Brett Walton | Blog

Well Who Would Have Thought That …

Following a disappointing result against Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday night, Marcus Law’s men welcomed footballing legend Dietmar Hamann and his Stockport County side to The lamb.

After ten games, Tamworth were sitting nicely in 9^th position, above The Hatters in 14^th, Stockport not starting the season as well as many would have predicted at the start of the season, following their recent relegation from the Football League. Just two wins and seven 1-1 draws meant that County hadn’t started as well as they would have liked, but having only lost once so far this season, it was going to be a tough ask for The Lambs.

Duance Courtney finally managed to get a place in the squad following his injury, albeit on the bench, with the only change from Tuesday night (perhaps surprisingly), Nabil Shariff, who came in on the wing for Danny Mills in a 5-4-1 formation.

Tamworth started brightly, although perhaps a little nervy, hardly surprising given the time that they conceded the only goal of the game against Forest Green, as Danny Thomas weeved his way into the box, but was brought down for a strong penalty challenge which the referee waved away to the dismay of the Tamworth fans. Tamworth continued with their early dominance, with Dan Bradley having a pop which was easily dealt with by Matthew Gelnnon in the Stockport goal. Stockport eventually got going following the Tamworth pressure, with a chance going over the bar. Just before the half hour mark, Stockport almost snatched the lead but for a great save by Jonathan Hedge as Ryan McCann’s header took a deflection just yards in front of him.

Nabil Shariff almost opened the scoring for Tamworth late into the first half as he tussled his way through the Stockport defence to hit a shot that caught the Stockport keeper off guard, hit the left-hand side of the post and trickled along the line, before Glennon leaped on loose ball to keep his side level. There was a scare for Tamworth just before halftime as Richard Tait was hurt in a clash with Euan Holden, but the right back didn’t seem to be too badly hurt, as he eventually got to his feet.

It didn’t take long for The Hatters to take the lead in the second half, with just a few minutes played, Tamworth conceded a corner, and Sean McConville’s shot came to Nick Chadwick with the Tamworth defenders rooted to the spot, leaving an easy header for the Stockport captain to head home. It wasn’t long before Stockport’s celebrations were cut short though, as McConville seemed to dislocate his shoulder in a challenge with Sam Habergham, being stretchered off and taken to hospital. Stockport turned on the pressure after McConville’s departure, which Tamworth were unable to cope with. A number of shots came from Stockport as The Lambs seemed unable to find any answer to Stockports dominance. Carl Piergianni was the first to have a chance for Stockport, but missed the target, and substitute Antonio German had a good effort saved by Hedge, who kept his side in the game again from close range as a chance came in from the left. Tamworth continued to plug away though, Sam Habergham making some great forward runs and putting in a number of crosses, some more effective than others. Tamworth started to work their way back into the game, as Ashley Cain seemed to wake up on the right having not been in the game much at all in the second half, creating two chances in the space of five minutes from right-sided crosses for Danny Mills, whose headers both ended up in the Castle End terrace behind the goal. By this time the game seemed lost by Tamworth, as Stockport seemed comfortable and in control, while Tamworth seemed desperate and ineffective. As six minutes of added time was shown by the fourth official following McConville’s treatment, Tamworth went on an all out attack, and with just over two minutes or so left to play, Francino Francis punted the ball forward for Kyle Patterson, who headed the ball goalwards, only for Iyseden Christie to deny him of his first goal for Tamworth as he stabbed the ball home on the line to make sure the ball made its way into the net, to the delight of the Tamworth fans. A great way to earn a draw, and a good display following Tuesday night’s result.

A lot of people may have jokingly set this game out as a 1-1 draw following the amount Stockport have already had, but this result came after The Lambs dug deep and worked hard against a strong team who are still finding their feet at this level, inconsistent referring did not help the home side either, because had the referee handed Law’s men the penalty right at the start of the match the game and the result may well have been a completely different story. A tough trip to Essex on Tuesday night is next for Tamworth as the travel to Braintree Town for the first time in the clubs history. The Iron have started marvellously, as the Conference new boys sit 3^rd in the league just behind joint leaders Wrexham and Gateshead.

