The Hotel End

I thought i'd have a look at years gone by.....and started with 1993/94, that was the season we finished bottom of the entire Football League and were only saved by Kidderminsters ground not being up to scratch.

Our record that season was 38 points form 42 games (only 42 in those days!) 9 league wins all season, but we did score 44 and only concede 66.

We only lost by three or more goals in FOUR league games all season!

Fast forward to this season, after 42 games, 10 wins so one more....whoopee!! We've only scored 36 goals and conceded 72!!

We have lost NINE league games by three or more goals after tonight!!

If you wanted any proof as to just how bad this season has been, then there it is!!

I always thought that 93/94 we knew from the start that it would be a hard season. The players were not that blessed with ability but they seemed to have a lot of effort and commitment.
This season the players should have had the ability but tey lacked the effort and commitment.
So all things considered I would think this season is a lot worse.

This season is the worst of the lot because I have finally had my tolerance levels reached.

From the fiasco of the East Stand, to the seriously incompetent succession of managers, to the absolutely pathetic spineless players like Grimes, Van Veen, Powell, Turnbull, Crookes, to the absolute mind numbing boredom.

Give me that team from 93 any day, they may have been god awful but they actually tried.

Just wait until England draw 0-0 to Panama getting knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages. You'll be itching for that pre-season friendly at Sileby come July.

This season is miles worse than the 93/94 season which was operated on a shoestring......on and off the pitch .

The team then was also one that the fans could relate to......Psycho in goal, Steve Terry plus Sammo & Razor, Phil Chard, man in the spotlight- Kevin Wilkin, poor old Martin Aldridge....all heroes and some legends to the Cobblers fans. All surely fondly remembered.

The season ending with us 22nd after the infamous battle of Saltergate.

Strangely enough despite finishing bottom ....I enjoyed that season.

This season, on the other hand, has left me questioning , for the first time : WTF am I doing there. ???

The difference between then and now is that the team then had fight and passion and maybe not enough skill so even when we were getting beaten we fought so as a crowd we were behind the team. This lot are gutless and show no fight or passion, never since I started following the Cobblers in the Mid eighties have I been so disappointed in a team that we have put out as this season. It has been a souls destroying season apart from 2 or 3 games.
Still saying that I will be back next year, I just hope most of these players aren't.

AWFUL

It's absolutely the worst in living memory (30 years for me) because of the sheer nature of the performances and the spiral it's become.

It's not been as bad as our 2002-03 relegation season, in my opinion.

you have cheered me up

Does anyone know our highest league position this season?

17th after JFH first two wins.

2002/03 season.....

Played 46, Won 10, Drawn 9, Lost 27, scored 40, conceded 79, points 39.

Out in the first round of the league cup....snap!
Out in the FA Cup after a replay.....snap!
10 games without a win towards the end of the season......snap!
9 defeats of three goals or more......snap!!

From new years day till the end of the season we played 22 games...winning just 3 of them, this season since New Years Day we've won 4 games.

Its almost uncanny isn't it??

But yes, statistically it was marginally worse!!!

And our season is not quite yet over - it started with 4 losses and perhaps could end with 4 wins or 4 draws. So its in the hands of the gods whether this season is the worst. It would not surprise me at all if the team came out of this smelling of roses.

Quite bad but not the worst, we might see that next season. We might all be space dust soon the way things are shaping up so that might save us the embarrassment.

Don't let the buastards get u down Frank

Do I look down in my picture ? ;D I have a lovely pearl necklace to cheer me up.

Wow. That really is a dreadful season.

Correct - these poor darlings who think otherwise!

So bad that I will not be clapping the players at the last home game as they leave the pitch .
It’s unlikely I will even bother turning up

We've got a table booked for the end of season dinner. We always have a player on our table, I intend to flick peas at him all night

Surely some context needs to be applied though? I think our budget that season was pretty unashamedly bottom 6 or so? This season, at a conservative estimate our playing budget would be top half.

It might be recency bias but I think this season goes down as worse if you look beyond the bare stats. Possibly the most avoidable relegation in the last 30 years but also extremely deserved.

Definitely the raised expectation.

If we had the squad we were shaping up with before 'The Chinese' joined in, I think it's fair to say we could have expected to finish bottom 4 (Cornell, Buchs, Moloney, Poole, Barnett, Bowditch, O'Toole, Foley, Powell, Revell, Waters).

But the raised budget increased expectations, whereas in reality, it seemingly stripped our squad of any team ethic at all. The players individually are of mostly good quality, but playing together as a team still looks a little bit like pre-season.

Prior to this season, I had left two games early in the 22 years that I've been watching this club. This season I have left more than 10 games early. It's been the worst season in my time by a distance.

It's also been so bad that I'm not attending another game this season.

Really? That was a season wracked by injuries. I believe nine of our playing squad required surgery that year. This bunch we've got now - quite probably our most expensive squad, ever - they have been dire, start to finish. I accept we've employed some crap managers, but at some point the players have to stand up and be counted. Make no mistake, the talent is there, but they have continually not seemed bothered, or else have bottled opportunities.

We're not (quite) down yet, but as it stands this season has been shockingly bad. I've seen some crap Cobbler's sides in my years supporting the club, but most of those were because we could only scratch together enough pennies to employ journeymen footballers. This lot have no excuse.

The 2002/2003 Season was far worse as we were down well before the end of that season. At least we may have a chance to escape the drop this season even tho' many of us think otherwise.

There was a lot of disruption at the beginning of the season with the senior players and this continued after JED left .
Who knows if this was to do with wages after the supposed newfound wealth or if it was to do with noses being pushed out of joint .
One thing is for sure , the team spirit hasn’t been there all season and it’s plain to see .
I do wonder whether we would have done better with a small core o f less talented players .
The manager has also not connected with the supporters and as a result home games have been dire .
The whole place is just miserable and has been all season

I can’t remember seeing a league side as bad as ours, except perhaps Doncaster the year they went out the league. In fact we’re so awful I genuinely fear that our downward momentum will carry us into the Vanarama next season

I think we always knew the 02/03 season would be a struggle with an ageing squad which only just survived the previous year and few signings...but I think that side would actually beat this one.

This season has just been awful and the sooner we're put out of our misery the better

The more you think about this season the worst it is .
Not only have we had money to spend and quality players and completely under performed but so many other things have been poor .
There has been no injury crisis , there has been not one glimmer of attractive football , there has been very few enjoyable matches , we hardly score a goal , we get thumped at home regularly , the atmosphere has been dire , the East Stand has gone nowhere , the Posh derby games have been a Hamner House Of Horror ....... catering facilities are still shocking despite claims to the contrary .... and so it goes on .
What a rubbish season with virtually no highlights at all .

Do you not think there needs to be some adjustment according to expectations / level of budget etc?

 At this time we are rubbish. This must be sorted.

Well played defender.