CHAIRMAN’S CHAIR    

Of course none of these stats means anything unless we win any of these competitions and we are clearly coming to the sharp end of all of them and the 1s in particular have two difficult Quarters coming up, both away from Tolworth. The other edge to the sword is the fact that Cup runs, coupled with bad weather, always lead to pressure on fixtures at the back end of the season so there is a lot of work to be done on all fronts yet. However with all of the 2s, 3s and 4s going like trains at the moment we remain hopeful and more to the point it would appear that all teams remain committed and determined to build on this solid start – a refreshing attitude under the circumstances.

Leaving my job at the FA after 7 happy years reminds me that nothing is forever and I continue to ask all Club players to think about their role in the Club moving forward and how they might represent the next phase of the Club’s progression in whatever capacity – we certainly continue to need committed individuals in all areas of the Club. Talking of which my mid-term thanks to all of the Captains this year who are doing a great job and I can’t wait to see who wins the 3s v 4s 100% battle – but you can be as sure as hell that there will be lots of teams out there who will want to inflict that first defeat.

Let’s make sure we keep Stuart Hall laughing and Eddie Waring happy by continuing to be going up and never under...and best of luck to all five teams this weekend, all involved in Cup football again!

Till the next time

Jonty

Chairman’s Deckchair                                                                                   13th April 2009

Champions! You get Everything for Coming First!!

Frau Bishbosh, Joe the Bike, Bob Carolgees, Bill Ellis’ Tractor, Billy Longthrow, Mash Patel, Gay Mikey, Willy van der Kerkhoff, the Continental Shelf in The Castle, Delilah suncream, the Spring Chicken, Mitch’s match reports, Unlucky Lucky Jim, lucky Lucky Jim, drying kit in a microwave, Richard Brooke’s Wall of Death, the American tush at the first AGM….. all part of Nottsborough folklore and all part of the Nottsborough DNA I mentioned earlier in the season. To this illustrious list we now have to add 15 good men and true in the 1s squad of 14 and of course our inspirational Coach Brian Williams who at last brought home the bacon in the form of the AFA Senior Cup…

Apologies that it has taken a while to put my happy and proud thoughts to electronic paper but I have been sunning it up in Tenerife so I now have the dubious honour of sharing a similar footballing moment to Brian Clough and the Derby mob in 1973-4 and the Danish team ahead of winning Euro 82…. But it certainly helps the beers taste sweeter…

So a massive well done to Brian and in particular Matt Kerr who has never stopped believing this season and to all the guys who have played for the 1s this season and I very much include those form the 2s, 3s and 4s who have helped out too – this was a real club effort and of course I am crossing everything for the 1s to be able to emulate the fantastic 2s and get to the top of their League in due course – and then both have them have enough stamina and luck to stay there. And who knows the 4s might yet sneak a second place??

A final well done to Appsy who aged 47 became the oldest scorer for the Club with what sounded like an Appsy special for the 4s last week – and if anyone embodies what the club is about then that man is Appsy, diminutive though that body may be…

All the best to everyone in these last few weeks of the season – lets make the end of year intra-club tournament and Dinner that same night an extra special one this year???

Jonty

More on the 2’s Intermediate Surrey/Kent Final in due course but suffice to say that we are all very proud of getting to these Finals……. BUT…. I repeat my mantra (and I won’t be happy until we’ve won a Final – all of which are clearly going to be incredibly tough) of……. You get nowt for coming second….so don’t.

Best of luck to the 1s and 2s in the coming weeks and don’t let it affect League performance as it clearly didn’t on Saturday with wins against Acton and Owens respectively. Commiserations to the 3s who did heroically well with only 10 men at Owens only to lose 3-1.

Jonty

The 1s clearly have two really difficult Semis coming up but will be rightly confident after their very focused away win at Civil Service and their general good run of form of late. But again we now how much stress the team is going to come under with a possible 17 games to go before the end of the season!! Injuries will and have happened and so I’m pretty sure they will be looking for the rest of the club – all the way down to the fours - to help them in their task, especially when those 6.30 Tuesday night games start rolling in.

This situation is even more exacerbated by the fact that the 2s have a real chance of success in the League this season as well as the Final against HAC. In many ways the 2s have been the revelation of the season for me, at last realising some of the potential that they have hinted at over the last 3 seasons under Pete. Again it will need them to continue their fantastic commitment to training and perhaps a few weekends with girlfriends or work trips etc off the agenda if we are going to get what we want there.

