Back to Blue Square One?

Almost exactly two years ago today, we mobbed the players on the pitch and celebrated promotion back to the Conference Premier. Every time I switch on my phone, a picture of those flag waving scenes greets me, with Vince conducting the crowd from a perch above the tunnel which he presumably books for such occasions, and Imraan looking enigmatic like a good poker player should.

As we near the end of our second season back in the league we were so desperate to rejoin, it's time to take stock and ask whether life in the fifth tier is all it was cracked up to be.

In those heady days as we closed in on the Conference North title, we looked ahead to a fixture list peppered with ex League names, some of them quite substantial, and could be excused for thinking that bumper crowds would flock to Rockingham Road as we competed on level terms with the likes of Oxford and now Luton - clubs that many remembered in the old First Division.

Plus the away trips would be massively better than outnumbering the home crowd at places like Vauxhall Motors, and in a virtually full time league, the standard of football would be undoubtedly higher.

So what have we seen? Some great away trips to be sure - twice drawing at the Kassam Stadium (surely easily the biggest stadium we have ever visited for a league fixture?), twice winning at Cambridge United and taking all three points at Kenilworth Road - where teams like Liverpool once came to grief on the plastic pitch.

But after an encouraging start, home attendances seemed to peak at around 1,500 excluding away fans, and this season have dipped alarmingly. So much for the theory that casual supporters would be drawn by the calibre of the opposition - the recent Saturday fixtures against York and Mansfield attracted a three figure turnout from the great Kettering public.

Ok we all know there are certain reasons for that - an idiotic pricing policy which puts some home games on a par with matches in League One, dismal home form and a general dearth of entertainment in a long string of low scoring draws or defeats. Why cough up £16 to see another makeshift combination struggle to test the keeper even once?

But even games where the prices have been more realistic haven't bucked the trend significantly. A large slice of our support has simply stopped coming. They've broken the habit and won't easily be tempted back. Merely competing at a higher level than two years ago is not an attraction in itself - in fact before this season has finally expired we are in danger of recording some truly Rymanesque attendances.

And as for the football - well maybe it's just me, thoroughly fed up with watching a team who never score when I watch them (last goal I saw at the Cowper Street end - Francis Green in late September, when I really should have been back at school), but the stuff on offer certainly this season has been no better than the Conf North. Is there a single quality side in this division? If so where have they been hiding?

Being full time may make the players that little bit fitter but it doesn't seem to make them any better. What do they do in training all week - run laps around the pitch? We still can't muster a decent free kick routine or do anything at corners other than aim for John Dempster at the far post.

So the novelty has well and truly worn off, and at a time when we should have been looking to kick on after consolidating our status, the likely prospect is a truly difficult season to come. If that is the case, let us please at least peg the prices at a sensible level - say £12 to stand, £14 to sit - and if necessary risk shipping a few more goals in order to have a better chance of scoring a few. Watching the Diamonds game the other night was a case in point - both their first two goals could have been scored by any one of several players who had surged into the box, whereas whenever we whipped in a decent cross there was no one gambling to get on the end of it.

But Lee's heart seems to be in the right place, and if he is given a proper opportunity maybe he can deliver a team that will at least entertain for as long as we remain in this league. We can but hope, otherwise Rockingham Road will be a lonely place to be.