Taking a break

After sixteen consecutive games it's time for an autumn break....and I will not be making the long trip across to Crawley today, for the FA Cup qualifying round.

And with the decision to play the Weymouth game on Friday evening next week, my rest will be extended for another game as we are off to Burgh Island for a well earned short holiday on Monday.


To score in the 95th minute last Saturday, consigning a hard working and well organised Halifax team to a miserable trip back north, was a sign of the relentless desire to succeed that Aldershot's young team has developed this season.

But caution....Hudson and Hylton looked keen and desperate to impress. Harding, the player of the season to date, showing just a touch of tiredness.....and the rest?

Gary Waddock certainly needs to find a way of recharging the emotional batteries.

Have we got any more sherry, Ming....

‘Ming darling , have we got any more Sherry? The decanter is empty and I can’t see any more bottles of Bristol Cream in the sideboard.’

Elspeth, Lady Grant-Suttie, was just a little bit frantic. It had been a busy day. A morning meeting with the Lib Dem Ladies Inner Circle followed by an afternoon with …..

’Ming. I said, have we got any more Sherry?’

‘I don’t think so. But I will pop down to the Spar and buy a bottle. Can you just hang on for a few minutes.’

‘Ok darling I‘ll put the news on and we can watch it together when you get back‘

‘Sorry Elsp. No Bristol cream. So I got some Spanish stuff. It was cheap, so I bought a couple of bottles.’

‘Ming….you’ve just resigned’ . ‘What me?’.

‘Yes ,that nice Simon Hughes and the other one…you know the more sinister character, have just announced on the news, that you have resigned,’

‘ That’s handy Elspeth because there’s a Stamp Fair in Edinburgh tomorrow.’

And you heard it here first….by the time of the next general Election the Liberal Democrats will be back to being plain old Liberals…..

Situated within the predominantly rural borough of East Staffordshire, just 11 miles south of Derby and 30 miles north-west of Birmingham, Burton-upon-Trent is a richly varied town with a population of 80,000.

The name Burton-upon-Trent is synonymous throughout the world with quality beers - a tradition dating back to the 13th century when Benedictine Monks reportedly discovered Burton’s water to be ideal for brewing.

And the football team……

Burton were formed in 1950, and after a few seasons in the Birmingham & District League they joined the Southern League in 1958. And had a few seasons in the Northern Premier League before joining the Conference in 2002.

Albion began life at the Lloyds Foundry ground on Wellington Street, but high attendances meant that the club quickly searched for a more suitable home. Eton Park was built off Derby Road and officially opened on September 20, 1958, coinciding with their promotion to the Southern League. From then until it's demolition in 2005 the Brewers played all of their home games at Eton Park. The quaint old ground was demolished to make way for housing, when Burton moved to the new Pirelli Stadium at a cost of £7.2 million.

Despite having a superb winning record against Burton, Aldershot Town found the trip north a bit of a struggle last Saturday. And the 2v0 defeat was a fair reflection of the game.

Injuries to key players didn’t help the cause and with some of the ‘younger’ players looking in need of a rest, Burton were just too strong for Aldershot. But if the couple of late chances had been converted into goals the Shots would have come away from the Pirelli Stadium with a very lucky point.

The Manager will have learned a lot from this game and Halifax will be a walk in the park tomorrow……

Progress......

One of our most dramatic local wildlife corridors has to be the Severn Estuary. Wild and exposed, open to the elements. A hostile environment for us humans, but it’s location on the north Atlantic flyway for migratory birds means that it’s mudflats and salt marshes are of vital importance for wildfowl.

And it is when I cross Europe's most dynamic estuary that I start to focus on the upcoming ‘match’.

Ebbsfleet on Tuesday night…..another hard fought game. Despite a series of defensive lapses the team came together and delivered a 2v0 victory. Ebbsfleet were certainly no mugs and with the win came the elevation of Aldershot Town to a position at the top of the Conference. A status that is neither false nor undeserved.

