Dartford v Worthing Tue 9 Apr 2024

[ozymandias]

What a shame it has come to this. The euphoria finally bursting since 2006.
I personally have not been attending since the defeat at home to Maidstone and even then the writing was on the wall long before that game.
I did go to Dover this year but it was hardly a great performance. So, effectively for me, November I felt was the time we were going to be in a lot of trouble.
And yet, with a twelve point cushion and many on here gloating at the fact/assumption that Welling and the likes were dead and buried we continued with Dowson.
Until it was too late.
I hope that Ade can get me back to watching games next season and even though it's not a forgone conclusion I may get to the Ramsgate away fixture just by falling out of bed.
As much as I hate to say it but the Yeovil game is a formality, for Yeovil.
The rest is history.

[dartfordknight]

Said at the beginning of the season this was the worst team i have ever watched play in a Dartford Shirt and got a bit of stick on here and from a few members of staff from the club. But unfortunately i was proven right. When you have watched Dartford since 87/88 its not hard to see none of the players really had any desire or really cared about the shirt , i will say with the exception of Olly Box.

I hope be get rid of everyone except Olly (if we can keep him) and start again with a new team that have some real passion to put on the shirt like when we first opened the doors of PP.

[Tall Dart]

With the time Ade has had I have been pleased with what he has achieved in terms of getting the players together. I don't blame him for our demise. I think the board will need to hold their hands up at, this has been a complete disaster. Somehow managing to come out in support of Douse early on in the season, after extending his contract (beggars belief). What exactly they saw that we couldn't is beyond me. By the time they made a decision not to stick with tony for the remainder of the season it was too late, by his own admission Ade had been watching our games for the last few weeks before his appointment, so the board were caught napping IMO. If Douse had stayed in place he may well of got a few wins to keep us up but he was destroying the club for the fans with his brand of football, and we would have been stuck with him for another season.

As for tonight, I think we were unlucky not to get a point for the effort we can't say they didn't try, but we're up against an in form team that did what good teams do, grind out results.

We are going down with le dovre

Ffs

[Ajaxman DFC]

Under the present structure with the old guard still at the helm, enjoying life as privileged fans, we were never going anywhere. Not unless a day out down the coast involving a piss up in the biggest Wetherspoons pub in the country is classified as going somewhere.
I submitted a post earlier in the season saying if we don't move with the times the National League South will leave us behind.
And we're now 90 minutes away from that becoming a reality. No doubt the board will then be calling an emergency COBRA meeting to devise a 50 year plan to return to the National League.
As for Alan Dowson, he was sacked because it was looking highly unlikely we were going to make the play-offs. But I don't believe he would have got us relegated. Replacing him with Tony Burman most definitely wasn't the answer. Burman is a club legend. He would been even more of a legend if he had he resigned after our first season in the National. We were the victims of our own success losing the likes of Bonner and Champion to full-time football and that would have been the time to hire someone like Steve King with his encyclopedia of player profiles. Burman was in temporary charge far too long this season and to hire Ade Pennock, who had been available for sometime but wasn't first choice for the job, with a handful of games to go has been absolutely ridiculous.

[Kermo18]

Under the present structure with the old guard still at the helm, enjoying life as privileged fans, we were never going anywhere. Not unless a day out down the coast involving a piss up in the biggest Wetherspoons pub in the country is classified as going somewhere.
I submitted a post earlier in the season saying if we don't move with the times the National League South will leave us behind.
And we're now 90 minutes away from that becoming a reality. No doubt the board will then be calling an emergency COBRA meeting to devise a 50 year plan to return to the National League.
As for Alan Dowson, he was sacked because it was looking highly unlikely we were going to make the play-offs. But I don't believe he would have got us relegated. Replacing him with Tony Burman most definitely wasn't the answer. Burman is a club legend. He would been even more of a legend if he had he resigned after our first season in the National. We were the victims of our own success losing the likes of Bonner and Champion to full-time football and that would have been the time to hire someone like Steve King with his encyclopedia of player profiles. Burman was in temporary charge far too long this season and to hire Ade Pennock, who had been available for sometime but wasn't first choice for the job, with a handful of games to go has been absolutely ridiculous.

