Moving on.....

Russell Brand gets out of his £200,000 BBC contract to pursue a more lucrative career in the United States, without the slightest hint of ‘oh no you won’t, you are signed to us for the next…..’ and Jonathan Ross gets to spend a bit of ‘quality time’ with his kids.

Now I would have sacked Ross and put Brand on Woman’s Hour for the next year…..yes he would have enjoyed working on a programme with such exacting broadcasting standards.

Port Vale visited the Recreation Ground on Tuesday evening and left without any points, but with a few millimetres of snow on the roof of their coach.

The 3000 plus fans who turned out on a bitterly cold evening were warmed by a gutsy performance from the Shots. A busy midfield and a more confident backline kept a lightweight Vale at arms length for most of the 90mins.

Too soon to say that Gary Waddock has brought the team back under control, but it was a promising antidote for the misery that was suffered at the hands of Chesterfield and Rochdale.

Morecambe tomorrow will be a stern test…..but with a confident and solid defence…..renewed midfield vigour and with the electric pace of Hudson, perhaps we can once again contemplate…..just another game, and three points.

'A sorry affair'

Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross must be feeling pretty pleased with themselves today. ‘Leading article’ status in The Times and to be blogged by A Shot from Wales ahead of Peter Mandelson, George Osborne, Gordon Brown and even dear old Harry Redknapp, is an achievement that not even the inflated egos of the two ‘entertainers’ could have established as an outcome, when they hatched their sordid plan to phone Andrew Sachs.

Until yesterday, I have to admit, I didn’t really know who Russell Brand was. His name only creating an image in my mind of an overweight TV astrologer…

Then I saw the news, and Russell Brand came chaotically into focus….and to compound my feeling of unease, I was subsequently advised that ‘we’ pay his wages.

Jonathan Ross is less of a mystery….he is simply overpaid and without talent.

The reported unsavoury incident was described by one commentator on Radio 4 this morning, as a product of ‘the pursuit of youth by the BBC, which is why Jonathan Ross is employed’.

Now at this point I choked on my croissant. The statement was as grotesque as witnessing a 47 years old Jonathan Ross ‘dancing’ to The Prodigy at a wedding party. Perhaps just acceptable at midnight, and after the bride's gran and spinster aunt have gone to bed…..and when all of the remaining guests are equally drunk. But in daylight hours? No, it would never pass the, ‘but it was quite funny’, test of Radio 2 listeners, many of whom drink no more than a glass of Pic St Loup with their evening meal.

After the painful defeat at Chesterfield on Wednesday evening, Aldershot crossed the Pennines to play Rochdale on Saturday.

I have always had a soft spot for the Lancashire club, probably because their footballing history can be found in the same reference section as the Shots.

A lifetime in the basement was beautifully described in Derick Allsop’s book – Kicking in the Wind.

‘The third (D2) is the factory floor of the game, where diligent tradesmen endeavour to stave off injury and competition long enough to make a living, buy a comfortable semi and run a second-hand car….And yet, within inevitable constraints, a club like Rochdale can still have its ambition and motivation…..The supporters, too, yearn for greater things – a Cup run, the play offs, even promotion. Faith and hope will forever bond all football people.’

So when Aldershot Town ran out at Spotland they entered a familiar world….a world in balance.

48 matches between the ‘two clubs’….14 wins, 7 draws and 3 defeats for the Shots at the Rec and 14 defeats, 7 draws and 3 wins for the Shots at Spotland.

The 3v1 defeat no more than another statistic……..but it wasn’t funny.

Tonight we entertain another old favourite, Port Vale, in a game that will have ‘urgent improvement needed’ coursing through the arteries of every Aldershot fan.

But on the 67th birthday of Hank Marvin, The Shadows, it will be good to hear the sound of Apache rolling down from the East Bank to form a protective shield around Bully’s goal……

Der…Der…….Der…Der…Der…Der…Der …Der….

I’m off now in search of the single that reached ‘number one’ on August 25th 1960, just as I was about to begin my love affair with the Shots…..

It's time to shape up......

Having a laugh.....

So at last we know, official figures released yesterday confirm that the country is in recession.

But we shouldn’t be fearful of the current credit crisis, the housing crash and the plummeting value of the pound. No, not when we can sit back and listen to Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, who came out straight away with a commanding statement. ‘Yes, it’s going to be difficult, yes it’s going to be tough, but we can get through it’.

I’m reassured Alistair, …… ‘0.5 down and we are having a laugh’.

The Wednesday night defeat at the hand of a poor Chesterfield side was a truly painful experience. And on reflection the dismal performance withstood the test of a post match comparison with many of the away trips experienced in the final days of our former manager, Terry Brown.....

And as we all express our opinions on the tactics, substitutions, Chalmers in, give Donnelly a go....a role for Newman, give Bully a rest, bring back Rob Gier….and is Dean Hooper fit?.... I guess the experienced observer may just conclude that it is perhaps manager, Gary Waddock, who has to catch up with our promotion from Conference to League. Unless he quickly brings order to the chaos that we have witnessed in defence for too long, we are going to enter ‘recession’, and experience a very long hard winter.....