No, this is a position carved from the effort of a squad of players who understand the value of commitment and desire….where the contribution to others rate higher than self indulgence.

Ah, but back to the Severn…..and no, not my gripe at the £5.10 that I pay out each time I return home.

No, it is that this, the most dramatic of vistas will all be destroyed by the construction of a barrage across the Severn, while other less striking measures that would cost less and could do more to cut carbon emissions, are ignored. Progress….I hate progres.

Burton Albion tomorrow.....now we are top, Gary and Martin will have to develop a new and more challenging strategy......it can be achieved.

Making the right decision......

I am surprised that it has taken Gordon Brown 56 years to learn that decision making is not just about the ‘decision’ but most importantly the timing of the decision.

Gordon you simply could have decided that to call a General Election after two years of Labour’s third term was unacceptable, 100 days ago…..after all you knew that you wanted to show the Country how effective your vision will be, when you were gifted the job of Prime Minister. Didn‘t you?

Now Football Referees have a thankless task. Their decisions are exposed to scrutiny in every game that they officiate. Whether it is in the local park, hounded by irate and ‘knowledgeable’ parents or under the microscope of the Sky TV ‘reverse camera angle’, refs will never find respite.

But like Gordon, they must make the right decision based on what they see, applying their own judgement to the evidence. Tough I guess. And not something that most of us would wish upon ourselves. So much easier to shout….‘Lino you’re useless….. Ref you know you got that wrong‘.

Clive ‘the Book’ Thomas was one of the World’s top Refs. Clive came from Treorchy, in the Rhondda. And, the ‘highlight’ of his career was not controlling Aldershot’s most famous game…..September 9th 1970, Aldershot v Manchester United, Football League Cup 2nd Rd, 1v3 in front of a crowd of 18509 …..no, it was during his second appearance at the World Cup.

Yes, Clive was in charge of the first round pool game between Sweden and Brazil at Mar de Plata, Estadio Jose Maria Minella on June 3rd 1978. Clive controlled the game in his own distinctive style. Time keeping was with the aid of the watch given to him by the Organising Committee.

Then ooops. Clive got the decision right. He blew for the end of the game……but Brazil had been denied top spot in their group with that single blast of the whistle. He had blown for full-time at the precise moment that Zico's header was crossing the line for what would have been a match-winning winning goal against Sweden. The disbelieving samba boys had to settle for 1-1 and then went on to meet Argentina in the second group stage……

To this day Clive claims that his decision was right. And the watch clearly keeps excellent time….he is never late for a meeting. But the application of judgement is the telling lesson in this case. And for Clive his World Cup was over, the dream of controlling the Final shattered by the judgement of the Organising Committee.

Mr P Gibbs was in control of the Stevenage v Aldershot Town game on Saturday……judgement and opinion. I have my own.

It was in about the twentieth minute of Saturday’s game that my brother turned to me and confided that he thought Stevenage were like a Pub Team. I reflected on this observation and concluded that indeed, when compared to the skill and potential fluidity of Aldershot, the simile could be accurate….but unfortunately they were also well organised, strong and motivated. And the Stevenage Manager had clearly undertaken a detailed review of Aldershot’s strengths and established a plan to stifle them.

From the own goal in the 24th minute our approach became increasingly chaotic and the Stevenage side displayed even greater organisation and control…3v1 a fair result in the end.


Gary Waddock will have used the intervening days to reflect on his team selection, initial set-up, tactical changes and use of substitutes. Good teams always build on the mistakes made. Great teams come back considerably stronger after defeat…..


I look forward to this evenings game, against Ebbsfleet United, with optimism. We are a good team and I believe we can become a great one.

Back to Stevenage.....for the first time in just over twenty years

It’s hard to keep a balanced view of British politics when we have such idiots in power, and so many more idiots in waiting.

And my wife thinks I have been too hard on poor Gordon. ‘Why no comment on the boy David’, she asked this week. Well ‘it’s difficult to comment on nothing‘, I replied.

