Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

An interesting few days – I am “officially” over Covid but feel worse than when I had it, Gillingham beat Tranmere Rovers to go second in the table and I have met some interesting new football friends. All in a ll a good week!

Let me introduce me to you the guys at The Dads’ Talk. Bobby Conway says, “We are four football fanatical UEFA Coaches, football Dads and all round Good Blokes who have created a YouTube channel that will be full of debate, discussion and banter on all levels of the beautiful game from elite to grassroots. We will have regular content but we are also including special guests. 

We have started the channel due to realising that grassroots football is what brought us together. We thought that as between us we have such a broad knowledge and passion for all aspects of the game and covering all levels, that it was something that would set us apart . 

We would love people to firstly see that we are genuine football lovers offering genuine opinion without any bias. The chemistry between us when talking football just flows naturally. Come over to our Facebook channel and subscribe free of charge to view all our future content.”
So, there we are. Nice to meet you Bobby and the Boys and I wish you every success with your YT channel The fact that you have forsaken the Mercenaries at Arsenal for your local heroes puts you very close to my heart!

A few minutes later Chris Buckley introduced himself to me. He is the man behind the fabulous PrideOfNottingham website that focuses on Notts County. Every week he asks opposing fans about their team and its Good, Bad and Ugly. Gillingham play at Meadow Lane this weekend as we look to take top spot. I shall spend this evening trying to write incisive and meaningful overview. Hopefully it won’t turn into a Bradley Dack eulogy but I have to say that I am excited seeing him back at the Priestfield. If he can keep fit (BIG “if”) he is probably worth a dozen points to us this season. That could be enough to move us from play-off contenders to automatic promotion. That is how important I think Dack could be.

Bradley speaks here about his new life at Gillingham.

If Chris chooses to publish my thoughts, I will add them here too. Fame at last! Taking about fame and stars, Darren Ashley was out blogging again this weekend. Catch up with him at Aylesbury United in sunny Bucks …but not Aylesbury!

Enjoy the week, everybody. I know it will be tough for many of us. Arsenal stealing all three points means I will worry if the sun will ever shine again but then I realise Brentford play Orient tomorrow and that FC Deportivo Galicia are at Uxbridge to play Langley on Wednesday and realise I have something to look forward to. The fact that AFC Wimbledon destroyed the Plastics at the weekend is a sign there is justice in the world and that Taylor Swift has come out fighting for Harris should guarantee some MAGATs follow Kamala.

It was good to hear from our friends at 3 Retro today. They have launched some more Special Edition Retro Shirts.

They have a wide range of England and Scotland shirts as well as new Manchester City offerings.

They are also promoting their famous Mystery Gift Boxes.

Full details here

Darren looking for a Brexit Benefit ….. no, he did not find one!

I can’t claim to be the greatest fan of international games, certainly unless Spain are playing, but I watched England play the Republic of Ireland on the television yesterday and was quite impressed. Unusually some of the players replicated the best of their club form (or better!) and it was good to see Grealish play in a freer role. All in all a good win in Dublin. A few minutes earlier Gillingham had trudged off the field at Doncaster after their worst performance of the season and have now lost the top spot in League 2. #football It was an impressive eleven home league wins in a row by Doncaster Rovers but we have a couple of tough games ahead and at least a point would have been welcome! Sadly, or perhaps fortunately, I could not be there. The Covid is clear but I am still struggling a bit. All will be good.

Our intrepid vloggers Christian Obray and Darren Ashley have been out again and their offers are here and here. I know that many are enjoying their particular takes of non league football. I certainly am! Christian has even started a little merchandise set-up so if you want a unique badge or T-shirt give him a ping.

I am also delighted to confirm that Alex Webber’s book about Polish football is out. Alex has kindly offered to let me have some more information but in the meantime, you can find it on Amazon. It’s approximately 30% bigger than the UK but with a population of not much over half and is a country that has fascinated me as long as I can remember. I am looking to get to Poland again in the next few weeks (a weekend including travel/hotel is cheaper than a ticket at Spurs or WHU!) and have asked him to suggest a dozen grounds that would give me a feel for Polish football. Hopefully that includes Świnoujście as it’s been on my bucket list since 1975!