Man of the Match: Sam Habergham. Originally, I was going to give this to Richard Tait who as usual put himself about and but his body on the line for the course, but Sam Habergham’s forward runs and dipping crosses were for large periods of times the only real threat Tamworth posed to Stockport, while also making some great challenges at the back to make sure the score line remained at one nil. Perhaps now the youngster can kick on from today’s performance to continue his progress and give Marcus Law a selection headache over who to play at left back over himself Scott Barrow and of course Connor Gudger who remains out on loan at Hinckley United.

 Tamworth Team:

Jonathan Hedge, Richard Tait, Sam Habergham, Francino Francis,  Paul Green, Ashley Cain, Danny Thomas  Jay Smith, Jason Bradley (Danny Mills 74), Nabil Shariff (Patterson 65), Kieron St.Aimie (Christie 60)
Subs not used: Duane Courtney, Liam  McDonald

Stockport County Team:

Matthew Glennon, Euan Holden, Daniel O’Donnell, Sean McConville (Daniel Rowe 55), Sam Sheridan, Ryan McCann, Nick Chadwick, Tom Elliott (Antonio German HT), Carl Piergianni, Michael Paton (JonNolan 90), Chris Blackburn
Subs not used: Ian Ormson, Nabil Bounab

fm-base.co.uk/forum 24.9.11

Much Changed Side Win In Cup

You can never be quite sure what the Birmingham Senior Cup games will give you. For teams like Tamworth, it is usually a chance to give your fringe players a run out, while for smaller teams, it s a chance to go on a decent cup run, and win some silverware. This year, Marcus Law has said he wants to do well in the competition, so tonight’s match against Midland Alliance side Boldmere St Michaels would be interesting to see what type of team the Tamworth boss was going to put out.

Looking at the team sheet, there were a few surprises. Iyseden Christie started in defence, partnering Francino Francis at centre back. As well as this, there were a number of changes throughout the team, with some squad players making their debut for Tamworth, who were playing in last season’s home shirt for reasons unknown. Joe Collister in goal; Luke Bottimer at right back; Curtis Shaw, a new signing from Carlton in central midfield along with Lee Weemes and Evanglino Valentim up front all made their first appearances for The lambs, in front of a very measly home crowd of just 156.

Boldmere made a good account of themselves in the first half, closing down Tamworth the best they could, limiting the chances for the Tamworth strikers to make any real chances, so much so there was very little to talk about from the first half from a Tamworth perspective. The only real talking point was on nine minutes when Kyle Patterson must have had a repeat of the injury that cut his game short against York on Saturday, and was replaced by academy player Luke Shearer. Despite good effort from the substitute and some good movement by Lee Weemes, the two sides went in at nil nil at half time.

Boldmere came out with the same game plan they had in the first half, but Tamworth by now has managed to find a little rhythm, with a few half chances coming the way of Evangilino Valentim, but the Portuguese striker was unable to make anything of them. That was until Boldmere keeper Seen Butler made an unfortunate blunder and spilled the ball to Valentim from a tame Shearer effort, who made no mistake in putting the ball away for his first goal for his new side. Luke Shearer continued to work hard in the second half and had another good effort from just outside the area saved well saved by Butler. Boldmere did try and get themselves back into the game, but were unable to get the ball past Collister, although they did manage to strike an effort just wide of the goal towards the end of the game.  In the end though, Marcus Law’s side hung on to the victory to progress to the next round.

Tamworth certainly didn’t raise any eyebrows with this victory, Boldmere battled well and gave it a go, but Tamworth got the job done without any fuss, and although the game was pretty drab in most parts, these games are never the most fluid of games and are normally a bit stop/start. It good to see some of the academy side get a run out, and they too would have given themselves a good account of themselves.

Man of the Match: Luke shearer, the youngest came on early in the game and coped well, he worked very hard and put himself about, a solid match for the youngster.

