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November, quite a topsy-turvy month really. It started badly with Jamie Williams
leaving to go to Nuneaton Borough. |
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Having previously turned down their first offer, allegedly, in the middle of
contract talks with Dean Thomas, Jamie suddenly decides to join Nuneaton. |
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Things that make you go hmmm! What's more we couldn't even get any money for him. |
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I know it's a fact of non-league life, and with the whole transfer system about
to go Marilyn Monroe (pear shaped) it could be a taster of what's to come, but
amateur clubs don't have massive incomes from gate, merchandise or sponsors. |
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All the amateur players still need paying so the money must come from somewhere.
Still I wish Jamie the best of luck at his new club and hope the splinters of
the subs bench don' t hurt too much. |
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The first game of the month... |
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...and the first without Jamie, didn't bode well. |
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All the way past Yorkshire, past Newcastle, off the face of the world and into
the quaint seaside town of Blyth to play the Spartans in the FA Trophy. I bet
the players wish they had been put to the sword after this one. 0-2 out of the
Trophy, good night nurse. |
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The next game was even worse. Telford, eventually, saw us hang on bravely for
60 minutes. Unfortunately football games last for 90 minutes. 1-4 in the end,
not a really fair reflection of the game but statistics don't lie, most of the
time. |
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Back to league normality for the next game, or not as the case turned out.
Cirencester came to the Lane with a tactic of holding on. Then with Cirencester
going 1-0 up and Jamie Lenton getting sent off for stamping on a member of
Westlife (masquerading as Cirencester no 8), you could forgive anyone for
thinking that Marilyn Monroe had made an appearance again! Why do 10 men seem
to play with more passion than 11? |
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I'm not complaining because we ended up taking a 2-1 lead, all right the game
ended a 2-2 draw but it wasn't the end of the world. To finish the month we had
2 local derbies. A league double against Rugby was a nice one, especially for
Dave Sadler who scored a hatrick. A good win against Atherstone away from home
by 2-1, just when the Adders were beginning to find form, and in front of
Atherstone and Hinckleys biggest league crowd of the season 439. These results
have left us unbeaten in the league for the whole of November. Statistics, make
of them what you will. |
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Mangotsfield, what's going on there? |
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Has someone put something in the Bristol water? 7-0 against Rocester, 8-0
against Paget Rangers. Who are playing for this team? |
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I notice that David Beckham didn't play for Man Utd when Mangotsfield beat Paget
8-0. Is there a coincidence? Maybe, but who are Mangotsfield. This team seems to
have come from nowhere. Indeed they have only won the Western League on one
occasion, that was 10 years ago in the 1990-91 season. |
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In the last 5 years Taunton Town have been Champions 3 times and runners-up 2
times. Last season Mangotsfield were runners-up and gained promotion! That
probably cheered up Tiverton fans, but is a bit dodgy to say the least.
Especially as they seem to be carving up the league probably better than they've
ever done in the Western League. Big hmmm! |
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Here is something to think about though. Mangotsfield are unbeaten yet they
have not played one club in the top 5 of the league, and out of the top 8 have
only played 2. Hinckley however in 3rd place have played almost every club in
the top 8, some twice already, in fact the only club in the top 8 that Hinckley
have not played is Mangotsfield. |
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Do they mean us? They surely don't! |
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Recently seen on the Blackpool fanzine website in a review of the Telford Cup replay: |
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"They say the best thing to do after you've fallen off a horse is to get
straight back on. |
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I suppose the same applies to a bunch of donkeys. |
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Despite their brave attempts, Hinckley eventually went down 1-4 to more comedy goals. |
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They opted to replace their goalscorer with a carry-on centre forward. It was
difficult to judge just how good Telford actually were. |
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They outclassed Hinckley, there is no question of that, but Hinckley were
undoubtedly a poor side." |
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This was written just 48 hours after Blackpool had lost by 0-7 to Barnet, but
apart from the irony it raises a valid point. |
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In general Premiership clubs look down on Nationwide clubs and in turn
Nationwide clubs, especially division 3, regard Conference clubs and non-league
in general with utter contempt. |
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An example of this can be seen in TV and media coverage of FA Cup games. |
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We hear about dustmen, shop assistants and factory workers taking on the big
boys, when a lot of the top Conference clubs are actually professional. |
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Another example is how Nationwide clubs complain that the Premiership want to
reduce the number of clubs and make it 1 promoted and 1 relegated, when at the
same time they try and make it as hard as possible for Conference Champions to
gain entry into the league. |
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The irony of this is probably lost on Blackpool, after all 40 years ago they
were one of the top clubs in the land. |
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Now they are mid-table division 3 in another 40 years, thanks to the Pyramid
System they could be Northern League division 2 and playing at a lower level
than Hinckley are now. |
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Do they think their current ground would be accepted back into Nationwide? I
think we all know the answer to that one! |
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Coming next month: 7 league games in 1 month, including Mangotsfield at home and
Shepshed away. If raining inside. |
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