The Conference Season

As the Conference Season draws to a close, with the final games being played out in Blackpool this week, all of our attention is being drawn to Gordon’s big decision.

Will he call an autumn General Election?

Now forgive me for being a bit dull. But didn’t I vote in an election on May 5th 2005? And didn’t Tony Blair lead the Labour Party to a third consecutive victory? And wasn’t Labour’s House of Commons majority 66?

Mmmm, and another thing. Don’t General Elections cost a lot of money…..my money?

So just a couple of years after retaining power and then being gifted the top job in the Country….I didn’t see the advert in the Times appointments….the ‘grim-faced son of the manse’ may just call another election because his advisers tell him, ‘the opinion polls look good, Gordon’.

‘No Prime Minister. No’ is the answer Your Majesty should bestow on Gordon, when he asks permission to dissolve Parliament.

Politicians and their hangers-on….and in some cases ‘partners’. …..have only one fundamental desire. Personal survival. And one ambition. Personal advancement.

I’ve known and worked closely with a number of leading Politicians over the years, and I can’t say that I have liked any of them. In fact I don’t know of one who I would entrust with the safe keeping of my ‘Aldershot FC programme collection’ for an afternoon. And certainly not for a maximum Parliamentary term of five years.

So when Jack Dromey, Trade Unionist and official hanger-on to Harriet Harman (Deputy Leader of the Labour Party) had a go at Boris Johnson during the Party Conference, I felt just a bit of political passion rising.

Now I don’t have any more time for the politics of Boris than I do for those of Ken Livingstone. And living on a hill top retreat in Wales I don’t suppose the winner of the 2008 London Mayoral Election will have much of an impact on me.

No, but I just might like Boris if I met him. Calling him a ‘tufty toff from Eton’ who was as ‘genuine as a nine-bob note’ was a bit rich coming out of the mouth of a man who on March 15th 2006, in the Cash for Peerages scandal, spoke of being unaware, despite being party treasurer, of £3.5million worth of loans….in fact it wasn’t until he read the papers that he knew anything about it.

Oh and by the way Jack….your wife was the niece of an earl and attended St Paul’s Girls School. But unlike Boris who went from Eton to become President of the Oxford Union , poor Harriet ended up at York.

And I have no doubt that David Cameron and his platform guests will do their best to upstage all those who have gone before…..

Football blog….yes, I remember……this is a football blog.

And it’s not just politicians who demand media attention.

But the constant need for the media to have ’comment’ and a ‘story’ makes the life of a football manager a nightmare. Some are of course very clever….Jose was brilliant. But Brian Clough was the best….his one liners fill page after page of ‘Google searches’.

And some managers dine out on their past comment. Reliving a quality of output that would fall well short of the standard required by Boris, when editor of the Spectator between 1999 and 2005.

Bobby Gould was awarded the Golden Bull Award by the Plain English Campaign for his Wimbledon FC Programme notes in 1987.…..and yes, they were…. ’good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, all I hope personally this afternoon is that we don’t have an ’after the Lord Mayors Show’ game situation!…….’

A few years ago Bobby and I were guests at a ‘Sporting Dinner’. At the time Bobby was Manager of Wales. And a bit like Aldershot’s manager last season….he was under pressure. The results were not good. Performances dire. And the fans had had enough.

But as we sat next to each other at dinner, I warmed to him. He spoke in a language that was not readily discernable. But he appeared open and honest. Clearly genuine. A nice man.

He spoke with great pride of his son.

No, not Jonathan who made 109 league appearances for Celtic and was capped twice by Scotland (he also made 14 appearances for Hereford in 2004). No the sense of pride was for his other son…..a serving officer in the Army.

He started the conversation with the Balkans, it continued through religion, tanks, snow, politics, the United Nations….I was breathless. But Bobby didn’t stop. All of his sentences joined as one.

I turned briefly to his charming wife in search of support. She smiled and whispered in my ear. ‘When he starts at home I get the silver polish out. And do a few of his trophies and medals. He will pause for breath soon….’

And she was right. Just after a return trip to Kosovo he stopped……then he started up again.