Tamworth Team: Joe Collister, Luke Bottomer, Sam Habergham, Iyseden Christie, Francino Francis, Curtis Shaw, Ashley Cain, Lee Weemes (Healey77 ), Liam McDonald Evangilino Valentim, Kyle Patterson (Luke Shearer 9)
Subs not used: Rico Taylor, Harrison White, James Wilcox

Boldmere St. Michaels Team: Sean Butler, Lyndon Weller, Jamie Petty, Levi Bailey, Tom Stevenson, Andrew Lewis, Simeon Tulloch (Sam Pekun 79), Joseph Smith, Tom Overfield, Tom Law (Stuart Capaldi 75),Kirk Smith
Subs not used: Chris Gibson, Neil Watkins, Ben Usher

Picture Source: pitchero.com/clubs/suttoncoldfieldtownfc 13.9.11

Law Shows Mills Who’s Boss

Another former manager and his assistant made a return to The Lamb today, this time in the shape of Gary Mills and Darren Gee, who left for a second time last season before the whole Des Lyttle debacle began.

Almost a year on from his departure to York City when Gary Mills had guided Tamworth to within a win of first place in the fledgling Blue Square Premier table the former Nottingham Forest defender was back with his new side hoping to avoid the same fate Mark Cooper had with Darlington a few weeks back.

To start the day off, there was another supporter’s game, Tamworth supporters took on FC Halifax supporters at Bolehall Swift’s Rene Road ground. The game was in no way a success for the Tamworth side, as we lost a massive 10-0, despite keeping the score down to just 1-0 at half time. Even though I said during pre season that I wouldn’t return to Bolehall anytime soon for the way they conducted themselves at the preseason friendly, I found myself returning to play there rather than watch. We were honoured enough to use the changing rooms that the Bolehall superstars use, and to play on the pitch that they are going to turn so many teams over this season on [oh to have money]. The pitch is strangely square shaped, wide but not too long, and wasn’t kept all that well, although with the state of The Lamb’s pitch sometimes, we really aren’t one to criticise. Starting on the bench, I managed to get on early on at left back, and although I made a few mistakes, no goals came from any fault of mine, so I’ll take that as a decent performance. Coming off just before half time, I got to round the game off by coming on at right back (Mr. versatile) for the last 10 minutes.  After the game, we were ‘treated’ with a post match meal of curry rice and chips, it was, to be polite mediocre at best, but was just what I needed after killing myself out on the pitch earlier. I now also have an extra reason to hate Bolehall; constant generic sexually degrading comments aimed at my girlfriend from the chairman and one of his resident cretins made me and my girlfriend feel very uncomfortable and is just an extra reason to not go down there anytime soon. I hate Bolehall.  

So, to the actual Tamworth game. As was probably expected, Marcus Law made changes after Sunday’s defeat to Hayes and Yeading United. The back four remained the same, but Nabil Shairff and Danny Mills came in on either wing to replace Ashley Cain and Danny Thomas. Upfront, Iyseden Christie was replaced by Kyle Patterson, who continued to suffer a goal drought. The first half was pretty dull, not a lot really happened with neither team really able to create anything special. York probably came the closest however when Jason Walker played a weighted ball into the far post for Jon Challinor, who somehow managed to poke the ball into the side netting, the goalmouth begging after Jonathan Hedge was beaten. Tamworth did have a good chance though; when Danny Mills shot wide from close range, but the two sides went in unsurprisingly at nil nil. Danny Thomas came on midway through the second half to replace Kyle Patterson who seemed to be hobbling a little, and if it does turn out that he is carrying an injury, his season will suffer a setback, especially having still not found the back of the net for his new side yet.