CPD Llanilltud Fawr/Llantwit Major AFC

Apologies for radio silence. Covid AGAIN! It was not fun but Arsenal dropping points at home and FC Deportivo Galicia scoring 5 away from home helped me pull through. God bless the NHS ….yet again!

On to more exciting things, I found a great story about CPD Llanilltud Fawr/Llantwit Major AFC and knew it needed sharing. So it is ……

” ….. And here it is, the special Adventures with Mr Octopus shirt we will wear for our Fenix Trophy matches and as our away strip from the 2025/26 season! We will donate a portion of our profits from the shirt and ticket sales to the charity.

Of all the beautiful yet slightly whacky kits we’ve released, this one has a very meaningful purpose

Our new Fenix Trophy shirt for this season will also become next season’s league away shirt and will brighten up the stadia of south wales and Europe for the next 2 seasons!

Get yours here from our friends at Tor Sports

As a club in the Fenix Trophy we are asked to name a local community charity to support, this season we are humbled to be supporting Adventures with Mr Octopus in memory of Evelyn

The charity was setup by good friends of the club and community in memory of their beautiful daughter – Evelyn Elizabeth Sara Thomas.

As a club we will be donating £1 for every paying entrant to our home Fenix Trophy matches this season and a percentage of sales profit from the ‘Octo-shirt’ to the charity. We hope you’ll all join with us in whatever way you can in supporting this fantastic charity

We are also looking for a front and possible rear sponsors for the shirt. We expect this to be a sought after kit so please message us or email sponsorlmafc@gmail.com to register your interest.

Many thanks for your support as always”

So, this gorgeous creation is going to be the shirt of choice of the Welsh Teanm who play in Cymru South in the Fenix Trophy. I have mailed the club and hope to get full details soon but I have found the next game will be in Antwerp. Anybody want to join me?

I know about as much about as I do and my Flemish is markedly better than my Welsh but it looks a great gig. Further details soonest.

“Two solid sides to watch, two wonderful sets of fans to drink and party with and two underrated locations to visit:

@LlantwitMajorFC vs @berchemsport has all this and much more! Will the Windmill Army succeed in conquering Europe on their second attempt or will the Antwerp-based powerhouse reach Round 2? Regardless of the outcome, I am sure it will be a great weekend. Direct bus from Flixbus…..life is sweet!

Below the Belgian stadium …..

Sincere apologies to Christian Obray and Darren Ashley. Afraid I will have to leave you until tomorrow. I will say both our intrepid heroes have been away again. A little birdie tells me we missed each other at Millwall but you can see their latest adventures here and here

There is nothing better to finish the weekend than seeing yourself “top of the league.” As a Gillingham fan since 1964, I cannot say I have had that pleasure too often. Even in the glory years at the end of the last century we got into the play-offs through the back door. However after a 0-0 draw we find ourselves top of the pile. Long may it continue. Are we going to stay there? Daniel Pearson thinks we won’t be there at the end of the season. Here are his predictions for the twenty four clubs in League Two. Check his You Tube and see whether you agree with him.

Another interesting story this week was that of Blackburn Rovers’ fan Lewis Robinson who is going to cycle to every Rovers, away match this season. I wish him every success. You may remember that Luton Town fan, Mark Crowther, did something similar with his team last season. See here. Lewis is probably going to have to do even MORE miles because of the geography and because in the Championship there are an extra four away games each each season. I have caught up with Lewis and hope to have some more content soon. Good luck, warrior.

Meanwhile my friends Christian Obray and Darren Ashley ….are buzzing around the country groundhopping, vlogging and blogging. Jump over to their pages to see where they have been to recently.

…and as little teaser I hear that a Carlisle United fan is doing ” A Year in the Life of…” a la Nick Hornby.
I am looking forward to reviewing the book soonest.

Enjoy the week

Steve

I was in conversation with Oliver Jack at Curzon Ashton yesterday and promised to add this. Many moons ago, I lived in Ashton-u-Lyne but I used to watch Stalybridge Celtic and Ashton United normally. No reason whatsoever not to support Oliver though !

“Hi, I’m a Director at Curzon Ashton FC. Bit of a long one but could do with some feedback from the people of Ashton and Tameside.