Couldn’t agree more!
Tony has done some great things at the club and rightfully deserves plenty of respect.
I think him still being so involved in all aspects of the club now though is starting to become a real issue.

[Skip]

Nice to get to the game last night; only my fifth this season plus a couple on the NLTV. It looked like The Darts might get something from the game but once again an individual error cost the team points. That has been the feature in all the other games I’ve witnessed and has been mentioned by just about everyone on this forum on a regular basis throughout the season, too.

The season has been an absolute pig’s ear and I feel for all my mates having to endure lack of quality and more importantly, failure to accumulate sufficient points to avoid the inevitable relegation. Whilst Ady has only been in charge for a short period he has watched the team for longer period. He will undoubtedly use that knowledge to sort the chaff from the wheat and only offer new deals to those he think will be up for a very tough year ahead in the Isthmian Premier.

Next season’s squad will need to be much fitter, game management savvy and, definitely, less inclined to give the opposition a helping hand in the goal scoring department! Without doubt the board need to boost the attendance of the younger support base and get some sort of atmosphere going again. A rocking Princes Park could help secure additional points in what we all hope should be a promotion push next season. Anything less will not be acceptable.

[Park Life]

Without doubt the board need to boost the attendance of the younger support base and get some sort of atmosphere going again. A rocking Princes Park could help secure additional points in what we all hope should be a promotion push next season. Anything less will not be acceptable.

100% agree mate and I've ready messaged the club with my suggestion

[Lars Resort]

So, what is this business about Ade not being the first choice for the job? First I've heard .

[The 5th Searcher]

We’ve been suffering with keeper & defensive problems all season and this is mainly where all our mistakes have been and have cost us. Unfortunately right from pre season our problems took effect when we lost virtually every single friendly whether it be higher or lower league opposition. I went to the Margate friendly and we was dreadful and made them look a class act and they currently sit 4th from bottom in the Isthmian Prem and look like relegation candidates so we may not see them next season. We have been down right bloody awful all season and to have had 3 different managers in 1 season says it all. Dowse and his recruitment of players this season has been a disgrace, to get rid of a quality keeper like Dan Wilkes and bring in the likes of Mitch Beeney who came from another relegated club then sign players from Havant who are relegated this season shows the man was completely clueless.

I only hope that Ade gets rid of virtually all of the players at the end of the season and brings in his own players who will hopefully fight and battle for the club because we certainly don’t have that at the moment.

The keeper getting lobbed yet again last night albeit it may have been a flukey wind assisted goal and then for Nehmbard to f@@k up yet again this season to cost us yet another goal lost us the match, it’s happened far far to often this season that a defender or keeper cock up costs us goals and we lose the match.

One final thing, whoever puts the team listing up on the digital board can you please get it up dated with the correct manager on it. Last night it still showed that clown Dowse as our manager and not Ade.

[Kermo18]

I think it’s very common knowledge that Danny scopes was first choice and was offered the job but turned it down.
Pennock was available from the day dowson was sacked, you don’t wait 7 weeks to appoint him if he’s your number 1 target.

[Mark Sweet]

I think it’s very common knowledge that Danny scopes was first choice and was offered the job but turned it down.
Pennock was available from the day dowson was sacked, you don’t wait 7 weeks to appoint him if he’s your number 1 target.

Makes it even more laughable he's been given a 2 year contract when the clubs league status was in jeopardy. Should've been offered end of the season with an extension should we survive.

It may not be entirely his fault but I've seen nothing from Pennock to suggest he is the man for next season. Signings severely underwhelming, in game management/substitutions questionable and treatment of Olly when he was in his best form all season also questionable.

