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I am alone in thinking that we have been pretty much shafted by this week's 3-Away-fixtures-in-5-days farce, entirely as the result of the shotcomings of other Clubs' ground inadequacies. It's been a totally anti-climactic week where we have been placed in the invidious position of making up for the shortcomings of the playing surfaces of other clubs. It may have been the wettest winter on record but 3 x postponements at WSM and one at Farnborough have cost us... without, apparently, quite the same jeopardy for either of those two clubs... Were we in a relegation scrap, I think we would have solid grounds for formal complaint. Something not quite right here! Hopefully, a rousing end to the season against Chelmsford will send the Home faithful home happy... The celebratory grapes of a really solid season..are a bit sour at the moment...
Last edited by Rambler (13/4/2024 11:20 PM)
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Still the chance of silverware on Tuesday in the Wiltshire Premier Shield Final at Swindon's County Ground
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I think the league will be looking at this issue before next season kicks off. Already they've shown they've got a bit of bite by declaring that two abandoned matches would not be replayed and the result at the time of abandonment stands. I suggest the rules being changed to something along the lines of postponed matches must be played within one month and if they aren't the away side is awarded a 3-0 win. That would stop fixture congestion in March/April and incentivise clubs to sort out their pitch issues.
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Completely agree.
It would have derailed any potential playoff push or relegation fight we were in, luckily we've not been in one but it does make you wonder.
NL are completely incompetent but we knew that anyway.
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Some interesting thoughts/ideas here. Personally I'm not sure the NL will make any great changes, we will wait and see. One easy step would be to add an extra week to the season to align with the EFL.
On a side note what a big game affecting the last relegation spot on Tuesday when Taunton play Torquay!
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Don't the local FA County Cup matches take priority over league games when rearranging? Imagine we could of played Farnborough this midweek if there wasn't a local cup final already set up by the local FA at the County Ground on Tuesday? On pitch standards - it is surprising in a league with professional clubs and a higher profile than say 20 years ago - that having a decent pitch is not part of the ground criteria regulations clubs have to meet if they want to play at this level.
Bit of a shoot out on Tuesday at Taunton. They should get a decent crowd. Even if Taunton lose they may yet survive if Torquay go to the wall.
Last edited by Argus (14/4/2024 11:00 PM)
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The NL created this issue with their instance on having everything wrapped in time for their earlier than ever play off final at Wembley on May 5th.
I seem to recall when we joined this league we’d have played an extraordinary amount of games by the end of September/mid-October, didn’t seem to be the case this time around. Front loading the season again seems to be the only logical solution to avoid it again.