Curzon Ashton have just started our 10th season in the NLN which is Step 6 of English football. We are competing in a league with some huge clubs with massive finances and fan bases. Last season we got the playoffs after a wonderful campaign.

We have the facilities, the team, the stadium what we don’t have is the fan base. Our crowds range generally from 200-400 but we are competing with teams that get 10 times that amount.

My questions is… what do you the community want from a football club? We are the best chance Tameside has of achieving a football club in the EFL but we can’t progress without you. We are and have always been affordable and are struggling to think of what more we can do.”

Any thoughts? You can contact him via Facebook

I was delighted to find that people were pleased to learn that Christian and Darren would be continuing to vlog and blog this season.

Darren has been busy again ….. he apologies in advance for a few “choice words” here whilst Christian has been equally busy blogging, editing and much more. Here he highlights an interesting “rags to riches” story from Finchamstead. Good luck, guys, as you move through the table. Natty shirt too! Darren photo above, Christian, below)

Two other shirt stories hit my screen this week that I thought I would like to comment on. Sheffield Wednesday making a contender for the media own goal of the season whilst at Dorking both the kit man and the referee and his assistants should hang their heads!

Yes, Sheffield Wednesday had the gall to issue this statement that fans found wearing “fake” shirts (whole discussion about fake shirts, of course!) may be asked to leave the stdium. The BBC website picked it up.

“Sheffield Wednesday have warned that home fans wearing counterfeit shirts at Hillsborough could be ejected from the stadium.

The South Yorkshire club issued a statement on their website to “respectfully request” that supporters refrain from wearing fake shirts at home games.

Wednesday stated: “Anyone found to be wearing a fake shirt inside Hillsborough could be asked to leave, with information passed on to the relevant parties.”

They have also made it clear that staff at the official club shop will refuse requests to add numbers or letters to counterfeit shirts.”

Let’s remember that their “official” shirt is £77 and if you wanted to also buy the TWO away shirts (aka 2nd/3rd kit) and a training shirt a fan is looking at an obscene £300!!! Then we could talk about the shorts, the socks, the etc etc etc …. It should come as no real surprise that fans of the Sheffield club are not amused whilst the rest of the football world derides the club!


Meanwhile in Truro….

“Truro City’s first match in their new stadium was delayed soon after kick-off due to a clash of shirts between the home side and visitors Dorking Wanderers.

Dorking’s orange tops clashed with Truro’s new red home kit and, after just three minutes, the visitors went off the field.

When they returned they had turned their shirts inside out – a situation which lasted the rest of the game.”

Ooops. Until next time….

Well, the tuktuk tour might be over but football continues unabated! I have spoken to both Christian (above) and Darren who provided vlogs every week last season and they have kindly agreed to continue. You can look forward to their excellent input on a regular basis. In fact, they have both already been out this summer and you can see their first instalments here and here.

Darren was also at Brackley Town which is a name that strikes fear in every Gillingham fan as we seem to reserve our worst possible FA Cup performances for trips to Northamptonshire.

FC Deportivo Galicia’s league season started in the worst possible way. After six hugely encouraging pre-season games, we somehow managed to lose 2-1 at home to our friends from Westside. To say it was disappointing would be a massive understatement. We have almost a complete new team, a new focus, lots of activity off the field and we concede a 1-0 lead. Football …that’s why we love it!

Talking about Gillingham, we have a new manager and Steve Clemence has moved on to Barrow. Obviously, I wish him well. Sadly, the results were not as hoped for but we can say that for pretty much every manager over the last 20 years so I thought he might have been given a full season. Football … that’s why we love it.

Gillingham start off at home to relegated Carlisle United this weekend. Promotion for the Gills and FC Deportivo Galicia would be a nice present!

…and there in a flash, that was it. The tuktuk tour comes to a glorious end and whilst it was originally scheduled for 90 days, yes, it went a bit over! So, here I am pulling a few strands together today.

Firstly and perhaps most importantly thanks to everyone who has supported me. It is really appreciated. Whether you shared a page or a post, whether you were kind enough to donate to FC Deportivo Galicia or Prostate Cancer UK or whether you went one step further and actually wrote some content (see below), all of you are forever in my mind.

