Personally I liked king but the club sacked him and gave their reasons so I moved on. Dowse came in and it was clear he had good pedigree. He banged on about the community so I thought great , go for it.Spike wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2023 6:02 pm There's a few critical comments on here where the posters talk about "happy clappers" and expecting to be "shot down", but I don't think that's likely because when it comes to Dowse and the squad, for the most part we are all on the same page. I don't believe there ARE any happy clappers, although I would consider many people like myself and Park Life as maybe UNHAPPY clappers. No boycotts for us, we are still going to be there cheering for our team home and away most every week, but that doesn't mean we are HAPPY with how things are on the pitch. The way I see it, we are a bog average side playing unattractive football in front of a dwindling crowd in a near silent stadium brimming with apathy. Of course that isn't good enough!
What I would say though, is that when Dowse was appointed to take over it was (putting the arguments about Steve King's derparture to one side) generally perceived as a good decision. I don't remember there being hordes of people on here complaining that it wasn't and I think the overwhelming majority thought the board had made a good choice. The fact that we have subsequently fallen from perennial contenders to mid-table nonentities is obviously disappointing to us all, but the appointment seemed sound at the time and it's easy to be wise after the event. It was a genuine decision made with the best of intentions and having made it, to some extent the club has to live with it, especially since Dowse came 2nd last season and though it seems unlikely, the play-offs are still within reach this term. There are also people's livelihoods, contracts and club finances to consider, so my expectation is that we will have to see how this season plays out, desperately hoping there's a dramatic turnaround and things suddenly fall into place. Next year? Who knows.
I'm setting off tomorrow for a few days in the west country, ahead of the Truro game at Plymouth on Saturday, but regardless of the result, I can't see us posing any sort of a challenge this season.
When we got 2nd last season I thought there were a few games towards the end where we struggled and we’re putting in poor performances but other teams around us kept dropping points and the objective was second and we got it, no one praised the team and manager more than me.
As for the playoffs I think we were unfortunate and played well enough on the day.
As we stand it’s completely different.
This is now his team and he kept and recruited who he wanted, he’s criticised the supporters more than once and the style of play is so bad that if you don’t win it feels awful.
The crowds are down, you don’t need stats to prove anything as the season ticket holders are automatically counted but we can see it in the terraces every week. There is no doubt about that.
His interviews are a horror show and as for the community, well he alienates people he certainly doesn’t bring them together.
I have no idea what he’s done in the community to reach out to the endless potential of supporters from all ages in this town.
They don’t come to PP that’s for sure. Not anywhere near that could.
The criticism now is based on what been happening, no one would
be unhappy with his arrival and 2nd was bloody fantastic, but there’s nothing wrong with welcoming him and wanting him to do well and praising him when he does but that doesn’t make him immune if things go tits up in so many ways like they have and it’s not unreasonable to criticise him even if you welcomed his appointment at the time.
As for not attending out of protest, I’ve never done that in fact I think that’s not very bright. I’m not attending at the moment because plain and simply I just don’t want to. I have no desire to.
I’ve supported Dartford for just over 20 years what is nowhere near what some of you guys have been I know, but never have I felt like I just don’t want to go, and quite frankly it makes me sad and disappointed I don’t have that buzz anymore, I wish I did.
the buzz of PP has gone - we so need the youngsters back. In 1981 I recall sone of us back then getting 15 plus lads up to see the Darts from Hextable and when we had the legendary 2012 side it was great to see all the youth but now ……gone …. Totally gone 
. He dropped almost everything he came for and the one save from under the bar was his only spectacular moment.
