Ryan Bowman - SIGNED

[Behind-the-Gulls]

too much time on your hands Dave :whip:

[tomogull]

I don't know why we would want McDonald - wasn't good enough when he was here before.
.

a. When he was here two years ago, it was his first league experience. He was only 18 I think and I thought he did reasonably okay although his inexperience showed at times.
b. He has had a season with Salisbury who did quite well so he has had more experience at a higher level that he was used to.
c. As you say, Conference is not as strong as Div 2 (although 'strong' is the wrong word after what we watched in last season's Div 2) so he'd have an opportunity to further develop.
d. He has played for England at under 16, under 19 and England C level so he must have something about him.
However, I see he was only on a one year contract at Salisbury which has now expired of course and it doesn't look as if anyone has come in for him yet so maybe your opinion is nearer the mark than mine!

[Fonda]

Excellent news. Know absolutely nothing about him, but the description sounds good!

[taxilady]

So.......Austrian Andy's gone to York; & we've got Ryan Bowman ! And the moral is.......................... :S :S :S :S :S .

[Oil Beef Hooked]

So.......Austrian Andy's gone to York; & we've got Ryan Bowman ! And the moral is.......................... :S :S :S :S :S .

One has better taste than the other

[Oil Beef Hooked]

Sounds like a very good signing to me. He's young, hungry and knows the conference. He seems to know where the onion bag is which is more than can be said for the 13 or so strikers we used last season.

[lucy6lucy]

Sounds like a very good signing to me. He's young, hungry and knows the conference. He seems to know where the onion bag is which is more than can be said for the 13 or so strikers we used last season.

Like many on this forum, no one really knows of him but he can only be an improvement on hawley.

[Fonda]

Don't particularly agree with this.

I think it's true that the top teams are of a similar (but still lesser) quality than League 2, say top 6-8, but the rest are on a spectrum between reasonably poor and terrible (compared to the football league). The drop off between 10th in conference and 10th in conference north/South is severe too. Many reasons for this, but mainly money (as you quite correctly highlight with your part-time comment).

Teams that come up do sometimes do well as you say. Part of that is down to the smaller gap in quality for the top conference teams, but also has a lot to do with momentum and a little extra promotion money sloshing around for a year(I am ignoring moneybags Crawley and fleet wood). Look at the teams that have come up recently and it's not all plain sailing-oxford, dagenham morecambe average league 2, accringtonWimbledon relegation battle, alders hot, Hereford, barnet, Torquay, Macclesfield all returned there, Exeter straight up now struggling etc etc. you only have to look at the number of successful conference players who don't make it in league 2 to tell you there is a definite jump in quality - we had our own examples in Sills, Todd etc.

Also to look at relegated teams struggling isn't the whole story, a lot of teams relegated in the last ten years have had major financial issues which knock on into following seasons. Aldershot, Stockport, Darlington, Hereford, Wrexham, Grimsby, Macclesfield (this list could go on) all got relegated because they were in a mess. Most of them continued to struggle because they were still in a mess. Grimsby were one of the few teams to sort themselves out and they made the playoffs. I would expect alders hot to be stronger next year now the owner has put more money in. When we were relegated in 2007 we were a mess- we were sorted by the start of the season and promotion push ensued.

Even if we start the season with a few of these transfer listed players, we still have a squad which is capable of mounting a play off push - if we sign a striker that is.

You make some very valid points relating to the clubs that have gone up, and particularly the financial situation of many of those that have come down. I'd agree that unless a club comes down into this division with serious financial problems, there are enough 'poor' teams in it to ensure it won't struggle too much. But I also believe that unless a club has a pretty decent budget, or pretty decent crowds, it'll struggle to be successful. I think we're somewhere in between. You allude to our previous stay, and as I've said elsewhere, I think the situation we enjoyed then is very different to the one we have to endure now.

[hector]

a. When he was here two years ago, it was his first league experience. He was only 18 I think and I thought he did reasonably okay although his inexperience showed at times.
b. He has had a season with Salisbury who did quite well so he has had more experience at a higher level that he was used to.
c. As you say, Conference is not as strong as Div 2 (although 'strong' is the wrong word after what we watched in last season's Div 2) so he'd have an opportunity to further develop.
d. He has played for England at under 16, under 19 and England C level so he must have something about him.
However, I see he was only on a one year contract at Salisbury which has now expired of course and it doesn't look as if anyone has come in for him yet so maybe your opinion is nearer the mark than mine!

I too thought Angus MacDonald did ok when he was here. I'd be happy to see him back.

[torkie_buoy]

If this is him we're in for a treat at half time

[cambgull]

I didn't realise that Ryan Bowman was the white person's name for Abedayo Akinfenwa...

[tonedf]

If you are expecting Bowman to bag you some goals then forget it. Absolute garbage..seriously.

[Rjc70]

If you are expecting Bowman to bag you some goals then forget it. Absolute garbage..seriously.

If you're favourite player is Lee Mansell how often have you seen him play? Scored 19 for Hereford in this League and 8 from 25 starts at York in the League above would suggest otherwise.

[Richinns]

Are you a York fan by any chance?

[gullintwoplaces]

If you are expecting Bowman to bag you some goals then forget it. Absolute garbage..seriously.

Look troll, I don't know who the f**k you are but your comment will be treated with the contempt it deserves. We have just signed a promising young player, who has a very decent scoring record. I regard 8 out of 22 starts for York and 15 out of 30 for Hereford as good and just what we want. So you can just crawl back into your hole.