Another group of people who I wish to mention as I tidy up this tour are all the people who were kind enough to wish me a Happy Birthday this week. Thanks to each and every single one of you. I have tried to thank you individually but in 2024 Birthday Wishes come flying in from all directions so if I have missed sending a personal reply on LinkedIn or Instagram, I apologise right here, right now …. as the lyrics go. Something else to comment on was I was surprised how many friends did not know the purpose of the tour. If you have not picked this up in the last six months, here is an overview. Whilst the tour might be over, ANY donations to FC Deportivo Galicia or Prostate Cancer are still welcome. Pretty, please? Hopefully the two organisations are grateful for my efforts. I know my local club are and I have promised to continue to fundraise for them. I have a couple of irons in the fire and I will update soon.

So, what is the state of English football? Obviously, as I have been digitally circumventing the country I have learned much. Bottom line? I am actually quite surprised. The majority of clubs are “surviving” ….even if we accept that funding a football club at every level is a bottomless pit for money! I suppose I can put it better. The overwhelming majority of clubs are cutting their cloth accordingly and showing a fiscal prudence that the Tories never did. Obviously one of the highlights for me of the past 6 months is the slow death and subsequent destruction of the Conservative Party. Let us see what the future holds!

Rather than turn this into a rant about Tory corruption, nepotism, in-fighting etc etc, let’s look at the positive. I was delighted to have met Christian Obray, Darryl and Clare on my travels. I am hoping they will all be prepared to continue to share their thoughts on the non-league scene and the women’s game on this blog in the weeks to come. Chapeau. They have added much interest to the tour and I thank them sincerely. Without doing a Richard Attenborough, there are so many to thank Leo, Jose, Ed, Rogelio and all the others at FC Deportivo Galicia who encouraged me as well as Matt , Dave and Jim.….all great artists who I was thrilled to showcase.

And the final reason to tidy everything up this week is the departure of Gareth Southgate from the England role. I am not going to hide. I thought he did a magnificent job and his record over the past eight years can be held up alongside any manager in Europe. Obviously, everyone is disappointed that we failed at the final hurdle against a magnificent Spanish side. Would anybody else have done better? Personally, I think not. Howe? Potter? Poch? Klopp? Carsley? The names are already being bandied around but I don’t see much international experience, never mind success. I am sure we will know in the next few days.

THANKS AGAIN, the tour winds down and the pre-season is in full flow. I have already seen three games this summer and I am sure there will be another dozen before our BIG kick off in the Combined Counties at Step 6. I will continue to build this blog into its fifteenth year and hope you will pop back to see what’s happening. It just will not be daily. Personally, I am mainly on Facebook nowadays so that’s where you will find me. Personally Twitter, Instagram and the others have not captured me. If they are your home, I wish you well.

Finally, and I will die a fighter, please let me remind you for the xxxxth time who I was fundraising for. Take a bow, FC Deportivo Galicia at Heathrow and Prostate Cancer UK. Any final donations, however small will be gratefully received, amigos!

Hednesford Town

Hednesford Town – Jack Bevan

Fellow Groundhopper and all-round-good-guy, Christian Obray, pinged me yesterday to say that FC Deportivo Galicia was on his “Must Visit” list for the new season. Welcome! As you saw from Day 140 all are welcome whether it is for a single visit or as a regular supporter. We are a broad church of Fulham, QPR, Chelsea, West Ham, Portsmouth and Gillingham fans and I hear that we even allow Arsenal fans through the gates as long as they don’t ramble about “Title contenders” or other such silliness. For the sake of transparency, I should mention that our avuncular Presidente is indeed a lifelong Gooner. Welcome, Christian!

For those who don’t know Christian, he has a busy blog, TTTONLF, spotlighting his groundhopping trips. Take a look here and this week he has been with the guys and gals at Hednesford Town. I thought the overview deserved more eyeballs and Christian kindly allowed me to cover it.

