Not much to ask?

What do we want to see from our players on a Saturday?

Skill?  Sure.  No problem with that.
Tactical brilliance?  OK, whatever.
Flashes of brilliance?  Yes, if needs be.
One-touch football?  Pitches permitting!
Constant pressure?  Sure, would be nice.
Overpowering performances.  In an ideal world - that would be great.

All the above would be good from time to time, but Poppies fans aren't too fussed about humbling the opposition and playing total football.

What we do insist upon is that the players that pull on our shirt at least sweat into that shirt.  100% effort.  As a minimum.  A bare minimum (and obviously, a maximum...!)  Do players think that playing for Kettering means they've made it at this level?  That the work is done already?  It certainly looked that way yesterday.

The next couple of away league games will be very interesting, to see if the management and players can make up for wasting a perfectly good Saturday afternoon for almost 700 Kettering fans.  Coasting to a Top 6 finish this season is not part of the club's, and particularly, Ritchie's plan.

Noddy, Mickey and Jock

Two home draws against Corby Town in a pair of utterly pointless cup games was always likely to result in a couple of outcomes.  Firstly, more than likely defeats, and secondly, lots of happy, boisterous sweaties.

There's something about playing the Poppies that brings out numbers from across the Exeter Estate and Danesholme, who unless Glasgow Rangers were up at the Triangle, wouldn't cross the road to watch their town's football team.  The love for the 'Gers and hatred for Kettering may satisfactorily occupy Corby's floating supporters, but it must infuriate those people who have tried to run CTFC over the years.

How pissed off must previous Chairmen like Pete Mallinger, Kevin Ingram, and now Steve Noble be at seeing hordes of supposed supporters who are happy to travel away to boost the coffers of the Poppies but find compelling reasons to resist the urge to click the turnstiles at Steel Park?  The club could probably run at a profit if only they could play in a league made up of just themselves, us and Scotland's most painfully medieval religious-based football team.

But who can deny their once-a-seasoners (actually, twice-a-seasoners this year) an evening of unbridled joy at defeating the auld enemy.  The chance to celebrate long into the night.  Hell, they didn't have the nerve to become an independent country, but when it comes to beating the Poppies the plastic-jocks party like it was 1314AD (Look it up, under Bannockburn, Battle of-)

We hate to deflate our County cousin's delight, but the average Kettering fan's reaction to this game can be summed up by a mate who bemoaned that we had been knocked out of,  "The Red Insure Cup, or the County Cup, or whatever....!"

Noddy or Mickey indeed!






" I couldn't be happier if this bath was full of scotch pies and
Braveheart was on telly every night!"

Trying to fix things that ain't broke

Not able to go to today's game away to Marlow. This time last year I would be settling down to listen to the screechingly-partisan, wonderfully amateur efforts of Poppies Radio where, if I was lucky, I'd eventually find out the score. Not now unfortunately.

As admirable as Ritchie's efforts are to raise additional funds with his Poppies TV venture, few people would argue that the current service emanating from http://www.ketteringtownfc.com/ktfctv/ is fit to lace the boots of the former supplier of Poppies coverage. There are obviously a lot of transmission issues that need to be overcome. Somehow radio coverage from all corners of the Southern League Central Division was possible last season, but not this. What's changed?

Presently the official site, rather than covering our heroes (hopefully) putting Marlow to the sword, is alternating between adverts for something that could either be a new movie, or possibly a video game ( I am of an age that, these days I often can't tell the difference), and random highlights of 50-odd minutes against Daventry. Somehow we've managed to find a big wedge of footage against Daventry without a Poppies goal in it. That takes some doing...!

  All of this begs the question as to why Poppies Radio was pulled before the new service was properly tested and readily available? Live TV at this level? We are 10 games into the season and online coverage has been patchy at best. Was this new venture always going to be a step too far? As I keep refreshing Poppynet and KTFC Forum for updates, it certainly seems so at the moment.

Scotland Says No

Great.

So we get to keep this place.

England and Scotland's relationship will carry on just as Kettering and Corby's one does. We get to act in a superior manner (for no really apparent reason), and they continue to act as though they have a chip on each shoulder. "Better Together?" Not really, but we do like having each other around to wind up!

Egoista, me?

I'm not really looking for the sympathy vote, or even moderate empathy, but for a moment last Tuesday I rather hoped the floodlights remained off. Such an action may have ultimately cost us 3-points, and a healthy chunk of numbers in the "Goals For" column. But, nursing a glass of something most acceptable, watching the sun set blazingly over the Mediterranean whilst listening to the hit-an-miss radio service from Latimer Park, the sudden loss of power to the floodlights gave me a moment's weakness. "If there's no sparky in the crowd, those lights won't be coming back on" I mused. "That means I'll be back home for the rescheduled game." "I won't miss out!" But then, I gave way to the better part of my nature. Let the game finish, I generously thought. The lights came back on and the game was completed without me. I called the barman over and re-ordered. Something cool for the warm, sweet night. questa è la vita

Happy Birthday

PATGOD reached a bit of a landmark during the past week – its 25^th anniversary. It was a raucous affair as you might expect – dwarf tossing, snorting coke off a hooker’s ass, a game of crib. We partied like it was 1989. But actually that date sends a bit of a shiver down the spine. Was it really a whole quarter century ago that the inky, photocopied parent of this sleek electronic blog first emerged blinking into the light? Where did all the years go? Not to mention our hair?