‘5v1 down and we are having a laugh’.

The last to light up.......

Tomorrow will be the 41st anniversary of the first Football League game to be played under floodlights at the Recreation Ground, Chesterfield. Yes, it is somewhat surprising to note that more than ten years after Portsmouth played the first League match under lights in February 1956, Chesterfield were the last to light up for Sky….

And the cost of the ‘new’ lights was offset by the sale of goalie John Osborne to West Bromwich Albion for £9,250, a decision that may just have cost the Club promotion from Division 4 that season. Compounded no doubt, by the Shots 2v1 win at the Chesterfield Rec, with goals from Howarth and Gowans, in front of a staggering 11,000 crowd……

So in just a few minutes I will be off to Derbyshire for a return to one of my favourite grounds….and for a Wednesday, 7.30 kick off.

Wednesday….7.30. Now that does seem strange.

Last Saturday Brentford sold out the ‘away end’, and pushed the crowd at the Recreation Ground above 5000 for the first time this season. 1v1 perhaps a fair result, as both sides failed to make much impact in front of goal.

Tonight will be a big test for Aldershot after a poor series of results ‘on the road’. Without doubt Gary Waddock will have to bring order to a midfield and defence that has conceded ‘soft’ goals in the last four away games.

Now is the time to earn your salary Gary…..now is the time to substitute organisation for the chaos that has taken up a seat on the 'Team Bus'.

'Enigma Variations'

‘If ever after I’m dead you hear a little tune amongst the bracken on these Hills, don’t be frightened as it will only be me humming the opening bars of my Cello Concerto’.

For 55 of his 76 years Edward Elgar lived within sight of the Malvern Hills. And despite a mystery surrounding the inspiration for the main theme for his ‘Enigma Variations’….a work that recalls key moments and people from his life…..he carried the secret of the haunting melody with him to his grave.

However I like the theory that the written melody follows the contours of the Malvern Hills, as seen from Claines Churchyard.

The Malvern Hills are breathtakingly beautiful, giving views over the Worcestershire and Herefordshire countryside. William of Malmesbury described the area as a “vast wilderness” and indeed, the name “malvern” seems to come from Gaelic “moel bryn” meaning "bare hill”, but these descriptions do not do the landscape justice. The names of the individual hills are more evocative: Perseverance, Pinnacle, Sugar Loaf and Midsummer.

And as I looked out to my left in search of freedom from the banality of the M50 and M5, the long drive from Wales to Macclesfield was instantly made so much more pleasurable by the serenity of the Malverns.

‘What’s happening….it’s the M42 and not the M5 (M6/NW)’, I exclaimed in a moment of panic. A signpost for Solihull flashed by as my wife asked if we wanted the next exit. My wife was driving. I was having a Jack Woolley moment (The Archers). It was Saturday and Aldershot were playing at Macclesfield. I was sure of that. But why was my wife with me…..?

And then it all fell into place…..Tom and Laura’s wedding. It was ‘International Weekend’ – England v Kazakhstan, and no Premiership fixtures, so what better day could there be to get married, especially when half of the Church wore Aston Villa ties.

Getting hold of programmes from the January 1964 FA Cup 3rd Round tie between the Villa and Aldershot was pretty easy. 0v0 at Villa Park and 2v1 to the Shots at the Rec. The first time the ‘mighty’ Villa had been beaten in the Cup by a team from outside of the top flight.

What a great wedding gift….‘There will be good days….and not so good days. Bad days and really bad days. And then there was the day Villa lost to the Shots…..’

Life in perspective….now I can’t remember if I mentioned the game to anyone on Saturday.

The wedding over, a pint in hand and news from the Moss Rose Stadium that Aldershot Town had capitulated at Macclesfield, losing 4v2…. my painful hangover on Sunday made worse by watching the video clips of the goals conceded.

I just hope the cause of our defeat is no ‘Enigma’ for Gary and Martin, and on Saturday we return to the youthful exuberance, power and pace….hunger and desire that will undoubtedly tear Brentford apart.

On the other hand, a win and three points will be just fine.

A good neighbour.....

I was driving through mid Wales a couple of weeks ago with Radio 5 as my front seat passenger. The mountains a towering contrast to the ‘studio audience’ that were being encouraged to comment on the Conservative Party Conference.

It was nearly time to stop for a roadside coffee when the presenter asked the assembly to compare the leadership qualities of David Cameron with those of Gordon Brown.

A young Manchester Uni law student, at a guess, was the fastest to the microphone….’well the best you can say about Cameron is that he would make a great neighbour’. He sat back and waited for the laughter that would confirm in his own mind the power of his thought.

I stopped alongside a tea bar and sat back and considered his view. Brilliant, after too many years of working with politicians, Government and Ministers at last I have a measure to determine my own vote. ‘Would I like him/her as a neighbour?’

Politicians are, after all analysis, the same….a change in political party leading the Country only resulting in a different set of losers. From Community Charge to local Income Tax no more than a shift of the sand, and a new cohort of those worse off.

