Two of the Conference's higher profile managers, Nigel Clough and Terry Brown, are coming under increasing pressure from supporters to improve their Clubs results in the coming weeks.
Burton Albion officials arrived at their new Pirelli Stadium yesterday morning to be greeted by a "We Want Cloughie Out" banner. The Brewers have only taken five points from the opening seven games, lying one point off the bottom of the table, and supporters have become increasingly disillusioned by Clough's management - using the most recent matches to voice their disapproval. Clough took over in late 1998, leading them to two successive runner-up spots in the Dr Martens Premier before switching north to the Unibond Premier and finally gaining Conference status for the first time in 2002. Three indifferent seasons have followed with the Club only making a best finish of 14th.
Terry Brown is the first manager to take the reformed Aldershot to the bottom of any division. The club have risen quickly through the leagues since rising from the ashes of the bankrupt league club in 1992 and were a surprise package when they made the play-off finals in their first ever Conference season in 2003, again reaching the play-offs last season. A close season where many experienced campaigners departed, transfer targets were missed, and the treatment table became busier than the training pitch meant that Aldershot entered the current campaign struggling to name a fit squad of 16, using 22 different players in the opening 7 games. With the allotted playing budget already taken up Brown has had to rely on four loan players to patch up his struggling squad, with both Scott Guyett and Chris McPhee extending their loans for a second month, but the Shots fans voiced their disapproval at an inept performance both on and off the pitch last week and questions are being asked as to whether Brown, like Clough at Burton, has taken the Club "as far as he can".