Getting a bit nervous now.....

Anyone engaged in the most casual perusal of our club's social media in the past few weeks would have been hard pushed to note any movement towards the current owners selling up and moving on.  Since the initial post from George about accepting Brad's offer to purchase the club 5-weeks ago we've seen nothing but "business as usual" messages from the top and how great it is to be in charge of such an iconic club.

This is all well and good.  And the team are certainly doing their bit in keeping us in the hunt, but looking at the underlying trends and the picture is less rosy.  Even though we are playing through something of a golden period, our recent attendances have been appalling.  We've gone from being disappointed not to get 1000 through the turnstiles to hoping we don't dip below 500.  I don't buy the "bad weather" excuse.  There's plenty of cover at Latimer Park if you want to stay dry.  

At the same time it's clear from the number of hospitality invites that we are struggling with matchday sponsors and hospitality bookings which is a crying shame as it's a great facility and experience.

It seems a lot of our fan base are sitting back and waiting for the takeover to happen or at least, updated news about it.  And what do we get instead?  George posting as though nothing has changed and disquieting rumours that Brad is about to withdraw his offer.  Are we truly going to sleepwalk into fading gates and off-field malaise when the opportunity of a lifetime is within our grasp?  Well, if any club could, it would probably be us.

We don't need to know the ins and outs of the club sale, but some updates and appropriate language from the club would really make us all feel a lot less fearful that the present ownership aren't going to scupper the club's best hope in several generations.  If the takeover stalls, the chances are it won't be just the usual mouthy malcontents complaining and not attending games - it could well be an awful lot more of us.

To paraphrase a lyric from Queen's Roger Taylor on his latest album "It's a Beautiful Club - Don't f*ck it up."

Everyone's happy that you're happy, but c'mon,
let's get the takeover sorted, eh?

REDEMPTION!

Our regular reader will recall my shameful profiteering from the gut-wrenching recent injury time defeat to Bromsgrove where the footballing reverse was personally cushioned slightly by winning dirty money by betting against the Poppies.  I guess I still feel bad about it.  It could be guilt I'm experiencing if all emotions hadn't been worn down to a nub through decades of being used and abused by the Poppies.

Anyway.  On Tuesday I believe I achieved a small amount of redemption for my previous act of betting falsehood.  At 2-0 down at home to Rushall I put a bet on the Poppies to come back and win.  Annoyingly, I didn't have much cash in my online wallet, so only had £7.50 to put on my boys to complete a second-half turnaround.  I guess someone had banked most of their previous winnings....ahem...

I think we were worth a punt.  Despite being behind at the break the game had been pretty even.  Sure, Rushall looked slick on our suddenly fabulous pitch (!) but we were definitely matching them.  A quick goal at the start of the second half and who knows, the comeback might be on.....

The team were obviously keen to back me in my betting endeavours and for 25 minutes at the start of the second half ran riot and gave Rushall the kind of unremitting spanking that would probably be an expensive high-end extra at certain discreet establishments.  Suddenly we were 3-2 up and £70 notes looked to be heading my way.

The balance of the game grew more even for the last quarter, even more so when Coyle went for 2 rather innocuous yellow cards.  You will never have seen anyone move as fast as me to "cash out" my bet when we were reduced to 10-men.  I swear I'd banked £58.00 of the possible £70.00 between the ref fishing in his pocket for the red card and waving it at our bemused number 3.

The players, not realising I'd cashed out, and still playing for my bet, dug-in and got us over the line.  Thanks lads.  I couldn't do it with out you.

Next column - adventures at my first Gamblers Anonymous meeting - 

SPLITTER!!!

To understand this article you need to understand a little of my relationship with my late father.  Bear with me.  It'll all make sense.  Hopefully.

My Dad was a non-archetypal armchair Manchester United fan inasmuch as he WAS an armchair MU fan, but rarely chose to actually watch them despite having the full Sky TV package.  If I was watching TV with him and a United game was on he would put it on for me to watch.  He'd watch too, but got almost no enjoyment from the action.  He simply didn't like football that much.  He'd happily watch back-to-back test cricket day-after-day but 90 minutes of football would bore him to tears.  

If the TV was carrying a United game while I was visiting my dad would be straight online with his trusty laptop laying a few small bets on the game to keep his interest.  Next goal scorer.  Number of throw-ins.  Correct full-time scores.  Halftime advantage.  Number of physio visits.  You name it.  He'd have a succession of small punts on it.  

