Having "KTFC" on your CV still opens doors. Unfortunately.

As time moves on and memories fade I do occasionally wonder if the younger fans coming through at the Poppies have any genuine grasp of what an existential threat to our club Rushden and Diamonds were.  I also find myself pondering the shared race memory that allows lads in their teens and twenties to sing about hating Stevenage Borough, Woking, and the aforementioned Scum, given they have more than likely never encountered these teams.  They just KNOW they need to be denigrated.  And that's OK by me.

The true fear, hatred and black despair caused by R&D FC cannot be quantified by those who weren't there to experience it at the time.  Whenever I was asked about them by supporters of other clubs I would describe the situation akin to having Manchester United set up shop 5-miles down the road, build Old Trafford out of the bones of your ancestors and then steal as many of our players and, let's be honest, our fans as possible.  

One thing is for certain.  AFC Rushden & Diamonds could NEVER replace their predecessors in the pantheon of footballing horrors we have survived.  No, Diamonds-lite are nothing but another, anonymous little club of nobodies that reduced footballing circumstances occasionally puts in our path.  Nothing more or less.  This is despite the continued and desperate efforts of their supporters to manufacture some sort of bitter rivalry and hatred.  A hatred certainly not shared by the people who actually run their club if their current hiring practices are to be believed.

Minds immeasurably superior to our own (and far more statto-centric) have noted that SO FAR this season AFC Scum's Management (a pair of ex-Poppies) have employed a full dozen of our former players.  Sure, some of them barely registered in their time here - Kieran Dawes anyone?  Anyone?

Other players were ones that could have been Poppies contenders - such as Will Mellors-Blair or Lamine Sherif.  Good players but never quite made it.

Still others leave you wondering at the fact thy are still putting their aging bodies through the strain of semi-professional football - here Gary Mulligan, have a seat...

And then there's Bruno Andrade.  Bruno fucking Andrade.  He failed to impress during two protracted stints stealing a living from the Poppies - drifting in and out of games and mysteriously being picked ahead of far better players.  And then, we got to see him have ONE storming, match-winning performance.  Unfortunately it was for Bedford Town AGAINST us when he single-handedly cost us the League title.  Of course, football being the ultimate rollercoaster, Bruno now finds himself on the downside, chasing punts down the park on a bobbly patch in Rushden in front of a few hundred grizzling bumpkins happily recalling the Griggs-purchased success at Nonce Park and desperate to count us a footballing rival.  

Good - they deserve each other.....!

Remember us?  
Please......