SOMETIMES I have to ask, "Do the townsfolk of Altrincham deserve a successful football club?"

On Thursday April 29th 1999 a crowd of 1,526 came to Moss Lane to see the Robins beat Emley 1-0 and secure their place back in the top flight of non-league football.

On Saturday August 14th 1999, a crowd of 853 turned up to watch our first game back in The Nationwide Conference.

This was against Stevenage, one of the recognised better teams who brought with them between 150 to 200 fans.

Our gate was the second lowest in the league which saw all but three fixtures attracting well over 1000 plus attendances.

So the answer to my question is no, they do not deserve a successful football club and I wonder why so many people did not return to watch us last Saturday and I just do not know what more the club can do to attract people through the turnstiles.

On the football front I have to say that I thought we performed pretty well against Stevenage Borough.

They had one clear cut chance to our five or six.

Their keeper made several brilliant saves while we had a penalty claim turned down & a goal disallowed but at the end of the day they took their one chance & we didn't take any of ours.

It will take us a few games to adapt to Conference Football as there is a huge gap from the standard of the Unibond League, plus we have a few players who haven't played in The Conference before.

I thought that Stevenage looked that little bit sharper with a yard extra pace but overall I was not too downhearted with our performance, except of course with the result.

Hopefully we managed some sort of a result on Tuesday at home to Hednesford.

Travel: Nationwide Conference - away fixture v Yeovil Town on Saturday August 21st 1999.

Vine Sale - 9.30am, Hare & Hounds 9.40am, Station House 9.45am, Ground 9.50am - Fares:- Mem £13, Concess £13, Non Mem £18 (Child with adult £5 on this trip).

Live Entertainment - In the Noel White Suite On Sunday Aug 22nd 1999 with JAY - Male Vocalist - Doors 7.45pm - Admin £2.50p.

Race Night - Many thanks to all who supported and attended this event and making it a successful evening.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.