And all Politicians have the same in-built survival kit. The one that would guarantee a place in a lifeboat on the Titanic.

But to be my neighbour would demand something that would lift them above the political killing fields.

Peter Mandelson is a survivor and someone to sit next to on a cruise ship, if icebergs are about but, ‘come round for supper Pete’. No, I can’t see it working. Ken Clarke however would do a great Bar-B-Q and with real ale no doubt….and Boris Johnson…perhaps a bit noisy but I think I could trust him with my collection of Aldershot Town programmes. I sense honesty in his behaviour not evident in Mandelson and, with breaking news, Sarah Palin….

Last Saturday Aldershot Town failed to get out of the trap and League leaders Bury cruised to a 3v0 lead without breaking sweat.

Rob Elvins scored a consolation goal with about 20 mins to go just as my thoughts were turning to the long drive back to Wales.

Then a penalty in front of the East Bank….the usual scrummage and a booking for the Bury goalkeeper, Brown. Now I have to say I didn’t see the incident that led to the booking, but television and my brother confirm that he appeared to be taking his horticultural NVQ seriously and was attempting to plant daffodils under the Recreation Ground penalty spot……Scott Davies scored. Danny Hylton made it 3v3 and the cheating Brown would not be welcome as our neighbour.

Tom and Laura’s wedding today means that I will be in Lapworth as the team run out at Macclesfield…..good luck to everyone.

Jimmy Sirrel 1922-2008

One way of making money during the 1920s was to buy stocks and shares.

Prices of these stocks and shares constantly went up and so investors kept them for a short-term period, and then sold them at a good profit.

And then in October 1929, ‘Stock prices virtually collapsed yesterday, swept downward with gigantic losses in the most disastrous trading day in the stock market's history. Billions of dollars in open market values were wiped out as prices crumbled under the pressure of liquidation of securities which had to be sold at any price.’

Nearly eighty years on and it is so reassuring to have Gordon in command. His calling for us all to join together to fight the ‘credit crunch’ an inspiration. And with 10 years of Treasury experience wrapped up in his dress suit, and aired annually at the Mansion House, Gordon knew that the Investment Bankers could be trusted with our money. He knew that they would always put our interests ahead of their Polo Ponies….that the yacht in the Med was no more than an essential office overhead.

‘Your dynamism allied to the City's openness has led London to innovate: the most modern instruments of finance, an ability to compete that depends upon an open competition policy which rewards and is a stimulus to innovation and which does not restrict new entry and so helps new companies, new products and new services to come into the marketplace.’ Gordon Brown, 21st June 2006.

But now Gordon says it is a good time to look closely at the way our financial markets are run…..and Gordon has brought Peter Mandelson back…..have I missed something?

Jimmy Sirrel was born in Glasgow seven years before the Wall Street Crash. He died 86 years later a ‘Legend’.


His playing career no more than a supporting role at Celtic, Bradford Park Avenue, Brighton and finally Aldershot, where he made 32 appearances between 1954 and 1956.

After a brief period in charge of Brentford, Jimmy joined Notts County in November 1969, taking them on a magical journey from Division 4 to the top flight.

When news of his death flashed across my computer screen last week, I went off in search of Jimmy Sirrel…..after all we were due to play Notts County at Meadow Lane, on Saturday September 27th, and Jimmy was a man of both clubs.

His playing career ended in 1956, so I never saw him play….and I think he was the trainer at the Recreation Ground in October 1960, when I saw the Shots for the first time. Nearly 12500 crammed into the Rec to see the ‘new boys’, Peterborough United, play out a 1v1 draw with my ‘new team’. Although to be truthful I can’t remember much about the game.

Despite being only a young lad I could feel the optimism of the 60’s. A resurgence that was quick to blow away the dreary austerity of post War Britain. But with Beatlemania still a little way off, my first visit to the Rec found the East Bank packed, but not rocking with the sound of, ‘Smithy Smithy give us a wave’ (Dave Smith , Manager) or even ‘Jimmy Sirrel is worth a million pounds….’

However I have a nice picture of Jimmy in the 1961/62 Supporters club handbook, so I do know he was one of us….

Looking back in search of Jimmy Sirrel, was like looking through a box of family photos, in pursuit of the sunny holidays we always had at Hayling Island. Feelings formed from disparate memories, distorted by time………and somehow never supported by the tiny black and white images stored safely away in the cupboard under the stairs..

But my quest to 'find' Jimmy Sirrel left me feeling that I should know him better. That I should be able say more than, ‘he played a few games for Aldershot, and he was the trainer for a few years…’

The legend of Jimmy Sirrel will live on in the minds of every present and future County supporter. It will be a memory burnished to a competing brilliance that may just result in Brian Clough walking across the Trent to have a word ‘young man’.

As for the game on Saturday….well Aldershot were by far and away the better team.


Notts County won 2v1, with a last minute winner.

I’m sure the Aldershot Town Manager, Gary Waddock, will have reflected on the manner of the defeat.

If Jimmy had been watching, he would have said….… ‘being the best team does not always make a winning team.’