Generally I don't like to start ranting about things properly before I've seen enough to base my rants on but Friday night has finally given me exactly what I need to see. A Darlington fan said just before our playoffs last season that we weren't a good side on a bad run, we were a bad side who had happened to go on a good run at the beginning of last season. At first I dismissed this but now I'm beginning to agree with him.

Believe it or not I really do try to be optimistic. I go into every game looking at the table and thinking where we'll be if we win, whereas most of you are probably under the impression that I try and see where we'll be if we lose. However, my optimism has very very slowly been fading since the 2005 Playoff Final. It's just been getting worse and worse since then and it seems like it's never going to end.

Now let me start by saying......HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO LOOK UP BEFORE YOU PASS THE BALL? Jesus Christ! I must have lost count as to how many times the players gave the ball away, or just booted it into an area where there was no-one anywhere near it. I mean I can forgive inaccurate passing but it's just taking the piss because they just seem to be under instructions to boot the ball as far as possible and hope that someone's there.

That is just one of the puzzling tactics from a glorified coach that I (and many people agree with me) don't think is good enough to be a manager of a Football League side. One year ago we were playing the best football in the division....then he changes it. Players are playing well in a game....then he takes them off. We look like we're going to win a game....and he just changes everything.

About 14 months ago when him and Deehan were appointed I was delighted. I thought to myself that these two would guide us in the right direction, and for 3 months they did but then the real John Schofield's Lincoln City came out.

During the summer he complained that he would only bring in players that he thought would improve the team, I can name 10 players that could have improved this team without even thinking about it, all 10 of those players were free agents and are now playing their football for other teams, so don't give me any of that crap that you constantly come out with John.

"I'm proud of the lads," "there are a lot of positives to be taken out of the game," "we'll try our hardest and hopefully get the result that we all want," Jesus Christ John, you're like a broken record. Why can't you just admit when we play shite???? 4,000 people every week can see that we aren't playing well, why can't you??? Is it seriously that hard to see or are you just being as stubborn as usual and refusing to admit you are wrong.

This club is not going to move forward with John Schofield in charge, he is very slowly ruining all the hard work that Keith Alexander did between 2002 and 2006 and eventually we are just going to go back to the way we were back in the early part of this century, struggling against relegation year and year. Something has to be done about this now and my patience (and a lot of other people's) is very quickly running out.

You know what, I would gladly have Keith bad because although the football was crap, we knew that Keith would admit when we weren't good enough and more often than not, we would make the next opponents pay. Now we've just turned into a side that as soon as we concede, we just seem to give up and panic. It's just not good enough anymore.

As for the players.

Alan Marriott - He couldn't really do a lot about the goals and catching was quite decent. However, he is one of the players that is guilty of not looking where he's passing it somethings.

Ryan Amoo - Now, I've been quite impressed with Amoo at right back, as had a lot of other people I had spoken to, he has one bad game and everyone turns against him again. It's disgusting, he is being solely blamed for the goal but no-one has even mentioned that Brown and Croft both had the same opportunity as Amoo to make the tackle.

I don't think Amoo did too badly tonight but I noticed that he was occasionally out of position and this coloud have lead to one or two more goals.

Lee Beevers - Didn't really notice him to be honest, infact, he seems to have been very quiet so far this season.

Gary Croft - He's not been too bad so far to be honest, but then again he hasn't done a lot that you wouldn't expect a normal defender to do.

Hoof Brown - There are two sides to Nat Brown, the first is a fairly decent defender, capable of clearing near enough anything, the other is seemingly a headless chicken who seems unable to cope when an attacker is near him.

I still think his inclusion in the squad is one of the reasons (along with Schofield's incompetent tactics) we've got from a brilliant footballing side to a side that will be the Blue Square Premier before League One.

Dany N'Guessan - There are only two things consistent about N'Guessan, the first is his inconsistency and the second is he reluctance to pass.

I think N'Guessan is an incredibly talented individual but he reminds me of those kids in school that are ball hogs. He doesn't seem to understand the concept of passing the ball to other players and if he would actually pass it rather than being selfish then maybe we'd score a few more goals.

Lee Frecklington - Well we don't have to worry about losing him to Leeds anytime soon. He's not even close to the same standard he was last season and although I won't rant about him, I still think that he is underperforming at this time.

Jamie Hand - I can't actually complain about Jamie, he's been one of our few decent players this season. Hopefully he can continue to improve and is already a candidate for Player of the Season.

Louis Dodds - I actually think Louis is our best player at this current time. Not only is he our top scorer now but he's one of the very few players who never seems to give up. If anyone is going to save us from relegation then it will be him.

Jamie Forrester - Forrester is turning into a frustrating player, not in terms of what he does when he's on the ball but he always intercepts passes that are intended for other players who are in better positions.

Mark Stallard - He's a personified version of Arsenal, seems to just want to pass it into the net and it gets very frustrating.

So there you go, there is my opinion on Friday's game against Bradford and I'll be honest, it doesn't look like getting better any time soon.

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