Would not agree with worst ever

By David B14/4/2016 15:23Thu Apr 14 15:23:23 2016In response to Re: Last Night

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Whilst there is no doubt that this features high in all-time disappointing seasons, there is so much positivity regarding next season and the hopes and aspirations at SJP, that worst season ever is an exaggeration.

The year we escaped the drop because of another club’s misfortune, 2005-06 (and, it could be said, the three-manager campaign the year before), was far worse – we mustered fewer than 10 wins and achieved only 39 points, with a team arguably more experienced than this one – and the uncertainty about our future, with the imminent loss of Claremont Road, made things far bleaker.

I do concede, however, that our travails in 2015-16 were much more surprising. It should be noted, however, that in the last few years, Ryman Premier teams have lost playoff finals or been relegated from Conference South and gone down 12 months later, so negative reactions are not unheard of. AFC Hornchurch lost the playoff final to Lowestoft in 2014 and were relegated to Ryman North in 2015. It was the same in professional football in 2014 when Leyton Orient missed out on automatic promotion to the Championship on the last day of the season, threw away a two-goal playoff final lead before losing on penalties and were relegated to League Two in 2015. When Bognor went down from Conference South in 2009, they were relegated the following season (and Tonbridge almost emulated them last season.