TTTONLF MEETS…JACK BEVAN

Name – Jack Bevan
Age – 37
Favourite Team – Hednesford Town and Wolves
Occupation – Operations Manager at Hednesford Town
One thing I love about football is – The release from everyday life on a matchday (result dependant!) and how it brings communities together creating friendships and unique bonds Football pet hate – VAR and how the professional game has almost become to a point non contact! Best player you have ever seen play in real life – Steven Gerrard or Ronaldinho

“Can you share your career journey and what led you to become the Operations Manager at Hednesford Town?

So my journey began at Wolves back in 2007 when I worked in the commercial department overseeing commercial operations such as corporate hospitality, advertising and events. I was at Wolves for nearly 5 years and then had a career change where I worked in Social care and Education before returning to Football as Operations manager at Hednesford Town. I follow Hednesford Town home and away and with the club recently being taken over by new owners, an opportunity presented itself to get back into football and utilise my past experience of working in the Premier League with Wolves at my home town club; one im extremely grateful for.

What does a typical day look like for you as the Operations Manager at Hednesford Town?

Every day is different and so are the working hours! I am based at the ground every day and each day starts with a strong coffee and a re-cap of previous days events and what is in my diary. My role is extremely varied but predominantly covers 4 strands; Ticketing, commercial operations, Press and Media and Fan Liaison. Some days it could be a day of season tickets and helping organising logistics for an upcoming match, another it could be back to back meetings with businesses around advertising and partnership deals. A lot of my time at the moment is spent around press releases for new players and the content that goes with that. We are very much in the process of creating an open and regular communication line with Fans so I am doing a lot of work in fan chats, organising meet the manager , responding to emails and queries from fans, interviews with players and managers and doing regular updates for the fans via our social media channels.

What are the most challenging aspects of your role, and how do you navigate them?

I think there are challenges in most aspects of working life however right now as a club we are going through a transition period with the new owners and a new staff team which is new for us all! With so much work going on at the club it can often seem like you don’t know which way to turn! However I believe communication and an open and honest line of dialogue creates a positive working environment that allows you to work collaboratively and achieve the goals you set.

Can you highlight some of the key achievements or milestones you’ve reached since taking on this role?

I’m extremely proud of the fact that we are close to doubling our seasonal ticket sales from last year; a potential 25 year record here at the club. We have implemented a new online ticketing system which fans have really brought into and I am particularly proud of the feedback I get from the communication line we have created and being told that it’s the best its ever been. It has been a difficult 10-15 years for the club and I was extremely keen to help rebuild that trust with fans and repair at times what have been damaged relationships. The feedback and general response that I have had is that we are well on our way to achieving that.

How do you foster a positive and productive working environment among the team at Hednesford Town?

I touched on it before in the above question but I am big believer in open , honest and regular communication between colleagues. I am extremely fortunate that I work closely with Terry McMahon, club secretary , who has been at the club longer than I can remember and that I have known Terry personally for 30 years and we have a fantastic relationship. I am very like minded to our new CEO Marvin Robinson and we work really well together and most importantly I have a great relationship with the owners Craig and Amanda who are incredibly supportive of any ideas I have and look to encourage innovative based working. It’s a great working team.

How important is community engagement to the club, and what initiatives have you implemented to strengthen this relationship?

Community is at the heart of what we do here at the club. We have a fantastic Supporters association who do a huge amount of work within the community which is lead by a great guy called Trevor Edwards. Our owners work with a huge amount of charities and are looking to do more work with local charities on top of what they currently. We have plans to start working closely with local schools and have community based events that are accessible for us. From a football perspective we have tried to be as affordable as possible and have a number of initiatives in the pipeline to really connect with the local community. I am Hednesford born and bred, I understand the importance of both this football club and the local community and I am extremely passionate about bringing them both together.

Have there been any innovative strategies or changes you’ve introduced that have significantly improved operations at the club?

Errm, I wouldn’t go as far as to say innovative or anything crazy special; but the new online ticketing platform has really smoothed out our ticketing operation, meaning we have been able to work smarter. I am quite an old school kind of person, I believe hard work and dedication can naturally create innovative strategies and since coming into the role having that open line of communication with fans and fellow staff members, being accessible at flexible times and always looking for ways to improve the club means we have made great strides off the pitch. I am also keen to mention our volunteers who I work closely with and speak to regularly; without them clubs would struggle immensely and having those guys around in my eyes beats any fancy strategy!

