Gary Owers apologises to fans after Potters Bar performance

Gary Owers demands better after lacklustre display yesterday.

https://soundcloud.com/bath-city-internet-radio/gary-owers-apologises-to-fans-for-potters-bar-display

Thanks, Gary - very honest views which are so refreshing to hear from managers in this age.

You could tell GO wasn't a happy man during the game. The manner in which he strode over to us behind the goal to apologise was certainly a man on a mission.
Cannot fault his passion or commitment.

I really admire Gary for coming over to us after the match and apologising. It is brilliant that he has so much respect for the fans and that in turn makes us respect him all the more.  

It is definitely a million percent improvement on the days when Howells would scuttle off down the tunnel as fast as he could.  

I have every confidence that Gary will encourage the players to think about what went wrong yesterday and that they will put it right for Tuesday.

I recall Gary did much the same during his earlier spell with us when he was player manager. I can't recall the detail but we were playing down the hill in second half and had had the majority of possession but had failed to get the score we deserved and 'the choir' had registered their displeasure .
Gary came over after the game as the players trooped off and tried to explain the footballing decisions that had been taken .
Some questioned the wisdom. Nobody questioned the honesty.

Midsomer-chris wrote:It is definitely a million percent improvement on the days when Howells would scuttle off down the tunnel as fast as he could.  

Admittedly he probably did in some cases, but he wasn't accepted from the start by a high percentage of fans, so if he'd come over at the end of the game they would have just had a dig. Gary has been almost universally accepted since he was re-appointed, so him doing this allows supporters to forget the rather lacklustre performance.

I remember soon after Arch's appointment we lost at Chesham in the trophy in a typical non-performance against a lower league game. He made his way over at the end in driving rain, a few fans vented their fury so he, and the players, didn't hang around long.

Gary has done well since he has come in, hopefully the players react positively on Tuesday otherwise we could endure yet another embarrassing cup exit.

I can also recall many occasions when Archie was happy to engage with fans after poor performances. Despite our colours, not everything is as black and white as some portray. Let's give him credit for the good times while continuing to get behind the current boss.

And the difference would have been a performance like Saturday's would have been blamed 100% on Howells by a number of supporters.

Beau Nash wrote:[color=#000000]One thing from Saturday is that Stuart Fleetwood ought go out on loan, if he can't influence a game against a team two divisions below City, then he has little chance in the league.

On that we can agree

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37541132
Just for a moment I thought....

comrade powell wrote:I can also recall many occasions when Archie was happy to engage with fans after poor performances. Despite our colours, not everything is as black and white as some portray. Let's give him credit for the good times while continuing to get behind the current boss.

Sorry Martin, I was put off Archie from the first time I saw him at a "Meet the Manager" night when he slouched back in his chair, looking bored and chewing gum. Then when he was challenged about something awful he had posted on twitter he tried to deny doing it (i.e. lied about it) and then in the end he had to climb down and admit that he had done it. For me he would have had to have done an awful lot to make me respect him after that.

Chris, I have a vague memory of that evening - and you're right that Archie didn't do himself any favours. I'm sure you're aware that he was right out of his comfort zone at those meetings and I don't think any were held for the last couple of years he was at the club.

But I also recall much smaller gatherings where he came over totally different and was happy to talk about many subjects. Members of the Bid team met him on the morning of the Altrincham trophy match when he must have had far more pressing things on his mind, but he gave us an hour of his time and was very helpful. Despite the abuse handed out to the management following the cup exit at Gosport, he was still prepared to attempt to reason with the most agitated.

It seems a shame that some people's opinion of him was formed at a single event and that they never gave him a second chance...

Fair comment Martin. He is often blamed for our failure to get through our FA trophy semi-final but seldom given credit for getting us there in the first place.

Another one due??

I dashed home as quick as possible after that (typical that for once the car park was busy). Couldn't face interviewing Gary. I'm angry and dejected enough myself, if I was manager last thing I'd want is some weird little bloke asking why we've bottled it in the FA Cup yet again.

I thought we did ok for the first half hour and should have been more than one up. As soon as they made it 1 - 1 it all changed. They got more confident, defended well, and we had no real idea how to break them down and just became very predictable.
I left at half time in extra time as you could see what was going to happen. It was going to penalties and the way their keeper had played he was always going to save 2 or 3.
To once again fail in a home replay against a team 2 levels below is just not good enough.

Apart from a spell before their equaliser this evening, we have completely failed to impose our supposed superiority in two games against Potters Bar. The lacklustre displays and sloppy mistakes have cost the club a potential £20k before reaching the lucrative first round. Just £8k picked up from two seasons of cup matches.

These are not one offs as our cup record at TP over the last 10 seasons is an embarrassment. 16 games played, 3 wins, 5 draws, 8 defeats with just 1 win in the last 10!

I agree Junior that GO would probably not wish to be interviewed afterwards, but there are many questions he needs to be asked about that debacle. Simply unacceptable...

Can't fault the players efforts and it was a massive loss when Watkins went off just before half-time but that doesn't disguise the fact we should be beating a poor side like Potters Bar.

comrade powell wrote:The lacklustre displays and sloppy mistakes have cost the club a potential £20k before reaching the lucrative first round.

Ouch, this £20k figure is not really a fact and would only have been available had the club won last night and at Chesham. We lost 7.5k and the potential to get 13.5k.

Based upon your logic we must have also lost a considerable amount from first round proper TV revenue?

You did notice my use of the word 'potential'? Had we been looking at a next round at Dagenham I wouldn't have made my point - I'd suggest that two very winnable games against Potters Bar and Chesham were a passport to £20k. But presumably our players were not motivated by the same possibility and were as complacent as me...

I don't think you can accuse the players of lacking motivation or call them complacent. The first half as probably as well as we've played this - even allowing for how poor the opposition were - and even in the second half and extra time we had enough chances to win the game comfortably.

As an aside, we now have the same penalty shoot out record as England - won one out of eight.

So if we didn't show complacency and showed effort and were motivated and played as well as we've played this (season?), we're going to put our exit down to a supposed foul on Artus before their equaliser and fluffing a few half chances. I hope Gary doesn't agree with that!

So, what signs were there that the players lacked motivation or were complacent?

I saw a team who ended up in the lottery of penalties because they missed more than a few half-chances - someone said we had 22 efforts on goal - so you can blame it on a lack of quality in that area.