Tamworth started the second half brightly, Marcus Law managed to give his team the lift they needed at the break, as Tamworth came out the second half pressing right from the off. It wasn’t long before they got the breakthrough they were after, just after the 50 minute mark, former Tamworth skipper Chris smith pulled Kieron St Aimie down in the box to give away a penalty, St Aimie brushed himself down and just about managed to put the ball past Michael Ingham to make it one nil to the home side. York tried pegging Tamworth back quickly, but Nabil Shairff on the right wing was proving to be a thorn in the side of the Minstermen, full of running and dangerous balls into the box. York were very much on the back foot after conceding the goal, but they did themselves no favours to  by conceding another penalty on 72 minutes, Chris Smith again committing the foul, this time on Danny Thomas. After convincing St Aimie to step away, substitute Iyseden Christie stepped up to make it two nil, smashing the ball into the roof of the net, leaving York with a lot to do in the last 20 minutes.  York stepped it up a gear after going two goals down, pressing the Lambs hard, but Tamworth were able to break with Daniel Bradley who ran the ball from his own half before miss-controlling the ball under pressure, allowing Ingham to mop up the dangers and clear. Mills’ side managed to get a goal back through Jason Walker, who headed a cross from Ashley Chambers past Hedge to set up a tense finish, with fears of a repeat of AFC Telford looming. Luckily, Tamworth managed to hang on to the lead and see the game out as winners, but not without a great save from Hedge, who saved a fizzing shot from Patrick Mclaughlin (and undoubtedly the three points for Tamworth) pushing the powerful shot over the bar for a corner, but with virtually no time left, York were unable to make any real threat as the referee pretty much blew for full time as soon as the ball was put in.

Beating York was just the remedy needed for Law’s men after a disappointing result against Hayes and Yeading, because after also shipping two goals against AFC Telford when they seemed to be comofortable winners, a young side like Tamworth could start to suffer from lack of confidence, so this result would have gave the team a great lift. On top of that, it is pleasing to see that even by changing the team around, Marcus Law is still able to find wins, meaning that this season, for once we wont have to rely on the same players week in week out. I am however, still not convinced by Sam Habergham, he still seems a little nervous and is easily taken out of the game by defenders, while Kieron St Aimie is certainly going the right way about winning me over, another goal today from the former Thurrock man will do his confidence the world of good.

Man of the match today for me was Nabil Shairff. He worked extremely hard down the wing, and was always hungry to get forward. The only downside to his game today was that sometimes he was guilty of ball hogging, but that could be down to his nature as a centre forward to get goals. Next up for Tamworth are Boldmere St Michaels in the Birmingham Senior Cup, a trophy which Law has openly said he wants to do well in, which makes a change because normally teams at this level use the competition to field their youth and fringe players. It will be interesting to see what team the manager puts out for the game though, because although he wants to go far in the trophy it is a risk to play the full first team in a trophy that offers very little reward. 

Tamworth Team: Jonathan Hedge, Richard Tait, Sam Habergham, Francino Francis, Paul Green, Nabil Shairff (Ashley Cain 83), Danny Mills (Iyseden Christie 68), Daniel Bradley, Jay Smith, Kieron St. Aimie, Kyle Patterson (Danny Thomas 28)
Subs not used: Evangilino Valentim, Joe Collister

York City Team: Michael Ingham, Lanre Oyebanjo, James Meredith, Chris Smith, David McGurk, Scott Kerr, Jason Walker, Ashley Chambers,  Matty Blair (Patrick McLaughlin 54), Adriano Moke (Jamie Reed HT), Jon Challinor (LiamHenderson 66)
Subs not used: Daniel Parslow, Andre Boucard

 Picture Source: yorkcityfootballclub.co.uk 10.9.11

Maroon 5 ‘Moves Like Jagger’ Review

It’s been a while since maroon 5 have had much success in the U.K.

Having been away for a while until last June with ‘Misery’, Adam Levine and his five-piece have struggled to make the sort of impact on the U.K that they did with songs like ‘She Will be Loved’ and ‘This Love’ with their new album ‘Hands All Over’. But the funk rock band have teamed up with Christina Aguilera for the song ‘Moves Like Jagger’, a tribute to the Rolling Stones front man.

Currently sitting in second spot after three weeks in the charts, it seems that the band have finally managed to find the winning formula again, with a little help from the blonde haired starlet. The song is very much a grower, with first impressions not so great, as the song at first seems a little mainstream and generic, although to be fair that is what normally works for Maroon 5; they aren’t particularly a band that move boundaries or cause controversy. The lyrics are catchy and upbeat, and Levine’s softly sang lyrics compliment Aguilera’s powerful but sweet voice very nicely, giving the song just the right sort of balance that it needs.

Although by no means one of the better Maroon 5 songs, the song has managed to give the band back some much needed credibility, ‘Hands All Over’ has actually sold pretty well considering the reception to their singles have been lukewarm up until now, so perhaps with the popularity of ‘Moves Like Jagger’, and the re-release of their third album, album sales of the third album can grow to emulate ‘Songs About Jane’ and ‘It Won’t be Soon Before Long’.

