Do or Die

Can anyone recall a Saturday when a Poppies Manager's job was so obviously on the line?  The odd battling home victories are being heavily outweighed by toothless, thumping away defeats.  Some of these away defeats have been sufficiently embarrassing that even after publicly backing his gaffer at the recent, uplifting fans forum, Ritchie MUST be worried.

Tuesday's humbling defeat to Farsley in what was a must-not-lose fixture has nailed any lingering doubts that this season was going to be anything but a relegation scrap.  Our problem is that we don't seem to have any "scrap" about us.  National North teams seem to fall into one of two camps.  Teams that pass you to death and teams who work hard and get in your face.  And then there's Kettering.  We lack the quality to do the former and the fight to do the latter, leaving us as a soft touch and an easy three points for any home team.

Last season's unexpected success was going to put any new Manager under pressure.  Perhaps we were all hoping a bit too much that lightening was going to strike twice and that for a second season a hastily assembled set of players would click and we would set about the League with gusto.  Last season was so good we had conveniently forgotten that the two previous, covid-curtailed seasons had finished with the Poppies firmly stuck in the lower reaches of the table.  Pretty much as we are now.

National North is a tough division.  As tough as Conference National was back in the day.  And we are not the "non-league giant" we used to be and that some of us still think we are.  We are wallowing down in 17th place in average attendances in the division.  We are a small fish in a big pond and need to adjust our sights accordingly.  We have no God-given right to win games or beat teams we consider to be beneath us.  Every win has to be fought for and earned.

A fifth from bottom finish to this season would be a success given where we are now and how we are performing.  Sad.  But true.  I've become doubtful whether Lee Glover is the Manager who can achieve this given the way we fold like a cheap suit whenever we concede a goal on the road.  The odd, battling win at Latimer Park won't be enough to quieten calls for Lee's dismissal, or calm the clamour for the return of the "snake from over the water".

Wins and more wins.  
Nothing else will do.

A True Collectors Item

The football makes the fleetiest of fleeting appearances in the 
Chester penalty area in the second half this afternoon.

 

Grim Lizzy

If Liz Truss is feeling a bit down tonight, there is a consolation. Gazza only lasted 39 days.

True he didn’t manage to tank the entire UK economy in that time, but his bar bills did threaten to put 40p on the base rate of admission prices.

And at no point in her brief premiership did Liz simulate a drunken dentist’s chair celebration. Though in terms of decision making, it might have helped.

Anyway the good news for Liz is that Gazza is on his way, with some cans, chicken and a fishing rod.

 

Andre's Search Goes On

This week we lost Andre Wright to Stratford Town FC.  Unsurprisingly Andre failed to score during his stint at Latimer Park.  He hasn't actually scored for an English club since notching a solitary effort for Kiddy some 5 years ago.  He had scored a handful of goals in the League of Ireland for Bohemians and Sligo, where, presumably the standard isn't what it might be.  However, this side of the water in just over a hundred games he has amassed the grand total of 7 goals.  One fewer than we shipped in 90 minutes at Kings Lynn recently.

And yet, when playing for us he didn't look THAT bad.  He had a good touch.  He had a physical presence.  He won some headers.  He put a shift in.  Unlike some players to have pulled on the Poppies 150th Anniversary strip he actually tried.  I found myself willing the ball into the net for him.  Which would have been more likely had he actually tested any of the goalkeepers he came up against.

But, at what point, as a footballer, do you look objectively at your career and ask yourself if you are truly up to it?  Statistically speaking, any of us lardy middle-aged lumps could be plopped on a football field and score as many goals as Andre simply by the ball inadvertently striking our arses at corners or clouting off our heads at free kicks.  In fact, it takes remarkable ability to play as close to goal for as long as Andre has and not even accidentally score more times.

Andre has finally accepted this might be a level too high for him and has dropped a league in an attempt to notch his first goal since Barak Obama was US President.  I, for one, wish him well and hope it works out for him.

Andre looks suitably shocked to find that
Stratford has a football club.

Update!  Addaboy Andre!

A fate worse than a fate worse than death?

The anniversaries at the Poppies continue to come thick and fast.  150 years of existence this year.  30 years of the Poppies Trust.  This week it's been 10 years since our last game at Nonce Park.  Coincidentally this week also marked the second anniversary of our former supremo Imraan Ladak being sentenced to 6 months in prison for basically being a dick. 

Last year we marked 10 years since our last game at Rockingham Road.  As our old ground fades into the background as a mostly good memory and the l-o-n-g threatened building work begins in earnest on the site I had a faintly heretical thought.  While flicking through the channels the other day I briefly caught sight of a women's league game between Chelsea and Arsenal.  Don't worry, I'm not going to lazily trot out a clutch of middle-aged man's clichés about females playing football (it's not 1990 after all!)  No, these ladies could certainly play football.  They spat, went down when barely touched and were tattooed beyond all sense.  Everything.  Even the goalkeepers have come on leaps and bounds.  Why, one almost made a save at one point (...satire....)

Being a bit of a stadium nerd I wondered which ground they were playing at.  These days we come across a lot of lower and non-league grounds who share with Premier League clubs to host their reserves, youths or ladies teams.  I think a general rule of thumb is that if sprinklers suddenly pop-up at a non-league ground, they probably host a top level club for some of their minor fixtures.

I didn't immediately recognise the small, but well put together stadium Chelsea were playing at.  It was obviously THEIR stadium as every inch of is was decked out with Chelsea livery.  I struggled to imagine any club allowing someone to come along and completely take over the branding of their home by another team.  A few minutes of online research unveiled the disquieting truth.

The stadium did belong to Chelsea.  It had previously belonged to AFC Wimbledon.  Who had acquired it from Kingstonian.  Yes, this ladies game was being played at Kingsmead which used to be Kingstonian's home ground, before various shenanigans led to them being tenants of the Dons in their own stadium.  OK, Kingstonian hadn't been playing there for many years before Kingsmead started to slip away from them, but still, it had been their home.

Kingstonian still exist as a distinct club and ground share with Tooting and Mitchum FC.

But how must it feel knowing YOUR stadium still exists, but it's not YOURS anymore?  Another club is playing there.  They have painted it in their colours.  The terraces you stood on man and boy are being stood on by others.  Another team is being cheered from your stands.

It's bad enough for us to walk past a derelict Rockingham Road, then heart-breaking to see the site demolished and stupefying to see dwellings start to emerge there.  But, would it be worse to see Rocky Road still there, being used by someone else KNOWING we would NEVER be allowed to play there again?  Sure, you could hang onto the hope that one day.....but as they say, it's the hope that kills you....Seeing it there.  Knowing it wasn't yours.  Better or worse than it disappearing altogether?  I truly can't decide!

Is this the last remaining part of 
Rockingham Road as we knew it?