Adie certainly came in for a fair amount of criticism. His failure to make substitutions or at least give them enough time to make any impact, certainly frustrated a lot of people.

Its been a case of ever decreasing circles for some time now at HP. For me the start was when we failed to finish high enough in the league to gain a place in the newly formed Conference South. That really was a golden opportunity for the club to progress. Getting out of the Southern Premier League has proved to be an incredibly difficult task. Whether or not we could have stayed in the Conference South is another debate, but the reality of the situation is that teams who we had been able to compete with and beat, moved on. In the meantime, teams who we'd left behind, caught up and in some cases overtook us. 

Since missing the cut, we've gone from Southern Premier League runners up, to play-off finalists, then just failing to make the play-offs and finally to relegation battlers. 

And before anyone tells me that we should spare a thought for the teams who during the same period have gone out of business and disappeared, and that we should be grateful we still have a team to support, let me say that comparing us to the worst examples will never get us anywhere. In life you should always compare yourself with the best. 
 

silver wrote:

the loss of key volunteers etc, those things have all happened since Rudgey took the reigns.
 

Can't blame Rudge for that, the demise of the club stalwarts has been gradual for a couple of years.
 

Please Name and Shame?

Peter K Farrell

George wrote:

I'm just greatful that Melksham Bluebird has stopped shouting. 

Rudge and his team dug us spectacularly out of a big hole last season and confounded the vast majority of us. He earned his right to start next season as a manger of the football club, though no doubt there are a number of other reasons that have affected that decision too. 

 
Or you could take the view that we were fortunate to go up against Stourbridge in their "cocky lets give the players a rest mode" and AFC Totton in a rearranged fixture after their "wheels had come off big time" instead of when they were doing well. To lose those 2 would have caused us serious problems. Lets also not forget that Barwell were starting to look safe at our expense before "blowing up" If I remember correctly we succeeded in putting the 11th goal past Totton in only 2 matches.
I am thankful for our late success but do not see it as a renaissance. I am seriously worried about how lightweight we appear to be with the new season rapidly approaching.
 No one will be happier than me if these fears prove to be incorrect

Bluebirds2006 wrote:

Corner Flag wrote:

Ahhh, the long awaited "book", with all that's happened over the last few years and that's just the stuff you can publish, it'll have more volume's than Encylopedia Britannica, lol.

And just to provoke debate how about our new under 18's manager sitting on the bench while Rudge is suspended.

  Sorry to be dim but who's the manager of the under 18's?
 

Why don't you check the website? Boom boom