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Day/Night Tests To Be Trialled In Canteburry

It is well known in the cricketing world that County Championship matches are often badly attended.

Starting at half past 10 in the morning and finishing by six o clock in the afternoon, it is not really any surprise though, because most people who are interesting in the game are at work or education during this time of the day. Compared to limited over match ups, test matches are seen almost deserted, unless of course it is England, and even when other international teams visit county sides as part of a tour attendances are disappointing.

In many ways though, this can’t be helped. People cannot realistically have enough time off work to regularly attend County Championship games, and even people who are not working (retirees and students for example) more than likely do not have the time (nor the money) to attend regularly.

So, the ICC’s idea to introduce a fresh approach to County Championship test matches could be just what is needed for the out of favour cricket competition. Using the pink ball that has been trialled since 2008, an experimental game between Glamorgan and Kent  will take place in  County Championship Division Two, starting at 2:30 PM and end at 9 o clock PM on 12 September. The idea is to attract crowds similar to how the 20:20 fixtures do, with the idea that more families can attend for an evening of entertainment.

Evening cricket is quite obviously more popular, this could be down to a number of things be it because the games are shorter and therefore are less likely to become tedious and boring and are easier to take in; because more people are actually available for these games having finished work for the day; or because the County teams are able to promote the game as a family showpiece, similar to going to the cinema or theatre.

But will the idea work? Only time will tell, and certainly after the trial game has taken place, the outcome will become more clear, so until then it really is not clear whether this is the answer that County cricket has been looking for for a long time. It may be that in order to really get people chomping at the bit of County Championship cricket, the test games will need to start even later, but this would of course mean playing until even later into the night, and then the argument of being played too early in the day could come back around full circle and keep people away for going on until too late, not to mention how this would affect the day to to day preparation and training of the players competing. All we can do for now is wait and see how the experiment game fairs. Will more people turn up or will attendances remain low? At least the ICC are making movements and being proactive in trying to address a long debated problem.

Picture source: tiflex.co.uk 07.09.11

Tamworth Lose At The Morgue

After a day of wracking my brain and indecisiveness, I took the decision to follow Tamworth down to London to watch them take on Hayes and Yeading United, who for the time being ground sharing with Woking while Yeading’s ground The Warren is redeveloped after the Sale of Hayes’ Church Lane ground was sold to make funds available for the redevelopment.

Hayes and Yeading are a curious team. Hayes and Yeading merged in 2007 after Yeading were relegated from the Blue Square South, there doesn’t seem to be much of a valid reason for the two teams to merge, other than the fact that Hayes were looking to relocate to a different ground and Heathrow Airport were proving stiff competition for any land in the area. It’s not clear how this move actually benefitted Yeading though, because up until a few months ago, the new team played at Church Lane, leaving The Warren shunned to just reserve matches and seemed to operate pretty much as Hayes had before. The move certainly hasn’t helped wither club in terms of attracting new fans however, with attendances some of the worst I have seen in football, only matched really by Vauxhall Motors and the now defunct Leigh RMI. Average home attendances last season were not much more than 400, with the only time the club attracting a crowd was when big teams like Luton Town and Oxford United took large followings with them.

The only logical explanation I can think of is that the chairman of the new club is on some money laundering mission to blow his money fast, because it is surely not possible for a club with gates of around 400 (and now even less as travelling to Woking seems to have put the slim fan base off even more) to sustainably operate as a professional outfit, run two grounds and now have a new ground built, which bizarrely the club seem to think that this new stadium will attract higher gates. If I was them, I’d just quit while I was ahead. Seriously, who are they trying to kid?