After all that I feel a bit more focussed….and Aldershot Town FC sit proudly in third place in the Conference. A great point at Cambridge on Tuesday evening, only to be followed by a weekend off because of television. How I look forward to the day when all matches kick off at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. Come on Gordon do something useful with my money for once.

And what of the game at the Abbey Stadium?

Passion and pace after a slightly too respectful start. A goal for Aldershot inevitable….was it really so late in the game (87mins).

And the obvious difference between this season and the previous two….all of the players want to play. All of the substitutes want to get on the pitch. And when they do….like Dean Smith on Tuesday evening, they play with the same enthusiasm and desire as the rest. The whole of the squad have developed a togetherness and infectious desire that will overcome much bigger and stronger teams. And Dean, who spent last season looking like a frightened rabbit caught in the headlights of a car, played with a confidence that can only be the result of our pre season management change.

Best of luck AFC Wimbledon ……….but I am so pleased that Aldershot Town now have a good young man at the helm.

Exeter next Tuesday will be a test and Stevenage on Saturday will be another hard game. But I have confidence in our management team. I'm sure they will grow stronger with our results, and they will learn from the mistakes that have been made. But above all else, Gary and Martin will build upon the power of ‘the team‘.

Time for reflection

What a feeling of satisfaction. Aldershot Town top of the Conference.....

And in a week when two of Yorkshire's finest were sent home without a point between them, perhaps just a tad unjustly, I was reminded through two encounters just how important the Club is to me.

York City was a hard fought three points. But it was earlier in the Social Club that my emotions were stirred.

It's funny how friendships are born at football matches. The same faces seen each week at The Recreation Ground....and then, somehow, a different ensemble at away matches. The simple conversation. Will we win? Will Elvins score? It was great at Oxford. I didn't see you. Did you go? No depth to the conversation. No need to evaluate the rubbish that pours from the mouths of politicians.

Now, what was it that Gordon said today?

Who cares. We are playing Cambridge tomorrow.

So as I sat in the Social Club, on Tuesday evening, chatting to an 'old friend', listening to her story and the place that Aldershot has played in her life I stopped for just a moment and turned my own memory back to 2003. The surgery that could have gone better! The close encounter with the next World....I didn't like it. So I returned, and by the time we played Tamworth away, securing a point in a 3v3 thriller, I was on the road to recovery....in fact I was back on the road to every game, to the end of that glorious first season in the Conference.

And then on Saturday, just before we were taken to the wire by a Farsley Celtic side, who may be good enough to stay up this season, I was reminded by another 'friend' just how important the club is to us all.

2300 faces....all sharing the emotion of a 4v3 victory and the prospect of going top. No doubt only to be followed, at some point with defeat, and inevitable disappointment.

But these are the feelings that bring together the 2300 faces. Forget the badge kissing. Ignore the juvenile chants of abuse. Just gather in the reflected emotion....

And when you see such emotion in the face of the spectator next to you....it won't be Abramovich, Glazer or Thaksin Shinawatra.

Cambridge United on Tuesday will be big, tough and direct. Gary Waddock knows what to expect and we will be.....

Just in case you are reading my Blog Mr Quinn....we will be a surprise.

Baroness Thatcher.....

Gosh what a week it's been....Northern Rock and the Government stepping in to bale out a failing company.....with my money. The Liberal Democrat Conference. Held somewhere nice, I'm sure...and did they make some promises? And then someone probably said something they shouldn't have....

And who has the time to attend political conferences anyway?

More importantly Aldershot Town beat York City, the self proclaimed 'Arsenal of the Conference' 2v0 on Tuesday evening.

A competent performance against a well organised and determined team. Aldershot showing more composure in the second half with the introduction of Newman. And Elvins , just maybe, heading for cult status alongside the greats of Jack Howarth, Giorgio Mazzon and Darren Anderson.

But I guess the big news story of the week was, Jose Mourinho leaving Chelsea.

Now to be honest I don't have any time for Chelsea and I certainly never regarded Mourinho as 'the special one'. But the circumstances that led to his demise are fascinating....and they can be traced back to a day more than 23 years ago.