But the thing was, he NEVER bet on United in any of these bets.  He'd always pick the opposition to win most corners, score more goals, win the game, or have most Physio interactions (the last one might be a lie).  He used to say that it bored him to bet on United as he already wanted then to win, but if the opposition succeeded, even though it might disappoint him he felt he'd still make something out of the game by potentially winning the odd bet.

I only mention this because this week for the first ever time, I placed an online bet against the Poppies.  Five minutes into the second half against Bromsgrove no Poppies fan in the ground held out a hope of us holding onto our slender 1 goal lead with 10-men and the home team utterly rampant.  They could have scored three before our coaching staff were fully in their seats at the start of the second half.

I glanced at the odds on my betting app and the odds of a Bromsgrove win were lengthening despite the completely one-sided nature of the game and the charmed life our goal was leading.  Realising the betting app based the odds solely on the scoreline I watched the odds increasing as the half wore on.  Finally I thought, what the hell and put £20 (the cost of the coach to the game which I had left over after the missus pulled out of attending) on Bromsgrove to win.

My thought process was simple.  We win and that would be brilliant.  But, as seemed likely, we lose, I've at least come out with something.  Believe me, I was as gutted as any Poppies fan when they got their second goal well into stoppage time.  All thoughts of wining my bet temporarily evaporated.  But I wasn't so consumed with all-consuming angst that I didn't wisely cash out 30 seconds from the end of the game when we had the chance to aim a long throw into their penalty area.  I didn't want to end up hopping up and down in celebration should we have equalised while at the same time crying over losing a nice wedge....

As we know, the equaliser never came and Bromsgrove celebrated in the appropriate, time-honoured way all teams do when beating Kettering Town.  It's clear Sporting have invested heavily in their club, with a new, lively team, 2 scoreboards, more electric advertising hoardings than I've seen at every other team at this level put together and the proverbial billiard table pitch.  I'm also pleased that the good folk of Bromsgrove turned out in force to support this investment in their club with fully almost 400 of them "packing out" their stadium.  In the event that they are the promoted club from the pack of us that will trail in after Real Bedford come April, I'm sure the National North league will welcome another barely supported, heavily funded club with glee.

And my winnings?  If nothing else, I now know what the expression "blood money" feels like.  It's not nice.  Don't be surprised if it ends up being spent at Latimer Park or on the supporter coach some time soon.

 

Finance is no cure for Fatalism, alas

Well, the statements on the club website by George and Brad pretty much redefined for the modern age the phrase "puff-piece."  Both sides sought to out-do each other in gushing praise of the other.  For a football club more famous for injudicious and questionable social media postings this piece was professionally put together with a polish and re-read through usually sadly lacking.

Brad and Craig celebrated in the appropriate fashion with another interview on Poppycast podcast, where enthusiasm for their coming tenure was palpable.  They have BIG plans, no doubt.  And I should have been as excited as they were.  I wanted to be.  But I wasn't.  No doubt this says more about me than them.  But I've been a Poppies fan for too many years to take anything at face value.  I WANT to get enthused by the prospect of Brad's billions funding my club, but at the back of my mind I'm remembering what happened at the Diamonds.  

Part way through Brad and Craig's chat on the Podcast all I that flashed in front of me was that this is exactly what Max Griggs said in the Evening Telegraph about his plans for the Scum 30-odd years ago.  To be fair, he was as good as his word.  The Griggs millions funded one hell of a roller coaster ride for the suddenly flush inbreds. But, at the end of the day, despite success and attendances we can only dream of in NN16 land, when the funding was pulled the Diamonds bubble burst in the most spectacular and instant way.  I don't want that to happen with the Poppies.

If all this reads as incredibly churlish, I apologise, but even the starriest-eyed, George-hating, Brad-loving Poppies headcase knows, deep down, nothing in football is ever too good to be true.

Brad New Day

It was a rare feeling to greet the morning after a Poppies defeat with renewed optimism about the club’s future, but we live in unusual times. 

The joint statement announcing agreement in principle to the sale was big on mutual appreciation before George gave us his version of the departing PM’s address in Downing Street. We can give him that – his time as owner undoubtedly delivered some good things – but the reason we were reading all this was fundamentally because his controlling tendencies went too far, alienated too many people, and stored up trouble for the club in other ways. 

Just how much trouble is something that Brad & co will no doubt be keen to dig into as they do their due diligence. We can only hope there is nothing in the closet that derails the bid completely. 

Assuming the deal is eventually done, there is a lot to look forward to but at the same time we need to try to not get carried away about what to expect in the near term. Yes I know, this is Kettering so about as realistic as appealing for world peace, but somebody had to say it. Brad so far has seemed to avoid hype of the kind that tends to come back to bite, and it will be interesting to see if this survives his first fans’ forum! 