If it wasn’t for the pig on a skateboard me and Chris discovered in Nuts, then this day would have been extremely dull. The weather was dull and dreary as the heavens opened on the M42, we were lucky that the weather had cleared up just in time for a wonder around the Surrey streets. With not much around the ground, we went in early for something to eat and a marvel at the massive stand The Kingfield Stadium boasts, shame it’s behind one of the goals and completely out of place. Apart from that stand, the rest of the ground is pretty average, with an open terrace running the length of the left side of the pitch, a decent sized terrace behind the bottom goal, and an old, run down chewed up cabin at the other, consisting of three parts, providing more seating. When I came here before, I’m pretty sure Woking didn’t use this, but with only two sides open for Hayes and Yeading (not that they even needed that) they had to make do with it. The ground was completely dead. Hayes and Yeading do not deserve to be playing at a ground like Kingfield Stadium, so it’s just as well they’re only here for a bit, with those few backwards United fans rattling around in it, the stadium seems a shell of what it normally is when Woking play here. The crowd today for their standards was a pretty decent size, and the biggest of the season, 359 is a shocking attendance for competitive Blue Square Premier football, but this was still United’s biggest crowd of the season. God help them.

The game was as dull as the weather. Tamworth never got going and were full of mistakes. Marcus Law made a few changes from Monday against Telford, Sam Habergham came in for Scott Barrow, making his debut for The Lambs; Iyseden Christie replaced Nabil Shariff who was back on the bench, and Daniel Bradley replaced Liam McDonald in the middle. Hayes exerted pressure early on causing a few half chances, before strangely Ashley Cain and Danny Thomas swapped wings for Tamworth, a move which wasn’t overly effective and nothing really came from it, luckily mid way through the second half, the two swapped back. A few minutes later, Cain back on the right, went on a great run taking the ball past three United players, then undoing all of his good work by shooting rather than playing a simple pass in the box where both Christie and St Aimie were waiting, a wasted opportunity for both Cain and Tamworth. The two sides went in all square at half time, but if anyone was hoping for an improvement after the break, they would have been greatly disappointed.

The second half got off to a terrible start for Tamworth, as Hayes took the lead after yet more sloppy defending from Sam Habergham, allowing Luke Williams to cross the ball into the box, where nobody in the Tamworth defence was awake enough to pick up journeyman Richard Pacquette, leaving him to beat Jonathan Hedge with relative ease. That strike proved enough for United, while Tamworth made some attempt to try and level the game up, it seemed like a lot of the players were not singing from the same hymn sheet, as numerous crosses and shots went wayward. Tamworth were at least creating chances, but the forward line were not able to make any of their chances count, not troubling really troubling Steve Arnold, when perhaps they really should have bringing on Kyle Patterson Nabil Shariff and Danny Mills did little to help Marcus Law’s side, and it was pretty obvious from around the 70^th minute with the slow pace the game was now moving in that the game was over.

So a bad day at the office for Tamworth, and although the result was a disappointing one, it’s worth noting that Hayes and Yeading are a bit of a bogey team for The Lambs, having never beat them in any of their previous meetings. The loss means Tamworth end the first month of the Blue Square Premier campaign in seventh position after seven games, a very positive start indeed, if Marcus Law can build on this start, and avoid many more performances like today, then Tamworth could start to give themselves a bit of breathing space between themselves and the bottom four early on. Six players went out on loan on Friday, Connor Gudger and Callum Reynolds both signing for Hinckley for a month, Liam Francis being loaned out to Solihull Moors for a month, Rico Taylor joining Stafford Rangers for a month, Troy Wallen joining Heather St. Johns until the new year and new signing will Grocott signing for Loughborough for a month too. With such a large squad, it is good that the younger players who aren’t quite ready to play first team football just yet go out on loan and get some first team experience early on, however, based on Connor Gudger’s great form over pre season, and Sam Habergham’s performance today, and throughout pre season, one does wonder if perhaps Gudger should have featured today and habergham should have been sent out for first team football instead, especially as Connor Gudger has played first team football in the past, while young Sam has only really played youth football at Norwich City.

Tamworth: Jonathan Hedge, Richard Tait, Sam, Habergham, Francino Francis, Paul green, Ashley Cain, (Nabil Shariff) Danny Thomas (Danny Mills), Jay Smith Dan Bradley, Kieron St. Aimie, Iyseden Christie (Kyle Patterson)

Subsnot used: Liam McDonald, Joe Collister

Hayes and Yeading United: Steve Arnold, Tom Cadmore, Jack Saville,  Louie Soares, Pierre Joseph-Dubois ( Daniel Wishart),  Luke Williams, Mark Bentley, Richard Pacquette (Nathan Elder), Curtis Ujah (Ryan Crockford)
Subsnot used: Sam Argent, Hector Mackie

Man of the match: Ashley Cain – Seemed to be the only one who was any real danger, even if he did make a few bad decisions and eventually got replaced.