I’m still keeping a close eye on the 3s as well – as last season showed it really isn’t over till the plump lass gets going so a run of wins and who knows?? It would be great to see a few more of those boys down at training too or there may be a few interesting games in our planned end of season intra Club George Cronk Trophy competition….!!

The 4s are also worthy of the team of the season to date award, especially with the win at the weekend – always sweet against our auld rivals Owens and a big shout to Big Bad Mac and his 4 goals – who knows his hulking presence may be useful yet for a few games higher up the club. But as always a big well done to Catt and to all the lads in the 4s who have absolutely transformed a side who were beginning to get detached from the Club. Nowadays I feel that at times the 4s are more Nottsborough than any other of the teams…

The Vets clearly lay a claim to that prize if only in their fading memories but I’m pleased to note that 17 of the lads are off to France for a weekend in late April to play in a 6 team tournament organised by an ex Notts player Neil Ruane now living out there. The club has had 4 great tours in the past – two in Stuttgart and two in Barcelona – so it would be nice to see the “youngsters” revive this tradition if the busy schedule allows…

It would be remiss of me not to mention Director of Coaching Brian Williams who seems to be getting more excited by Notts and AFA/SAL football with every passing year!! Unbelievably Brian will be 60 in June so it’s important that we all make sure he dispenses of any notion of retiring and the best way to do that will be to win all of the above mentioned Finals and Leagues! We owe Brian a great debt of thanks for all of his inspiration and sheer hard work.

Another person who also deserves our ongoing thanks is Chris O’Connor our Club Secretary who just about puts up with our rubbish administration and missed phone calls – a special mention to him and his wife Jackie who we wish all the very best.

Right enough from me. As the release of the Damned United becomes imminent, I once again can’t help myself from mentioning the title of Billy Bremner’s autobiography which is required reading for all diminutive midfielders. “You get nowt for coming second”. It’s true you don’t, so don’t….

Jonty

Parky was a top lad who in many ways epitomised what it is to join a club like Nottsborough from a “standing start” (he joined us 14 years ago from our then SOL rivals Parkfield, hence the nickname) whereby you have to make the effort to get to know people and to become accepted.

Well Parky threw himself into that and he was always going to be the type of big character who would make his mark on both the Club and everyone connected to it, players and friends/girlfriends/wives alike.

Whilst I will never be able to forget (with a smile) his hoofed right foot passes straight into touch whilst playing left back for the 3s, I will also never forget the lion of a defender he so often was when he really put his mind to it – tenacious in the tackle and wholly disciplined in his man marking role. He even scored the odd corker of a goal – dainty chips over the keeper anyone?? – and boy did he make sure he told us about them after the game.

Parky was also part of a small, special group within the Club’s history in that he was Captain of the 3s for a season and those of you who have done that job will know the demands on time and character it can make.

Given Parky’s long battle against intermittent depression, it is important to note that these times, and indeed every time he played football, gave Parky the type of purpose and direction that really helped him crack on and enjoy life. Having now read up on the whole issue of depression (why do we always do things too late?) it is a proven fact that exercise (along with diet) can prove a really positive counter-balance to the other (for many of us) unfathomable problems it can bring and in our small way I really hope we brought some true happiness to Parky’s life over those years. This whole period has also made me absolutely determined that as a Club we should be always available to anyone within the set-up who is experiencing similar problems (1 in 5 people in the UK will suffer from depression at some point) or indeed any problem so please please drop the macho male thing if you are and just drop me or anyone else in the Club a mail, if only for a chat.

All four teams last weekend took the difficult decision to play their planned games but I am sure it was the right thing, and without being too corny, we were all pretty sure Parky would have absolutely wanted us to. A special thanks however to our good friends at Umbro – and in particular Martin Prothero – who managed to get 4 sets of black armbands to us in 24 hours. Much appreciated by all.

The Vets made their first appearance of the season in the AFA Open Cup game against Polytechnic and I made my traditional trek pre kick-off to my old mates Swifty and Del Boy to remind them that this was our 26th consecutive year playing football together, having started with Nottingham Uni 1s in 1982.

