Hooked On A Feeling

As a very occasional poster on this blog, I think I need to check in about now or my access is revoked. So here goes… Where were we?  About the last time I troubled the scorers, we were just pulling clear of another demotion thanks to a couple of wins, the club was up for sale but no one seemed to be interested, turning up to games was done out of a sense of duty or masochism, and the pitch was still a spilled pint away from being unplayable.      

Pretty remarkable what’s happened since.

Plenty of people have said the same but I echo that this feels like one of those once in a generation resets. A combination of new management, new ownership, new players and new-found belief. All interlinked and self seeding. Without the management would the players have come? Without the ownership would the belief be there? Without the belief would the ownership be there? Without the players would the fans be there? Without the, er, well, whatever! It’s happening!

George speaks very well about his vision for the club and at present seems to have about a 110% approval rating. The last owner who breezed in with such an impact was only held back by a few minor flaws, like appointing his fanboy hero as manager despite obvious disqualifications, pandering for publicity and moving the club miles out of town on a very dubious business case. George so far shows no sign of doing any of these things. As would any normal, rational human being. Plus you can’t help but trust someone called George. But not Zippy.

Lavs has assembled a squad not just to compete but to entertain, a conscious policy whereas plenty of others would’ve gone for the solid, grind out results option. We saw something similar many years ago with Gary Johnson, but the difference is that this bunch can also defend. Expansive, attacking football has put >300 on our home crowds, which in turn is starting to fund ambitious signings like Edwards. And Nile until his rehabilitation gets him noticed again.   

Lastly there’s the home game experience. Latimer Park doesn’t have a whole lot going for it but it does have a large clubhouse and adjacent space (unlike Rockingham Road, even I must admit), so smart move to make the most of it.  Good food and live music – it’s crazy but it might just work. And if that still holds water on a January midweek, we will truly know that this club is now blessed. 

Unluckiest Poppies Shirt Ever?

Unluckiest Poppies Shirt Ever?  Boy, that's category with a lot of runners and riders.  And an awful lot of front runners.  A lot of dodgy seasons swathed in a lot of dodgy kits.  But there's one shirt that always struck me as THE unluckiest Poppies shirt ever.  This one.

Why?  Well, to ruin your day, let's all look back at our last season in National North under the inspiring leadership of Lee Glover.  Lots of draws and defeats.  Just enough wins to keep us interested.  Great days (!)  A season where if we'd shown just 1% more gumption over nine months we'd still be in National North, enjoying regular Northern gumpings and 4 hour coach journeys.

That season, the away goalkeeper shirt, manfully modelled by the freakishly long-limbed Cameron Gregory struck me as a thing of exquisite beauty.  Grey and black with a two-tone Poppies badge.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Unfortunately, the half-mad, and three quarters blind officialdom of the National League decreed that the shirt was too close in colour to the referee and linesmen.  Obviously our betters believe not only that black and grey are the same colour but also that refs, linesmen and goalkeepers are stood alongside each other so much over the course of the average game that confusion might well reign.....

So, this fabulous shirt was hidden away from decent society for most of the season.  And then, IT happened.  We had an away game at fellow strugglers Bradford Park Avenue.  The day started well.  We parked no more than 20 feet from the entrance to the ground.  We then enjoyed a spectacularly fine pre-match meal in the their social club.  Gangly Gregory took to the pitch in THAT shirt and it looked fantastic.  And then we went into an early, deserved lead.  All was looking good for 3-points on the road and a moderate stride towards league survival.

And then.....

Gregory got caught up in some unfortunate shenanigans and received a red card.  Exactly why he was sent off I can't say.  I was at the other end of the ground on a dull afternoon and all I can recall is lots of chest-bumping and finger-pointing, followed by an early bath for our net-minder.  The still-gorgeous shirt was handed to George Forsyth who was equally moderately OK in goal as he ever was in midfield.

But, the damage was done.  Down to 10-men, BPA pummelled us.  It was well after the 90 minutes was up that Bradford finally snatched an equaliser.  In hindsight a devastating equaliser.  We can't blame the grey shirt directly, but....

• In it's first appearance, the goalie was sent off.
• In it's first appearance we dropped 2-points, which, in the final analysis, would have been enough to keep us up.
• In it's first appearance we saw the last appearance of Cameron Gregory who was more than happy to sit out his ban whilst nursing a new, improved contract at Boston United rather than continue fighting with us.

That's a lot to dump on a single shirt that was, to my knowledge, worn in just this one game.  That said, I have attempted a one man campaign to redeem this shirt's reputation.  A campaign that reached it's zenith last season when it and I finally managed a Klondike win at just the millionth attempt.

F*ck the North!

It is in the nature of being "The Hero" that the hero has a flaw to raise the confrontational stakes and encourage their enemies.  Their Achilles heel.  Superman has his Kyptonite.  James T Kirk could never resist a bit of Intergalactic-soft-focus-totty.  Captain Ahab wouldn't let go of his Dick.  Moby, that is.  The ancient Greek warrior Achilles had his, well, Achilles heel I suppose.  

And, after facing our third opponent from t'north this season it has become pretty obvious where the otherwise free flowing Poppies of 2024 come unstuck.  Namely against any team that plies their trade north of the Trent.

Our victory over Stafford Rangers in the FA Cup should have been an early warning.  Sure, we won.  And played them off the park for 75% of the game.  But we were forced to hold on at the end for a 2-1 win rather more than the initial 45 minutes would have suggested.

And then Cleethorpes came to Latimer Park and missed chance after chance before we squeaked home with a last gasp penalty.  And now, Gainsborough have come along and well and truly made us pay for our earlier good fortune and avenged Cleethorpes by calmly putting us away with very little fuss.  

The way both Cleethorpes and Gainsborough out-played us was very similar and very telling.  Their football was simple but incredibly effective.  Every time we had the ball one or two of their players nipped around our ankles until we either passed back or were dispossessed.  When they got the ball from us they passed it forwards fast into channels or to feet and were having a shot on goal moments later.  Nothing very clever.  

But against Nu-Poppies, who are always looking to spread play or tip-tap prettily in the middle of the park, the tactics were overwhelmingly successful.  This is how Northern teams play.  A bit of steel.  A lot of hassling.  No fussing about when in front of goal.  We've got to toughen up in these sort of games and perhaps have a Plan "B" when pretty, pretty isn't working all the time.

Suddenly, next week's FA Cup tie up at Farsley is looking a whole lot tougher than it did last week.

He's Northern
He drinks beer
He smokes tabs
He has Poppies for breakfast