Picture Source: getsurrey.co.uk 4.9.11

How you see the stand in this picture is exactly as it was at the game. Dead and empty. A bit Like Hayes itself, really.

Support Non League Day

More and more in recent times have we said that football is becoming all about the money rather than the love of the game, Samuel Eto’s massive money move to Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia is the latest spit in the face of the hard working football fan who could never even dream of earning the sort of money they so often fork out their hard earned cash to watch their favoured team play.

It is not just players wages that are an issue though, the high admission prices to games continues to hike and as a result empty seats are also becoming more noticeable as the season goes on. The lure of money has now started to slowly work its way down the league system, with teams like Leicester City throwing large sums of cash around to attract ‘high’ quality players, chasing the dream of Premier League football. Last season, even non-league fell victim. Crawley Town became the latest play thing of a multi millionaire, allowing them to pretty much whatever player they wanted to at their level, to fly the league, and now look to march on up the leagues with their fat wallets well and truly open.

The large amounts of money that these massive clubs deal with, is for a lot of people the reason why football is dying, the increased admission prices to pay for the mega money football stars are earning today is a real kick in the teeth to the paying supporter, especially in this financial climate where spare money is as hard to come by as an actual job in the first place.

But, what if these people who are now no longer willing to pay the high prices to watch Premiership and Championship prices turned to their local non-league team instead? Non-league is often scorned upon by the average football fan, who are only interested in glory and trophies, trophies like the F.A Cup and not some ‘Mickey Mouse Cup’ like the Birmingham Senior Cup, for example, but if more people attended non-league matches on a regular basis, they would see that there is nothing to stick their nose up when it comes to non-league football. In a lot of cases, they would see the pride, fight and passion in the players that was show by footballing greats like Bobby Charlton and George Best from back in the day when football was all about the game, and not money. If non-league became more popular, we could well see a shift of power from the Football League to the non-league, leaving the rich aristocrats to have their fun with their play things, while the real fans go back to basics with their local side.

This week gives a great opportunity to non-league sides to advertise themselves and their leagues, because thanks to international fixtures, there are no games in the top two divisions in England. And with England playing on a Friday, then football fans have a whole weekend to fill, so on September 3^rd, a celebration of non-league football will take place. A day called Non League Day, a celebration of the semi-professional and amateur game, and a chance for fans of bigger clubs to experience football at a level they may be otherwise unfamiliar with. The initiative first took place in September 2010, proving a huge success.

Every year, we see a club get wound up due to financial troubles, and sadly, unless something changes, this is going to continue to be the case. This season, Rushden and Diamonds went bump, and the season before last, Chester City died too, both of these clubs had proud history and had both played in the Football League, but because of serious financial problems were wound up at the High Court, and although it wouldn’t have been the solution to their problems, had they been able to fill their stadiums which was so easy for clubs to do 40 years ago, Chester and Rushden may have had an easier times raising the funds needed to keep their club running.

Every football club in the world is grateful for its supporters, even Manchester United with their world wide fan base want to fill their stadium week in, week out, and it is no different for, say, Atherstone United who play in the Midland Alliance; because simply, more people through the gate means more money.

Non League Day gives the chance for small clubs to make some profit as the national scene pays some attention to the lower leagues, a chance to fill their grounds, and for their players to play in front of large crowds. So I would urge anyone whose team is not playing on Saturday, and who is not doing anything this Saturday to take the family or go with a few friends to your local Non-league club, watch a game, have a drink or something to eat and buy a programme, you will probably still spend less than you would just attending your usual Premier League or Championship match (taking into account travel costs too) and you would be doing something that will really make a difference to a small team, who probably finds it pretty tough to keep going every week.

Support Non –League Day.

Further information can be found here: http://www.nonleagueday.co.uk/

Picture Source: nonleagueday.co.uk 31.8.11