Off the pitch it’s an opportunity for a reset of the relationship between the club and its public. The door should be thrown open for volunteers old and new, with no pre-conditions, and the end of the schism that split fans and killed the LP atmosphere can’t come soon enough.

On the pitch, this season is already a chase to finish as close to 2nd as possible, secure a favourable playoff berth and take our chances from there. 

The position with the current management duo is an interesting one. Until the club formally changes hands, decisions presumably still sit with George, though it’s hard to see how an arrangement that screams stop-gap and sticking plaster will last even until the end of the year. With every passing game the feeling grows that the squad, which has few obvious weak links, ought to be more dominant and free scoring, despite a longish (but unconvincing) unbeaten start.

Do we stick (until new ownership can make its choice but risk falling behind) or twist? 

Lots to ponder as we contemplate an ownership by former Poppies players for the first time. Not an automatic guarantee of success by any means - there are plenty of examples elsewhere of returning heroes soon finding out that running a club is very different to anything else.  Brad's background in business will help, but there will be a learning curve for sure. Perhaps we also all should keep that in mind because as welcome as this news is, we are not suddenly over the rainbow. 

The new messiah when he was just a mere mortal

 

Infamy, infamy!

A week after the chairman of the dastardly Poppies Community Trust chose to drag George’s good name through the mud, thankfully he has bounced back to set the record straight!

It’s all a little admin technicality, folks. A big fuss about nothing and no big deal!

Understandably hurt by the horrible slur he might have signed a funding application without permission, he knows who the true victim is. Him!

As soon as the situation ‘came to light’, and he recovered from the utter shock!... he was on the blower immediately to the council. Who sprang to his defence and we can expect a follow up interview with a council bigwig confirming every word!

All the Trust had to do was sign the document, he rightly points out. People saying that they had no part in producing it and can’t vouch for its contents is just fake news!

Instead the Trust have chose to go legal and are clearly just trying to hold the club to ransom! But what can you expect of a bunch of troublemakers notorious for plotting such things as walking football and holiday camps! 

It’s all a vicious SMEAR and very unfair!

Brad & co had better get their facts straight if they try to use this against ol’ George, because a club that is living from month to month is clearly worth a heck of a lot more than they think!! 

Blinded by the Lights

We've all known for some time that George enjoys a bargain.  If something is free of charge, or paid for by someone else, he's your man.  He's never happier than when a necessary task or function is carried out for free by a volunteer, which is curious given how many of them he has lost during his tenure. 

The more business-minded of us would applaud his attempts to maximise income at Latimer Park. The only way we get bigger and better as a club is to increase revenue.  Even his biggest detractors would admit the fanzone and the matchday hospitality experience have greatly improved in the past couple of years.  George must be doing something right.  Two good seasons on the pitch and 1000+ crowds speak of a club on the up.  The more you can get FOC, the more money is available to invest into the club and the team - which is what we all want.

And yet....

From very early in the Akhtar reign questions were being asked.  So many volunteers were stepping down and raising questions about George's methods and attitude.  The Club social media output vacillates between impressive and imbecilic - when it works at all, as the current playing staff page on the website will readily attest.  Despite hosting a number of fan events and inviting anyone and everyone to ask any questions they liked of him, his often terse reactions suggested there were certain questions that weren't entirely welcome.  We found this out for ourselves when asking about the imposition of car-parking fees on a carpark he didn't own, only for George's nice-guy persona to drop for a moment.  

And yet, until yesterday, no-one could point at anything that George had actually, unequivocally, done wrong. That changed when Clark Cowell - Chair of the Poppies Community Trust accused George, via KTFC Chat of basically fraudulent activity with regard to securing funding for the new floodlights.  Assuming the events have played out exactly as Clark has described, if is difficult to see how George will be able to justify his actions, or survive them.

If it proves to be a fact that George did indeed sign the funding application on behalf of the trustees of the Community Trust, you've got to ask - why?  All he needed to do was to invite one of the trustees to complete the funding application, so why do it himself?  Don't know.  Perhaps he assumed as Club Chairman he was sufficiently highly placed to complete the application.  Or did he perhaps think no-one would think of questioning him doing it?  Either way, it will take more than an AI-augmented social media reply to justify what to our totally-untrained legal-eye looks an awful lot like fraud.

We'll wager that THAT night at Sixfields feels
an awfully L-O-N-G time ago now....