How would you describe your leadership style, and how has it evolved over your career?

I am someone who is understanding of everyone’s individual situations and like to think I am open, solution based and someone people can look up to and trust. My leadership style is based around the way I was brought up; Honesty, hardworking, empathetic and doing things the right way. I believe having the right values and being a people person is the best way to create trust from your colleagues and throughout my career people have generally responded really well to this.

What are your long-term goals for Hednesford Town, and how do you plan to achieve them?

My long term goal is to help create a sustainable, community focused and successful football club that has the fans at the heart of what we do. There are always plans and strategies in place long term but my initial remit is day by day, working hard for the club and to not only learn from any past mistakes but also put into practice some of my experiences particularly from my time at Wolves. Hednesford is a lifeblood for so many fans, including myself, my wife and children who are first and foremost fans first!, and people work hard all week to come and watch this team spending their hard earned money. That is my motivation; be a voice for the fans, be someone that fans can say ‘ Yeah, JB (as im known to many) is doing things the right way’ and help transform this club into one of the best non league clubs in the country; an inspiring goal that is one we all want to achieve. The owners are fantastic people, as is the workforce both on and off the field. The goal is to become better day by day; that will ultimately take us forward.

What steps are you taking to enhance the fan experience on match days and beyond?

There are a number of initiatives that are in the pipeline (some I cant talk about yet) but we are always looking at ways to improve fans match day experience. We have recently had TNT sports installed after years without any such sporting TV in the club, we have a new scoreboard on order, we have engaged the fans in having a say in new banners to be placed around the stands, we are proactive with things such as family days, ticket offers and drinks offers and as I say we have some really exciting plans in the pipeline that will hopefully be released soon. Fan engagement is key for us and I am always keen to hear from fans around ways we can make things better.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to work in football club operations?

My advice would be work hard, take any opportunity that comes your way and always follow your heart. There are always opportunities in and around non league in volunteer roles that can often lead to further opportunities. There are so many varied roles within football clubs from ticket office, club shop , finance, and commercial to match day roles and safety. I would always recommend looking out for roles, applying even if you don’t think your qualified and be confident to give something new or different a go. Football is nothing without fans , volunteers and staff.

———————————————————————————————————————

A massive thank you to Jack for taking the time to sit down and answer these questions. It sounds like these are some exciting times down at Hednesford and Jack and the team are making a real difference in communicating to the fans and making them feel like they truly are a part of everything that is happening.

I for one agree that communication is key to alot of things in life but especially so in football clubs, the lack of communication can lead to voids being filled by others who may not have the clubs best interests at heart and can ultimately lead to a disconnect between the club and fans. The open channel between club and fans is a HUGE factor in my opinion in what seperates the ‘big’ clubs from those in non-league, non-league clubs realise that they are just the temporary custodians and the real owners of the club are the fans.

Football could learn a lot from how most non-league clubs are run and its sounds like alot of non-league clubs could even learn a thing or two from Hednesford too.

Until next time!!”

I thought Christian was absolutely correct, “Football could learn a lot from how most non-league clubs are run.” Looking through his blog and social media feeds I spotted an interesting article about how a non-league club is run. I will chat about this with Christian in the days ahead because I think he raises a lot of very interesting points. If you are involved in grassroots or non-league football, I think you will enjoy this. Here at FC Deportivo Galicia there is a strengthened management team and I will be introducing you to the heroes in the near future. Everyone is geared for success on and off the field.
Christian is also very excited about his new pin-badges he has and a complete range of merchandise. You heard about it here first (well, maybe second!)

Hope you all enjoyed the article and are looking forward to the England v Netherlands and Spain v France games. I am banking on a Spain v England final. Mr Tebbit is knocking at my door!

In the meantime, please remember the purpose of the tour which is to raise funds for Prostate Cancer and an equal amount for FC Deportivo Galicia. As always, I do hope that you are all enjoying this digital tour of the UK and that you will consider a donation to support FC Deportivo Galicia 

If everybody chipped in with just £1, I would easily hit my target of £10,000 and life would be easier at the club.

A HEARTFELT thanks, if you can donate or sponsor. If you can’t, any shares of this site or even this post would be gratefully received.