[DA Mikey]

A lot has been said about our failings and individual errors tonight with little consideration of the opposition.
Worthing are sitting high in the playoff positions for a reason - they are well organised, skillfull and move the ball around quickly and with purpose. They always had at least one guy spare, ready to receive the ball, look up and start an attack or defuse our endeavours.
For our part we worked hard, but we are short of players who can compete creatively. Only Olly could do that tonight. Coulson has been off the boil for a while and the only other players we have who can create are Barzy and Shomo. Allen and Rooney only burn bright on rare occasions. Until we can sort that out our defence is always going to suffer severe examinations and even the best defences will wilt if continously up against it.
Like everyone else I long for an end to this season and look forward with interest to what the future squad will look like.
COYDs

Totally agree Mick. Worthing opened up a lot of space and knew how to retain possession. A very fortunate penalty award ground a win out for us at Dover and similarly put us ahead against Worthing. I felt that we snuffed them out quite well last night, letting them come at us and breaking. On Saturday, we beat a poor H&W side by raising our general 5/10 team to a six, but that ain’t gonna cut it against the hard nuts of this league.
Sadly, we have become a husk of a side. It must be partly to do with using well in excess of 100 players over the last three seasons. We are a jumble sale.

[LA Dart]

Any thoughts on why DFC never experienced the so called 'new manager' bounce when TB and then Ady joined us ? For all the critique of AD, his record is far superior to the other managers - fact !

I'm not defending AD at all and still maintain that letting the keepers leave, the best two central defenders in the league leave and then signing Hidge & Brackett up front was the beginning of the end and this was last July...

[KentC]

Well i'm guessing your referring to me Matt because as far as i can see i'm the only one whose made reference to it on this thread.

IMO our previous manager was the worse i can ever remember in my 50+ years of watching DFC, on and off the field.
From the forced fun karaoke as soon as he arrived to the car crash interviews every single week. The detrimental comments about the club, budget, fans, training facilities, etc etc etc which occurred on a regular basis. Oh and not forgetting the worse player recruitment i can ever remember from a manager.

I agree that since he's left there hasn't been an improvement in results but i'd argue we are now playing better football, although that isn't hard after the previous 18 months of boring, negative hoof ball hoping to grab a goal from a free kick, long throw or corner. Yes i was hoping we'd get a new manager bounce/bounce and yes it's been three months since he went, but to try and change a losing mentality and get results when the rot has well and truly set in is not easy. Especially when again IMO, he also created the biggest divide between the fans and playing side i can ever remember.

I'd also agree that other than Nelson (whose been very good), player recruitment hasn't been as successful as we needed but to try and get better players late into the season is very difficult. I seem to remember our last manager using the excuse that he got appointed late into PRE SEASON and that's why he couldn't sign the players he wanted (never believed it at the time and still don't).

As for Olly, it has been reported he was carrying a slight knock for those games but i don't know for sure either way. Regardless of that he has been great and a breath of fresh air.

This wasn’t aimed solely at you, there are several people on here who continually reference dowse.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that he isn’t at fault for some of the failings this season but there are many more issues at play here.
The majority of this squad have had an easy ride all season, when people have posted criticism about them they got shot down instantly.
Where was the urgency amongst the subs tonight to warm up. At 2-1 down in the 75th minute we didn’t have a single person warming up, when one did emerge he came off the bench laughing with the injured dross sat in the stands.

Agreed with you mate

[KentC]

Under the present structure with the old guard still at the helm, enjoying life as privileged fans, we were never going anywhere. Not unless a day out down the coast involving a piss up in the biggest Wetherspoons pub in the country is classified as going somewhere.
I submitted a post earlier in the season saying if we don't move with the times the National League South will leave us behind.
And we're now 90 minutes away from that becoming a reality. No doubt the board will then be calling an emergency COBRA meeting to devise a 50 year plan to return to the National League.
As for Alan Dowson, he was sacked because it was looking highly unlikely we were going to make the play-offs. But I don't believe he would have got us relegated. Replacing him with Tony Burman most definitely wasn't the answer. Burman is a club legend. He would been even more of a legend if he had he resigned after our first season in the National. We were the victims of our own success losing the likes of Bonner and Champion to full-time football and that would have been the time to hire someone like Steve King with his encyclopedia of player profiles. Burman was in temporary charge far too long this season and to hire Ade Pennock, who had been available for sometime but wasn't first choice for the job, with a handful of games to go has been absolutely ridiculous.