A bit of a flounce around the stage at Blackpool earlier this week seemed to me, at least, not quite enough substance to capture my vote. So how come 2 million voters switched their favour from Gordon to David on the back of a sixty odd minute speech…..?

Ruth Kelly on Question Time last night was drooling over Cameron’s ability to speak for an hour without notes. Well Ruth, let me tell you, I have seen Billy Connolly in concert and he did two hours.

And all of this being played out as Aldershot Town sent Exeter City back to Devon, pointless.

Not the most convincing of performances from the Shots, but the victory was sealed with two of the best goals that I have witnessed at the Rec in nearly 50 years. The pace and power of Aldershot in the last twenty minutes of the game was just too much for the worst Exeter side that I have seen. The 2v0 result secured by way of good substitutions from our manager and plenty of pace on the bench to take advantage of a pedestrian Exeter defence, made slower by the tireless work of Rob Elvins.

But the 'big news' this week has been the comment over the possible departure of our keeper Nikki Bull. Will he go in January or at the end of the season?

Quite clearly Nikki is giving his best for the Shots….he is a good keeper and it is in his best interest to perform well, if he genuinely wants to get away.

So how can we lose? If he stays we retain a good keeper, and if he goes it is because…… he is a good keeper.

His ambition is admirable but I would caution him. After so many years at the Rec he may find the outside world a hostile and somewhat unfamiliar place.

Despite the abolition of the maximum wage in 1961 a number of players left England for Italy in the early sixties. ….lured by the Lire…..Dennis Law played 27 games for Torino scoring 10 goals, Jimmy Greaves 14 games for AC Milan scoring 9 and both were pre-dated by Joe Baker at Torino and John Charles at Juventus.

Of course they were all truly great players. But only Charles with 93 goals in 150 games, between 1957 and 1962, made a success of the move to Italy. For all of the others the end result was no different than the experience of Ian Rush in 1987.…..when asked how he was getting on in Turin he replied, ‘it’s like living in a foreign country’. He came home pretty quick, following the same path as Law and Greaves before.

And when talking of the lure of the Lire….let’s not forget Jack Howarth, who came to Aldershot from Swindon Town…he played out six seasons at the Rec before moving to Rochdale, only to return within the year. He then went on to play another four seasons with Aldershot.

So I guess my observation to Nikki is….’foreign country…think carefully‘.

Despite getting to 43 league and cup games last season….and not missing that many matches in the previous Conference seasons, I have never been to Stevenage. Business meetings or the dread of tangling with the M4 and M25 on a midweek evening have always been pretty good reasons to keep me away from Broadhall Way. But tomorrow I will be returning to Stevenage for the first time since September 1986.

I had been invited to give a presentation at a Conference organised by the Eastern Council for Sport and Recreation, held at Stevenage Leisure Centre. I arrived at the theatre in time for lunch, and was greeted by ‘Sir’ Trevor Brooking, Chairman of the Eastern Council for Sport and Recreation. Yes, just two years after his retirement from playing for West Ham, where he made 636 appearances, Trevor was finding his way through the political maze of sport.

Trevor took me to one side just as I was about to check out the vol-au-vents and told me that there had been a bit of a change in the running order. My keynote presentation after lunch was to be put back by half an hour to fit in a session by the Chairman of the Hertfordshire Keep Fit Association.

‘No problem Trevor’ I replied with out a moments thought.

Trevor hadn’t been totally honest with me….Joyce, the Chairman of the Keep Fit body, had contracted stage fright the night before the conference. The thought of delivering a thirty minute presentation to an audience of 400 people was just too much. The answer was of course a practical demonstration.

Her session…..’Bridging the gap - young women’…delivered with 30 scantily clothed ‘fit’ women certainly went down well with the mature male audience .

‘Thank you Joyce…we all enjoyed that…no time for questions…our next speaker is….please welcome…..’

What a warm up act…..

Stevenage will be well organised on Saturday…….

And finally….It’s good to have you back Jim……a personal note.