As I looked round the pitch and saw all of the old faces – Appsy, Greaver, Tanko, Jarce et al – and thought of all the things that we had experienced together both on and off the pitch, it struck me as to how lucky we all are to be able to forget all of our problems and pressures of life every Saturday and just wander onto a football pitch and immerse ourselves in the simplicity of a football match and the camaraderie of a set of team-mates. Perhaps just have a little think next time you yell at a team-mate for a crap pass or at a beleaguered ref for yet another bizarre decision and remember what you do have and how lucky you are to have it.

The Happiest of Times.

See ya Parky and rest in peace.

Jonty     

It’s actually a unique site built from scratch and we simply hope that we can continue to attract visitors to the site both from within and outside the Club which will be driven predominantly by good, up-to-date content where generally our report match writing is pretty much up-to-date and fair so both sets of players can usually enjoy the read.

The web site has also been a critical driver in our exciting announcement of our first all Club sponsor – Astus who, with the help of our new kit supplier Umbro, delivered 5 brand new kits to the club for this weekend.

So, who are Astus? Astus are the UK's leading Corporate Barter Company which means they allow their clients to part-pay for their media campaigns using stock and work with a number of blue-chip companies including Vodafone, Mercedes Car Group and Budweiser. Any of you guys who work in media or marketing should check out their website as what they do is very unusual! www.astusuk.co.uk.

Our thanks to long-time Nottsborough stalwart Rob Chamberlain for helping us with this deal.

Our thanks too to Umbro who will be our exclusive kit supplier for the next five years which will mean some commitment from the club please in that twice a year we will set up a kit and boot clinic where the guys from Umbro will visit us with some great stuff all at discounted prices to the Club.

But all of this investment does not mean we have suddenly turned into a rich club overnight! Far from it and as many of you know we are paying top market prices to Kingston Uni for our floodlit grass training facility so as a club we still need to find c£14Kpa and as we all know to our (annual subs) cost, this is a big burden on a Club who is entirely financed by our own players so thanks again to all for their prompt payments at the start of the season which are critical to us.

Given all our investment into Kingston Uni, we look forward with great anticipation to their £1m redevelopment of Tolworth Court and, whilst we might be expecting some slight upheaval during the building phase, the quality of facilities going forward should make it all worth while and further cement our position as a leading SAL club. I hope most would agree that we already have some of the best pitches in the League so this is just an extra boost.

Finally back to the result on Sunday. Whilst pleased to win 3-2 against the SAL rep side was it really that sensible for all on the pitch to play two games in two days?? Having not being scheduled to play in the first two league Saturdays at all, the 1s somewhat ran out of steam against Actonians in the game on Saturday. Well done to them for their great two goal comeback but you can’t help but feel that those in power might have looked a little more carefully at the fixture list fro the start of the season….??

Anyway I know how hard it is to schedule these things and I wouldn’t for a second want to undermine the hard work of the SAL guys so we will just crack on and hope that we can emulate, match and surpass the achievements of last season.

Enjoy the website and speak soon

Jonty

It struck me from both scenarios that actually there isn’t a great deal of difference between running the National Team and running Nottsborough 1s in that both need and benefit from a really clear vision of exactly what you want to achieve and a clear idea of the basic principles needed to make that happen.

Now the difference in salaries between Don Fabio and Brian Williams (Brian’s salary starts and finishes with a 0 you won’t be surprised to hear – although I suspect Brian would love to get his teeth into Fabio’s tax planning) may be significant but both strike me as men who know what they want to get from their teams and how ideally they will get there. Brian demands absolute concentration at training and on the pitch and also demands a level of availability that might by some be seen as unreasonable in today’s Easy jet-fuelled “I’m having a mid-season ski-ing break” culture – but in the end it all comes down to – “how much do you really want to win and how much are you willing to sacrifice to get there”??

Brian’s challenge to all four teams in the second half of the season is for all four to finish in the top 3 of their Leagues and whilst we all agreed that – outside of the 1s perhaps – no-one had really played to their full potential yet in the League, this could and should really be achievable. In fact, if we really wanted to be seen as The SAL’s number 1 club – and why wouldn’t we have that goal? – then anything less would be a cop out.

Now I actually believe that this is a tough old objective and that actually the likes of West Wickham, Winchmore and Owens have far more of a stake to that particular claim, particularly historically. But what’s wrong with having the ambition? In Brian’s view nothing at all and I have to concur. Where Mr Capello and Brian and myself completely agree is that we will only give ourselves the chance to do that if we are absolutely dedicated to the cause and absolutely “professional” in our approach.

