True Nomads Supporters

First of all happy New Year to all supporters of Connah's Quay Nomads.

Well done for making this board so proactive and lively. I thought it a good time to give you an insight into the dressing room currently. Over the past week it has been a much more positive and confident place to be with the signing of several new players. The effect is twofold - obviously new players come in with a view to getting into the team, and existing players are immediately put 'on their toes.'

I enjoy reading the board from time to time and the views of the fans, if not agreeing with many of the theories that go around! But that is what makes this club an interesting one, having an avenue to express those opinions so interactively.

What I am genuinely surprised and disappointed about is the reaction to our New Years Day game against Rhyl. I do think some of the critisism aimed at individuals on occasions is unhelpful at best, potentially destroying at worst. Players such as Ben Alston have been labelled 'The worst player ever to put on a Nomads shirt.' Ben's performances over the last 6 or 8 games have improved dramatically following an injury that robbed him of any pre season preparation. Now I notice people want him in the side! Ben did read this which caused him to consider his future at the club. Danny Forde came in for some heavy critisism after his debut. I have known Fordey since he was 11, he has played for Oldham Athletic including 4 years as pro, Barrow in Conference North and Ashton United in Unibond Prem. Much of his time lately has been as a right back but Jim and I see him as a centre midfield player. It will take him a little time to adjust but I have no doubts he will be a success. So comments judging him as a Sunday League player are ridiculous in our minds.

All our new players have settled in well. Liam Jones, Micheal Burns, Micheal Cronshaw, Tom Rowlands and Phil McDiarmid I thought all enjoyed promising debuts and when added to our established players makes us a much stronger squad. We still have Bungle on the injured list, already having ruled out Adam Dickinson for the season, Wes has a torn hamstring, Wayne Morgan has a groin injury, Gary Pinch we are being careful with at the moment as he requires minor surgery sometime in the future, and Cookie, Hitchen and Glover were all suspended for the last game.

There have been promising signs from every player and we need to find that potential week in week out. Players like Stewart White (who I mention as he attracts much discussion on here!) have parts of their game to improve and work extremely hard to do so, as do players like Herbie, Macca, Tigger and Tommy. As you know Chris Melia has left us, good luck to him. I read 'leaving the door open?' Let me stress, if a player decides his future lies elsewhere then that decision is made. End of. Chris is a good player and man but we move on and attempt to get better players in, thats football and a determination to succeed.

Squads are changed and teams are tinkered with regularly as you have seen. Most times this has been forced on us and we have juggled with a small squad until now. All of us involved - Jim, John, Ken. Grenville and myself continually strive to get the best out of every player. Nobody likes being on the end of some heavy scorelines as we have and every member of the dressing room must take collective responsibility to make sure those times are firmly behind us, starting tomorrow.

There will hopefully be potentially three more signings over the next week or so. Obviously we cannot say too much at this time but it is a case of fingers crossed as they will again add to the quality of our squad.

Sorry for the long post, I thought it important to give you some facts from within, I know fans are always appreciative of that. Also I will always, as will Jim John or Ken to talk to anyone after the game in the club. I will also endeavour to come on line on a Monday or tuesday after a game and answer specifics tyou may have. i wont get into the 'why is he not playing I cant believe it he is great' type of arguments and much of the time words in the dressing room remain there as they should. But you may like to know something that is not covered by Jim in post match press stuff.

We will succeed. We were written off as relegation fodder before the season had kicked off. We were supposed to go down without a point. We are bringing in players to improve te squad. We do know players, you have seen them come in - whether you think they are the right players is an individual opinion, we just ask you get behind each player equally supportively. For us all, that is important.

I look forward (??!!) to speaking to you and answering your questions!

Thanks

Andy (and Jim, John, Grenville and Ken!)



Post Edited (04-01-08 09:33)

Cheers Andy (& all). Shame about Dickenson, how are Matty Atherton's prospects? I know how highly thought of he was at Euxton.

All best for round 2, see you Saturday.

Andy,

Happy New Year to you all too!