On December 17th 1984 John Cole , BBC, asked Margaret Thatcher.
'Does meeting Gorbachev , make you more optimistic or less regarding detente and world peace next year? Prime Minister'.

'I am cautiously optimistic. I like Mr. Gorbachev . We can do business together.'

The television interview with Thatcher was recorded just three months before Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union. An interview that was to be the start of a move by the West back to a new detente with the USSR under Gorbachev’s leadership. A leadership that ultimately coincided with the final erosion of Soviet power, prior to its eventual collapse in 1991.

But Margaret Thatcher did more than change the political landscape of Britain, she changed the landscape.

Tom Jones had a hit in 1965 with, Green Green Grass of Home. And this just a couple of years after he was the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a local beat group who performed regularly at the Pontypridd YMCA.

The Rhondda, Cynon and Taf Ely Valley's had been brown with industrial waste and surrounded by coal tips for well over one hundred years. And Tom Jones' birthplace no more than a few miles from Aberfan where, at 9.15am on 21 October 1966, 144 people, 116 of them children, were killed when a tip of coal waste slid onto the village.

Green Green Grass of Home. Not for the poor children of Aberfan.

The confrontational strikes carried out by the National Union of Mineworkers in 1984-85 were followed by the pit closure programme....the rest is of course history. And the landscape of south Wales is now green.

But back to the Soviet Union.....

Roman Abramovich was born on October 24th 1966. His early years no different to many Russians at the time. Born into a Jewish family, with his paternal grandparents exiled to Siberia. He grew up as an orphan, as his mother died when he was one year old and his father was killed in an accident on a construction site, when he was three years old.

A brief period in the Soviet Army coincided, in 1985, with Gorbachev implementing economic reforms that he hoped would improve living standards and worker productivity, as part of his perestroika programme.

By 1988 Gorbachev gave new freedoms to the people, including freedom of speech, under glasnost. This radical change, that struck at the heart and central control of the government, was the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

As for Roman, well he could smell the oil.

By the late 1980's he had set up a few small private businesses. And between 1992 and 1995 Abramovich founded five companies that specialised in the trading of oil and oil products.

And in 1995, just four years after the collapse of the Soviet Union Abramovich, together with Boris Berezovsky acquired the controlling interest in the oil company, Sibneft....now I'm not going to say any more, other than; it was a very good deal for young Roman.

Then in 2003 Abramovich took control of Chelsea, when Ken Bates sold up.

For a woman who despised football so much, Margaret Thatcher's influence over the game may extend as long as the half life of uranium 238.

Oh yes….Ken Bates now the Chairman of Leeds United. Another club purchased for a £1...well almost. Talk about looking after the pennies and….

Leeds not far from Farsley. Or should that be Farsley not far from Leeds.

I’m sure Farsley Celtic will be a hard working team on Saturday.....

Honest endeavour......

‘He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow’ - (George Eliot)

Jan Ludvik Hoch was born in the small town of Slatinske Doly in the Carpathian Mountains of Czechoslovakia in 1923.

He died Ian Robert Maxwell on November 5th 1991. His body found floating in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary Islands. He fell overboard from his luxury yacht, Lady Ghislaine.

And Oxford United was, until 1960, Headington United. A club founded in 1893. The name change a matter of profile, and driven by the desire to gain entry to the Football League….

And in 1962 their wish came true, when they were elected to join the League following the demise of Accrington Stanley.

Early success was followed by a period of mediocrity…..and then along came Robert Maxwell. A man whose business empire was built on heavy indebtedness and dishonest practices. His arrogance was such that he ‘borrowed’ millions of pounds from his companies’ pension funds to prop up his group of companies.

Yes, in 1982 Cap’n Bob the man lampooned by the satirical magazine Private Eye as the ‘bouncing Czech’ , took over Oxford United. His ‘money’ took Oxford into the top flight and subsequently they experienced success at Wembley, a 3v0 win over Queens Park Rangers in the Milk Cup Final of 1986.

Then Bob was off to Derby and the Club started to slide…..

So it is somewhat reassuring to find the ‘bouncing Czech’s’ arrogance still pervading the club.