I hope that the Club is doing its bit with some excellent (but very very expensive) training facilities (full grass pitch under lights) and things like 5 new sponsored kits (and in fairness you the players have done fantastically well this year with subs as well I have to say) but in the end on-pitch success will come from you and you alone so please think carefully about trips away and attendance at training etc in the remaining 8 weeks or so….

Elsewhere, I was really pleased to see that the Club had delivered 5 players to the SAL rep team that has now reached the semi final of “The FA Carlsberg National league Systems Cup” (I didn’t get to where I am today without creating some wonderful sponsorable opportunities….) and that Chris Kerr and Alex Ewin both scored in the latest 3-1 win against The Dorset Premier League XI and this is a fantastic reflection of the strength of the Club and the high regard the SAL guys hold us in.

On the back of this I’m not going to tempt fate at all in relation to the 1s (did this last year and they promptly lost) but just to wish them well on 3 fronts going forward, as well as the 3s and 4s who have both reached Cup semis.

My final thought is that in trying to win Leagues and Cups can we please all ensure that we have the necessary medical kits and water buckets etc to hand as we had the very unwanted reminder of how dangerous football at any level can be with the untimely death of Steve Benjamin at Old Westminster Citzs only 3 weeks ago. A reminder to all of us and our thoughts are very much with his family and the Club.

Right that’s it. You might be re-assured to hear that Fabio now knows everything about the club after two flights to and from Zagreb with me and after listening (politely rather than intently methinks) he made a point of saying that he thought Brian sounded like a very very good Coach –…………. so make sure you all do what Don Brian asks…..

Jonty

The 1s clearly have a massive challenge ahead of the them in the League with a lot of tough games yet to play and an ever decreasing number of Saturdays in which to play them. A bit tricky for me to criticise an FA-inspired competition (the Carlsberg Leagues Cup etc etc) but it does seem a bit odd to me that the League keeps on playing its games on a Saturday but hey ho we’ll take the fixture congestion in our stride and hope that everything plays out OK. I watched the 1s in their semi against West Wickham and noted what a tough and resilient side Wickham are but certainly beatable if we continue to play football against them but they certainly have enough young, skilful players to win the League so it will be a battle from here on in – but one we can definitely rise to.

Cup football returns this weekend in the form of an AFA Senior Semi at Old Aloysians again by all accounts a strong, physical and fast footballing side so hopefully no-one will believe League tables which so often lie at this level. Get four or five new players into a team and everything can change in one fell swoop. Anyhow best of luck to Brian and the lads – they know what they need to do and they know how they need to prepare for it so all the best.

The 2s have really put together a strong run and as I have always said that the strength of every club is articulated via its second team, it’s a really encouraging trend. Carshalton seem to be faltering slightly so there’s some hope there but again this is a really competitive league and anyone can take points off anyone – in particular Owens who always rise to our particular challenge. Heads down, 15 at training, no booze Friday and you’ll have a fighting chance.

Both the 3s and 4s have reached their League Cup finals which is great news for them and the club but I hope this doesn’t mean that they will take their foot off the pedal in the League, especially the 4s who also have a real chance to come up on the rails in the last few weeks of the season. Again I’ve always felt it’s better to come from lower down the table at the end of the season as the momentum can really pull you through especially if you get used to winning. The 3s also know that Brian has set them the challenge of a top 3 finish and, as reigning Champions, I’d even expect them to want more than third themselves. We’ll see if they’re up for it.

I mentioned 4 teams earlier but we are of course five and I for one am hoping for a little run out on the beautiful pitches of Tolworth with the Vets before the season is out and before the joints seize up for ever. It’s a real wrench to miss out on the week to week nature of our football but kids and stuff just make a slightly different life a reality. I still try to keep involved when I can though so hence the trip for the Wickham game – accompanied by the way by a number of fans (both ours and Wickham’s which is great to see at this level) and it was particularly great to see a healthy Mr Elliott Senior who is probably one of our all time best supporters who still gives his ageing son as much support as he needs – even though he apparently was one of the few who slotted his penalty with ease on the day!

I nearly managed to ref for the 4s this weekend calling up Andy Cattell to say I had a green card from the missus. Unfortunately this just confused him too much and we both decided it might be best to keep all of my cards firmly in my top pocket.

Best of luck to all at the weekend and keep working hard.

The Chairman