Thank you for coming on this board and giving the supporters an indepth insight into what is going on behind the scenes. From a supporters perspective it is interesting, answers a few questions and is very much appreciated. I hope this will become a regular thing - its nice to see the management taking an interest in how the supporters feel.

After reading your post I am excited to see whats going to happen over the next few weeks and months. As far as I can see, but for injuries and no doubt a few more anomalies along the way, the general outlook for the team is very much a positive one.

Ive no doubt the management and team are giving it their best and as fans thats all we can ask for. This season we have often been very unlucky and the result has not reflected the play, only something you can appreciate having physically seen the games oneself.

However, I truely believe we will continue to earn points and stay up. Most of us know this season was going to be very tough. The good thing out of all this, is that when this season is over and we are into the next, you (the management) can say you built this team from the very foundations and through hard work and determination you have managed it into a success. This is something we can all be very proud of.

We will continue to provide all the support we can. We dont expect miracles - heartfelt, gutsy performances are what makes us happy - the great scorelines which I have no doubt, will come later, and when they do, it will be our turn to do the gloating :-D

Onwards and Upwards Nomads - we're right behind you!

No questions for Andy this week then ? If you have any- Try posting them on this thread, but make them sensible and show some respect please, or no doubt Andy will ignore them.

As a guide to questions - this is what Andy said he will or will not answer:-

"I will also endeavour to come on line on a Monday or tuesday after a game and answer specifics that you may have. i wont get into the 'why is he not playing I cant believe it he is great' type of arguments and much of the time words in the dressing room remain there as they should. But you may like to know something that is not covered by Jim in post match press stuff."



Post Edited (08-01-08 15:11)

Thanks all for your comments.

Blaen - Matty Atherton has struggled for some time with a knee injury and so has not been around the club much. Also he was at university for a spell and was juggling this with football and commuting to Chorley.

We hope Matty will be back with us in the future as he has the potential to be a good player. In the meantime we have been searching for a 'ready made' quality player in the same mould.

hi andy,can you tell me how you prepare for each match,do you decide on the tatics and players according to who you are playing,or do you go with who you think is playing well and pick the team that you think will do the job,and is there much discussion on other teams and their players or do you let them worry about us,cheers mate.

Cheers Andy. Lads like Matty and Pritch(both live in NW Lancashire) and the Manchester lads (Cooky, Witey) and others from the other side of Chester who travel so far to train and play are a great credit to the club.

Hi Owain

Generally at the moment we add up the number of fit players! Obviously since we have added to the squad (again last night!) it has been more difficult to select the squad.

Ususally Jim and I will both think along the same lines and we will discuss one or two positions. Jim has spent time this season looking at opponents and is excellent at analysing their strengths and weaknesses. When picking a team we will occasionally look to cancel out an opposition strength but in the main we will decide on a system and some of the team early in the week, allowing us to work on specifics on Tuesday and Thursday. Then we will usually finalise after that.

This may change for lots of reasons, but mostly we try and pick a side judged on form, balance and the way we want to play. This is always the interesting point when I read fans' reation to certain decisions without that information, but there are some interesting opinions. it is the same with substitutions and how they can affect the game for us - who will do the best job where? do we need pace or hold the ball up? do we need to change the system? etc etc.

I hope that helps!

thanks for that andy,i've been looking at the profiles of the management team and i've got to say they are very impressive.If we can keep everyone in place we can only get better.

Im a friend of Chris Herbert (he wont be too happy about me coming on here and saying these things, but im very surprised that he struggles to keep a place in your team) and im just wondering, what your reasons were for not starting him yesterday, after he come on and played so well in the last game. I was there to see the game last week in what was a much needed win, and i personnaly thought his presance turned the game in your favour. I spoke to him in the week and the way he come across was that he will be starting. He must have been gutted. I cant comment on the new lads as i wasnt there yesterday, but i have to admit, that if you have a winning side the week before surly it should be kept the same, the centre back and striker got injured very early on and score was 0.0 at the time so the lads that come in for them should have surly stayed in if fit. Also there seems to be a lot of new faces walking straight in to the team, witout being tested first. Could you explain your reasons for this aswell if possible please andy. P.s im not having a dig i just want to know how you go about your disisions. Cheers

We need a decent goalie!

