DagenHammer87 wrote:Back in the "good old days" when I started coming along - 99 onwards - the thing that really captured my imagination was the character and personality of the club.
It might not have been the greatest of clubs playing the greatest football in the greatest of leagues; but there was that something about it.
The players had personality, they were a laugh - normal working class blokes who had the ability to have a laugh and had that passion and drive to work hard for themselves and each other.
I haven't been this season and I only made Torquay home and a pre season last year - but from what I've seen is we are completely devoid of any personality. We shouldn't be in red - we should wear beige.
The players seem to saunter into the ground, ignoring everyone; when in reality, they are only doing their own legs in the kids not seeing them as idols or wanting to know.
We had cult heroes in those teams, Broomy, Jonah, Cobby, Shippy, Lee Goodwin - the list is endless. Who have they been replaced with? In my opinion a group of blokes who 1) are here just to earn a pay packet and still have the right to say they're still a "football league player" 2) a group who wonder how they'll look on the football league show and 3) putting themselves in the shop window.
I'll admit I gave wayne a hard time on here the year we nearly went down, but it's the "same old Dagenham" mentality.
It's too expensive to come in off the street now, the general cost of things around the club is ridiculous and the next generation of fans won't put up with our dross when one of the prem teams are smashing it up on motd or fifa.
I tell you how you fix it - put some life back into the club, where's the fun factor within the group? Morale looks terrible and the players are frightened to make a mistake for fear of being booed/ moaned at (rightly or wrongly I must add!).
No one plays with a smile on their face and there doesn't appear to be much direction.
Apologies for the long rant, but I'm gonna firmly put my flag in the "one out all out" camp - get rid of the lot and bring in a new management team when the time comes.
When we lose the amateur approach off the field, we'll do better on it.
Rant done - COYD
Pretty accurate overall, however the
"I haven't been this season and I only made Torquay home and a pre season last year" rather spoils the validity of the opinions offered. What you appear to be saying is that you haven't really seen much of us playing under Wayne at all really.
I've not given up on us yet, just feel that the club needs to take a look at itself and decide what its core values and goals are and then work towards that. I believe we are a community club, proud of our heritage, trying to show that football can be played in the Football League without vast silly money, giving players a chance to show what they can do and better themselves. We'll never be a Chelsea or Arsenal, but we can be an Orient or Southend, solid Football League clubs with a chance of a few seasons up the leagues every now and then.
To do that we need to build the club fan base slowly, and our pathetic home form over the last year is actually having the opposite effect. The Season Ticket offer this year was great, the discouraging of people turning up on the day we have been doing for a while now, not so great.
We need to give local youngsters a chance, pick wisely from the vast pool of locol non-league players and Academy players that get set adrift around their late teens early 20s and build a proper team spirit again with players that want to play for the Daggers and which is inclusive of the fans and everyone else involved.
Rant done, - COYD ;)