Well said

[KentC]

Well i'm guessing your referring to me Matt because as far as i can see i'm the only one whose made reference to it on this thread.

IMO our previous manager was the worse i can ever remember in my 50+ years of watching DFC, on and off the field.
From the forced fun karaoke as soon as he arrived to the car crash interviews every single week. The detrimental comments about the club, budget, fans, training facilities, etc etc etc which occurred on a regular basis. Oh and not forgetting the worse player recruitment i can ever remember from a manager.

I agree that since he's left there hasn't been an improvement in results but i'd argue we are now playing better football, although that isn't hard after the previous 18 months of boring, negative hoof ball hoping to grab a goal from a free kick, long throw or corner. Yes i was hoping we'd get a new manager bounce/bounce and yes it's been three months since he went, but to try and change a losing mentality and get results when the rot has well and truly set in is not easy. Especially when again IMO, he also created the biggest divide between the fans and playing side i can ever remember.

I'd also agree that other than Nelson (whose been very good), player recruitment hasn't been as successful as we needed but to try and get better players late into the season is very difficult. I seem to remember our last manager using the excuse that he got appointed late into PRE SEASON and that's why he couldn't sign the players he wanted (never believed it at the time and still don't).

As for Olly, it has been reported he was carrying a slight knock for those games but i don't know for sure either way. Regardless of that he has been great and a breath of fresh air.

In my opinion it 100% isn’t Dowse fault we are getting relegated and dare I say it as much as he shouldn’t have been manager from October onwards if he had stayed on we would have continued to pick up the odd ugly win which would have kept us up.

The blame lies with the group of people who sacked the previous manager, recruited Dowes, gave him a 2 year contract, didn’t take action quick enough, and basically are sleep walking the club back to the Ishmian and I am amazed you can’t see it PL or is it you just don’t want to critique ?

BBilly there’s more to your point.
Dowse inherited a decent side, the start to the season was a good one. Dowse got a lot of his players in and the final 3rd of the season was horrendous. We built up so many points early on that we managed to scrape into second place.
The damage was starting to show and the second place was in spite of Dowse not because of.
So the board in May after the playoff loss gave Dowse a 2 year contract, this is in May after the absolute crap we finished the season with.
The board must of seen 2nd place so great job yet in fact Dowse had already done a bad job.

Giving him this contract was criminal, it was a horrendous decision and shows when it comes to theses decisions the board haven’t got a clue, they never looked at the bigger picture.

That decision alone by the board has cost us heavily and that decision by the board has played a significant part in relegating the club.
Getting rid of Dowse was a kamikaze situation created by the inept board and in turn the process of the selection of the new manager by the board was kamikaze also.

Yes they’re supporters, yes they saved the club and they deserve all the plaudits they get but they also need to be held accountable for their catastrophic errors that have sent this club down.

If anyone in this forum defends then then you’re part of the problem.

[Hitchin Dart79]

We’ve been suffering with keeper & defensive problems all season and this is mainly where all our mistakes have been and have cost us. Unfortunately right from pre season our problems took effect when we lost virtually every single friendly whether it be higher or lower league opposition. I went to the Margate friendly and we was dreadful and made them look a class act and they currently sit 4th from bottom in the Isthmian Prem and look like relegation candidates so we may not see them next season. We have been down right bloody awful all season and to have had 3 different managers in 1 season says it all. Dowse and his recruitment of players this season has been a disgrace, to get rid of a quality keeper like Dan Wilkes and bring in the likes of Mitch Beeney who came from another relegated club then sign players from Havant who are relegated this season shows the man was completely clueless.