Questions here please, not opinions, and be as precise as you can.

Thanks

Hi 'Good friend.'

We made the decision on the starting eleven quite late this week, mainly due to having a look at the pitch beforehand and giving a couple of players as much time as possible time to prove their fitness.

We had a disastrous start which put the game beyond our reach so whichever strikers we had picked were always going to be up against it. As for new players, we felt Sam should be in and Im sure he will become a fans favourite. Unfortunately Paul Armstrong's debut was not probably what he would have wanted but Im sure he has the ability to bounce back. Danny Forde is already proving those first game doubters wrong and hopefully Paul will do the same.

In relation to Herbie, as with several other players (I am not talking out of turn as this is what we have said to them individually) they must reach a certain level of consistency which judging by our results is something we need to find every week. You are right when you talk about herbie's performance last week, hopefully he will show a lot more of the same in training and matches over the next few weeks and become a massive assett to us. As a coach or manager you want players to give you a selection headache in a good way and hopefully over the last couple of weeks there are a few players who have done that. We have a decent and stronger squad now, this will hopefully help us find that winning formula.

Thanks for your question.

PS certainly not convinced with Herbie and Allan being 'babes!' I never realised Herbie's mates that posted on the board were that way inclined! it's the only conclusion I can come to! Pleased for Allan though, it's a while since he received any sort of compliment!!!!



Post Edited (15-01-08 09:24)

Well said Andy, i think its great that you come on here and explain everything to us about you decisions. Yes Herbie does look to have been pushing on a bit more as has white. Got to say i dont think that armstrong and Bedford will push on like Ford did, i just think they are out of there depth in this standard.
What are the thoughts from the management team on Rowlands performances he come here with a bit of a reputation of being a good player, but i think he is too greedy, and he is struggling with his size in a big way, he gets knocked off the ball very easy, maybe 1 for the future instead of now. What are your thoughts on his performances. Thanks Andy

hi andy,i noticed you said you were looking for consistency from the players,eg herbie and others,but surely to get this they need to know where they are playing each week,herbies been asked to play up front,then defence,back up front,same with white,one week he's up front then out wide,and it can't do their confidence any good to see untried players getting a game before them.

ANDY COULD YOU BE STRAIGHT WITH THE FANS AND TELL US WHY WE ARE SO POOR AND WHY ARE WE IN THE POSITION WE ARE IN FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW CHEERS MATE. AVID FAN?

Stamper, anyone reading your question, might wonder if your new to this board. I know from your email address that you are in fact a longstanding avid Nomads fan, so you will know that:-

1, Posting in capitals, is in effect shouting and therefore bad manners.
2, We started the season with a small and largely untested squad. You already know why.
3, You know we have had serious injuries to key players since the start of the season and a phenomenal number of injuries since then. Any WPL team that loses quality players such as, Bungle, Dickinson, Pinch and Killgannon, are bound to struggle. Add Morgan, Atherton, Jones and the latest addition, our new keeper Adam Bedford, who broke 2 fingers within the first 10 mins of the last game, and team selection is continuously disrupted.
5, Andy started this thread by pointing out that when we started the season, many people thought we would be relegated without getting a point. We now have 21pts.

Given that you already know all of the above facts, your question is not straight and is therefor a waste of Andys time. Also, to ask Andy to be straight, suggests that you think he might not be honest, which is a bit of an insult.

This thread is a valuable opportunity, to get answers to questions directly from our Management. Please think before you post on this thread to Andy, or we will lose it.

Andy, not straight!!? You're joking, I know 100s of women who'll verify his 'straightness' (can't spell 'asset though, hmm, worrying!).

Wivey stamper is a avid fan of nomads just like me and gave his question.As you know it was i which got this site running so if i had a question for anyone on this site i would, and under my own identity. Regards Willam.

Hi William, yes you did start the site, and all credit to you. How was I to know that someone else was using your email address? The answer I gave to stamper, is the same who ever asks the question. There is no point asking Andy to go over all the background as to why we are in our current siuation. It's a waste of his time. He will read this and decide for himself if he wants to add anything. No offence intended.



Post Edited (17-01-08 21:53)