The Day He Went to Bangor

So Ashley Stott has gone. After a single season and 22 goals the young striker has returned to Bangor, the club he left last summer to join the Shaymen. Having knocked in a few you would think his departure would be met with a degree of disappointment, oh no not here Halifax, Stott has effectively left as a 22 goal villain. Only at the Shay could we create such a thing.

A section of fans went for him from pretty early on. One particular halfwit made profession out of berating Stott, so much so that the player issued a response via a message on a T shirt during a home game. So dim was the fan that he considered this reaction to be a victory. As pointless as much of dialogue was, Ashley needed to understand that coming a big non league club with big non league wages (I remember the shiny suited agent who introduced him to JV at Alfreton) that the criticism also gets bigger when you don't deliver what is expected. The barracking didn't help his game, he should have been bigger than that.

On the field things weren't made easy for him. Without a regular strike partner he never found his niche in the team. Injuries were the main reason for this lack of stability up front, further exasperated by an unstable supply line in midfield (more to do with JV's dithering). Could he have done better under the circumstances? The supporters continue to be divided on that one.

In reality he is an average non league striker not particularly better or worse than any of the ones we saw playing for other teams in this hell hole. He could do a job for us and Perhaps we need to accept that at this level of the game that quality is not really that easy to come by.