Always beware when someone warns….‘Condescending comment alert’….yes page 50 of the Oxford United v Aldershot Town programme carried a piece under the title, ‘On the road - Altrincham’

‘The thing is, Altrincham still are plucky non-leaguers, and last Saturday they were as plucky as a chicken on the run from Bernard Matthews.’

Mmmmm nice writing….not quite George Eliot, but then she was good.

Oh and then with just a hint of Cap’n Bob…..’we venture into the main stand at Moss Lane and survey the land. It’s not the most graceful of grounds……’

Graceful……

Now did the author hold a vision in his head of a graceful Kassam Stadium, Oxford?

I took a bit of time out on Saturday to have a look at the Kassam, before heading for the Priory pub to meet my brothers. The Priory, a sanctuary fighting to keep at bay the sea of concrete, tin and tarmac that out of town developments create.

But not even the brilliant late summer sunshine could bring me to love the Kassam.

The floodlights strung along the leading edge of the main stand like pigeons roosting on a redundant building….repeated on the north stand? No of course not. The stand being slightly smaller, required the lanterns to be fixed to small columns.

And so lacking in emotion. Concrete and cheap tin doesn’t evoke images of Firenze or Provence. In fact it evokes memories of tin and concrete….

The completed Kassam’s ‘architecture’ just 6 years old. …. .a case study for any aspiring designer……firmitas, utilitas, venustas (Vitruvious).

But the game was brilliant. Aldershot Town bursting with invention and energy. Oxford pedestrian and predictable during a first half that saw the Shots go in 2v0 to the good.

The half time team talk will be reviewed by Gary Waddock this week, in preparation for Tuesday’s fixture with York City. He got the early second half tactics wrong, and as an intelligent young manager he knows what he should have done.

Oxford came out for the second half with more pace and soon got the game back to 2v2.

But the game was won by Aldershot. A team that was not prepared to give Oxford the satisfaction of one point, let alone three. The effort and combined purpose was too much for Oxford. The winning goal coming from a corner….


I’m sorry Oxford but this is non-league football. It’s not easy. And I have a feeling , you haven’t visited Moss Lane for the last time (subject to Altrincham ‘staying up’)

Endeavour......

It’s been a busy week and for some reason the memory of beating Northwich Victoria, 5v0, has not inspired me to write……..

They were a poor side, and will be relegated along with Droylsden and Altrincham, unless some miracle occurs between now and their last game, against Cambridge United on May 3rd 2008.

In parts, Aldershot played pretty well on Saturday. The young and vibrant midfield proving too strong for such sluggish opposition. And it was nice to see Rob Elvins score, after a much improved performance. He may just prove his detractors wrong… I hope so.

Oh, and the last relegation spot will be taken by Farsley Celtic or Stafford Rangers…..

And it is such a relief to be looking forward to the next game, after two seasons of misery under our former manager…..I wonder how he is getting on at AFC Wimbledon?


I wrote earlier in the season about my interest in ‘proper’ football grounds. And how Archibald Leitch had played such a big part in my lifetime love of the game.

The first stand ever built to a design by Leitch was almost certainly the main stand at the new Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, in Ayrshire. The stand was opened on the day of Killie’s First Division debut, against Celtic, on August 26 1899.…..

But despite his wonderfully distinctive designs the splendour of his creations was not truly exploited until the advent of floodlit matches. Leitch died 17 years before the first floodlit Football League game was played between Portsmouth and Newcastle United on 23rd Feb 1956.

And just as modern grounds have changed. So too have the floodlights. Sadly long gone are the towering structures that filled every house in street after street with a brilliant and blinding light.

Light pollution didn’t exist in the 60’s and 70’s.

The columns to be replaced with what? In most cases a few sticks with some hooded lights. In the bigger grounds….a ring of lanterns as featureless as the ground itself.

Next time you walk down Redan Hill……stop for just a moment and experience the splendour of the Recreation Ground…..

So top of the League for a couple of days after Saturday’s win. And now onwards to Oxford.

Oxford, famous of course for it’s Universities. And Inspector Morse.