I only hope that Ade gets rid of virtually all of the players at the end of the season and brings in his own players who will hopefully fight and battle for the club because we certainly don’t have that at the moment.

The keeper getting lobbed yet again last night albeit it may have been a flukey wind assisted goal and then for Nehmbard to f@@k up yet again this season to cost us yet another goal lost us the match, it’s happened far far to often this season that a defender or keeper cock up costs us goals and we lose the match.

One final thing, whoever puts the team listing up on the digital board can you please get it up dated with the correct manager on it. Last night it still showed that clown Dowse as our manager and not Ade.

Always thought running a team first position to try to nail down is the keeper and then go from there! We seem to have burned through 7 or 8 in less than 2 seasons which takes some doing. One thing cannot fault king for was he had two v good keepers on the books and look what we have ended up since!!

[Tall Dart]

Well i'm guessing your referring to me Matt because as far as i can see i'm the only one whose made reference to it on this thread.

IMO our previous manager was the worse i can ever remember in my 50+ years of watching DFC, on and off the field.
From the forced fun karaoke as soon as he arrived to the car crash interviews every single week. The detrimental comments about the club, budget, fans, training facilities, etc etc etc which occurred on a regular basis. Oh and not forgetting the worse player recruitment i can ever remember from a manager.

I agree that since he's left there hasn't been an improvement in results but i'd argue we are now playing better football, although that isn't hard after the previous 18 months of boring, negative hoof ball hoping to grab a goal from a free kick, long throw or corner. Yes i was hoping we'd get a new manager bounce/bounce and yes it's been three months since he went, but to try and change a losing mentality and get results when the rot has well and truly set in is not easy. Especially when again IMO, he also created the biggest divide between the fans and playing side i can ever remember.

I'd also agree that other than Nelson (whose been very good), player recruitment hasn't been as successful as we needed but to try and get better players late into the season is very difficult. I seem to remember our last manager using the excuse that he got appointed late into PRE SEASON and that's why he couldn't sign the players he wanted (never believed it at the time and still don't).

As for Olly, it has been reported he was carrying a slight knock for those games but i don't know for sure either way. Regardless of that he has been great and a breath of fresh air.

In my opinion it 100% isn’t Dowse fault we are getting relegated and dare I say it as much as he shouldn’t have been manager from October onwards if he had stayed on we would have continued to pick up the odd ugly win which would have kept us up.

The blame lies with the group of people who sacked the previous manager, recruited Dowes, gave him a 2 year contract, didn’t take action quick enough, and basically are sleep walking the club back to the Ishmian and I am amazed you can’t see it PL or is it you just don’t want to critique ?

BBilly there’s more to your point.
Dowse inherited a decent side, the start to the season was a good one. Dowse got a lot of his players in and the final 3rd of the season was horrendous. We built up so many points early on that we managed to scrape into second place.
The damage was starting to show and the second place was in spite of Dowse not because of.
So the board in May after the playoff loss gave Dowse a 2 year contract, this is in May after the absolute crap we finished the season with.
The board must of seen 2nd place so great job yet in fact Dowse had already done a bad job.

Giving him this contract was criminal, it was a horrendous decision and shows when it comes to theses decisions the board haven’t got a clue, they never looked at the bigger picture.

That decision alone by the board has cost us heavily and that decision by the board has played a significant part in relegating the club.
Getting rid of Dowse was a kamikaze situation created by the inept board and in turn the process of the selection of the new manager by the board was kamikaze also.

Yes they’re supporters, yes they saved the club and they deserve all the plaudits they get but they also need to be held accountable for their catastrophic errors that have sent this club down.

If anyone in this forum defends then then you’re part of the problem.

KentC, I agree with everything you have said there. Just about sums up my thoughts exactly, not that I defend them (board), but those in long service to the club I'm sure always have their best intentions for the club. I'm not sure what the future holds but we need the right balance of experience and business experience on and off the field.