Back then, fanzines broke new ground because they gave football fans a means to express their views by taking the publication into their own hands. At the time this was quite a big step. Sports coverage was far more limited than today and there was no room for the opinions of supporters. Apart from sanitised (by necessity) bits and bobs in programmes.  Within a couple of years, broadcasters cottoned on and the first great example was the creation of 6-0-6 hosted by Danny Baker.  Like a radio version of a funny, intelligent argument in a pub, it was liberating. So much so that within a couple more years, the BBC had replaced him with David Mellor as if to say, that’s enough of that sort of thing thank you.

The likes of Mellor seemed to set the tone for a decade or more of token fan input – only numpties allowed on air – then the rise of social media and no-cost blogs gave supporters a new means of expression. By then the traditional printed fanzine was rather old hat.  We should know, having knocked out paper editions of PATGOD covering events from 3 months earlier, whereas now you can follow a game live on t’net and even watch it (if the camera is pointing in the right direction and someone has remembered to put a shilling in the meter). And then argue about it with fellow keyboard warriors. All in their underpants.

Now, in the age of incessant comment, everyone has an opinion and it’s out there.  Who hasn’t had their enjoyment of a major international enhanced by a scrolling bar saying "cum on England u can do it"? Or listened to a Liverpool supporter living in Devon who wasn’t at the game today and didn’t see it on TV but is certain it wasn’t a penalty.

Public opinion. It’s over rated.

Issue 1. Early desktop publishing.  

Bye, bye Baby

Ross Oulton's return to Daventry comes as no surprise.  Following in the barely lamented footsteps of Scott Cross, Oulton has run, crying back to the purple hatters because he can't get his own way at the Poppies.

Good luck to Ross.

Good luck being back with his old purple hat-hiding pals.

Good luck not having to compete for a starting place.

Good luck back playing in front of double figure crowds.

"WAH! 
Want guaranteed start in guaranteed position. 
WAH!"

Henry, why do you keep thinking the grass is greener?

News that Henry may well be on his way out of the club yet again shouldn't really surprise us.  He'll pop off for a while.  Realise he's not quite as good as he thinks he is (at least without Tommy alongside him).  Sit on the bench at Kings Lynn for a few games.  Then get back here in time to scoop Player of the Year again!

From what we are led to believe, Henry is entirely reliant on other people to get him to and from games and training.  That's all well and good if Kings Lynn have someone who is (a) domiciled in Birmingham, (b) guaranteed to keep playing for Kings Lynn, and (c) happy to act as Henry's taxi service.

Failing that we have looked into Henry's options using public transport.

On Saturdays, by train, Henry will have a cosy 7-hours roundtrip with a cheery hour-long stop over in Ely.  Hope Henry is on a good screw, because a return ticket would cost over 60 notes.

A cheaper option would be make the journey by coach.  The good news is that it costs half as much as the train.  The bad news is that he would need to catch the coach on Friday afternoon, and spend 6 hours getting to Kings Lynn on Friday night.  Get a room.  Play Saturday afternoon.  There's good news for the return journey in as much as it's an hour shorter.  There's more bad news however as this bus doesn't leave until Sunday morning, meaning a second overnight in Kings Lynn.  All told, a pretty tiring 48 hour door-to-door outing.  Phew!

Who knows, the next time he comes knocking on Ritchie's door, no-one might answer.....

Henry Eze presents Ken Samuel with the Poppies Award for Loyalty.
The one award Henry himself is unlikely to ever win.
 

Finally, some good news from NN9

With 2015 on the horizon, our thoughts turn to our late, lamented home on the banks of the Nene, and the fervent hopes that the excellent businessmen who own the excellent site can make an acceptable return on their investment.  We dread to think that the Hills, and Cousens of this world do not make a maximum financial return.  We can't think of many other people who deserve to succeed as much as these fine gentlemen.

News that the Nene Park site is to be developed has been splashed all over the local media - http://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/top-stories/plans-to-regenerate-nene-park-revealed-1-6273810

According to the report, elements of the history of Rushden & Diamonds FC will be incorporated into any new development on the site.  There are no reports yet whether this will take the form of a statue of a one-eyed cattle fondler, or painting of an enormous bag of money, or a mural of an enormous white elephant.

Not that this is the only vagueness contained in the report.  Unless others much cleverer than us know exactly what a "leisure zone" and a shopping zone" are.

All we hope is that when the demolition of the football ground commences we are all given plenty of notice to allow us to purchase enormous sledgehammers, and drink lots of fluid to ensure we can piss all over the place as we smash the f*cking hole up.