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