Around six and a half, with 450 or so from Southend. It's increasingly a stretch to hunt down Barnet or Bromley, notwithstanding next Tuesday, because of our home form, but I'm not vexed at all about a draw at home to Southend. They'd be up there with us if it weren't for their points deduction. What's happening with Alty? I think that is five defeats on the trot. Strange league.

Very good result. Thought we were excellent but lost a bit of concentration late on, which shouldn't take away from their lad's cracking goal. A good set of results tonight, too. It makes the losses to Woking and Kidderminster easier to take, seeing as they've turned over Solihull and Gateshead. It's almost as if none of the clubs up the top actually want to stay there. Makes for an exciting league, given the sides top and bottom are the only sure thing. Everything else is totally unpredictable.

Very, very good first half from the lads there. Only gripe being we should be three up and possibly out of sight.

With respect, I think you are missing the point as I am responding in general to points raised that ago beyond what you have listed there. I agree with all of that and made a comment a few weeks saying that our current system, especially at home, needs work, but you will see I've responded to BP1960 who, along with lots of others, keep demanding a specific brand of football - attacking and passing it on the deck, as though that immediately translates to positive and consistent results. As I say, the absence of the basics you have listed needs attention, no doubt.

I work with a Gateshead supporter and he was telling me a few weeks ago how this style of theirs has been built up over many years. They have also had their fair share of problems, particularly in terms of the ownership and finances. The notion that we should expect Mellon to revolutionise a club and its identity in a matter of months, given it has been ran over 20 years or more by people who should be banned from being anywhere near football ownership, is incredibly unrealistic and those who think that have set their expectations at such a level that they will be bitterly disappointed on a weekly basis. While I appreciate the sentiment yesterday, I knew it would be thrown at the manager and players if they didn't get a result. If the performance was poor, fine, but to then use it in the manner I've seen - apologising to Rothwell, donating wages to charity etc - is not helping at all. It is going to take time, people need to stop comparing fifth division football and what is possible to elite level football, and a sense of perspective needs to be added. Is it frustrating watching us at times? Absolutely. But I'm clear in my mind as to what I expect from Mellon. It's one of those pragmatic relationships. I backed a three-year deal, he gets stability and we get a fella in charge who has a solid record, including promotions, at this level. The added extras in terms of style and approach can come when we're back in the FL and that will probably come after Mellon.

See the post two up fron yours. Commentary via BBC.