Now the interesting thing is; both Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse and Tony Blair went to St John’s College.

Morse left after two years when his scholarship was withdrawn and he joined the Army.

Blair on the other hand……

Endeavour…..yes the Shots will on Saturday.

If it's match day. It's Cottage Pie day.

Now I don’t know many Americans. And I have never been further west than Land’s End.

But do Americans have a concept of reality.? I don’t think so. A simple conclusion reached through the observation of American political history.

The longest tease in modern American political history came to an end yesterday when Fred Thompson, the actor, finally announced that he was a candidate for the Republican party’s nomination in next year’s presidential election.

‘Security, Unity, Prosperity’…now is that for real or something that comes from pressing the TV remote control.

So, an interesting thought. Judge John Deed to become Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice. Yes Martin Shaw and not Jack Straw, that could work.

And Chancellor of the Exchequer….’this time next year we’ll be millionaires, Tony’.

At last a target that was met.

Visiting the new Lawn on Tuesday, my shortest trip of the season, was a welcome return. Cottage Pie…it’s always Cottage Pie on match days. 'The supporters love it', I was advised with just a touch of 'and......your point is'. Perhaps. But I would go for a bit of variety….Shepherd’s Pie…or something exotic like Lasagne.

Yes, a welcome return. Made even more memorable by a performance that left all of the travelling Shots fans millionaires for the night.

Pace and movement in the first half. Supplemented with commitment and team spirit in the second. The return of Newman just before half time, a welcome sight, adding experience and strength to a vibrant midfield.

If only every 94 minutes of football could be like Tuesday night….

Northwich…..I don’t want to say, oops they were organised, defended deep, took their one chance…the defence flat and too high…no Gary has the makings of a good young manager.

He will have a plan.

Flight of flamingos

The shifting marshy area, half land and half sea, of the Rhone delta is desolate yet uniquely appealing. A wilderness full of exotic images. An area where land and sea have agreed to live in an unstable relationship.

This is the Camargue.


The beach at Saintes-Maries de la Mer empty save for the odd late evening swimmer and a few children playing football. The debris from the sun seeking masses strewn across the expansive sands awaiting the overnight clean up. The Mediterranean turning colder and darker. A deep steel blue. The sun finally giving in to the forces of nature, dipping majestically down under the horizon. Spain ….Africa….no far beyond….. as far as the imagination.

Just sitting quietly. Time to enjoy a bottle of Listel gris….chilled to an inch of it’s life. And Mussels cooked over an open fire.

Then just as the sun disappears below the distant horizon the finest of all sights.

From the west a flight of flamingos return from the Etang de Maugio ou de l’Or, just south east of Montpellier, to Camargue.

The sun’s rays burning the underside of the flamingos a brilliant red. A red beyond the intensity of any found on an artist's palette..

This ritualistic passage of birds from Montpellier to Camargue, and back, is repeated daily. The feeding grounds and overnight resting places a genetic habit. An inbuilt need as strong as football supporters getting out of bed and driving north to see their team.

Stafford Services is just one of the many feeding grounds across the UK. A stop over for Liverpool and Manchester United supporters travelling north from Tokyo and Southampton.

And Saturday was no disappointment. A service station full of Flamingos…with the odd Egret and just the one Phoenix. But no Listel gris…..


I like Altrincham. In fact for probably the only time in all the years that I have watched the Shots….I wanted the opposition to win. Yes, the occasion was the last game of the 06/07 season . And yes, I wanted Altrincham to win. We scrapped a draw and they were relegated.

But then salvation….dodgy Boston United, and we found ourselves back at Moss Lane.

The ground is one of my favourites. Compact and well cared for. New floodlights this season…well almost….to replace the ones erected during the year of England’s World Cup victory.

And the game….Aldershot in need of experience and control in midfield. Altrincham lacking in any cutting edge. Bully…his mind on other matters?…turning a comfortable 3 points into a scramble.

And no mushy peas. Grays Athletic to blame as they only purchased two portions the previous week….probably not that bad a market penetration, given the size of their away support.

Forest Green tonight…..and a visit to the new Lawn.

I liked the old one…..